To guard against its recurrence Frederick none the less completed the Fürstenbund or League of Princes. On July 23, Prussia, Saxony, and Hanover entered into an alliance, with the object of safeguarding the lands and rights of every member of the Empire. By separate articles the three Electors bound themselves to act together in Imperial business. The accession of the Archbishop of Mainz, who as president of the Electoral College had a casting vote, both gave the League a majority at the election of the Emperor, and prevented it from being regarded as a mere clique of Protestants. Frederick’s triumph was complete when, in spite of the diplomatic opposition of the Emperor, a host of German princes accepted the result of his work. The rulers of Zweibrücken, Hesse-Cassel, Gotha, Weimar, Brunswick, Ansbach, Baden, Anhalt, Mecklenburg, and Osnabrück formed with the four protagonists a great body of organised German conservatism led by the King of Prussia. Frederick in his old age had improvised with marvellous success a temporary insurance against the greatest danger that visibly threatened his State.
CHAPTER XII
FREDERICK’S DEATH AND GREATNESS
The League of 1785 was Frederick’s last contribution to the politics of Europe. He felt that his days were numbered, but answered the summons of Death only by quickening the step with which he had long traversed the routine of daily duty. In his last months he remained true to his long-cherished ideal of life and still proved himself diligent, imperious, stoical, and even gay.
The fatal shock to his health, which was already shaken by gout and dyspepsia, seems to have been given at a review in Silesia on August 24, 1785. After the manœuvres of the previous year he had written to the Infantry Inspector-General of the province that he was more dissatisfied with his troops than ever before. “Were I to make shoemakers or tailors into generals, the regiments could not be worse,” declared the King by way of prelude to more particular strictures. He threatened court-martial in the following year to whomsoever should not then fulfil his duty.
DEATH-MASK OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.
FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE HOHENZOLLERN MUSEUM, BERLIN.