[Sidenote: The Regeneration of Prussia]
The credit of the Prussian regeneration belongs mainly to the great
minister, the Baron vom Stein (1757-1831), and in the second place to
the Chancellor Hardenberg (1750-1822), both of whom felt the influence
of English ideas and of the French philosophy of the eighteenth
century. On 9 October, 1807, Stein issued at Memel the famous Edict of
Emancipation, which abolished the institution of serfdom throughout
Prussia. Free trade in land was established, and land was left free to
pass from hand to hand and class to class. Thus the Prussian peasants
became personally free, although they were still bound to make fixed
payments to their lords as rent. Moreover, all occupations and
professions were thrown open to noble, commoner, and peasant alike.
Stein's second important step was to strengthen the cabinet and to
introduce sweeping changes in the conduct of public business, reforms
too complicated and too technical to receive detailed explanation in
this place.
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