negotiate; which he did in
a most vigilant, adroit and masterly manner. But by degrees he had grown
to have, and could maintain it, an Army of 24,000 men: among the best
troops then in being. With or without his will, he was in all the great
Wars of his time,--the time of Louis XIV., who kindled Europe four times
over, thrice in our Kurfurst's day. The Kurfurst's Dominions, a long
straggling country, reaching from Memel to Wesel, could hardly keep out
of the way of any war that might rise. He made himself available, never
against the good cause of Protestantism and German Freedom, yet always
in the place and way where his own best advantage was to be had. Louis
XIV. had often much need of him: still oftener, and more pressingly, had
Kaiser Leopold, the little Gentleman "in scarlet stockings, with a red
feather in his hat," whom Mr. Savage used to see majestically walking
about, with Austrian lip that said nothing at all. [_A Compleat History
of Germany,_ by Mr. Savage (8vo, London, 1702), p. 553. Who this Mr.
Savage was, we have no trace. Prefixed to the volume is the Portrait
of a solid Gentleman of forty: gloomily polite, with ample wig and
cravat,--in all likelihood some studious subaltern Diplomatist in the
Succession War. His little Book is very lean and barren: but faithfully
compiled,--and might have some illumination in it, where utter darkness
is so prevalent. Most likely, Addison picked his story of the _Siege of
Weinsberg_ ("Women carrying out their Husbands on their back,"--one
of his best SPECTATORS) out of this poor Book.] His 24,000 excellent
fighting-men, thrown in at the right time, were often a thing that could
turn the balance in great questions. They required to be allowed for at
a high rate,--which he well knew how to adjust himself for exacting and
securing always.

WHAT BECAME OF POMMERN AT THE PEACE; FINAL GLANCE INTO CLEVE-JULICH.

When the Peace of Westphalia (1648) concluded that Thirty-Years
Conflagration, and swept the ashes of it into order again, Friedrich
Wilhelm's right to Pommern was admitted by everybody: and well insisted
on by himself: but right had to yield to reason of state, and he could
not get it. The Swedes insisted on their expenses: the Swedes held
Pommern, had all along held it,--in pawn, they said, for their expenses.
Nothing for it but to give the Swedes the better half of Pommern.
FORE-Pommern (so they call it, "Swedish Pomerania" thenceforth), which
lies next the