fusion, joyfully embraced the Protestant faith, and labored to promote the Reformation among his people. By an arrangement with the King of Poland, he procured the subsequent annexation of the old Duchy of Prussia to Brandenburg, and prepared the way by which the Silesian provinces were annexed at a later period.

John George, who succeeded his father in 1597, was cold and rigid in his mode of life, and, displeased with the extravagance of the previous administration, arrested a Jewish banker, because he had grown rich on the prodigality of his father's court, procured against him, without proper evidence of guilt, the sentence of death, which was executed in a cruel manner. This proceeding roused hatred against all the Jews in the district, and they were banished from the country. In due order, John Sigismund succeeded in 1608. Having been won over to the "Reformed " (Calvinistic) wing of the Protestant cause, he was unpopular with the people, who managed to diminish his allowance of money, till he promised to make no further change in spiritual matters. His administration came into the period of the so-called thirty years' war; and though the Rhine countries were added to Brandenburg during his rule, he was not considered adequate to the necessities of the times. In 1619 he was succeeded by his son George William, who was a weak, vacillating Elector, more fond of the pleasures of the table than of the earnest work of government, and did very little worthy of notice.

Frederick William, called also the Great Elector, was a very different man from his father; one of the brightest and most efficient of the whole line, he assumed the government in 1640, and really founded the Prussian State. Up to this time the different sections of country which had been attached to Brandenburg, hung loosely about it, with no such assimilation to it as led to an equalized system of taxation. Frederick William thoroughly organized the government; and from his time, Brandenburg as a leading idea drops out and the history of Prussia proper begins. A man of living faith in God, eminent in prayer, and making the New Testament his

constant companion at home and abroad, he attributed all his success to the help of God, to whom he constantly rendered cordial thanks. Being about to die, he explained to his heir apparent the principles by which his rule had been guided, exhorted him to keep the fear of God before his eyes, and have the army in good trim; since on it, next to Divine aid, depended the security of the States. He left a territory and a population one-third larger than he found them, the revenue increased many fold, and the army six times larger than when he commenced rule.

Frederick III. was a different type of manhood. The father had placed his honor in being truly great; the son endeavored to make up in show what he lacked in substance, and thought it a greater dignity to wear a crown than to possess vigorous brains. He must be king; and after obtaining the consent of the emperor, with great pomp of ceremony set the crown on his own head at Königsberg, the capital of Old Prussia, January 12, 1701, with the title Frederick I.

His son Frederick William succeeded him on the throne in 1713, and was as different from his father as two men could well be. Scarcely waiting for the tears, which he had shed at the bedside of his dying parent, to dry, he called for a list of the household retinue, and struck from it all useless masters of ceremony, retaining only the smallest number of court officers, on the smallest salary. Estimating the value of a sovereign by the strength of his army, he directed his main attention to the money and the soldiers, and gave out that he intended himself to be the minister of finance and the field marshal of the King of Prussia. Rigid in economy, implacable in anger, and almost savage in the exhibition of it, he was the constant terror of his household. At the cradle he commenced to train his eldest son, afterwards Frederick the Great, for a soldier; at thirteen years of age appointed him captain, and when the delicate and quiet loving boy would develope neither talent nor taste in that direction, he turned to hating him with all the strength of his rough nature, and wished even to disinherit him. He seemed, however, in another

phase, a sincere Christian, scrupulous to secure the religious instruction of his people, and careful to have divine service maintained in the army. With all his rigor of economy he had a weakness for a regiment of giants, which he collected from all parts of the world at great expense, and supported in comparative idleness. He lived to become reconciled to his son Fritz, who had matured more to his wishes, and died repeating, "Lord Jesus, thou art my prize in life and in death."

Frederick II. (the Great) took the reins of the Prussian kingdom in 1740; and as a statesman and commander, developed one of the most efficient characters recorded in history. Married against his will, he never lived with his queen. Having been intimate with Voltaire, for this and other reasons, he was a skeptic in his religious views. He was a poet, an amateur of music, and in the latter part of his life more in society with his dogs than mankind. He built Sans Souci at Potsdam, as a cozy palace for his personal comfort, and after the "seven years' war" the "New Palace," a mile distant, to show his enemies that his treasury was not exhausted. Though he lived an irregular life and had glaring faults, he yet possessed noble traits of character. Dying childless in 1786, he was succeeded by his nephew as Frederick William II. At this time rationalism was undermining the doctrines of the Lutheran Church ; and while the king endeavored to enforce uniformity, the people murmured against tyranny in faith. There was,

therefore, in this reign, a rebellion of religious belief and a civil war of creeds. The territory was greatly increased in this period, and yet the reign was not considered good times in Prussia. Frederick William III. was born while his great uncle was still living. The old king took him in his arms, and with tears of joy, expressed high hopes of his future. He ascended the throne in 1797, and is represented as possessing in the highest degree, manly and royal qualities. Added to his native loveliness and dignity, he was a devoted Christian; and ruled by example as well as authority. In all amiable qualities, his queen Louisa was his equal. The early part of

his reign was harassed by the career of Napoleon I., the latter part, peaceful, and devoted to valuable improvements. The University of Berlin was founded during this period.

Frederick William IV., inheriting the best of parental examples, of fair talents and a finished education, ascended the throne with high hopes on the part of the people; and succeeded well, till inveterate disease compelled him to resign the government to the regency of his younger brother in 1858. On the death of the king, three years later, the Prince Regent succeeded in 1861 as William (I). He was seventy-four years of age last March, with a strong body and well balanced

mind.

France declared war against Prussia July 15, 1870. The next day the Prussian army entered France, and William went to the front on the 27th. September 2d, Napoleon surrendered to him. On the second of March the German army entered Paris and peace closed the struggle. When William returned to Berlin, he was crowned Emperor of Germany.

In review, it is seen, that the Hohenzollerns, at first, by personal enterprise earned their way into Brandenburg, then a rude district. They enlarged and finally erected the Electorate into a powerful kingdom, around which United Germany has consolidated a second empire. The process has been as simple as the progress has been constant. With one or two exceptions, the succession has been made up of men of good sense, of Christian character, and who have attended to their own business. Ever blocking the wheels of progress so as to prevent a backward movement, they have never lost by indolence the fruit of a success they had gained by industry. Any seeming stand-still has only been preparation for farther advance.

ELECTORAL LINE OF HOHENZOLLERNS.

1415-1440, Frederick I.

1440-1470, Frederick II. (Iron tooth).

1470-1486, Albert Achilles.

1486-1499, John Cicero.

1499-1535, Joachim I. (Nestor).

1535-1571, Joachim II. (Hector) and John of Kustria.

1571-1597, John George.

1597-1608, Joachim Frederick.

1608-1619, John Sigismund.

1619-1640, George William.

1640-1688, Frederick William, the great Elector. 1688-1701, Frederick III.

KINGS OF PRUSSIA.

1701-1713, Frederick I. (the former Elector Fred. III.)

1713-1740, Frederick William I.

1740-1786, Frederick II., the Great.

1786-1797, Frederick William II.

1797-1840, Frederick William III.

1840-1861, Frederick William IV.

(1858-1861), Regency of the Prince of Prussia.

Since 1861. William (I.) crowned as Emperor of Germany

in 1871.

Frederick William, Crown Prince, born October 18, 1831, married Victoria, Princess Royal of England, in 1858.

Frederick William Victor, their oldest son, born January 27,

1859.