- King and people before Europe was only equaled by his folly. He dragged the Prussian Queen Louise into his bulletins and letters; hinted at vileness in her character; set afloat monstrous calumnies regarding her; when he met her, was brutal, her only offense being a patriotic devotion to Prussia. She seems to have had an artistic side which afterward reappeared in her eldest son, the next king, Frederick William IV; but she also had that sense of duty, steadfastness, and devotion to country which was destined to develop so beneficially in her second son, then a child at Königsberg, later the conqueror of France and ruler of restored Germany, the Emperor William I. Napoleon was fond, at times, of cruelty to women. Next to his colossal, ingenious, and persistent lying,1 this was perhaps the worst trait in his character; and as regarded Queen Louise, he gave this characteristic full play; she at last died of a broken heart, and was thereby made a sort of tutelar saint by the Prussian people. Her statues and portraits have become objects of popular worship; the peasants of Prussia have given her, from that day to this, much the same place in their hearts which the same class in another part of Germany gave in the Middle Ages to St. Elizabeth; more than once remembrance of the wrong done the martyred Queen has moved myriads of German households to pour forth stalwart peasant soldiers to take vengeance upon France. But there was a still deeper humiliation. Upon entering the Prussian capital in triumph, as on entering other towns, Napoleon was received by the assembled crowds with applause: German misgovernment had, to all appearance, rooted out patriotism. 1 For this propensity of Napoleon to lying, and even to forgery, see examples in Lanfrey: Histoire de Napoléon. There is a quiet but weighty reference to his persistence in this habit of lying, even until his death, in Emerson's Representative Men. Yet from the darkness of the time light began to appear. The hard rule of Frederick the Great had not lasted long enough to crush out all manly vigor; the sensualism of Frederick William the Fat had not lasted long enough to destroy all morality; men who had been known hitherto only as routine officials now began to show the characteristics of statesmen; men who had been known simply as martinets now began to show military genius; in this terrible emergency genius and talent and a deep feeling of duty began to appear in every quarter, but above all in Prussia. A galaxy of great men arose who remind an American of the "war governors," the great soldiers, the strong counselors, who, during our Civil War, arose in our own country from what seemed to be a great foul mass of politicians hopelessly corrupted by subservience to slavery. Foremost of all these great Germans in that fearful crisis was Frederick Henry Charles, Baron vom Stein. Born in 1757, near the old castle where his ancestors had lived as barons of the em pire, the Castle of Stein, on the river Lahn, above Ems, in Nassau, — he was the youngest but one of ten children. His family, having lived on the rock from which they took their name for seven hundred years, until it was laid waste in the Thirty Years' War, - had then built a house in the little village below, and there their representatives live to this day. Under the old "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation," they ruled over two villages near them, with various attributes of sovereignty. Most of Stein's brothers showed talent, but he was early recognized as possessing both character and genius, and so, by a family compact, he became the representative of the family name, the family head. He was well brought up. After the old Ger.man fashion, he was taught to speak the truth, and was especially made to understand that his position not only gave rights, but imposed duties. The ability of the rest of the family seems to have been often alloyed with something of wildness or sensuality, but the Stein continued a steady course,manly, stainless, independent, self-controlled, straightforward, energetic, a power to be reck oned with. The study which he most enjoyed was history, ancient and modern, and especially English history. From 1773 to 1777 he studied at the University of Göttingen, in the department of jurisprudence; but for this he made preparation, not by scraps of metaphysics or by mere dalliance with literature, but by thorough work in constitutional law and history; chiefly in the law and history of his own country and of England. He revered great men, above all Charlemagne and Luther. His classical scholarship was passable, but his knowledge of French and English he made thorough and practical. Uniting to his historical reading close study of political economy, social science, statistics, and the like, he was deeply impressed by the study of Adam Smith's new work, The Wealth of Nations; and as we note this and its result in the reforms which Stein instituted in Prussia, we obtain new light on the contention of Burke and Buckle that Adam Smith's book was the greatest benefaction ever given the world by any man. After remaining in Göttingen for four years, he traveled extensively through Germany, not merely for pleasure, but to study men and realities. For a considerable time he settled down at Ratisbon, in order to learn the manner of doing legislative business in the Imperial, Diet; at Wetzlar, in order to know the mode of doing judicial business in the chief imperial courts; and at Vienna, in order to understand executive methods at the centre of the empire. All this actual contact with life prevented his becoming pedantic, a man of mere formulas; during all this period he kept his eyes open to realities which a man who hoped to be of service to his country ought to know; he also went outside his country; It had been understood from the first that he was to take office, as men of his standing with small means and large ambitions usually did, in some one of the German states. Many places were open to him. In almost any of the petty states under the empire, each with its own civil service demanding men of ability, there seemed some chance for him. His ancestral allegiance was to the house of Austria; but he knew its past well enough and could look far enough into its future to see that there was no hope for Germany from that source, and so, deliberately breaking away from his family traditions and from South German prejudices against North German methods and manners, he chose the service of Frederick the Great and Prussia. Deepest in his thoughts was a desire for German unity; he saw that this unity could never be accomplished under Austrian guidance, but might be accomplished under that of Prussia; and it was this feeling that caused him to go to Berlin, where, in 1780, he became an under official in that branch of the administration which had to do with mining, more especially, in Westphalia. His duty was to inspect the mines, to study and report upon the best means of production, and he at once went at this duty in a manner most thorough; made new studies in chemistry, mineralogy, and metallurgy, with the best professors, but prevented such studies from becoming pedantic by close observation of actual conditions and processes. His promotion was rapid, and, in 1784, he was made director in the administration of the mines and manufactures of Westphalia, from that day to this one of the leading mining and manufacturing districts of Europe. He now showed great vigor. The Westphalian functionaries in general had become sleepy; but he labored, pulled, pushed, to advance the public interest, and his skill, energy, and public spirit were at last recognized. shown, not only to the province which Turgot ruled and to France, but to all Europe, how much greater is constructive work, even provincial, than the sort of service which merely or mainly enforces the whims of courts and cabinets. Stein's duties in Westphalia were now A year later he was suddenly called to a very different field. Frederick the Great, in closing his renewed struggle against Austria, wished to gain over to his League of German Princes sundry leading personages of the old empire, rapidly extended, and he was soon deespecially the Elector of Mayence; and, breaking away from old traditions, he sent Stein to Mayence as his ambassador. The young man, unaccustomed though he was to this sort of work, cut through the tangled mass of petty lying and cheatery which had so long existed there in such matters, impressed the ArchbishopElector by his honesty, and gained his points by his common sense. This, for a man of his years, was counted a great victory.1 But he had accepted this diplomatic position with the greatest reluctance, indeed, had at first utterly refused it, and was only led to take it by his sense of loyalty and honor; and now that his duty was discharged, he determined to have no more of it. One statement of his throws a bright light into his motives, for he speaks with dislike of the "alternation of idleness and crafty, calculating activity," a - a sentence in which the whole diplomacy of that period is perfectly summarized. In 1786, Frederick the Great having died, Frederick William the Fat began his meddlesome policy, and sought to send Stein as ambassador, first to Holland, and then to Russia. These positions were most brilliant, and Stein's career at Mayence gave every promise of success: all to no purpose; his aversion to this kind of service was unalterable, and he kept on with his work in Westphalia. There are many evidences that in taking this course he was influenced by the example of Turgot, whose life had 1 For curious details regarding the difficulties which Stein had to surmount during this mission, see Pertz: Leben Stein's, vol. i, pp. 44 et seq. The courts of the ecclesiastical electors seem to have been anything but saintly. voting himself especially to promoting manufactures and to opening communications by land and water on a great scale. Here came an innovation as startling in his day as, in some parts of our country, in our own; for he did this work in opening roads of the best construction, not by forcing peasants to contribute unskilled labor, after the feudal fashion, but by labor scientifically directed and adequately rewarded. Thus it was that Stein, in 1786, as Turgot had done a few years before, arrived at the same conclusions and adopted the same methods which the State of New York and other great commonwealths of the American Republic have reached, more than a hundred years later. He also improved the internal tax system, and thus, during twenty years, wrought, not merely for the Prussian treasury, but for the well-being of the people at large. During the first war of Prussia with the French Republic, which ended with the Treaty of Basle, he had reason to feel deeply the errors of Berlin statesmen, but steadily attended to his own business; more and more clearly he saw that by developing the resources of the country he could do more for it than by dabbling in foreign affairs. He constantly laid hold on new work, extending important lines of communication, improving roads and waterways, strengthening manufactures, dismissing useless functionaries, stopping peculation; but, what was even better than this, he developed public instruction, and began planning various reforms in the country at large, especially the abolition of the caste system and of serfdom. His success led to the imposition of more and more duties upon him: he was called upon to superintend the work of incorporating into Prussia the new acquisitions made under her Basle treaty with the French Republic, and especially to curb the severity of underlings seeking to carry from the capital into these new territories the stiff, stern Prussian system. His continued success led now to the highest provincial promotion. In 1796 he was made Supreme President of the Provincial Chambers and head of the entire administration in Westphalia. His duties after this promotion can best be understood by an American if we imagine the governor of one of our greatest states called upon to discharge duties, not only executive, but legislative, judicial, and diplomatic, and adding to them various functions of important cabinet officers at Washington. The system was undoubtedly bad, but his genius made it work well. His strength rose with his tasks; it was soon felt that his was a force to be obeyed, and that behind it all was a determined zeal, not for pelf or place, but for the good of the kingdom. In 1804 he was transferred to a far greater sphere. He was made Minister of State of Prussia, the departments of finance, manufactures, and trade being placed in his hands, - his career as minister thus beginning a few weeks before Napoleon's career as Emperor. In this new position, the feeling which inspired all his main efforts was an intense devotion to German unity under the lead of Prussia: both he and the French Emperor, whose most effective enemy in Germany he was destined to become, had the same instinct, — Napoleon seeking to prevent German unity by crushing Prussia, Stein seeking to promote this unity by strengthening her. This feeling in Stein was wedded to an idea then new in political economy. Prussia, like the old French monarchy, was divided into provinces, each, as a rule, with its own historic frontiers and its own manifold vexations and discouragements to manufactures and trade. Against this system Turgot had fought the good fight in France and lost it; the world now sees that the system was absurd, but then it was generally regarded as natural, and, indeed, essential; the government favored it as giving increased revenue; the people favored it as giving protection to their provincial industries. Most of its absurdities Stein swept away, and all of them he undermined. The old complicated ways of collecting the revenues he made simple; and, despite most serious opposition, he developed a new system which proved not only less costly but more fruitful; and at the same time he steadily unearthed frauds, stopped abuses, and changed various modes of financiering which tended to scoundrelism. But the war against Napoleon was now in sight, and Stein, as finance minister, was called upon to furnish money for it. In previous wars, Prussia had adopted the policy of having a standing war fund, and this system remains to this day; so that when she mobilizes her army she can immediately have ready means to tide over monetary disturbance, until adequate financial provision is made. This system, which in these days is a subordinate convenience, was then a main reliance. It prevented sudden pressure upon the people. Prussia thus, at the beginning of a war, made business more easy by making money more plentiful. But the unwisdom of Frederick William the Fat had exhausted all such treasure, and more. Various projects were considered. Frederick the Great had accomplished much for a time, though at fearful ultimate cost, by issuing debased coin; this Stein refused to do, and expressed himself to the King regarding his Majesty's great predecessor in terms more honest than complimentary. Though the decision was in favor of paper money, it was paper money carefully controlled; no "fiat money," such as not long since won such wide support in our own country, was thought of; the amount of currency was compar atively small, smaller, indeed, than the King and many of his counselors thought permissible; but Stein utterly refused to go farther than he could go in perfect safety; the fool's paradise of paper money, in which various ministers in France had disported themselves, only to be tormented by it afterward, Stein refused to enter. The labor henceforth thrown upon him was overwhelming. With the most inadequate machinery, he must provide funds for fighting France; but finance was the smallest part of his cares, for he saw swift destruction coming unless the system of government was greatly changed, even in some of its foundations. Still influential in foreign policy was Haugwitz, a poor creature at best, and now absolutely dazzled and dazed by the Napoleonic glory; him Stein opposed bitterly. Close about the King, standing between him and the ministers of state, was a sort of "kitchen cabinet," its main members being Lombard, a mere trickster belonging to the school which had brought ruin upon France; Beyme, a good sort of man at times, but wrongheaded; Haugwitz, and others like him. On these Stein waged war without ceasing. Studying the general administration, he finds a medley of favorites, ministers, directors, commissions, boards, bureaus, functionaries, with all sorts of titles and attributes, working largely at cross purposes. Studying the country at large, he finds the population divided into castes: nobles, burghers, serfs; each tied up by every sort of rusty restriction; all prevented from using their persons or their property according to their needs or the needs of their country. For all this he thinks out reforms. The Battle of Jena, terrible as were its consequences, did not shake his purpose. Though various other magnates hastened to declare allegiance to Napoleon, Stein was uncompromising; others gave up national property to the conqueror and took office under him; but Stein seized and sent everything possible beyond the conqueror's reach, refused to submit himself to an enemy of his country, and followed his sovereign into his last refuge,the most woebegone corner of the kingdom. The King now urged Stein to take the Department of Foreign Affairs, but this he steadily declined, resisting all flattering promises; partly from a belief that his fellow statesman, Hardenberg, was more fit, and partly from an unwillingness to serve before the "kitchen cabinet" had been abolished forever. After various attempts to secure him, and at the same time to hold fast to the old system, his Majesty lost his temper, wrote Stein a bitter letter, referred to one of his remonstrances as a "bombastic essay," called him a "refractory, insolent and disobedient official, proud of his own genius and talents, inattentive to the good of the state, guided purely by caprice, acting from passion, personal hatred and rancor;" and ended by saying, “If you are not disposed to alter your disrespectful and indecorous behavior, the state will not be able to reckon much upon your future services." At this, on the 3d of January, 1807, the sturdy patriot resigned his place in the cabinet, returned to his ancestral home in Nassau, and settled there, but not in sloth, for he at once began drawing up plans for various reforms which he saw must come before Germany could throw off the tyranny which had settled down upon her more and more fearfully since the defeat of Austria at Austerlitz, of Prussia at Jena, and of Russia at Friedland, among these plans being one for a better council of ministers, which should forever replace "kitchen cabinets" by known and competent advisers, not only to the King but to the country. -- Opportunity to carry out this and other good ideas came sooner than Stein had expected: Hardenberg, driven from office at the command of Napoleon, patriotically besought the King to make Stein his successor, and to this idea sup |