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SIR,

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HERE is no character, either in ancient or modern hiftory, which, in my judgement, ought to ftand fo high in the eftimation of mankind as that of the late King of Pruffia, whether we view him in the light of a great commander, a legislator, or a judge; for in all thefe capacities, the world need not be informed, he frequently acted: His talents too, as a poet and an hiftorian, and his focial virtues, render him fo much an unique among princes, that by thefe alone his reputation would be established, even had they not been connected with his other more fhining qualities. In your laft Magazine, a Correfpondent has pointed out fome acts of feverity during the courfe of this glorious Monarch's reign, which I can hardly be lieve to be authentick; because I have often known fimilar tales related of other great men, and of this Monarch, which, when fifted and examined to the bottom, were found entirely deftitute of truth, and to have been collected by travellers, and others, from vague report, and uncertain information. In proof of this, I need only mention the variety of falfe and improbable anecdotes daily circulated in our own news-papers, and other publications, in which royalty:itself is not fpared. I might even point out many in

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ftances, where circumftances injurious to individuals, after being publicly af ferted in the fupreme council of the nation, have been difcovered to be ill founded and calumnious. But admit ting the facts as ftated, itis not furprising if, in the courfe of a long reign, fertile in events of the most wonderful nature, many incidents fimilar to thofe laid before the public may have hap pened, which, taken by themselves, without an explanation of the causes on which they proceeded, appear fraught with feverity; but when un derflood, and accounted for, must be confidered as necessary and just acts of government. To how many dreadful fufferings, worse than death itself to a liberal mind, are numbers of unfortunate perfons expofed under the British laws, notwithstanding our boasts ed and envied freedom! Do not debtors, felons, and others, confined in jail, experience horrors that the soul revolts at? and yet, fuch is the conftitution of every country, even thofe where liberty most prevails, that those things must be. In Pruffia, as in other abfolute states where the executive government is entirely fubfervient to the will of the Monarch, need we be furprised if, from political motives and fecret information, communicated to him but not made public, he found

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it confiftent with the general welfare, to adopt measures with refpect to individuals, feemingly harth in their nature, but which, if all the proofs and documents that fell under the eye of the Monarch and the Judge had been laid before the world, would have been deemed neceffary exertions of the power vefted in them, and proper precautions againft confpiracies, treafons, and other crimes tending to the fubverfion of government? It is furely therefore proper, that we should liften to fuch reports with caution, and fufpend our belief of them, until we are convinced that they do not derive their origin from prejudice or malevolence; the prefumption being, that under fo wife and fo great a Moharch as the immortal Frederick, who was truly the father, the protector, and legiflator of his people, none of his fubjects were unjustly oppreffed, nor any perfon treated with feverity, unlefs his guilt had been proved, or the Prince's conduct influenced by motives of the moft cogent nature. This feems to be a fairer conclufion, than that private refentment or animofity was harboured in the breaft of a great King against an individual.

The inftance brought of the treatment of Baron Trenk is well juftified from the following account of that gentleman. Trenk was a freebooter, who, at the head of a body of Auftrian irregulars, fpread rapine and defolation through every part of Germany; hof tile to the late Emprefs Queen in the war immediately preceding the peace of Aix la Chapelle. His very name created terror; and the murders, robberies, and other devaftations committed by him and his followers, rendered him the general fubject of execration. In the courfe of his exploits he had made free with the property of fome of the fubjects of the K. of Pruffia, his native fovereign, who refolved to punish him, and took the first opportunity of doing fo, to the great fatisfaction of all thofe whom he had injured.

I fhrewdly fufpect, that something more than intrigue with a lady occafioned the punishment of the Italian. The people of that country, taught in the fchool of Machiavel, have long been famous for ingenuity in weaving political webs: perhaps the Italian, under the influence of fome of those powers who regarded the Pruffian Monarch with an evil eye, was trying his kill in the fcience of plotting; and that the King, like an able engineer, had countermined him; and having difcovered his machinations, was determined to put an end to fuch pro-jects, and make an example of the author of them.

In every state, severity in the punishment of deferters has been confidered as neceffary to the existence of the army. Among the Pruffian troops, compofed of foldiers, recruited in every part of Germany and the adjacent countries, it is peculiarly requifite, and for that reafon the late King laid down a refolution, never to pardon deferters; being fenfible, that the fafety of his kingdom and the defence of his people depended altogether upon the difcipline of his army and the prevention of this crime.

I am forry I have it not in my power to give further fatisfaction to your correfpondent in relation to the circumftances he mentions, or to difprove them entirely. It appears to me fufficient, if I am able to account for the King's conduct in the manner I have done. The fecret and hidden fprings of a government, fteady, confiftent, and uniform, like that of the late King of Pruffia, are not to be developed; but when we take a general view of his whole adminiftration, and of his political wisdom, we may juftly conclude, that the great tendency of the whole was for the publick utility and fafety, and that particular inftances of feverity were only calculated to promote that laudable end; we may alfo fuppofe, that, in the confufion of war, and amidst a variety of import

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