history of friedrich ii of prussia v 16-第35章
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f War; he never neglects; and which springs out like a stemmed flood; whenever Peace leaves him free for it。 His labors by all methods to awaken new branches of industry; to cherish and further the old; are incessant; manifold; unwearied; and will surprise the uninstructed reader; when he comes to study them。 An airy; poetizing; bantering; lightly brilliant King; supposed to be serious mainly in things of War; how is he moiling and toiling; like an ever…vigilant Land…Steward; like the most industrious City Merchant; hardest…working Merchant's Clerk; to increase his industrial Capital by any the smallest item!
〃One day; these things will deserve to be studied to the bottom; and to be set forth; by writing hands that are competent; for the instruction and example of Workers;that is to say; of all men; Kings most of all; when there are again Kings。 At present; I can only say they astonish me; and put me to shame: the unresting diligence displayed in them; and the immense sum…total of them; what man; in any the noblest pursuit; can say that he has stood to it; six…and…forty years long; in the style of this man? Nor did the harvest fail; slow sure harvest; which sufficed a patient Friedrich in his own day; harvest now; in our day; visible to everybody: in a Prussia all shooting into manufactures; into commerces; opulences; I only hope; not TOO fast; and on more solid terms than are universal at present! Those things might be didactic; truly; in various points; to this Generation; and worth looking back upon; from its high LAISSEZ…FAIRE altitudes; its triumphant Scrip… transactions and continents of gold…nuggets;pleasing; it doubts not; to all the gods。 To write well of what is called 'Political Economy' (meaning thereby increase of money's…worth) is reckoned meritorious; and our nearest approach to the rational sublime。 But to accomplish said increase in a high and indisputable degree; and indisputably very much by your own endeavors wisely regulating those of others; does not that approach still nearer the sublime?
〃To prevent disappointment; I ought to add that Friedrich is the reverse of orthodox in 'Political Economy;' that he had not faith in Free…Trade; but the reverse;nor had ever heard of those ultimate Evangels; unlimited Competition; fair Start; and perfervid Race by all the world (towards 'CHEAP…AND…NASTY;' as the likeliest winning…post for all the world); which have since been vouchsafed us。 Probably in the world there was never less of a Free…Trader! Constraint; regulation; encouragement; discouragement; reward; punishment; these he never doubted were the method; and that government was good everywhere if wise; bad only if not wise。 And sure enough these methods; where human justice and the earnest sense and insight of a Friedrich preside over them; have results; which differ notably from opposite cases that can be imagined! The desperate notion of giving up government altogether; as a relief from human blockheadism in your governors; and their want even of a wish to be just or wise; had not entered into the thoughts of Friedrich; nor driven him upon trying to believe that such; in regard to any Human Interest whatever; was; or could be except for a little while in extremely developed cases; the true way of managing it。 How disgusting; accordingly; is the Prussia of Friedrich to a Hanbury Williams; who has bad eyes and dirty spectacles; and hates Friedrich: how singular and lamentable to a Mirabeau Junior; who has good eyes; and loves him! No knave; no impertinent blockhead even; can follow his own beautiful devices here; but is instantly had up; or comes upon a turnpike strictly shut for him。 'Was the like ever heard of?' snarls Hanbury furiously (as an angry dog might; in a labyrinth it sees not the least use for): 'What unspeakable want of liberty!'and reads to you as if he were lying outright; but generally is not; only exaggerating; tumbling upside down; to a furious degree; knocking against the labyrinth HE sees not the least use for。 Mirabeau's Gospel of Free…Trade; preached in 1788; 'MONARCHIE PRUSSIENNE he calls it (A LONDRES; privately Paris; 1788); 8 vols。 8vo; which is a Dead…Sea of Statistics; compiled by industrious Major Mauvillon; with this fresh current of a 〃Gospel〃 shining through it; very fresh and brisk; of few yards breadth;dedicated to Papa; the true PROTevangelist of the thing。'a comparatively recent Performance; though now some seventy or eighty years the senior of an English (unconscious) Fac…simile; which we have all had the pleasure of knowing;will fall to be noticed afterwards 'not by this Editor; we hope!'
〃Many of Friedrich's restrictive notions;as that of watching with such anxiety that 'money' (gold or silver coin) be not carried out of the Country;will be found mistakes; not in orthodox Dismal Science as now taught; but in the nature of things; and indeed the Dismal Science will generally excommunicate them in the lump;too。 heedless that Fact has conspicuously vindicated the general sum… total of them; and declared it to be much truer than it seems to the Dismal Science。 Dismal Science (if that were important to me) takes insufficient heed; and does not discriminate between times past and times present; times here and times there。〃
Certain it is; King Friedrich's success in National Husbandry was very great。 The details of the very many new Manufactures; new successful ever…spreading Enterprises; fostered into existence by Friedrich; his Canal…makings; Road…makings; Bog…drainings; Colonizings and unwearied endeavorings in that kind; will require a Technical Philosopher one day; and will well reward such study; and trouble of recording in a human manner; but must lie massed up in mere outline on the present occasion。 Friedrich; as Land…Father; Shepherd of the People; was great on the Husbandry side also; and we are to conceive him as a man of excellent practical sense; doing unweariedly his best in that kind; all his life long。 Alone among modern Kings; his late Father the one exception; and even his Father hardly surpassing him in that particular。
In regard to Embden and the Shipping interests; Ost…Friesland awakened very ardent speculations; which were a novelty in Prussian affairs; nothing of Foreign Trade; except into the limited Baltic; had been heard of there since the Great Elector's time。 The Great Elector had ships; Forts on the Coast of Africa; and tried hard for Atlantic Trade;out of this same Embden; where; being summoned to protect in the troubles; he had got some footing as Contingent Heir withal; and kept a 〃Prussian Battalion〃 a good while。 And now; on much fairer terms; not less diligently turned to account; it is his Great…Grandson's turn。 Friedrich's successes in this department; the rather as Embden and Ost…Friesland have in our time ceased to be Prussian; are not much worth speaking of; but they connect themselves with some points still slightly memorable to us。 How; for example; his vigilantes and endeavors on this score brought him into rubbings; not collisions; but jealousies and gratings; with the English and Dutch; the reader will see anon。
Law…reform is gloriously prosperous; Husbandry the like; and Shipping Interest itself as yet。 But in the Third grand Head; that of realizing the Reinsberg Program; beautifying his Domesticities; and bringing his own Hearth and Household nearer the Ideal; Friedrich was nothing like so successful; in fact had no success at all。 That flattering Reinsberg Program; it is singular how Friedrich cannot help trying it by every new chance; nor cast the notion out of him that there must be a kind of Muses'…Heaven realizable on Earth! That is the Biographic Phenomenon which has survived of those Years; and to that we will almost exclusively address ourselves; on behalf of ingenuous readers。
Chapter IX。
SECOND ACT 0F TEE VOLTAIRE VISIT。
Voltaire's Visit lasted; in all; about Thirty…two Months; and is divisible into Three Acts or Stages。 The first we have seen: how it commenced in brightness as of the sun; and ended; by that Hirsch business; in whirlwinds of smoke and soot;Voltaire retiring; on his passionate prayer; to that silent Country…house which he calls the Marquisat; t