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Of Prussia, Volume IX. by Thomas Carlyle + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. +IX. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. IX. (of XXI.) + Frederick The Great--Last Stage of Friedrich's + Apprenticeship: Life in Ruppin--1732-1736 + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Release Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2109] +Last Updated: November 30, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + + + + +Produced by D.R. Thompson and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II OF PRUSSIA + </h1> + <h2> + FREDERICK THE GREAT <br /> <br /> By Thomas Carlyle + </h2> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Volume IX. + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <div class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>BOOK IX. — LAST STAGE OF + FRIEDRICH'S APPRENTICESHIP: LIFE IN RUPPIN. — 1732-1736.</b></big> + </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> <b>Chapter I. — PRINCESS + ELIZABETH CHRISTINA OF BRUNSWICK-BEVERN.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> WHO HIS MAJESTY'S CHOICE IS; AND WHAT THE + CROWN-PRINCE THINKS OF IT. </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> DUKE OF + LORRAINE ARRIVES IN POTSDAM AND IN BERLIN. </a><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0005"> BETROTHAL OF THE CROWN-PRINCE TO THE BRUNSWICK + CHARMER, NIECE OF IMPERIAL MAJESTY, MONDAY EVENING, 10th MARCH, 1732. + </a><br /> + </div> + <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> <b>Chapter II. — SMALL INCIDENTS AT + RUPPIN.</b> </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> <b>Chapter III. + — THE SALZBURGERS.</b> </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> <b>Chapter + IV. — PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER.</b> </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0005"> <b>Chapter V. — GHOST OF THE DOUBLE-MARRIAGE + RISES; TO NO PURPOSE.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> SESSION OF TOBACCO-PARLIAMENT, 6th DECEMBER, + 1732. </a><br /> + </div> + <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> <b>Chapter VI. — KING AUGUST + MEDITATING GREAT THINGS FOR POLAND.</b> </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0007"> <b>Chapter VII. — CROWN-PRINCE'S MARRIAGE.</b> + </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> <b>Chapter VIII. — KING + AUGUST DIES; AND POLAND TAKES FIRE.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> POLAND HAS TO FIND A NEW KING. </a><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0015"> OF THE CANDIDATES; OF THE CONDITIONS. HOW THE + ELECTION WENT. </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> POLAND ON FIRE; + DANTZIG STANDS SIEGE. </a><br /> + </div> + <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> <b>Chapter IX. — KAISER'S SHADOW-HUNT + HAS CAUGHT FIRE.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> SUBSEQUENT COURSE OF THE WAR, IN THE ITALIAN + PART OF IT. </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> COURSE OF THE WAR, IN + THE GERMAN PART OF IT. </a><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> <b>Chapter X. — CROWN-PRINCE GOES TO THE + RHINE CAMPAIGN.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> GLIMPSE OF LIEUTENANT CHASOT, AND OF OTHER + ACQUISITIONS. </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> CROWN-PRINCE'S VISIT + TO BAIREUTH ON THE WAY HOME. </a> + </div> + <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> <b>Chapter XI. — IN PAPA'S SICK-ROOM; + PRUSSIAN INSPECTIONS: END OF WAR.</b> </a><br /> + </div> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + BOOK IX. — LAST STAGE OF FRIEDRICH'S APPRENTICESHIP: LIFE IN RUPPIN. + — 1732-1736. + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter I. — PRINCESS ELIZABETH CHRISTINA OF BRUNSWICK-BEVERN. + </h2> + <p> + We described the Crown-Prince as intent to comply, especially in all + visible external particulars, with Papa's will and pleasure;—to + distinguish himself by real excellence in Commandantship of the Regiment + Goltz, first of all. But before ever getting into that, there has another + point risen, on which obedience, equally essential, may be still more + difficult. + </p> + <p> + Ever since the grand Catastrophe went off WITHOUT taking Friedrich's head + along with it, and there began to be hopes of a pacific settlement, + question has been, Whom shall the Crown-Prince marry? And the debates + about it in the Royal breast and in Tobacco-Parliament, and rumors about + it in the world at large, have been manifold and continual. In the + Schulenburg Letters we saw the Crown-Prince himself much interested, and + eagerly inquisitive on that head. As was natural: but it is not in the + Crown-Prince's mind, it is in the Tobacco-Parliament, and the Royal breast + as influenced there, that the thing must be decided. Who in the world will + it be, then? Crown-Prince himself hears now of this party, now of that. + England is quite over, and the Princess Amelia sunk below the horizon. + Friedrich himself appears a little piqued that Hotham carried his nose so + high; that the English would not, in those life-and-death circumstances, + abate the least from their "Both marriages or none,"—thinks they + should have saved Wilhelmina, and taken his word of honor for the rest. + England is now out of his head;—all romance is too sorrowfully swept + out: and instead of the "sacred air-cities of hope" in this high section + of his history, the young man is looking into the "mean clay hamlets of + reality," with an eye well recognizing them for real. With an eye and + heart already tempered to the due hardness for them. Not a fortunate + result, though it was an inevitable one. We saw him flirting with the + beautiful wedded Wreech; talking to Lieutenant-General Schulenburg about + marriage, in a way which shook the pipe-clay of that virtuous man. He + knows he would not get his choice, if he had one; strives not to care. Nor + does he, in fact, much care; the romance being all out of it. He looks + mainly to outward advantages; to personal appearance, temper, good + manners; to "religious principle," sometimes rather in the reverse way + (fearing an OVERPLUS rather);—but always to likelihood of moneys by + the match, as a very direct item. Ready command of money, he feels, will + be extremely desirable in a Wife; desirable and almost indispensable, in + present straitened circumstances. These are the notions of this + ill-situated Coelebs. + </p> + <p> + The parties proposed first and last, and rumored of in Newspapers and the + idle brains of men, have been very many,—no limit to their numbers; + it MAY be anybody: an intending purchaser, though but possessed of + sixpence, is in a sense proprietor of the whole Fair! Through Schulenburg + we heard his own account of them, last Autumn;—but the far noblest + of the lot was hardly glanced at, or not at all, on that occasion. The + Kaiser's eldest Daughter, sole heiress of Austria and these vast + Pragmatic-Sanction operations; Archduchess Maria Theresa herself,—it + is affirmed to have been Prince Eugene's often-expressed wish, That the + Crown-Prince of Prussia should wed the future Empress [Hormayr, <i>Allgemeine + Geschichte der neueslen Zeit</i> (Wien, 1817), i. 13; cited in Preuss, i. + 71.] Which would indeed have saved immense confusions to mankind! Nay she + alone of Princesses, beautiful, magnanimous, brave, was the mate for such + a Prince,—had the Good Fairies been consulted, which seldom happens:—and + Romance itself might have become Reality in that case: with high results + to the very soul of this young Prince! Wishes are free: and wise Eugene + will have been heard, perhaps often, to express this wish; but that must + have been all. Alas, the preliminaries, political, especially religious, + are at once indispensable and impossible: we have to dismiss that + daydream. A Papal-Protestant Controversy still exists among mankind; and + this is one penalty they pay for not having settled it sooner. The + Imperial Court cannot afford its Archduchess on the terms possible in that + quarter. + </p> + <p> + What the Imperial Court can do is, to recommend a Niece of theirs, + insignificant young Princess, Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick-Bevern, who + is Niece to the Empress; and may be made useful in this way, to herself + and us, think the Imperial Majesties;—will be a new tie upon the + Prussians and the Pragmatic Sanction, and keep the Alliance still surer + for our Archduchess in times coming, think their Majesties. She, it is + insinuated by Seckendorf in Tobacco-Parliament; ought not she, Daughter of + your Majesty's esteemed friend,—modest-minded, innocent young + Princess, with a Brother already betrothed in your Majesty's House,—to + be the Lady? It is probable she will. + </p> + <p> + Did we inform the reader once about Kaiser Karl's young marriage + adventures; and may we, to remind him, mention them a second time? How + Imperial Majesty, some five-and-twenty years ago, then only King of Spain, + asked Princess Caroline of Anspach, who was very poor, and an orphan in + the world. Who at once refused, declining to think of changing her + religion on such a score;—and now governs England, telegraphing with + Walpole, as Queen there instead. How Karl, now Imperial Majesty, then King + of Spain, next applied to Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel; and met with a much + better reception there. Applied to old Anton Ulrich, reigning Duke, who + writes big Novels, and does other foolish good-natured things;—who + persuaded his Grand-daughter that a change to Catholicism was nothing in + such a case, that he himself should not care in the least to change. How + the Grand-daughter changed accordingly, went to Barcelona, and was wedded;—and + had to dun old Grandpapa, "Why don't you change, then?" Who did change + thereupon; thinking to himself, "Plague on it I must, then!" the foolish + old Herr. He is dead; and his Novels, in six volumes quarto, are all dead: + and the Grand-daughter is Kaiserinn, on those terms, a serene monotonous + well-favored Lady, diligent in her Catholic exercises; of whom I never + heard any evil, good rather, in her eminent serene position. Pity perhaps + that she had recommended her Niece for this young Prussian gentleman; whom + it by no means did "attach to the Family" so very careful about him at + Vienna! But if there lay a sin, and a punishment following on it, here or + elsewhere, in her Imperial position, surely it is to be charged on foolish + old Anton Ulrich; not on her, poor Lady, who had never coveted such + height, nor durst for her soul take the leap thitherward, till the serene + old literary gentleman showed her how easy it was. + </p> + <p> + Well, old Anton Ulrich is long since dead, [1714, age 70. Huber, t. 190.] + and his religious accounts are all settled beyond cavil; and only the sad + duty devolves on me of explaining a little what and who his rather insipid + offspring are, so far as related to readers of this History. Anton Ulrich + left two sons; the elder of whom was Duke, and the younger had an Apanage, + Blankenburg by name. Only this younger had children,—serene + Kaiserinn that now is, one of them: The elder died childless, [1731, + Michaelis, i. 132.] precisely a few months before the times we are now got + to; reigning Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, ["Welf-BOOTHS" (Hunted Camp + of the Welfs), according to Etymology. "Brunswick," again, is + BRAUN'S-Wick; "Braun" (Brown) being an old militant Welf in those parts, + who built some lodge for himself, as a convenience there,—Year 880, + say the uncertain old Books. Hubner, t. 149; Michaelis, &c.] all but + certain Apanages, and does not concern us farther. To that supreme dignity + the younger has now come, and his Apanage of Blankenburg and children with + him;—so that there is now only one outstanding Apanage (Bevern, not + known to us yet); which also will perhaps get reunited, if we cared for + it. Ludwig Rudolf is the name of this new sovereign Duke of + Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, or Duke in chief; age now sixty; has a shining, + bustling, somewhat irregular Duchess, says Wilhelmina; and a nose—or + rather almost no nose, for sad reasons! [Wilhelmina, ii. 121.] Other + qualities or accidents I know not of him,—except that he is Father + of the Vienna Kaiserinn; Grandfather of the Princess whom Seckendorf + suggests for our Friedrich of Prussia. + </p> + <p> + In Ludwig Rudolf's insipid offspring our readers are unexpectedly somewhat + interested; let readers patiently attend, therefore. He had three + Daughters, never any son. Two of his Daughters, eldest and youngest, are + alive still; the middle one had a sad fate long ago. She married, in 1711, + Alexius the Czarowitz of Peter the Great: foolish Czarowitz, miserable and + making others miserable, broke her heart by ill conduct, ill usage, in + four years; so that she died; leaving him only a poor small Peter II., who + is now dead too, and that matter ended all but the memory of it. Some + accounts bear, that she did not die; that she only pretended it, and ran + and left her intolerable Czarowitz. That she wedded, at Paris, in deep + obscurity, an Officer just setting out for Louisiana; lived many years + there as a thrifty soldier's wife; returned to Paris with her Officer + reduced to half-pay; and told him—or told some select Official + person after him, under seven-fold oath, being then a widow and + necessitous—her sublime secret. Sublime secret, which came thus to + be known to a supremely select circle at Paris; and was published in + Books, where one still reads it. No vestige of truth in it,—except + that perhaps a necessitous soldier's widow at Paris, considering of ways + and means, found that she had some trace of likeness to the Pictures of + this Princess, and had heard her tragic story. + </p> + <p> + Ludwig Rudolf's second Daughter is dead long years ago; nor has this fable + as yet risen from her dust. Of Ludwig Rudolf's other two Daughters, we + have said that one, the eldest, was the Kaiserinn; Empress Elizabeth + Christina, age now precisely forty; with two beautiful Daughters, sublime + Maria Theresa the elder of them, and no son that would live. Which last + little circumstance has caused the Pragmatic Sanction, and tormented + universal Nature for so many years back! Ludwig Rudolf has a youngest + Daughter, also married, and a Mother in Germany,—to this day + conspicuously so;—of whom next, or rather of her Husband and + Family-circle, we must say a word. + </p> + <p> + Her Husband is no other than the esteemed Friend of Friedrich Wilhelm; + Duke of Brunswick-Bevern, by title; who, as a junior branch, lives on the + Apanage of Bevern, as his Father did; but is sure now to inherit the + sovereignty and be Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel at large, he or his + Sons, were the present incumbent, Ludwig Rudolf, once out. Present + incumbent, we have just intimated, is his Father-in-law; but it is not on + that ground that he looks to inherit. He is Nephew of old Anton Ulrich, + Son of a younger Brother (who was also "Bevern" in Anton's time); and is + the evident Heir-male; old Anton being already fallen into the distaff, + with nothing but three Grand-daughters. Anton's heir will now be this + Nephew; Nephew has wedded one of the Grand-daughters, youngest of the + Three, youngest Daughter of Ludwig Rudolf, Sovereign Duke that now is; + which Lady, by the family she brought him, if no otherwise, is memorable + or mentionable here, and may be called, a Mother in Germany. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [ANTON ULRICH (1833-1714). Duke in Chief; that is, Duke of + Brunswick-WOLFENBUTTEL. + AUGUST WILHELM, elder Son and Heir (1662, 1714, 1731); had no + children. + LUDWIG RUDOLF, the younger Son (1671, 1731, 1735), apanagad in + Blankenburg: Duke of Brunswick-BLANKENBURG; became WOLFENBUTTEL. + 1731, died, 1st March, 1735. No Son; so that now the Bevern + succeeded. Three Daughters: + Elizabeth Christina, the Kaiserinn (1691, 1708, 1750). + Charlotte Christina (1694, 1711, 1715), Alexius of Russia's, + had a FABULOUS end. + Antoinette Amelia (1695, 1712, 1762); Bevern's Wife,—a + "Mother in Germany." + FERDINAND ALBERT (1636-1687), his younger Brother apanaged in + Bevern; that is, Duke of Brunswick-BEVERN. + FERDINAND ALBERT, eldest Son (an elder had perished, 1704, on + the Schellenberg under Marlborough), followed in Bevern (1680, + 1687-1704, 1735); Kaiser's soldier, Friedrich Wilhelm's friend; + married his Cousin, Antoinette Amelia ("Mother in Germany," as + we call her). Duke in Chief, 1st March, 1785, on Ludwig Rudolf's + decease; died himself, 3d September same year. + BORN 1713, Karl the Heir (to marry our Friedrich's Sister). + 1714, Anton Ulrich (Russia; tragedy of Czar Iwan). + 1715, 8th November, Elizabeth Christina (Crown Prince's). + 1718, Ludwig Ernst (Holland, 1787). + 1721, Ferdinand (Chatham's and England's) of the Seven Years + War. + 1722, 1724, 1725, 1732, Four others; Boys the youngest Two, + who were both killed in Friedrich's Wars.] +</pre> + <p> + Father Bevern her Husband, Ferdinand Albert the name of him, is now just + fifty, only ten years younger than his serene Father-in-law, Ludwig + Rudolf:—whom, I may as well say here, he does at last succeed, three + years hence (1735) and becomes Duke of Brunswick in General, according to + hope; but only for a few months, having himself died that same year. Poor + Duke; rather a good man, by all the accounts I could hear; though not of + qualities that shone. He is at present "Duke of Brunswick-Bevern,"—such + his actual nomenclature in those ever-fluctuating Sibyl's-leaves of German + History-Books, Wilhelmina's and the others;—expectant Duke of + Brunswick in General; much a friend of Friedrich Wilhelm. A kind of + Austrian soldier he was formerly, and will again be for brief times; + General-Feldmarschall so styled; but is not notable in War, nor otherwise + at all, except for the offspring he had by this serene Spouse of his. + Insipid offspring, the impatient reader says; but permits me to enumerate + one or two of them:— + </p> + <p> + 1. Karl, eldest Son; who is sure to be Brunswick in General; who is + betrothed to Princess Charlotte of Prussia,—"a satirical creature, + she, fonder of my Prince than of him," Wilhelmina thinks. The wedding + nevertheless took effect. Brunswick in General duly fell in, first to the + Father; then, in a few months more, to Karl with his Charlotte: and from + them proceeded, in due time, another Karl, of whom we shall hear in this + History;—and of whom all the world heard much in the French + Revolution Wars; in 1792, and still more tragically afterwards. Shot, to + death or worse, at the Battle of Jena, October, 1806; "battle lost before + it was begun,"—such the strategic history they give of it. He + peremptorily ordered the French Revolution to suppress itself; and that + was the answer the French Revolution made him. From this Karl, what NEW + Queens Caroline of England and portentous Dukes of Brunswick, sent upon + their travels through the anarchic world, profitable only to Newspapers, + we need not say!— + </p> + <p> + 2. Anton Ulrich; named after his august Great-Grandfather; does not write + novels like him. At present a young gentleman of eighteen; goes into + Russia before long, hoping to beget Czars; which issues dreadfully for + himself and the potential Czars he begot. The reader has heard of a + potential "Czar Iwan," violently done to death in his room, one dim + moonlight night of 1764, in the Fortress of Schlusselburg, middle of Lake + Ladoga; misty moon looking down on the stone battlements, on the + melancholy waters, and saying nothing.—But let us not anticipate. + </p> + <p> + 3. Elizabeth Christina; to us more important than any of them. Namesake of + the Kaiserinn, her august Aunt; age now seventeen; insipid + fine-complexioned young lady, who is talked of for the Bride of our + Crown-Prince. Of whom the reader will hear more. Crown-Prince fears she is + "too religious,"—and will have "CAGOTS" about her (solemn persons in + black, highly unconscious how little wisdom they have), who may be + troublesome. + </p> + <p> + 4. A merry young Boy, now ten, called Ferdinand; with whom England within + the next thirty years will ring, for some time, loud enough: the great + "Prince Ferdinand" himself,—under whom the Marquis of Granby and + others became great; Chatham superintending it. This really was a + respectable gentleman, and did considerable things,—a Trismegistus + in comparison with the Duke of Cumberland whom he succeeded. A cheerful, + singularly polite, modest, well-conditioned man withal. To be slightly + better known to us, if we live. He at present is a Boy of ten, chasing the + thistle's beard. + </p> + <p> + 5. Three other sons, all soldiers, two of them younger than Ferdinand; + whose names were in the gazettes down to a late period;—whom we + shall ignore in this place. The last of them was marched out of Holland, + where he had long been Commander-in-chief on rather Tory principles, in + the troubles of 1787. Others of them we shall see storming forward on + occasion, valiantly meeting death in the field of fight, all conspicuously + brave of character; but this shall be enough of them at present. + </p> + <p> + It is of these that Ludwig Rudolf's youngest daughter, the serene + Ferdinand Albert's wife, is Mother in Germany; highly conspicuous in their + day. If the question is put, it must be owned they are all rather of the + insipid type. Nothing but a kind of albuminous simplicity noticeable in + them; no wit, originality, brightness in the way of uttered intellect. If + it is asked, How came they to the least distinction in this world?—the + answer is not immediately apparent. But indeed they are Welf of the Welfs, + in this respect as in others. One asks, with increased wonder, noticing in + the Welfs generally nothing but the same albuminous simplicity, and + poverty rather than opulence of uttered intellect, or of qualities that + shine, How the Welfs came to play such a part, for the last thousand + years, and still to be at it, in conspicuous places? Reader, I have + observed that uttered intellect is not what permanently makes way, but + unuttered. Wit, logical brilliancy, spiritual effulgency, true or FALSE,—how + precious to idle mankind, and to the Newspapers and History-Books, even + when it is false: while, again, Nature and Practical Fact care next to + nothing for it in comparison, even when it is true! Two silent qualities + you will notice in these Welfs, modern and ancient; which Nature much + values: FIRST, consummate human Courage; a noble, perfect, and as it were + unconscious superiority to fear. And then SECONDLY, much weight of mind, a + noble not too conscious Sense of what is Right and Not-Right, I have found + in some of them;—which means mostly WEIGHT, or good gravitation, + good observance of the perpendicular; and is called justice, veracity, + high-honor, and other such names. These are fine qualities indeed, + especially with an "albuminous simplicity" as vehicle to them. If the + Welfs had not much articulate intellect, let us guess they made a good + use, not a bad or indifferent, as is commoner, of what they had. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WHO HIS MAJESTY'S CHOICE IS; AND WHAT THE CROWN-PRINCE THINKS OF IT. + </h2> + <p> + Princess Elizabeth Christina, the insipid Brunswick specimen, backed by + Seckendorf and Vienna, proves on consideration the desirable to Friedrich + Wilhelm in this matter. But his Son's notions, who as yet knows her only + by rumor, do not go that way. Insipidity, triviality; the fear of + "CAGOTAGE" and frightful fellows in black supremely unconscious what + blockheads they are, haunts him a good deal. And as for any money coming,—her + sublime Aunt the Kaiserinn never had much ready money; one's resources on + that side are likely to be exiguous. He would prefer the Princess of + Mecklenburg, Semi-Russian Catharine or Anna, of whom we have heard; would + prefer the Princess of Eisenach (whose name he does not know rightly); + thinks there are many Princesses preferable. Most of all he would prefer, + what is well known of him in Tobacco-Parliament, but known to be + impossible, this long while back, to go upon a round of travel,—as + for instance the Prince of Lorraine is now doing,—and look about him + a little. + </p> + <p> + These candid considerations the Crown-Prince earnestly suggests to + Grumkow, and the secret committee of Tobacco-Parliament; earnestly again + and again, in his Correspondence with that gentleman, which goes on very + brisk at present. "Much of it lost," we hear;—but enough, and to + spare, is saved! Not a beautiful correspondence: the tone of it shallow, + hard of heart; tragically flippant, especially on the Crown-Prince's part; + now and then even a touch of the hypocritical from him, slight touch and + not with will: alas, what can the poor young man do? Grumkow—whose + ground, I think, is never quite so secure since that Nosti business—professes + ardent attachment to the real interests of the Prince; and does solidly + advise him of what is feasible, what not, in head-quarters; very exemplary + "attachment;" credible to what length, the Prince well enough knows. And + so the Correspondence is unbeautiful; not very descriptive even,—for + poor Friedrich is considerably under mask, while he writes to that + address; and of Grumkow himself we want no more "description;" and is, in + fact, on its own score, an avoidable article rather than otherwise; though + perhaps the reader, for a poor involved Crown-Prince's sake, will wish an + exact Excerpt or two before we quite dismiss it. + </p> + <p> + Towards turning off the Brunswick speculation, or turning on the + Mecklenburg or Eisenach or any other in its stead, the Correspondence + naturally avails nothing. Seckendorf has his orders from Vienna: Grumkow + has his pension,—his cream-bowl duly set,—for helping + Beckendorf. Though angels pleaded, not in a tone of tragic flippancy, but + with the voice of breaking hearts, it would be to no purpose. The Imperial + Majesties have ordered, Marry him to Brunswick, "bind him the better to + our House in time coming;" nay the Royal mind at Potsdam gravitates, of + itself, that way, after the first hint is given. The Imperial will has + become the Paternal one; no answer but obedience. What Grumkow can do will + be, if possible, to lead or drive the Crown-Prince into obeying smoothly, + or without breaking of harness again. Which, accordingly, is pretty much + the sum of his part in this unlovely Correspondence: the geeho-ing of an + expert wagoner, who has got a fiery young Arab thoroughly tied into his + dastard sand-cart, and has to drive him by voice, or at most by slight + crack of whip; and does it. Can we hope, a select specimen or two of these + Documents, not on Grumkow's part, or for Grumkow's unlovely sake, may now + be acceptable to the reader? A Letter or two picked from that large stock, + in a legible state, will show us Father and Son, and how that tragic + matter went on, better than description could. + </p> + <p> + Papa's Letters to the Crown-Prince during that final Custrin period,—when + Carzig and Himmelstadt were going on, and there was such progress in + Economics, are all of hopeful ruggedly affectionate tenor; and there are a + good few of them: style curiously rugged, intricate, headlong; and a + strong substance of sense and worth tortuously visible everywhere. Letters + so delightful to the poor retrieved Crown-Prince then and there; and which + are still almost pleasant reading to third-parties, once you introduce + grammar and spelling. This is one exact specimen; most important to the + Prince and us. Suddenly, one night, by estafette, his Majesty, meaning + nothing but kindness, and grateful to Seckendorf and Tobacco-Parliament + for such an idea, proposes,—in these terms (merely reduced to + English and the common spelling):— + </p> + <p> + "TO THE CROWN-PRINCE AT CUSTRIN (from Papa). "POTSDAM, 4th February, 1732 + </p> + <p> + "MY DEAR SON FRITZ,—I am very glad you need no more physic. But you + must have a care of yourself, some days yet, for the severe weather; which + gives me and everybody colds; so pray be on your guard (NEHMET EUCH KUBSCH + IN ACHT). + </p> + <p> + "You know, my dear Son, that when my children are obedient, I love them + much: so, when you were at Berlin, I from my heart forgave you everything; + and from that Berlin time, since I saw you, have thought of nothing but of + your well-being and how to establish you,—not in the Army only, but + also with a right Step-daughter, and so see you married in my lifetime. + You may be well persuaded I have had the Princesses of Germany taken + survey of, so far as possible, and examined by trusty people, what their + conduct is, their education and so on: and so a Princess has been found, + the Eldest one of Bevern, who is well brought up, modest and retiring, as + women ought to be. + </p> + <p> + "You will without delay (CITO) write me your mind on this. I have + purchased the Von Katsch House; the Feldmarschall," old Wartensleben, poor + Katte's grandfather, "as Governor" of Berlin, "will get that to live in: + and his Government House, [Fine enough old House, or Palace, built by the + Great Elector; given by him to Graf Feldmarschall von Schomberg, the "Duke + Schomberg" who was killed in the Battle of the Boyne: "same House, + opposite the Arsenal, which belongs now (1855) to his Royal Highness + Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia." (Preuss, i. 73; and <i> OEuvres de + Frederic,</i> xxvi. 12 n.)] I will have made new for you, and furnish it + all; and give you enough to keep house yourself there; and will command + you into the Army, April coming [which is quite a subordinate story, your + Majesty!]. + </p> + <p> + "The Princess is not ugly, nor beautiful. You must mention it to no + mortal;—write indeed to Mamma (DER MAMA) that I have written to you. + And when you shall have a Son, I will let you go on your Travels,—wedding, + however, cannot be before winter next. Meanwhile I will try aud contrive + opportunity that you see one another, a few times, in all honor, yet so + that you get acquainted with her. She is a God-fearing creature + (GOTTESFURCHTIGES MENSCH), which is all in all; will suit herself to you + [be COMPORTABLE to you] as she does to the Parents-in-law. + </p> + <p> + "God give his blessing to it; and bless You and your Posterity, and keep + Thee as a good Christian. And have God always before your eyes;—and + don't believe that damnable PARTICULAR tenet [Predestination]; and be + obedient and faithful: so shall it, here in Time and there in Eternity, go + well with thee;—and whoever wishes that from the heart, let him say + Amen. + </p> + <p> + "Your true Father to the death, + </p> + <p> + "FRIEDRICH WILHELM. + </p> + <p> + "When the Duke of Lorraine comes, I will have thee come. I think thy Bride + will be here then. Adieu; God be with you." [<i> OEuvres de Frederic,</i> + xxvii, part 3d, p. 55.] + </p> + <p> + This important Missive reached Custrin, by estafette, that same midnight, + 4th-5th February; when Wolden, "Hofmarschall of the Prince's Court" + (titular Goldstick there, but with abundance of real functions laid on + him), had the honor to awaken the Crown-Prince into the joy of reading. + Crown-Prince instantly despatched, by another estafette, the requisite + responses to Papa and Mamma,—of which Wolden does not know the + contents at all, not he, the obsequious Goldstick;—but doubtless + they mean "Yes," Crown-Prince appearing so overjoyed at this splendid + evidence of Papa's love, as the Goldstick could perceive. [Wolden's LETTER + to Friedrich Wilhelm, "5th February, 1732:" in Preuss, ii. part 2d (or + URKUNDENOUCH), p. 206. Mamma's answer to the message brought her by this + return estafette, a mere formal VERY-WELL, written from the fingers + outward, exists (<i>OEuvres,</i> xxvi. 65); the rest have happily + vanished.] + </p> + <p> + What the Prince's actual amount of joy was, we shall learn better from the + following three successive utterances of his, confidentially despatched to + Grumkow in the intermediate days, before Berlin or this "Duke of Lorraine" + (whom our readers and the Crown-Prince are to wait upon), with actual + sight of Papa and the Intended, came in course. Grumkow's Letters to the + Crown-Prince in this important interval are not extant, nor if they were + could we stand them: from the Prince's Answers it will be sufficiently + apparent what the tenor of them was. Utterance first is about a week after + that of the estafette at midnight:— + </p> + <p> + TO GENERAL FELDMARSCHALL VON GRUMKOW, AT POTSDAM (from the Crown-Prince). + </p> + <p> + "CUSTRIN, 11th February, 1732. + </p> + <p> + "MY DEAR GENERAL AND FRIEND,—I was charmed to learn by your Letter + that my affairs are on so good a footing [Papa so well satisfied with my + professions of obedience]; and you may depend on it I am docile to follow + your advice. I will lend myself to whatever is possible for me; and + provided I can secure the King's favor by my obedience, I will do all that + is within my power. + </p> + <p> + "Nevertheless, in making my bargain with the Duke of Bevern, manage that + the CORPUS DELICTI [my Intended] be brought up under her Grandmother + [Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, Ludwig Rudolf's Spouse, an airy + coquettish Lady,—let her be the tutoress and model of my Intended, O + General]. For I should prefer being made a"—what shall we say? by a + light wife,—"or to serve under the haughty FONTANGE [Species of + topknot; so named from Fontange, an unfortunate female of Louis + Fourteenth's, who invented the ornament.] of my Spouse [as Ludwig Rudolf + does, by all accounts], than to have a blockhead who would drive me mad by + her ineptitudes? and whom I should be ashamed to produce. + </p> + <p> + "I beg you labor at this affair. When one hates romance heroines as + heartily as I do, one dreads those 'virtues' of the ferocious type [LES + VERTUS FAROUCHES, so terribly aware that they are virtuous]; and I had + rather marry the greatest—[unnamable]—in Berlin, than a + devotee with half a dozen ghastly hypocrites (CAGOTS) at her beck. If it + were still MOGLICH [possible, in German] to make her Calvinist [REFORMEE; + our Court-Creed, which might have an allaying tendency, and at least would + make her go with the stream]? But I doubt that:—I will insist, + however, that her Grandmother have the training of her. What you can do to + help in this, my dear Friend, I am persuaded you will do. + </p> + <p> + "It afflicted me a little that the King still has doubts of me, while I am + obeying in such a matter, diametrically opposite to my own ideas. In what + way shall I offer stronger proofs? I may give myself to the Devil, it will + be to no purpose; nothing but the old song over again, doubt on doubt.—Don't + imagine I am going to disoblige the Duke, the Duchess or the Daughter, I + beseech you! I know too well what is due to them, and too much respect + their merits, not to observe the strictest rules of what is proper,—even + if I hated their progeny and them like the pestilence. + </p> + <p> + "I hope to speak to you with open heart at Berlin.—You may think, + too, how I shall be embarrassed, having to do the AMOROSO perhaps without + being it, and to take an appetite for mute ugliness,—for I don't + much trust Count Seckendorf's taste in this article,"—in spite of + his testimonies in Tobacco-Parliament and elsewhere. "Monsieur! Once more, + get this Princess to learn by heart the ECOLE DES MARIS and the ECOLE DES + FEMMES; that will do her much more good than TRUE CHRISTIANITY by the late + Mr. Arndt! [Johann Arndt ("late" this long while back), <i>Von wahren + Christenthum,</i> Magdeburg, 1610.] If, besides, she would learn + steadiness of humor (TOUJOURS DANSER SUR UN PIED), learn music; and, NOTA + BENE, become rather too free than too virtuous,—ah then, my dear + General, then I should feel some liking for her, and a Colin marrying a + Phyllis, the couple would be in accordance: but if she is stupid, + naturally I renounce the Devil and her.—It is said she has a Sister, + who at least has common sense. Why take the eldest, if so? To the King it + must be all one. There is also a Princess Christina Marie of Eisenach + [real name being Christina WILHELMINA, but no matter], who would be quite + my fit, and whom I should like to try for. In fine, I mean to come soon + into your Countries; [Did come, 26th February, as we shall see.] and + perhaps will say like Caesar, VENI, VIDI, VICI."... + </p> + <p> + Paragraph of tragic compliments to Grumkow we omit. Letter ends in this + way:— + </p> + <p> + "Your Baireuth News is very interesting; I hope, in September next [time + of a grand problem coming there for Wilhelmina], my Sister will recover + her first health. If I go travelling, I hope to have the consolation of + seeing her for a fortnight or three weeks; I love her more than my life; + and for all my obediences to the King, surely I shall deserve that + recompense. The diversions for the Duke of Lorraine are very well schemed; + but"—but what mortal can now care about them? Close, and seal. + [Forster, iii. 160-162; <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xvi, 37-39.] + </p> + <p> + As to this Duke of Lorraine just coming, he is Franz Stephan, a pleasant + young man of twenty-five, son of that excellent Duke Leopold Joseph, whom + young Lyttelton of Hagley was so taken with, while touring in those parts + in the Congress-of-Soissons time. Excellent Duke Leopold Joseph is since + dead; and this Franz has succeeded to him,—what succession there + was; for Lorraine as a Dukedom has its neck under the foot of France this + great while, and is evidently not long for this world. Old Fleury, men + say, has his eye upon it. And in fact it was, as we shall see, eaten up by + Fleury within four years' time; and this Franz proved the last of all the + Dukes there. Let readers notice him: a man of high destiny otherwise, of + whom we are to hear much. For ten years past he has lived about Vienna, + being a born Cousin of that House (Grandmother was Kaiser Leopold's own + Sister); and it is understood, nay it is privately settled he is to marry + the transcendent Archduchess, peerless Maria Theresa herself; and is to + reap, he, the whole harvest of that Pragmatic Sanction sown with such + travail of the Universe at large. May be King of the Romans (which means + successor to the Kaisership) any day; and actual Kaiser one day. + </p> + <p> + We may as well say here, he did at length achieve these dignities, though + not quite in the time or on the terms proposed. King of the Romans old + Kaiser Karl never could quite resolve to make him,—having always + hopes of male progeny yet; which never came. For his peerless Bride he + waited six years still (owing to accidents), "attachment mutual all the + while;" did then wed, 1738, and was the happiest of men and expectant + Kaisers:—but found, at length, the Pragmatic Sanction to have been a + strange sowing of dragon's-teeth, and the first harvest reapable from it a + world of armed men!—For the present he is on a grand Tour, for + instruction and other objects; has been in England last; and is now + getting homewards again, to Vienna, across Germany; conciliating the + Courts as he goes. A pacific friendly eupeptic young man; Crown-Prince + Friedrich, they say, took much to him in Berlin; did not quite swear + eternal friendship; but kept up some correspondence for a while, and "once + sends him a present of salmon."—But to proceed with the utterances + to Grumkow. + </p> + <p> + Utterance SECOND is probably of prior date; but introducible here, being + an accidental Fragment, with the date lost:— + </p> + <p> + TO THE FELDMARSCHALL VON GRUMKOW (from the Crown-Prince; exact date lost). + </p> + <p> + "... As to what you tell me of the Princess of Mecklenburg," for whom they + want a Brandenburg Prince,—"could not I marry her? Let her come into + this Country, and think no more of Russia: she would have a dowry of two + or three millions of roubles,—only fancy how I could live with that! + I think that project might succeed. The Princess is Lutheran; perhaps she + objects to go into the Greek Church?—I find none of these advantages + in this Princess of Bevern; who, as many people, even of the Duke's Court, + say, is not at all beautiful, speaks almost nothing, and is given to + pouting (FAISANT LA FACHEE). The good Kaiserinn has so little herself, + that the sums she could afford her Niece would be very moderate." + [Fragment given in <i>Sechendorfs Leben,</i> iii. 249 u.] + </p> + <p> + "Given to pouting," too! No, certainly; your Insipidity of Brunswick, + without prospects of ready money; dangerous for CAGOTAGE; "not a word to + say for herself in company, and given to pouting:" I do not reckon her the + eligible article!— + </p> + <p> + Seckendorf, Schulenburg, Grumkow and all hands are busy in this matter: + geeho-ing the Crown-Prince towards the mark set before him. With or + without explosion, arrive there he must; other goal for him is none!—In + the mean while, it appears, illustrious Franz of Lorraine, coming on, amid + the proper demonstrations, through Magdeburg and the Prussian Towns, has + caught some slight illness and been obliged to pause; so that Berlin + cannot have the happiness of seeing him quite so soon as it expected. The + high guests invited to meet Duke Franz, especially the high Brunswicks, + are already there. High Brunswicks, Bevern with Duchess, and still more + important, with Son and with Daughter:—insipid CORPUS DELICTI + herself has appeared on the scene; and Grumkow, we find, has been writing + some description of her to the Crown-Prince. Description of an unfavorable + nature; below the truth, not above it, to avert disappointment, nay to + create some gleam of inverse joy, when the actual meeting occurs. That is + his art in driving the fiery little Arab ignominiously yoked to him; and + it is clear he has overdone it, for once. This is Friedrich's THIRD + utterance to him; much the most emphatic there is:— + </p> + <p> + TO THE GENERAL FELDMARSCHALL VON GRUMKOW. + </p> + <p> + "CUSTRIN, 19th February, 1732. + </p> + <p> + "Judge, my dear General, if I can have been much charmed with the + description you give of the abominable object of my desires! For the love + of God, disabuse the King in regard to her [show him that she is a fool, + then]; and let him remember well that fools commonly are the most + obstinate of creatures. + </p> + <p> + "Some months ago he wrote a Letter to Walden," the obsequious Goldstick, + "of his giving me the choice of several Princesses: I hope he will not + give himself the lie in that. I refer you entirely to the Letter, which + Schulenburg will have delivered,"—little Schulenburg called here, in + passing your way; all hands busy. "For there is no hope of wealth, no + reasoning, nor chance of fortune that could change my sentiment as + expressed there [namely, that I will not have her, whatever become of me]; + and miserable for miserable, it is all one! Let the King but think that it + is not for himself that he is marrying me, but for MYself; nay he too will + have a thousand chagrins, to see two persons hating one another, and the + miserablest marriage in the world;—to hear their mutual complaints, + which will be to him so many reproaches for having fashioned the + instrument of our yoke. As a good Christian, let him consider, If it is + well done to wish to force people; to cause divorces, and to be the + occasion of all the sins that an ill-assorted marriage leads us to commit! + I am determined to front everything in the world sooner: and since things + are so, you may in some good way apprise the Duke" of Bevern "that, happen + what may, I never will have her. + </p> + <p> + "I have been unfortunate (MALHEUREUX) all my life; and I think it is my + destiny to continue so. One must be patient, and take the time as it + comes. Perhaps a sudden tract of good fortune, on the back of all the + chagrins I have made profession of ever since I entered this world, would + have made me too proud. In a word, happen what will, I have nothing to + reproach myself with. I have suffered sufficiently for an exaggerated + crime [that of "attempting to desert;"—Heavens!]—and I will + not engage myself to extend my miseries (CHAGRINS) into future times. I + have still resources:—a pistol-shot can deliver me from my sorrows + and my life: and I think a merciful God would not damn me for that; but, + taking pity on me, would, in exchange for a life of wretchedness, grant me + salvation. This is whitherward despair can lead a young person, whose + blood is not so quiescent as if he were seventy. I have a feeling of + myself, Monsieur; and perceive that, when one hates the methods of force + as much as I, our boiling blood will carry us always towards extremities. + </p> + <p> + ... "If there are honest people in the world, they must think how to save + me from one of the most perilous passages I have ever been in. I waste + myself in gloomy ideas; I fear I shall not be able to hide my grief, on + coming to Berlin. This is the sad state I am in;—but it will never + make me change from being,"—surely to an excessive degree, the + illustrious Grumkow's most &c. &c. + </p> + <p> + "FREDERIC." + </p> + <p> + "I have received a Letter from the King; all agog (BIEN COIFFE) about the + Princess. I think I may still finish the week here. [26th, did arrive in + Berlin: Preuss (in <i>OEuvres,</i> xxvii. part 3d, p. 58 n).] When his + first fire of approbation is spent, you might, praising her all the while, + lead him to notice her faults. Mon Dieu, has he not already seen what an + ill-assorted marriage comes to,—my Sister of Anspach and her + Husband, who hate one another like the fire! He has a thousand vexations + from it every day.... And what aim has the King? If it is to assure + himself of me, that is not the way. Madam of Eisenach might do it; but a + fool not (POINT UNE BETE);—on the contrary, it is morally impossible + to love the cause of our misery. The King is reasonable; and I am + persuaded he will understand this himself." [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> + xvi. 41, 42.] + </p> + <p> + Very passionate pleading; but it might as well address itself to the + east-winds. Have east-winds a heart, that they should feel pity? + JARNI-BLEU, Herr Feldzeugmeister,—only take care he don't overset + things again! + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Grumkow, in these same hours, is writing a Letter to the Prince, +which we still have, [Ib. xvi. 43.] How charmed his Majesty is at such +obedience; "shed tears of joy," writes Grumkow, "and said it was the +happiest day of his life." Judge Grumkow's feelings soon after, on this +furious recalcitration breaking out! Grumkow's Answer, which also +we still have [Ib. xvi. pp. 44-46.] is truculence itself in a polite +form:—horror-struck as a Christian at the suicide notion, at the—in +fact at the whole matter; and begs, as a humble individual, not wishful +of violent death and destruction upon self and family, to wash his poor +hands of it altogether. Dangerous for the like of him; "interfering +between Royal Father and Royal Son of such opposite humors, would +break the neck of any man," thinks Grumkow; and sums up with this +pithy reminiscence: "I remember always what, the King said to me at +Wusterhausen, when your Royal Highness lay prisoner in the Castle of +Custrin, and I wished to take your part: <i>'Nein Grumkow, denket an diese +Stelle, Gott gebe dass ich nicht wahr rede, aber mein Sohn stirht nicht +eines naturlichen Todes; und Gott gebe dass er nicht unter Henkers Hande +komme.</i> No, Grumkow, think of what I now tell you: God grant it do + not come true,—but my Son won't die a natural death; God grant he do +not come into the Hangman's hands yet!' I shuddered at these words, and +the King repeated them twice to me: that is true, or may I never see +God's face, or have part in the merits of our Lord."—The Crown-Prince's +"pleadings" may fitly terminate here. +</pre> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DUKE OF LORRAINE ARRIVES IN POTSDAM AND IN BERLIN. + </h2> + <p> + Saturday, 23d February, 1732, his Serene Highness of Lorraine did at + length come to hand. Arrived in Potsdam that day; where the two Majesties, + with the Serene Beverns, with the Prince Alexander of Wurtemberg, and the + other high guests, had been some time in expectation. Suitable persons + invited for the occasion: Bevern, a titular Austrian Feldmarschall; Prince + Alexander of Wurtemberg, an actual one (poor old Eberhard Ludwig's Cousin, + and likely to be Heir there soon); high quasi-Austrian Serenities;—not + to mention Schulenburg and others officially related to Austria, or + acquainted with it. Nothing could be more distinguished than the welcome + of Duke Franz; and the things he saw and did, during his three weeks' + visit, are wonderful to Fassmann and the extinct Gazetteers. Saw the + Potsdam Giants do their "EXERCITIA," transcendent in perfection; had a + boar-hunt; "did divine service in the Potsdam Catholic Church; "—went + by himself to Spandau, on the Tuesday (26th), where all the guns broke + forth, and dinner was ready: King, Queen and Party having made off for + Berlin, in the interim, to be ready for his advent there "in the evening + about, five." Majesties wait at Berlin, with their Party,—among + whom, say the old Newspapers, "is his Royal Highness the Crown-Prince:" + Crown-Prince just come in from Custrin; just blessed with the first sight + of his Charmer, whom he finds perceptibly less detestable than he + expected. + </p> + <p> + Serene Highness of Lorraine arrived punctually at five, with outburst of + all the artilleries and hospitalities; balls, soirees, EXERCITIA of the + Kleist Regiment, of the Gerns-d'Armes; dinners with Grumkow, dinners with + Seckendorf, evening party with the Margravine Philip (Margravine in high + colors);—one scenic miracle succeeding another, for above a + fortnight to come. + </p> + <p> + The very first spectacle his Highness saw, a private one, and of no + intense interest to him, we shall mention here for our own behoof. "An + hour after his arrival the Duke was carried away to his Excellency Herr + Creutz the Finance-Minister's; to attend a wedding there, along with his + Majesty. Wedding of Excellency Creutz's only Daughter to the Herr + HOFJAGERMEISTER von Hacke."—HOFJAGERMEISTER (Master of the Hunt), + and more specifically Captain Hacke, of the Potsdam Guard or Giant + regiment, much and deservedly a favorite with his Majesty. Majesty has + known, a long while, the merits military and other of this Hacke; a + valiant expert exact man, of good stature, good service among the Giants + and otherwise, though not himself gigantic; age now turned of thirty;—and + unluckily little but his pay to depend on. Majesty, by way of increment to + Hacke, small increment on the pecuniary side, has lately made him "Master + of the Hunt;" will, before long, make him Adjutant-General, and his + right-hand man in Army matters, were he only rich;—has, in the mean + while, made this excellent match for him; which supplies that defect. + Majesty was the making of Creutz himself; who is grown very rich, and has + but one Daughter: "Let Hacke have her!" his Majesty advised;—and + snatches off the Duke of Lorraine to see it done. [Fassmann, p. 430.] + </p> + <p> + Did the reader ever hear of Finance-Minister Creutz, once a poor + Regiment's Auditor, when his Majesty, as yet Crown-Prince, found talent in + him? Can readers fish up from their memory, twenty years back, anything of + a terrific Spectre walking in the Berlin Palace, for certain nights, + during that "Stralsund Expedition" or famed Swedish-War time, to the + terror of mankind? Terrific Spectre, thought to be in Swedish pay,—properly + a spy Scullion, in a small concern of Grumkow VERSUS Creutz? [Antea, vol. + v. pp. 356-358; Wilhelmina.] This is the same Creutz; of whom we have + never spoken more, nor shall again, now that his rich Daughter is well + married to Hacke, a favorite of his Majesty's and ours. It was the Duke's + first sight in Berlin; February 26th; prologue to the flood of scenic + wonders there. + </p> + <p> + But perhaps the wonderfulest thing, had he quite understood it, was that + of the 10th March, which he was invited to. Last obligation laid upon the + Crown-Prince, "to bind him to the House of Austria," that evening. Of + which take this account, external and internal, from authentic Documents + in our hand. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BETROTHAL OF THE CROWN-PRINCE TO THE BRUNSWICK CHARMER, NIECE OF IMPERIAL + MAJESTY, MONDAY EVENING, 10th MARCH, 1732. + </h2> + <p> + Document FIRST is of an internal nature, from the Prince's own hand, + written to his Sister four days before:— + </p> + <p> + TO THE PRINCESS WILHELMINA AT BAIREUTH. + </p> + <p> + "BERLIN, 6th March, 1732. + </p> + <p> + "MY DEAREST SISTER,—Next Monday comes my Betrothal, which will be + done just as yours was. The Person in question is neither beautiful nor + ugly, not wanting for sense, but very ill brought up, timid, and totally + behind in manners and social behavior (MANIERES DU SAVOIR-VIVRE): that is + the candid portrait of this Princess. You may judge by that, dearest + Sister, if I find her to my taste or not. The greatest merit she has is + that she has procured me the liberty of writing to you; which is the one + solacement I have in your absence. + </p> + <p> + "You never can believe, my adorable Sister, how concerned I am about your + happiness; all my wishes centre there, and every moment of my life I form + such wishes. You may see by this that I preserve still that sincere + friendship which has united our hearts from our tenderest years:—recognize + at least, my dear Sister, that you did me a sensible wrong when you + suspected me of fickleness towards you, and believed false reports of my + listening to tale-bearers; me, who love only you, and whom neither absence + nor lying rumors could change in respect of you. At least don't again + believe such things on my score, and never mistrust me till you have had + clear proof,—or till God has forsaken me, and I have lost my wits. + And being persuaded that such miseries are not in store to overwhelm me, I + here repeat how much I love you, and with what respect and sincere + veneration,—I am and shall be till death, my dearest Sister,—Your + most humble and faithful Brother and Valet, + </p> + <p> + FRIDERICH." + </p> + <p> + [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 1st, p. 5] + </p> + <p> + That was on the Thursday; Betrothal is on the Monday following. Document + SECOND is from poor old Fassmann, and quite of external nature; which we + much abridge:— + </p> + <p> + "Monday evening, all creatures are in gala, and the Royal Apartments + upstairs are brilliantly alight; Duke of Lorraine with the other high + strangers are requested to take their place up there, and wait for a short + while. Prussian Majesty, Queen and Crown-Prince with him, proceeds then, + in a solemn official manner, to the Durchlaucht of Bevern's Apartment, in + a lower floor of the Palace; where the Bevern Party, Duke, Duchess, Son + and intended Charmer are. Prussian Majesty asks the Durchlaucht and + Spouse, 'Whether the Marriage, some time treated of, between that their + Princess here present, and this his Crown-Prince likewise here, is really + a thing to their mind?' Serene Spouses answer, to the effect, 'Yea, + surely, very much!' Upon which they all solemnly ascend to the Royal + Apartments [upstairs where we have seen Wilhelmina dancing before now], + where Lorraine, Wurtemberg and the other sublimities are in waiting. + Lorraine and the sublimities form a semicircle; with the two Majesties, + and pair of young creatures, in the centre. You young creatures, you are + of one intention with your parents in this matter? Alas, there is no doubt + of it. Pledge yourselves, then, by exchange of rings! said his Majesty + with due business brevity. The rings are exchanged: Majesty embraces the + two young creatures with great tenderness;" as do Queen and Serenities; + and then all the world takes to embracing and congratulating; and so the + betrothal is a finished thing. Bassoons and violins, striking up, whirl it + off in universal dancing,—in "supper of above two hundred and sixty + persons," princely or otherwise sublime in rank, with "spouses and noble + ladies there" in the due proportion. [Fassmann, pp. 432, 433.] + </p> + <p> + Here is fraction of another Note from the Crown-Prince to his Sister at + Baireuth, a fortnight after that event:— + </p> + <p> + BERLIN, 24th MARCH, 1732 (to Princess Wilhelmina).—... "God be + praised that you are better, dearest Sister! For nobody can love you more + tenderly than I do.—As to the Princess of Bevern [my Betrothed], the + Queen [Mamma, whom you have been consulting on these etiquettes] bids me + answer, That you need not style her `Highness,' and that you may write to + her quite as to an indifferent Princess. As to 'kissing of the hands,' I + assure you I have not kissed them, nor will kiss them; they are not pretty + enough to tempt one that way. God long preserve you in perfect health! And + you, preserve for me always the honor of your good graces; and believe, my + charming Sister, that never brother in the world loved with such + tenderness a sister so charming as mine; in short, believe, dear Sister, + that without compliments, and in literal truth, I am yours wholly (TOUT A + VOUS), + </p> + <p> + "FRIDERICH." + </p> + <p> + [Ib. xxvii. part 1st, p. 5.] + </p> + <p> + This is the Betrothal of the Crown-Prince to an Insipidity of Brunswick. + Insipidity's private feelings, perhaps of a languidly glad sort, are not + known to us; Crown-Prince's we have in part seen. He has decided to accept + his fate without a murmur farther. Against his poor Bride or her qualities + not a word more. In the Schloss of Berlin, amid such tempests of female + gossip (Mamma still secretly corresponding with England), he has to be + very reserved, on this head especially. It is understood he did not, in + his heart, nearly so much dislike the insipid Princess as he wished Papa + to think he did. + </p> + <p> + Duke Franz of Lorraine went off above a week ago, on the Saturday + following the Betrothal; an amiable serene young gentleman, well liked by + the Crown-Prince and everybody. "He avoided the Saxon Court, though + passing near it," on his way to old Kur-Mainz; "which is a sign," thinks + Fassmann, "that mutual matters are on a weak footing in that quarter;"—Pragmatic + Sanction never accepted there, and plenty of intricacies existing. + Crown-Prince Friedrich may now go to Ruppin and the Regiment Goltz; his + business and destinies being now all reduced to a steady condition;—steady + sky, rather leaden, instead of the tempestuous thunder-and-lightning + weather which there heretofore was. Leaden sky, he, if left well to + himself, will perhaps brighten a little. Study will be possible to him; + improvement of his own faculties, at any rate. It is much his + determination. Outwardly, besides drilling the Regiment Goltz, he will + have a steady correspondence to keep up with his Brunswick Charmer;—let + him see that he be not slack in that. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II. — SMALL INCIDENTS AT RUPPIN. + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Friedrich, after some farther pause in Berlin, till things were got +ready for him, went to Ruppin. This is in the Spring of 1732; [Still in +Berlin, 6th March; dates from NAUEN (in the Ruppin neighborhood) for +the first time, 25th April, 1732, among his LETTERS yet extant: Preuss, +<i>OEuvres de Frederic, </i> xxvii. part lst, p. 4; xvi. 49.] and he contin + his residence there till August, 1736. Four important years of young +life; of which we must endeavor to give, in some intelligible condition, +what traces go hovering about in such records as there are. +</pre> + <p> + Ruppin, where lies the main part of the Regiment Goltz, and where the + Crown-Prince Colonel of it dwells, is a quiet dull, little Town, in that + northwestern region; inhabitants, grown at this day to be 10,000, are + perhaps guessable then at 2,000. Regiment Goltz daily rolls its drums in + Ruppin: Town otherwise lifeless enough, except on market-days: and the + grandest event ever known in it, this removal of the Crown-Prince thither,—which + is doubtless much a theme, and proud temporary miracle, to Ruppin at + present. Of society there or in the neighborhood, for such a resident, we + hear nothing. + </p> + <p> + Quiet Ruppin stands in grassy flat country, much of which is natural moor, + and less of it reclaimed at that time than now. The environs, except that + they are a bit of the Earth, and have a bit of the sky over them, do not + set up for loveliness. Natural woods abound in that region, also peat-bogs + not yet drained; and fishy lakes and meres, of a dark complexion: + plenteous cattle there are, pigs among them;—thick-soled husbandmen + inarticulately toiling and moiling. Some glass-furnaces, a royal + establishment, are the only manufactures we hear of. Not a picturesque + country; but a quiet and innocent, where work is cut out, and one hopes to + be well left alone after doing it. This Crown-Prince has been in far less + desirable localities. + </p> + <p> + He had a reasonable house, two houses made into one for him, in the place. + He laid out for himself a garden in the outskirts, with what they call a + "temple" in it,—some more or less ornamental garden-house,—from + which I have read of his "letting off rockets" in a summer twilight. + Rockets to amuse a small dinner-party, I should guess,—dinner of + Officers, such as he had weekly or twice a week. On stiller evenings we + can fancy him there in solitude; reading meditative, or musically fluting;—looking + out upon the silent death of Day: how the summer gloaming steals over the + moorlands, and over all lands; shutting up the toil of mortals; their very + flocks and herds collapsing into silence, and the big Skies and endless + Times overarching him and them. With thoughts perhaps sombre enough now + and then, but profitable if he face them piously. + </p> + <p> + His Father's affection is returning; would so fain return if it durst. But + the heart of Papa has been sadly torn up: it is too good news to be quite + believed, that he has a son grown wise, and doing son-like! Rumor also is + very busy, rumor and the Tobacco-Parliament for or against; a little rumor + is capable of stirring up great storms in the suspicious paternal mind. + All along during Friedrich's abode at Ruppin, this is a constantly + recurring weather-symptom; very grievous now and then; not to be guarded + against by any precaution;—though steady persistence in the proper + precaution will abate it, and as good as remove it, in course of time. + Already Friedrich Wilhelm begins to understand that "there is much in this + Fritz,"—who knows how much, though of a different type from Papa's?—and + that it will be better if he and Papa, so discrepant in type, and + ticklishly related otherwise, live not too constantly together as + heretofore. Which is emphatically the Crown-Prince's notion too. + </p> + <p> + I perceive he read a great deal at Ruppin: what Books I know not + specially: but judge them to be of more serious solid quality than + formerly; and that his reading is now generally a kind of studying as + well. Not the express Sciences or Technologies; not these, in any sort,—except + the military, and that an express exception. These he never cared for, or + regarded as the noble knowledges for a king or man. History and Moral + Speculation; what mankind have done and been in this world (so far as + "History" will give one any glimpse of that), and what the wisest men, + poetical or other, have thought about mankind and their world: this is + what he evidently had the appetite for; appetite insatiable, which lasted + with him to the very end of his days. Fontenelle, Rollin, Voltaire, all + the then French lights, and gradually others that lay deeper in the + firmament:—what suppers of the gods one may privately have at + Ruppin, without expense of wine! Such an opportunity for reading he had + never had before. + </p> + <p> + In his soldier business he is punctual, assiduous; having an interest to + shine that way. And is, in fact, approvable as a practical officer and + soldier, by the strictest judge then living. Reads on soldiering withal; + studious to know the rationale of it, the ancient and modern methods of + it, the essential from the unessential in it; to understand it thoroughly,—which + he got to do. One already hears of conferences, correspondences, with the + Old Dessauer on this head: "Account of the Siege of Stralsund," with + plans, with didactic commentaries, drawn up by that gunpowder Sage for + behoof of the Crown-Prince, did actually exist, though I know not what has + become of it. Now and afterwards this Crown-Prince must have been a great + military reader. From Caesar's COMMENTARIES, and earlier, to the Chevalier + Folard, and the Marquis Feuquiere; [<i>Memoires sur la Guerre</i> + (specially on the Wars of Louis XIV., in which Feuquiere had himself + shone): a new Book at this time (Amsterdam, 1731; first COMPLETE edition + is, Paris, 1770, 4 vols. 4to); at Ruppin, and afterwards, a chief favorite + with Friedrich.] from Epaminondas at Leuctra to Charles XII. at Pultawa, + all manner of Military Histories, we perceive, are at his finger-ends; and + he has penetrated into the essential heart of each, and learnt what it had + to teach him. Something of this, how much we know not, began at Ruppin; + and it did not end again. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, Friedrich is prepared to distinguish himself henceforth by + strictly conforming, in all outward particulars possible, to the paternal + will, and becoming the most obedient of sons. Partly from policy and + necessity, partly also from loyalty; for he loves his rugged Father, and + begins to perceive that there is more sense in his peremptory notions than + at first appeared. The young man is himself rather wild, as we have seen, + with plenty of youthful petulance and longings after forbidden fruit. And + then he lives in an element of gossip; his whole life enveloped in a vast + Dionysius'-Ear, every word and action liable to be debated in + Tobacco-Parliament. He is very scarce of money, too, Papa's allowance + being extremely moderate, "not above 6,000 thalers (900 pounds)," says + Seckendorf once. [Forster, iii. 114 (Seckendorf to Prince Eugene).] There + will be contradictions enough to settle: caution, silence, every kind of + prudence will be much recommendable. + </p> + <p> + In all outward particulars the Crown-Prince will conform; in the inward, + he will exercise a judgment, and if he cannot conform, will at least be + careful to hide. To do his Commandant duties at Ruppin, and avoid + offences, is much his determination. We observe he takes great charge of + his men's health; has the Regiment Goltz in a shiningly exact condition at + the grand reviews;—is very industrious now and afterwards to get + tall recruits, as a dainty to Papa. Knows that nothing in Nature is so + sure of conciliating that strange old gentleman; corresponds, accordingly, + in distant quarters; lays out, now and afterwards, sums far too heavy for + his means upon tall recruits for Papa. But it is good to conciliate in + that quarter, by every method, and at every expense;—Argus of + Tobacco-Parliament still watching one there; and Rumor needing to be + industriously dealt with, difficult to keep down. Such, so far as we can + gather, is the general figure of Friedrich's life at Ruppin. Specific + facts of it, anecdotes about it, are few in those dim Books; are uncertain + as to truth, and without importance whether true or not. For all his + gravity and Colonelship, it would appear the old spirit of frolic has not + quitted him. Here are two small incidents, pointing that way; which stand + on record; credible enough, though vague and without importance otherwise. + Incident FIRST is to the following feeble effect; indisputable though + extremely unmomentous: Regiment Goltz, it appears, used to have gold + trimmings; the Colonel Crown-Prince petitioned that they might be of + silver, which he liked better. Papa answers, Yes. Regiment Goltz gets its + new regimentals done in silver; the Colonel proposes they shall solemnly + BURN their old regimentals. And they do it, the Officers of them, SUB DIO, + perhaps in the Prince's garden, stripping successively in the "Temple" + there, with such degree of genial humor, loud laughter, or at least + boisterous mock-solemnity, as may be in them. This is a true incident of + the Prince's history, though a small one. + </p> + <p> + Incident SECOND is of slightly more significance; and intimates, not being + quite alone in its kind, a questionable habit or method the Crown-Prince + must have had of dealing with Clerical Persons hereabouts when they proved + troublesome. Here are no fewer than three such Persons, or Parsons, of the + Ruppin Country, who got mischief by him. How the first gave offence shall + be seen, and how he was punished: offences of the second and the third we + can only guess to have been perhaps pulpit-rebukes of said punishments: + perhaps general preaching against military levities, want of piety, nay + open sinfulness, in thoughtless young men with cockades. Whereby the + thoughtless young men were again driven to think of nocturnal charivari? + We will give the story in Dr. Busching's own words, who looks before and + after to great distances, in a way worth attending to. The Herr Doctor, an + endless Collector and Compiler on all manner of subjects, is very + authentic always, and does not want for natural sense: but he is also very + crude,—and here and there not far from stupid, such his continual + haste, and slobbery manner of working up those Hundred and odd Volumes of + his:—[See his Autobiography, which forms <i>Beitrage,</i> B. vi. + (the biggest and last volume).] + </p> + <p> + "The sanguine-choleric temperament of Friedrich," says this Doctor, "drove + him, in his youth, to sensual enjoyments and wild amusements of different + kinds; in his middle age, to fiery enterprises; and in his old years to + decisions and actions of a rigorous and vehement nature; yet so that the + primary form of utterance, as seen in his youth, never altogether ceased + with him. There are people still among us (1788) who have had, in their + own experience, knowledge of his youthful pranks; and yet more are living, + who know that he himself, at table, would gayly recount what merry strokes + were done by him, or by his order, in those young years. To give an + instance or two. + </p> + <p> + "While he was at Neu-Ruppin as Colonel of the Infantry Regiment there, the + Chaplain of it sometimes waited upon him about the time of dinner,—having + been used to dine occasionally with the former Colonel. The Crown-Prince, + however, put him always off, did not ask him to dinner; spoke + contemptuously of him in presence of the Officers. The Chaplain was so + inconsiderate, he took to girding at the Crown-Prince in his sermons. + 'Once on a time,' preached he, one day, 'there was Herod who had Herodias + to dance before him; and he,—he gave her John the Baptist's head for + her pains!'" This HEROD, Busching says, was understood to mean, and meant, + the Crown-Prince; HERODIAS, the merry corps of Officers who made sport for + him; JOHN THE BAPTIST'S HEAD was no other than the Chaplain not invited to + dinner! "To punish him for such a sally, the Crown-Prince with the young + Officers of his Regiment went, one night, to the Chaplain's house," + somewhere hard by, with cow's-grass adjoining to it, as we see: and + "first, they knocked in the windows of his sleeping-room upon him + [HINGE-windows, glass not entirely broken, we may hope]; next there were + crackers [SCHWARMER, "enthusiasts," so to speak!] thrown in upon him; and + thereby the Chaplain, and his poor Wife," more or less in an interesting + condition, poor woman, "were driven out into the court-yard, and at last + into the dung-heap there;"—and so left, with their Head on a Charger + to that terrible extent! + </p> + <p> + That is Busching's version of the story; no doubt substantially correct; + of which there are traces in other quarters,—for it went farther + than Ruppin; and the Crown-Prince had like to have got into trouble from + it. "Here is piety!" said Rumor, carrying it to Tobacco-Parliament. The + Crown-Prince plaintively assures Grumkow that it was the Officers, and + that they got punished for it. A likely story, the Prince's! + </p> + <p> + "When King Friedrich, in his old days, recounted this after dinner, in his + merry tone, he was well pleased that the guests, and even the pages and + valets behind his back, laughed aloud at it." Not a pious old King, + Doctor, still less an orthodox one! The Doctor continues: "In a like + style, at Nauen, where part of his regiment lay, he had—by means of + Herr von der Groben, his First-Lieutenant," much a comrade of his, as we + otherwise perceive—"the Diaconus of Nauen and his Wife hunted out of + bed, and thrown into terror of their lives, one night:"—offence of + the Diaconus not specified. "Nay he himself once pitched his gold-headed + stick through Salpius the Church Inspector's window,"—offence again + not specified, or perhaps merely for a little artillery practice?—"and + the throw was so dexterous that it merely made a round hole in the glass: + stick was lying on the floor; and the Prince," on some excuse or other, + "sent for it next morning." "Margraf Heinrich of Schwedt," continues the + Doctor, very trustworthy on points of fact, "was a diligent helper in such + operations. Kaiserling," whom we shall hear of, "First-Lieutenant von der + Groben," these were prime hands; "Lieutenant Buddenbrock [old + Feldmarschall's son] used, in his old days, when himself grown high in + rank and dining with the King, to be appealed to as witness for the truth + of these stories." [Busching, <i>Beitrage zu der Lebensgeschichte + denkwurdiger Personen,</i> v. 19-21. Vol. v.—wholly occupied with <i>Friedrich + II. King of Prussia</i> (Halle, 1788),—is accessible in French and + other languages; many details, and (as Busching's wont is) few or none not + authentic, are to be found in it; a very great secret spleen against + Friedrich is also traceable,—for which the Doctor may have had his + reasons, not obligatory upon readers of the Doctor. The truth is, + Friedrich never took the least special notice of him: merely employed and + promoted him, when expedient for both parties; and he really was a man of + considerable worth, in an extremely crude form.] + </p> + <p> + These are the two Incidents at Ruppin, in such light as they have. And + these are all. Opulent History yields from a ton of broken nails these two + brass farthings, and shuts her pocket on us again. A Crown-Prince given to + frolic, among other things; though aware that gravity would beseem him + better. Much gay bantering humor in him, cracklings, radiations,—which + he is bound to keep well under cover, in present circumstances. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter III. — THE SALZBURGERS. + </h2> + <p> + For three years past there has been much rumor over Germany, of a strange + affair going on in the remote Austrian quarter, down in Salzburg and its + fabulous Tyrolese valleys. Salzburg, city and territory, has an + Archbishop, not theoretically Austrian, but sovereign Prince so styled; it + is from him and his orthodoxies, and pranks with his sovereign crosier, + that the noise originates. Strange rumor of a body of the population + discovered to be Protestant among the remote Mountains, and getting + miserably ill-used, by the Right Reverend Father in those parts. Which + rumor, of a singular, romantic, religious interest for the general + Protestant world, proves to be but too well founded. It has come forth in + the form of practical complaint to the CORPUS EVANGELICORUM at the Diet, + without result from the CORPUS; complaint to various persons;—in + fine, to his Majesty Friedrich Wilhelm, WITH result. + </p> + <p> + With result at last; actual "Emigration of the Salzburgers:" and Germany—in + these very days while the Crown-Prince is at Berlin betrothing himself, + and Franz of Lorraine witnessing the EXERCITIA and wonders there—sees + a singular phenomenon of a touching idyllic nature going on; and has not + yet quite forgotten it in our days. Salzburg Emigration was all in motion, + flowing steadily onwards, by various routes, towards Berlin, at the time + the Betrothal took place; and seven weeks after that event, when the + Crown-Prince had gone to Ruppin, and again could only hear of it, the + First Instalment of Emigrants arrived bodily at the Gates of Berlin, "30th + April, at four in the afternoon;" Majesty himself, and all the world going + out to witness it, with something of a poetic: almost of a psalmist + feeling, as well as with a practical on the part of his Majesty. First + Instalment this; copiously followed by others, all that year; and flowing + on, in smaller rills and drippings, for several years more, till it got + completed. A notable phenomenon, full of lively picturesque and other + interest to Brandenburg and Germany;—which was not forgotten by the + Crown-Prince in coming years, as we shall transiently find; nay which all + Germany still remembers, and even occasionally sings. Of which this is in + brief the history. + </p> + <p> + The Salzburg Country, northeastern slope of the Tyrol (Donau draining that + side of it, Etsch or Adige the Italian side), is celebrated by the Tourist + for its airy beauty, rocky mountains, smooth green valleys, and + swift-rushing streams; perhaps some readers have wandered to Bad-Gastein, + or Ischl, in these nomadic summers; have looked into Salzburg, + Berchtesgaden, and the Bavarian-Austrian boundary-lands; seen the + wooden-clock makings, salt-works, toy-manufactures, of those simple people + in their slouch-hats; and can bear some testimony to the phenomena of + Nature there. Salzburg is the Archbishop's City, metropolis of his bit of + sovereignty that then was. [Tolerable description of it in the Baron + Riesbeck's <i>Travels through Germany</i> (London, 1787, Translation by + Maty, 3 vols. 8vo), i. 124-222;—whose details otherwise, on this + Emigration business, are of no authenticity or value. A kind of Play-actor + and miscellaneous Newspaper-man in that time (not so opulent to his class + as ours is); who takes the title of "Baron" on this occasion of coming, + out with a Book of Imaginary <i>"Travels."</i> Had personally lived, + practising the miscellaneous arts, about Lintz and Salzburg,—and may + be heard on the look of the Country, if on little else.] A romantic City, + far off among its beautiful Mountains, shadowing (itself in the Salza + River, which rushes down into the Inn, into the Donau, now becoming great + with the tribute of so many valleys. Salzburg we have not known hitherto + except as the fabulous resting-place of Kaiser Barbarossa: but we are now + slightly to see it in a practical light; and mark how the memory of + Friedrich Wilhelm makes an incidental lodgment for itself there. + </p> + <p> + It is well known there was extensive Protestantism once in those + countries. Prior to the Thirty-Years War, the fair chance was, Austria too + would all become Protestant; an extensive minority among all ranks of men + in Austria too, definable as the serious intelligence of mankind in those + countries, having clearly adopted it, whom the others were sure to follow. + In all ranks of men; only not in the highest rank, which was pleased + rather to continue Official and Papal. Highest rank had its Thirty-Years + War, "its sleek Fathers Lummerlein and Hyacinth in Jesuit serge, its + terrible Fathers Wallenstein in chain-armor;" and, by working late and + early then and afterwards, did manage at length to trample out + Protestantism,—they know with what advantage by this time. Trample + out Protestantism; or drive it into remote nooks, where under sad + conditions it might protract an unnoticed existence. In the Imperial + Free-Towns, Ulm, Augsburg, and the like, Protestantism continued, and + under hard conditions contrives to continue: but in the country parts, + except in unnoticed nooks, it is extinct. Salzburg Country is one of those + nooks; an extensive Crypto-Protestantism lodging, under the simple + slouch-hats, in the remote valleys there. Protestantism peaceably kept + concealed, hurting nobody; wholesomely forwarding the wooden-clock + manufacture, and arable or grazier husbandries, of those poor people. More + harmless sons of Adam, probably, did not breathe the vital air, than those + dissentient Salzburgers; generation after generation of them giving + offence to no creature. + </p> + <p> + Successive Archbishops had known of this Crypto-Protestantism, and in + remote periods had made occasional slight attempts upon it; but none at + all for a long time past. All attempts that way, as ineffectual for any + purpose but stirring up strife, had been discontinued for many + generations; [Buchholz, i. 148-151.] and the Crypto-Protestantism was + again become a mythical romantic object, ignored by Official persons. + However, in 1727, there came a new Archbishop, one "Firmian", Count + Firmian by secular quality, of a strict lean character, zealous rather + than wise; who had brought his orthodoxies with him in a rigid and very + lean form. + </p> + <p> + Right Reverend Firmian had not been long in Salzburg till he smelt out the + Crypto-Protestantism, and determined to haul it forth from the mythical + condition into the practical; and in fact, to see his law-beagles there + worry it to death as they ought. Hence the rumors that had risen over + Germany, in 1729: Law-terriers penetrating into human cottages in those + remote Salzburg valleys, smelling out some German Bible or devout Book, + making lists of Bible-reading cottagers; haling them to the Right Reverend + Father-in-God; thence to prison, since they would not undertake to cease + reading. With fine, with confiscation, tribulation: for the peaceable + Salzburgers, respectful creatures, doffing their slouch-hats almost to + mankind in general, were entirely obstinate in that matter of the Bible. + "Cannot, your Reverence; must not, dare not!" and went to prison or + whithersoever rather; a wide cry rising, Let us sell our possessions and + leave Salzburg then, according to Treaty of Westphalia, Article so-and-so. + "Treaty of Westphalia? Leave Salzburg?" shrieked the Right Reverend + Father: "Are we getting into open mutiny, then? Open extensive mutiny!" + shrieked he. Borrowed a couple of Austrian regiments,—Kaiser and we + always on the pleasantest terms,—and marched the most refractory of + his Salzburgers over the frontiers (retaining their properties and + families); whereupon noise rose louder and louder. + </p> + <p> + Refractory Salzburgers sent Deputies to the Diet; appealed, complained to + the CORPUS EVANGELICORUM, Treaty of Westphalia in hand,—without + result. CORPUS, having verified matters, complained to the Kaiser, to the + Right Reverend Father. The Kaiser, intent on getting his Pragmatic + Sanction through the Diet, and anxious to offend nobody at present, gave + good words; but did nothing: the Right Reverend Father answered a Letter + or two from the CORPUS; then said at last, He wished to close the + Correspondence, had the honor to be,—and answered no farther, when + written to. CORPUS was without result. So it lasted through 1730; rumor, + which rose in 1729, waxing ever louder into practicable or impracticable + shape, through that next year; tribulation increasing in Salzburg; and + noise among mankind. In the end of 1730, the Salzburgers sent Two Deputies + to Friedrich Wilhelm at Berlin; solid-hearted, thick-soled men, able to + answer for themselves, and give real account of Salzburg and the + phenomena; this brought matters into a practicable state. + </p> + <p> + "Are you actual Protestants, the Treaty of Westphalia applicable to you? + Not mere fanatic mystics, as Right Reverend Firmian asserts; protectible + by no Treaty?" That was Friedrich Wilhelm's first question; and he set his + two chief Berlin Clergymen, learned Roloff one of them, a divine of much + fame, to catechise the two Salzburg Deputies, and report upon the point. + Their Report, dated Berlin, 30th November, 1730, with specimens of the + main questions, I have read; [Fassmann, pp. 446-448.] and can fully + certify, along with Roloff and friend, That here are orthodox Protestants, + apparently of very pious peaceable nature, suffering hard wrong;—orthodox + beyond doubt, and covered by the Treaty of Westphalia. Whereupon his + Majesty dismisses them with assurance, "Return, and say there shall be + help!"—and straightway lays hand on the business, strong swift + steady hand as usual, with a view that way. + </p> + <p> + Salzburg being now a clear case, Friedrich Wilhelm writes to the Kaiser; + to the King of England, King of Denmark;—orders preparations to be + made in Preussen, vacant messuages to be surveyed, moneys to be laid up;—bids + his man at the Regensburg Diet signify, That unless this thing is + rectified, his Prussian Majesty will see himself necessitated to take + effectual steps: "reprisals" the first step, according to the old method + of his Prussian Majesty. Rumor of the Salzburg Protestants rises higher + and higher. Kaiser intent on conciliating every CORPUS, Evangelical and + other, for his Pragmatic Sanction's sake, admonishes Right Reverend + Firmian; intimates at last to him, That he will actually have to let those + poor people emigrate if they demand it; Treaty of Westphalia being + express. In the end of 1731 it has come thus far. + </p> + <p> + "Emigrate, says your Imperial Majesty? Well, they shall emigrate," answers + Firmian; "the sooner the better!" And straightway, in the dead of winter, + marches, in convenient divisions, some nine hundred of them over the + frontiers: "Go about your business, then; emigrate—to the Old One, + if you like!"—"And our properties, our goods and chattels?" ask + they.—"Be thankful you have kept your skins. Emigrate, I say.!" And + the poor nine hundred had to go out, in the rigor of winter, "hoary old + men among them, and women coming near their time;" and seek quarters in + the wide world mostly unknown to them. Truly Firmian is an orthodox Herr; + acquainted with the laws of fair usage and the time of day. The sleeping + Barbarossa does not awaken upon him within the Hill here:—but in the + Roncalic Fields, long ago, I should not have liked to stand in his shoes! + </p> + <p> + Friedrich Wilhelm, on this procedure at Salzburg, intimates to his + Halberstadt and Minden Catholic gentlemen, That their Establishments must + be locked up, and incomings suspended; that they can apply to the Right + Reverend Firmian upon it;—and bids his man at Regensburg signify to + the Diet that such is the course adopted here. Right Reverend Firmian has + to hold his hand; finds both that there shall be Emigration, and that it + must go forward on human terms, not inhuman; and that in fact the Treaty + of Westphalia will have to guide it, not he henceforth. Those poor ousted + Salzburgers cower into the Bavarian cities, till the weather mend, and his + Prussian Majesty's arrangements be complete for their brethren and them. + </p> + <p> + His Prussian Majesty has been maturing his plans, all this while;—gathering + moneys, getting lands ready. We saw him hanging Schlubhut in the autumn of + 1731, who had peculated from said moneys; and surveying Preussen, under + storms of thunder and rain on one occasion. Preussen is to be the place + for these people; Tilsit and Memel region, same where the big Fight of + Tannenberg and ruin of the Teutsch Ritters took place: in that fine + fertile Country there are homes got ready for this Emigration out of + Salzburg. + </p> + <p> + Long ago, at the beginning of this History, did not the reader hear of a + pestilence in Prussian Lithuania? Pestilence in old King Friedrich's time; + for which the then Crown-Prince, now Majesty Friedrich Wilhelm, vainly + solicited help from the Treasury, and only brought about partial change of + Ministry and no help. "Fifty-two Towns" were more or less entirely + depopulated; hundreds of thousands of fertile acres fell to waste again, + the hands that had ploughed them being swept away. The new Majesty, so + soon as ever the Swedish War was got rid of, took this matter diligently + in hand; built up the fifty-two ruined Towns; issued Proclamations once + and again (Years 1719, 1721) to the Wetterau, to Switzerland, Saxony, + Schwaben; [Buchholz, i. 148.] inviting Colonists to come, and, on + favorable terms, till and reap there. His terms are favorable, + well-considered; and are honestly kept. He has a fixed set of terms for + Colonists: their road-expenses thither, so much a day allowed each + travelling soul; homesteads, ploughing implements, cattle, land, await + them at their journey's end; their rent and services, accurately + specified, are light not heavy; and "immunities" from this and that are + granted them, for certain years, till they get well nestled. Excellent + arrangements: and his Majesty has, in fact, got about 20,000 families in + that way. And still there is room for thousands more. So that if the + tyrannous Firmian took to tribulating Salzburg in that manner, Heaven had + provided remedies and a Prussian Majesty. Heaven is very opulent; has + alchemy to change the ugliest substances into beautifulest. Privately to + his Majesty, for months back, this Salzburg Emigration is a most + manageable matter. Manage well, it will be a god-send to his Majesty, and + fit, as by pre-established harmony, into the ancient Prussian sorrow; and + "two afflictions well put together shall become a consolation," as the + proverb promises! Go along then, Right Reverend Firmian, with your + Emigration there: only no foul-play in it,—or Halberstadt and Minden + get locked:—for the rest of the matter we will undertake. + </p> + <p> + And so, February 2d, 1732, Friedrich Wilhelm's Proclamation [Copy of it in + Mauvillon, February, 1732, ii. 311.] flew abroad over the world; brief and + business-like, cheering to all but Firmian;—to this purport: "Come, + ye poor Salzburgers, there are homes provided for you. Apply at + Regensburg, at Halle: Commissaries are appointed; will take charge of your + long march and you. Be kind, all Christian German Princes: do not hinder + them and me." And in a few days farther, still early in February (for the + matter is all ready before proclaiming), an actual Prussian Commissary + hangs out his announcements and officialities at Donauworth, old City + known to us, within reach of the Salzburg Boundaries; collects, in a week + or two, his first lot of Emigrants, near a thousand strong; and fairly + takes the road with them. + </p> + <p> + A long road and a strange: I think, above five hundred miles before we get + to Halle, within Prussian land; and then seven hundred more to our place + there, in the utmost East. Men, women, infants and hoary grandfathers are + here;—most of their property sold,—still on ruinous + conditions, think of it, your Majesty. Their poor bits of preciosities and + heirlooms they have with them; made up in succinct bundles, stowed on + ticketed baggage-wains; "some have their own poor cart and horse, to carry + the too old and the too young, those that cannot walk." A pilgrimage like + that of the Children of Israel: such a pilgrim caravan as was seldom heard + of in our Western Countries. Those poor succinct bundles, the making of + them up and stowing of them; the pangs of simple hearts, in those remote + native valleys; the tears that were not seen, the cries that were + addressed to God only: and then at last the actual turning out of the poor + caravan, in silently practical condition, staff in hand, no audible + complaint heard from it; ready to march; practically marching here:—which + of us can think of it without emotion, sad, and yet in a sort blessed! + </p> + <p> + Every Emigrant man has four GROSCHEN a day (fourpence odd) allowed him for + road expenses, every woman three groschen, every child two: and regularity + itself, in the shape of Prussian Commissaries, presides over it. Such + marching of the Salzburgers: host after host of them, by various routes, + from February onwards; above seven thousand of them this year, and ten + thousand more that gradually followed,—was heard of at all German + firesides, and in all European lands. A phenomenon much filling the + general ear and imagination; especially at the first emergence of it. We + will give from poor old authentic Fassmann, as if caught up by some sudden + photograph apparatus, a rude but undeniable glimpse or two into the + actuality of this business: the reader will in that way sufficiently + conceive it for himself. + </p> + <p> + Glimpse FIRST is of an Emigrant Party arriving, in the cold February days + of 1732, at Nordlingen, Protestant Free-Town in Bavaria: three hundred of + them; first section, I think, of those nine hundred who were packed away + unceremoniously by Firmian last winter, and have been wandering about + Bavaria, lodging "in Kaufbeuern" and various preliminary Towns, till the + Prussian arrangements became definite. Prussian Commissaries are, by this + time, got to Donauworth; but these poor Salzburgers are ahead of them, + wandering under the voluntary principle as yet. Nordlingen, in Bavaria, is + an old Imperial Free-Town; Protestantism not suppressed there, as it has + been all round; scene of some memorable fighting in the Thirty-Years War, + especially of a bad defeat to the Swedes and Bernhard of Weimar, the worst + they had in the course of that bad business. The Salzburgers are in number + three hundred and thirty-one; time, "first days of February, 1732, weather + very cold and raw." The charitable Protestant Town has been expecting such + an advent:— + </p> + <p> + "Two chief Clergymen, and the Schoolmaster and Scholars, with some + hundreds of citizens and many young people" went out to meet them; there, + in the open field, stood the Salzburgers, with their wives and their + little ones, with their bullock-carts and baggage-wains," pilgriming + towards unknown parts of the Earth. "'Come in, ye blessed of the Lord! Why + stand ye without?' said the Parson solemnly, by way of welcome; and + addressed a Discourse to them," devout and yet human, true every word of + it, enough to draw tears from any Fassmann that were there;—Fassmann + and we not far from weeping without words. "Thereupon they ranked + themselves two and two, and marched into the Town," straight to the + Church, I conjecture, Town all out to participate; "and there the two + reverend gentlemen successively addressed them again, from appropriate + texts: Text of the first reverend gentleman was, <i>And every one that + hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or + wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an + hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.</i> [Matthew xix. 29.] + Text of the second was, <i>Now the Lord had said unto Abraham, Get thee + out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, + unto a land that I will show thee."</i> [Genesis xii. 1.] Excellent texts; + well handled, let us hope,—especially with brevity. After which the + strangers were distributed, some into public-houses, others taken home by + the citizens to lodge. + </p> + <p> + "Out of the Spital there was distributed to each person, for the first + three days, a half-pound of flesh-meat, bread, and a measure of beer. The + remaining days they got in money six CREUTZERS (twopence) each, and bread. + On Sunday, at the Church-doors there was a collection; no less than eight + hundred GULDEN [80 pounds; population, say, three thousand] for this + object. At Sermon they were put into the central part of the Church," all + Nordlingen lovingly encompassing them; "and were taught in two sermons," + texts not given, <i>What the true Church is built of, and ought to have;</i> + Nordlingen copiously shedding tears the while (VIELE THRANEN VERGOSSEN), + as it well might. "Going to Church, and coming from it, each Landlord + walked ahead of his party; party followed two and two. On other days, + there was much catechising of them at different parts of the Town;"—orthodox + enough, you see, nothing of superstition or fanaticism in the poor people;—"they + made a good testimony of their Evangelical truth. + </p> + <p> + "The Baggage-wagons which they had with them, ten in number, upon which + some of their old people sat, were brought into the Town. The Baggage was + unloaded, and the packages, two hundred and eighty-one of them in all [for + Fassmann is Photography itself], were locked in the Zoll-Haus. Over and + above what they got from the Spital, the Church-collection and the + Town-chest, Citizens were liberal; daily sent them food, or daily had them + by fours and fives to their own houses to meat." And so let them wait for + the Prussian Commissary, who is just at hand: "they would not part from + one another, these three hundred and thirty-one," says Fassmann, "though + their reunion was but of that accidental nature." [Fassmann, pp. 439, + 440.] + </p> + <p> + Glimpse SECOND: not dated; perhaps some ten days later; and a Prussian + Commissary with this party:— + </p> + <p> + "On their getting to the Anspach Territory, there was so incredible a joy + at the arrival of these exiled Brothers in the Faith (GLAUBENS-BRUDER) + that in all places, almost in the smallest hamlets, the bells were set + a-tolling; and nothing was heard but a peal of welcome from far and near." + Prussian Commissary, when about quitting Anspach, asked leave to pass + through Bamberg; Bishop of Bamberg, too orthodox a gentleman, declined; so + the Commissary had to go by Nurnberg and Baireuth. Ask not if his welcome + was good, in those Protestant places. "At Erlangen, fifteen miles from + Nurnberg, where are French Protestants and a Dowager Margravine of + Baireuth,"—Widow of Wilhelmina's Father-in-law's predecessor (if the + reader can count that); DAUGHTER of Weissenfels who was for marrying + Wilhelmina not long since!—"at Erlangen, the Serene Dowager snatched + up fifty of them into her own House for Christian refection; and Burghers + of means had twelve, fifteen and even eighteen of them, following such + example set. Nay certain French Citizens, prosperous and childless, + besieged the Prussian Commissary to allow them a few Salzburg children for + adoption; especially one Frenchman was extremely urgent and specific: but + the Commissary, not having any order, was obliged to refuse." [Fassmann, + p. 441.] These must have been interesting days for the two young + Margravines; forwarding Papa's poor pilgrims in that manner. + </p> + <p> + "At Baireuth," other side of Nurnberg, "it was towards Good Friday when + the Pilgrims under their Commissarius arrived. They were lodged in the + villages about, but came copiously into the Town; came all in a body to + Church on Good Friday; and at coming out, were one and all carried off to + dinner, a very scramble arising among the Townsfolk to get hold of + Pilgrims and dine them. Vast numbers were carried to the Schloss:" one + figures Wilhelmina among them, figures the Hereditary Prince and old + Margraf: their treatment there was "beyond belief," says Fassmann; "not + only dinner of the amplest quality and quantity, but much money added and + other gifts." From Baireuth the route is towards Gera and Thuringen, + circling the Bamberg Territory: readers remember Gera, where the Gera Bond + was made?—"At Gera, a commercial gentleman dined the whole party in + his own premises, and his wife gave four groschen to each individual of + them; other two persons, brothers in the place, doing the like. One of the + poor pilgrim women had been brought to bed on the journey, a day or two + before: the Commissarius lodged her in his own inn, for greater safety; + Commissarius returning to his inn, finds she is off, nobody at first can + tell him whither: a lady of quality (VORMEHME DAME) has quietly sent her + carriage for the poor pilgrim sister, and has her in the right softest + keeping. No end to people's kindness: many wept aloud, sobbing out, 'Is + this all the help we can give?' Commissarius said, 'There will others come + shortly; them also you can help.'" + </p> + <p> + In this manner march these Pilgrims. "From Donauworth, by Anspach, + Nurnberg, Baireuth, through Gera, Zeitz, Weissenfels, to Halle," where + they are on Prussian ground, and within few days of Berlin. Other Towns, + not upon the first straight route to Berlin, demand to have a share in + these grand things; share is willingly conceded: thus the Pilgrims, what + has its obvious advantages, march by a good variety of routes. Through + Augsburg, Ulm (instead of Donauworth), thence to Frankfurt; from Frankfurt + some direct to Leipzig: some through Cassel, Hanover, Brunswick, by + Halberstadt and Magdeburg instead of Halle. Starting all at Salzburg, + landing all at Berlin; their routes spread over the Map of Germany in the + intermediate space. + </p> + <p> + "Weissenfels Town and Duke distinguished themselves by liberality: + especially the Duke did;"—poor old drinking Duke; very Protestant + all these Saxon Princes, except the Apostate or Pseudo-Apostate the + Physically Strong, for sad political reasons. "In Weissenfels Town, while + the Pilgrim procession walked, a certain rude foreign fellow, flax-pedler + by trade, ["HECHELTRAGER," Hawker of flax-combs or HECKLES;—is + oftenest a Slavonic Austrian (I am told).] by creed Papist or worse, said + floutingly, 'The Archbishop ought to have flung you all into the river, + you—!' Upon which a menial servant of the Duke's suddenly broke in + upon him in the way of actuality, the whole crowd blazing into flame; and + the pedler would certainly have got irreparable damage, had not the + Town-guard instantly hooked him away." + </p> + <p> + April 21st, 1732, the first actual body, a good nine hundred strong, + [Buchholz, i. 156.] got to Halle; where they were received with devout + jubilee, psalm-singing, spiritual and corporeal refection, as at + Nordlingen and the other stages; "Archidiaconus Franke" being prominent in + it,—I have no doubt, a connection of that "CHIEN DE FRANKE," whom + Wilhelmina used to know. They were lodged in the Waisenhaus (old Franke's + ORPHAN-HOUSE); Official List of them was drawn up here, with the fit + specificality; and, after three days, they took the road again for Berlin. + Useful Buchholz, then a very little boy, remembers the arrival of a Body + of these Salzburgers, not this but a later one in August, which passed + through his native Village, Pritzwalk in the Priegnitz: How village and + village authorities were all awake, with opened stores and hearts; how his + Father, the Village Parson, preached at five in the afternoon. The same + Buchholz, coming afterwards to College at Halle, had the pleasure of + discovering two of the Commissaries, two of the three, who had mainly + superintended in this Salzburg Pilgrimage. Let the reader also take a + glance at them, as specimens worth notice:— + </p> + <p> + COMMISSARIUS FIRST: "Herr von Reck was a nobleman from the Hanover + Country; of very great piety; who, after his Commission was done, settled + at Halle; and lived there, without servant, in privacy, from the small + means he had;—seeking his sole satisfaction in attendance on the + Theological and Ascetic College-Lectures, where I used to see him + constantly in my student time." + </p> + <p> + COMMISSARIUS SECOND: "Herr Gobel was a medical man by profession; and had + the regular degree of Doctor; but was in no necessity to apply his talents + to the gaining of bread. His zeal for religion had moved him to undertake + this Commission. Both these gentlemen I have often seen in my youth," but + do not tell you what they were like farther; "and both their Christian + names have escaped me." + </p> + <p> + A third Commissarius was of Preussen, and had religious-literary + tendencies. I suppose these three served gratis;—volunteers; but no + doubt under oath, and tied by strict enough Prussian law. Physician, + Chaplain, Road-guide, here they are, probably of supreme quality, ready to + our hand. [Buchholz, <i>Neueste Preussisch-Brandenburgische Geschichte</i> + (berlin, 1775, 2 vols. 4to), i. 155 n.] + </p> + <p> + Buchholz, after "his student time," became a poor Country-schoolmaster, + and then a poor Country-Parson, in his native Altmark. His poor Book is of + innocent, clear, faithful nature, with some vein of "unconscious + geniality" in it here and there;—a Book by no means so destitute of + human worth as some that have superseded it. This was posthumous, this + "NEWEST HISTORY," and has a LIFE of the Author prefixed. He has four + previous Volumes on the <i>"Ancient History of Brandenburg,"</i> which are + not known to me.—About the Year 1745, there were four poor + Schoolmasters in that region (two at Havelberg, one at Seehausen, one at + Werben), of extremely studious turn; who, in spite of the Elbe which ran + between, used to meet on stated nights, for colloquy, for interchange of + Books and the like. One of them, the Werben one, was this Buchholz; + another, Seehausen, was the Winckelmann so celebrated in after years. A + third, one of the Havelberg pair, "went into Mecklenburg in a year or two, + as Tutor to Karl Ludwig the Prince of Strelitz's children,"—whom + also mark. For the youngest of these Strelitz children was no other than + the actual "Old Queen Charlotte" (ours and George III.'s), just ready for + him with her Hornbooks about that time: Let the poor man have what honor + he can from that circumstance! "Prince Karl Ludwig," rather a + foolish-looking creature, we may fall in with personally by and by. + </p> + <p> + It was the 30th April, 1732, seven weeks and a day since Crown-Prince + Friedrich's Betrothal, that this first body of Salzburg Emigrants, nine + hundred strong, arrived at Berlin; "four in the afternoon, at the + Brandenburg Gate;" Official persons, nay Majesty himself, or perhaps both + Majesties, waiting there to receive them. Yes, ye poor footsore mortals, + there is the dread King himself; stoutish short figure in blue uniform and + white wig, straw-colored waistcoat, and white gaiters; stands uncommonly + firm on his feet; reddish, blue-reddish face, with eyes that pierce + through a man: look upon him, and yet live if you are true men. His + Majesty's reception of these poor people could not but be good; nothing + now wanting in the formal kind. But better far, in all the essentialities + of it, there had not been hitherto, nor was henceforth, the least flaw. + This Salzburg Pilgrimage has found for itself, and will find, regulation, + guidance, ever a stepping-stone at the needful place; a paved road, so far + as human regularity and punctuality could pave one. That is his Majesty's + shining merit. "Next Sunday, after sermon, they [this first lot of + Salzburgers] were publicly catechised in church; and all the world could + hear their pertinent answers, given often in the very Scripture texts, or + express words of Luther." + </p> + <p> + His Majesty more than once took survey of these Pilgrimage Divisions, when + they got to Berlin. A pleasant sight, if there were leisure otherwise. On + various occasions, too, her Majesty had large parties of them over to + Monbijou, to supper there in the fine gardens; and "gave them Bibles," + among other gifts, if in want of Bibles through Firmian's industry. Her + Majesty was Charity itself, Charity and Grace combined, among these + Pilgrims. On one occasion she picked out a handsome young lass among them, + and had Painter Pesne over to take her portrait. Handsome lass, by Pesne, + in her Tyrolese Hat, shone thenceforth on the walls of Monbijou; and + fashion thereupon took up the Tyrolese Hat, "which has been much worn + since by the beautiful part of the Creation," says Buchholz; "but how many + changes they have introduced in it no pen can trace." + </p> + <p> + At Berlin the Commissarius ceased; and there was usually given the + Pilgrims a Candidatus Theologiae, who was to conduct them the rest of the + way, and be their Clergyman when once settled. Five hundred long miles + still. Some were shipped at Stettin; mostly they marched, stage after + stage,—four groschen a day. At the farther end they found all ready; + tight cottages, tillable fields, all implements furnished, and stock,—even + to "FEDERVIEH," or Chanticleer with a modicum of Hens. Old neighbors, and + such as liked each other, were put together: fields grew green again, + desolate scrubs and scrags yielding to grass and corn. Wooden clocks even + came to view,—for Berchtesgaden neighbors also emigrated; and Swiss + came, and Bavarians and French:—and old trades were revived in those + new localities. + </p> + <p> + Something beautifully real-idyllic in all this, surely:—Yet do not + fancy that it all went on like clock-work; that there were not jarrings at + every step, as is the way in things real. Of the Prussian Minister chiefly + concerned in settling this new Colony I have heard one saying, forced out + of him in some pressure: "There must be somebody for a scolding-stock and + scape-goat; I will be it, then!" And then the Salzburg Officials, what a + humor they were in! No Letters allowed from those poor Emigrants; the + wickedest rumors circulated about them: "All cut to pieces by inroad of + the Poles;" "Pressed for soldiers by the Prussian drill-sergeant;" "All + flung into the Lakes and stagnant waters there; drowned to the last + individual;" and so on. Truth nevertheless did slowly pierce through. And + the "GROSSE WIRTH," our idyllic-real Friedrich Wilhelm, was wanting in + nothing. Lists of their unjust losses in Salzburg were, on his Majesty's + order, made out and authenticated, by the many who had suffered in that + way there,—forced to sell at a day's notice, and the like:—with + these his Majesty was diligent in the Imperial Court; and did get what + human industry could of compensation, a part but not the whole. + Contradictory noises had to abate. In the end, sound purpose, built on + fact and the Laws of Nature, carried it; lies, vituperations, rumors and + delusion sank to zero; and the true result remained. In 1738, the Salzburg + Emigrant Community in Preussen held, in all their Churches, a Day of + Thanksgiving; and admitted piously that Heaven's blessing, of a truth, had + been upon this King and them. There we leave them, a useful solid + population ever since in those parts; increased by this time we know not + how many fold. + </p> + <p> + It cost Friedrich Wilhelm enormous sums, say the Old Histories; probably + "ten TONS OF GOLD,"—that is to say, ten hundred thousand thalers; + almost 150,000 pounds, no less! But he lived to see it amply repaid, even + in his own time; how much more amply since;—being a man skilful in + investments to a high degree indeed. Fancy 150,000 pounds invested there, + in the Bank of Nature herself; and a hundred millions invested, say at + Balaclava, in the Bank of Newspaper rumor: and the respective rates of + interest they will yield, a million years hence! This was the most idyllic + of Friedrich Wilhelm's feats, and a very real one the while. + </p> + <p> + We have only to add or repeat, that Salzburgers to the number of about + 7,000 souls arrived at their place this first year; and in the year or two + following, less noted by the public, but faring steadily forward upon + their four groschen a day, 10,000 more. Friedrioh Wilhelm would have + gladly taken the whole; "but George II. took a certain number," say the + Prussian Books (George II., or pious Trustees instead of him), "and + settled them at Ebenezer in Virginia,"—read, Ebenezer IN GEORGIA, + where General Oglethorpe was busy founding a Colony. [Petition to + Parliament, 10th (21st) May, 1733, by Oglethorpe and his Trustees, for + 10,000 pounds to carry over these Salzburgers; which was granted; Tindal's + RAPIN (London, 1769), xx. 184.] There at Ebenezer I calculate they might + go ahead, too, after the questionable fashion of that country, and + increase and swell;—but have never heard of them since. + </p> + <p> + Salzburg Emigration was a very real transaction on Friedrich Wilhelm's + part; but it proved idyllic too, and made a great impression on the German + mind. Readers know of a Book called <i>Hermann and Dorothea?</i> It is + written by the great Goethe, and still worth reading. The great Goethe had + heard, when still very little, much talk among the elders about this + Salzburg Pilgrimage; and how strange a thing it was, twenty years ago and + more. [1749 was Goethe's birth-year.] In middle life he threw it into + Hexameters, into the region of the air; and did that unreal Shadow of it; + a pleasant work in its way, since he was not inclined for more. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IV. — PRUSSIAN MAJESTY VISITS THE KAISER. + </h2> + <p> + Majesty seeing all these matters well in train,—Salzburgers under + way, Crown-Prince betrothed according to his Majesty's and the Kaiser's + (not to her Majesty's, and high-flying little George of England my Brother + the Comedian's) mind and will,—begins to think seriously of another + enterprise, half business, half pleasure, which has been hovering in his + mind for some time. "Visit to my Daughter at Baireuth," he calls it + publicly; but it means intrinsically Excursion into Bohmen, to have a word + with the Kaiser, and see his Imperial Majesty in the body for once. Too + remarkable a thing to be omitted by us here. + </p> + <p> + Crown-Prince does not accompany on this occasion; Crown-Prince is with his + Regiment all this while; busy minding his own affairs in the Ruppin + quarter;—only hears, with more or less interest, of these + Salzburg-Pilgrim movements, of this Excursion into Bohmen. Here are + certain scraps of Letters; which, if once made legible, will assist + readers to conceive his situation and employments there. Letters otherwise + of no importance; but worth reading on that score. The FIRST (or rather + first three, which we huddle into one) is from "Nauen," few miles off + Ruppin; where one of our Battalions lies; requiring frequent visits there:— + </p> + <p> + 1. TO GRUMKOW, AT BERLIN (from the Crown-Prince). + </p> + <p> + "NAUEN, 26th April, 1732. + </p> + <p> + "MONSIEUR MY DEAREST FRIEND,—I send you a big mass of papers, which + a certain gentleman named Plotz has transmitted me. In faith, I know not + in the least what it is: I pray you present it [to his Majesty, or in the + proper quarter], and make me rid of it. + </p> + <p> + "To-morrow I go to Potsdam [a drive of forty miles southward], to see the + exercise, and if we do it here according to pattern. NEUE BESEN KEHREN GUT + [New brooms sweep clean, IN GERMAN]; I shall have to illustrate my new + character" of Colonel; "and show that I am EIN TUCHTIGER OFFICIER (a right + Officer). Be what I may, I shall to you always be", &c. &c. + </p> + <p> + NAUEN, 7th MAY, 1732. "... Thousand thanks for informing me how everything + goes on in the world. Things far from agreeable, those leagues [imaginary, + in Tobacco-Parliament] suspected to be forming against our House! But if + the Kaiser don't abandon us;... if God second the valor of 80,000 men + resolved to spend their life,... let us hope there will nothing bad + happen. + </p> + <p> + "Meanwhile, till events arrive, I make a pretty stir here (ME TREMOUSSE + ICI D'IMPORTANCE), to bring my Regiment to its requisite perfection, and I + hope I shall succeed. The other day I drank your dear health, Monsieur; + and I wait only the news from my Cattle-stall that the Calf I am fattening + there is ready for sending to you. I unite Mars and Housekeeping, you see. + Send me your Secretary's name, that I may address your Letters that way,"—our + Correspondence needing to be secret in certain quarters. + </p> + <p> + ... "With a" truly infinite esteem, "FREDERIC." + </p> + <p> + NAUEN, 10th MAY, 1732. "You will see by this that I am exact to follow + your instruction; and that the SCHULZ of Tremmen [Village in the + Brandenburg quarter, with a SCHULZ or Mayor to be depended on], becomes + for the present the mainspring of our correspondence. I return you all the + things (PIECES) you had the goodness to communicate to me,—except <i>Charles + Douze,</i> [Voltaire's new Book; lately come out, "Bale, 1731."] which + attaches me infinitely. The particulars hitherto unknown which he reports; + the greatness of that Prince's actions, and the perverse singularity + (BIZARRERIE) of his fortune: all this, joined to the lively, brilliant and + charming way the Author has of telling it, renders this Book interesting + to the supreme degree.... I send you a fragment of my correspondence with + the most illustrious Sieur Crochet," some French Envoy or Emissary, I + conclude: "you perceive we go on very sweetly together, and are in a high + strain. I am sorry I burnt one of his Letters, wherein he assured me he + would in the Versailles Antechamber itself speak of me to the King, and + that my name had actually been mentioned at the King's Levee. It certainly + is not my ambition to choose this illustrious mortal to publish my renown; + on the contrary, I should think it soiled by such a mouth, and prostituted + if he were the publisher. But enough of the Crochet: the kindest thing we + can do for so contemptible an object is to say nothing of him at all." [<i>OEuvres + de Frederic,</i> xvi. 49, 51.]—... + </p> + <p> + Letter SECOND is to Jaagermeister Hacke, Captain of the Potsdam Guard; who + stands in great nearness to the King's Majesty; and, in fact, is fast + becoming his factotum in Army-details. We, with the Duke of Lorraine and + Majesty in person, saw his marriage to the Excellency Creutz's Fraulein + Daughter not long since; who we trust has made him happy;—rich he is + at any rate, and will be Adjutant-General before long; powerful in such + intricacies as this that the Prince has fallen into. + </p> + <p> + The Letter has its obscurities; turns earnestly on Recruits tall and + short; nor have idle Editors helped us, by the least hint towards + "reading" it with more than the EYES. Old Dessauer at this time is + Commandant at Magdeburg; Buddenbrock, perhaps now passing by Ruppin, we + know for a high old General, fit to carry messages from Majesty,—or, + likelier, it may be Lieutenant Buddenbrock, his Son, merely returning to + Ruppin? We can guess, that the flattering Dessauer has sent his Majesty + five gigantic men from the Magdeburg regiments, and that Friedrich is + ordered to hustle out thirty of insignificant stature from his own, by way + of counter-gift to the Dessauer;—which Friedrich does instantly, but + cannot, for his life, see how (being totally cashless) he is to replace + them with better, or replace them at all! + </p> + <p> + 2. TO CAPTAIN HACKE, OF THE POTSDAM GUARD. + </p> + <p> + "RUPPIN, 15th July, 1732. + </p> + <p> + "MEIN GOTT, what a piece of news Buddenbrock has brought me! I am to get + nothing out of Brandenburg, my dear Hacke? Thirty men I had to shift out + of my company in consequence [of Buddenbrock's order]; and where am I now + to get other thirty? I would gladly give the King tall men, as the + Dessauer at Magdeburg does; but I have no money; and I don't get, or set + up for getting, six men for one [thirty short for five tall], as he does. + So true is that Scripture: To him that hath shall be given; and from him + that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +"Small art, that the Prince of Dessau's and the Magdeburg Regiments are +fine, when they have money at command, and thirty men GRATIS over +and above! I, poor devil, have nothing; nor shall have, all my days. +Prithee, dear Hacke (BITTE IHN, LIEBER HACKE), think of all that: and +if I have no money allowed, I must bring Asmus [Recruit unknown to +me] alone as Recruit next year; and my Regiment will to a certainty be +rubbish (KROOP). Once I had learned a German Proverb— + + 'VERSPRECHEN UND HALTEN (To promise and to keep) + ZIEMT WOHL JUNGEN UND ALTEN (Is pretty for young and for old)!' +</pre> + <p> + "I depend alone on you (IHN), dear Hacke; unless you help, there is a bad + outlook. To-day I have knocked again [written to Papa for money]; and if + that does not help, it is over. If I could get any money to borrow, it + would do; but I need not think of that. Help me, then, dear Hacke! I + assure you I will ever remember it; who, at all times, am my dear Herr + Captain's devoted (GANZ ERGEBENER) servant and friend, + </p> + <p> + "FRIDERICH." + </p> + <p> + [In German: <i>OEuvres,</i> xxvii. part 3d, p. 177.] + </p> + <p> + To which add only this Note, two days later, to Seckendorf; indicating + that the process of "borrowing" has already, in some form, begun,—process + which will have to continue: and to develop itself;—and that his + Majesty, as Seckendorf well knows, is resolved upon his Bohemian journey:— + </p> + <p> + 3. TO THE GENERAL FELDZEUGMEISTER GRAF VON SECKENDORF. + </p> + <p> + "RUPPIN, 17th July, 1732. + </p> + <p> + "MY VERY DEAR GENERAL,—I have written to the King, that I owed you + 2,125 THALERS for the Recruits; of which he says there are 600 paid: there + remain, therefore, 1,525, which he will pay you directly. + </p> + <p> + "The King is going to Prague: I shall not be of the party [as you will]. + To say truth, I am not very sorry; for it would infallibly give rise to + foolish rumors in the world. At the same time, I should have much wished + to see the Emperor, Empress, and Prince of Lorraine, for whom I have a + quite particular esteem. I beg you, Monsieur, to assure him of it;—and + to assure yourself that I shall always be,—with a great deal of + consideration, MONSIEUR, MON TRES-CHER GENERAL, &c. FREDERIC." + </p> + <p> + And now—for the Bohemian Journey, "Visit at Kladrup" as they call + it;—Ruppin being left in this assiduous and wholesome, if rather + hampered condition. + </p> + <p> + Kaiser Karl and his Empress, in this summer of 1732, were at Karlsbad, + taking the waters for a few weeks. Friedrich Wilhelm, who had long, for + various reasons, wished to see his Kaiser face to face, thought this would + be a good opportunity. The Kaiser himself, knowing how it stood with the + Julich-and-Berg and other questions, was not anxious for such an + interview; still less were his official people; among whom the very + ceremonial for such a thing was matter of abstruse difficulty. Seckendorf + accordingly had been instructed to hunt wide, and throw in + discouragements, so far as possible;—which he did, but without + effect. Friedrich Wilhelm had set his heart upon the thing; wished to + behold for once a Head of the Holy Roman Empire, and Supreme of + Christendom;—also to see a little, with his own eyes, into certain + matters Imperial. + </p> + <p> + And so, since an express visit to Karlsbad might give rise to newspaper + rumors, and will not suit, it is settled, there shall be an accidental + intersection of routes, as the Kaiser travels homeward,—say in some + quiet Bohemian Schloss or Hunting-seat of the Kaiser's own, whither the + King may come incognito; and thus, with a minimum of noise, may the + needful passage of hospitality be done. Easy all of this: only the Vienna + Ministers are dreadfully in doubt about the ceremonial, Whether the + Imperial hand can be given (I forget if for kissing or for shaking)?—nay + at last they manfully declare that it cannot be given; and wish his + Prussian Majesty to understand that it must be refused. [Forster, i. 328.] + "RES SUMMAE CONSEQUENTIAE," say they; and shake solemnly their big wigs.—Nonsense + (NARRENPOSSEN)! answers the Prussian Majesty: You, Seckendorf, settle + about quarters, reasonable food, reasonable lodgings; and I will do the + ceremonial. + </p> + <p> + Seckendorf—worth glancing into, for biographical purposes, in this + place—has written to his Court: That as to the victual department, + his Majesty goes upon good common meat; flesh, to which may be added all + manner of river-fish and crabs: sound old Rhenish is his drink, with + supplements of brown and of white beer. Dinner-table to be spread always + in some airy place, garden-house, tent, big clean barn,—Majesty + likes air, of all things;—will sleep, too, in a clean barn or + garden-house: better anything than being stifled, thinks his Majesty. Who, + for the rest, does not like mounting stairs. [Seckendorf's Report (in + Forster, i. 330).] These are the regulations; and we need not doubt they + were complied with. + </p> + <p> + Sunday, 27th July, 1732, accordingly, his Majesty, with five or six + carriages, quits Berlin, before the sun is up, as is his wont: eastward, + by the road for Frankfurt-on-Oder; "intends to look at Schulenburg's + regiment," which lies in those parts,—Schulenburg's regiment for one + thing: the rest is secret from the profane vulgar. Schulenburg's regiment + (drawn up for Church, I should suppose) is soon looked at; Schulenburg + himself, by preappointment, joins the travelling party, which now consists + of the King and Eight:—known figures, seven, Buddenbrock, + Schulenburg, Waldau, Derschau, Seckendorf; Grumkow, Captain Hacke of the + Potsdam Guard; and for eighth the Dutch Ambassador, Ginkel, an + accomplished knowing kind of man, whom also my readers have occasionally + seen. Their conversation, road-colloquy, could it interest any modern + reader? It has gone all to dusk; we can know only that it was human, + solid, for most part, and had much tobacco intermingled. They were all of + the Calvinistic persuasion, of the military profession; knew that life is + very serious, that speech without cause is much to be avoided. They + travelled swiftly, dined in airy places: they are a FACT, they and their + summer dust-cloud there, whirling through the vacancy of that dim Time; + and have an interest for us, though an unimportant one. + </p> + <p> + The first night they got to Grunberg; a pleasant Town, of vineyards and of + looms, across the Silesian frontier. They are now turning more + southeastward; they sleep here, in the Kaiser's territory, welcomed by + some Official persons; who signify that the overjoyed Imperial Majesty + has, as was extremely natural, paid the bill everywhere. On the morrow, + before the shuttles awaken, Friedrich Wilhelm is gone again; towards the + Glogau region, intending for Liegnitz that night. Coursing rapidly through + the green Silesian Lowlands, blue Giant Mountains (RIESENGEBIRGE) + beginning to rise on the southwestward far away. Dines, at noon, under a + splendid tent, in a country place called Polkwitz, ["Balkowitz," say + Pollnitz (ii. 407) and Forster; which is not the correct name.] with + country Nobility (sorrow on them, and yet thanks to them) come to do + reverence. At night he gets to Liegnitz. + </p> + <p> + Here is Liegnitz, then. Here are the Katzbach and the Blackwater + (SCHWARZWASSER), famed in war, your Majesty; here they coalesce; gray + ashlar houses (not without inhabitants unknown to us) looking on. Here are + the venerable walls and streets of Liegnitz; and the Castle which defied + Baty Khan and his Tartars, five hundred years ago. [1241, the Invasion, + and Battle here, of this unexpected Barbarian.]—Oh, your Majesty, + this Liegnitz, with its princely Castle, and wide rich Territory, the bulk + of the Silesian Lowland, whose is it if right were done? Hm, his Majesty + knows full well; in Seckendorf's presence, and going on such an errand, we + must not speak of certain things. But the undisputed truth is, Duke + Friedrich II., come of the Sovereign Piasts, made that ERBVERBRUDERUNG, + and his Grandson's Grandson died childless: so the heirship fell to us, as + the biggest wig in the most benighted Chancery would have to grant;—only + the Kaiser will not, never would; the Kaiser plants his armed self on + Schlesien, and will hear no pleading. Jagerndorf too, which we purchased + with our own money—-No more of that; it is too miserable! Very + impossible too, while we have Berg and Julich in the wind!— + </p> + <p> + At Liegnitz, Friedrich Wilhelm "reviews the garrison, cavalry and + infantry," before starting; then off for Glatz, some sixty miles before we + can dine. The goal is towards Bohemia, all this while; and his Majesty, + had he liked the mountain-passes, and unlevel ways of the Giant Mountains, + might have found a shorter road and a much more picturesque one. Road + abounding in gloomy valleys, intricate rock-labyrinths, haunts of Sprite + RUBEZAHL, sources of the Elbe and I know not what. Majesty likes level + roads, and interesting rock-labyrinths built by man rather than by Nature. + Majesty makes a wide sweep round to the east of all that; leaves the Giant + Mountains, and their intricacies, as a blue Sierra far on his right,—had + rather see Glatz Fortress than the caverns of the Elbe; and will cross + into Bohemia, where the Hills are fallen lowest. At Glatz during dinner, + numerous Nobilities are again in waiting. Glatz is in Jagerndorf region; + Jagerndorf, which we purchased with our own money, is and remains ours, in + spite of the mishaps of the Thirty-Years War;—OURS, the darkest + Chancery would be obliged to say, from under the immensest wig! Patience, + your Majesty; Time brings roses!— + </p> + <p> + From Glatz, after viewing the works, drilling the guard a little, not to + speak of dining, and despatching the Nobilities, his Majesty takes the + road again; turns now abruptly westward, across the Hills at their lowest + point; into Bohemia, which is close at hand. Lewin, Nachod, these are the + Bohemian villages, with their remnant of Czechs; not a prosperous + population to look upon: but it is the Kaiser's own Kingdom: "King of + Bohemia" one of his Titles ever since Sigismund SUPER-GRAMMATICAM'S time. + And here now, at the meeting of the waters (Elbe one of them, a brawling + mountain-stream) is Jaromierz, respectable little Town, with an Imperial + Officiality in it,—where the Official Gentlemen meet us all in gala, + "Thrice welcome to this Kingdom, your Majesty!"—and signify that + they are to wait upon us henceforth, while we do the Kaiser's Kingdom of + Bohemia that honor. + </p> + <p> + It is Tuesday night, 29th July, this first night in Bohemia. The Official + Gentlemen lead his Majesty to superb rooms, new-hung with crimson velvet, + and the due gold fringes and tresses,—very grand indeed; but + probably not so airy as we wish. "This is the way the Kaiser lodges in his + journeys; and your Majesty is to be served like him." The goal of our + journey is now within few miles. Wednesday, 30th July, 1732, his Majesty + awakens again, within these crimson-velvet hangings with the gold tresses + and fringes, not so airy as he could wish; despatches Grumkow to the + Kaiser, who is not many miles off, to signify what honor we would do + ourselves. + </p> + <p> + It was on Saturday last that the Kaiser and Kaiserinn, returning from + Karlsbad, illuminated Prag with their serene presence; "attended + high-mass, vespers," and a good deal of other worship, as the meagre old + Newspapers report for us, on that and the Sunday following. And then, "on + Monday, at six in the morning," both the Majesties left Prag, for a place + called Chlumetz, southwestward thirty miles off, in the Elbe region, where + they have a pretty Hunting Castle; Kaiser intending "sylvan sport for a + few days," says the old rag of a Newspaper, "and then to return to Prag." + It is here that Grumkow, after a pleasant morning's drive of thirty miles + with the sun on his back, finds Kaiser Karl VI.; and makes his + announcements, and diplomatic inquiries what next. + </p> + <p> + Had Friedrich Wilhelm been in Potsdam or Wusterhausen, and heard that + Kaiser Karl was within thirty miles of him, Friedrich Wilhelm would have + cried, with open arms, Come, come! But the Imperial Majesty is otherwise + hampered; has his rhadamanthine Aulic Councillors, in vast amplitude of + wig, sternly engaged in study of the etiquettes: they have settled that + the meeting cannot be in Chlumetz; lest it might lead to night's lodgings, + and to intricacies. "Let it be at Kladrup," say the Ample-wigged; Kladrup, + an Imperial Stud, or Horse-Farm, half a dozen miles from this; where there + is room for nothing more than dinner. There let the meeting be, to-morrow + at a set hour; and, in the mean time, we will take precautions for the + etiquettes. So it is settled, and Grumkow returns with the decision in a + complimentary form. + </p> + <p> + Through Konigsgratz, down the right bank of the Upper Elbe, on the morrow + morning, Thursday, 31st July, 1732, Friedrich Wilhelm rushes on towards + Kladrup; finds that little village, with the Horse-edifices, looking snug + enough in the valley of Elbe;—alights, welcomed by Prince Eugenio + von Savoye, with word that the Kaiser is not come, but steadily expected + soon. Prinoe Eugenio von Savoye: ACH GOTT, it is another thing, your + Highness, than when we met in the Flanders Wars, long since;—at + Malplaquet that morning, when your Highness had been to Brussels, visiting + your Lady Mother in case of the worst! Slightly grayer your Highness is + grown; I too am nothing like so nimble; the great Duke, poor man, is dead!—Prince + Eugenio von Savoye, we need not doubt, took snuff, and answered in a + sprightly appropriate manner. + </p> + <p> + Kladrup is a Country House as well as a Horse-Farm: a square court is the + interior, as I gather; the Horse-buildings at a reverent distance forming + the fourth side. In the centre of this court,—see what a contrivance + the Aulic Councillors have hit upon,—there is a wooden stand built, + with three staircases leading up to it, one for each person, and three + galleries leading off from it into suites of rooms: no question of + precedence here, where each of you has his own staircase and own gallery + to his apartment! Friedrich Wilhelm looks down like a rhinoceros on all + those cobwebberies. No sooner are the Kaiser's carriage-wheels heard + within the court, than Friedrich Wilhelm rushes down, by what staircase is + readiest; forward to the very carriage-door; and flings his arms about the + Kaiser, embracing and embraced, like mere human friends glad to see one + another. On these terms, they mount the wooden stand, Majesty of Prussia, + Kaiser, Kaiserinn, each by his own staircase; see, for a space of two + hours, the Kaiser's foals and horses led about,—which at least fills + up any gap in conversation that may threaten to occur. The Kaiser, a + little man of high and humane air, is not bright in talk; the Empress, a + Brunswick Princess of fine carriage, Grand-daughter of old Anton Ulrich + who wrote the Novels, is likewise of mute humor in public life; but old + Nord-Teutschland, cradle of one's existence; Brunswick reminiscences; news + of your Imperial Majesty's serene Father, serene Sister, Brother-in-law + the Feldmarschall and Insipid Niece whom we have had the satisfaction to + betroth lately,—furnish small-talk where needful. + </p> + <p> + Dinner being near, you go by your own gallery to dress. From the + drawing-room, Friedrich Wilhelm leads out the Kaiserinn; the Kaiser, as + Head of the world, walks first, though without any lady. How they drank + the healths, gave and received the ewers and towels, is written duly in + the old Books, but was as indifferent to Friedrich Wilhelm as it is to us; + what their conversation was, let no man presume to ask. Dullish, we should + apprehend,—and perhaps BETTER lost to us? But where there are + tongues, there are topics: the Loom of Time wags always, and with it the + tongues of men. Kaiser and Kaiserinn have both been in Karlsbad lately; + Kaiser and Kaiserinn both have sailed to Spain, in old days, and been in + sieges and things memorable: Friedrich Wilhelm, solid Squire Western of + the North, does not want for topics, and talks as a solid rustic gentleman + will. Native politeness he knows on occasion; to etiquette, so far as + concerns his own pretensions, he feels callous altogether,—dimly + sensible that the Eighteenth Century is setting in, and that solid + musketeers and not goldsticks are now the important thing. "I felt mad to + see him so humiliate himself," said Grumkow afterwards to Wilhelmina, + "J'ENRAGEAIS DANS MA PEAU:" why not? + </p> + <p> + Dinner lasted two hours; the Empress rising, Friedrich Wilhelm leads her + to her room; then retires to his own, and "in a quarter of an hour" is + visited there by the Kaiser; "who conducts him," in so many minutes exact + by the watch, "back to the Empress,"—for a sip of coffee, as one + hopes; which may wind up the Interview well. The sun is still a good space + from setting, when Friedrich Wilhelm, after cordial adieus, neglectful of + etiquette, is rolling rapidly towards Nimburg, thirty miles off on the + Prag Highway; and Kaiser Karl with his Spouse move deliberately towards + Chlumetz to hunt again. In Nimburg Friedrich Wilhelm sleeps, that night;—Imperial + Majesties, in a much-tumbled world, of wild horses, ceremonial ewers, and + Eugenios of Savoy and Malplaquet, probably peopling his dreams. If it + please Heaven, there may be another private meeting, a day or two hence. + </p> + <p> + Nimburg, ah your Majesty, Son Fritz will have a night in Nimburg too;—riding + slowly thither amid the wrecks of Kolin Battle, not to sleep well;—but + that happily is hidden from your Majesty. Kolin, Czaslau (Chotusitz), Elbe + Teinitz,—here in this Kladrup region, your Majesty is driving amid + poor Villages which will be very famous by and by. And Prag itself will be + doubly famed in war, if your Majesty knew it, and the Ziscaberg be of + bloodier memory than the Weissenberg itself!—His Majesty, the + morrow's sun having risen upon Nimburg, rolls into Prag successfully about + eleven A.M., Hill of Zisca not disturbing him; goes to the Klein-Seite + Quarter, where an Aulic Councillor with fine Palace is ready; all the + cannon thundering from the walls at his Majesty's advent; and Prince + Eugenio, the ever-present, being there to receive his Majesty,—and + in fact to invite him to dinner this day at half-past twelve. It is + Friday, 1st of August, 1732. + </p> + <p> + By a singular chance, there is preserved for us in Fassmann's Book, what + we may call an Excerpt from the old <i>Morning Post</i> of Prag, bringing + that extinct Day into clear light again; recalling the vanished + Dinner-Party from the realms of Hades, as a thing that once actually WAS. + The List of the Dinner-guests is given complete; vanished ghosts, whom, in + studying the old History-Books, you can, with a kind of interest, fish up + into visibility at will. There is Prince Eugenio von Savoye at the bottom + of the table, in the Count-Thun Palace where he lodges; there bodily, the + little man, in gold-laced coat of unknown cut; the eyes and the tempers + bright and rapid, as usual, or more; nose not unprovided with snuff, and + lips in consequence rather open. Be seated, your Majesty, high gentlemen + all. + </p> + <p> + A big chair-of-state stands for his Majesty at the upper end of the table: + his Majesty will none of it; sits down close by Prince Eugene at the very + bottom, and opposite Prince Alexander of Wurtemberg, whom we had at Berlin + lately, a General of note in the Turkish and other wars: here probably + there will be better talk; and the big chair may preside over us in + vacancy. Which it does. Prince Alexander, Imperial General against the + Turks, and Heir-Apparent of Wurtemberg withal, can speak of many things,—hardly + much of his serene Cousin the reigning Duke; whose health is in a too + interesting state, the good though unlucky man. Of the Gravenitz sitting + now in limbo, or travelling about disowned, TOUJOURS UN LAVEMENT SES + TROUSSES, let there be deep silence. But the Prince Alexander can answer + abundantly on other heads. He comes to his inheritance a few months hence; + actual reigning Duke, the poor serene Cousin having died: and perhaps we + shall meet, him transiently again. + </p> + <p> + He is Ancestor of the Czars of Russia, this Prince Alexander, who is now + dining here in the body, along with Friedrich Wilhelm and Prince Eugene: + Paul of Russia, unbeautiful Paul, married the second time, from Mumpelgard + (what the French call Montbeillard, in Alsace), a serene Grand-daughter of + his, from whom come the Czars,—thanks to her or not. Prince + Alexander is Ancestor withal of our present "Kings of Wurtemberg," if that + mean anything: Father (what will mean something) to the serene Duke, still + in swaddling-clothes, [Born 21st January, 1732; Carl Eugen the name of him + (Michaelis, iii. 450).] who will be son-in-law to Princess Wilhelmina of + Baireuth (could your Majesty foresee it); and will do strange pranks in + the world, upon poet Schiller and others. Him too, and Brothers of his, + were they born and become of size, we shall meet. A noticeable man, and + not without sense, this Prince Alexander; who is now of a surety eating + with us,—as we find by the extinct <i>Morning Post</i> in Fassmann's + old Book. + </p> + <p> + Of the others eating figures, Stahrembergs, Sternbergs, Kinsky Ambassador + to England, Kinsky Ambassador to France, high Austrian dignitaries, we + shall say nothing;—who would listen to us? Hardly can the + Hof-Kanzler Count von Sinzendorf, supreme of Aulic men, who holds the + rudder of Austrian State-Policy, and probably feels himself loaded with + importance beyond most mortals now eating here or elsewhere,—gain + the smallest recognition from oblivious English readers of our time. It is + certain he eats here on this occasion; and to his Majesty he does not want + for importance. His Majesty, intent on Julich and Berg and other high + matters, spends many hours next day, in earnest private dialogue with him. + We mention farther, with satisfaction, that Grumkow and Ordnance-Master + Seckendorf are both on the list, and all our Prussian party, down to Hacke + of the Potsdam grenadiers, friend Schulenburg visibly eating among the + others. Also that the dinner was glorious (HERRLICH), and ended about + five. [Fassmann, p. 474.] After which his Majesty went to two evening + parties, of a high order, in the Hradschin Quarter or elsewhere; cards in + the one (unless you liked to dance, or grin idle talk from you), and + supper in the other. + </p> + <p> + His Majesty amused himself for four other days in Prag, interspersing long + earnest dialogues with Sinzendorf, with whom he spent the greater part of + Saturday, [Pollnitz, ii. 411.]—results as to Julion and Berg of a + rather cloudy nature. On Saturday came the Kaiser, too, and Kaiserinn, to + their high Nouse, the Schloss in Prag; and there occurred, in the + incognito form, "as if by accident," three visits or counter-visits, two + of them of some length. The King went dashing about; saw, deliberately or + in glimpses, all manner of things,—from "the Military Hospital" to + "the Tongue of St. Nepomuk" again. Nepomuk, an imaginary Saint of those + parts; pitched into the Moldau, as is fancied and fabled, by wicked King + Wenzel (King and Deposed-Kaiser, whom we have heard of), for speaking and + refusing to speak; Nepomuk is now become the Patron of Bridges, in + consequence; stands there in bronze on the Bridge of Prag; and still shows + a dried Tongue in the world: [<i>Die Legende vom heiligen Johann von + Nepomuk, </i>von D. Otto Abel (Berlin, 1855); an acute bit of Historical + Criticism.] this latter, we expressly find, his Majesty saw. + </p> + <p> + On Sunday, his Majesty, nothing of a strait-laced man, attended divine or + quasi-divine worship in the Cathedral Church,—where high Prince + Bishops delivered PALLIUMS, did histrionisms; "manifested the ABSURDITAT + of Papistry" more or less. Coming out of the Church, he was induced to + step in and see the rooms of the Schloss, or Imperial Palace. In one of + the rooms, as if by accident, the Kaiser was found lounging:—"Extremely + delighted to see your Majesty!"—and they had the first of their long + or considerable dialogues together; purport has not transpired. The second + considerable dialogue was on the morrow, when Imperial Majesty, as if by + accident, found himself in the Count-Nostitz Palace, where Friedrich + Wilhelm lodges. Delighted to be so fortunate again! Hope your Majesty + likes Prag? Eternal friendship, OH JA:—and as to Julich and Berg? + Particulars have not transpired. + </p> + <p> + Prag is a place full of sights: his Majesty, dashing about in all + quarters, has a busy time; affairs of state (Julich and Berg principally) + alternating with what we now call the LIONS. Zisca's drum, for instance, + in the Arsenal here? Would your Majesty wish to see Zisca's own skin, + which he bequeathed to be a drum when HE had done with it?"NARRENPOSSEN!"—for + indeed the thing is fabulous, though in character with Zisca. Or the + Council-Chamber window, out of which "the Three Prag Projectiles fell into + the Night of things," as a modern Historian expresses it? Three Official + Gentlemen, flung out one morning, [13th (23d) May, 1618 (Kohler, p. 507).] + 70 feet, but fell on "sewerage," and did not die, but set the whole world + on fire? That is too certain, as his Majesty knows: that brought the + crowning of the Winter-King, Battle of the Weissenberg, Thirty-Years War; + and lost us Jagerndorf and much else. + </p> + <p> + Or Wallenstein's Palace,—did your Majesty look at that? A thing + worth glancing at, on the score of History and even of Natural-History. + That rugged son of steel and gunpowder could not endure the least noise in + his sleeping-room or even sitting-room,—a difficulty in the + soldiering way of life;—and had, if I remember, one hundred and + thirty houses torn away in Prag, and sentries posted all round in the + distance, to secure silence for his much-meditating indignant soul. And + yonder is the Weissenberg, conspicuous in the western suburban region: and + here in the eastern, close by, is the Ziscaberg;—O Heaven, your + Majesty, on this Zisca-Hill will be a new "Battle of Prag," which will + throw the Weissenberg into eclipse; and there is awful fighting coming on + in these parts again! + </p> + <p> + The THIRD of the considerable dialogues in Prag was on this same Monday + night; when his Majesty went to wait upon the Kaiserinn, and the Kaiser + soon accidentally joined them. Precious gracious words passed;—on + Berg and Julich nothing particular, that we hear;—and the High + Personages, with assurances of everlasting friendship, said adieu; and met + no more in this world. On his toilet-table Friedrich Wilhelm found a gold + Tobacco-box, sent by the highest Lady extant; gold Tobacco-box, item gold + Tobacco-stopper or Pipe-picker: such the parting gifts of her Imperial + Majesty. Very precious indeed, and grateful to the honest heart;—yet + testifying too (as was afterwards suggested to the royal mind) what these + high people think of a rustic Orson King; and how they fling their nose + into the air over his Tabagies and him. + </p> + <p> + On the morrow morning early, Friedrich Wilhelm rolls away again homewards, + by Karlsbad, by Baireuth; all the cannon of Prag saying thrice, Good speed + to him. "He has had a glorious time," said the Berlin Court-lady to Queen + Sophie one evening, "no end of kindness from the Imperial Majesties: but + has he brought Berg and Julich in his pocket?"—Alas, not a fragment + of them; nor of any solid thing whatever, except it be the gold + Tobacco-box; and the confirmation of our claims on East-Friesland (cheap + liberty to let us vindicate them if we can), if you reckon that a solid + thing. These two Imperial gifts, such as they are, he has consciously + brought back with him;—and perhaps, though as yet unconsciously, a + third gift of much more value, once it is developed into clearness: some + dim trace of insight into the no-meaning of these high people; and how + they consider US as mere Orsons and wild Bisons, whom they will do the + honor to consume as provision, if we behave well! + </p> + <p> + The great King Friedrich, now Crown-Prince at Ruppin, writing of this + Journey long afterwards,—hastily, incorrectly, as his wont is, in + regard to all manner of minute outward particulars; and somewhat + maltreating, or at least misplacing, even the inward meaning, which was + well known to him WITHOUT investigation, but which he is at no trouble to + DATE for himself, and has dated at random,—says, in his thin rapid + way, with much polished bitterness:— + </p> + <p> + "His [King Friedrich Wilhelm's] experience on this occasion served to + prove that good-faith and the virtues, so contrary to the corruption of + the age, do not succeed in it. Politicians have banished sincerity (LA + CANDEUR) into private life: they look upon themselves as raised quite + above the laws which they enjoin on other people; and give way without + reserve to the dictates of their own depraved mind. + </p> + <p> + "The guaranty of Julich and Berg, which Seckendorf had formally promised + in the name of the Emperor, went off in smoke; and the Imperial Ministers + were in a disposition so opposed to Prussia, the King saw clearly [not for + some years yet] that if there was a Court in Europe intending to cross his + interests, it was certainly that of Vienna. This Visit of his to the + Emperor was like that of Solon to Croesus [Solon not I recognizable, in + the grenadier costume, amid the tobacco-smoke, and dim accompaniments?]—and + he returned to Berlin, rich still in his own virtue. The most punctilious + censors could find no fault in his conduct, except a probity carried to + excess. The Interview ended as those of Kings often do: it cooled [not for + some time yet], or, to say better, it extinguished the friendship there + had been between the two Courts. Friedrich Wilhelm left Prag full of + contempt [dimly, altogether unconsciously, tending to have some contempt, + and in the end to be full of it] for the deceitfulness and pride of the + Imperial Court: and the Emperor's Ministers disdained a Sovereign who + looked without interest on frivolous ceremonials and precedences. Him they + considered too ambitious in aiming at the Berg-and-Julich succession: them + he regarded [came to regard] as a pack of knaves, who had broken their + word, and were not punished for it." + </p> + <p> + Very bitter, your Majesty; and, in all but the dates, true enough. But + what a drop of concentrated absinthe follows next, by way of finish,—which + might itself have corrected the dating! + </p> + <p> + "In spite of so many subjects of discontent, the King wedded his Eldest + Son [my not too fortunate self], out of complaisance to the Vienna Court, + with a Princess of Brunswick-Bevern, Niece to the Empress:"—bitter + fact; necessitating change of date in the paragraphs just written. [<i>OEuvres + de Frederic (Memoires de Brandenbourg),</i> i. 162, 163.] + </p> + <p> + Friedrich Wilhelm, good soul, cherishes the Imperial gifts, Tobacco-box + included;—claps the Arms of East-Friesland on his escutcheon; will + take possession of Friesland, if the present Duke die heirless, let George + of England say what he will. And so he rolls homeward, by way of Baireuth. + He stayed but a short while in Karlsbad; has warned his Wilhelmina that he + will be at Baireuth on the 9th of the month. [Wilhelmina, ii. 55.] + </p> + <p> + Wilhelmina is very poorly; "near her time," as wives say; rusticating in + "the Hermitage," a Country-House in the vicinity of Baireuth; Husband and + Father-in-law gone away, towards the Bohemian frontier, to hunt boars. Oh, + the bustle and the bother that high Lady had; getting her little Country + House stretched out to the due pitch to accommodate everybody,—especially + her foolish Sister of Anspach and foolish Brother-in-law and suite,—with + whom, by negligence of servants and otherwise, there had like to have + risen incurable quarrel on the matter. But the dexterous young Wife, + gladdest; busiest and weakliest of hopeful creatures, contrived to manage + everything, like a Female Fieldmarshal, as she was. Papa was delighted; + bullied the foolish Anspach people,—or would have done so, had not I + intervened, that the matter might die. Papa was gracious, happy; very + anxious about me in my interesting state. "Thou hast lodged me to + perfection, good Wilhelmina. Here I find my wooden stools, tubs to wash + in; all things as if I were at Potsdam:—a good girl; and thou must + take care of thyself, my child (MEIN KIND)." + </p> + <p> + At dinner, his Majesty, dreading no ill, but intent only on the practical, + got into a quiet, but to me most dreadful, lecture to the old Margraf (my + Father-in-law) upon debt and money and arrears: How he, the Margraf, was + cheated at every turn, and led about by the nose, and kept weltering in + debt: how he should let the young Margraf go into the Offices, to + supervise, and withal to learn tax-matters and economics betimes. How he + (Friedrich Wilhelm) would send him a fellow from Berlin who understood + such things, and would drill his scoundrels for him! To which the old + Margraf, somewhat flushed in the face, made some embarrassed assent, + knowing it in fact to be true; and accepted the Berlin man:—but he + made me (his poor Daughter-in-law) smart for it afterwards: "Not quite + dead YET, Madam; you will have to wait a little!"—and other foolish + speech; which required to be tempered down again by a judicious female + mind. + </p> + <p> + Grumkow himself was pleasant on this occasion; told us of Kladrup, the + Prag etiquettes; and how he was like to go mad seeing his Majesty so + humiliate himself. Fraulein Grumkow, a niece of his, belonging to the + Austrian court, who is over here with the rest, a satirical intriguing + baggage, she, I privately perceive, has made a conquest of my foolish + Brother-in-law, the Anspach Margraf here;—and there will be + jealousies, and a cat-and-dog life over yonder, worse than ever! Tush, why + should we talk?—These are the phenomena at Baireuth; Husband and + Father-in-law having quitted their boar-hunt and hurried home. + </p> + <p> + After three days, Friedrich Wilhelm rolled away again; lodged, once more, + at Meuselwitz, with abstruse Seckendorf, and his good old Wife, who do the + hospitalities well when they must, in spite of the single candle once + visible. On the morrow after which, 14th August, 1732, his Majesty is off + again, "at four in the morning," towards Leipzig, intending to be home + that night, though it is a long drive. At Leipzig, not to waste time, he + declines entering the Town; positively will not, though the cannon-salvos + are booming all round;—"breakfasts in the suburbs, with a certain + Horse-dealer (ROSS-HANDLER) now deceased:" a respectable Centaur, capable, + no doubt, of bargaining a little about cavalry mountings, while one eats, + with appetite and at one's ease. Which done, Majesty darts off again, the + cannon-salvos booming out a second time;—and by assiduous driving + gets home to Potsdam about eight at night. And so has happily ENDED this + Journey to Kladrup: [Fassmann, pp. 474-479; Wilhelmina, ii. 46-55; + Pollnitz, ii. 407-412; Forster, i. 328-334.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter V. — GHOST OF THE DOUBLE-MARRIAGE RISES; TO NO PURPOSE. + </h2> + <p> + We little expected to see the "Double-Marriage" start up into vitality + again, at this advanced stage; or, of all men, Seckendorf, after riding + 25,000 miles to kill the Double-Marriage, engaged in resuscitating it! But + so it is: by endless intriguing, matchless in History or Romance, the + Austrian Court had, at such expense to the parties and to itself, achieved + the first problem of stifling the harmless Double-Marriage; and now, the + wind having changed, it is actually trying its hand the opposite way. + </p> + <p> + Wind is changed: consummate Robinson has managed to do his thrice-salutary + "Treaty of Vienna;" [16th March, 1731, the TAIL of it (accession of the + Dutch, of Spain, &c.) not quite coiled up till 20th February, 1732: + Scholl, i. 218-222.] to clout up all differences between the Sea-Powers + and the Kaiser, and restore the old Law of Nature,—Kaiser to fight + the French, Sea-Powers to feed and pay him while engaged in that necessary + job. And now it would be gratifying to the Kaiser, if there remained, on + this side of the matter, no rent anywhere, if between his chief Sea ally + and his chief Land one, the Britannic Majesty and the Prussian, there + prevailed a complete understanding, with no grudge left. + </p> + <p> + The honor of this fine resuscitation project is ascribed to Robinson by + the Vienna people: "Robinson's suggestion," they always say: how far it + was, or whether at all it was or not, nobody at present knows. Guess + rather, if necessary, it had been the Kaiser's own! Robinson, as the thing + proceeds, is instructed from St. James's to "look on and not interfere;" + [Despatches, in State-Paper Office] Prince Eugene, too, we can observe, is + privately against it, though officially urgent, and doing his best. Who + knows,—or need know? + </p> + <p> + Enough that High Heads are set upon it; that the diplomatic wigs are all + wagging with it, from about the beginning of October, 1732; and rumors are + rife and eager, occasionally spurting out into the Newspapers: + Double-Marriage after all, hint the old Rumors: Double-Marriage somehow or + other; Crown-Prince to have his English Princess, Prince Fred of England + to console the Brunswick one for loss of her Crown-Prince; or else Prince + Karl of Brunswick to—And half a dozen other ways; which Rumor cannot + settle to its satisfaction. The whispers upon it, from Hanover, from + Vienna, at Berlin, and from the Diplomatic world in general, occasionally + whistling through the Newspapers, are manifold and incessant,—not + worthy of the least attention from us here. [Forster, iii. 111, 120, 108, + 113, 122.] What is certain is, Seckendorf, in the end of October, is + corresponding on it with Prince Eugene; has got instructions to propose + the matter in Tobacco-Parliament; and does not like it at all. Grumkow, + who perhaps has seen dangerous clouds threatening to mount upon him, and + never been quite himself again in the Royal Mind since that questionable + NOSTI business, dissuades earnestly, constantly. "Nothing but mischief + will come of such a proposal," says Grumkow steadily; and for his own + share absolutely declines concern in it. + </p> + <p> + But Prince Eugene's orders are express; remonstrances, cunctations only + strengthen the determination of the High Heads or Head: Forward with this + beautiful scheme! Seckendorf, puckered into dangerous anxieties, but + summoning all his cunning, has at length, after six weeks' hesitation, to + open it, as if casually, in some favorable hour, to his Prussian Majesty. + December 5th, 1732, as we compute;—a kind of epoch in his Majesty's + life. Prussian Majesty stares wide-eyed; the breath as if struck out of + him; repeats, "Julich and Berg absolutely secured, say you? But—hm, + na!"—and has not yet taken in the unspeakable dimensions of the + occurrence. "What? Imperial Majesty will make me break my word before all + the world? Imperial Majesty has been whirling me about, face now to the + east, face straightway round to the west: Imperial Majesty does not feel + that I am a man and king at all; takes me for a mere machine, to be + seesawed and whirled hither and thither, like a rotatory Clothes-horse, to + dry his Imperial Majesty's linen upon. TAUSEND HIMMEL—!" + </p> + <p> + The full dimensions of all this did not rise clear upon the intellect of + Prussian Majesty,—a slow intellect, but a true and deep, with + terrible earthquakes and poetic fires lying under it,—not at once, + or for months, perhaps years to come. But they had begun to dawn upon him + painfully here; they rose gradually into perfect clearness: all things + seen at last as what they were;—with huge submarine earthquake for + consequence, and total change of mind towards Imperial Majesty and the + drying of his Pragmatic linen, in Friedrich Wilhelm. Amiable Orson, true + to the heart; amiable, though terrible when too much put upon! + </p> + <p> + This dawning process went on for above two years to come, painfully, + reluctantly, with explosions, even with tears. But here, directly on the + back of Seckendorf's proposal, and recorded from a sure hand, is what we + may call the peep-of-day in that matter: First Session of + Tobacco-Parliament, close after that event. Event is on the 5th December, + 1732; Tobacco Session is of the 6th;—glimpse of it is given by + Speaker Grumkow himself; authentic to the bone. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SESSION OF TOBACCO-PARLIAMENT, 6th DECEMBER, 1732. + </h2> + <p> + Grumkow, shattered into "headache" by this Session, writes Report of it to + Seckendorf before going to bed. Look, reader, into one of the strangest + Political Establishments; and how a strange Majesty comports himself + there, directly after such proposal from Vienna to marry with England + still!—"Schwerin" is incidentally in from Frankfurt-on-Oder, where + his Regiment and business usually lie: the other Honorable Members we + sufficiently know. Majesty has been a little out of health lately; + perceptibly worse the last two days. "Syberg" is a Gold-cook (Alchemical + gentleman, of very high professions), came to Berlin some time ago; whom + his Majesty, after due investigation, took the liberty to hang. [Forster, + iii. 126.] Readers can now understand what speaker Grumkow writes, and + despatches by his lackey, in such haste:— + </p> + <p> + "I never saw such a scene as this evening. Derschau, Schwerin, + Buddenbrock, Rochow, Flanz were present. We had been about an hour in the + Red Room [languidly doing our tobacco off and on], when he [the King] had + us shifted into the Little Room: drove out the servants; and cried, + looking fixedly at me: 'No, I cannot endure it any longer! ES STOSSET MIR + DAS HERZ AB,' cried he, breaking into German: 'It crushes the heart out of + me; to make me do a bit of scoundrelism, me, me! I say; no, never! Those + damned intrigues; may the Devil take them!'— + </p> + <p> + "EGO (Grumkow). 'Of course, I know of nothing. But I do not comprehend + your Majesty's inquietude, coming thus on the sudden, after our common + indifferent mood.' + </p> + <p> + "KING. 'What, make me a villain! I will tell it right out. Certain damned + scoundrels have been about betraying me. People that should have known me + better have been trying to lead me into a dishonorable scrape'—("Here + I called in the hounds, JE ROMPIS LES CHIENS," reports Grumkow, "for he + was going to blab everything; I interrupted, saying):— + </p> + <p> + "EGO. 'But, your Majesty, what is it ruffles you so? I know not what you + talk of. Your Majesty has honorable people about you; and the man who lets + himself be employed in things against your Majesty must be a traitor.' + </p> + <p> + "KING. 'Yes, JA, JA. I will do things that will surprise them. I—' + </p> + <p> + "And, in short, a torrent of exclamations: which I strove to soften by all + manner of incidents and contrivances; succeeding at last,"—by + dexterity and time (but, at this point, the light is now blown out, and we + SEE no more):—"so that he grew quite calm again, and the rest of the + evening passed gently enough. + </p> + <p> + "Well, you see what the effect of your fine Proposal is, which you said he + would like! I can tell you, it is the most detestable incident that could + have turned up. I know, you had your orders: but you may believe and + depend on it, he has got his heart driven rabid by the business, and says, + 'Who knows now whether that villain Syberg' Gold-cook, that was hanged the + other day, 'was not set on by some people to poison me?' In a word, he was + like a madman. + </p> + <p> + "What struck me most was when he repeated, 'Only think! Think! Who would + have expected it of people that should have known me; and whom I know, and + have known, better than they fancy!'"—Pleasant passage for + Seckendorf to chew the cud upon, through the night-watches! + </p> + <p> + "In fine, as I was somewhat confused; and anxious, above all, to keep him + from exploding with the secret, I cannot remember everything, But + Derschau, who was more at his ease, will be able to give you a full + account. He [the King] said more than once: 'THIS was his sickness; the + thing that ailed him, this: it gnawed his heart, and would be the death of + him!' He certainly did not affect; he was in a very convulsive condition. + [JARNI-BLEU, here is a piece of work, Herr Seckendorf!]—Adieu, I + have a headache." Whereupon to bed. + </p> + <p> + "GRUMKOW." + </p> + <p> + [Forster, iii. 135, 136.] + </p> + <p> + This Hansard Report went off direct to Prince Eugene; and ought to have + been a warning to the high Vienna heads and him. But they persisted not + the less to please Robinson or themselves; considering his Prussian + Majesty to be, in fact, a mere rotatory Clothes-horse for drying the + Imperial linen on; and to have no intellect at all, because he was without + guile, and had no vulpinism at all. In which they were very much mistaken + indeed. History is proud to report that the guileless Prussian Majesty, + steadily attending to his own affairs in a wise manner, though hoodwinked + and led about by Black-Artists as he had been, turned out when Fact and + Nature subsequently pronounced upon it, to have had more intellect than + the whole of them together,—to have been, in a manner, the only one + of them that had any real "intellect," or insight into Fact and Nature, at + all. Consummate Black-art Diplomacies overnetting the Universe, went + entirely to water, running down the gutters to the last drop; and a + prosperous Drilled Prussia, compact, organic in every part, from diligent + plough-sock to shining bayonet and iron ramrod, remained standing. "A full + Treasury and 200,000 well-drilled men would be the one guarantee to your + Pragmatic Sanction," Prince Eugene had said. But that bit of insight was + not accepted at Vienna; Black-art, and Diplomatic spider-webs from pole to + pole, being thought the preferable method. + </p> + <p> + Enough, Seckendorf was ordered to manipulate and soothe down the Prussian + Majesty, as surely would be easy; to continue his galvanic operations on + the Double-Match, or produce a rotation in the purposes of the royal + breast. Which he diligently strove to do, when once admitted to speech + again;—Grumkow steadily declining to meddle, and only Queen Sophie, + as we can fancy, auguring joyfully of it. Seckendorf, admitted to speech + the third day after that explosive Session, snuffles his softest, his + cunningest;—continues to ride diligently, the concluding portion + (such it proved) of his 25,000 miles with the Prussian Majesty up and down + through winter and spring; but makes not the least progress, the reverse + rather. + </p> + <p> + Their dialogues and arguings on the matter, here and elsewhere, are lost + in air; or gone wholly to a single point unexpectedly preserved for us. + One day, riding through some village, Priort some say his Majesty calls + it, some give another name,—advocate Seckendorf, in the fervor of + pleading and arguing, said some word, which went like a sudden flash of + lightning through the dark places of his Majesty's mind, and never would + go out of it again while he lived after. In passionate moments, his + Majesty spoke of it sometimes, a clangorous pathos in his tones, as of a + thing hideous, horrible, never to be forgotten, which had killed him,—death + from a friend's hand. "It was the 17th of April, 1733, [All the Books + (Forster, ii. 142, for one) mention this utterance of his Majesty, on what + occasion we shall see farther on; and give the date "1732," not 1733: but + except as amended above, it refuses to have any sense visible at this + distance. The Village of Priort is in the Potsdam region.] riding through + Priort, a man said something to me: it was as if you had turned a dagger + about in my heart. That man was he that killed me; there and then I got my + death!" + </p> + <p> + A strange passion in that utterance: the deep dumb soul of his Majesty, of + dumb-poetic nature, suddenly brought to a fatal clearness about certain + things. "O Kaiser, Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire; and this is your + return for my loyal faith in you? I had nearly killed my Fritz, my + Wilhelmina, broken my Feekin's heart and my own, and reduced the world to + ruins for your sake. And because I was of faith more than human, you took + me for a dog? O Kaiser, Kaiser!"—Poor Friedrich Wilhelm, he spoke of + this often, in excited moments, in his later years; the tears running down + his cheeks, and the whole man melted into tragic emotion: but if Fritz + were there, the precious Fritz whom he had almost killed for their sake, + he would say, flashing out into proud rage, "There is one that will avenge + me, though; that one! DA STEHT EINER, DER MICH RACHEN WIRD!" [Forster, ii. + 153.] Yes, your Majesty; perhaps that one. And it will be seen whether YOU + were a rotatory Clothes-horse to dry their Pragmatic linen upon, or + something different a good deal. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VI. — KING AUGUST MEDITATING GREAT THINGS FOR POLAND. + </h2> + <p> + In the New-year's days of 1733, the topic among diplomatic gentlemen, + which set many big wigs wagging, and even tremulously came out in the gray + leaves of gazetteers and garreteers of the period, was a royal drama, + dimly supposed to be getting itself up in Poland at this time. Nothing + known about it for certain; much guessed. "Something in the rumor!" nods + this wig; "Nothing!" wags that, slightly oscillating; and gazetteers, who + would earn their wages, and have a peck of coals apiece to glad them in + the cold weather, had to watch with all eagerness the movements of King + August, our poor old friend, the Dilapidated-Strong, who is in Saxony at + present; but bound for Warsaw shortly,—just about lifting the + curtain on important events, it is thought and not thought. Here are the + certainties of it, now clear enough, so far as they deserve a glance from + us. + </p> + <p> + January 10th, 1733, August the Dilapidated-Strong of Poland has been in + Saxony, looking after his poor Electorate a little; and is on the road + from Dresden homewards again;—will cross a corner of the Prussian + Dominions, as his wont is on such occasions. Prussian Majesty, if not + appearing in person, will as usual, by some Official of rank, send a + polite Well-speed-you as the brother Majesty passes. This time, however, + it was more than politeness; the Polish Majesty having, as was thought, + such intricate affairs in the wind. Let Grumkow, the fittest man in all + ways, go, and do the greeting to his old Patroon: greeting, or whatever + else may be needed. + </p> + <p> + Patroon left Dresden,—"having just opened the Carnival" or + fashionable Season there, opened and nothing more,—January 10th, + 1733; [Fassmann, <i>Leben Friedrich Augusti des Grossen,</i> p. 994.] + being in haste home for a Polish Diet close at hand. On which same day + Grumkow, we suppose, drives forth from Berlin, to intersect him, in the + Neumark, about Crossen; and have a friendly word again, in those + localities, over jolly wine. Intersection took place duly;—there was + exuberant joy on the part of the Patroon; and such a dinner and night of + drinking, as has seldom been. Abstruse things lie close ahead of August + the Dilapidated-Strong, important to Prussia, and for which Prussia is + important; let Grumkow try if he can fish the matter into clearness out of + these wine-cups. And then August, on his side, wishes to know what the + Kaiser said at Kladrup lately; there is much to be fished into clearness. + </p> + <p> + Many are the times August the Strong has made this journey; many are the + carousals, on such and other occasions, Grumkow and he have had. But there + comes an end to all things. This was their last meeting, over flowing + liquor or otherwise, in the world. Satirical History says, they drank all + night, endeavoring to pump one another, and with such enthusiasm that they + never recovered it; drank themselves to death at Crossen on that occasion. + [<i>OEuvres de Frederic (Memoires de Brandenbourg),</i> i. 163.] It is + certain August died within three weeks; and people said of Grumkow, who + lived six years longer, he was never well after this bout. Is it worth any + human Creature's while to look into the plans of this precious pair of + individuals? Without the least expense of drinking, the secrets they were + pumping out of each other are now accessible enough,—if it were of + importance now. One glance I may perhaps commend to the reader, out of + these multifarious Note-books in my possession:— + </p> + <p> + "August, by change of his religion, and other sad operations, got to be + what they called the King of Poland, thirty five years ago; but, though + looking glorious to the idle public, it has been a crown of + stinging-nettles to the poor man,—a sedan-chair running on rapidly, + with the bottom broken out! To say nothing of the scourgings he got, and + poor Saxony along with him, from Charles XII., on account of this + Sovereignty so called, what has the thing itself been to him? In Poland, + for these thirty-five years, the individual who had least of his real will + done in public matters has been, with infinite management, and display of + such good-humor as at least deserves credit, the nominal Sovereign Majesty + of Poland. Anarchic Grandees have been kings over him; ambitious, + contentious, unmanageable;—very fanatical too, and never persuaded + that August's Apostasy was more than a sham one, not even when he made his + Prince apostatize too. Their Sovereignty has been a mere peck of troubles, + disgraces and vexations: for those thirty-five years, an ever-boiling pot + of mutiny, contradiction, insolence, hardly tolerable even to such nerves + as August's. + </p> + <p> + "August, for a long time back, has been thinking of schemes to clap some + lid upon all that. To make the Sovereignty hereditary in his House: that, + with the good Saxon troops we have, would be a remedy;—and in fact + it is the only remedy. John Casimir (who abdicated long ago, in the Great + Elector's time, and went to Paris,—much charmed with Ninon de + l'Enclos there) told the Polish Diets, With their LIBERUM VETO, and 'right + of confederation' and rebellion, they would bring the country down under + the feet of mankind, and reduce their Republic to zero one day, if they + persisted. They have not failed to persist. With some hereditary King over + it, and a regulated Saxony to lean upon: truly might it not be a change to + the better? To the worse, it could hardly be, thinks August the Strong; + and goes intent upon that method, this long while back;—and at + length hopes now, in few days longer, at the Diet just assembling, to see + fruits appear, and the thing actually begin. + </p> + <p> + "The difficulties truly are many; internal and external:—but there + are calculated methods, too. For the internal: Get up, by bribery, + persuasion, some visible minority to countenance you; with these manoeuvre + in the Diets; on the back of these, the 30,000 Saxon troops. But then what + will the neighboring Kings say? The neighboring Kings, with their + big-mouthed manifestoes, pities for an oppressed Republic, overwhelming + forces, and invitations to 'confederate' and revolt: without their + tolerance first had, nothing can be done. That is the external difficulty. + For which too there is a remedy. Cut off sufficient outlying slices of + Poland; fling these to the neighboring Kings to produce consent: Partition + of Poland, in fact; large sections of its Territory sliced away: that will + be the method, thinks King August. + </p> + <p> + "Neighboring Kings, Kaiser, Prussia, Russia, to them it is not grievous + that Poland should remain in perennial anarchy, in perennial impotence; + the reverse rather: a dead horse, or a dying, in the next stall,—he + at least will not kick upon us, think the neighboring Kings. And yet,—under + another similitude,—you do not like your next-door neighbor to be + always on the point of catching fire; smoke issuing, thicker or thinner, + through the slates of his roof, as a perennial phenomenon? August will + conciliate the neighboring Kings. Russia, big-cheeked Anne Czarina there, + shall have not only Courland peaceably henceforth, but the Ukraine, + Lithuania, and other large outlying slices; that surely will conciliate + Russia. To Austria, on its Hungarian border, let us give the Country of + Zips;—nay there are other sops we have for Austria. Pragmatic + Sanction, hitherto refused as contrary to plain rights of ours,—that, + if conceded to a spectre-hunting Kaiser? To Friedrich Wilhelm we could + give West-Preussen; West-Preussen torn away three hundred years ago, and + leaving a hiatus in the very continuity of Friedrich Wilhelm: would not + that conciliate him? Of all enemies or friends, Friedrich Wilhelm, close + at hand with 80,000 men capable of fighting at a week's, notice, is by far + the most important. + </p> + <p> + "These are August's plans: West-Preussen for the nearest Neighbor; Zips + for Austria; Ukraine, Lithuania, and appendages for the Russian Czarina: + handsome Sections to be sliced off, and flung to good neighbors; as it + were, all the outlying limbs and wings of the Polish Territory sliced off; + compact body to remain, and become, by means of August and Saxon troops, a + Kingdom with government, not an imaginary Republic without government any + longer. In fact, it was the 'Partition of Poland,' such as took effect + forty years after, and has kept the Newspapers weeping ever since. + Partition of Poland,—MINUS the compact interior held under + government, by a King with Saxon troops or otherwise. Compact interior, in + that effective partition, forty years after, was left as anarchic as ever; + and had to be again partitioned, and cut away altogether,—with new + torrents of loud tears from the Newspapers, refusing to be comforted to + this day. + </p> + <p> + "It is not said that Friedrich Wilhelm had the least intention of + countenancing August in these dangerous operations, still less of going + shares with August; but he wished much, through Grumkow, to have some + glimpse into the dim program of them; and August wished much to know + Friedrich Wilhelm's and Grumkow's humor towards them. Grumkow and August + drank copiously, or copiously pressed drink on one another, all night + (11th-12th January, 1733, as I compute; some say at Crossen, some say at + Frauendorf a royal domain near by), with the view of mutually fishing out + those secrets;—and killed one another in the business, as is + rumored." + </p> + <p> + What were Grumkow's news at home-coming, I did not hear; but he continues + very low and shaky;—refuses, almost with horror, to have the least + hand in Seckendorf's mad project, of resuscitating the English + Double-Marriage, and breaking off the Brunswick one, at the eleventh hour + and after word pledged. Seckendorf himself continues to dislike and + dissuade: but the High Heads at Vienna are bent on it; and command new + strenuous attempts;—literally at the last moment; which is now come. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VII. — CROWN-PRINCE'S MARRIAGE. + </h2> + <p> + Since November last, Wilhelmina is on visit at Berlin,—first visit + since her marriage;—she stays there for almost ten months; not under + the happiest auspices, poor child. Mamma's reception of her, just off the + long winter journey, and extenuated with fatigues and sickly chagrins, was + of the most cutting cruelty: "What do you want here? What is a mendicant + like you come hither for?" And next night, when Papa himself came home, it + was little better. "Ha, ha," said he, "here you are; I am glad to see + you." Then holding up a light, to take view of me: "How changed you are!" + said he: "What is little Frederika [my little Baby at Baireuth] doing?" + And on my answering, continued: "I am sorry for you, on my word. You have + not bread to eat; and but for me you might go begging. I am a poor man + myself, not able to give you much; but I will do what I can. I will give + you now and then a twenty or a thirty shillings (PAR DIX OU DOUZE + FLORINS), as my affairs permit: it will always be something to assuage + your want. And you, Madam," said he, turning to the Queen, "you will + sometimes give her an old dress; for the poor child has n't a shift to her + back." [Wilhelmina, ii. 85.] This rugged paternal banter was taken too + literally by Wilhelmina, in her weak state; and she was like "to burst in + her skin," poor Princess. + </p> + <p> + So that,—except her own good Hereditary Prince, who was here "over + from Pasewalk" and his regimental duties, waiting to welcome her; in whose + true heart, full of honest human sunshine towards her, she could always + find shelter and defence,—native Country and Court offer little to + the brave Wilhelmina. Chagrins enough are here: chagrins also were there. + At Baireuth our old Father Margraf has his crotchets, his infirmities and + outbreaks; takes more and more to liquor; and does always keep us + frightfully bare in money. No help from Papa here, either, on the finance + side; no real hope anywhere (thinks Seckendorf, when we consult him), + except only in the Margraf's death: "old Margraf will soon drink himself + dead," thinks Seckendorf; "and in the mean while there is Vienna, and a + noble Kaiserinn who knows her friends in case of extremity!" thinks he. + [Wilhelmina, ii. 81-111.] Poor Princess, in her weak shattered state, she + has a heavy time of it; but there is a tough spirit in her; bright, sharp, + like a swift sabre, not to be quenched in any coil; but always cutting its + way, and emerging unsubdued. + </p> + <p> + One of the blessings reserved for her here, which most of all concerns us, + was the occasional sight of her Brother. Brother in a day or two ["18th + November," she says; which date is wrong, if it were of moment (see <i>OEuvres + de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 1st, where their CORRESPONDENCE is).] ran + over from Ruppin, on short leave, and had his first interview. Very kind + and affectionate; quite the old Brother again; and "blushed" when, at + supper, Mamma and the Princesses, especially that wicked Charlotte (Papa + not present), tore up his poor Bride at such a rate. "Has not a word to + answer you, but YES or NO," said they; "stupid as a block." "But were you + ever at her toilette?" said the wicked Charlotte: "Out of shape, + completely: considerable waddings, I promise you: and then"—still + worse features, from that wicked Charlotte, in presence of the domestics + here. Wicked Charlotte; who is to be her Sister-in-law soon;—and who + is always flirting with my Husband, as if she liked that better!—Crown-Prince + retired, directly after supper: as did I, to my apartment, where in a + minute or two he joined me. + </p> + <p> + "To the question, How with the King and you? he answered, 'That his + situation was changing every moment; that sometimes he was in favor, + sometimes in disgrace;—that his chief happiness consisted in + absence. That he led a soft and tranquil life with his Regiment at Ruppin; + study and music his principal occupations; he had built himself a House + there, and laid out a Garden, where he could read, and walk about.' Then + as to his Bride, I begged him to tell me candidly if the portrait the + Queen and my Sister had been making of her was the true one. 'We are + alone,' replied he, 'and I will conceal nothing from you. The Queen, by + her miserable intrigues, has been the source of our misfortunes. Scarcely + were you gone when she began again with England; wished to substitute our + Sister Charlotte for you; would have had me undertake to contradict the + King's will again, and flatly refuse the Brunswick Match;—which I + declined. That is the source of her venom against this poor Princess. As + to the young Lady herself, I do not hate her so much as I pretend; I + affect complete dislike, that the King may value my obedience more. She is + pretty, a complexion lily-and-rose; her features delicate; face altogether + of a beautiful person. True, she has no breeding, and dresses very ill: + but I flatter myself, when she comes hither, you will have the goodness to + take her in hand. I recommend her to you, my dear Sister; and beg your + protection for her.' It is easy to judge, my answer would be such as he + desired." [Wilhelmina, ii. 89.] + </p> + <p> + For which small glimpse of the fact itself, at first-hand, across a + whirlwind of distracted rumors new and old about the fact, let us be + thankful to Wilhelmina. Seckendorf's hopeless attempts to resuscitate + extinct English things, and make the Prussian Majesty break his word, + continue to the very last; but are worth no notice from us. Grumkow's + Drinking-bout with the Dilapidated-Strong at Crossen, which follows now in + January, has been already noticed by us. And the Dilapidated-Strong's + farewell next morning,—"Adieu, dear Grumkow; I think I shall not see + you again!" as he rolled off towards Warsaw and the Diet,—will + require farther notice; but must stand over till this Marriage be got + done. Of which latter Event,—Wilhelmina once more kindling the old + dark Books into some light for us,—the essential particulars are + briefly as follows. + </p> + <p> + Monday, 8th June, 1733, the Crown-Prince is again over from Ruppin: King, + Queen and Crown-Prince are rendezvoused at Potsdam; and they set off with + due retinues towards Wolfenbuttel, towards Salzdahlum the Ducal Schloss + there; Sister Wilhelmina sending blessings, if she had them, on a poor + Brother in such interesting circumstances. Mamma was "plunged in black + melancholy;" King not the least; in the Crown-Prince nothing particular to + be remarked. They reached Salzdahlum, Duke Ludwig Rudolf the Grandfather's + Palace, one of the finest Palaces, with Gardens, with antiques, with + Picture-Galleries no end; a mile or two from Wolfenbuttel; built by old + Anton Ulrich, and still the ornament of those parts;—reached + Salzdahlum, Wednesday the 10th; where Bride, with Father, Mother, much + more Grandfather, Grandmother, and all the sublimities interested, are + waiting in the highest gala; Wedding to be on Friday next. + </p> + <p> + Friday morning, this incident fell out, notable and somewhat contemptible: + Seckendorf, who is of the retinue, following his bad trade, visits his + Majesty who is still in bed:—"Pardon, your Majesty: what shall I say + for excuse? Here is a Letter just come from Vienna; in Prince Eugene's + hand;—Prince Eugene, or a Higher, will say something, while it is + still time!" Majesty, not in impatience, reads the little Prince's and the + Kaiser's Letter. "Give up this, we entreat you for the last time; marry + with England after all!" Majesty reads, quiet as a lamb; lays the Letter + under his pillow; will himself answer it; and does straightway, with much + simple dignity, to the effect, "For certain, Never, my always respected + Prince!" [Account of the Interview by Seckendorf, in Forster, iii, + 148-155; Copy of the answer itself is in the State-Paper Office here.] + Seckendorf, having thus shot his last bolt, does not stay many hours + longer at Salzdahlum;—may as well quit Friedrich Wilhelm altogether, + for any good he will henceforth do upon him. This is the one incident + between the Arrival at Salzdahlum and the Wedding there. + </p> + <p> + Same Friday, 12th June, 1733, at a more advanced hour, the Wedding itself + took effect; Wedding which, in spite of the mad rumors and whispers, in + the Newspapers, Diplomatic Despatches and elsewhere, went off, in all + respects, precisely as other weddings do; a quite human Wedding now and + afterwards. Officiating Clergyman was the Reverend Herr Mosheim: readers + know with approval the <i>Ecclesiastical History</i> of Mosheim: he, in + the beautiful Chapel of the Schloss, with Majesties and Brunswick + Sublimities looking on, performed the ceremony: and Crown-Prince Friedrich + of Prussia has fairly wedded the Serene Princess Elizabeth Christina of + Brunswick-Bevern, age eighteen coming, manners rather awkward, complexion + lily-and-rose;—and History is right glad to have done with the + wearisome affair, and know it settled on any tolerable terms whatever. + Here is a Note of Friedrich's to his dear Sister, which has been + preserved:— + </p> + <p> + TO PRINCESS WILHELMINA OF BAIREUTH, AT BERLIN. + </p> + <p> + "SALZDAHLUM, Noon, 19th June, 1733. + </p> + <p> + "MY DEAR SISTER,—A minute since, the whole Ceremony was got + finished; and God be praised it is over! I hope you will take it as a mark + of my friendship that I give you the first news of it. + </p> + <p> + "I hope I shall have the honor to see you again soon; and to assure you, + my dear Sister, that I am wholly yours (TOUT A VOUS). I write in great + haste; and add nothing that is merely formal. Adieu. [<i>OEuvres,</i> + xxvii. part 1st, p. 9.] + </p> + <p> + FREDERIC." + </p> + <p> + One Keyserling, the Prince's favorite gentleman, came over express, with + this Letter and the more private news; Wilhelmina being full of anxieties. + Keyserling said, The Prince was inwardly "well content with his lot; + though he had kept up the old farce to the last; and pretended to be in + frightful humor, on the very morning; bursting out upon his valets in the + King's presence, who reproved him, and looked rather pensive,"—recognizing, + one hopes, what a sacrifice it was. The Queen's Majesty, Keyserling + reported, "was charmed with the style and ways of the Brunswick Court; but + could not endure the Princess-Royal [new Wife], and treated the two + Duchesses like dogs (COMME DES CHIENS)." [Wilhelmina, ii. 114.] Reverend + Abbot Mosheim (such his title; Head Churchman, theological chief of + Helmstadt University in those parts, with a couple of extinct little + ABBACIES near by, to help his stipend) preached next Sunday, "On the + Marriage of the Righteous,"—felicitous appropriate Sermon, said a + grateful public; [Text, Psalm, xcli. 12; "Sermon printed in Mosheim's <i>Works."</i>]—and + in short, at Salzdahlum all goes, if not as merry as some marriage-bells, + yet without jarring to the ear. + </p> + <p> + On Tuesday, both the Majesties set out towards Potsdam again; "where his + Majesty," having business waiting, "arrived some time before the Queen." + Thither also, before the week ends, Crown-Prince Friedrich with his Bride, + and all the Serenities of Brunswick escorting, are upon the road,—duly + detained by complimentary harangues, tedious scenic evolutions at + Magdeburg and the intervening Towns;—grand entrance of the + Princess-Royal into Berlin is not till the 27th, last day of the week + following. That was such a day as Wilhelmina never saw; no sleep the night + before; no breakfast can one taste: between Charlottenburg and Berlin, + there is a review of unexampled splendor; "above eighty carriages of us," + and only a tent or two against the flaming June sun: think of it! Review + begins at four a.m.;—poor Wilhelmina thought she would verily have + died, of heat and thirst and hunger, in the crowded tent, under the + flaming June sun; before the Review could end itself, and march into + Berlin, trumpeting and salvoing, with the Princess-Royal at the head of + it. [Wilhelmina, ii. 127-129.] + </p> + <p> + Of which grand flaming day, and of the unexampled balls and effulgent + festivities that followed, "all Berlin ruining itself in dresses and + equipages," we will say nothing farther; but give only, what may still + have some significance for readers, Wilhelmina's Portrait of the + Princess-Royal on their first meeting, which had taken place at Potsdam + two days before. The Princess-Royal had arrived at Potsdam too, on that + occasion, across a grand Review; Majesty himself riding out, Majesty and + Crown-Prince, who had preceded her a little, to usher in the poor young + creature;—Thursday, June 25th, 1733:— + </p> + <p> + "The King led her into the Queen's Apartment; then seeing, after she had + saluted us all, that she was much heated and dispowdered (DEPOUDREE), he + bade my Brother take her to her own room. I followed them thither. My + Brother said to her, introducing me: 'This is a Sister I adore, and am + obliged to beyond measure. She has had the goodness to promise me that she + will take care of you, and help you with her good counsel; I wish you to + respect her beyond even the King and Queen, and not to take the least step + without her advice: do you understand?' I embraced the Princess-Royal, and + gave her every assurance of my attachment; but she remained like a statue, + not answering a word. Her people not being come, I repowdered her myself, + and readjusted her dress a little, without the least sign of thanks from + her, or any answer to all my caressings. My Brother got impatient at last; + and said aloud: 'Devil's in the blockhead (PESTE SOIT DE LA BETE): thank + my Sister, then!' She made me a courtesy, on the model of that of Agnes in + the ECOLE DES FEMMES. I took her back to the Queen's Apartment; little + edified by such a display of talent. + </p> + <p> + "The Princess-Royal is tall; her figure is not fine: stooping slightly, or + hanging forward, as she walks or stands, which gives her an awkward air. + Her complexion is of dazzling whiteness, heightened by the liveliest + colors: her eyes are pale blue, and not of much promise for spiritual + gifts. Mouth small; features generally small,—dainty (MIGNONS) + rather than beautiful:—and the countenance altogether is so innocent + and infantine, you would think this head belonged to a child of twelve. + Her hair is blond, plentiful, curling in natural locks. Teeth are + unhappily very bad, black and ill set; which are a disfigurement in this + fine face. She has no manners, nor the least vestige of tact; has much + difficulty in speaking and making herself understood: for most part you + are obliged to guess what she means; which is very embarrassing." + [Wilhelmina, ii. 119-121.] + </p> + <p> + The Berlin gayeties—for Karl, Heir-Apparent of Brunswick, brother to + this Princess-Royal, wedded his Charlotte, too, about a week hence [2d + July, 1733.]—did not end, and the serene Guests disappear, till far + on in July. After which an Inspection with Papa; and then Friedrich got + back to Ruppin and his old way of life there. Intrinsically the old + studious, quietly diligent way of life; varied by more frequent excursions + to Berlin;—where as yet the Princess-Royal usually resides, till + some fit residence be got ready in the Ruppin Country for a wedded + Crown-Prince and her. + </p> + <p> + The young Wife had an honest guileless heart; if little articulate + intellect, considerable inarticulate sense; did not fail to learn tact, + perpendicular attitude, speech enough;—and I hope kept well clear of + pouting (FAIRE LA FACHEE), a much more dangerous rock for her. With the + gay temper of eighteen, and her native loyalty of mind, she seems to have + shaped herself successfully to the Prince's taste; and growing yearly + gracefuler and better-looking was an ornament and pleasant addition to his + Ruppin existence. These first seven years, spent at Berlin or in the + Ruppin quarter, she always regarded as the flower of her life. [Busching + (Autobiography, <i>Beitrage,</i> vi.) heard her say so, in advanced + years.] + </p> + <p> + Papa, according to promise, has faithfully provided a Crown-Prince Palace + at Berlin; all trimmed and furnished, for occasional residences there; the + late "Government House" (originally SCHOMBERG House), new-built,—which + is, to this day, one of the distinguished Palaces of Berlin. + Princess-Royal had Schonhausen given her; a pleasant Royal Mansion some + miles out of Berlin, on the Ruppin side. Furthermore, the Prince-Royal, + being now a wedded man, has, as is customary in such case, a special AMT + (Government District) set apart for his support; the "Amt of Ruppin," + where his business lies. What the exact revenues of Ruppin are, is not + communicated; but we can justly fear they were far too frugal,—and + excused the underhand borrowing, which is evident enough as a painful + shadow in the Prince's life henceforth. He does not seem to have been + wasteful; but he borrows all round, under sevenfold secrecy, from + benevolent Courts, from Austria, Russia, England: and the only pleasant + certainty we notice in such painful business is, that, on his Accession, + he pays with exactitude,—sends his Uncle George of England, for + example, the complete amount in rouleaus of new coin, by the first courier + that goes. [Despatch (of adjacent date) in the State-Paper Office here.] + </p> + <p> + A thought too frugal, his Prussian Majesty; but he means to be kind, + bountiful; and occasionally launches out into handsome munificence. This + very Autumn, hearing that the Crown-Prince and his Princess fancied + Reinsberg; an old Castle in their Amt Ruppin, some miles north of them,—his + Majesty, without word spoken, straightway purchased Reinsberg, Schloss and + Territory, from the owner; gave it to his Crown-Prince, and gave him money + to new-build it according to his mind. [23d Oct. 1733-16th March, 1734 + (Preuss, i. 75).] Which the Crown-Prince did with much interest, under + very wise architectural advice, for the next three years; then went into + it, to reside;—yet did not cease new-building, improving, + artistically adorning, till it became in all points the image of his + taste. + </p> + <p> + A really handsome princely kind of residence, that of Reinsberg:—got + up with a thrift that most of all astonishes us. In which improved + locality we shall by and by look in upon him again. For the present we + must to Warsaw, where tragedies and troubles are in the wind, which turn + out to be not quite without importance to the Crown-Prince and us. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VIII. — KING AUGUST DIES; AND POLAND TAKES FIRE. + </h2> + <p> + Meanwhile, over at Warsaw, there has an Event fallen out. Friedrich, + writing rapidly from vague reminiscence, as he often does, records it as + "during the marriage festivities;" [<i>OEuvres (Memoires de Brandenbourg),</i> + i. 163.] but it was four good months earlier. Event we must now look at + for a moment. + </p> + <p> + In the end of January last, we left Grumkow in a low and hypochondriacal + state, much shaken by that drinking-bout at Crossen, when the Polish + Majesty and he were so anxious to pump one another, by copious priming + with Hungary wine. About a fortnight after, in the first days of February + following (day is not given), Grumkow reported something curious. "In my + presence," says Wilhelmina, "and that of forty persons," for the thing was + much talked about, "Grumkow said to the King one morning: 'Ah Sire, I am + in despair; the poor Patroon is dead! I was lying broad awake, last night: + all on a sudden, the curtains of my bed flew asunder: I saw him; he was in + a shroud: he gazed fixedly at me: I tried to start up, being dreadfully + taken; but the phantom disappeared!'" Here was an illustrious ghost-story + for Berlin, in a day or two when the Courier came. "Died at the very time + of the phantom; Death and phantom were the same night," say Wilhelmina and + the miraculous Berlin public,—but do not say WHAT night for either + of them it was. [Wilhelmina, ii. 98. Event happened, 1st February; news of + it came to Berlin, 4th February: Fassmann (p. 485); Buchholz; &c.] By + help of which latter circumstance the phantom becomes reasonably + unmiraculous again, in a nervous system tremulous from drink. "They had + been sad at parting," Wilhelmina says, "having drunk immensities of + Hungary wine; the Patroon almost weeping over his Grumkow: 'Adieu, my dear + Grumkow,' said he; 'I shall never see you more!'" + </p> + <p> + Miraculous or not, the catastrophe is true: August, the once Physically + Strong, lies dead;—and there will be no Partition of Poland for the + present. He had the Diet ready to assemble; waiting for him, at Warsaw; + and good trains laid in the Diet, capable of fortunate explosion under a + good engineer. Engineer, alas! The Grumkow drinking-bout had awakened that + old sore in his foot: he came to Warsaw, eager enough for business; but + with his stock of strength all out, and Death now close upon him. The Diet + met, 26th-27th January; engineer all alert about the good trains laid, and + the fortunate exploding of them; when, almost on the morrow—"Inflammation + has come on!" said the Doctors, and were futile to help farther. The + strong body, and its life, was done; and nothing remained but to call in + the Archbishop, with his extreme unctions and soul-apparatus. + </p> + <p> + August made no moaning or recalcitrating; took, on the prescribed terms, + the inevitable that had come. Has been a very great sinner, he confesses + to the Archbishop: "I have not at present strength to name my many and + great sins to your Reverence," said he; "I hope for mercy on the"—on + the usual rash terms. Terms perhaps known to August to be rash; to have + been frightfully rash; but what can he now do? Archbishop thereupon gives + absolution of his sins; Archbishop does,—a baddish, unlikely kind of + man, as August well knows. August "laid his hand on his eyes," during such + sad absolution-mummery; and in that posture had breathed his last, before + it was well over. ["Sunday, 1st February, 1733, quarter past 4 A.M." + (Fassmann, <i>Leben Frederici Augusti Konigs in Pohlen,</i> pp. 994-997).] + Unhappy soul; who shall judge him?—transcendent King of edacious + Flunkies; not without fine qualities, which he turned to such a use amid + the temptations of this world! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + POLAND HAS TO FIND A NEW KING. + </h2> + <p> + His death brought vast miseries on Poland; kindled foolish Europe + generally into fighting, and gave our Crown-Prince his first actual sight + and experience of the facts of War. For which reason, hardly for another, + the thing having otherwise little memorability at present, let us give + some brief synopsis of it, the briefer the better. Here, excerpted from + multifarious old Note-books, are some main heads of the affair:— + </p> + <p> + "On the disappearance of August the Strong, his plans of Partitioning + Poland disappeared too, and his fine trains in the Diet abolished + themselves. The Diet had now nothing to do, but proclaim the coming + Election, giving a date to it; and go home to consider a little whom they + would elect. ["Interregnum proclaimed," 11th February; Preliminary Diet to + meet 21st April;—meets; settles, before May is done, that the + Election shall BEGIN 25th August: it must END in six weeks thereafter, by + law of the land.] A question weighty to Poland. And not likely to be + settled by Poland alone or chiefly; the sublime Republic, with LIBERUM + VETO, and Diets capable only of anarchic noise, having now reached such a + stage that its Neighbors everywhere stood upon its skirts; asking, + 'Whitherward, then, with your anarchy? Not this way;—we say, that + way!'-and were apt to get to battle about it, before such a thing could be + settled. A house, in your street, with perpetual smoke coming through the + slates of it, is not a pleasant house to be neighbor to! One honest + interest the neighbors have, in an Election Crisis there, That the house + do not get on fire, and kindle them. Dishonest interests, in the way of + theft and otherwise, they may have without limit. + </p> + <p> + "The poor house, during last Election Crisis,—when August the Strong + was flung out, and Stanislaus brought in; Crisis presided over by Charles + XII., with Czar Peter and others hanging on the outskirts, as Opposition + party,—fairly got into flame; [Description of it in Kohler, <i>Munzbelustigungen,</i> + vi. 228-230.] but was quenched down again by that stout Swede; and his + Stanislaus, a native Pole, was left peaceably as King for the years then + running. Years ran; and Stanislaus was thrown out, Charles himself being + thrown out; and had to make way for August the Strong again:—an + ejected Stanislaus: King only in title; known to most readers of this + time. [Stanislaus Lesczinsky, "Woywode of Posen," born 1677: King of + Poland, Charles XII. superintending, 1704 (age then 27); driven out 1709, + went to Charles XII. at Bender; to Zweibruck, 1714; thence, on Charles's + death, to Weissenburg (Alsace, or Strasburg Country): Daughter married to + Louis XV., 1725. Age now 56.—Hubner, t. 97; <i>Histoire de Stanislas + I., Roi de Pologlne</i> (English Translation, London, 1741), pp. 96-126; + &c.] + </p> + <p> + "Poor man, he has been living in Zweibruck, in Weissenburg and such + places, in that Debatable French-German region,—which the French are + more and more getting stolen to themselves, in late centuries:—generally + on the outskirts of France he lives; having now connections of the highest + quality with France. He has had fine Country-houses in that Zweibruck + (TWO-BRIDGE, Deux-Ponts) region; had always the ghost of a Court there; + plenty of money,—a sinecure Country-gentleman life;—and no + complaints have been heard from him. Charles XII., as proprietor of + Deux-Ponts, had first of all sent him into those parts for refuge; and in + general, easy days have been the lot of Stanislaus there. + </p> + <p> + "Nor has History spoken of him since, except on one small occasion: when + the French Politician Gentlemen, at a certain crisis of their game, chose + a Daughter of his to be Wife for young Louis XV., and bring royal progeny, + of which they were scarce. This was in 1724-1725; Duc de Bourbon, and + other Politicians male and female, finding that the best move. A thing + wonderful to the then Gazetteers, for nine days; but not now worth much + talk. The good young Lady, it is well known, a very pious creature, and + sore tried in her new station, did bring royal progeny enough,—and + might as well have held her hand, had she foreseen what would become of + them, poor souls! This was a great event for Stanislaus, the sinecure + Country-gentleman, in his French-German rustication. One other thing I + have read of him, infinitely smaller, out of those ten years: in Zweibruck + Country, or somewhere in that French-German region, he 'built a + pleasure-cottage,' conceivable to the mind, 'and called it SCHUHFLICK + (Shoe-Patch),' [Busching, <i>Erdbeschreibung,</i> v. 1194.]—a name + that touches one's fancy on behalf of the innocent soul. Other fact I will + not remember of him. He is now to quit Shoe-Patch and his pleasant + Weissenburg Castle; to come on the public stage again, poor man; and + suffer a second season of mischances and disgraces still worse than the + first. As we shall see presently;—a new Polish Election Crisis + having come! + </p> + <p> + "What individual the Polish Grandees would have chosen for King if + entirely left alone to do it? is a question not important; and indeed was + never asked, in this or in late Elections. Not the individual who could + have BEEN a King among them were they, for a long time back, in the habit + of seeking after; not him, but another and indeed reverse kind of + individual,—the one in whom there lay most NOURISHMENT, nourishment + of any kind, even of the cash kind, for a practical Polish Grandee. So + that the question was no longer of the least importance, to Poland or the + Universe; and in point of fact, the frugal Destinies had ceased to have it + put, in that quarter. Not Grandees of Poland; but Intrusive Neighbors, + carrying Grandees of Poland 'in their breeches-pocket' (as our phrase is), + were the voting parties. To that pass it was come. Under such stern + penalty had Poland and its Grandees fallen, by dint of false voting: the + frugal Destinies had ceased to ask about their vote; and they were become + machines for voting with, or pistols for fighting with, by bad Neighbors + who cared to vote! Nor did the frugal Destinies consider that the proper + method, either; but had, as we shall see, determined to abolish that too, + in about forty years more." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + OF THE CANDIDATES; OF THE CONDITIONS. HOW THE ELECTION WENT. + </h2> + <p> + It was under such omens that the Polish Election of 1733 had to transact + itself. Austria, Russia, Prussia, as next Neighbors, were the chief voting + parties, if they cared to intrude;—which Austria and Russia were + clear for doing; Prussia not clear, or not beyond the indispensable or + evidently profitable. Seckendorf, and one Lowenwolde the Russian + Ambassador at Berlin, had, some time ago, in foresight of this event, done + their utmost to bring Friedrich Wilhelm into co-operation,—offering + fine baits, "Berg and Julich" again, among others;—but nothing + definite came of it: peaceable, reasonably safe Election in Poland, other + interest Friedrich Wilhelm has not in the matter; and compliance, not + co-operation, is what can be expected of him by the Kaiser and Czarina. + Co-operating or even complying, these three could have settled it; and + would,—had no other Neighbor interfered. But other neighbors can + interfere; any neighbor that has money to spend, or likes to bully in such + a matter! And that proved to be the case, in this unlucky instance. + </p> + <p> + Austria aud Russia, with Prussia complying, had,—a year ago, before + the late August's decease, his life seeming then an extremely uncertain + one, and foresight being always good,—privately come to an + understanding, [31st December, 1731, "Treaty of Lowenwolde" (which never + got completed or became valid): Scholl, ii. 223.] in case of a Polish + Election:— + </p> + <p> + "1. That France was to have no hand in it whatever,—no tool of + France to be King; or, as they more politely expressed it, having their + eye upon Stanislaus, No Piast or native Pole could be eligible. + </p> + <p> + "2. That neither could August's Son, the new August, who would then be + Kurfurst of Saxony, be admitted King of Poland.—And, on the whole, + </p> + <p> + "3. That an Emanuel Prince of Portugal would be the eligible man." Emanuel + of Portugal, King of Portugal's Brother; a gentleman without employment, + as his very Title tells us: gentleman never heard of before or since, in + those parts or elsewhere, but doubtless of the due harmless quality, as + Portugal itself was: he is to be the Polish King,—vote these + Intrusive Neighbors. What the vote of Poland itself may be, the Destinies + do not, of late, ask; finding it a superfluous question. + </p> + <p> + So had the Three Neighbors settled this matter:—or rather, I should + say, so had Two of them; for Friedrich Wilhelm wanted, now or afterwards, + nothing in this Election, but that it should not take fire and kindle him. + Two of the Neighbors: and of these two, perhaps we might guess the Kaiser + was the principal contriver and suggester; France and Saxony being both + hateful to him,—obstinate refusers of the Pragmatic Sanction, to say + nothing more. What the Czarina, Anne with the big cheek, specially wanted, + I do not learn,—unless it were peaceable hold of Courland; or + perhaps merely to produce herself in these parts, as a kind of regulating + Pallas, along with the Jupiter Kaiser of Western Europe;—which might + have effects by and by. + </p> + <p> + Emanuel of Portugal was not elected, nor so much as spoken of in the Diet. + Nor did one of these Three Regulations take effect; but much the contrary,—other + Neighbors having the power to interfere. France saw good to interfere, a + rather distant neighbor; Austria, Russia, could not endure the French vote + at all; and so the whole world got on fire by the business. + </p> + <p> + France is not a near Neighbor; but it has a Stanislaus much concerned, who + is eminently under the protection of France:—who may be called the + "FATHER of France," in a sense, or even the "Grandfather;" his Daughter + being Mother of a young creature they call Dauphin, or "Child of France." + Fleury and the French Court decide that Stanislaus, Grandfather of France, + was once King of Poland: that it will behoove, for various reasons, he be + King again. Some say old Fleury did not care for Stanislaus; merely wanted + a quarrel with the Kaiser,—having got himself in readiness, "with + Lorraine in his eye;" and seeing the Kaiser not ready. It is likelier the + hot young spirits, Belleisle and others, controlled old Fleury into it. At + all events, Stanislaus is summoned from his rustication; the French + Ambassador at Warsaw gets his instructions. French Ambassador opens + himself largely, at Warsaw, by eloquent speech, by copious money, on the + subject of Stanislaus; finds large audience, enthusiastic receptivity;—and + readers will now understand the following chronological phenomena of the + Polish Election:— + </p> + <p> + "AUGUST 25th, 1733. This day the Polish Election begins. So has the + Preliminary Diet (kind of Polish CAUCUS) ordered it;—Preliminary + Diet itself a very stormy matter; minority like to be 'thrown out of + window,' to be 'shot through the head,' on some occasions. [<i>History of + Stanislaus</i> (cited above), p. 136.] Actual Election begins; continues + SUB DIO, 'in the Field of Wola,' in a very tempestuous fashion; bound to + conclude within six weeks. Kaiser has his troops assembled over the + border, in Silesia, 'to protect the freedom of election;' Czarina has + 30,000 under Marshal Lacy, lying on the edge of Lithuania, bent on a like + object; will increase them to 50,000, as the plot thickens. + </p> + <p> + "So that Emanuel of Portugal is not heard of; and French interference is, + with a vengeance,—and Stanislaus, a born Piast, is overwhelmingly + the favorite. Intolerable to Austria, to Russia; the reverse to Friedrich + Wilhelm, who privately thinks him the right man. And Kurfurst August of + Saxony is the other Candidate,—with troops of his own in the + distance, but without support in Poland; and depending wholly on the + Kaiser and Czarina for his chance. And our 'three settled points' are gone + to water in this manner! + </p> + <p> + "August seeing there was not the least hope in Poland's own vote, + judiciously went to the Kaiser first of all: 'Imperial Majesty, I will + accept your Pragmatic Sanction root and branch, swallow it whole; make me + King of Poland!'—'Done!' answers Imperial Majesty; [16th July, 1733; + Treaty in Scholl, ii. 224-231.] brings the Czarina over, by good offers of + August's and his;—and now there is an effective Opposition Candidate + in the field, with strength of his own, and good backing close at hand. + Austrian, Russian Ambassadors at Warsaw lift up their voice, like the + French one; open their purse, and bestir themselves; but with no success + in the Field of Wola, except to the stirring up of noise and tumult there. + They must look to other fields for success. The voice of Wola and of + Poland, if it had now a voice, is enthusiastic for Stanislaus. + </p> + <p> + "SEPTEMBER 7th. A couple of quiet-looking Merchants arrive in Warsaw,—one + of whom is Stanislaus in person. Newspapers say he is in the French Fleet + of War, which is sailing minatory towards these Coasts: and there is in + truth a Gentleman in Stanislaus's clothes on board there;—to make + the Newspapers believe. Stanislaus himself drove through Berlin, a day or + two ago; gave the sentry a ducat at the Gate, to be speedy with the + Passports,—whom Friedrich Wilhelm affected to put under arrest for + such negligent speed. And so, on the 10th of the month, Stanislaus being + now rested and trimmed; makes his appearance on the Field of Wola itself; + and captivates all hearts by the kind look of him. So that, on the second + day after, 12th September, 1733, he is, as it were, unanimously elected; + with acclamation, with enthusiasm; and sees himself actual King of Poland,—if + France send proper backing to continue him there. As, surely, she will not + fail?—But there are alarming news that the Russians are advancing: + Marshal Lacy with 30,000; and reinforcements in the rear of him. + </p> + <p> + "SEPTEMBER 22d. Russians advancing more and more, no French help arrived + yet, and the enthusiastic Polish Chivalry being good for nothing against + regular musketry,—King Stanislaus finds that he will have to quit + Warsaw, and seek covert somewhere. Quits Warsaw this day; gets covert in + Dantzig. And, in fact, from this 22d of September, day of the autumnal + equinox, 1733, is a fugitive, blockaded, besieged Stanislaus: an Imaginary + King thenceforth. His real Kingship had lasted precisely ten days. + </p> + <p> + "OCTOBER 3d. Lacy and his Russians arrive in the suburbs of Warsaw, intent + upon 'protecting freedom of election.' Bridges being broken, they do not + yet cross the River, but invite the free electors to come across and vote: + 'A real King is very necessary,—Stanislaus being an imaginary one, + brought in by compulsion, by threats of flinging people out of window, and + the like.' The free electors do not cross. Whereupon a small handful, now + free enough, and NOT to be thrown out of window, whom Lacy had about him, + proceed to elect August of Saxony; he, on the 5th of October, still one + day within the legal six weeks, is chosen and declared the real King:—'twelve + senators and about six hundred gentlemen' voting for him there, free they + in Lacy's quarters, the rest of Poland having lain under compulsion when + voting for Stanislaus. That is the Polish Election, so far as Poland can + settle it. We said the Destinies had ceased, some time since, to ask + Poland for its vote; it is other people who have now got the real power of + voting. But that is the correct state of the poll at Warsaw, if important + to anybody." + </p> + <p> + August is crowned in Cracow before long; "August III.," whom we shall meet + again in important circumstances. Lacy and his Russians have voted for + August; able, they, to disperse all manner of enthusiastic Polish + Chivalry; which indeed, we observe, usually stands but one volley from the + Russian musketry; and flies elsewhither, to burn and plunder its own + domestic enemies. Far and wide, robbery and arson are prevalent in Poland; + Stanislaus lying under covert; in Dantzig,—an imaginary King ever + since the equinox, but well trusting that the French will give him a + plumper vote. French War-fleet is surely under way hither. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + POLAND ON FIRE; DANTZIG STANDS SIEGE. + </h2> + <p> + These are the news our Crown-Prince hears at Ruppin, in the first months + of his wedded life there. With what interest we may fancy. Brandenburg is + next neighbor; and these Polish troubles reach far enough;—the + ever-smoking house having taken fire; and all the street threatening to + get on blaze. Friedrich Wilhelm, nearest neighbor, stands anxious to + quench, carefully sweeping the hot coals across again from his own + borders; and will not interfere on one or the other side, for any + persuasion. + </p> + <p> + Dantzig, strong in confidence of French help, refuses to give up + Stanislaus when summoned; will stand siege rather. Stands siege, furious + lengthy siege,—with enthusiastic defence; "a Lady of Rank firing off + the first gun," against the Russian batteries. Of the Siege of Dantzig, + which made the next Spring and Summer loud for mankind (February-June, + 1734), we shall say nothing,—our own poor field, which also grows + loud enough, lying far away from Dantzig,—-except: + </p> + <p> + FIRST, That no French help came, or as good as none; the minatory + War-fleet having landed a poor 1,500 men, headed by the Comte de Plelo, + who had volunteered along with them; that they attempted one onslaught on + the Russian lines, and that Plelo was shot, and the rest were blown to + miscellaneous ruin, and had to disappear, not once getting into Dantzig. + </p> + <p> + SECONDLY, That the Saxons, under Weissenfels, our poor old friend, with + proper siege-artillery, though not with enough, did, by effort (end of + May), get upon the scene; in which this is to be remarked, that + Weissenfels's siege-artillery "came by post;" two big mortars expressly + passing through Berlin, marked as part of the Duke of Weissenfels's + Luggage. And + </p> + <p> + THIRDLY, That Munnich, who had succeeded Lacy as Besieging General, and + was in hot haste, and had not artillery enough, made unheard-of assaults + (2,000 men, some say 4,000, lost in one night-attack upon a post they call + the Hagelberg; rash attack, much blamed by military men); [<i>OEuvres de + Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 2d, p. 31.]—but nevertheless, having now + (by Russian Fleet, middle of June) got siege-artillery enough, advances + irrepressibly day by day. + </p> + <p> + So that at length, things being now desperate, Stanislaus, disguised as a + cattle-dealer, privately quitted Dantzig, night of 27th June, 1734; got + across the intricate mud-and-water difficulties of the Weichsel and its + mouths, flying perilously towards Preussen and Friedrich Wilhelm's + protection. [Narrative by himself, in HISTORY, pp. 235-248.] Whereby the + Siege of Dantzig ended in chamade, and levying of penalties; penalties + severe to a degree, though Friedrich Wilhelm interceded what he could. And + with the Siege of Dantzig, the blazing Polish Election went out in like + manner; [Clear account, especially of Siege, in Mannstein (pp. 71-83), who + was there as Munnich's Aide-de-damp.]—having already kindled, in + quarters far away from it, conflagrations quite otherwise interesting to + us. Whitherward we now hasten. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IX. — KAISER'S SHADOW-HUNT HAS CAUGHT FIRE. + </h2> + <p> + Franz of Lorraine, the young favorite of Fortune, whom we once saw at + Berlin on an interesting occasion, was about this time to have married his + Imperial Archduchess; Kaiser's consent to be formally demanded and given; + nothing but joy and splendor looked for in the Court of Vienna at present. + Nothing to prevent it,—had there been no Polish Election; had not + the Kaiser, in his Shadow-Hunt (coursing the Pragmatic Sanction chiefly, + as he has done these twenty years past), gone rashly into that combustible + foreign element. But so it is: this was the fatal limit. The poor Kaiser's + Shadow-Hunt, going Scot-free this long while, and merely tormenting other + people, has, at this point, by contact with inflammable Poland, + unexpectedly itself caught fire; goes now plunging, all in mad flame, over + precipices one knows not how deep: and there will be a lamentable singeing + and smashing before the Kaiser get out of this, if he ever get! Kaiser + Karl, from this point, plunges down and down, all his days; and except in + that Shadow of a Pragmatic Sanction, if he can still save that, has no + comfort left. Marriages are not the thing to be thought of at present!— + </p> + <p> + Scarcely had the news of August's Election, and Stanislaus's flight to + Dantzig, reached France, when France, all in a state of readiness, + informed the Kaiser, ready for nothing, his force lying in Silesia, doing + the Election functions on the Polish borders there, "That he the Kaiser + had, by such treatment of the Grandfather of France and the Polish Kingdom + fairly fallen to him, insulted the most Christian Majesty; that in + consequence the most Christian Majesty did hereby declare War against the + said Kaiser,"—and in fact had, that very day (14th of October, + 1733), begun it. Had marched over into Lorraine, namely, secured Lorraine + against accidents; and, more specially, gone across from Strasburg to the + German side of the Rhine, and laid siege to Kehl. Kehl Fortress; a + dilapidated outpost of the Reich there, which cannot resist many hours. + Here is news for the Kaiser, with his few troops all on the Polish + borders; minding his neighbors' business, or chasing Pragmatic Sanction, + in those inflammable localities. + </p> + <p> + Pacific Fleury, it must be owned, if he wanted a quarrel with the Kaiser, + could not have managed it on more advantageous terms. Generals, a Duc de + Berwick, a Noailles, Belleisle; generals, troops, artillery, munitions, + nothing is wanting to Fleury; to the Kaiser all things. It is surmised, + the French had their eye on Lorraine, not on Stanislaus, from the first. + For many centuries, especially for these last two,—ever since that + Siege of Metz, which we once saw, under Kaiser Karl V. and Albert + Alcibiades,—France has been wrenching and screwing at this Lorraine, + wriggling it off bit by bit; till now, as we perceived on Lyttelton junior + of Hagley's visit, Lorraine seems all lying unscrewed; and France, by any + good opportunity, could stick it in her pocket. Such opportunity sly + Fleury contrived, they say;—or more likely it might be Belleisle and + the other adventurous spirits that urged it on pacific Fleury;—but, + at all events, he has got it. Dilapidated Kehl yields straightway: [29th + October, 1733. <i>Memoires du Marechal de Berwick</i> (in Petitot'e + Collection, Paris, 1828), ii. 303.] Sardinia, Spain, declare alliance with + Fleury; and not Lorraine only, and the Swabian Provinces, but Italy itself + lies at his discretion,—owing to your treatment of the Grandfather + of France, and these Polish Elective methods. + </p> + <p> + The astonished Kaiser rushes forward to fling himself into the arms of the + Sea-Powers, his one resource left: "Help! moneys, subsidies, ye + Sea-Powers!" But the Sea-Powers stand obtuse, arms not open at all, hands + buttoning their pockets: "Sorry we cannot, your Imperial Majesty. Fleury + engages not to touch the Netherlands, the Barrier Treaty; Polish Elections + are not our concern!" and callously decline. The Kaiser's astonishment is + extreme; his big heart swelling even with a martyr-feeling; and he + passionately appeals: "Ungrateful, blind Sea-Powers! No money to fight + France, say you? Are the Laws of Nature fallen void?" Imperial + astonishment, sublime martyr-feeling, passionate appeals to the Laws of + Nature, avail nothing with the blind Sea-Powers: "No money in us," answer + they: "we will help you to negotiate."—"Negotiate!" answers he: and + will have to pay his own Election broken-glass, with a sublime + martyr-feeling, without money from the Sea-Powers. + </p> + <p> + Fleury has got the Sardinian Majesty; "Sardinian doorkeeper of the Alps," + who opens them now this way, now that, for a consideration: "A slice of + the Milanese, your Majesty;" bargains Fleury. Fleury has got the Spanish + Majesty (our violent old friend the Termagant of Spain) persuaded to join: + "Your infant Carlos made Duke of Parma and Piacenza, with such difficulty: + what is that? Naples itself, crown of the Two Sicilies, lies in the wind + for Carlos;—and your junior infant, great Madam, has he no need of + apanages?" The Termagant of Spain, "offended by Pragmatic Sanction" (she + says), is ready on those terms; the Sardinian Majesty is ready: and + Fleury, this same October, with an overwhelming force, Spaniards and + Sardinians to join, invades Italy; great Marshal Villars himself taking + the command. Marshal Villars, an extremely eminent old military gentleman,—somewhat + of a friend, or husband of a lady-friend, to M. de Voltaire, for one + thing;—and capable of slicing Italy to pieces at a fine rate, in the + condition it was in. + </p> + <p> + Never had Kaiser such a bill of broken-glass to pay for meddling in + neighbors, elections before. The year was not yet ended, when Villars and + the Sardinian Majesty had done their stroke on Lombardy; taken Milan + Citadel, taken Pizzighetone, the Milanese in whole, and appropriated it; + swept the poor unprepared Kaiser clear out of those parts. Baby Carlos and + the Spaniards are to do the Two Sicilies, Naples or the land one to begin + with, were the Winter gone. For the present, Louis XV. "sings TE DEUM, at + Paris, 23d December, 1733" [<i>Fastes du Regne de Louis XV.</i>] Villars, + now above four-score, soon died of those fatigues; various Marshals, + Broglio, Coigny, Noailles, succeeding him, some of whom are slightly + notable to us; and there was one Maillebois, still a subordinate under + them, whose name also may reappear in this History. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SUBSEQUENT COURSE OF THE WAR, IN THE ITALIAN PART OF IT. + </h2> + <p> + The French-Austrian War, which had now broken out, lasted a couple of + years; the Kaiser steadily losing, though he did his utmost; not so much a + War, on his part, as a Being Beaten and Being Stript. The Scene was Italy + and the Upper-Rhine Country of Germany; Italy the deciding scene; where, + except as it bears on Germany, our interest is nothing, as indeed in + Germany too it is not much. The principal events, on both stages, are + chronologically somewhat as follows;—beginning with Italy:— + </p> + <p> + MARCH 29th, 1734. Baby Carlos with a Duke of Montemar for General, a + difficult impetuous gentleman, very haughty to the French allies and + others, lands in Naples Territory; intending to seize the Two Sicilies, + according to bargain. They find the Kaiser quite unprepared, and their + enterprise extremely feasible. + </p> + <p> + "MAY 10th. Baby Carlos—whom we ought to call Don Carlos, who is now + eighteen gone, and able to ride the great horse—makes triumphant + entry into Naples, having easily swept the road clear; styles himself + 'King of the Two Sicilies' (Papa having surrendered him his 'right' + there); whom Naples, in all ranks of it, willingly homages as such. Wrecks + of Kaiser's forces intrench themselves, rather strongly, at a place called + Bitonto, in Apulia, not far off. + </p> + <p> + "MAY 25th. Montemar, in an impetuous manner, storms them there:—which + feat procures for him the title, Duke of Bitonto; and finishes off the + First of the Sicilies. And indeed, we may say, finishes Both the Sicilies: + our poor Kaiser having no considerable force in either, nor means of + sending any; the Sea-Powers having buttoned their pockets, and the + Combined Fleet of France and Spain being on the waters there. + </p> + <p> + "We need only add, on this head, that, for ten months more, Baby Carlos + and Montemar went about besieging, Gaeta, Messina, Syracuse; and making + triumphal entries;—and that, on the 30th of June, 1735, Baby Carlos + had himself fairly crowned at Palermo. [<i>Fastes de Louis XV., i. 278.</i>] + 'King of the Two Sicilies' DE FACTO; in which eminent post he and his + continue, not with much success, to this day. + </p> + <p> + "That will suffice for the Two Sicilies. As to Lombardy again, now that + Villars is out of it, and the Coignys and Broglios have succeeded:— + </p> + <p> + "JUNE 29th, 1734. Kaiser, rallying desperately for recovery of the + Milanese, has sent an Army thither, Graf von Mercy leader of it: Battle of + Parma between the French and it (29th June);—totally lost by the + Kaiser's people, after furious fighting; Graf von Mercy himself killed in + the action. Graf von Mercy, and what comes nearer us, a Prince of + Culmbach, amiable Uncle of our Wilhelmina's Husband, a brave man and + Austrian Soldier, who was much regretted by Wilhelmina and the rest; his + death and obsequies making a melancholy Court of Baireuth in this agitated + year. The Kaiser, doing his utmost, is beaten at every point. + </p> + <p> + "SEPTEMBER 15th. Surprisal of the Secchia. Kaiser's people rally,—under + a General Graf von Konigseck worth noting by us,—and after some + manoeuvring, in the Guastalla-Modena region, on the Secchia and Po rivers + there, dexterously steal across the Secchia that night (15th September), + cutting off the small guard-party at the ford of the Secchia, then wading + silently; and burst in upon the French Camp in a truly alarming manner. + [Hormayr, xx. 84; <i>Fastes,</i> as it is liable to do, misdates.] So that + Broglio, in command there, had to gallop with only one boot on, some say + 'in his shirt,' till he got some force rallied, and managed to retreat + more Parthian-like upon his brother Marechal's Division. Artillery, + war-chest, secret correspondence, 'King of Sardinia's tent,' and much + cheering plunder beside Broglio's odd boot, were the consequences; the + Kaiser's one success in this War; abolished, unluckily, in four days!—The + Broglio who here gallops is the second French Marechal of the name, son of + the first; a military gentleman whom we shall but too often meet in + subsequent stages. A son of this one's, a third Marechal Broglio, present + at the Secchia that bad night, is the famous War-god of the Bastille time, + fifty-five years hence,—unfortunate old War-god, the Titans being + all up about him. As to Broglio with the one boot, it is but a triumph + over him till— + </p> + <p> + "SEPTEMBER 19th. Battle of Guastalla, that day. Battle lost by the + Kaiser's people, after eight hours, hot fighting; who are then obliged to + hurry across the Secchia again;—and in fact do not succeed in + fighting any more in that quarter, this year or afterwards. For, next year + (1735), Montemar is so advanced with the Two Sicilies, he can assist in + these Northern operations; and Noailles, a better Marechal, replaces the + Broglio and Coigny there; who, with learned strategic movements, sieges, + threatenings of siege, sweeps the wrecks of Austria, to a satisfactory + degree, into the Tyrol, without fighting, or event mentionable + thenceforth. + </p> + <p> + "This is the Kaiser's War of two Campaigns, in the Italian, which was the + decisive part of it: a continual Being Beaten, as the reader sees; a Being + Stript, till one was nearly bare in that quarter." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + COURSE OF THE WAR, IN THE GERMAN PART OF IT. + </h2> + <p> + In Germany the mentionable events are still fewer; and indeed, but for one + small circumstance binding on us, we might skip them altogether. For there + is nothing comfortable in it to the human memory otherwise. + </p> + <p> + Marechal Duc de Berwick, a cautious considerable General (Marlborough's + Nephew, on what terms is known to readers), having taken Kehl and + plundered the Swabian outskirts last Winter, had extensive plans of + operating in the heart of Germany, and ruining the Kaiser there. But first + he needs, and the Kaiser is aware of it, a "basis on the Rhine;" free + bridge over the Rhine, not by Strasburg and Kehl alone: and for this + reason, he will have to besiege and capture Philipsburg first of all. + Strong Town of Philipsburg, well down towards Speyer-and-Heidelberg + quarter on the German side of the Rhine: [See map] here will be our + bridge. Lorraine is already occupied, since the first day of the War; + Trarbach, strong-place of the Moselle and Electorate of Trier, cannot be + difficult to get? Thus were the Rhine Country, on the French side, secure + to France; and so Berwick calculates he will have a basis on the Rhine, + from which to shoot forth into the very heart of the Kaiser. + </p> + <p> + Berwick besieged Philipsburg accordingly (Summer and Autumn); Kaiser doing + his feeble best to hinder: at the Siege, Berwick lost his life, but + Philipsburg surrendered to his successor, all the same;—Kaiser + striving to hinder; but in a most paralyzed manner, and to no purpose + whatever. And—and this properly WAS the German War; the sum of all + done in it during those two years. + </p> + <p> + Seizure of Nanci (that is, of Lorraine), seizure of Kehl we already heard + of; then, prior to Philipsburg, there was siege or seizure of Trarbach by + the French; and, posterior to it, seizure of Worms by them; and by the + Germans there was "burning of a magazine in Speyer by bombs." And, in + brief, on both sides, there was marching and manoeuvring under various + generals (our old rusty Seckendorf one of them), till the end of 1735, + when the Italian decision arrived, and Truce and Peace along with it; but + there was no other action worth naming, even in the Newspapers as a wonder + of nine days, The Siege of Philipsburg, and what hung flickering round + that operation, before and after, was the sum-total of the German War. + </p> + <p> + Philipsburg, key of the Rhine in those parts, has had many sieges; nor + would this one merit the least history from us; were it not for one + circumstance: That our Crown-Prince was of the Opposing Army, and made his + first experience of arms there. A Siege of Philipsburg slightly memorable + to us, on that one account. What Friedrich did there, which in the + military way was as good as nothing; what he saw and experienced there, + which, with some "eighty Princes of the Reich," a Prince Eugene for + General, and three months under canvas on the field, may have been + something: this, in outline, by such obscure indications as remain, we + would fain make conceivable to the reader. Indications, in the + History-Books, we have as good as none; but must gather what there is from + WILHELMINA and the Crown-Prince's LETTERS,—much studying to be + brief, were it possible! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter X. — CROWN-PRINCE GOES TO THE RHINE CAMPAIGN. + </h2> + <p> + The Kaiser—with Kehl snatched from him, the Rhine open, and Louis + XV. singing TE DEUM in the Christmas time for what Villars in Italy had + done—applied, in passionate haste, to the Reich. The Reich, though + Fleury tried to cajole it, and apologize for taking Kehl from it, declares + for the Kaiser's quarrel; War against France on his behalf; [13th March, + 1734 (Buchholz, i. 131).]—it was in this way that Friedrich Wilhelm + and our Crown-Prince came to be concerned in the Rhine Campaign. The + Kaiser will have a Reich's-Army (were it good for much, as is not likely) + to join to his own Austrian one. And if Prince Eugene, who is + Reich's-Feldmarschall, one of the TWO Feldmarschalls, get the Generalship + as men hope, it is not doubted but there will be great work on the Rhine, + this Summer of 1734. + </p> + <p> + Unhappily the Reich's-Army, raised from—multifarious contingents, + and guided and provided for by many heads, is usually good for little. Not + to say that old Kur-Pfalz, with an eye to French help in the + Berg-and-Julich matter; old Kur-Pfalz, and the Bavarian set (KUR-BAIERN + and KUR-KOLN, Bavaria and Cologne, who are Brothers, and of old cousinship + to Kur-Pfalz),—quite refuse their contingents; protest in the Diet, + and openly have French leanings. These are bad omens for the Reich's-Army. + And in regard to the Reich's-Feldmarschall Office, there also is a + difficulty. The Reich, as we hinted, keeps two supreme Feldmarschalls; one + Catholic, one Protestant, for equilibrium's sake; illustrious Prince + Eugenio von Savoye is the Catholic;—but as to the Protestant, it is + a difficulty worth observing for a moment. + </p> + <p> + Old Duke Eberhard Ludwig of Wurtemberg, the unfortunate old gentleman + bewitched by the Gravenitz "Deliver us from evil," used to be the + Reich's-Feldmarschall of Protestant persuasion;—Commander-in-Chief + for the Reich, when it tried fighting. Old Eberhard had been at Blenheim, + and had marched up and down: I never heard he was much of a General; + perhaps good enough for the Reich, whose troops were always bad. But now + that poor Duke, as we intimated once or more, is dead; there must be, of + Protestant type, a new Reich's-Feldmasschall had. One Catholic, unequalled + among Captains, we already have; but where is the Protestant, Duke + Eberhard being dead? + </p> + <p> + Duke Eberhard's successor in Wurtemberg, Karl Alexander by name, whom we + once dined with at Prag on the Kladrup journey, he, a General of some + worth, would be a natural person. Unluckily Duke Karl Alexander had, while + an Austrian Officer and without outlooks upon Protestant Wurtemberg, gone + over to Papacy, and is now Catholic. "Two Catholic Feldmarschalls!" cries + the CORPUS EVANGELICORUM; "that will never do!" + </p> + <p> + Well, on the other or Protestant side there appear two Candidates; one of + them not much expected by the reader: no other than Ferdinand Duke of + Brunswick-Bevern, our Crown-Prince's Father-in-law; whom we knew to be a + worthy man, but did not know to be much of a soldier, or capable of these + ambitious views. He is Candidate First. Then there is a Second, much more + entitled: our gunpowder friend the Old Dessauer; who, to say nothing of + his soldier qualities, has promises from the Kaiser,—he surely were + the man, if it did not hurt other people's feelings. But it surely does + and will. There is Ferdinand of Bevern applying upon the score of old + promises too. How can people's feelings be saved? Protestants these two + last: but they cannot both have it; and what will Wurtemberg say to either + of them? The Reich was in very great affliction about this preliminary + matter. But Friedrich Wilhelm steps in with a healing recipe: "Let there + be four Reich's-Feldmarschalls," said Friedrich Wilhelm; "two Protestant + and two Catholic: won't that do?"—Excellent! answers the Reich: and + there are four Feldmarschalls for the time being; no lack of commanders to + the Reich's-Army. Brunswick-Bevern tried it first; but only till Prince + Eugene were ready, and indeed he had of himself come to nothing before + that date. Prince Eugene next; then Karl Alexander next; and in fact they + all might have had a stroke at commanding, and at coming to nothing or + little,—only the Old Dessauer sulked at the office in this its + fourfold state, and never would fairly have it, till, by decease of + occupants, it came to be twofold again. This glimpse into the distracted + effete interior of the poor old Reich and its Politics, with friends of + ours concerned there, let it be welcome to the reader. [<i>Leopoldi von + Anhalt-Dessau Leben</i> (by Ranfft), p. 127; Buchholz, i. 131.] + </p> + <p> + Friedrich Wilhelm was without concern in this War, or in what had led to + it. Practical share in the Polish Election (after that preliminary + theoretic program of the Kaiser's and Czarina's went to smoke) Friedrich + Wilhelm steadily refused to take: though considerable offers were made him + on both sides,—offer of West Preussen (Polish part of Prussia, which + once was known to us) on the French side. [By De la Chetardie, French + Ambassador at Berlin (Buchholz, i. 130).] But his primary fixed resolution + was to stand out of the quarrel; and he abides by that; suppresses any + wishes of his own in regard to the Polish Election;—keeps ward on + his own frontiers, with good military besom in hand, to sweep it out again + if it intruded there. "What King you like, in God's name; only don't come + over my threshold with his brabbles and him!" + </p> + <p> + But seeing the Kaiser got into actual French War, with the Reich + consenting, he is bound, by Treaty of old date (date older than + WUSTERHAUSEN, though it was confirmed on that famous occasion), "To assist + the Kaiser with ten thousand men;" and this engagement he intends amply to + fulfil. No sooner, therefore, had the Reich given sure signs of assenting + ("Reich's assent" is the condition of the ten thousand), than Friedrich + Wilhelm's orders were out, "Be in readiness!" Friedrich Wilhelm, by the + time of the Reich's actual assent, or Declaration of War on the Kaiser's + behalf, has but to lift his finger: squadrons and battalions, out of + Pommern, out of Magdeburg, out of Preussen, to the due amount, will get on + march whitherward you bid, and be with you there at the day you indicate, + almost at the hour. Captains, not of an imaginary nature, these are always + busy; and the King himself is busy over them. From big guns and + wagon-horses down to gun-flints and gaiter-straps, all is marked in + registers; nothing is wanting, nothing out of its place at any time, in + Friedrich Wilhelm's Army. + </p> + <p> + From an early period, the French intentions upon Philipsburg might be + foreseen or guessed: and in the end of March, Marechal Berwick, "in three + divisions," fairly appears in that quarter; his purpose evident. So that + the Reich's-Army, were it in the least ready, ought to rendezvous, and + reinforce the handful of Austrians there. Friedrich Wilhelm's part of the + Reich's-Army does accordingly straightway get on march; leaves Berlin, + after the due reviewing, "8th April:" [Fassmann, p. 495.] eight regiments + of it, three of Horse and five of Foot, Goltz Foot-regiment one of them;—a + General Roder, unexceptionable General, to command in chief;—and + will arrive, though the farthest off, "first of all the + Reich's-Contingents;" 7th of June, namely. The march, straight south, must + be some four hundred miles. + </p> + <p> + Besides the Official Generals, certain high military dignitaries, + Schulenburg, Bredow, Majesty himself at their head, propose to go as + volunteers;—especially the Crown-Prince, whose eagerness is very + great, has got liberty to go. "As volunteer" he too: as Colonel of Goltz, + it might have had its unsuitabilities, in etiquette and otherwise. Few + volunteers are more interested than the Crown-Prince. Watching the great + War-theatre uncurtain itself in this manner, from Dantzig down to Naples; + and what his own share in it shall be: this, much more than his Marriage, + I suppose, has occupied his thoughts since that event. Here out of Ruppin, + dating six or seven weeks before the march of the Ten Thousand, is a small + sign, one among many, of his outlooks in this matter. Small Note to his + Cousin, Margraf Heinrich, the ill-behaved Margraf, much his comrade, who + is always falling into scrapes; and whom he has just, not without + difficulty, got delivered out of something of the kind. [<i>OEuvres de + Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 2d, pp. 8, 9.] He writes in German and in the + intimate style of THOU:— + </p> + <p> + "RUPPIN. 23d FEBRUARY, 1734. MY DEAR BROTHER,—I can with pleasure + answer that the King hath spoken of thee altogether favorably to me + [scrape now abolished, for the time]:—and I think it would not have + an ill effect, wert thou to apply for leave to go with the ten thousand + whom he is sending to the Rhine, and do the Campaign with them as + volunteer. I am myself going with that corps; so I doubt not the King + would allow thee. + </p> + <p> + "I take the freedom to send herewith a few bottles of Champagne; and wish" + all manner of good things. + </p> + <p> + "FRIEDRICH." + </p> + <p> + [Ib. xxvii. part 2d, p. 10.] + </p> + <p> + This Margraf Heinrich goes; also his elder Brother, Margraf Friedrich + Wilhelm,—who long persecuted Wilhelmina with his hopes; and who is + now about getting Sophie Dorothee, a junior Princess, much better than he + merits: Betrothal is the week after these ten thousand march; [16th April, + 1734 (Ib. part 1st, p. 14 n).] he thirty, she fifteen. He too will go; as + will the other pair of Cousin Margraves,—Karl, who was once our + neighbor in Custrin; and the Younger Friedrich Wilhelm, whose fate lies at + Prag if he knew it. Majesty himself will go as volunteer. Are not great + things to be done, with Eugene for General?—To understand the + insignificant Siege of Philipsburg, sum-total of the Rhine Campaign, which + filled the Crown-Prince's and so many other minds brimful; that Summer, + and is now wholly out of every mind, the following Excerpt may be + admissible:— + </p> + <p> + "The unlucky little Town of Philipsburg, key of the Rhine in that quarter, + fortified under difficulties by old Bishops of Speyer who sometimes + resided there, [Kohler, <i>Munzbelustigungen,</i> vi. 169.] has been + dismantled and refortified, has had its Rhine-bridge torn down and set up + again; been garrisoned now by this party, now by that, who had 'right of + garrison there;' nay France has sometimes had 'the right of garrison;'—and + the poor little Town has suffered much, and been tumbled sadly about in + the Succession-wars and perpetual controversies between France and Germany + in that quarter. In the time we are speaking of, it has a 'flying-bridge' + (of I know not what structure), with fortified 'bridge-head + (TETE-DE-PONT,)' on the western or France-ward side of the River. Town's + bulwarks, and complex engineering defences, are of good strength, all put + in repair for this occasion: Reich and Kaiser have an effective garrison + there, and a commandant determined on defence to the uttermost: what the + unfortunate Inhabitants, perhaps a thousand or so in number, thought or + did under such a visitation of ruin and bombshells, History gives not the + least hint anywhere. 'Quite used to it!' thinks History, and attends to + other points. + </p> + <p> + "The Rhine Valley here is not of great breadth: eastward the heights rise + to be mountainous in not many miles. By way of defence to this Valley, in + the Eugene-Marlborough Wars, there was, about forty miles southward, or + higher up the River than Philipsburg, a military line or chain of posts; + going from Stollhofen, a boggy hamlet on the Rhine, with cunning + indentations, and learned concatenation of bog and bluff, up into the + inaccessibilities,—LINES OF STOLLHOFEN, the name of it,—which + well-devised barrier did good service for certain years. It was not till, + I think, the fourth year of their existence, year 1707, that Villars, the + same Villars who is now in Italy, 'stormed the Lines of Stollhofen;' which + made him famous that year. + </p> + <p> + "The Lines of Stollhofen have now, in 1734, fallen flat again; but Eugene + remembers them, and, I could guess, it was he who suggests a similar + expedient. At all events, there is a similar expedient fallen upon: LINES + OF ETTLINGEN this time; one-half nearer Philipsburg; running from Muhlburg + on the Rhine-brink up to Ettlingen in the Hills. [See map] Nearer, by + twenty miles; and, I guess, much more slightly done. We shall see these + Lines of Ettlingen, one point of them, for a moment:—and they would + not be worth mentioning at all, except that in careless Books they too are + called 'Lines of STOLLHOFEN,' [Wilhelmina (ii. 206), for instance; who, or + whose Printer, call them "Lines of STOKOFF" even.] and the ingenuous + reader is sent wandering on his map to no purpose." + </p> + <p> + "Lines of ETTLINGEN" they are; related, as now said, to the Stollhofen + set. Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Bevern, one of the four Feldmarschalls, + has some ineffectual handful of Imperial troops dotted about, within these + Lines and on the skirts of Philipsburg;—eagerly waiting till the + Reich's-Army gather to him; otherwise he must come to nothing. Will at any + rate, I should think, be happy to resign in favor of Prince Eugene, were + that little hero once on the ground. + </p> + <p> + On Mayday, Marechal Berwick, who has been awake in this quarter, "in three + divisions," for a month past,—very impatient till Belleisle with the + first division should have taken Trarbach, and made the Western interior + parts secure,—did actually cross the Rhine, with his second + division, "at Fort Louis," well up the River, well south of Philipsburg; + intending to attack the Lines of Ettlingen, and so get in upon the Town. + There is a third division, about to lay pontoons for itself a good way + farther down, which will attack the Lines simultaneously from within,—that + is to say, shall come upon the back of poor Bevern and his defensive + handful of troops, and astonish him there. All prospers to Berwick in this + matter: Noailles his lieutenant (not yet gone to Italy till next year), + with whom is Maurice Comte de Saxe (afterwards Marechal de Saxe), an + excellent observant Officer, marches up to Ettlingen, May 3d; bivouacs "at + the base of the mountain" (no great things of a mountain); ascends the + same in two columns, horse and foot, by the first sunlight next morning; + forms on a little plain on the top; issues through a thin wood,—and + actually beholds those same LINES OF ETTLINGEN, the outmost eastern end of + them: a somewhat inconsiderable matter, after all! Here is Noailles's own + account:— + </p> + <p> + "These retrenchments, made in Turk fashion, consisted of big trees set + zigzag (EN ECHIQUIER), twisted together by the branches; the whole about + five fathoms thick. Inside of it were a small forlorn of Austrians: these + steadily await our grenadiers, and do not give their volley till we are + close. Our grenadiers receive their volley; clear the intertwisted trees, + after receiving a second volley (total loss seventy-five killed and + wounded); and—the enemy quits his post; and the Lines of Ettlingen + ARE stormed!" [Noailles, <i>Memoires</i> (in Petitot's Collection), iii. + 207.] This is not like storming the Lines of Stollhofen; a thing to make + Noailles famous in the Newspapers for a year. But it was a useful small + feat, and well enough performed on his part. The truth is, Berwick was + about attacking the Lines simultaneously on the other or Muhlburg end of + them (had not Noailles, now victorious, galloped to forbid); and what was + far more considerable, those other French, to the northward, "upon + pontoons," are fairly across; like to be upon the BACK of Duke Ferdinand + and his handful of defenders. Duke Ferdinand perceives that he is come to + nothing; hastily collects his people from their various posts; retreats + with them that same night, unpursued, to Heilbronn; and gives up the + command to Prince Eugene, who is just arrived there,—who took + quietly two pinches of snuff on hearing this news of Ettlingen, and said, + "No matter, after all!" + </p> + <p> + Berwick now forms the Siege, at his discretion; invests Philipsburg, 13th + May; [Berwick, ii. 312; 23d, says Noailles's Editor (iii. 210).] begins + firing, night of the 3d-4th June;—Eugene waiting at Heilbronn till + the Reich's-Army come up. The Prussian ten thousand do come, all in order, + on the 7th: the rest by degrees, all later, and all NOT quite in order. + Eugene, the Prussians having joined him, moves down towards Philipsburg + and its cannonading; encamps close to rearward of the besieging French. + "Camp of Wiesenthal" they call it; Village of Wiesenthal with bogs, on the + left, being his head-quarters; Village of Waghausel, down near the River, + a five miles distance, being his limit on the right. Berwick, in front, + industriously battering Philipsburg into the River, has thrown up strong + lines behind him, strongly manned, to defend himself from Eugene; across + the River, Berwick has one Bridge, and at the farther end one battery with + which he plays upon the rear of Philipsburg. He is much criticised by + unoccupied people, "Eugene's attack will ruin us on those terms!"—and + much incommoded by overflowings of the Rhine; Rhine swoln by melting of + the mountain-snows, as is usual there. Which inundations Berwick had well + foreseen, though the War-minister at Paris would not: "Haste!" answered + the War-minister always: "We shall be in right time. I tell you there have + fallen no snows this winter: how can inundation be?"—"Depends on the + heat," said Berwick; "there are snows enough always in stock up there!" + </p> + <p> + And so it proves, though the War-minister would not believe; and Berwick + has to take the inundations, and to take the circumstances;—and to + try if, by his own continual best exertions, he can but get Philipsburg + into the bargain. On the 12th of June, visiting his posts, as he daily + does, the first thing, Berwick stept out of the trenches, anxious for + clear view of something; stept upon "the crest of the sap," a place + exposed to both French and Austrian batteries, and which had been + forbidden to the soldiers,—and there, as he anxiously scanned + matters through his glass, a cannon-ball, unknown whether French or + Austrian, shivered away the head of Berwick; left others to deal with the + criticisms, and the inundations, and the operations big or little, at + Philipsburg and elsewhere! Siege went on, better or worse, under the next + in command; "Paris in great anxiety," say the Books. + </p> + <p> + It is a hot siege, a stiff defence; Prince Eugene looks on, but does not + attack in the way apprehended. Southward in Italy, we hear there is + marching, strategying in the Parma Country; Graf von Mercy likely to come + to an action before long. Northward, Dantzig by this time is all wrapt in + fire-whirlwinds; its sallyings and outer defences all driven in; mere + torrents of Russian bombs raining on it day and night; French auxiliaries, + snapt up at landing, are on board Russian ships; and poor Stanislaus and + "the Lady of Quality who shot the first gun" have a bad outlook there. + Towards the end of the month, the Berlin volunteer Generals, our + Crown-Prince and his Margraves among them, are getting on the road for + Philipsburg;—and that is properly the one point we are concerned + with. Which took effect in manner following. + </p> + <p> + Tuesday evening, 29th June, there is Ball at Monbijou; the Crown-Prince + and others busy dancing there, as if nothing special lay ahead. + Nevertheless, at three in the morning he has changed his ball-dress for a + better, he and certain more; and is rushing southward, with his volunteer + Generals and Margraves, full speed, saluted by the rising sun, towards + Philipsburg and the Seat of War. And the same night, King Stanislaus, if + any of us cared for him, is on flight from Dantzig, "disguised as a + cattle-dealer;" got out on the night of Sunday last, Town under such a + rain of bombshells being palpably too hot for him: got out, but cannot get + across the muddy intricacies of the Weichsel; lies painfully squatted up + and down, in obscure alehouses, in that Stygian Mud-Delta,—a matter + of life and death to get across, and not a boat to be had, such the + vigilance of the Russian. Dantzig is capitulating, dreadful penalties + exacted, all the heavier as no Stanislaus is to be found in it; and search + all the keener rises in the Delta after him. Through perils and adventures + of the sort usual on such occasions, [Credible modest detail of them, in a + LETTER from Stanislaus himself (<i>History of Stanislaus,</i> already + cited, pp. 235-248).] Stanislaus does get across; and in time does reach + Preussen; where, by Friedrich Wilhelm's order, safe opulent asylum is + afforded him, till the Fates (when this War ends) determine what is to + become of the poor Imaginary Majesty. We leave him, squatted in the + intricacies of the Mud-Delta, to follow our Crown-Prince, who in the same + hour is rushing far elsewhither. + </p> + <p> + Margraves, Generals and he, in their small string of carriages, go on, by + extra-post, day and night; no rest till they get to Hof, in the Culmbach + neighborhood, a good two hundred miles off,—near Wilhelmina, and + more than half-way to Philipsburg. Majesty Friedrich Wilhelm is himself to + follow in about a week: he has given strict order against waste of time: + "Not to part company; go together, and NOT by Anspach or Baireuth,"—though + they lie almost straight for you. + </p> + <p> + This latter was a sore clause to Friedrich, who had counted all along on + seeing his dear faithful Wilhelmina, as he passed: therefore, as the + Papa's Orders, dangerous penalty lying in them, cannot be literally + disobeyed, the question rises, How see Wilhelmina and not Baireuth? + Wilhelmina, weak as she is and unfit for travelling, will have to meet him + in some neutral place, suitablest for both. After various shiftings, it + has been settled between them that Berneck, a little town twelve miles + from Baireuth on the Hof road, will do; and that Friday, probably early, + will be the day. Wilhelmina, accordingly, is on the road that morning, + early enough; Husband with her, and ceremonial attendants, in honor of + such a Brother; morning is of sultry windless sort; day hotter and hotter;—at + Berneck is no Crown-Prince, in the House appointed for him; hour after + hour, Wilhelmina waits there in vain. The truth is, one of the smallest + accidents has happened: the Generals "lost a wheel at Gera yesterday;" + were left behind there with their smiths, have not yet appeared; and the + insoluble question among Friedrich and the Margraves is, "We dare not go + on without them, then? We dare;—dare we?" Question like to drive + Friedrich mad, while the hours, at any rate, are slipping on! Here are + three Letters of Friedrich, legible at last; which, with Wilhelmina's + account from the other side, represent a small entirely human scene in + this French-Austrian War,—nearly all of human we have found in the + beggarly affair:— + </p> + <p> + 1. TO PRINCESS WILHELMINA, AT BAIREUTH, OR ON THE ROAD TO BERNECK. + </p> + <p> + "HOF, 2d July [not long after 4 a.m.], 1794. + </p> + <p> + "MY DEAR SISTER,—Here am I within six leagues [say eight or more, + twenty-five miles English] of a Sister whom I love; and I have to decide + that it will be impossible to see her, after all!"—Does decide so, + accordingly, for reasons known to us. + </p> + <p> + "I have never so lamented the misfortune of not depending on myself as at + this moment! The King being but very sour-sweet on my score, I dare not + risk the least thing; Monday come a week, when he arrives himself, I + should have a pretty scene (SERAIS JOLIMENT TRAITE) in the Camp, if I were + found to have disobeyed orders. + </p> + <p> + "... The Queen commands me to give you a thousand regards from her. She + appeared much affected at your illness; but for the rest, I could not + warrant you how sincere it was; for she is totally changed, and I have + quite lost reckoning of her (N'Y CONNAIS RIEN). That goes so far that she + has done me hurt with the King, all she could: however, that is over now. + As to Sophie [young Sister just betrothed to the eldest Margraf whom you + know], she also is no longer the same; for she approves all that the Queen + says or does; and she is charmed with her big clown (GROS NIGAUD) of a + Bridegroom. + </p> + <p> + "The King is more difficult than ever; he is content with nothing, so as + to have lost whatsoever could be called gratitude for all pleasures one + can do him,"—marrying against one's will, and the like. "As to his + health, it is one day better, another worse; but the legs, they are always + swelled, Judge what my joy must be to get out of that turpitude,—for + the King will only stay a fortnight, at most, in the Camp. + </p> + <p> + "Adieu, my adorable Sister: I am so tired, I cannot stir; having left on + Tuesday night, or rather Wednesday morning at three o'clock, from a Ball + at Monbijou, and arrived here this Friday morning at four. I recommend + myself to your gracious remembrance; and am, for my own part, till death, + dearest Sister,"— + </p> + <p> + Your—"FRIEDRICH" + </p> + <p> + [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 1st, p. 13.] + </p> + <p> + This is Letter First; written Friday morning, on the edge of getting into + bed, after such fatigue; and it has, as natural in that mood, given up the + matter in despair. It did not meet Wilhelmina on the road; and she had + left Baireuth;—where it met her, I do not know; probably at home, on + her return, when all was over. Let Wilhelmina now speak her own lively + experiences of that same Friday:— + </p> + <p> + "I got to Berneck at ten. The heat was excessive; I found myself quite + worn out with the little journey I had done. I alighted at the House which + had been got ready for my Brother. We waited for him, and in vain waited, + till three in the afternoon. At three we lost patience; had dinner served + without him. Whilst we were at table, there came on a frightful + thunder-storm. I have witnessed nothing so terrible: the thunder roared + and reverberated among the rocky cliffs which begirdle Berneck; and it + seemed as if the world was going to perish: a deluge of rain succeeded the + thunder. + </p> + <p> + "It was four o'clock; and I could not understand what had become of my + Brother. I had sent out several persons on horseback to get tidings of + him, and none of them came back. At length, in spite of all my prayers, + the Hereditary Prince [my excellent Husband] himself would go in search. I + remained waiting till nine at night, and nobody returned. I was in cruel + agitations: these cataracts of rain are very dangerous in the mountain + countries; the roads get suddenly overflowed, and there often happen + misfortunes. I thought for certain, there had one happened to my Brother + or to the Hereditary Prince." Such a 2d of July, to poor Wilhelmina! + </p> + <p> + "At last, about nine, somebody brought word that my Brother had changed + his route, and was gone to Culmbach [a House of ours, lying westward, + known to readers]; there to stay overnight. I was for setting out thither,—Culmbach + is twenty miles from Berneck; but the roads are frightful," White Mayn, + still a young River, dashing through the rock-labyrinths there, "and full + of precipices:—everybody rose in opposition, and, whether I would or + not, they put me into the carriage for Himmelkron [partly on the road + thither], which is only about ten miles off. We had like to have got + drowned on the road; the waters were so swoln [White Mayn and its angry + brooks], the horses could not cross but by swimming. + </p> + <p> + "I arrived at last, about one in the morning. I instantly threw myself on + a bed. I was like to die with weariness; and in mortal terrors that + something had happened to my Brother or the Hereditary Prince. This latter + relieved me on his own score; he arrived at last, about four o'clock,—had + still no news farther of my Brother. I was beginning to doze a little, + when they came to warn me that 'M. von Knobelsdorf wished to speak with me + from the Prince-Royal.' I darted out of bed, and ran to him. He," handing + me a Letter, "brought word that"— + </p> + <p> + But let us now give Letter Second, which has turned up lately, and which + curiously completes the picture here. Friedrich, on rising refreshed with + sleep at Hof, had taken a cheerfuler view; and the Generals still lagging + rearward, he thinks it possible to see Wilhelmina after all. Possible; and + yet so very dangerous,—perhaps not possible? Here is a second Letter + written from Munchberg, some fifteen miles farther on, at an after period + of the same Friday: purport still of a perplexed nature, "I will, and I + dare not;"—practical outcome, of itself uncertain, is scattered now + by torrents and thunderstorms. This is the Letter, which Knobelsdorf now + hands to Wilhelmina at that untimely hour of Saturday:— + </p> + <p> + 2. TO PRINCESS WILHELMINA (by Knobelsdorf). + </p> + <p> + "MUNCHBERG, 2d July, 1754. + </p> + <p> + "MY DEAREST SISTER,—I am in despair that I cannot satisfy my + impatience and my duty,—to throw myself at your feet this day. But + alas, dear Sister, it does not depend on me: we poor Princes, "the + Margraves and I," are obliged to wait here till our Generals [Bredow, + Schulenburg and Company] come up; we dare not go along without them. They + broke a wheel in Gera [fifty miles behind us]; hearing nothing of them + since, we are absolutely forced to wait here. Judge in what a mood I am, + and what sorrow must be mine! Express order not to go by Baireuth or + Anspach:—forbear, dear sister, to torment me on things not depending + on myself at all. + </p> + <p> + "I waver between hope and fear of paying my court to you. I hope it might + still be at Berneck," this evening,—"if you could contrive a road + into the Nurnberg Highway again; avoiding Baireuth: otherwise I dare not + go. The Bearer, who is Captain Knobelsdorf [excellent judicious man, old + acquaintance from the Custrin time, who attends upon us, actual Captain + once, but now titular merely, given to architecture and the fine arts + (Seyfarth (Anonymous), <i>Lebens-und Regierungs-Geschichte Friedrichs des + Andern</i> (Leipzig, 1786), ii. 200. <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> vii. 33. + Preuss, <i>Friedrich mit seinen Verwandten</i> (Berlin. 1838), pp. 8, + 17.)], will apprise you of every particular: let Knobelsdorf settle + something that may be possible. This is how I stand at present; and + instead of having to expect some favor from the King [after what I have + done by his order], I get nothing but chagrin. But what is crueler upon me + than all, is that you are ill. God, in his grace, be pleased to help you, + and restore the precious health which I so much wish you!... FRIEDRICH." + </p> + <p> + [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part lst, p. 15.] + </p> + <p> + Judicious Knobelsdorf settles that the meeting is to be this very morning + at eight; Wilhelmina (whose memory a little fails her in the insignificant + points) does not tell us where: but, by faint indications, I perceive it + was in the Lake-House, pleasant Pavilion in the ancient artificial Lake, + or big ornamental Fishpond, called BRANDENBURGER WEIHER, a couple of miles + to the north of Baireuth: there Friedrich is to stop,—keeping the + Paternal Order from the teeth outwards in this manner. Eight o'clock: so + that Wilhelmina is obliged at once to get upon the road again,—poor + Princess, after such a day and night. Her description of the Interview is + very good:— + </p> + <p> + "My Brother overwhelmed me with caresses; but found me in so pitiable a + state, he could not restrain his tears. I was not able to stand on my + limbs; and felt like to faint every moment, so weak was I. He told me the + King was much angered at the Margraf [my Father-in-Law] for not letting + his Son make the Campaign,"—concerning which point, said Son, my + Husband, being Heir-Apparent, there had been much arguing in Court and + Country, here at Baireuth, and endless anxiety on my poor part, lest he + should get killed in the Wars. "I told him all the Margraf's reasons; and + added, that surely they were good, in respect of my dear Husband. 'Well,' + said he, 'let him quit soldiering, then, and give back his regiment to the + King. But for the rest, quiet yourself as to the fears you may have about + him if he do go; for I know, by certain information, that there will be no + blood spilt.'—'They are at the Siege of Philipsburg, however.'—'Yes,' + said my Brother, 'but there will not be a battle risked to hinder it.' + </p> + <p> + "The Hereditary Prince," my Husband, "came in while we were talking so; + and earnestly entreated my Brother to get him away from Baireuth. They + went to a window, and talked a long time together. In the end, my Brother + told me he would write a very obliging Letter to the Margraf, and give him + such reasons in favor of the Campaign, that he doubted not it would turn + the scale. 'We will stay together,' said he, addressing the Hereditary + Prince; 'and I shall be charmed to have my dear Brother always beside me.' + He wrote the Letter; gave it to Baron Stein [Chamberlain or Goldstick of + ours], to deliver to the Margraf. He promised to obtain the King's express + leave to stop at Baireuth on his return;—after which he went away. + It was the last time I saw him on the old footing with me: he has much + changed since then!—We returned to Baireuth; where I was so ill + that, for three days, they did not think I should get over it." + [Wilhelmina, ii. 200-202.] + </p> + <p> + Crown-Prince dashes off, southwestward, through cross country, into the + Nurnberg Road again; gets to Nurnberg that same Saturday night; and there, + among other Letters, writes the following; which will wind up this little + Incident for us, still in a human manner:— + </p> + <p> + 3. TO PRINCESS WILHELMINA AT BAIREUTH. + </p> + <p> + "NURNBERG, 3d July, 1734. + </p> + <p> + "MY DEAREST (TRES-CHERE) SISTER,—It would be impossible to quit this + place without signifying, dearest Sister, my lively gratitude for all the + marks of favor you showed me in the WEIHERHAUS [House on the Lake, + to-day]. The highest of all that it was possible to do, was that of + procuring me the satisfaction of paying my court to you. I beg millions of + pardons for so putting you about, dearest Sister; but I could not help it; + for you know my sad circumstances well enough. In my great joy, I forgot + to give you the Enclosed. I entreat you, write me often news of your + health! Question the Doctors; and"—and in certain contingencies, the + Crown-Prince "would recommend goat's-milk" for his poor Sister. Had + already, what was noted of him in after life, a tendency to give medical + advice, in cases interesting to him?— + </p> + <p> + "Adieu, my incomparable and dear Sister. I am always the same to you, and + will remain so till my death. + </p> + <p> + "FRIEDRICH." + </p> + <p> + [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part lst, p. 57.] + </p> + <p> + Generals with their wheel mended, Margraves, Prince and now the Camp + Equipage too, are all at Nurnberg; and start on the morrow; hardly a + hundred miles now to be done,—but on slower terms, owing to the + Equipage. Heilbronn, place of arms or central stronghold of the + Reich's-Army, they reach on Monday: about Eppingen, next night, if the + wind is westerly, one may hear the cannon,—not without interest. It + was Wednesday forenoon, 7th July, 1734, on some hill-top coming down from + Eppingen side, that the Prince first saw Philipsburg Siege, blotting the + Rhine Valley yonder with its fire and counter-fire; and the Tents of + Eugene stretching on this side: first view he ever had of the actualities + of war. His account to Papa is so distinct and good, we look through it + almost as at first-hand for a moment:— + </p> + <p> + "CAMP AT WIESENTHAL, Wednesday, 7th July, 1734. + </p> + <p> + "MOST ALL-GRACIOUS FATHER,—... We left Nurnberg [nothing said of our + Baireuth affair], 4th early, and did not stop till Heilbronn; where, along + with the Equipage, I arrived on the 5th. Yesterday I came with the + Equipage to Eppingen [twenty miles, a slow march, giving the fourgons + time]; and this morning we came to the Camp at Wiesenthal. I have dined + with General Roder [our Prussian Commander]; and, after dinner, rode with + Prince Eugene while giving the parole. I handed him my All-gracious + Father's Letter, which much rejoiced him. After the parole, I went to see + the relieving of our outposts [change of sentries there], and view the + French retrenchment. + </p> + <p> + "We," your Majesty's Contingent, "are throwing up three redoubts: at one + of them today, three musketeers have been miserably shot [GESCHOSSEN, + wounded, not quite killed]; two are of Roder's, and one is of + Finkenstein's regiment. + </p> + <p> + "To-morrow I will ride to a village which is on our right wing; Waghausel + is the name of it [Busching, v. 1152.] [some five miles off, north of us, + near by the Rhine]; there is a steeple there, from which one can see the + French Camp; from this point I will ride down, between the two Lines," + French and ours, "to see what they are like. + </p> + <p> + "There are quantities of hurdles and fascines being made; which, as I + hear, are to be employed in one of two different plans. The first plan is, + To attack the French retrenchment generally; the ditch which is before it, + and the morass which lies on our left wing, to be made passable with these + fascines. The other plan is, To amuse the Enemy by a false attack, and + throw succor into the Town.—One thing is certain, in a few days we + shall have a stroke of work here. Happen what may, my All-gracious Father + may be assured that" &c., "and that I will do nothing unworthy of him. + </p> + <p> + "FRIEDRICH." + </p> + <p> + [<i>OEuvres,</i> xxvii. part 3d, p. 79.] + </p> + <p> + Neither of those fine plans took effect; nor did anything take effect, as + we shall see. But in regard to that "survey from the steeple of Waghausel, + and ride home again between the Lines,"—in regard to that, here is + an authentic fraction of anecdote, curiously fitting in, which should not + be omitted. A certain Herr van Suhm, Saxon Minister at Berlin, + occasionally mentioned here, stood in much Correspondence with the + Crown-Prince in the years now following: Correspondence which was all + published at the due distance of time; Suhm having, at his decease, left + the Prince's Letters carefully assorted with that view, and furnished with + a Prefatory "Character of the Prince-Royal <i>(Portrait du Prince-Royal, + par M. de Suhm)."</i> Of which Preface this is a small paragraph, relating + to the Siege of Philipsburg; offering us a momentary glance into one fibre + of the futile War now going on there. Of Suhm, and how exact he was, we + shall know a little by and by. Of "Prince von Lichtenstein," an Austrian + man and soldier of much distinction afterwards, we have only to say that + he came to Berlin next year on Diplomatic business, and that probably + enough he had been eye-witness to the little fact,—fact credible + perhaps without much proving. One rather regretted there was no date to + it, no detail to give it whereabout and fixity in our conception; that the + poor little Anecdote, though indubitable, had to hang vaguely in the air. + Now, however, the above dated LETTER does, by accident, date Suhm's + Anecdote too; date "July 8" as good as certain for it; the Siege itself + having ended (July 18) in ten days more. Herr von Suhm writes (not for + publication till after Friedrich's death and his own):— + </p> + <p> + "It was remarked in the Rhine Campaign of 1734, that this Prince has a + great deal of intrepidity (BEAUCOUP DE VALEUR). On one occasion, among + others [to all appearance, this very day, "July 8," riding home from + Waghausel between the lines], when he had gone to reconnoitre the Lines of + Philipsburg, with a good many people about him,—passing, on his + return, along a strip of very thin wood, the cannon-shot from the Lines + accompanied him incessantly, and crashed down several trees at his side; + during all which he walked his horse along at the old pace, precisely as + if nothing were happening, nor in his hand upon the bridle was there the + least trace of motion perceptible. Those who gave attention to the matter + remarked, on the contrary, that he did not discontinue speaking very + tranquilly to some Generals who accompanied him; and who admired his + bearing, in a kind of danger with which he had not yet had occasion to + familiarize himself. It is from the Prince von Lichtenstein that I have + this anecdote." [<i>Correspondance de Frederic II. avec M. de Suhm </i> + (Berlin, 1787); Avant-propos, p. xviii. (written 28th April, 1740). The + CORRESPONDANCE is all in <i>OEuvres de Frederic</i> (xvi, 247-408); but + the Suhm Preface not.] + </p> + <p> + On the 15th arrived his Majesty in person, with the Old Dessauer, + Buddenbrock, Derschau and a select suite; in hopes of witnessing + remarkable feats of war, now that the crisis of Philipsburg was coming on. + Many Princes were assembled there, in the like hope: Prince of Orange + (honeymoon well ended [Had wedded Princess Anne, George II.'s eldest, 25th + (14th) March, 1734; to the joy of self and mankind, in England here.]), a + vivacious light gentleman, slightly crooked in the back; Princes of Baden, + Darmstadt, Waldeck: all manner of Princes and distinguished personages, + fourscore Princes of them by tale, the eyes of Europe being turned on this + matter, and on old Eugene's guidance of it. Prince Fred of England, even + he had a notion of coming to learn war. + </p> + <p> + It was about this time, not many weeks ago, that Fred, now falling into + much discrepancy with his Father, and at a loss for a career to himself, + appeared on a sudden in the Antechamber at St. James's one day; and + solemnly demanded an interview with his Majesty. Which his indignant + Majesty, after some conference with Walpole, decided to grant. Prince + Fred, when admitted, made three demands: 1. To be allowed to go upon the + Rhine Campaign, by way of a temporary career for himself; 2. That he might + have something definite to live upon, a fixed revenue being suitable in + his circumstances; 3. That, after those sad Prussian disappointments, some + suitable Consort might be chosen for him,—heart and household lying + in such waste condition. Poor Fred, who of us knows what of sense might be + in these demands? Few creatures more absurdly situated are to be found in + this world. To go where his equals were, and learn soldiering a little, + might really have been useful. Paternal Majesty received Fred and his + Three Demands with fulminating look; answered, to the first two, nothing; + to the third, about a Consort, "Yes, you shall; but be respectful to the + Queen;—and now off with you; away!" [Coxe's <i>Walpole,</i> i. 322.] + </p> + <p> + Poor Fred, he has a circle of hungry Parliamenteers about him; young Pitt, + a Cornet of Horse, young Lyttelton of Hagley, our old Soissons friend, not + to mention others of worse type; to whom this royal Young Gentleman, with + his vanities, ambitions, inexperiences, plentiful inflammabilities, is + important for exploding Walpole. He may have, and with great justice I + should think, the dim consciousness of talents for doing something better + than "write madrigals" in this world; infinitude of wishes and appetites + he clearly has;—he is full of inflammable materials, poor youth. And + he is the Fireship those older hands make use of for blowing Walpole and + Company out of their anchorage. What a school of virtue for a young + gentleman;—and for the elder ones concerned with him! He did not get + to the Rhine Campaign; nor indeed ever to anything, except to writing + madrigals, and being very futile, dissolute and miserable with what of + talent Nature had given him. Let us pity the poor constitutional Prince. + Our Fritz was only in danger of losing his life; but what is that, to + losing your sanity, personal identity almost, and becoming Parliamentary + Fireship to his Majesty's Opposition? + </p> + <p> + Friedrich Wilhelm stayed a month campaigning here; graciously declined + Prince Eugene's invitation to lodge in Headquarters, under a roof and + within built walls; preferred a tent among his own people, and took the + common hardships,—with great hurt to his weak health, as was + afterwards found. + </p> + <p> + In these weeks, the big Czarina, who has set a price (100,000 rubles, say + 15,000 pounds) upon the head of poor Stanislaus, hears that his Prussian + Majesty protects him; and thereupon signifies, in high terms, That she, by + her Feld-marschall Munnich, will come across the frontiers and seize the + said Stanislaus. To which his Prussian Majesty answers positively, though + in proper Diplomatic tone, "Madam, I will in no wise permit it!" Perhaps + his Majesty's remarkablest transaction, here on the Rhine, was this + concerning Stanislaus. For Seckendorf the Feldzeugmeister was here also, + on military function, not forgetful of the Diplomacies; who busily + assailed his Majesty, on the Kaiser's part, in the same direction: "Give + up Stanislaus, your Majesty! How ridiculous (LACHERLICH) to be perhaps + ruined for Stanislaus!" But without the least effect, now or afterwards. + </p> + <p> + Poor Stanislaus, in the beginning of July, got across into Preussen, as we + intimated; and there he continued, safe against any amount of rubles and + Feldmarschalls, entreaties and menaces. At Angerburg, on the Prussian + frontier, he found a steadfast veteran, Lieutenant-General von Katte, + Commandant in those parts (Father of a certain poor Lieutenant, whom we + tragically knew of long ago!)—which veteran gentleman received the + Fugitive Majesty, [<i>Militair-Lexikon,</i> ii. 254.] with welcome in the + King's name, and assurances of an honorable asylum till the times and + roads should clear again for his Fugitive Majesty. Fugitive Majesty, for + whom the roads and times were very dark at present, went to Marienwerder; + talked of going "to Pillau, for a sea-passage," of going to various + places; went finally to Konigsberg, and there—with a considerable + Polish Suite of Fugitives, very moneyless, and very expensive, most of + them, who had accumulated about him—set up his abode. There for + almost two years, in fact till this War ended, the Fugitive Polish Majesty + continued; Friedrich Wilhelm punctually protecting him, and even paying + him a small Pension (50 pounds a month),—France, the least it could + do for the Grandfather of France, allowing a much larger one; larger, + though still inadequate. France has left its Grandfather strangely in the + lurch here; with "100,000 rubles on his head." But Friedrich Wilhelm knows + the sacred rites, and will do them; continues deaf as a door-post alike to + the menaces and the entreaties of Kaiser and Czarina; strictly intimating + to Munnich, what the Laws of Neutrality are, and that they must be + observed. Which, by his Majesty's good arrangements, Munnich, willing + enough to the contrary had it been feasible, found himself obliged to + comply with. Prussian Majesty, like a King and a gentleman, would listen + to no terms about dismissing or delivering up, or otherwise, failing in + the sacred rites to Stanislaus; but honorably kept him there till the + times and routes cleared themselves again. [Forster, ii. 132, 134-136.] A + plain piece of duty; punctually done: the beginning of it falls here in + the Camp at Philipsburg, July-August 1734; in May, 1736, we shall see some + glimpse of the end!— + </p> + <p> + His Prussian Majesty in Camp at Philipsburg—so distinguished a + volunteer, doing us the honor to encamp here—"was asked to all the + Councils-of-war that were held," say the Books. And he did attend, the + Crown-Prince and he, on important occasions: but, alas, there was, so to + speak, nothing to be consulted of. Fascines and hurdles lay useless; no + attempt was made to relieve Philipsburg. On the third day after his + Majesty's arrival, July 18th, Philipsburg, after a stiff defence of six + weeks, growing hopeless of relief, had to surrender;—French then + proceeded to repair Philipsburg, no attempt on Eugene's part to molest + them there. If they try ulterior operations on this side the River, he + counter-tries; and that is all. + </p> + <p> + Our Crown-Prince, somewhat of a judge in after years, is maturely of + opinion, That the French Lines were by no means inexpugnable; that the + French Army might have been ruined under an attack of the proper kind. [<i>OEuvres + de Frederic,</i> i. 167.] Their position was bad; no room to unfold + themselves for fight, except with the Town's cannon playing on them all + the while; only one Bridge to get across by, in case of coming to the + worse: defeat of them probable, and ruin to them inevitable in case of + defeat. But Prince Eugene, with an Army little to his mind + (Reich's-Contingents not to be depended on, thought Eugene), durst not + venture: "Seventeen victorious Battles, and if we should be defeated in + the eighteenth and last?" + </p> + <p> + It is probable the Old Dessauer, had he been Generalissimo, with this same + Army,—in which, even in the Reich's part of it, we know ten thousand + of an effective character,—would have done some stroke upon the + French; but Prince Eugene would not try. Much dimmed from his former self + this old hero; age now 73;—a good deal wearied with the long march + through Time. And this very Summer, his Brother's Son, the last male of + his House, had suddenly died of inflammatory fever; left the old man very + mournful: "Alone, alone, at the end of one's long march; laurels have no + fruit, then?" He stood cautious, on the defensive; and in this capacity is + admitted to have shown skilful management. + </p> + <p> + But Philipsburg being taken, there is no longer the least event to be + spoken of; the Campaign passed into a series of advancings, retreatings, + facing, and then right-about facings,—painful manoeuvrings, on both + sides of the Rhine and of the Neckar,—without result farther to the + French, without memorability to either side. About the middle of August, + Friedrich Wilhelm went away;—health much hurt by his month under + canvas, amid Rhine inundations, and mere distressing phenomena. + Crown-Prince Friedrich and a select party escorted his Majesty to Mainz, + where was a Dinner of unusual sublimity by the Kurfurst there; [15th + August (Fassmann, p. 511.)]—Dinner done, his Majesty stept on board + "the Electoral Yacht;" and in this fine hospitable vehicle went sweeping + through the Binger Loch, rapidly down towards Wesel; and the Crown-Prince + and party returned to their Camp, which is upon the Neckar at this time. + </p> + <p> + Camp shifts about, and Crown-Prince in it: to Heidelberg, to Waiblingen, + Weinheim; close to Mainz at one time: but it is not worth following: nor + in Friedrich's own Letters, or in other documents, is there, on the best + examination, anything considerable to be gleaned respecting his procedures + there. He hears of the ill-success in Italy, Battle of Parma at the due + date, with the natural feelings; speaks with a sorrowful gayety, of the + muddy fatigues, futilities here on the Rhine;—has the sense, + however, not to blame his superiors unreasonably. Here, from one of his + Letters to Colonel Camas, is a passage worth quoting for the credit of the + writer. With Camas, a distinguished Prussian Frenchman, whom we mentioned + elsewhere, still more with Madame Camas in time coming, he corresponded + much, often in a fine filial manner:— + </p> + <p> + "The present Campaign is a school, where profit may be reaped from + observing the confusion and disorder which reigns in this Army: it has + been a field very barren in laurels; and those who have been used, all + their life, to gather such, and on Seventeen distinguished occasions have + done so, can get none this time." Next year, we all hope to be on the + Moselle, and to find that a fruitfuler field... "I am afraid, dear Camas, + you think I am going to put on the cothurnus; to set up for a small + Eugene, and, pronouncing with a doctoral tone what each should have done + and not have done, condemn and blame to right and left. No, my dear Camas; + far from carrying my arrogance to that point, I admire the conduct of our + Chief, and do not disapprove that of his worthy Adversary; and far from + forgetting the esteem and consideration due to persons who, scarred with + wounds, have by years and long service gained a consummate experience, I + shall hear them more willingly than ever as my teachers, and try to learn + from them how to arrive at honor, and what is the shortest road into the + secret of this Profession." ["Camp at Heidelberg, 11th September, 1734" (<i>OEuvres,</i> + xvi. 131).] + </p> + <p> + This other, to Lieutenant Groben, three weeks earlier in date, shows us a + different aspect; which is at least equally authentic; and may be worth + taking with us. Groben is Lieutenant,—I suppose still of the + Regiment Goltz, though he is left there behind;—at any rate, he is + much a familiar with the Prince at Ruppin; was ringleader, it is thought, + in those midnight pranks upon parsons, and the other escapades there; + [Busching, v. 20.] a merry man, eight years older than the Prince,—with + whom it is clear enough he stands on a very free footing. Philipsburg was + lost a month ago; French are busy repairing it; and manoeuvring, with no + effect, to get into the interior of Germany a little. Weinheim is a little + Town on the north side of the Neckar, a dozen miles or so from Mannheim;—out + of which, and into which, the Prussian Corps goes shifting from time to + time, as Prince Eugene and the French manoeuvre to no purpose in that + Rhine-Neckar Country. "HERDEK TEREMTETEM" it appears, is a bit of + Hungarian swearing; should be ORDEK TEREMTETE; and means "The Devil made + you!" + </p> + <p> + [MAP GOES HERE———missing] + </p> + <p> + "WEINHEIM, 17th August, 1734. + </p> + <p> + "HERDEK TEREMTETE! 'Went with them, got hanged with them,' [<i>"Mitgegangen + mitgehangen:"</i> Letter is in German.] said the Bielefeld Innkeeper! So + will it be with me, poor devil; for I go dawdling about with this Army + here; and the French will have the better of us. We want to be over the + Neckar again [to the South or Philipsburg side], and the rogues won't let + us. What most provokes me in the matter is, that while we are here in such + a wilderness of trouble, doing our utmost, by military labors and + endurances, to make ourselves heroic, thou sittest, thou devil, at home! + </p> + <p> + "Duc de Bouillon has lost his equipage; our Hussars took it at Landau + [other side the Rhine, a while ago]. Here we stand in mud to the ears; + fifteen of the Regiment Alt-Baden have sunk altogether in the mud. Mud + comes of a water-spout, or sudden cataract of rain, there was in these + Heidelberg Countries; two villages, Fuhrenheim and Sandhausen, it swam + away, every stick of them (GANZ UND GAR). + </p> + <p> + "Captain van Stojentin, of Regiment Flans," one of our eight Regiments + here, "has got wounded in the head, in an affair of honor; he is still + alive, and it is hoped he will get through it. + </p> + <p> + "The Drill-Demon has now got into the Kaiser's people too: Prince Eugene + is grown heavier with his drills than we ourselves. He is often three + hours at it;—and the Kaiser's people curse us for the same, at a + frightful rate. Adieu. If the Devil don't get thee, he ought. Therefore + VALE. [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 3d, p. 181.] + </p> + <p> + "FRIEDRICH." + </p> + <p> + No laurels to be gained here; but plenty of mud, and laborious hardship,—met, + as we perceive, with youthful stoicism, of the derisive, and perhaps of + better forms. Friedrich is twenty-two and some months, when he makes his + first Campaign. The general physiognomy of his behavior in it we have to + guess from these few indications. No doubt he profited by it, on the + military side; and would study with quite new light and vivacity after + such contact with the fact studied of. Very didactic to witness even "the + confusions of this Army," and what comes of them to Armies! For the rest, + the society of Eugene, Lichtenstein, and so many Princes of the Reich, and + Chiefs of existing mankind, could not but be entertaining to the young + man; and silently, if he wished to read the actual Time, as sure enough + he, with human and with royal eagerness, did wish,—they were here as + the ALPHABET of it to him: important for years coming. Nay it is not + doubted, the insight he here got into the condition of the Austrian Army + and its management—"Army left seven days without bread," for one + instance—gave him afterwards the highly important notion, that such + Army could be beaten if necessary!— + </p> + <p> + Wilhelmina says, his chief comrade was Margraf Heinrich;—the ILL + Margraf; who was cut by Friedrich, in after years, for some unknown bad + behavior. Margraf Heinrich "led him into all manner of excesses," says + Wilhelmina,—probably in the language of exaggeration. He himself + tells her, in one of his LETTERS, a day or two before Papa's departure: + "The Camp is soon to be close on Mainz, nothing but the Rhine between + Mainz and our right wing, where my place is; and so soon as Serenissimus + goes [LE SERENISSIME, so he irreverently names Papa], I mean to be across + for some sport," [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 1st, p. 17 (10th + August).]—no doubt the Ill Margraf with me! With the Elder Margraf, + little Sophie's Betrothed, whom he called "big clown" in a Letter we read, + he is at this date in open quarrel,—"BROUILLE A TOUTE OUTRANCE with + the mad Son-in-law, who is the wildest wild-beast of all this Camp." + [Ibid.] + </p> + <p> + Wilhelmina's Husband had come, in the beginning of August; but was not so + happy as he expected. Considerably cut out by the Ill Heinrich. Here is a + small adventure they had; mentioned by Friedrich, and copiously recorded + by Wilhelmina: adventure on some River,—which we could guess, if it + were worth guessing, to have been the Neckar, not the Rhine. French had a + fortified post on the farther side of this River; Crown-Prince, Ill + Margraf, and Wilhelmina's Husband were quietly looking about them, riding + up the other side: Wilhelmina's Husband decided to take a pencil-drawing + of the French post, and paused for that object. Drawing was proceeding + unmolested, when his foolish Baireuth Hussar, having an excellent rifle + (ARQUEBUSE RAYEE) with him, took it into his head to have a shot at the + French sentries at long range. His shot hit nothing; but it awakened the + French animosity, as was natural; the French began diligently firing; and + might easily have done mischief. My Husband, volleying out some rebuke + upon the blockhead of a Hussar, finished his drawing, in spite of the + French bullets; then rode up to the Crown-Prince and Ill Margraf, who had + got their share of what was going, and were in no good-humor with him. Ill + Margraf rounded things into the Crown-Prince's ear, in an unmannerly way, + with glances at my Husband;—who understood it well enough; and + promptly coerced such ill-bred procedures, intimating, in a polite + impressive way, that they would be dangerous if persisted in. Which + reduced the Ill Margraf to a spiteful but silent condition. No other harm + was done at that time; the French bullets all went awry, or "even fell + short, being sucked in by the river," thinks Wilhelmina. [Wilhelmina, ii. + 208, 209; <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 1st, p. 19.] + </p> + <p> + A more important feature of the Crown-Prince's life in these latter weeks + is the news he gets of his father. Friedrich Wilhelm, after quitting the + Electoral Yacht, did his reviewing at Wesel, at Bielefeld, all his + reviewing in those Rhine and Weser Countries; then turned aside to pay a + promised visit to Ginkel the Berlin Dutch Ambassador, who has a fine House + in those parts; and there his Majesty has fallen seriously ill. Obliged to + pause at Ginkel's, and then at his own Schloss of Moyland, for some time; + does not reach Potsdam till the 14th September, and then in a weak, + worsening, and altogether dangerous condition, which lasts for months to + come. [Fassmann, pp. 512-533: September, 1734-January, 1735.] Wrecks of + gout, they say, and of all manner of nosological mischief; falling to + dropsy. Case desperate, think all the Newspapers, in a cautious form; + which is Friedrich Wilhelm's own opinion pretty much, and that of those + better informed. Here are thoughts for a Crown-Prince; well affected to + his Father, yet suffering much from him which is grievous. To by-standers, + one now makes a different figure: "A Crown-Prince, who may be King one of + these days,—whom a little adulation were well spent upon!" From + within and from without come agitating influences; thoughts which must be + rigorously repressed, and which are not wholly repressible. The soldiering + Crown-Prince, from about the end of September, for the last week or two of + this Campaign, is secretly no longer quite the same to himself or to + others. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + GLIMPSE OF LIEUTENANT CHASOT, AND OF OTHER ACQUISITIONS. + </h2> + <p> + We have still two little points to specify, or to bring up from the + rearward whither they are fallen, in regard to this Campaign. After which + the wearisome Campaign shall terminate; Crown-Prince leading his Ten + Thousand to Frankfurt, towards their winter-quarters in Westphalia; and + then himself running across from Frankfurt (October 5th), to see + Wilhelmina for a day or two on the way homewards:—with much pleasure + to all parties, my readers and me included! + </p> + <p> + FIRST point is, That, some time in this Campaign, probably towards the end + of it, the Crown-Prince, Old Dessauer and some others with them, "procured + passports," went across, and "saw the French Camp," and what new phenomena + were in it for them. Where, when, how, or with what impression left on + either side, we do not learn. It was not much of a Camp for military + admiration, this of the French. [<i>Memoires de Noailles</i> (passim).] + There were old soldiers of distinction in it here and there; a few young + soldiers diligently studious of their art; and a great many young fops of + high birth and high ways, strutting about "in red-heeled shoes," with + "Commissions got from Court" for this War, and nothing of the soldier but + the epaulettes and plumages,—apt to be "insolent" among their poorer + comrades. From all parties, young and old, even from that insolent + red-heel party, nothing but the highest finish of politeness could be + visible on this particular occasion. Doubtless all passed in the usual + satisfactory manner; and the Crown-Prince got his pleasant excursion, and + materials, more or less, for after thought and comparison. But as there is + nothing whatever of it on record for us but the bare fact, we leave it to + the reader's imagination,—fact being indubitable, and details not + inconceivable to lively readers. Among the French dignitaries doing the + honors of their Camp on this occasion, he was struck by the General's + Adjutant, a "Count de Rottembourg" (properly VON ROTHENBURG, of German + birth, kinsman to the Rothenburg whom we have seen as French Ambassador at + Berlin long since); a promising young soldier; whom he did not lose sight + of again, but acquired in due time to his own service, and found to be of + eminent worth there. A Count von Schmettau, two Brothers von Schmettau, + here in the Austrian service; superior men, Prussian by birth, and very + fit to be acquired by and by; these the Crown-Prince had already noticed + in this Rhine Campaign,—having always his eyes open to phenomena of + that kind. + </p> + <p> + The SECOND little point is of date perhaps two months anterior to that of + the French Camp; and is marked sufficiently in this Excerpt from our + confused manuscripts. + </p> + <p> + Before quitting Philipsburg, there befell one slight adventure, which, + though it seemed to be nothing, is worth recording here. One day, date not + given, a young French Officer, of ingenuous prepossessing look, though + much flurried at the moment, came across as involuntary deserter; flying + from a great peril in his own camp. The name of him is Chasot, Lieutenant + of such and such a Regiment: "Take me to Prince Eugene!" he entreats, + which is done. Peril was this: A high young gentleman, one of those fops + in red heels, ignorant, and capable of insolence to a poorer comrade of + studious turn, had fixed a duel upon Chasot. Chasot ran him through, in + fair duel; dead, and is thought to have deserved it. "But Duc de Boufflers + is his kinsman: run, or you are lost!" cried everybody. The Officers of + his Regiment hastily redacted some certificate for Chasot, hastily signed + it; and Chasot ran, scarcely waiting to pack his baggage. + </p> + <p> + "Will not your Serene Highness protect me?"—"Certainly!" said + Eugene;—gave Chasot a lodging among his own people; and appointed + one of them, Herr Brender by name, to show him about, and teach him the + nature of his new quarters. Chasot, a brisk, ingenuous young fellow, soon + became a favorite; eager to be useful where possible; and very pleasant in + discourse, said everybody. + </p> + <p> + By and by,—still at Philipsburg, as would seem, though it is not + said,—the Crown-Prince heard of Chasot; asked Brender to bring him + over. Here is Chasot's own account: through which, as through a small + eyelet-hole, we peep once more, and for the last time, direct into the + Crown-Prince's Campaign-life on this occasion:— + </p> + <p> + "Next morning, at ten o'clock the appointed hour, Brender having ordered + out one of his horses for me, I accompanied him to the Prince; who + received us in his Tent,—behind which he had, hollowed out to the + depth of three or four feet, a large Dining-room, with windows, and a + roof," I hope of good height, "thatched with straw. His Royal Highness, + after two hours' conversation, in which he had put a hundred questions to + me [a Prince desirous of knowing the facts], dismissed us; and at parting, + bade me return often to him in the evenings. + </p> + <p> + "It was in this Dining-room, at the end of a great dinner, the day after + next, that the Prussian guard introduced a Trumpet from Monsieur d'Asfeld + [French Commander-in-Chief since Berwick's death], with my three horses, + sent over from the French Army. Prince Eugene, who was present, and in + good humor, said, 'We must sell those horses, they don't speak German; + Brender will take care to mount you some way or other.' Prinoe + Lichtenstein immediately put a price on my horses; and they were sold on + the spot at three times their worth. The Prince of Orange, who was of this + Dinner [slightly crook-backed witty gentleman, English honeymoon well + over], said to me in a half-whisper, 'Monsieur, there is nothing like + selling horses to people who have dined well.' + </p> + <p> + "After this sale, I found myself richer than I had ever been in my life. + The Prince-Royal sent me, almost daily, a groom and led horse, that I + might come to him, and sometimes follow him in his excursions. At last, he + had it proposed to me, by M. de Brender, and even by Prince Eugene, to + accompany him to Berlin." Which, of course, I did; taking Ruppin first. "I + arrived at Berlin from Ruppin, in 1734, two days after the marriage of + Friedrich Wilhelm Margraf of Schwedt [Ill Margraf's elder Brother, wildest + wild-beast of this camp] with the Princess Sophie,"—that is to say, + 12th of November; Marriage having been on the 10th, as the Books teach us. + Chasot remembers that, on the 14th, "the Crown-Prince gave, in his Berlin + mansion, a dinner to all the Royal Family," in honor of that auspicious + wedding. [Kurd vou Schlozer, <i> Chasot</i> (Berlin, 1856), pp. 20-22. A + pleasant little Book; tolerably accurate, and of very readable quality.] + </p> + <p> + Thus is Chasot established with the Crown-Prince. He will turn up fighting + well in subsequent parts of this History; and again duelling fatally, + though nothing of a quarrelsome man, as he asserts. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CROWN-PRINCE'S VISIT TO BAIREUTH ON THE WAY HOME. + </h2> + <p> + October 4th, the Crown-Prince has parted with Prince Eugene,—not to + meet again in this world; "an old hero gone to the shadow of himself," + says the Crown-Prince; [<i>OEuvres (Memoires de Brandebourg),</i> i. 167.]—and + is giving his Prussian War-Captains a farewell dinner at + Frankfurt-on-Mayn; having himself led the Ten Thousand so far, towards + Winter-quarters, and handing them over now to their usual commanders. They + are to winter in Westphalia, these Ten Thousand, in the Paderborn-Munster + Country; where they are nothing like welcome to the Ruling Powers; nor are + intended to be so,—Kur-Koln (proprietor there) and his Brother of + Bavaria having openly French leanings. The Prussian Ten Thousand will have + to help themselves to the essential, therefore, without welcome;—and + things are not pleasant. And the Ruling Powers, by protocolling, still + more the Commonalty if it try at mobbing, ["28th March, 1735" (Fassmann, + p. 547); Buchholz, i. 136.] can only make them worse. Indeed it is said + the Ten Thousand, though their bearing was so perfect otherwise, generally + behaved rather ill in their marches over Germany, during this War,—and + always worst, it was remarked by observant persons, in the countries + (Bamberg and Wurzburg, for instance) where their officers had in past + years been in recruiting troubles. Whereby observant persons explained the + phenomenon to themselves. But we omit all that; our concern lying + elsewhere. "Directly after dinner at Frankfurt," the Crown-Prince drives + off, rapidly as his wont is, towards Baireuth. He arrives there on the + morrow; "October 5th," says Wilhelmina,—who again illuminates him to + us, though with oblique lights, for an instant. + </p> + <p> + Wilhelmina was in low spirits:—weak health; add funeral of the + Prince of Culmbach (killed in the Battle of Parma), illness of Papa, and + other sombre events:—and was by no means content with the + Crown-Prince, on this occasion. Strangely altered since we met him in July + last! It may be, the Crown-Prince, looking, with an airy buoyancy of mind, + towards a certain Event probably near, has got his young head inflated a + little, and carries himself with a height new to this beloved Sister;—but + probably the sad humor of the Princess herself has a good deal to do with + it. Alas, the contrast between a heart knowing secretly its own + bitterness, and a friend's heart conscious of joy and triumph, is harsh + and shocking to the former of the two! Here is the Princess's account; + with the subtrahend, twenty-five or seventy-five per cent, not deducted + from it:— + </p> + <p> + "My Brother arrived, the 5th of October. He seemed to me put out + (DECONTENANCE); and to break off conversation with me, he said he had to + write to the King and Queen. I ordered him pen and paper. He wrote in my + room; and spent more than a good hour in writing a couple of Letters, of a + line or two each. He then had all the Court, one after the other, + introduced to him; said nothing to any of them, looked merely with a + mocking air at them; after which we went to dinner. + </p> + <p> + "Here his whole conversation consisted in quizzing (TURLUPINER) whatever + he saw; and repeating to me, above a hundred times over, the words 'little + Prince,' 'little Court.' I was shocked; and could not understand how he + had changed so suddenly towards me. The etiquette of all Courts in the + Empire is, that nobody who has not at the least the rank of Captain can + sit at a Prince's table: my Brother put a Lieutenant there, who was in his + suite; saying to me, 'A King's Lieutenants are as good as a Margraf's + Ministers.' I swallowed this incivility, and showed no sign. + </p> + <p> + "After dinner, being alone with me, he said,"—turning up the + flippant side of his thoughts, truly, in a questionable way:—"'Our + Sire is going to end (TIRE A SA FIN); he will not live out this month. I + know I have made you great promises; but I am not in a condition to keep + them. I will give you up the Half of the sum which the late King [our + Grandfather] lent you; [Supra, pp. 161, 162.] I think you will have every + reason to be satisfied with that.' I answered, That my regard for him had + never been of an interested nature; that I would never ask anything of + him, but the continuance of his friendship; and did not wish one sou, if + it would in the least inconvenience him. 'No, no,' said he, 'you shall + have those 100,000 thalers; I have destined them for you.—People + will be much surprised,' continued he, 'to see me act quite differently + from what they had expected. They imagine I am going to lavish all my + treasures, and that money will become as common as pebbles at Berlin: but + they will find I know better. I mean to increase my Army, and to leave all + other things on the old footing. I will have every consideration for the + Queen my Mother, and will sate her (RASSASIERAI) with honors; but I do not + mean that she shall meddle in my affairs; and if she try it, she will find + so.'" What a speech; what an outbreak of candor in the young man, + preoccupied with his own great thoughts and difficulties,—to the + exclusion of any other person's! + </p> + <p> + "I fell from the clouds, on hearing all that; and knew not if I was + sleeping or waking. He then questioned me on the affairs of this Country. + I gave him the detail of them. He said to me: 'When your goose (BENET) of + a Father-in-law dies, I advise you to break up the whole Court, and reduce + yourselves to the footing of a private gentleman's establishment, in order + to pay your debts. In real truth, you have no need of so many people; and + you must try also to reduce the wages of those whom you cannot help + keeping. You have been accustomed to live at Berlin with a table of four + dishes; that is all you want here: and I will invite you now and then to + Berlin; which will spare table and housekeeping.' + </p> + <p> + "For a long while my heart had been getting big; I could not restrain my + tears, at hearing all these indignities. 'Why do you cry?' said he: 'Ah, + ah, you are in low spirits, I see. We must dissipate that dark humor. The + music waits us; I will drive that fit out of you by an air or two on the + flute.' He gave me his hand, and led me into the other room. I sat down to + the harpsichord; which I inundated (INONDAI) with my tears. Marwitz [my + artful Demoiselle d'Atours, perhaps too artful in time coming] placed + herself opposite me, so as to hide from the others what disorder I was + in." [Wilhelmina, ii. 216-218.] + </p> + <p> + For the last two days of the visit, Wilhelmina admits, her Brother was a + little kinder. But on the fourth day there came, by estafette, a Letter + from the Queen, conjuring him to return without delay, the King growing + worse and worse. Wilhelmina, who loved her Father, and whose outlooks in + case of his decease appeared to be so little flattering, was overwhelmed + with sorrow. Of her Brother, however, she strove to forget that strange + outbreak of candor; and parted with him as if all were mended between them + again. Nay, the day after his departure, there goes a beautifully + affectionate Letter to him; which we could give, if there were room: [<i>OEuvres,</i> + xxvii. part 1st, p. 23.] "the happiest time I ever in my life had;" "my + heart so full of gratitude and so sensibly touched;" "every one repeating + the words 'dear Brother' and 'charming Prince-Royal:'"—a Letter in + very lively contrast to what we have just been reading. A Prince-Royal not + without charm, in spite of the hard practicalities he is meditating, + obliged to meditate!— + </p> + <p> + As to the outbreak of candor, offensive to Wilhelmina and us, we suppose + her report of it to be in substance true, though of exaggerated, perhaps + perverted tone; and it is worth the reader's note, with these deductions. + The truth is, our charming Princess is always liable to a certain + subtrahend. In 1744, when she wrote those <i>Memoires,</i> "in a + Summer-house at Baireuth," her Brother and she, owing mainly to + go-betweens acting on the susceptible female heart, were again in + temporary quarrel (the longest and worst they ever had), and hardly on + speaking terms; which of itself made her heart very heavy;—not to + say that Marwitz, the too artful Demoiselle, seemed to have stolen her + Husband's affections from the poor Princess, and made the world look all a + little grim to her. These circumstances have given their color to parts of + her Narrative, and are not to be forgotten by readers. + </p> + <p> + The Crown-Prince—who goes by Dessau, lodging for a night with the + Old Dessauer, and writes affectionately to his Sister from that place, + their Letters crossing on the road—gets home on the 12th to Potsdam. + October 12th, 1734, he has ended his Rhine Campaign, in that manner;—and + sees his poor Father, with a great many other feelings besides those + expressed in the dialogue at Baireuth. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XI. — IN PAPA'S SICK-ROOM; PRUSSIAN INSPECTIONS: END OF WAR. + </h2> + <p> + It appears, Friedrich met a cordial reception in the sickroom at Potsdam; + and, in spite of his levities to Wilhelmina, was struck to the heart by + what he saw there. For months to come, he seems to be continually running + between Potsdam and Ruppin, eager to minister to his sick Father, when + military leave is procurable. Other fact, about him, other aspect of him, + in those months, is not on record for us. + </p> + <p> + Of his young Madam, or Princess-Royal, peaceably resident at Berlin or at + Schonhausen, and doing the vacant officialities, formal visitings and the + like, we hear nothing; of Queen Sophie and the others, nothing: anxious, + all of them, no doubt, about the event at Potsdam, and otherwise silent to + us. His Majesty's illness comes and goes; now hope, and again almost none. + Margraf of Schwedt and his young Bride, we already know, were married in + November; and Lieutenant Chasot (two days old in Berlin) told us, there + was Dinner by the Crown-Prince to all the Royal Family on that occasion;—poor + Majesty out at Potsdam languishing in the background, meanwhile. + </p> + <p> + His Carnival the Crown-Prince passes naturally at Berlin. We find he takes + a good deal to the French Ambassador, one Marquis de la Chetardie; a showy + restless character, of fame in the Gazettes of that time; who did much + intriguing at Petersburg some years hence, first in a signally triumphant + way, and then in a signally untriumphant; and is not now worth any + knowledge but a transient accidental one. Chetardie came hither about + Stanislaus and his affairs; tried hard, but in vain, to tempt Friedrich + Wilhelm into interference;—is naturally anxious to captivate the + Crown-Prince, in present circumstances. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich Wilhelm lay at Potsdam, between death and life, for almost four + months to come; the Newspapers speculating much on his situation; + political people extremely anxious what would become of him,—or in + fact, when he would die; for that was considered the likely issue. + Fassmann gives dolorous clippings from the <i>Leyden Gazette,</i> all in a + blubber of tears, according to the then fashion, but full of impertinent + curiosity withal. And from the Seckendorf private Papers there are + Extracts of a still more inquisitive and notable character: Seckendorf and + the Kaiser having an intense interest in this painful occurrence. + </p> + <p> + Seckendorf is not now himself at Berlin; but running much about, on other + errands; can only see Friedrich Wilhelm, if at all, in a passing way. And + even this will soon cease;—and in fact, to us it is by far the most + excellent result of this French-Austrian War, that it carries Seckendorf + clear away; who now quits Berlin and the Diplomatic line, and obligingly + goes out of our sight henceforth. The old Ordnance-Master, as an Imperial + General of rank, is needed now for War-Service, if he has any skill that + way. In those late months, he was duly in attendance at Philipsburg and + the Rhine-Campaign, in a subaltern torpid capacity, like Brunswick-Bevern + and the others; ready for work, had there been any: but next season, he + expects to have a Division of his own, and to do something considerable.—In + regard to Berlin and the Diplomacies, he has appointed a Nephew of his, a + Seckendorf Junior, to take his place there; to keep the old machinery in + gear, if nothing more; and furnish copious reports during the present + crisis. These Reports of Seckendorf Junior—full of eavesdroppings, + got from a KAMMERMOHR (Nigger Lackey), who waits in the sick-room at + Potsdam, and is sensible to bribes—have been printed; and we mean to + glance slightly into them. But as to Seckendorf Senior, readers can + entertain the fixed hope that they have at length done with him; that, in + these our premises, we shall never see him again;—nay shall see him, + on extraneous dim fields, far enough away, smarting and suffering, till + even we are almost sorry for the old knave!— + </p> + <p> + Friedrich Wilhelm's own prevailing opinion is, that he cannot recover. His + bodily sufferings are great: dropsically swollen, sometimes like to be + choked: no bed that he can bear to lie on;—oftenest rolls about in a + Bath-chair; very heavy-laden indeed; and I think of tenderer humor than in + former sicknesses. To the Old Dessauer he writes, few days after getting + home to Potsdam: "I am ready to quit the world, as Your Dilection knows, + and has various times heard me say. One ship sails faster, another slower; + but they come all to one haven. Let it be with me, then, as the Most High + has determined for me." [Orlich, <i>Geschichte der Schlesischen Kriege</i> + (Berlin, 1841), i. 14. "From the Dessau Archives; date, 21st September, + 1734."] He has settled his affairs, Fassmann says, so far as possible; + settled the order of his funeral, How he is to be buried, in the Garrison + Church of Potsdam, without pomp or fuss, like a Prussian Soldier; and what + regiment or regiments it is that are to do the triple volley over him, by + way of finis and long farewell. His soul's interests too,—we need + not doubt he is in deep conference, in deep consideration about these; + though nothing is said on that point. A serious man always, much feeling + what immense facts he was surrounded with; and here is now the summing up + of all facts. Occasionally, again, he has hopes; orders up "two hundred of + his Potsdam Giants to march through the sick-room," since he cannot get + out to them; or old Generals, Buddenbrock, Waldau, come and take their + pipe there, in reminiscence of a Tabagie. Here, direct from the + fountain-head, or Nigger Lackey bribed by Seckendorf Junior, is a notice + or two:— + </p> + <p> + "POTSDAM, SEPTEMBER 30th, 1734. Yesterday, for half an hour, the King + could get no breath: he keeps them continually rolling him about" in his + Bath-chair, "over the room, and cries 'LUFT, LUFT (Air, air)!' + </p> + <p> + "OCTOBER 2d. The King is not going to die just yet; but will scarcely see + Christmas. He gets on his clothes; argues with the Doctors, is impatient; + won't have people speak of his illness;—is quite black in the face; + drinks nothing but MOLL [which we suppose to be small bitter beer], takes + physic, writes in bed. + </p> + <p> + "OCTOBER 5th. The Nigger tells me things are better. The King begins to + bring up phlegm; drinks a great deal of oatmeal water [HAFERGRUTZWASSER, + comfortable to the sick]; says to the Nigger: 'Pray diligently, all of + you; perhaps I shall not die!'" + </p> + <p> + October 5th: this is the day the Crown-Prince arrives at Baireuth; to be + called away by express four days after. How valuable, at Vienna or + elsewhere, our dark friend the Lackey's medical opinion is, may be + gathered from this other Entry, three weeks farther on,—enough to + suffice us on that head:— + </p> + <p> + "The Nigger tells me he has a bad opinion of the King's health. If you + roll the King a little fast in his Bath-chair, you hear the water jumble + in his body,"—with astonishment! "King gets into passions; has + beaten the pages [may we hope, our dark friend among the rest?], so that + it was feared apoplexy would take him." + </p> + <p> + This will suffice for the physiological part; let us now hear our poor + friend on the Crown-Prince and his arrival:— + </p> + <p> + "OCTOBER 12th. Return of the Prince-Royal to Potsdam; tender reception.—OCTOBER + 21st. Things look ill in Potsdam. The other leg is now also begun running; + and above a quart (MAAS) of water has come from it. Without a miracle, the + King cannot live,"—thinks our dark friend. "The Prince-Royal is + truly affected (VERITABLEMENT ATTENDRI) at the King's situation; has his + eyes full of water, has wept the eyes out of his head: has schemed in all + ways to contrive a commodious bed for the King; wouldn't go away from + Potsdam. King forced him away; he is to return Saturday afternoon. The + Prince-Royal has been heard to say, 'If the King will let me live in my + own way, I would give an arm to lengthen his life for twenty years.' King + always calls him Fritzchen. But Fritzchen," thinks Seckendorf Junior, + "knows nothing about business. The King is aware of it; and said in the + face of him one day: 'If thou begin at the wrong end with things, and all + go topsy-turvy after I am gone, I will laugh at thee out of my grave!'" + [Seckendorf (BARON), <i>Journal Secret;</i> cited in Forster, ii. 142.] + </p> + <p> + So Friedrich Wilhelm; laboring amid the mortal quicksands; looking into + the Inevitable, in various moods. But the memorablest speech he made to + Fritzchen or to anybody at present, was that covert one about the Kaiser + and Seckendorf, and the sudden flash of insight he got, from some word of + Seckendorf's, into what they had been meaning with him all along. Riding + through the village of Priort, in debate about Vienna politics of a + strange nature, Seckendorf said something, which illuminated his Majesty, + dark for so many years, and showed him where he was. A ghastly horror of a + country, yawning indisputable there; revealed to one as if by momentary + lightning, in that manner! This is a speech which all the ambassadors + report, and which was already mentioned by us,—in reference to that + opprobrious Proposal about the Crown-Prince's Marriage, "Marry with + England, after all; never mind breaking your word!" Here is the manner of + it, with time and place:— + </p> + <p> + "Sunday last," Sunday, 17th October, 1734, reports Seckendorf, Junior, + through the Nigger or some better witness, "the King said to the + Prince-Royal: 'My dear Son, I tell thee I got my death at Priort. I + entreat thee, above all things in the world, don't trust those people + (DENEN LEUTEN), however many promises they make. That day, it was April + 17th, 1733, there was a man said something to me: it was as if you had + turned a dagger round in my heart.'" [Seckendorf (BARON), <i>Journal + Secret;</i> cited in Forster, ii. 142.]— + </p> + <p> + Figure that, spoken from amid the dark sick whirlpools, the mortal + quicksands, in Friedrich Wilhelm's voice, clangorously plaintive; what a + wild sincerity, almost pathos, is in it; and whether Fritzchen, with his + eyes all bewept even for what Papa had suffered in that matter, felt + lively gratitudes to the House of Austria at this moment!— + </p> + <p> + It was four months after, "21st January, 1735," [Fassmann, p. 533.] when + the King first got back to Berlin, to enlighten the eyes of the Carnival a + little, as his wont had been. The crisis of his Majesty's illness is over, + present danger gone; and the Carnival people, not without some real + gladness, though probably with less than they pretend, can report him well + again. Which is far from being the fact, if they knew it. Friedrich + Wilhelm is on his feet again; but he never more was well. Nor has he + forgotten that word at Priort, "like the turning of a dagger in one's + heart;"—and indeed gets himself continually reminded of it by + practical commentaries from the Vienna Quarter. + </p> + <p> + In April, Prince Lichtenstein arrives on Embassy with three requests or + demands from Vienna: "1. That, besides the Ten Thousand due by Treaty, his + Majesty would send his Reich's Contingent," NOT comprehended in those Ten + Thousand, thinks the Kaiser. "2. That he would have the goodness to + dismiss Marquis de la Chetardie the French Ambassador, as a plainly + superfluous person at a well-affected German Court in present + circumstances;"—person excessively dangerous, should the present + Majesty die, Crown-Prince being so fond of that Chetardie. "3. That his + Prussian Majesty do give up the false Polish Majesty Stanislaus, and no + longer harbor him in East Preussen or elsewhere." The whole of which + demands his Prussian Majesty refuses; the latter two especially, as + something notably high on the Kaiser's part, or on any mortal's, to a free + Sovereign and Gentleman. Prince Lichtenstein is eloquent, conciliatory; + but it avails not. He has to go home empty-handed; manages to leave with + Herr von Suhm, who took care of it for us, that Anecdote of the + Crown-Prince's behavior under cannon-shot from Philipsburg last year; and + does nothing else recordable, in Berlin. + </p> + <p> + The Crown-Prince's hopes were set, with all eagerness, on getting to the + Rhine-Campaign next ensuing; nor did the King refuse, for a long while, + but still less did he consent; and in the end there came nothing of it. + From an early period of the year, Friedrich Wilhelm sees too well what + kind of campaigning the Kaiser will now make; at a certain Wedding-dinner + where his Majesty was,—precisely a fortnight after his Majesty's + arrival in Berlin,—Seckendorf Junior has got, by eavesdropping, this + utterance of his Majesty's: "The Kaiser has not a groschen of money. His + Army in Lombardy is gone to twenty-four thousand men, will have to retire + into the Mountains. Next campaign [just coming], he will lose Mantua and + the Tyrol. God's righteous judgment it is: a War like this! Comes of + flinging old principles overboard,—of meddling in business that was + none of yours;" and more, of a plangent alarming nature. [Forster, ii. 144 + (and DATE it from <i>Militair-Lexikon,</i> ii. 54).] + </p> + <p> + Friedrich Wilhelm sends back his Ten Thousand, according to contract; + sends, over and above, a beautiful stock of "copper pontoons" to help the + Imperial Majesty in that River Country, says Fassmann;—sends also a + supernumerary Troop of Hussars, who are worth mentioning, "Six-score horse + of Hussar type," under one Captain Ziethen, a taciturn, much-enduring, + much-observing man, whom we shall see again: these are to be diligently + helpful, as is natural; but they are also, for their own behoof, to be + diligently observant, and learn the Austrian Hussar methods, which his + Majesty last year saw to be much superior. Nobody that knows Ziethen + doubts but he learnt; Hussar-Colonel Baronay, his Austrian teacher here, + became too well convinced of it when they met on a future occasion. [<i>Life + of Ziethen</i> (veridical but inexact, by the Frau von Blumenthal, a + kinswoman of his; English Translation, very ill printed, Berlin, 1803), p. + 54.] All this his Majesty did for the ensuing campaign: but as to the + Crown-Prince's going thither, after repeated requests on his part, it is + at last signified to him, deep in the season, that it cannot be: "Won't + answer for a Crown-Prince to be sharer in such a Campaign;—be + patient, my good Fritzchen, I will find other work for thee." [Friedrich's + Letter, 5th September, 1735; Friedrich Wilhelm's Answer next day (<i>OEuvres + de Frederic</i>, xxvii. part 3d, 93-95).] Fritzchen is sent into Preussen, + to do the Reviewings and Inspections there; Papa not being able for them + this season; and strict manifold Inspection, in those parts, being more + than usually necessary, owing to the Russian-Polish troubles. On this + errand, which is clearly a promotion, though in present circumstances not + a welcome one for the Crown-Prince, he sets out without delay; and passes + there the equinoctial and autumnal season, in a much more useful way than + he could have done in the Rhine-Campaign. + </p> + <p> + In the Rhine-Moselle Country and elsewhere the poor Kaiser does exert + himself to make a Campaign of it; but without the least success. Having + not a groschen of money, how could he succeed? Noailles, as foreseen, + manoeuvres him, hitch after hitch, out of Italy; French are greatly + superior, more especially when Montemar, having once got Carlos crowned in + Naples and put secure, comes to assist the French; Kaiser has to lean for + shelter on the Tyrol Alps, as predicted. Italy, all but some sieging of + strong-places, may be considered as lost for the present. + </p> + <p> + Nor on the Rhine did things go better. Old Eugene, "the shadow of + himself," had no more effect this year than last: nor, though Lacy and Ten + Thousand Russians came as allies, Poland being all settled now, could the + least good be done. Reich's Feldmarschall Karl Alexander of Wurtemberg did + "burn a Magazine" (probably of hay among better provender) by his + bomb-shells, on one occasion. Also the Prussian Ten Thousand—Old + Dessauer leading them, General Roder having fallen ill—burnt + something: an Islet in the Rhine, if I recollect, "Islet of Larch near + Bingen," where the French had a post; which and whom the Old Dessauer + burnt away. And then Seckendorf, at the head of thirty thousand, he, after + long delays, marched to Trarbach in the interior Moselle Country; and got + into some explosive sputter of battle with Belleisle, one afternoon,—some + say, rather beating Belleisle; but a good judge says, it was a mutual + flurry and terror they threw one another into. [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> + i. 168.] Seckendorf meant to try again on the morrow: but there came an + estafette that night: "Preliminaries signed (Vienna, 3d October, 1735);—try + no farther!" ["Cessation is to be, 5th November for Germany, 15th for + Italy; Preliminaries" were, Vienna, "3d October," 1735 (Scholl, ii. 945).] + And this was the second Rhine-Campaign, and the end of the Kaiser's French + War. The Sea-Powers, steadily refusing money, diligently run about, + offering terms of arbitration; and the Kaiser, beaten at every point, and + reduced to his last groschen, is obliged to comply. He will have a pretty + bill to pay for his Polish-Election frolic, were the settlement done! + Fleury is pacific, full of bland candor to the Sea-Powers; the Kaiser, + after long higgling upon articles, will have to accept the bill. + </p> + <p> + The Crown-Prince, meanwhile, has a successful journey into Preussen; sees + new interesting scenes, Salzburg Emigrants, exiled Polish Majesties; + inspects the soldiering, the schooling, the tax-gathering, the + domain-farming, with a perspicacity, a dexterity and completeness that + much pleases Papa. Fractions of the Reports sent home exist for us: let + the reader take a glance of one only; the first of the series; dated + MARIENWERDER (just across the Weichsel, fairly out of Polish Preussen and + into our own), 27th September, 1735, and addressed to the "Most + All-gracious King and Father;"—abridged for the reader's behoof:— + </p> + <p> + ... "In Polish Preussen, lately the Seat of War, things look hideously + waste; one sees nothing but women and a few children; it is said the + people are mostly running away,"—owing to the Russian-Polish + procedures there, in consequence of the blessed Election they have had. + King August, whom your Majesty is not in love with, has prevailed at this + rate of expense. King Stanislaus, protected by your Majesty in spite of + Kaisers and Czarinas, waits in Konigsberg, till the Peace, now supposed to + be coming, say what is to become of him: once in Konigsberg, I shall have + the pleasure to see him. "A detachment of five-and-twenty Saxon Dragoons + of the Regiment Arnstedt, marching towards Dantzig, met me: their horses + were in tolerable case; but some are piebald, some sorrel, and some brown + among them," which will be shocking to your Majesty, "and the people did + not look well."... + </p> + <p> + "Got hither to Marienwerder, last night: have inspected the two Companies + which are here, that is to say, Lieutenant-Col. Meier's and Rittmeister + Haus's. In very good trim, both of them; and though neither the men nor + their horses are of extraordinary size, they are handsome well-drilled + fellows, and a fine set of stiff-built horses (GEDRUNGENEN PFERDEN). The + fellows sit them like pictures (REITEN WIE DIE PUPPEN); I saw them do + their wheelings. Meier has some fine recruits; in particular two;"—nor + has the Rittmeister been wanting in that respect. "Young horses" too are + coming well on, sleek of skin. In short, all is right on the military + side. [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 3d, p. 97.] + </p> + <p> + Civil business, too, of all kinds, the Crown-Prince looked into, with a + sharp intelligent eye;—gave praise, gave censure in the right place; + put various things on a straight footing, which were awry when he found + them. In fact, it is Papa's second self; looks into the bottom of all + things quite as Papa would have done, and is fatal to mendacities, + practical or vocal, wherever he meets them. What a joy to Papa: "Here, + after all, is one that can replace me, in case of accident. This + Apprentice of mine, after all, he has fairly learned the Art; and will + continue it when I am gone!"— + </p> + <p> + Yes, your Majesty, it is a Prince-Royal wise to recognize your Majesty's + rough wisdom, on all manner of points; will not be a Devil's-FRIEND, I + think, any more than your Majesty was. Here truly are rare talents; like + your Majesty and unlike;—and has a steady swiftness in him, as of an + eagle, over and above! Such powers of practical judgment, of skilful + action, are rare in one's twenty-third year. And still rarer, have readers + noted what a power of holding his peace this young man has? Fruit of his + sufferings, of the hard life he has had. Most important power; under which + all other useful ones will more and more ripen for him. This Prince + already knows his own mind, on a good many points; privately, amid the + world's vague clamor jargoning round him to no purpose, he is capable of + having HIS mind made up into definite Yes and No,—so as will + surprise us one day. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich Wilhelm, we perceive, [His Letter, 24th October, 1735. (Ib. p. + 99).] was in a high degree content with this performance of the Prussian + Mission: a very great comfort to his sick mind, in those months and + afterwards. Here are talents, here are qualities,—visibly the + Friedrich-Wilhelm stuff throughout, but cast in an infinitely improved + type:—what a blessing we did not cut off that young Head, at the + Kaiser's dictation, in former years!— + </p> + <p> + At Konigsberg, as we learn in a dim indirect manner, the Crown-Prince sees + King Stanislaus twice or thrice,—not formally, lest there be + political offence taken, but incidentally at the houses of third-parties;—and + is much pleased with the old gentleman; who is of cultivated good-natured + ways, and has surely many curious things, from Charles XII. downwards, to + tell a young man. [Came 8th October, went 21st (<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> + xxvii. part 3d, p. 98).] Stanislaus has abundance of useless refugee + Polish Magnates about him, with their useless crowds of servants, and no + money in pocket; Konigsberg all on flutter, with their draperies and them, + "like a little Warsaw:" so that Stanislaus's big French pension, moderate + Prussian monthly allowance, and all resources, are inadequate; and, in + fact, in the end, these Magnates had to vanish, many of them, without + settling their accounts in Konigsberg. [<i>History of Stanislaus. </i>] + For the present they wait here, Stanislaus and they, till Fleury and the + Kaiser, shaking the urn of doom in abstruse treaty after battle, decide + what is to become of them. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich returned to Dantzig: saw that famous City, and late scene of + War; tracing with lively interest the footsteps of Munnich and his Siege + operations,—some of which are much blamed by judges, and by this + young Soldier among the rest. There is a pretty Letter of his from + Dantzig, turning mainly on those points. Letter written to his young + Brother-in-law, Karl of Brunswick, who is now become Duke there; + Grandfather and Father both dead; [Grandfather, 1st March, 1735; Father + (who lost the <i>Lines of Ettlingen</i> lately in our sight), 3d + September, 1735. Supra, vol. vi. p. 372.] and has just been blessed with + an Heir, to boot. Congratulation on the birth of this Heir is the formal + purport of the Letter, though it runs ever and anon into a military + strain. Here are some sentences in a condensed form:— + </p> + <p> + "DANTZIG, 26th OCTOBER, 1735.... Thank my dear Sister for her services. I + am charmed that she has made you papa with so good a grace. I fear you + won't stop there; but will go on peopling the world"—one knows not + to what extent—"with your amiable race. Would have written sooner; + but I am just returning from the depths of the barbarous Countries; and + having been charged with innumerable commissions which I did not + understand too well, had no good possibility to think or to write. + </p> + <p> + "I have viewed all the Russian labors in these parts; have had the assault + on the Hagelsberg narrated to me; been on the grounds;—and own I had + a better opinion of Marshal Munnich than to think him capable of so + distracted an enterprise. [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 2d, p. + 31. Pressed for time, and in want of battering-cannon, he attempted to + seize this Hagelsberg, one of the outlying defences of Dantzig, by + nocturnal storm; lost two thousand men; and retired, WITHOUT doing "what + was flatly impossible," thinks the Crown-Prince. See Mannstein, pp. 77-79, + for an account of it.]... Adieu, my dear Brother. My compliments to the + amiable young Mother. Tell her, I beg you, that her proof-essays are + masterpieces (COUPS D'ESSAI SONT DES COUPS DE MAITRE)."... + </p> + <p> + "Your most," &c., + </p> + <p> + "FREDERIC." + </p> + <p> + The Brunswick Masterpiece, achieved on this occasion, grew to be a man and + Duke, famous enough in the Newspapers in time coming: Champagne, 1792; + Jena, 1806; George IV.'s Queen Caroline; these and other distracted + phenomena (pretty much blotting out the earlier better sort) still keep + him hanging painfully in men's memory. From his birth, now in this + Prussian Journey of our Crown-Prince, to his death-stroke on the Field of + Jena, what a seventy-one years!— + </p> + <p> + Fleury and the Kaiser, though it is long before the signature and last + finish can take place, are come to terms of settlement, at the + Crown-Prince's return; and it is known, in political circles, what the + Kaiser's Polish-Election damages will probably amount to. Here are, in + substance, the only conditions that could be got for him:— + </p> + <p> + "1. Baby Carlos, crowned in Naples, cannot be pulled out again: Naples, + the Two Sicilies, are gone without return. That is the first loss; please + Heaven it be the worst! On the other hand, Baby Carlos will, as some faint + compensation, surrender to your Imperial Majesty his Parma and Piacenza + apanages; and you shall get back your Lombardy,—all but a scantling + which we fling to the Sardinian Majesty; who is a good deal huffed, having + had possession of the Milanese these two years past, in terms of his + bargain with Fleury. Pacific Fleury says to him: 'Bargain cannot be kept, + your Majesty; please to quit the Milanese again, and put up with this + scantling.' + </p> + <p> + "2. The Crown of Poland, August III. has got it, by Russian bombardings + and other measures: Crown shall stay with August,—all the rather as + there would be no dispossessing him, at this stage. He was your Imperial + Majesty's Candidate; let him be the winner there, for your Imperial + Majesty's comfort. + </p> + <p> + "3. And then as to poor Stanislaus? Well, let Stanislaus be Titular + Majesty of Poland for life;—which indeed will do little for him:—but + in addition, we propose, That, the Dukedom of Lorraine being now in our + hands, Majesty Stanislaus have the life-rent of Lorraine to subsist upon; + and—and that Lorraine fall to us of France on his decease!—'Lorraine?' + exclaim the Kaiser, and the Reich, and the Kaiser's intended Son-in-law + Franz Duke of Lorraine. There is indeed a loss and a disgrace; a heavy + item in the Election damages! + </p> + <p> + "4. As to Duke Franz, there is a remedy. The old Duke of Florence, last of + the Medici, is about to die childless: let the now Duke of Lorraine, your + Imperial Majesty's intended Son-in-law, have Florence instead.—And + so it had to be settled. 'Lorraine? To Stanislaus, to France?' exclaimed + the poor Kaiser, still more the poor Reich, and poor Duke Franz. This was + the bitterest cut of all; but there was no getting past it. This too had + to be allowed, this item for the Election breakages in Poland. And so + France, after nibbling for several centuries, swallows Lorraine whole. + Duke Franz attempted to stand out; remonstrated much, with Kaiser and + Hofrath, at Vienna, on this unheard-of proposal: but they told him it was + irremediable; told him at last (one Bartenstein, a famed Aulic Official, + told him), 'No Lorraine, no Archduchess, your Serenity!'—and Franz + had to comply, Lorraine is gone; cunning Fleury has swallowed it whole. + 'That was what he meant in picking this quarrel!' said Teutschland + mournfully. Fleury was very pacific, candid in aspect to the Sea-Powers + and others; and did not crow afflictively, did not say what he had meant. + </p> + <p> + "5. One immense consolation for the Kaiser, if for no other, is: France + guarantees the Pragmatic Sanction,—though with very great + difficulty; spending a couple of years, chiefly on this latter point as + was thought. [Treaty on it not signed till 18th November, 1738 (Scholl, + ii. 246).] How it kept said guarantee, will be seen in the sequel." + </p> + <p> + And these were the damages the poor Kaiser had to pay for meddling in + Polish Elections;—for galloping thither in chase of his Shadows. No + such account of broken windows was ever presented to a man before. This + may be considered as the consummation of the Kaiser's Shadow-Hunt; or at + least its igniting and exploding point. His Duel with the Termagant has at + last ended; in total defeat to him on every point. Shadow-Hunt does not + end; though it is now mostly vanished; exploded in fire. Shadow-Hunt is + now gone all to Pragmatic Sanction, as it were: that now is the one thing + left in Nature for a Kaiser; and that he will love, and chase, as the + summary of all things. From this point he steadily goes down, and at a + rapid rate;—getting into disastrous Turk Wars, with as little + preparation for War or Fact as a life-long Hunt of SHADOWS presupposes; + Eugene gone from him, and nothing but Seckendorfs to manage for him;—and + sinks to a low pitch indeed. We will leave him here; shall hope to see but + little more of him. + </p> + <p> + In the Summer of 1736, in consequence of these arrangements,—which + were completed so far, though difficulties on Pragmatic Sanction and other + points retarded the final signature for many months longer,—the + Titular Majesty Stanislaus girt himself together for departure towards his + new Dominion or Life-rent; quitted Konigsberg; traversed Prussian Poland, + safe this time, "under escort of Lieutenant-General von Katte [our poor + Katte of Custrin's Father] and fifty cuirassiers;" reached Berlin in the + middle of May, under flowerier aspects than usual. He travelled under the + title of "Count" Something, and alighted at the French Ambassador's in + Berlin: but Friedrich Wilhelm treated him like a real Majesty, almost like + a real Brother; had him over to the Palace; rushed out to meet him there, + I forget how many steps beyond the proper limits; and was hospitality + itself and munificence itself;—and, in fact, that night and all the + other nights, "they smoked above thirty pipes together," for one item. May + 21st, 1736, [Forster (i. 227), following loose Pollnitz (ii. 478), dates + it 1735: a more considerable error, if looked into, than is usual in Herr + Forster; who is not an ill-informed nor inexact man;—though, alas, + in respect of method (that is to say, want of visible method, indication, + or human arrangement), probably the most confused of all the Germans!] + Ex-Majesty Stanislaus went on his way again; towards France,—towards + Meudon, a quiet Royal House in France,—till Luneville, Nanci, and + their Lorraine Palaces are quite ready. There, in these latter, he at + length does find resting-place, poor innocent insipid mortal, after such + tossings to and fro: and M. de Voltaire, and others of mark, having + sometimes enlivened the insipid Court there, Titular King Stanislaus has + still a kind of remembrance among mankind. + </p> + <p> + Of his Prussian Majesty we said that, though the Berlin populations + reported him well again, it was not so. The truth is, his Majesty was + never well again. From this point, age only forty-seven, he continues + broken in bodily constitution; clogged more and more with physical + impediments; and his History, personal and political withal, is as that of + an old man, finishing his day. To the last he pulls steadily, neglecting + no business, suffering nothing to go wrong. Building operations go on at + Berlin; pushed more than ever, in these years, by the rigorous Derschau, + who has got that in charge. No man of money or rank in Berlin but Derschau + is upon him, with heavier and heavier compulsion to build: which is felt + to be tyrannous; and occasions an ever-deepening grumble among the moneyed + classes. At Potsdam his Majesty himself is the Builder; and gives the + Houses away to persons of merit. [Pollnitz, ii. 469.] + </p> + <p> + Nor is the Army less an object, perhaps almost more. Nay, at one time, old + Kur-Pfalz being reckoned in a dying condition, Friedrich Wilhelm is about + ranking his men, prepared to fight for his rights in Julich and Berg; + Kaiser having openly gone over, and joined with France against his Majesty + in that matter. However, the old Kur-Pfalz did not die, and there came + nothing of fight in Friedrich Wilhelm's time. But his History, on the + political side, is henceforth mainly a commentary to him on that "word" he + heard in Priort, "which was as if you had turned a dagger in my heart!" + With the Kaiser he has fallen out: there arise unfriendly passages between + them, sometimes sarcastic on Friedrich Wilhelm's part, in reference to + this very War now ended. Thus, when complaint rose about the Prussian + misbehaviors on their late marches (misbehaviors notable in Countries + where their recruiting operations had been troubled), the Kaiser took a + high severe tone, not assuaging, rather aggravating the matter; and, for + his own share, winded up by a strict prohibition of Prussian recruiting in + any and every part of the Imperial Dominions. Which Friedrich Wilhelm took + extremely ill. This is from a letter of his to the Crown-Prince, and after + the first gust of wrath had spent itself: "It is a clear disadvantage, + this prohibition of recruiting in the Kaiser's Countries. That is our + thanks for the Ten Thousand men sent him, and for all the deference I have + shown the Kaiser at all times; and by this you may see that it would be of + no use if one even sacrificed oneself to him. So long as they need us, + they continue to flatter; but no sooner is the strait thought to be over, + and help not wanted, than they pull off the mask, and have not the least + acknowledgment. The considerations that will occur to you on this matter + may put it in your power to be prepared against similar occasions in time + coming." [6th February, 1736: <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. part 3d, + p. 102.] + </p> + <p> + Thus, again, in regard to the winter-quarters of the Ziethen Hussars. + Prussian Majesty, we recollect, had sent a Supernumerary Squadron to the + last Campaign on the Rhine. They were learning their business, Friedrich + Wilhelm knew; but also were fighting for the Kaiser,—that was what + the Kaiser knew about them. Somewhat to his surprise, in the course of + next year, Friedrich Wilhelm received, from the Vienna War-Office, a + little Bill of 10,284 florins (1,028 pounds 8 shillings) charged to him + for the winter-quarters of these Hussars. He at once paid the little Bill, + with only this observation: "Heartily glad that I can help the Imperial + AERARIUM with that 1,028 pounds 8 shillings. With the sincerest wishes for + hundred-thousandfold increase to it in said AERARIUM; otherwise it won't + go very far!" [Letter to Seckendorf (SENIOR): Forster, ii. 150.] + </p> + <p> + At a later period, in the course of his disastrous Turk War, the Kaiser, + famishing for money, set about borrowing a million gulden (100,000 pounds) + from the Banking House Splittgerber and Daun at Berlin. Splittgerber and + Daun had not the money, could not raise it: "Advance us that sum, in their + name, your Majesty," proposes the Vienna Court: "There shall be + three-per-cent bonus, interest six per cent, and security beyond all + question!" To which fine offer his Majesty answers, addressing Seckendorf + Junior: "Touching the proposal of my giving the Bankers Splittgerber and + Daun a lift, with a million gulden, to assist in that loan of theirs,—said + proposal, as I am not a merchant accustomed to deal in profits and + percentages, cannot in that form take effect. Out of old friendship, + however, I am, on Their Imperial Majesty's request, extremely ready to pay + down, once and away (A FOND PERDU), a couple of million gulden, provided + the Imperial Majesty will grant me the conditions known to your Uncle + [FULFILMENT of that now oldish Julich-and-Berg promise, namely!] which are + FAIR. In such case the thing shall be rapidly completed!" [Forster, ii. + 151 (without DATE there).] + </p> + <p> + In a word, Friedrich Wilhelm falls out with the Kaiser more and more; + experiences more and more what a Kaiser this has been towards him. Queen + Sophie has fallen silent in the History Books; both the Majesties may look + remorsefully, but perhaps best in silence, over the breakages and wrecks + this Kaiser has brought upon them. Friedrich Wilhelm does not meanly hate + the Kaiser: good man, he sometimes pities him; sometimes, we perceive, has + a touch of authentic contempt for him. But his thoughts, in that quarter, + premature old age aggravating them, are generally of a tragic nature, not + to be spoken without tears; and the tears have a flash at the bottom of + them, when he looks round on Fritz and says, "There is one, though, that + will avenge me!" Friedrich Wilhelm, to the last a broad strong phenomenon, + keeps wending downward, homeward, from this point; the Kaiser too, we + perceive, is rapidly consummating his enormous Spectre-Hunts and Duels + with Termagants, and before long will be at rest. We have well-nigh done + with both these Majesties. + </p> + <p> + The Crown-Prince, by his judicious obedient procedures in these Four Years + at Ruppin, at a distance from Papa, has, as it were, completed his + APPRENTICESHIP; and, especially by this last Inspection-Journey into + Preussen, may be said to have delivered his PROOF-ESSAY with a + distinguished success. He is now out of his Apprenticeship; entitled to + take up his Indentures, whenever need shall be. The rugged old Master + cannot but declare him competent, qualified to try his own hand without + supervision:—after all those unheard-of confusions, like to set the + shop on fire at one time, it is a blessedly successful Apprenticeship! Let + him now, theoretically at least, in the realms of Art, Literature, + Spiritual Improvement, do his WANDERJAHRE, over at Reinsberg, still in the + old region,—still well apart from Papa, who agrees best NOT in + immediate contact;—and be happy in the new Domesticities, and larger + opportunities, provided for him there; till a certain time come, which + none of us are in haste for. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, +Vol. IX. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + +***** This file should be named 2109-h.htm or 2109-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/0/2109/ + +Produced by D.R. 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