is friends indulged
in the most unrestrained mirth and freedom; also for his monomania
concerning 'tall fellows'--a passion for securing as many regiments as
possible of extraordinarily tall soldiers, for which he spared no pains,
and often paid little regard to the personal wishes of the tall fellows
themselves. To increase their number, he scoured all Europe, other
monarchs being not unwilling to secure his good will by providing him
with the coveted men, for whom his almost insane passion made him
willing to give any price. But the real significance of his reign in
relation to Prussia's subsequent history, is the impulse which he gave
to her military tastes, and his success in establishing firmly the
absolute authority of the monarch. The power of feudal lords had already
been shattered; it required only a strong army and a strong will to
destroy it altogether. These the king possessed. He reigned at a time
when the obstacles to the exercise of unlimited power by the king were
not what they now are, viz.: a desire on the part of the people in
general for a constitutional government. The most certain way to secure
the esteem of the people was to centralize the power in himself, and
then exercise that power in the promotion of the people's material
welfare. This the king did. He laid the foundations of the still
existing system of general school education. He invited colonists from
abroad to settle in the more uncultivated parts of his domains. He
reformed the judiciary. He diminished the taxes, and yet by his economy
increased the real revenue of the state from two and a half to seven and
a half millions. Himself disinclined to become entangled in foreign
wars, he raised the troops and the money without which his son could not
have won the military glory which has given him the title of _the
Great_.

Frederick William I. established the absolute monarchy by internal
political changes and institutions. Frederick the Great secured for it a
solid foundation in the hearts of the people. The one was thoroughly
autocratic in disposition, and not seldom displayed this disposition too
offensively; the other knew how to use his hereditary power without
seeming to care about it. In fact, under the influence of Voltaire and
the French liberalism, he himself learned to cherish very liberal
opinions respecting popular rights. But practically he was absolute, and
preferred to be so. By his brilliant military successes in the two
S