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• 1 media/letter_thumbnail_generic.jpeg term 2016-12-16T22:24:19-08:00 Frederick to Voltaire - 1766 September 1 25 See a translation of this letter. plain 2018-08-21T22:04:47-07:00 51.1271647,16.921825 1766 September 1 in Breslau, 1st September 1766
  
  Letter from the king
  of Prussia to
  M^r de Voltaire
       E/
    1         You will have read, in my previous letter[1], that
    2         peaceful philosophers should expect to be
    3         well-received by me. I have neither seen nor spoken to the son
    4         of the modern Hippocrates. I do not know what can have
    5         happened to the plans of your philosophers; I wash
    6         my hands of it. I am here in a province where
    7         physics are preferred to metaphysics; people cultivate their fields,
    8         they have rebuilt 8,000 houses, and they bring forth thousands of children
    9         annually, to replace those which the frenzy of politics
  10         and warfare have caused to perish.
  11                   I do not know whether, all things well considered, it is not
  12        more advantageous to labor at population-building than
  13        at the creation of bad arguments. The lords and the
  14        people, caught up in their own restitution, live in
  15        peace; and they are so consumed by their own work that
  16        no one pays attention to the belief system of his neighbor. 
  17        The sparks of religious hatred, which often were revived
  18        before the war[2], are extinct; and the spirit
  19        of tolerance is gaining ground daily in the
  20        ways of thinking of the people.  Please believe that
  21        idleness gives rise to most disputes.
  
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  22       To extinguish them in France, you need but renew
  23       the time of the defeats of Poitiers and Agincourt[3]; your
  24       churchmen and your parliaments totally preoccupied
  25       by their own affairs, would think only of themselves,
  26       and would leave the public and the government alone. 
  27       This is a proposition to be made to these gentlemen; 
  28       However, I doubt that they will agree to it.
  29                   Your works are widespread here, and in the
  30       hands of everyone. There is no region,
  31       no people that has not heard your name, nor
  32       is there any civilized society in which your fame does not shine brightly.
  33       Enjoy your glory, and enjoy it for a long
  34       time. Whereupon I pray God that he keep you in
  35       his holy and august protection . /.
                                                 
                                                  F
   

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  [1] The previous letter to which Frederick is referring was written on August 20, 1766 (EE: D13508). In this letter, he assures Voltaire that the philosophers are welcome at his estate: “Il ne dépend que des philosophes de partir & d'établir leur séjour dans le lieu de mes états qui leur conviendra le mieux” (“It is entirely up to the philosophers to leave and establish their residence in the location in my estates which suits them best”).
   

  [2] In the time of the War of Austrian Succession and continuing on in the Seven Years War, the town of Breslau and the greater Silesia region were constantly fought over, making it a highly turbulent environment. For more information see Breslau.
   

  [3] Both the battle of Poitiers (19 September 1356) and the battle of Agincourt (25 October 1415) were devastating defeats for the French against the English during the Hundred Years’ War. Between these two battles alone, almost 9,000 French soldiers were killed. (See: The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide, Helicon, 2010).
• 1 media/letter_thumbnail_generic.jpeg 2018-08-21T15:09:06-07:00 Frederick to Voltaire - 1766 September 1 - Transcription 3 See a transcription of this letter. plain 2018-08-21T15:11:16-07:00                                                                            À Breslau 1er 7bre 1766[1].
  Lettre du roi  
  de Prusse à
  M^r. de Voltaire.
  
  E/
  1.         Vous aurez vu par ma Lettre précédente que
  2.    des Philosophes paisibles doivent s'attendre d'être
  3.    bien reçus chez moi ; je n'ai ni vu, ni parlé au fils
  4.    de l'Hypocrate moderne. Je ne sais ce qui peut être
  5.    transpiré du dessein de vos Philosophes, je m'en lave
  6.    les mains ; je suis ici dans une province où l'on prèfère
  7.    la Physique à la Métaphysique; on cultive les champs,
  8.    on a rebâti 8000 maisons, et l'on fait des milliers d'enfans
  9.    par an, pour remplacer ceux qu'une fureur politique
  10.  et guerrière ont fait périr.
  11.       Je ne sçais si, tout bien considéré, il n'est pas
  12.  plus avantageux de travailler à la population qu'à
  13.  faire de mauvais argumens. Les seigneurs et le
  14.  Peuple occupés de leur rétablissement vivent en
  15.  paix, et ils sont si plains de leur ouvrage, que
  16.  personne ne fait attention au culte de son voisin.
  17.  Les étincelles de haine de religion qui se ranimoient
  18.  souvent avant la guerre sont éteintes, et l'esprit
  19.  de tolérance gagne journellement dans la facon
  20.  de penser générale des habitans. Croyez que le
  21.  désoeuvrement donne lieu à la plupart des disputes ;
  
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  22.  Pour les éteindre en france, il ne faudroit que renouvéler
  23.  les tems des defaites, des Poitiers et d'Azincour; vos
  24.  Ecclésiastiques et vos Parlemens fortement occupés
  25.  de leurs propres affaires ne penseroient qu'à eux
  26.  et laisseroient le Public et le Gouvernement tranquille ;
  27.  c'est une proposition à faire à ces Messieurs, Je
  28.  doute toutefois qu'ils l'approuvent.
  29.       Vos ouvrages sont répandus ici et entre les
  30.  mains de tout le monde. Il n'y a point de climat,
  31.  point de peuple où votre nom ne perce, point
  32.  de société policée où votre réputation ne brille.
  33.  Jouissez de votre gloire, et jouissez-en long
  34.  temps, sur ce je prie Dieu qu'il vous ait en
  35.  sa sainte et digne garde./.
                                                              Fr.
  
                    [Shelfmark: Rare fF840 V935 d]
   

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  [1] [1] This manuscript (Hoose) is the second of two manuscripts identified in both EE and OCV (Letter ID: D13530).  It is described as a “copy of original document: contemporary transcription.”
                    In EE’s “Manuscript Instances”, the first manuscript is described as a “Prussian Secret State Archives/ Preussisches Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Berlin, Berlin (State), Germany./ Shelfmark: [No shelfmark recorded] / Foliation: [folio/Feuillet unrecorded] / Description: Original.
                    For corresponding print instances available in our USC collection, see:  Kehl: vol. 65, pp. 345-346.