politique de 1752. II faut savoir assez respecter le public, pour
ne le pas scandaliser dans son culte, de quelque religion qu'il
soit.
60 THE HOUSE OF BRANDENBURG. [bOOK IV.
some other power must of necessity take upon itself
to put an end to such a state of things.
This course, moreover, coincided with one of the
great tendencies of the age. We have already shown
that on every side there arose out of a profound his-
torical necessity a tendency to burst the bonds imposed
by too close a connexion between religious ideas and
political rights : the spirit of mankind rebelled against
it. That which in so many places was so ardently
desired and so vehemently demanded, was in Prussia
granted by the state itself, without fear of causing any
disorder.
Even with respect to material interests, the
requirements of the political economy of that century
were in accordance with the established maxims of
the Prussian government — e. g., as to the promotion
of manufactures. We have seen how Frederick
William I. founded them: the general government
was ordered to devote the greatest attention to the
various branches of manufactures in the several divi-
sions of the kingdom. Frederick II., however, was
convinced that much more still remained to be done.
Already Prussia had shaken oflF her dependence upon
the foreigner, but this was not enough for the King ;
he conceived the idea of causing his subjects to
manufacture for other countries, and to enjoy the
advantage of supplying the wants of the whole world.
