Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

CHAP. II.*

CHARACTER AND PROGRESS OF GERMAN CIVILISATIONPRUSSIAN

PROTESTANTISM. MUSIC A MEANS OF EDUCATION.PRUSSIA

THE AUXILIARY OF RUSSIA. LUTHER THE PERSONIFICATION OF

GERMAN CHARACTER. — FRENCH MINISTER AT BERLIN.ANEC

DOTE OF THE EMPRESS CATHERINE. ANECDOTE OF THE CON

VENTION OF PILNITZ. — FAMILY MEMOIRS. — SOUVENIRS OF THE

REVOLUTION. GENERAL CUSTINE.HEROISM OF HIS DAUGH-

TER-IN-LA`SY. HIS SON.TRAGIC PRISON SCENE. EARLY IM

PRESSIONS OF INFANCY.

It must be owned, though to the disgrace of human kind, that there exists for the multitude, a happiness which is altogether material. This is a happiness which Germany, and more especially Prussia, is now enjoying. By means of its admirable roads, its custom-house system, and its excellent political administration, this latter country, the cradle of Protestantism, has, in the present day, taken the lead of us in the road of physical civilisation: which is a species of religion of the senses, that has made human nature its god. It is only too true that modern governments favour this refined materialism — ultimate result of the religious reform of the sixteenth century. Limiting their efforts to the development of temporal good, it would appear as though their sole object was to prove to the world, that the idea