yet forgotten.  Carlyle says the “partition of Poland was an operation of Almighty Providence and the eternal laws of Nature,”—­a key to his whole philosophy, which means, if it means anything, that as great fishes swallow up the small ones, and wild beasts prey upon each other, and eagles and vultures devour other birds, it is all right for powerful nations to absorb the weak ones, as the Romans did.  Might does not make right by the eternal decrees of God Almighty, written in the Bible and on the consciences of mankind.  Politicians, whose primal law is expediency, may justify such acts as public robbery, for they are political Jesuits,—­always were, always will be; and even calm statesmen, looking on the overruling of events, may palliate; but to enlightened Christians there is only one law, “Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you.”  Nor can Christian civilization reach an exalted plane until it is in harmony with the eternal laws of God.  Mr. Carlyle glibly speaks of Almighty Providence favoring robbery; here he utters a falsehood, and I do not hesitate to say it, great as is his authority.  God says, “Thou shalt not steal; Thou shalt not covet anything which is thy neighbor’s, ... for he is a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation.”  We must set aside the whole authority of divine revelation, to justify any crime openly or secretly committed.  The prosperity of nations, in the long run, is based on righteousness; not on injustice, cruelty, and selfishness.

It cannot be denied that Frederic well managed his stolen property.  He was a man of ability, of enlightened views, of indefatigable industry, and of an iron will.  I would as soon deny that Cromwell did not well govern the kingdom which he had seized, on the plea of revolutionary necessity and the welfare of England, for he also was able and wise.  But what was the fruit of Cromwell’s well-intended usurpation?—­a hideous reaction, the return of the Stuarts, the dissipation of his visionary dreams.  And if the states which Frederic seized, and the empire he had founded in blood and carnage had been as well prepared for liberty as England was, the consequences of his ambition might have been far different.

But Frederic did not so much aim at the development of national resources,—­the aim of all immortal statesmen,—­as at the growth and establishment of a military power.  He filled his kingdom and provinces with fortresses and camps and standing armies.  He cemented a military monarchy.  As a wise executive ruler, the King of Prussia enforced law and order, was economical in his expenditures, and kept up a rigid discipline; even rewarded merit, and was friendly to learning.  And he showed many interesting personal qualities,—­for I do not wish to make him out a monster, only as a great man who did wicked things, and things which even cemented for the time the power of Prussia.  He was frugal and unostentatious.