PRUSSIA
522
PRUSSIA
that these bodies, especially the cities, were actually
ruled by t hese officials.
These reforms reached their culmiBation in the founding of the "General Directory", at BerUn, and of the Boards of War and Finance in the pro\'inces in 1721. The result was that the entire official life of Prussia became bureaucratic, and financial considera- tions had the preponderating influence in the internal administration of the country, as is still strikingly noticeable. Those departments of national admin- istration that yielded little revenue, or were apt to cost more than they could be counted upon to yield, were for the present neglected, or in part still left under the control of the Estates, in those cases where the Estates had acquired the supervision of them; such were, above all, the administration of law, eccle- siastical affairs, and the schools. On the other hand great attention was given to improving economic con- ditions, and gradually all the measures were used in Prussia that the genius of a Colbert had planned dur- ing the reign of Louis XIV to raise France to the place of the first power in the world. Accordingly the popu- lation was increased by encouraging the immigration of the Dutch, Huguenots, and finally of the Protest- ants, who were driven out of Salzbiu-g. Much also was done to improve the soil and the breeding of cattle. In agreement with the prevailing principles of economics, i. e. as much money as possible should be brought into the country, but that its export should be prevented, manufacture and commerce were to be stimulated in every possible way. The Great Elector even established a naw and also founded colonies on the African Gold Coast; in 1717 Frederick WUham I sold the colonies. Many excel- lent officials were drawn from other countries to aid in the administration. However, the ruling prince was the centre of the Government. The result of tliis was that, as early as the latter years of the reign of the Elector, the principal boards of administration and the ministers presiding over them sank more and more into mere tools for carrjing out the will of the ruling prince, and decisions were made, not in the boards, but in the cabinet of the prince. This method of administration became completely systematized in the reign of Frederick William I; consequently it is customary to speak of the cabinet government of Prussia. This form of administration was maintained until 1806.
The success of the organizing energy of the ruling princes was so evident that even before the end of the seventeenth century Leibniz said: "This country is a kingdom in all but name." The lacking name of kingdom was given to the country when Frederick I (1688-1713), the son of the Great Elector, crowned liimself on 18 Januarj', 1701, at K6nig.sberg, with the title "King in Prussia", meaning of the former duchy. As long as the development of the internal strength of the country was backward there was Lttle chance of gaining any important additions of territory, even though the great wars of the period made such efforts very temiiting. The Great Elector was a man of un- controlled and passionate character, and of much military ambition; it was very hard for him to let others reap where he had sown, for he had taken part in nearly all the wars of his era. Frederick William I also was alive to his country's glory, but was more inclined to prepare for war than to carry it on; in many respects his character recalls that of the later William I. In this period the chief object of the for- eign policy of the Hohenzollerns was to increase their posse.s.sions along the Baltic. Above all they desired to own Pomerania, which Sweden retained. By the Treaty of Westphalia the Great Elector received only Further Pomerania (Hinterpommern), which was of little value. He gained nothing from the first North- em War (16.55-60) in which he took part; his \ictory over the Swedes in the battle of Fehrbellin (1675)
proved fruitless. His grandson finally acquired Stettin
ami the mouth of the Oder in 1720, and Hither
Pomerania (Vorpommern) did not become a part of
Prussia mitU 1S15. The Great Elector was more for-
tunate in obtaining the release of the Duchy of
Prussia from the feudal suzerainty of Poland (1658),
and was also able to increase its area by the addition
of Ermland. He further desired to acquire Silesia.
In these years the chief battlefield of Europe was the
western part of the Continent. This was unfavour-
able for the schemes of the Hohenzollerns, for at that
time they had no definite policy of territorial exten-
sion in western Europe, and consequently no interests
of any importance there.
In the west the Great Elector limited himself to securing the lasting possession of Cleve (1667) and the occupation of the territories which France had secured for liim in exchange for Pomerania, namely Minden, Halberstadt, and Magdeburg, which before this had been ecclesiastical principalities. These gave him strategetically important positions controlling points of crossing the Elbe and the Weser; but he could not obtain Magdeburg until 1666, and did not gain full possession of it until 1680. During the reigns of his son and grandson some small and unimportant terri- tories to the west of these were obtained. Taken alto- gether Brandenburg-Prussia had by 1740 increased in area from 9000 square miles under the first Hohen- zoUern Elector and 31,600 square miles in the reign of John Sigismund to about 46,800 square miles with a population of about 2,250.000. Up to now the bulk of the area of the country had lain towards the east, but from this period onward the preponderating part of its territories began to be found in the west. The wife of the Great Elector belonged to the family of the Princes of Orange, and this led the Elector to consider Holland in his foreign pohcy; in 1672 espe- cially this influenced him to take part in the war between Holland and Louis XIV. He also ga^•e more attention to imperial affairs than liis immediate pred- ecessors. In the politics of the empire sometimes he sided with the emperor. At times, however, he ad- hered to the views held by the German ruhng princes of that time that there was an inner Germany con- sisting of the various states of the empire; and that this was the real Germany, the interests of which did not always coincide with those of Austria or of the reigning emperor. He beUeved tliat the real Germany must at times maintain its interests against Austria by the aid of one of the guaranteeing powers of the Peace of Westphalia, viz. France and Sweden. The only times he paid no attention in his pohcies to his duty as a prince of the empire was at the beginning of his reign when influenced by religious prejudices, and towards its end when disappointed by the Peace of St.-Germuin-en-Laye (1679).
Another sign that the Prussian state was becoming gradually involved in the affairs of western Europe was the fact that as a second wife the Great Elector married a Guelph, to which family the wives both of his son and grandson belonged. In the second half of the seventeenth century the Guelph Une founded the Electorate of Hanover in north-western Germany, the only st.ate in this section of Germany that, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, could in any way compete with Brandenburg-Prussia for the leading position. The founding of the Academy of Berhn is due to Sophia Charlotte, wife of Frederick I. The same royal couple established the University of Halle, which soon gained a European reputation on account of its professors Thomasius and Christian Wolff and the in.stitutions for the poor founded by Professor Francke. The fine addition in the royal castle at Berlin and the splendid statue of the Great Elector by .\n<lreas Schliiter were both works of this reign.
"III. Frederick II, The Great (1740-88), son of Frederick William I, had probably more intellectual
