St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1869-12-10
FredericE IfjtIidn, King of
Prussia.

following extracts respecting his father,
Frederick William, who reigned p years,
commencing in 1928: -
Frederick William was too stern man
to shed many tears over his fathers death.
The old king was ostentatious in his
tastes, fond of parade and splendor. The
son had almost an insane contempt for all
life. As he stood by his fathers dying
bed. his unami;tblc, rugged nature devel-
oped itself i'll the disgust, almost rage,
with which he regarded the courtly pag-
eantry with which the expiring monarch
was surrounded. The remains of the
king were allowed to be conveyed to the
tomb with that pomp which had been
dear TO him while living.
But Immediately y alter these cercmo les
were over, the new monarch, who as
Sumcd the crown with the title of Fred
erlck William, not with thatof Frederick
H., TO the utter CONSERVATION of the
court, dismissed nearly every honorary
official OF the palace, from the highest
dignitary to the humbicst page. Ills
flashing eyes and determined manner
were SO appalling that no one venturci to
demonstrate. \ clean sweep was made,
50 thai the household was reduced To the
lowest footing of economy consistent with
the supply of Indispensable wants. Eight
servants were retained at SIX Shillings n
week. His father had thirty pagcS All
We're dismissed but three. There We're
one thousand saddlehorScs in the royal
stables; Frederick William kept thirty
Thrce-tourth> OF the names were struck
from the pension list. Thus rigidIy the
king went on through every department
OF administrative and household expenses,
until they were reduced TO below fifth
OF what they had been under his Ia her
For twcnty--even years this strange
man rcignci. lie was like no other mon
arch. Great wisdom ard shlewdnc>-
were blended with unuterable folly and
almost manlacal madness. Though a
man of strong powers OF mind, lie wa-
very lIltcrate. lio certainly had some
clear views On political economy. Carly !,
says of him. His scmi-artlculatc papers
and rcscript> on these subjects are still
almost worth reading by Il lover of CEN
, uinc human talent III the dumb rorm.-
for spelling, grammar. penmanShip, anl
composition they resemble nothing els,
eXtant-lrc Is ii duuc 10y the paw oI {;
bear indeed, the utterancc generally
, sounds more Ike the growing of a bear
than anything that could he handIly
spelled or parsed. But there Is a dc''l
sVe human seuSe IN the heart OF II; and
there Is such Il dire hatred ut empty blad-
derS, unr alitic>, and hypocritical form.
and preten>cs, which lie calls wind and
, huubu. as L. very strange indeed"
His cnrrLy inspired the whole kingdom
and paved the way for the achievement:
OF lis son. The father created the ma
chine with which the -on attained surI
d, wonderful results. lie cummutcd the oil,
/. tcudal scrvcr into Il fixed money pay
ment lie goadcd the whole roalm int,
industry, compelling even the applc-wo
rnen 10 knlt al tucir stalls. The crow
lands We're carefully ilrncd out. IL,
drained hog-, planted colonies, ,c>tablishc,
manufactures, and III every way cncour
aged the usc of Pru>sian products. H.
carried with HIM invariably a>tout rataT
cane. pon the sligh'c>t provocatlon
: like Il madman, he would thrash tho,
= who dl>plca>ed him. He wa, thoroughly
=, an arbitrary king, ruling at hi- soverrig,
will, and di>po>Ing OF the liberty, th
property, AN! the lives OF his subjects :.
: his pleasure. Every year he was accu
n multIimE Large masses OF cora, winch h,
II deposited in barrel, in the cellar OF hi
palace. lie had no powers Of graceful
speech, but spent his energetic, joylcs
l lte in grumbling and growing.
IS The Prussian Minister, baron Pollnitz
n in letter from Berlin, dated June {
!. 1929, writes: "Ihe kings prime minis
ter is the king himself, who is intorme
OF everything and is dcslrous to know cv
: crything. lie givcS great application t'
II business, but does it with cXtraordinar
= ease and nothing escapes his penetra,io
% nor his memory, which is Il very happ
:, one No sovereign in the world Is [
more easy access, his subjects being ac
tually permitted to write to him withou
any other iormality than superscribin
Al the letter To tie Hing. by writing vi
d derneath, To be dcdrred into lis .nnjcSty
or1. MtInE, enc may be sure that the kin
# receives and rca,!s it, and that the neN
post ne will answer it, either with h
! own hands or by his secretary. The,
ii answers are short, but peremptory.-
u There is no town in all the king OF Pru
,r sa's dominions, except Neuichatel, whel
- he has MT been no province which
does not know full we'll; nor u court
= Justice but he is acquainted with lis Chi
III members.
yc Fully conscious that the respect whic
As would be paid TO linn a European so
-. erelgn greatly depended upon the numb
of men he could bring into the field I
battle, Frederick William devoted unit
ing energies to the creation of an arm.
u" by the most severe economy, waichIl
- with an eagle eye every expenditure, III
Of bringing his cudgel down mercilessly u
III on the shoulders of every loiterer, he su
IL ceeded i'll raising and maintaining an 4
'9l my of one hundred thousand men; Sc
y eniy-two thousand being field troops, III
thirty thousand i'll garrison. lie drill
these troops rs troops were never drill
'TS before. Regardless himself Of comto
ny insensible to fatigue, dead to affection,
'a' created perhaps the most potent militia
I'LL machine earth has ever known. Prus:
~ was an armed camp. The king priz
l'1 his soldiers as miser prizes his gold co
''u and was as unwilling to expose them
any danger as the miser is to hazard
treasures. War would thin lis regimen
q coil Ia. last rO,- Ia, ,,I,fs,.,sl