of the rich, either a silver fork or a silver spoon; to say nothing of the cheap and frugal fare of the great mass of the people, and their comfortless kind of life, with hardly any physical luxuries except tobacco and beer.  It is surprising how, in a poor country, Frederic could have sustained such an exhaustive war without incurring a national debt.  Perhaps it was not as easy in those times for kings and states to run into debt as it is now.  One of the great refinements of advancing civilization is that we are permitted to bequeath our burdens to future generations.  Time only will show whether this is the wisest course.  It is certainly not a wise thing for individuals to do.  He who enters on the possession of a heavily mortgaged estate is an embarrassed, perhaps impoverished, man.  Frederic, at least, did not leave debts for posterity to pay; he preferred to pay as he went along, whatever were the difficulties.

The real gainer by the war, if gainer there was, was England, since she was enabled to establish a maritime supremacy, and develop her manufacturing and mercantile resources,—­much needed in her future struggles to resist Napoleon.  She also gained colonial possessions, a foothold in India, and the possession of Canada.  This war entangled Europe, and led to great battles, not in Germany merely, but around the world.  It was during this war, when France and England were antagonistic forces, that the military genius of Washington was first developed in America.  The victories of Clive and Hastings soon after followed in India.

The greatest loser in this war was France:  she lost provinces and military prestige.  The war brought to light the decrepitude of the Bourbon rule.  The marshals of France, with superior forces, were disgracefully defeated.  The war plunged France in debt, only to be paid by a “roaring conflagration of anarchies.”  The logical sequence of the war was in those discontents and taxes which prepared the way for the French Revolution,—­a catastrophe or a new birth, as men differently view it.

The effect of the war on Austria was a loss of prestige, the beginning of the dismemberment of the empire, and the revelation of internal weakness.  Though Maria Theresa gained general sympathy, and won great glory by her vigorous government and the heroism of her troops, she was a great loser.  Besides the loss of men and money, Austria ceased to be the great threatening power of Europe.  From this war England, until the close of the career of Napoleon, was really the most powerful state in Europe, and became the proudest.

As for Prussia,—­the principal transgressor and actor,—­it is more difficult to see the actual results.  The immediate effects of the war were national impoverishment, an immense loss of life, and a fearful demoralization.  The limits of the kingdom were enlarged, and its military and political power was established.  It became one of the leading states of Continental Europe, surpassed