Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-17
THE SPLENDID STORY
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or TIE GREAT GEKMANA RxY.
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Potsdam was thc scene few days
aimee OF en- interesting historical COM
memoratlon. Prussia has Of late years
become dotted with statues to its Illus.
tYious men. Il might have been feare1
that iteration would have desdcned the
imprsssiseness Of such honors. ie'
each addition to the collection OF ma
tional monuments has It's own Illness
and seems to Ill . niche which had oeen
long waiting for this particular ocou-
pant. Statues to Stein, the great fdec'o''
the tonoucring Frederick, and legion
Of other Prussian celebrities, one aud
ali. can establish especial claims to
erection. There is never anything
forced in the admission in Prussia OF
the title OF . fresh name 10 apotheosis
by the sculptor's art. Statues in Pots
dam or Berlin do not, as often In other
cities, look Is II they were ashamed OF
their publicity. Other States. with
ersnder and remoter history than Prus-
sia, have to apologize, as Prussia has
not, when they set up statues TO their
eminent citizens and sovereigns.
Prussia. from the popularity OF its
national history, owes deeper and
larger debt to personal characteristics
than most European countries. The
frequent Inauguration Of public monu-
ments is part Of its recognition. Prus-
sian nationality is not one OF those
natural products Of race and geography
which defy the caprices and tyranny
of administrative genius and admins
trative mediocrity. 1t has been a grad
ual growth Of individual energy and
wisdom moulding accidental circum-
stances into a mighty kingdom. Pras-
sian history has the appearance OF a
series Of stepping stones, each the ca
rser Of . potent organizer. The Prus'
sian people has held on its way through
the chances and changes OF affairs only
by the help of the soldiers and states
men raised up successfully on its be-
half. -,
As IL looks back it is made sensible
of its unity, and Of the bond OF cohe-
siop among its particles Of various orr
gin, by the historical fact that its Fred
ericks and Frederick Williams, its Stems
and Hsrdenbergs, Moltkes and Bis
marcks, have labored to bring together
and compact the promiscuous mass.
Prussia. as distinct from Germany, is
more the child Of the men TO whom 1t
delights to dedicate monuments than
thew are its children. The tradition has
been continued to the present hour. AS
his audience listened TO the aged En-
peror demanding its gratitude for the
subject Of the memorial he was rlsklng
his frail health to unvS.i. it must have
been applying more than half of his
panegy rio on his ancestor to himself.
For Europe, Frederick William | has
always been rather hero of burlcsQue.
His British eulogist has painted him in
colors which keep his memory at once
green and ridiculous. Everybody can
see the absurdity OF his cruel pedantry
in the training Of his heir, Of his To-
bscco Parliament, and Of his craze for
tall guards. Frederick the Great had
his folles and his vices, which are for
gotten in the blaze Of his martial ex-
ploits and widened frontiers. His
father was a drill-sergeant, who never
used the sword he sharpened. Not the
less does he deserve, with all his
defects, the acknowledgment rem
dered him at Potsdam by his i'm
perial descendant, who, indeed, might,
without Prince Bismarck. possibly
have himself, however undeservedly,
gone down to posterity vested with the
doubtful fame Of crowned drill-ser-
geant too. From Frederick William |.
Frederick II. received military mate
rial the best in Europe. His father
left him more than an army Of veterans
and regiment of giants. The Prus-
sian people contracted in that reign a
habit Of resignation TO the uttermost
acquisitions of the profession of arms,
which has endured the test Of defeat as
indomitably as Of victory, and is not
more visible in the long-service war
riors Of Rosbach than in the short
service conscripts of Leipsic and Ligny.
Between the Prussian soldier as Fred
erick William /. modelled him, and
the reserves which have twice in this
century turaed back the tide
Of invasion on France, the difference is
enormous. The Emperor William did
not dissemble it in his significant Pots
dam address. From Frederick Will
liam I. the Prussian army came forth a
potential weapon disciplined to do the
will Of its owner. 1t had little Of the
fire Of patriotism. or Of any other fire,
except that of logged endurance.
Frederick III. breathed life into it. In
his grasp it grew into being able and
ready for any enterprise he marked out
for its accomplishment. The mass was
still much as Frederick William |. had
formed it, though with added suppleness
and adaptability. Frederick William
ILL.,. as the Emperor has stated, gave
the Prussian army both new struc-
tire and a new motive. BY his In
spired Minister Scharnhorst, he al
tered every feature in the ancient or
ganization. IIirelings were turned into
patriots, and pipe-clay was gilded will
beroism. The Emperor is not, how
ever, claiming homage for Frederick
William !. on false pretences when h
asserts that Notwithstanding these radi
cal transformations it was the uncout
monarch Of the last century who bull
the foundations upon which the Ger
man empire, revived principally b
Prussian arms, stands. Frederic
William l. had identified the Pru:
sian nationality with the character {
IN army. He had taught the whol
TO regard itself MS stuff for recruits
and the lesson has never been III
learnt. A Prussian regiments hun
blest members are conscious Of high,
aims that Frederick William I. coul
himself have explained. Tactics, We
pons. and conditions of service are a
STRAIGHTFORWARD. What has not unde
gone the least change Is the sense Of Il
Prussian soldiery, from the field ma