ining. There was no shrinking. He said, in 1713: "when my son
comes to the throne he must find the vaults crowded with gold," and
the son, in 1740, found eight million thalers. He found, moreover, a
well-equipped army of eighty-three thousand men. This was the special
creation of the energetic king. He was, indeed, a peaceful ruler, and
did not thirst for military glory. Among European Powers he was of
little account, and kept all his violence for home use. When he laid
up treasure, and organised an army that was not so large as that of
France, of Austria, or of Russia, but more concentrated and better
drilled, his people understood that he would some day provide
territory and population to match--an army so excessive, an army six
times as large, in proportion to those of other Powers, was meant to
be employed. The burden was not felt. Of the expense, one-half was
borne by the domain. Of the men, a large portion was recruited abroad,
and relieved the natives of Prussia. After some years, it was felt
that the platoons of giants, which had cost twelve million thalers,
were a wasteful toy, and that the money might have been spent to
advantage among the people. The king attempted to supply their place
by a levy among the the agrarian population, which is reputed the
remote origin of universal service. His economy was so rigid that,
with an income of seven million thalers, he spent five millions on his
armaments. He thus created the force which began what Napoleon
completed, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. For that which
the father stored, the son expended; and I hope in the next lecture to
tell you how he did it.

He so eclipsed Frederic William that the latter became an obscure
memory, and was spoken of with contempt and disgust by his own people.
Carlyle discovered in him his own ideal, the strong man, and set him
on his legs. And when the army which he created, which had been
remodelled by Frederic, Scharnhorst, Roon, and Moltke, became the
greatest of all armies, Germany remembered its founder and was
grateful for his militarism.

They have made their choice, as we must do. Those who remember with
honour men like Hampden and Washington, regard with a corresponding
aversion Peter the Great and Frederic William I. But without the
first Europe might be French, and without the other it might be
Russian. That which arose in Northern Europe about the time of our
revolution settlement was a new f