FREDERIC II - Handwritten letter signed at VOLTAIRE Unpublished

Letter from the secretary's hand signed to his friend VOLTAIRE "From the King of Prussia to Mr Voltaire". Potsdam this 11th of October 1777; 2 pages in-4.

"I'm sorry for my gossip, it's you who put me on this subject, I would not have hazarded it myself"

Magnificent unpublished letter of the last years of Frederick the Great, enlightened despot, whose beneficial influence Voltaire infuses new laws: "I am very persuaded that if Marc-Aurèle had advised to write about the Government, that his work would have been much better than my pamphlet. The experience he had gained in governing this immense Roman Empire must have been well above the Nations that a leader of the Obotrites and Vandals might have summed up, and Marcus Aurelius personally was so superior in practical morality to the sovereigns, and I venture to say to the Philosophers themselves, that any comparison made with him is rash. Let us leave Marcus Aurelius admiring both of them, without being able to reach his perfection, and putting ourselves at the level of our mediocrity, let us lower ourselves to the sterility of our century, which is exhausting itself to give a Voltaire to the world. did not have the strength to provide him with Emules. I therefore see that the Swiss are seriously thinking of reforming their Loix: the Carolin Code is known to me, I stuffed my nose into these old Legislations, when I thought it necessary to reform the Loix of the inhabitants of the Baltic Sea: These Loix were loixes of blood, as those of Dracon were called, and as the peoples became civilized, their Loix must be softened, we have done it, and we have found it well. I believed, following the sentiments of the wisest legislators, that it was better to prevent and prevent crimes than to punish them; it has been very successful, and to give you a clear idea of ​​it, you must be aware of our population, which is only 5 million 200,000 souls. If France has 20 million inhabitants, it is about a quarter. If England has 8 million, that's about three quarters. Since then our Loixes have been moderate, we have only common year 14 all-over-15 death sentences. I can answer you all the more affirmatively, that no one can be arrested without my signature, nor any other person, unless I have ratified the sentence. Most of these offenders are girls who have killed their child; few murders, let alone highway robbery. But among those creatures who use them so cruelly to their posterity, only those whose murder has been proved are executed. I did what I could to prevent these unfortunates from getting rid of their fruit. Masters are forced to denounce their maids as soon as they are pregnant. Formerly these poor girls had been subjected to public penance in the churches; I dispensed them. There are houses in each Province where they can give birth, and where they take care of raising their Children. Notwithstanding all these facilities, I have not yet been able to uproot from their minds, this prejudiced prejudice that they have to get rid of their Children: I am even now occupied with the idea, to abolish the shame formerly attached to those who married creatures who were married without being married; I do not know, if perhaps that will not succeed me; For the question, we have completely abolished it; more than 30 years ago they are no longer used. But in republican states, there may be some exception to be made for cases which are crimes of high treason: as, for example, if it were in Geneva, citoys perverse enough to form a conspiracy with the King of Sardinia to give him their homeland; Suppose that one of the culprits was discovered, and that he must necessarily clear himself of his accomplices, in order to decide the root of the conspiracy: in that case, I think that the public good would like the question to be given to the delinquent. In civil matters, it is necessary to follow the maxim that one saves rather a culprit than to punish an innocent person. After all, being uncertain of the innocence of a man, is it not better to keep him arrested than to execute him? The truth is at the bottom of a pui; it takes time to draw from it, and it is often late to appear, but suspending its judgment until we are fully cleared of the fact, we lose nothing and we ensure the tranquility of his conscience : that's what every honest man has to think about. Forgive me of my gossip, it is you who put me on this matter, I would not have hazarded of myself. These kinds of matters, make my daily occupations. I have made myself the principles by which I act, and I expose them to you. I forget at this moment that I write to the author of Henriade; I think to address my letter to the late President de La Moignon; but you gather all knowledge, so no matter is foreign to you. If you still want Cujas and Bartole des Obotrites, you just have to talk, I'll give you all the concepts you want. It is by making wishes for the preservation of the Patriarch of Tolerance that Solitaire de Sans-Souci hopes that he will not forget it. Vale! "