never have gained more than
an antechamber or alcove influence, they would never have risen to
political influence, had they not known how to pervert the noblest
inclinations of the King, whilst flattering the lowest. Mediocre and
secondary as was his place in the line of the Hohenzollerns,
Frederick William was not devoid of all royal qualities. He was brave,
he was kind-hearted, or rather he was a man of "sensibility"; he
desired the public weal; he had suffered, like the nation, from the
pitiless regime of Frederick; like the whole nation, he wanted to
reform the State by lightening the yoke. He believed himself inspired
from on high, "illumined," and called by Providence to restore the
morals and faith of a country which, he was told, and he himself
believed, was perishing through the scepticism of men's minds and the
looseness of men's morals.

How could he combine such tendencies with such tastes, such
aspirations with such passions, such beliefs with such debauchery? It
was just therein that he showed himself a weak character and a mystic;
that was why he joined theurgic sects instead of submitting to the
Church; why he believed in visions more than in the Gospel, listened
to a ventriloquist mimicking the voice of Frederick instead of
listening to the voices of the Ministers, the great King's disciples;
that is why he distrusted wise, thoughtful, experienced people and
surrendered himself to charlatans and favourites.

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

H. IBSEN
LA LIBERTE ET LE DETERMINISME
ESSAIS DE PHILOSOPHIE ET DE LITTERATURE (2 VOLS.)
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (1905)
THE BALKAN QUESTION
CARDINAL NEWMAN AND HIS INFLUENCE ON RELIGIOUS THOUGHT
VICTOR HUGO
LIFE OF TOLSTOY
THE ANGLO-GERMAN PROBLEM
HOW BELGIUM SAVED EUROPE
EUROPE'S DEBT TO RUSSIA
THE FRENCH RENASCENCE

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