All might have gone well with
this great porcelain plant had not the Seven Years' War arisen just at
this time, lasting from 1756 to 1763. During this period Frederick the
Great, the grandfather of the present Emperor of Germany, went into
Saxony, stopped the royal factories at Meissen, and took the workmen
as captives to Berlin."
"But----" began Theo indignantly.
"Such things are the issues of war," said Mr. Croyden gravely. "We
cannot uphold them, nor cease to deplore their injustice. We can only
pray that a day may come when the envy between nations will cease, and
when each country shall respect its neighbor's rights in a truly
Christian spirit. Then we shall have a world for which we shall not
need to blush, and which will really be civilized."
"Did the Saxon workmen have to make Dresden china in Germany?"
"Yes. Works under the patronage of the Emperor were opened at Berlin,
and here porcelain was made, the profits of which went to the Royal
Treasury, the workmen being paid very little indeed. Much of the ware
manufactured the monarch kept for his own use; and much of it he gave
away whenever he wished to make a fine present to his friends.
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