of other countries, and that the
transactions in Germany itself, excited less interest than the daily
occurrences of the Parisian court, or the abdication of the Queen of
Sweden. The indifferent public still continued to occupy itself as
earnestly about comets, witches, appearances of the devil, a quarrel
amongst ecclesiastics, disputes between councillors and citizens of
some Imperial city, or the conversion of some small prince by the
Jesuits, as about the battle of Fehrbellin. The preparations of the
Turks and the war in Hungary were, perhaps, spoken of with a shake of
the head; but to pay money for it, or render assistance, was seldom
thought of; even after the siege of Vienna by the Turks, in 1683, Count
Stahremberg was scarcely as interesting to the great German public as
the spy Kolschitzky, who had brought the account from the city to the
Imperial main army; his figure was engraved in copper in Turkish dress,
and sold in the market. It is true he shared this glory with every
distinguished thief and murderer who had ever been executed anywhere,
to the great diversion of the public. Sometimes, indeed, the attention
of the Germans was fixed with deeper interest on one man, the Elector
of Brandenburg. In Southern Germany, also, he was spoken of
respectfully; he was a powerful-minded prince, but, unfortunately, his
means were small. This was the general opinion; but, as upon his
character, so, likewise, upon other vital questions, did the German
people give their opinion with as much tranquillity as if it were a
question of the Muscovite Czar, or of the distant Japan, concerning
which Jesuit accounts had been narrated centuries before. And this was
not the result of the trammels of the press, though it certainly was
much fettered; for, in spite of all the recklessness with which the
ruling powers sought to revenge themselves on its unruly spirit, the
multiplicity of states, and the mutual hatred of neighbouring
governments, made it difficult to crush an unbridled press. It was
other causes which made the people so indifferent to their own
interests.

Neither was it deficiency in judgment. If the numberless political
discourses of that time are clumsy and diffuse in composition, without
any sufficient knowledge of facts and persons, yet they deserve credit
for much sound sense and frequently a surprising comprehension of the
condition of Germany. The Germans, even before 1700, were not deficient
in political discernm