ords,
officials, or officers. Formerly, law-suits were incessant and costly,
and could scarcely be carried on without bribery and great sacrifice of
money; now the number of lawyers became less, because decisions were so
rapid. Under the Austrians the caravan traffic with the east of Europe
had undoubtedly been greater; the Bukowins and Hungarians, and also the
Poles, became estranged, and already looked to Trieste; but new sources
of industry arose, large manufactories of wool and cloth, and in the
mountain valleys linen, were established. Many were dissatisfied with
the new time, some were in fact oppressed by its harshness, but few
ventured to deny that on the whole there was improvement.

But there was another characteristic of the Prussian State that made an
impression on the Silesians, and soon obtained a mastery over their
minds. This was the devoted Spartan spirit of those who served the
King, which frequently appeared in the lowest officials. The excise
officers, even before the introduction of the French system, were
little liked; they were invalid subaltern officers, old soldiers of the
King, who had won his battles, and had grown grey in his service. They
sat now at the gates, and smoked their wooden pipes; they received very
little pay, and could indulge themselves in little, but were from early
dawn till late in the evening at their post, did their duty skilfully,
quickly, and punctually, like old soldiers, received and faithfully
delivered up the money as a matter of course. They thought always of
their service: it was their honour, their pride; and long did the old
Silesians continue to relate to their descendants how much they had
been struck by the punctiliousness, strictness, and honesty of these
and other Prussian officials. There was in every district town a
receiver of taxes; he lived in his small office room, which was perhaps
at the same time his bedroom, and received in a large wooden dish the
land tax which the village magistrate brought to his room once a month.
Many thousand thalers were noted down on the long list, and were
delivered to the last penny into the State coffers. Small was the
salary of even such a man as this; he sat, received and packed away in
bags, till his hair became white, and his trembling hands could no
longer lay hold of the two-groschen pieces. And the pride of his life
was, that the King knew him personally, and, if he ever came through
the place during the change of