New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-08-23
THE PRE-EMINENCE OF PRUSSIA

This was ell fair enough. But Frederick mean
while had done something else He had gained
the excuse he wanted for occupying Saxony. and
he proceeded to give the SaXons the alternative OF
Joining him willingly or of being forced to fight
his battles. In the earlier days OF mercenary
armies this would have been nothing But the
ideal of loyalty to his State which Frederick
cherished was not his alone Humber men also
felt it, Saxony and the ruler Of SaXony were as
dear to the Saxon soldiers as Prussia and Fred
eriek were to the invaders But in spite of all
nrot.sts as soon as the Saxon army capituated
the captured regiments. including the officers be-
low the rank of general. were required to take the
oath Of obedience to Frederick. Some complied.
The organizations that refused were broken up
and the men were distributed among Prussian
regiments This performance of Fredercks has
never found a defender. 1t displaced in the most
glaring manner the incapacity of the royal phi
losopher to credit other men with feelings gen
uine and acute az his own. But these men took
occasion to show in their own way that their SEN
timents were worthy Of consideration. They
we're no sooner enrolled than they began TO de-
sert. singly in squads, In companies, in whole
battalions and Frederick had corps of 5000 Of
them 70 fight In the later years Of the war. I'm
an age" SAYS Professor futile when armies
shaken devotion Of the Saxon soldiers to their ex
He'd prince Is a touching and pleasant spectacle
II was lust the fact that such men In the humblest
ranks of life were growing more numerous as the
wears went by that made the future omnous to
those royal philosophers who were going to do
everything for the people
Frederick was the greatest of these But there
were others. Catherine ii. with all her cruel
vices was a willing disciple Of the French think
ers and she adopted many devices for the relief Of
the Russians Joseph III, after the death Of his
mother Maria Theresa, took her dearest foe,
Frederick as his model, and entered upon a ca
reer of reform so complicated that the mere re-
ctal of the objects he aimed at is bewdering.
Saddest Of all, the well-meanng Louis XVI at
tempted also to reform France from the top But
10 one looking back the history Of the time il
seems as If they all merely playing along
side the stream Of progress. so vast have been the
changes since humanity (outside Of Russia, at
least has taken control OF its own destinies.
There is but one great fact In the mind of any OF
these Kings to look back to. and that the
ideal of the State cherished by Frederick the
Great
II has been said Of Henry II that he OWNED in a
measure the future greatness CT England. 1t Is
certain that Frederick anticipated the future
dominance OF Prussia He could feel already
some vague STRINGS Of Germany afaer national
unity. But II was not his cynical philosophy that
gave him an ideal so little in keeping with his
sceptcism and his sarcastic bitterness of speech.
He had deity, after all this Prussan King. and
that deity was Prussia. In his favorite pose as
benevolent despot he is not admirable. but as the
creator Of an Empire eager to efface himself for
the State. he is greater even than a soldier.