History of Friedrich II of Prussia, vol 19 | Page 8

you; Mint-Officers, and
General Tauentzien [with a young Herr Lessing, as his Chief Clerk, of
whom the King knows nothing]; Go, ye unlovely!' And Ephraim and
Company are making a great deal of money by the unlovely job.
Ephraim is the pair of tongs, the hand, and the unlovely job, are a royal
man's. Alas, yes. And none of us knows better than King Friedrich,
perhaps few of us as well, how little lovely a job it was; how
shockingly UNkingly it was,--though a practice not unknown to
German Kings and Kinglets before his time, and since down almost to
ours. [In STENZEL (v. 141) enumeration of eight or nine unhappy
Potentates, who were busy with it in those same years.] In fact, these

are all unkingly practices;--and the English Subsidy itself is distasteful
to a proud Friedrich: but what, in those circumstances, can any
Friedrich do?
"The first coinages of Ephraim had, it seems, in them about 3-7ths of
copper; something less than the half, and more than the third," --your
gold sovereign grown to be worth 28s. 6d. "But yearly it grew worse;
and in 1762 [English Subsidy having failed] matters had got inverted;
and there was three times as much copper as silver. Commerce, as was
natural, went rocking and tossing, as on a sea under earthquakes; but
there was always ready money among Friedrich's soldiers, as among no
other: nor did the common people, or retail purchasers, suffer by it.
'Hah, an Ephraimite!' they would say, grinning not ill-humoredly, at
sight of one of these pieces; some of which they had more specifically
named 'BLUE-GOWNS' [owing to a tint of blue perceivable, in spite of
the industrious plating in real silver, or at least "boiling in some
solution" of it]; these they would salute with this rhyme, then current:--
"Von aussen schon, van innen schlimm; Von aussen Friedrich,
von innen Ephraim. Outside noble, inside slim: Outside
Friedrich, inside Ephraim.
"By this time, whatever of money, from any source, can be scraped
together in Friedrich's world, flows wholly into the Army-Chest, as the
real citadel of life. In these latter years of the War, beginning, I could
guess, from 1759, all Civil expenditures, and wages of Officials, cease
to be paid in money; nobody of that kind sees the color even of bad
coin; but is paid only in 'Paper Assignments,' in Promises to Pay 'after
the Peace.' These Paper Documents made no pretence to the rank of
Currency: such holders of them as had money, or friends, and could
wait, got punctual payment when the term did arrive; but those that
could not, suffered greatly; having to negotiate their debentures on
ruinous terms,-- sometimes at an expense of three-fourths.--I will add
Friedrich's practical Schedule of Amounts from all these various
Sources; and what Friedrich's own view of the Sources was, when he
could survey them from the safe distance.
"SCHEDULE OF AMOUNTS [say for 1761]. To make up the

Twenty-five Million thalers, necessary for the Army, there are:--
"From our Prussian Countries, ruined, harried as THALERS they have
been, . . . . . . . . . . 4 millions only. From Saxony and the other
Wringings, . . . . . 7 millions. English Subsidy (4 of good gold;
becoppered into double), . . . . . . . . . . . 8 " From Ephraim and his Farm
of the Mint (MUNZ-PATENT), . . . . . . . . . . 7 "
In sum Twenty-six Millions; leaving you one Million of margin,-- and
always a plenty of cash in hand for incidental sundries. [Preuss, ii.
388.]
"Friedrich's own view of these sad matters, as he closes his
History of the Seven-Years War [at "Berlin, 17th
December, 1763"], is in these words: 'May Heaven grant,--if Heaven
deign to look down on the paltry concerns of men,--that the unalterable
and flourishing destiny of this Country preserve the Sovereigns who
shall govern it from the scourges and calamities which Prussia has
suffered in these times of trouble and subversion; that they may never
again be forced to recur to the violent and fatal remedies which we
(L'ON) have been obliged to employ in maintenance of the State
against the ambitious hatred of the Sovereigns of Europe, who wished
to annihilate the House of Brandenburg, and exterminate from the
world whatever bore the Prussian name!'" [ OEuvres de
Frederic, v. 234.]
OF THE SMALL-WAR IN SPRING, 1759. THERE ARE FIVE
DISRUPTIONS OF THAT GRAND CORDON (February-April);
AND FERDINAND OF BRUNSWICK FIGHTS HIS BATTLE OF
BERGEN (April 13th).
Friedrich, being denied an aggressive course this Year, by no means
sits idly expectant and defensive in the interim; but, all the more
vigorously, as is observable, from February onwards, strikes