The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1874-11-05
Frederick III.

because there is none more human. His
idea is not that narrow one OF Herr
mann, nor is his passion the national
passion of Luther; it is the idea and
passion of humanity. Those who sur
vey history. with its rudenesses and OBJ
liquities. as if they were viewing the
serene and tranquil region Of philoso-
ply, are in the habit Of reproducing
him with the fact TIA. he wrote All ar
dent book against Ma.hievel, and made
use of Machiavelian practices; that he
sang the advantages of peace like
Virgil, and scattered war like Caesar
that he exccrated conquest like the
Able St. Pierre, and was u conquerer like
Cyrus and Alexander. But those who
examine men and their acts, having in
view the difficulties which they eneoun-
ter. the obstacles they overcome, the
evils which they abolish, and the pro-
gress they accomplish, will never suffi-
GENTLY admire the crowned philosopher.
who, alone in the world, prosecuted oy
all soyereigns, worried by Russians,
Tarters, Croats, Hungarians, and
French, abandoned by his friends and
allies, with his motley little army strong
only in its rigorous discipline, and with
out other motive power than the great
soul of its general, impelled in turn by
another greater idea, creates in the
centre Of Germany the power destined
TO be, in respect to liberty Of thought
what the house of Orange and
England were in respect to political
liberty, No doubt the instrument
which he used was bad one, the abso-
lutte monarchy; the stains which dis
figure his reign are serious ones, like
the dismembcrment Of Poland; his con-
science rarely rises to the ideal of JUS
tice; his lips utter epigrams which.
bring on wars; his skepticism degener.
ates into thoughtless sarcasm; but with
all these defects, with others still
greater, it may be, there is no person.
atty of his time in which shines forth
with such strength ana brilliancy the
immortal spirit of his age, that essen
TALLY humanitarian century. If he
had no other glory, the king who re-
ceived a dominion of barely two thou
sand square leagues and three mill
ions of inhabitants destroyed to its
foundations the formidable Holy EN-.
pire, the representative of tradition,
the Goliath of absolutism, the .lailer Of
nations, the enemy Of William Tell, the
executioner of John Huss, the assassin
of Padilla, the poisoner Of the Latin
races, which, if it had trinmphed, would
have consumed the very marrow of our
bones, reduced our consciences to ashes,
and made of all Europe wha, with its
fatal authority and its terrible policy,
it made of ol- naughty Spain-a desc
late desert.
The conquest OF Silesia, which has
been SO harshly criticised, was a con-
quest of liberty of conscience, for the
inha bitants, being in large majority
Catholics, all received the conservation
Of their rights from the hands of king
educated in Protestanism and nurtured
in philosophy. After the battle Of
Sriegau, in l749, two thousand peasants
wished to cut the threats of all the
Catholics of the border. The king was
indignant. The humane spirit of toler
ance beat in his heart; the spirit Of the
age took possession of his mind: the
Eternal Divine Word rose to his lips,
and invoking the theme Of
Love your enemies. he pro-
no1nced discourse. a worthy echo
of the Sermon on the Mount. which
caused the crazy fanatics to drop their
murderous weapons. With great
memory, as BELTS statesman: with
scanty fancy, like his age; with ideas
rather clear than profound fine and
delicate irony, more brain than heart ::
a character sometimes served and
sometimes commanded by great intelli-
gence; naughty with the powerful.
simple with the humble passionately
devoted to genius and science: uncon-
ditional admirel' of merit; common
place in his verses, incorrect in his
prose, vulgar in his philosophy, but
worthy of comparison with Cesar when
narrating his own exploits, not only in
the sobrietv of the narrative, but its
simple and modern modesty; gay like
the antique heroes; the most moral Of
administrators eminent as lawyer !:
Jealous that justice should reach the
lowest social classes tolerant of the
opinion of his people. whom he al
lowed to say what they pleased, reserv-
ing for himself the right to do as he
pleased, firm in adversely, serene in
danger. thoughtful in his plans. tena-
cious in his purposes-above all his
qualities shines out that effusion with
which he opened the frontiers Of his
f'ngdom, the gates of his palace. the
arms of his friendship. to all those who
thought, believed. or worked for any
idea. to the philosophers Of the Ency-
clopedia. prosecuted by prejudice. and
burned in etiigy by hangmen: to the
Moraylan Brothers. with their Utopias:
to the Freemasons, communicated by
the popes; to the Jesuits. cursed by the
kings: to all those who suffered for
any fate. His brow rises above all
oilers and shines. rejecting the light
Of the future. the thought of ages to
come, because his soul embraced with
ardent enthusiasm universal tolerance.
EMILIO CASTELAR,, in Harper S Maya
zine for November.
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