bear his father's title--were so great, and since the
introduction by the great Elector,[A] and his royal successors, of the
new system of taxation, their revenues had become so small, that they
considered themselves entitled to the monopoly of all the higher offices
of state, and regarded every citizen of culture, fortune, and
consideration with jealousy, as an upstart. The new monarchic
constitution of 1808-12, which has immortalized the names of Frederick
William III., and of his ministers, Stein and Hardenberg, altered this
system, and abolished the vassalage and feudal service of the peasants
in those provinces that lie to the east of the Elbe. The fruits of this
wise act of social reform were soon apparent, not only in the increase
of prosperity and of the population, but also in that steady and
progressive elevation of the national spirit which alone made it
possible in 1813-14 for the house of Hohenzollern to raise the monarchy
to the first rank among the European powers.

[Footnote A: The friend and brother-in-law of William III.]

The further development in Prussia of political freedom unfortunately
did not keep pace with these social changes; and so--to say no more--it
happened that the consequences of all half measures soon resulted. Even
before the struggles of 1848, down to which period the story of our
novel reaches, the classes of the more polished nobility and citizens,
instead of fusing into one band of _gentry_, and thus forming the basis
of a landed aristocracy, had assumed an unfriendly attitude, in
consequence of a stagnation in the growth of a national lower nobility
as the head of the wealthy and cultivated _bourgeoisie_, resulting from
an unhappy reaction which then took place in Prussia. The feudal
proprietor was meanwhile becoming continually poorer, because he lived
beyond his income. Falling into embarrassments of every sort, he has
recourse for aid to the provincial banks. His habits of life, however,
often prevent him from employing these loans on the improvement of his
property, and he seldom makes farming the steady occupation and business
of his life. But he allows himself readily to become involved in the
establishment of factories--whether for the manufacture of brandy or for
the production of beet-root sugar--which promise a larger and speedier
return, besides the enhancement of the value of the land. But, in order
to succeed in such undertakings, he wants the requisite capital and