Part 7 (2/2)

The offer was rejected, and almost before the ink in the correspondence was dry, a Prussian army, with Frederick at its head, was in the heart of the disputed province.

Two characteristics marked Frederick's movements--the perfect secrecy with which they were planned, and the swiftness with which they were carried out. He formed his own plans, and even his Prime Minister did not know of their existence until he was ordered to execute them. The cunning methods then prevailing in Courts, by which foreign amba.s.sadors defeated designs while they were maturing, were powerless against this young King, as none but himself knew what was going to happen. He gave his personal and unremitting care to every detail of government, and astonished his people by the prodigies of labor he performed, and the sacrifices of his time, rest, and comfort.

Of course this ancient wrong done his family in the matter of Silesia was only a pretext. Frederick had made up his mind at Potsdam that Prussia must be solidified by bringing together her detached provinces, and he had long ago drawn a new map in his mind, which should include Silesia.

Nature had endowed him with a bold and aspiring genius. He had a consciousness of strength, combined with a belief that he was a chosen instrument appointed by fate to perform a definite work: the raising of Prussia to the first rank in the German empire.

When we see Frederick's ideal of a despotic personal government, with a divinely appointed ruler leading his country to greatness, independent of ministers and advisers,--it is easy to recognize the model which is being studied by a certain young ruler in Europe to-day!

There was another strong personality on the throne at Vienna. To have her crown threatened by a powerful combination, and at the same time a war of conquest waged against her in her own Austria, was a heavy burden to be borne by a young girl of twenty-four years. But Maria Theresa maintained herself with astonis.h.i.+ng bravery and firmness. She listened to the counsels of her ministers, and then decided for herself; even her husband Francis being unable to sway her judgment.

France, Spain, and Saxony sustained the claims of the Bavarian Archduke to her throne; and when a French army was on the Danube and Vienna threatened, she fled to Hungary and made a personal appeal to the Hungarian Diet to stand by her. She promised the restoration of rights for which they had been contending, and by her personal charm and radiance captured the wavering n.o.bles, who placed on her head the crown of St. Stephen. They cheered wildly as she galloped up ”the king's hill,” and waved her sword toward the four quarters of the earth in true Imperial fas.h.i.+on.

Then she appeared before the Diet in their national costume with her infant son Joseph in her arms, and in an eloquent speech depicted the dangers which beset her, and the enthusiastic n.o.bles drew their sabers, shouting, ”We will die for our _King_, Maria Theresa!”

This saved Vienna. The support of Hungary arrested the advance toward the capital, and the invading army moved instead on to Prague, where her rival was crowned King of Bohemia, and later at Frankfort was proclaimed Emperor Karl VII.

While these distracting combinations were engrossing the young sovereign, Frederick had invaded Silesia, and when the second Silesian war ended in 1742, Prussia held that province, and was enriched by 150 large and small cities, and about 5000 villages.

England, Holland, and Hanover now came to the support of Maria Theresa against Karl VII. and his French ally.

The wary Frederick saw that, with such a coalition, Austria's success was certain, and he also saw that, if victorious, her next step would be to try to recover Silesia. So he offered to join France in support of Karl VII., and threw himself into the war of the Austrian succession.

This lasted three years longer and was concluded by the Peace of Dresden (1745), which again confirmed Prussia in the possession of Silesia, left Maria Theresa's husband wearing the disputed Imperial t.i.tle as Francis I., and to Frederick left the more unique and renowned t.i.tle of ”the Great,” which was bestowed by acclamation on his return to Berlin.

Frederick's first care was to heal the wounds inflicted by the two Silesian wars.

It is interesting to speculate upon what this man might have been, had his childhood been spent in an atmosphere of kindness and love, and had his heart and intelligence been symmetrically nurtured and trained.

But he was trained as the tree is trained which is blasted in its youth by lightnings, then twisted and distorted by hands which defeat its natural tendency upward and sunward!

An eager and impressionable boy with warm affections, acute intelligence, and a strong sense of justice had been subjected to inhuman barbarities in his own home. In his heart-hunger he turned to pursuits for which he had a pa.s.sionate love, and was nourished in secret upon a poisonous diet. A nature which in the fire of his youth had been full of generous enthusiasms was embittered by suffering, and then became cold and cynical under the teachings of Voltaire.

So fascinated had he become with this man that he regarded him as the most exalted of beings, and his friends.h.i.+p a treasure above all others.

Faith, hope, love, and filial respect were, through this influence, destroyed in the germ before they had time to unfold; and in the place of everything sacred was a cynical cold-blooded search after what these philosophers of the eighteenth century were pleased to call--_truth_.

And the way to discover this truth was to a.n.a.lyze, dissect, and then to demolis.h.!.+

So there had been created a strangely composite man, compounded of elements native to himself, to that undeveloped barbarian Frederick William, and to Voltaire! Joined to a strong practical common sense in the management of affairs was a pa.s.sion for insincere, unsound, and shallow French ideals. And combined with the most despotic and arbitrary of wills, was an inflexible regard for the right of the humblest. While he despised the beliefs of Protestant and Catholic alike, he declared ”I mean that every man in my kingdom shall have the right to be saved in his own way.” And he secured that right for his people, too!

His rule was a despotism, but it was a despotism of intelligence and justice. He called himself the first official servant of the state, and no clerk in his kingdom gave such faithful service as he. He arose at four o'clock in the morning. He made himself personally acquainted with every village and landed estate in his kingdom, which he treated as if it were a great private enterprise and interest, for which he was responsible.

He was a reformer without heart; a King intent upon the well-being of his people, without tenderness; a leader prepared, if need be, not to lead, but to drag Prussia with a rough hand up the rugged path of virtue and prosperity; and determined to make his nation great, whether it wanted to be or not!

There were many pleasanter companions and gentler fathers in his day.

There were sovereigns who did not terrify wrong-doers and children on the street with uplifted canes. But this Frederick, with character scarred and distorted, was the one man in Europe who was converting a kingdom into a POWER, and the one man of his age whom history would call GREAT!

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