February, the treaty of Hubertsburg was signed, by which Frederic
retained his spoil. He, in comparison with the other belligerent
parties was the gainer. But no acquisition of territory could
compensate for those seven years of toil, expense, and death. After
six years, he entered his capital in triumph; but he beheld every
where the melancholy marks of devastation and suffering. The fields
were untilled, houses had been sacked, population had declined, and
famine and disease had spread a funereal shade over the dwellings of
the poor. He had escaped death, but one sixth of the whole male
population of Prussia had been killed, and untold millions of property
had been destroyed. In some districts, no laborers but women were seen
in the fields, and fifteen thousand houses had been burnt in his own
capital.

[Sidenote: Exhaustion of Prussia by the War.]

It is very remarkable that no national debt was incurred by the king
of Prussia, in spite of all his necessities. He always, in the worst
of times, had a year's revenue in advance; and, at the close of the
war, to show the world that he was not then impoverished, he built a
splendid palace at Potsdam, which nearly equalled the magnificence of
Versailles.

But he also did all in his power to alleviate the distress which his
wars had caused. Silesia received three millions of thalers, and
Pomerania two millions. Fourteen thousand houses were rebuilt;
treasury notes, which had depreciated, were redeemed; officers who had
distinguished themselves were rewarded; and the widows and children of
those who had fallen were pensioned.

The possession of Silesia did not, indeed, compensate for the Seven
Years' War; but the struggles which the brave Prussians made for their
national independence, when assailed on all sides by powerful enemies,
were not made in vain. Had they not been made, worse evils would have
happened. Prussia would not have held her place in the scale of
nations, and the people would have fallen in self-respect. It was
wrong in Frederic to seize the possession of another. In so doing, he
was in no respect better than a robber: and he paid a penalty for his
crime. But he also fought in self-defence. This defence was honorable
and glorious, and this entitles him to the name of _Great_.

After the peace of Hubertsburg, in 1763, Prussia, for a time, enjoyed
repose, and the king devoted himself to the improvement of his
country. But the army received his greates