The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1874-10-30
Frederick III.

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In reality the man who founded
liberty Of thought in Germany is Fred.
erick II. In the history of his race
there is no character more attractive,
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 tn the wrote IN ar.
dent book against Ma-hievel, and made
use Of Machiavelian practices; that he
sang the advantages of peace like a
Virgil, and scattered war like Caesar !;
that he exccrated conquest like the
Able St. Pierre, and was 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 by
all sovereigns, 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, impe]led 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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT Of Poland; his con.
science rarely rises to the ideal of JUS
tice; his lips utter epigrams which:
bring on wars; his skepticism degcner-
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. II he
had no other glory, the king who re-
ceived dominion of barely two thou
sand square leagues and three mill
ions Of inhabitants destroyed to its
foundations the formidable Holy Em.
pire, the representative of tradition,
the Goliath of absolutism, the jailer 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 on: naughty Spain-a desc.
late desert.
The conquest Of Silesia, which has
been so harshly criticised, was con-
quest Of liberty of conscience, for the
inhabitants, 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 1740, 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.
no2nced a discourse, a worthy echo
Of the Sermon on the Mount. which
caused the crazy fanatics to drop their
murderous weapons. With a great
memory, as BELTS statesman; with
scanty fancy, like his age; with ideas
rather clear than profound a fine and
delicate irony, more brain than heart
q 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 admirer Of merit; common.
place in his verses, incorrect in his
prose, vulgar in his philosophy, but
worthy Of comparison with Caesar when
narrating his own exploits, not only in
the sobriety of the narrative, but its
simple and modern modesty; gay like
the antique heroes; the most moral Of
administrators; eminent as a 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
kingdom, 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 efigy by hangmen; to the
Moravian Brothers, with their Utopias:
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.
--ENn1o CASTELAR,, in Harper's Maya
zine for November.
k0san.lkjnRuro.
This is one Of the most favoritc TO-
manccs in Japanese literature. The
following analysis Of it appears in the
August number of the Revue des Deuz
Mondes: "a samouri named Bunno-
ito had. hv an illiuitimafa 11nion die