Many thousand thalers were
entered on the lists, and were delivered, to the last penny, to the
great main treasuries. The pay too of such a man was small. He sat and
collected and stowed in purses until his hair became white and his
trembling hands were no longer able to manage the two-groschen pieces.
And it was the pride of his life that the King knew him personally,
and if he ever drove through the place would silently look at him from
his great eyes, while the horses were being changed, or, if he was
very gracious, give him a slight nod. With respect and a certain awe
the people looked upon even these subordinate servants of the new
principle, and the Silesians were not alone in this. Something new had
come into the world in general. It was not a mere figure of speech
when Frederick called himself the foremost servant of his State. As he
had taught his wild nobility on the battlefield that it was the
highest honor to die for the Fatherland, so his untiring, faithful
care forced upon the soul of the least of his servants in the distant
border towns the great idea of the duty of living and working first of
all for the good of his King and his country.
When the province of Prussia was forced, in the Seven Years' War, to
do homage to Empress Elizabeth, and remained for several years
incorporated in the Russian Empire, the officers of the district found
means nevertheless to raise money and grain for their King in secret,
and in spite of a foreign army and government.
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