To the last, he would answer his reporting Ministers, "LE PRESSE EST LIBRE (Free press, you must consider)!"-- grandly reluctant to meddle with the press, or go down upon the dogs barking at his door.

Those ill effects of Free Press (first stage of the ill effects) he endured in this manner; but the good effects seem to have fallen below his expectation.

Friedrich's enthusiam for freedom of the press, prompt enough, as we see, never rose to the extreme pitch, and it rather sank than increased as he continued his experiences of men and things.

This of Formey and the two Newspapers was the only express attempt he made in that direction; and it proved a rather disappointing one.

The two Newspapers went their way thenceforth, Friedrich sometimes making use of them for small purposes, once or twice writing an article himself, of wildly quizzical nature, perhaps to be noticed by us when the time comes; but are otherwise, except for chronological purposes, of the last degree of insignificance to gods or men.
"Freedom of the Press," says my melancholic Friend, "is a noble thing; and in certain Nations, at certain epochs, produces glorious effects,--chiefly in the revolutionary line, where that has grown indispensable.