tormented
by the spirit of conquest, he wishes harm to no nation, yet he will
certainly not suffer other nations to make encroachments, nor will he be
terrified by menaces.

The wise Frederic, when living, though himself learned, and a lover of
the sciences, never encouraged them in his kingdom. Germany, under his
reign, might have forgotten her language: he preferred the literature of
France. Konigsberg, once the seminary of the North, contains, at
present, few professors, or students; the former are fallen into
disrepute, and are ill paid; the latter repair to Leipsic and Gottingen.
We have every reason to suppose the present monarch, though no studious
man himself, will encourage the academies of the literati, that men
learned in jurisprudence and the sciences may not be wanting: which want
is the more to be apprehended as the nobility must, without exception,
serve in the army, so that learning has but few adherents, and these are
deprived of the means of improvement.

Frederic William is also too much the friend of men to suffer them to
pine in prisons. He abhors the barbarity with which the soldiers are
beaten: his officers will not be fettered hand and foot; slavish
subordination will be banished, and the noble in heart will be the noble
of the land. May he, in his people, find perfect content! May his
people be ever worthy of such a prince! Long may he reign, and may his
ministers be ever enlightened and honourable men!

He sent for me a second time, conversed much with me, and confirmed those
ideas which my first interview had inspired.

On the 11th of March I presented my son at another audience, whom I
intended for the Prussian service. The King bestowed a commission on him
in the Posadowsky dragoons, at my request.

I saw him at the review at Velau, and his superior officers formed great
expectations from his zeal. Time will discover whether he who is in the
Austrian, or this in the Prussian service, will first obtain the rewards
due to their father. Should they both remain unnoticed, I will bestow
him on the Grand Turk, rather than on European courts, whence equity to
me and mine is banished.

To Austria I owe no thanks; all that could be taken from me was taken. I
was a captain before I entered those territories, and, after
six-and-thirty years' service, I find myself in the rank of invalid
major. The proof of all I have asserted, and of how little I am indebted
to this state is most inc