o posterity are the _arcana
imperii_ of modern Germany. Those who desire to learn the
secret of Germany's strength, wealth, and efficiency, should
therefore most carefully study the teachings of Frederick
the Great.

Frederick's "Political Testament" of 1752 addressed to his
successors begins with the significant words:

"The first duty of a citizen consists in serving his
country. I have tried to fulfil that duty in all the
different phases of my life."

Frederick William I. looked out for the education of his successors in
his own militarist ideals. Instructing Major Borcke in 1751 on the
tutoring of his grand-nephew, the Heir-Presumptive of Prussia, he
wrote:

It is very important that he should love the Army. Therefore
he must be told at all occasions and by all whom he meets
that men of birth who are not soldiers are pitiful wretches.
He must be taken to see the troops drilling as often as he
likes. He ought to be shown the Cadets, and be given five or
six of them to drill. That should be an amusement for him,
not a duty. The great point is that he should become fond of
military affairs, and the worst that could happen would be
if he should become bored with them. He should be allowed to
talk to all, to cadets, soldiers, citizens and officers, to
increase his self-reliance.

A thorough monarchist, who noted that "when Sweden was turned into a
republic it became weak," Frederick the Great preached a doctrine not
different from that which inspires the speeches of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
when he said in his "Political Testament" of 1752:

As Prussia is surrounded by powerful states my successors
must be prepared for frequent wars. The soldiers must be
given the highest positions in Prussia for the same reason
for which they received them in ancient Rome when that State
conquered the world. Honors and rewards stimulate and
encourage talent and praise arouses men to a generous
emulation. It encourages men to enter the army. It is
paradoxical to treat officers contemptuously and call theirs
an honored profession. The men who are the principal
supports of the State must be encouraged and be preferred to
the soft and insipid society men who can only grace an
ante-chamber.

Mr. Barker comments on the fact that in 1776, thirteen years after the
ruinous Seven Ye