Childhood and Early Youth 57and preachers. The fines he imposed were sometimes excessive, sometimes
strange. Any parson who preached for more than an hour was subject to a
fine of two Thalers; anyone who exported raw wool abroad would suffer
death by hanging (because only the export of treated wool was profitable
to Prussia). A public official who had taken a small sum of public money
was hanged in 1731 in Königsberg, even though the fiscal office had asked
for clemency. The gallows was erected right before the palace in the city
and all the officials had to watch. The corpse was left hanging all day, and
then removed and left lying outside one of the city gates until the ravens
had picked it clean.^119 Another official was severely punished because he
refused to relocate to another city at the order of the king. Conscription was
a constant danger to young men — especially to those who were tall.
Because soldiers in eighteenth-century Prussia did not live in barracks,
but were billeted in civil quarters in various parts of the city, they were
conspicuous and a source of frequent annoyance. The demand for new re¬
cruits was constant, and citizens were sometimes pressed into service. On
some occasions recruiters invaded congregations during Sunday service
and forcibly abducted the tallest and strongest men.^120 Although univer¬
sity students were exempt from service, they were far from safe. "How
easily the edict against seizure could be circumvented is shown by the case
of a student of law at the University of Königsberg named Korn. On April
29,1729, this robust young man was seized on a street in Königsberg, plied
with strong liquor until he became drunk and cursed in the presence of
'witnesses,' and was then enlisted as a moral delinquent."^121 Military life
was abhorrent to most of the citizens of Königsberg. Army discipline was
brutal. Soldiers were severely caned for the smallest violation of rules and
procedure. Running the gauntlet thirty times was the normal punishment
for resisting "with words or reasoning."^122 Drawing a weapon in resisting
meant execution by firing squad. Drunkenness, unless it happened on
duty, was not punished. While Kant himself, being neither strong nor tall,
never had to fear the recruiters, he must have had many unpleasant expe¬
riences with the military.^123 Kant did not think highly of them, and it is
likely that his dislike of the military has roots that go back to his youth.
It was hardly a liberal or enlightened climate that pervaded this city
during the time of Kant's childhood and puberty. The government was
oppressive and stifling, more like a feudal than a modern one. Though Fred¬
erick William I may have had the best of intentions as far as the welfare of
his subjects was concerned, his delivery left much to be desired.
The city was, however, not just a Prussian garrison but an international