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of Austria. On the first division, which was made in 1772, the imperial robbers each took a portion of the spoils. What was left was put under an old Polish constitution, which was simply "another name for anarchy." In 1793 a second partition was made, this time between Russia and Prussia; and then, in 1795, after the suppression of a determined revolt of the Poles under the lead of the patriot Kosciusko, a third and final division among the three powers completed the dismemberment of the unhappy state, and erased its name from the map of Europe. The territory gained by Russia in these transactions brought her western frontier close alongside the civilization of Central Europe. In Catherine's phrase, Poland had become her "door mat," upon which she stepped when visiting the West.1

Besides thus widening her empire, Catherine labored to reform its institutions and to civilize her subjects. But the great queen's own faults and vices stood in her way, and neutralized much of her work. Her labors, however, in bettering the laws and improving the administration of the government, have caused her to be likened to Solon and Lycurgus; while her enthusiasm for learning and her patronage of letters led Voltaire to say, "Light now comes from the North."

By the close of Catherine's reign Russia was beyond question one of the foremost powers of Europe, the weight of her influence being quite equal to that of any other nation of the continent.

1 In extenuation, though not in justification, of the conduct of the spoilers of Poland, it should be said that at this time the internal condition of the country bordered so close on anarchy that humanity seemed to excuse any interference which promised to result in bringing the turbulent population under more efficient government; while in special extenuation of Russia's part in the transaction, it should be remembered that for nearly six centuries Poland had been her dangerous and aggressive enemy. Thus during the Troublous Times the Poles had burned Moscow, thrown the Czar into a dungeon, and set a Polish prince upon the Russian throne.

CHAPTER IV.

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA: FREDERICK THE GREAT (1740–1786).

The Beginnings of Prussia. The foundation of the Prussian Kingdom was laid in the beginning of the seventeenth century (1611) by the union of two small states in the North of Germany. These were the Mark or Electorate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia. Brandenburg had been gradually growing into prominence since the tenth century. Its ruler at this time was a prince of the noted House of Hohenzollern, and was one of the seven princes to whom belonged the right of electing the Emperor. Prussia, so called from the Borussi, a tribe of desperate heathen of Slavonic race, was a small state lying along the Baltic shore, east of the Vistula. It had been conquered by the valor of the Teutonic Knights in the thirteenth century, and during this and the following centuries had been gradually colonized and Teutonized by German immigrants. Slavonic barbarism and heathenism had here been pushed back, and territory once lost regained for Teutonic civilization and Christianity.

The Great Elector Frederick William (1640–1688). — Afthough this new Prussian power was destined to become the champion of German Protestantism, it acted a very unworthy and vacillating part in the Thirty Years' War. But just before the close of that struggle a strong man came to the throne, Frederick William, better known as the Great Elector. He infused vigor and strength into every department of the State, and acquired such a position for his government that at the Peace of Westphalia

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he was able to secure new territory, which greatly enhanced his power and prominence among the German princes.

The Great Elector ruled for nearly half a century, and left to his successor a strongly centralized authority. He laid the basis of the military power of Prussia by the formation of a standing army, and gave the world to understand that this rising power was to be the fearless champion of the cause of Protestantism and religious toleration, by defying the wrath of Louis XIV. and opening his dominions as an asylum to the Huguenots driven from France by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

How the Elector of Brandenburg acquires the Title of King. - Frederick III. (1688-1713), son of the Great Elector, was ambitious for the title of king, a dignity that the weight and influence won for the Prussian state by his father fairly justified him in seeking. He saw about him other princes less powerful than himself enjoying this dignity, and he too "would be a king and wear a crown." Recent events stimulated this ambition. William of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, had just been chosen king of England, and Augustus II., Elector of Saxony, had just become king of Poland.

It was necessary of course for Frederick to secure the consent of the Emperor, a matter of some difficulty, for the Catholic advisers of the Austrian court were bitterly opposed to having an heretical prince thus honored and advanced, while the Emperor himself was not at all pleased with the idea. But the war of the Spanish Succession was just about to open, and the Emperor was extremely anxious to secure Frederick's assistance in the coming struggle. Therefore, on condition of his furnishing him aid in the war, the Emperor consented to Frederick's assuming the new title and dignity in the Duchy of Prussia, which, unlike Brandenburg, did not form part of the Empire.

Accordingly, early in the year 1701, Frederick, amidst imposing ceremonies, was crowned and hailed as king at Königsberg. Hitherto he had been Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia; now he is Elector of Brandenburg and King of Prussia, and

entitled, in this latter state, to exercise all the authority and enjoy all the honors and privileges of royalty.

Thus was a new king born among the kings of Europe. Thus did the House of Austria invest with royal dignity the rival House of Hohenzollern. The event is a landmark in German, and even in European, history. The cue of German history from this on is the growth of the power of the Prussian kings, and their steady advance to Imperial honors, and to the control of the affairs of the German race.

This wonderful growth of Prussia is compared by Freeman to the growth of Wessex in England, of Francia in Gaul, of Castile in Spain. "In all these cases it has been a mark land which has come to the front and has become the head of the united nation."

Frederick William I. (1713-1740). The son and successor of the first Prussian king, known as Frederick William I., was one of the most extraordinary characters in history. He was a strong, violent, brutal man, full of the strangest freaks, yet in many respects just the man for the times.

Frederick William's father had been the friend and patron of scholars and learning, having founded the University of Halle and the Academy of Science at Berlin; but the son despised culture and treated scholars with studied contempt, being reported as having declared that " a pinch of common sense was worth a university full of learning." He looked with scorn upon the great Leibnitz because he was not big enough to make a good guard. His commands were given "in a loud voice and bad grammar.” His writing was a most wretched scrawl, and his officers sometimes made woful blunders through misreading their orders.

Frederick William differed, too, from his father in the matter of economy. His father loved show and parade, and was recklessly prodigal in his expenditures. As soon as Frederick William came to the throne he dismissed the crowd of attendants with whom his father had filled the palace, and introduced the same economy in all the departments of the government. He would

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tolerate no idlers. He carried a long cane, which he laid upon the back of every unoccupied person he chanced to find, whether man, woman, or child. "Get home to your brats," was his rough salutation to women whom he found in the streets without any apparent object. He once caned a whole bench full of dignified

judges.

The "Regiment of Giants." — In one matter, however, Frederick William forgot entirely his maxims of economy. He had a mania for big soldiers. With infinite expense and trouble he gathered a regiment of the biggest men he could find, who were known as the "Potsdam Giants," a regiment numbering 2,400 men, some of whom were eight feet in height. Not only were the Goliaths of his own dominions impressed into the service, but big men in all parts of Europe were coaxed, bribed, or kidnaped by Frederick's recruiting officers. Some of these recruits cost the king dear. An Irish giant cost him $45,000. No present was so acceptable to him as a giant, and by the gift of a six-footer more than one prince of Europe bought the everlasting favor of Frederick William.

The use of any means seemed justifiable in his view in securing a tall grenadier. He got himself into trouble more than once through his recruiting sergeants kidnaping the subjects of neighboring sovereigns. No matter where they were, "tall men went about with their liberty in their hands."

Considering the trouble and expense Frederick William had in collecting his Giants, the care which he took of them was quite natural. He looked after them as tenderly as though they were infants, and was very careful never to expose them to the dangers of a battle.

The "Tobacco Parliament."-Another of Frederick William's institutions was what was known as the "Tobacco Parliament." This was a sort of council board, every member of which was obliged to drink beer and to smoke, or at least to hold an empty pipe in his mouth and make believe he was smoking. Here, enveloped in clouds of tobacco smoke, the king discussed with