of poverty advanced upon the part of the king
was evidently false. Immediately on his arrival at Berlin, he obtained an
interview with Frederick William; and the replies of that king to the
remonstrance of the British minister are abundantly curious. He disclaimed
all idea of lukewarmness or indifference to the results of the war, was
loud in his profession of amity to Great Britain, but wound up with the
anticipated excuse--"You will, I am sure, believe me when I tell you, _on
the faith of an honest man_, (and for being one, I hope the king your
master will give me credit,) I have not in my treasury enough to pay the
expenses of a third campaign. Those I have incurred since my accession are
not unknown to you. You also know that the late king strained the
resources to their highest pitch; that I cannot raise a new tax on my
subjects; that to attempt it would drive them to the worst consequences;
and that the nature of the Prussian monarchy is such that it cannot bear a
loan. In short, that _without my allies come to my assistance, and afford
me pecuniary support_, I shall be compelled to stop short in the war.

"I have not exhausted my treasure in idle and useless expenses; it has
been employed in forwarding measures which related to the general
interests of Europe, as well as to the particular ones of Prussia. It
cannot be those of England to see me degraded and sunk; and this
certainly, _joined to my high notion of your national character_, leaves
me without apprehension as to the consequences of the declaration I make,
which I repeat to be the sole and real cause of my apparent backwardness
in continuing the war."

It is now clear, far beyond cavil or doubt, that this sovereign's estimate
of the national character of the English, was much akin to Major
Dalgetty's appreciation of the Dutch--"They are the best paymasters in
Europe." Dalgetty, however, had one merit which we fear that history must
deny to the King of Prussia. He gave his service for his employer's money,
and was scrupulously true to his articles. Frederick William, on the
contrary, was bent upon receiving a subsidy, whilst, at the same time, he
or his ministers were attempting to negotiate a private treaty with
France. These facts come out most glaringly in the Malmesbury papers. The
envoy seems to have felt all along that he was treading on the most
slippery ground, that no reliance could be placed upon the faith or
integrity of the court with which h