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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume II, Issue 7, 9 January 1867, Page 2

The following article, from a London paper, on the means by which a European kingdom has risen to greatness, is not without interest to the people of New Zealand : — One of the lessons of history is to teach us how a small nation is craned up to greatness, and how a great empire declines and falls. In the case of Prussia we have an example of adminstrative talent wisely and systematically applied to finance and with results which must excite the envy if not the admiration of surrounding nations. In an article in the British

Quarterly (October, 1866,) the case is stated without partiality by one who is by no means blind to the faults of Prussian, statesmen, "Prussia has loaded her subjects with no debt worth mentioning, but has carried out a rigid economy in every department of the state." The kings and electors of Prussia have been the most parsimonious princes who ever occupied a throne. They have reduced their household expenditure to the lowest possible limit, not simply to hoard up wealth for their successors, but to lighten the burdens ofthe State,- and to provide the country with an efiicent adminstrative system, and with a strong arm of defence. The Princes of Prussia have been known to melt down their plate, to sleep on camp beds, to dress in frieze, to live on peasants' fare, with a view to keep the national expenditure within the limits of the yearly receipts. The economy they practised themselves they forced uponevery officer in the public service. It is amusing to hear Voltaire describe his disappointment on his first interview with* Frederick when he jfound that prince in a bare room, with his bed in the corner, and a naked table, lighted with a single taper in the other, when he expected Frenchman-like, to see him surrounded with gilt' trappings and upholstery magnificence of every kind. His father sold his jewels, sent his spoons to mint, abolished the expenses of court ceremonials

and forewent the use of peruke maker, and of tailor in order to establish a family seminary for the army, which the son turned to such notable account. The frugal habits of Prussia observed in her impoverished state she has not lost sight of in her prosperity. Even yet the Finance Committee of Prussia exhibit yearly the cleanest balancesheet in Europe. The country, considering its extent, is the lightest taxed and the cheapest to live in in the world. While other nations have contracted large debts in times of peace, she has made her yearly resources provide for her yearly exigencies in times of war. After the recent conflict, she quartered her troops for weeks upon her prostrate opponents, besides mulcting them in heavy expenses, by which, if she collects the proceeds, the late campaign instead of imposing a loss, will confer an actual gain upon her treasury. The States she has incorporated have always been made to pay for the privilege of being annexed, and for the expense which that operation has entailed. By refusing to anticipate her revenues* and to entangle herself in expensive loans, she has been enabled to keep her metallic far ahead of her paper currency. It is this regard for her financial soundness ' which has made Prussia the most hopeful country in Europe. For a trifle of twenty miUions of debt she has provided a sinking fund, which promises to rid the nation of it in twelve years ; while Austria and Italy, staggering under the load of immense debts, have no escape from national beggary except by heavy national taxation. The consequence is that the Prussian people find themselves in possession of empire without the pecuniary exigencies and the burdensome debts which are generally the price at which empire ha 3 been purchased. They enjoy all the advantages of a great nation, along with the social ease and freedom from grinding taxation which have been hitherto the exclusive privileges of a small nation.