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Thompson <drthom@ihug.co.nz> + + + + + +BOOK XI. + +FRIEDRICH TAKES THE REINS IN HAND. + +June-December, 1740. + + +Chapter I. + +PHENOMENA OF FRIEDRICH'S ACCESSION. + +In Berlin, from Tuesday, 31st May, 1740, day of the late King's +death, till the Thursday following, the post was stopped and the +gates closed; no estafette can be despatched, though Dickens and +all the Ambassadors are busy writing. On the Thursday, Regiments, +Officers, principal Officials having sworn, and the new King being +fairly in the saddle, estafettes and post-boys shoot forth at the +top of their speed; and Rumor, towards every point of the compass, +apprises mankind what immense news there is. [Dickens (in State- +Paper Office), 4th June, 1740.] + +A King's Accession is always a hopeful phenomenon to the public; +more especially a young King's, who has been talked of for his +talents and aspirings,--for his sufferings, were it nothing more, +--and whose ANTI-MACHIAVEL is understood to be in the press. +Vaguely everywhere there has a notion gone abroad that this young +King will prove considerable. Here at last has a Lover of +Philosophy got upon the throne, and great philanthropies and +magnanimities are to be expected, think rash editors and idle +mankind. Rash editors in England and elsewhere, we observe, are +ready to believe that Friedrich has not only disbanded the Potsdam +Giants; but means to "reduce the Prussian Army one half" or so, +for ease (temporary ease which we hope will be lasting) of parties +concerned; and to go much upon emancipation, political rose-water, +and friendship to humanity, as we now call it. + +At his first meeting of Council, they say, he put this question, +"Could not the Prussian Army be reduced to 45,000?" The excellent +young man. To which the Council had answered, "Hardly, your +Majesty! The Julich-and-Berg affair is so ominous hitherto!" +These may be secrets, and dubious to people out of doors, thinks a +wise editor; but one thing patent to the day was this, surely +symbolical enough: On one of his Majesty's first drives to Potsdam +or from it, a thousand children,--in round numbers a thousand of +them, all with the RED STRING round their necks, and liable to be +taken for soldiers, if needed in the regiment of their Canton,-- +"a thousand children met this young King at a turn of his road; +and with shrill unison of wail, sang out: "Oh, deliver us from +slavery,"--from the red threads, your Majesty. Why should poor we +be liable to suffer hardship for our Country or otherwise, your +Majesty! Can no one else be got to do it? sang out the thousand +children. And his Majesty assented on the spot, thinks the rash +editor. [<italic> Gentleman's Magazine <end italic> (London, +1740), x. 318; Newspapers, &c.] "Goose, Madam?" exclaimed a +philanthropist projector once, whose scheme of sweeping chimneys +by pulling a live goose down through them was objected to: +"Goose, Madam? You can take two ducks, then, if you are so sorry +for the goose!"--Rash editors think there is to be a reign of +Astraea Redux in Prussia, by means of this young King; and forget +to ask themselves, as the young King must by no means do, How far +Astraea may be possible, for Prussia and him? + +At home, too, there is prophesying enough, vague hope enough, +which for most part goes wide of the mark. This young King, we +know, did prove considerable; but not in the way shaped out for +him by the public;--it was in far other ways! For no public in the +least knows, in such cases: nor does the man himself know, except +gradually and if he strive to learn. As to the public,-- +"Doubtless," says a friend of mine, "doubtless it was the Atlantic +Ocean that carried Columbus to America; lucky for the Atlantic, +and for Columbus and us: but the Atlantic did not quite vote that +way from the first; nay ITS votes, I believe, were very various at +different stages of the matter!" This is a truth which kings and +men, not intending to be drift-logs or waste brine obedient to the +Moon, are much called to have in mind withal, from perhaps an +early stage of their voyage. + +Friedrich's actual demeanor in these his first weeks, which is +still decipherable if one study well, has in truth a good deal of +the brilliant, of the popular-magnanimous; but manifests strong +solid quality withal, and a head steadier than might have been +expected. For the Berlin world is all in a rather Auroral +condition; and Friedrich too is,--the chains suddenly cut loose, +and such hopes opened for the young man. He has great things +ahead; feels in himself great things, and doubtless exults in the +thought of realizing them. Magnanimous enough, popular, hopeful +enough, with Voltaire and the highest of the world looking on:-- +but yet he is wise, too; creditably aware that there are limits, +that this is a bargain, and the terms of it inexorable. We discern +with pleasure the old veracity of character shining through this +giddy new element; that all these fine procedures are at least +unaffected, to a singular degree true, and the product of nature, +on his part; and that, in short, the complete respect for Fact, +which used to be a quality of his, and which is among the highest +and also rarest in man, has on no side deserted him at present. + +A trace of airy exuberance, of natural exultancy, not quite +repressible, on the sudden change to freedom and supreme power +from what had gone before: perhaps that also might be legible, if +in those opaque bead-rolls which are called Histories of Friedrich +anything human could with certainty be read! He flies much about +from place to place; now at Potsdam, now at Berlin, at +Charlottenburg, Reinsberg; nothing loath to run whither business +calls him, and appear in public: the gazetteer world, as we +noticed, which has been hitherto a most mute world, breaks out +here and there into a kind of husky jubilation over the great +things he is daily doing, and rejoices in the prospect of having a +Philosopher King; which function the young man, only twenty-eight +gone, cannot but wish to fulfil for the gazetteers and the world. +He is a busy man; and walks boldly into his grand enterprise of +"making men happy," to the admiration of Voltaire and an +enlightened public far and near. + +Bielfeld speaks of immense concourses of people crowding about +Charlottenburg, to congratulate, to solicit, to &c.; tells us how +he himself had to lodge almost in outhouses, in that royal village +of hope, His emotions at Reinsberg, and everybody's, while +Friedrich Wilhelm lay dying, and all stood like greyhounds on the +slip; and with what arrow-swiftness they shot away when the great +news came: all this he has already described at wearisome length, +in his fantastic semi-fabulous way. [Bielfeld, i. 68-77; ib. 81.]' +Friedrich himself seemed moderately glad to see Bielfeld; received +his high-flown congratulations with a benevolent yet somewhat +composed air; and gave him afterwards, in the course of weeks, an +unexpectedly small appointment: To go to Hanover, under Truchsess +von Waldburg, and announce our Accession. Which is but a simple, +mostly formal service; yet perhaps what Bielfeld is best equal to. + +The Britannic Majesty, or at least his Hanover people have been +beforehand with this civility; Baron Munchhausen, no doubt by +orders given for such contingency, had appeared at Berlin with the +due compliment and condolence almost on the first day of the New +Reign; first messenger of all on that errand; Britannic Majesty +evidently in a conciliatory humor,--having his dangerous Spanish +War on hand. Britannic Majesty in person, shortly after, gets +across to Hanover; and Friedrich despatches Truchsess, with +Bielfeld adjoined, to return the courtesy. + +Friedrich does not neglect these points of good manners; +along with which something of substantial may be privately +conjoined. For example, if he had in secret his eye on Julich and +Berg, could anything be fitter than to ascertain what the French +will think of such an enterprise? What the French; and next to +them what the English, that is to say, Hanoverians, who meddle +much in affairs of the Reich. For these reasons and others he +likewise, probably with more study than in the Bielfeld case, +despatches Colonel Camas to make his compliment at the French +Court, and in an expert way take soundings there. Camas, a fat +sedate military gentleman, of advanced years, full of observation, +experience and sound sense,--"with one arm, which he makes do the +work of two, and nobody can notice that the other arm resting in +his coat-breast is of cork, so expert is he,"--will do in this +matter what is feasible; probably not much for the present. He is +to call on Voltaire, as he passes, who is in Holland again, at the +Hague for some months back; and deliver him "a little cask of +Hungary Wine," which probably his Majesty had thought exquisite. +Of which, and the other insignificant passages between them, we +hear more than enough in the writings and correspondences of +Voltaire about this time. + +In such way Friedrich disposes of his Bielfelds; who are rather +numerous about him now and henceforth. Adventurers from all +quarters, especially of the literary type, in hopes of being +employed, much hovered round Friedrich through his whole reign. +But they met a rather strict judge on arriving; it cannot be said +they found it such a Goshen as they expected. + +Favor, friendly intimacy, it is visible from the first, avails +nothing with this young King; beyond and before all things he will +have his work done, and looks out exclusively for the man ablest +to do it. Hence Bielfeld goes to Hanover, to grin out euphuisms, +and make graceful courtbows to our sublime little Uncle there. +On the other hand, Friedrich institutes a new Knighthood, ORDER OF +MERIT so called; which indeed is but a small feat, testifying mere +hope and exuberance as yet; and may even be made worse than +nothing, according to the Knights he shall manage to have. +Happily it proved a successful new Order in this last all- +essential particular; and, to the end of Friedrich's life, +continued to be a great and coveted distinction among +the Prussians. + +Beyond doubt this is a radiant enough young Majesty; entitled to +hope, and to be the cause of hope. Handsome, to begin with; +decidedly well-looking, all say, and of graceful presence, though +hardly five feet seven, and perhaps stouter of limb than the +strict Belvedere standard. [Height, it appears, was five feet five +inches (Rhenish), which in English measure is five feet seven or a +hair's-breadth less. Preuss, twice over, by a mistake unusual with +him, gives "five feet two inches three lines" as the correct +cipher (which it is of NAPOLEON'S measure in FRENCH feet); +then settles on the above dimensions from unexceptionable +authority (Preuss, <italic> Buch fur Jedermann, <end italic> +i. 18; Preuss, <italic> Fredrich der Grosse, <end italic> i. 39 +and 419).] Has a fine free expressive face; nothing of austerity +in it; not a proud face, or not too proud, yet rapidly flashing on +you all manner of high meanings. [Wille's Engraving after Pesne +(excellent, both Picture and Engraving) is reckoned the best +Likeness in that form.] Such a man, in the bloom of his years; +with such a possibility ahead, and Voltaire and mankind waiting +applausive!--Let us try to select, and extricate into coherence +and visibility out of those Historical dust-heaps, a few of the +symptomatic phenomena, or physiognomic procedures of Friedrich in +his first weeks of Kingship, by way of contribution to some +Portraiture of his then inner-man. + + +FRIEDRICH WILL MAKE MEN HAPPY: CORN-MAGAZINES. + +On the day after his Accession, Officers and chief Ministers +taking the Oath, Friedrich, to his Officers, "on whom he counts +for the same zeal now which he had witnessed as their comrade," +recommends mildness of demeanor from the higher to the lower, and +that the common soldier be not treated with harshness when not +deserved: and to his Ministers he is still more emphatic, in the +like or a higher strain. Officially announcing to them, by Letter, +that a new Reign has commenced, he uses these words, legible soon +after to a glad Berlin public: "Our grand care will be, To further +the Country's well-being, and to make every one of our subjects +(EINEN JEDEN UNSERER UNTERTHANEN) contented and happy. Our will +is, not that you strive to enrich Us by vexation of Our subjects; +but rather that you aim steadily as well towards the advantage of +the Country as Our particular interest, forasmuch as We make no +difference between these two objects," but consider them one and +the same. This is written, and gets into print within the month; +and his Majesty, that same day (Wednesday, 2d June), when it came +to personal reception, and actual taking of the Oath, was pleased +to add in words, which also were printed shortly, this comfortable +corollary: "My will henceforth is, If it ever chance that my +particular interest and the general good of my Countries should +seem to go against each other,--in that case, my will is, That the +latter always be preferred." [Dickens, Despatch, 4th June, 1740: +Preuss, <italic> Friedrichs Jugend und Thronbesteigung <end +italic> (Berlin, 1840), p. 325;--quoting from the Berlin +Newspapers of 28th June and 2d July, 1740.] + +This is a fine dialect for incipient Royalty; and it is brand- +new at that time. It excites an admiration in the then +populations, which to us, so long used to it and to what commonly +comes of it, is not conceivable at once. There can be no doubt the +young King does faithfully intend to develop himself in the way of +making men happy; but here, as elsewhere, are limits which he will +recognize ahead, some of them perhaps nearer than was expected. + +Meanwhile his first acts, in this direction, correspond to these +fine words. The year 1740, still grim with cold into the heart of +summer, bids fair to have a late poor harvest, and famine +threatens to add itself to other hardships there have been. +Recognizing the actualities of the case, what his poor Father +could not, he opens the Public Granaries,--a wise resource they +have in Prussian countries against the year of scarcity;--orders +grain to be sold out, at reasonable rates, to the suffering poor; +and takes the due pains, considerable in some cases, that this be +rendered feasible everywhere in his dominions. "Berlin, 2d June," +is the first date of this important order; fine program to his +Ministers, which, we read, is no sooner uttered, than some +performance follows. An evident piece of wisdom and humanity; +for which doubtless blessings of a very sincere kind rise to him +from several millions of his fellow-mortals. + +Nay furthermore, as can be dimly gathered, this scarcity +continuing, some continuous mode of management was set on foot for +the Poor; and there is nominated, with salary, with outline of +plan and other requisites, as "Inspector of the Poor," to his own +and our surprise, M. Jordan, late Reader to the Crown-Prince, and +still much the intimate of his royal Friend. Inspector who seems +to do his work very well. And in the November coming this is what +we see: "One thousand poor old women, the destitute of Berlin, set +to spin," at his Majesty's charges; vacant houses, hired for them +in certain streets and suburbs, have been new-planked, +partitioned, warmed; and spinning is there for any diligent female +soul. There a thousand of them sit, under proper officers, proper +wages, treatment;--and the hum of their poor spindles, and of +their poor inarticulate old hearts, is a comfort, if one chance to +think of it.--Of "distressed needlewomen" who cannot sew, nor be +taught to do it; who, in private truth, are mutinous maid-servants +come at last to the net upshot of their anarchies; of these, or of +the like incurable phenomena, I hear nothing in Berlin; and can +believe that, under this King, Indigence itself may still have +something of a human aspect, not a brutal or diabolic as is +commoner in some places.--This is one of Friedrich's first acts, +this opening of the Corn-magazines, and arrangements for the +Destitute; [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 367. +Rodenbeck, <italic> Tagebuch aus Friedrichs des Grossen +Regentenleben <end italic> (Berlin, 1840), i. 2, 26 (2d June, +October, 1740): a meritorious, laborious, though essentially +chaotic Book, unexpectedly futile of result to the reader; settles +for each Day of Friedrich's Reign, so far as possible, where +Friedrich was and what doing; fatally wants all index &c., as +usual.] and of this there can be no criticism. The sound of hungry +pots set boiling, on judicious principles; the hum of those old +women's spindles in the warm rooms: gods and men are well pleased +to hear such sounds; and accept the same as part, real though +infinitesimally small, of the sphere-harmonies of this Universe! + + +ABOLITION OF LEGAL TORTURE. + +Friedrich makes haste, next, to strike into Law-improvements. +It is but the morrow after this of the Corn-magazines, by +KABINETS-ORDRE (Act of Parliament such as they can have in that +Country, where the Three Estates sit all under one Three-cornered +Hat, and the debates are kept silent, and only the upshot of them, +more or less faithfully, is made public),--by Cabinet Order, +3d June, 1740, he abolishes the use of Torture in Criminal Trials. +[Preuss, <italic> Friedrichs Jugend und Thronbesteigung <end +italic> (Berlin, 1840,--a minor Book of Preuss's), p. 340. +Rodenbeck, i. 14 ("3d June").] Legal Torture, "Question" as they +mildly call it, is at an end from this date. Not in any Prussian +Court shall a "question" try for answer again by that savage +method. The use of Torture had, I believe, fallen rather obsolete +in Prussia; but now the very threat of it shall vanish,--the +threat of it, as we may remember, had reached Friedrich himself, +at one time. Three or four years ago, it is farther said, a dark +murder happened in Berlin: Man killed one night in the open +streets; murderer discoverable by no method,--unless he were a +certain CANDIDATUS of Divinity to whom some trace of evidence +pointed, but who sorrowfully persisted in absolute and total +denial. This poor Candidatus had been threatened with the rack; +and would most likely have at length got it, had not the real +murderer been discovered,--much to the discredit of the rack in +Berlin. This Candidatus was only threatened; nor do I know when +the last actual instance in Prussia was; but in enlightened +France, and most other countries, there was as yet no scruple upon +it. Barbier, the Diarist at Paris, some time after this, tells us +of a gang of thieves there, who were regularly put to the torture; +and "they blabbed too, ILS ONT JASE," says Barbier with official +jocosity. [Barbier, <italic> Journal Historique du Regne de Louis +XV. <end italic> (Paris, 1849), ii. 338 (date "Dec. 1742").] + +Friedrich's Cabinet Order, we need not say, was greeted +everywhere, at home and abroad, by three rounds of applause;--in +which surely all of us still join; though the PER CONTRA also is +becoming visible to some of us, and our enthusiasm grows less +complete than formerly. This was Friedrich's first step in Law- +Reform, done on his fourth day of Kingship. A long career in that +kind lies ahead of him; in reform of Law, civil as well as +criminal, his efforts ended with life only. For his love of +Justice was really great; and the mendacities and wiggeries, +attached to such a necessary of life as Law, found no favor from +him at any time. + + +WILL HAVE PHILOSOPHERS ABOUT HIM, AND A REAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES + +To neglect the Philosophies, Fine Arts, interests of Human +Culture, he is least of all likely. The idea of building up the +Academy of Sciences to its pristine height, or far higher, is +evidently one of those that have long lain in the Crown-Prince's +mind, eager to realize themselves. Immortal Wolf, exiled but safe +at Marburg, and refusing to return in Friedrich Wilhelm's time, +had lately dedicated a Book to the Crown-Prince; indicating that +perhaps, under a new Reign, he might be more persuadable. +Friedrich makes haste to persuade; instructs the proper person, +Reverend Herr Reinbeck, Head of the Consistorium at Berlin, to +write and negotiate. "All reasonable conditions shall be granted" +the immortal Wolf,--and Friedrich adds with his own hand as +Postscript: "I request you (IHN) to use all diligence about Wolf. +A man that seeks truth, and loves it, must be reckoned precious in +any human society; and I think you will make a conquest in the +realm of truth if you persuade Wolf hither again." [In <italic> +OEuvres de Frederic <end italic> (xxvii. ii. 185), the Letter +given.] This is of date June 6th; not yet a week since Friedrich +came to be King. The Reinbeck-Wolf negotiation which ensued can be +read in Busching by the curious. [Busching's <italic> Beitrage +<end italic> (? Freiherr von Wolf), i. 63-137.] It represents to +us a croaky, thrifty, long-headed old Herr Professor, in no haste +to quit Marburg except for something better: "obliged to wear +woollen shoes and leggings;" "bad at mounting stairs;" and +otherwise needing soft treatment. Willing, though with caution, to +work at an Academy of Sciences;--but dubious if the French are so +admirable as they seem to themselves in such operations. +Veteran Wolf, one dimly begins to learn, could himself build a +German Academy of Sciences, to some purpose, if encouraged! +This latter was probably the stone of stumbling in that direction. +Veteran Wolf did not get to be President in the New Academy of +Sciences; but was brought back, "streets all in triumph," to his +old place at Halle; and there, with little other work that was +heard of, but we hope in warm shoes and without much mounting of +stairs, lived peaceably victorious the rest of his days. +Friedrich's thoughts are not of a German home-built Academy, but +of a French one: and for this he already knows a builder; +has silently had him in his eye, these two years past,--Voltaire +giving hint, in the LETTER we once heard of at Loo. Builder shall +be that sublime Maupertuis; scientific lion of Paris, ever since +his feat in the Polar regions, and the charming Narrative he gave +of it. "What a feat, what a book!" exclaimed the Parisian +cultivated circles, male and female, on that occasion; +and Maupertuis, with plenty of bluster in him carefully +suppressed, assents in a grandly modest way. His Portraits are in +the Printshops ever since; one very singular Portrait, just coming +out (at which there is some laughing): a coarse-featured, +blusterous, rather triumphant-looking man, blusterous, though +finely complacent for the nonce; in copious dressing-gown and fur +cap; comfortably SQUEEZING the Earth and her meridians flat (as if +HE had done it), with his left hand; and with the other, and its +outstretched finger, asking mankind, "Are not you aware, then?"-- +"Are not we!" answers Voltaire by and by, with endless waggeries +upon him, though at present so reverent. Friedrich, in these same +days, writes this Autograph; which who of men or lions +could resist? + + +TO MONSIEUR DE MAUPERTUIS, at Paris. + +(No date;--datable, June, 1740.) + +"My heart and my inclination excited in me, from the moment I +mounted the throne, the desire of having you here, that you might +put our Berlin Academy into the shape you alone are capable of +giving it. Come, then, come and insert into this wild crab-tree +the graft of the Sciences, that it may bear fruit. You have shown +the Figure of the Earth to mankind; show also to a King how sweet +it is to possess such a man as you. + +"Monsieur de Maupertuis,--votre tres-affectionne + +"FEDERIC" (SIC). +[<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> xvii. i. 334. The fantastic +"Federic," instead of "Frederic," is, by this time, the common +signature to French Letters.] + +This Letter--how could Maupertuis prevent some accident in such a +case?--got into the Newspapers; glorious for Friedrich, glorious +for Maupertuis; and raised matters to a still higher pitch. +Maupertuis is on the road, and we shall see him before long. + + +AND EVERY ONE SHALL GET TO HEAVEN IN HIS OWN WAY. + +Here is another little fact which had immense renown at home and +abroad, in those summer months and long afterwards. + +June 22d, 1740, the GEISTLICHE DEPARTEMENT (Board of Religion, we +may term it) reports that the Roman-Catholic Schools, which have +been in use these eight years past, for children of soldiers +belonging to that persuasion, "are, especially in Berlin, +perverted, directly in the teeth of Royal Ordinance, 1732, to +seducing Protestants into Catholicism;" annexed, or ready for +annexing, "is the specific Report of Fiscal-General to this +effect:"--upon which, what would it please his Majesty to direct +us to do? + +His Majesty writes on the margin these words, rough and ready, +which we give with all their grammatical blotches on them; +indicating a mind made up on one subject, which was much more +dubious then, to most other minds, than it now is:-- + +"Die Religionen Musen (MUSSEN) alle Tollerirt (TOLERIRT) werden, +und Mus (MUSS) der Fiscal nuhr (NUR) das Auge darauf haben, das +(DASS) keine der andern abrug Tuhe (ABBRUCH THUE), den (DENN) hier +mus (MUSS) ein jeder nach seiner Fasson Selich (FACON SELIG) +werden." [Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> p. 333; +Rodenbeck, IN DIE. + +Which in English might run as follows:-- + +"All Religions must be tolerated (TOLLERATED), and the Fiscal must +have an eye that none of them make unjust encroachment on the +other; for in this Country every man must get to Heaven in his +own way." + +Wonderful words; precious to the then leading spirits, and which +(the spelling and grammar being mended) flew abroad over all the +world: the enlightened Public everywhere answering his Majesty, +once more, with its loudest "Bravissimo!" on this occasion. +With what enthusiasm of admiring wonder, it is now difficult to +fancy, after the lapse of sixscore years! And indeed, in regard to +all these worthy acts of Human Improvement which we are now +concerned with, account should be held (were it possible) on +Friedrich's behalf how extremely original, and bright with the +splendor of new gold, they then were: and how extremely they are +fallen dim, by general circulation, since that. Account should be +held; and yet it is not possible, no human imagination is adequate +to it, in the times we are now got into. + + +FREE PRESS, AND NEWSPAPERS THE BEST INSTRUCTORS. + +Toleration, in Friedrich's spiritual circumstances, was perhaps no +great feat to Friedrich: but what the reader hardly expected of +him was Freedom of the Press, or an attempt that way! +From England, from Holland, Friedrich had heard of Free Press, of +Newspapers the best Instructors: it is a fact that he hastens to +plant a seed of that kind at Berlin; sets about it "on the second +day of his reign," so eager is he. Berlin had already some meagre +INTELLIGENZ-BLATT (Weekly or Thrice-Weekly Advertiser), perhaps +two; but it is a real Newspaper, frondent with genial leafy +speculation, and food for the mind, that Friedrich is intent upon: +a "Literary-Political Newspaper," or were it even two Newspapers, +one French, one German; and he rapidly makes the arrangements for +it; despatches Jordan, on the second day, to seek some fit +Frenchman. Arrangements are soon made: a Bookselling Printer, +Haude, Bookseller once to the Prince-Royal,--whom we saw once in a +domestic flash-of-lightning long ago, [Antea, Book vi. c. 7.]--is +encouraged to proceed with the improved German article, MERCURY or +whatever they called it; vapid Formey, a facile pen, but not a +forcible, is the Editor sought out by Jordan for the French one. +And, in short, No. 1 of Formey shows itself in print within a +month; ["2d July, 1740:" Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end +italic> p. 330; and Formey, <italic> Souvenirs, <end italic> +i. 107, rectified by the exact Herr Preuss.] and Haude and he, +Haude picking up some grand Editor in Hamburg, do their best for +the instruction of mankind. + +In not many months, Formey, a facile and learned but rather vapid +gentleman, demitted or was dismissed; and the Journals coalesced +into one, or split into two again; and went I know not what road, +or roads, in time coming,--none that led to results worth naming. +Freedom of the Press, in the case of these Journals, was never +violated, nor was any need for violating it. General Freedom of +the Press Friedrich did not grant, in any quite Official or steady +way; but in practice, under him, it always had a kind of real +existence, though a fluctuating, ambiguous one. And we have to +note, through Friedrich's whole reign, a marked disinclination to +concern himself with Censorship, or the shackling of men's poor +tongues and pens; nothing but some officious report that there was +offence to Foreign Courts, or the chance of offence, in a poor +man's pamphlet, could induce Friedrich to interfere with him or +it,--and indeed his interference was generally against his +Ministers for having wrong informed him, and in favor of the poor +Pamphleteer appealing at the fountain-head. [Anonymous (Laveaux), +<italic> Vie de Frederic II., Roi de Prusse <end italic> +(Strasbourg, 1787), iv. 82. A worthless, now nearly forgotten +Book; but competent on this point, if on any; Laveaux (a handy +fellow, fugitive Ex-Monk, with fugitive Ex-Nun attached) having +lived much at Berlin, always in the pamphleteering line.] +To the end of his life, disgusting Satires against him, +<italic> Vie Privee <end italic> by Voltaire, <italic> Matinees du +Roi de Prusse, <end italic> and still worse Lies and Nonsenses, +were freely sold at Berlin, and even bore to be printed there, +Friedrich saying nothing, caring nothing. He has been known to +burn Pamphlets publicly,--one Pamphlet we shall ourselves see on +fire yet;--but it was without the least hatred to them, and for +official reasons merely. To the last, he would answer his +reporting Ministers, "LE PRESSE EST LIBRE (Free press, you must +consider)!"--grandly reluctant to meddle with the press, or go +down upon the dogs barking at his door. Those ill effects of Free +Press (first stage of the ill effects) he endured in this manner; +but the good effects seem to have fallen below his expectation. +Friedrich's enthusiam for freedom of the press, prompt enough, as +we see, never rose to the extreme pitch, and it rather sank than +increased as he continued his experiences of men and things. +This of Formey and the two Newspapers was the only express attempt +he made in that direction; and it proved a rather disappointing +one. The two Newspapers went their way thenceforth, Friedrich +sometimes making use of them for small purposes, once or twice +writing an article himself, of wildly quizzical nature, perhaps to +be noticed by us when the time comes; but are otherwise, except +for chronological purposes, of the last degree of insignificance +to gods or men. + +"Freedom of the Press," says my melancholic Friend, "is a noble +thing; and in certain Nations, at certain epochs, produces +glorious effects,--chiefly in the revolutionary line, where that +has grown indispensable. Freedom of the Press is possible, where +everybody disapproves the least abuse of it; where the +'Censorship' is, as it were, exercised by all the world. When the +world (as, even in the freest countries, it almost irresistibly +tends to become) is no longer in a case to exercise that salutary +function, and cannot keep down loud unwise speaking, loud unwise +persuasion, and rebuke it into silence whenever printed, Freedom +of the Press will not answer very long, among sane human +creatures: and indeed, in Nations not in an exceptional case, it +becomes impossible amazingly soon!"-- + +All these are phenomena of Friedrich's first week. Let these +suffice as sample, in that first kind. Splendid indications +surely; and shot forth in swift enough succession, flash following +flash, upon an attentive world. Betokening, shall we say, what +internal sea of splendor, struggling to disclose itself, probably +lies in this young King; and how high his hopes go for mankind and +himself? Yes, surely;--and introducing, we remark withal, the "New +Era," of Philanthropy, Enlightenment and so much else; with French +Revolution, and a "world well suicided" hanging in the rear! +Clearly enough, to this young ardent Friedrich, foremost man of +his Time, and capable of DOING its inarticulate or dumb aspirings, +belongs that questionable honor; and a very singular one it would +have seemed to Friedrich, had he lived to see what it meant! + +Friedrich's rapidity and activity, in the first months of his +reign, were wonderful to mankind; as indeed through life he +continued to be a most rapid and active King. He flies about; +mustering Troops, Ministerial Boards, passing Edicts, inspecting, +accepting Homages of Provinces;--decides and does, every day that +passes, an amazing number of things. Writes many Letters, too; +finds moments even for some verses; and occasionally draws a +snatch of melody from his flute. + +His Letters are copiously preserved; but, as usual, they are in +swift official tone, and tell us almost nothing. To his Sisters he +writes assurances; to his friends, his Suhms, Duhans, Voltaires, +eager invitations, general or particular, to come to him. +"My state has changed," is his phrase to Voltaire and other dear +intimates; a tone of pensiveness, at first even of sorrow and +pathos traceable in it; "Come to me,"--and the tone, in an old +dialect, different from Friedrich's, might have meant, "Pray for +me." An immense new scene is opened, full of possibilities of good +and bad. His hopes being great, his anxieties, the shadow of them, +are proportionate. Duhan (his good old Tutor) does arrive, +Algarotti arrives, warmly welcomed, both: with Voltaire there are +difficulties; but surely he too will, before long, manage to +arrive. The good Suhm, who had been Saxon Minister at Petersburg +to his sorrow this long while back, got in motion soon enough; +but, alas, his lungs were ruined by the Russian climate, and he +did not arrive. Something pathetic still in those final LETTERS of +Suhm. Passionately speeding on, like a spent steed struggling +homeward; he has to pause at Warsaw, and in a few days dies +there,--in a way mournful to Friedrich and us! To Duhan, and +Duhan's children afterwards, he was punctually, not too lavishly, +attentive; in like manner to Suhm's Nephews, whom the dying man +had recommended to him.--We will now glance shortly at a second +and contemporaneous phasis of Friedrich's affairs. + + +INTENDS TO BE PRACTICAL WITHAL, AND EVERY INCH A KING. + +Friedrich is far indeed from thinking to reduce his Army, as the +Foreign Editor imagines. On the contrary, he is, with all +industry, increasing it. He changed the Potsdam Giants into four +regiments of the usual stature; he is busy bargaining with his +Brother-in-law of Brunswick, and with other neighbors, for still +new regiments;--makes up, within the next few months, Eight +Regiments, an increase of, say, 16,000 men. It would appear he +means to keep an eye on the practicalities withal; means to have a +Fighting-Apparatus of the utmost potentiality, for one thing.! +Here are other indications. + +We saw the Old Dessauer, in a sad hour lately, speaking beside the +mark; and with what Olympian glance, suddenly tearless, the new +King flashed out upon him, knowing nothing of "authority" that +could reside in any Dessauer. Nor was that a solitary experience; +the like befell wherever needed. Heinrich of Schwedt, the Ill +Margraf, advancing with jocose countenance in the way of old +comradeship, in those first days, met unexpected rebuff, and was +reduced to gravity on the sudden: "JETZT BIN ICH KONIG,--My +Cousin, I am now King!" a fact which the Ill Margraf could never +get forgotten again. Lieutenant-General Schulenburg, too, the +didactic Schulenburg, presuming, on old familiarity, and willing +to wipe out the misfortune of having once condemned us to death, +which nobody is now upbraiding him with, rushes up from Landsberg, +unbidden, to pay his congratulations and condolences, driven by +irresistible exuberance of loyalty: to his astonishment, he is +reminded (thing certain, manner of the thing not known), That an +Officer cannot quit his post without order; that he, at this +moment, ought to be in Landsberg! [Stenzel, iv. 41; Preuss, +<italic> Thronbesteigung; <end italic> &c.] Schulenburg has a hard +old military face; but here is a young face too, which has grown +unexpectedly rigorous. Fancy the blank look of little Schulenburg; +the light of him snuffed out in this manner on a sudden. It is +said he had thoughts of resigning, so indignant was he: no doubt +he went home to Landsberg gloomily reflective, with the pipe-clay +of his mind in such a ruinous condition. But there was no +serious anger, on Friedrich's part; and he consoled his little +Schulenburg soon after, by expediting some promotion he had +intended him. "Terribly proud young Majesty this," exclaim the +sweet voices. And indeed, if they are to have a Saturnian Kingdom, +by appearance it will be on conditions only! + +Anticipations there had been, that old unkindnesses against the +Crown-Prince, some of which were cruel enough, might be remembered +now: and certain people had their just fears, considering what +account stood against them; others, VICE VERSA, their hopes. +But neither the fears nor the hopes realized themselves; +especially the fears proved altogether groundless. Derschau, who +had voted Death in that Copenick Court-Martial, upon the Crown- +Prince, is continued in his functions, in the light of his King's +countenance, as if nothing such had been. Derschau, and all others +so concerned; not the least question was made of them, nor of what +they had thought or had done or said, on an occasion once so +tragically vital to a certain man. + +Nor is reward much regulated by past services to the Crown-Prince, +or even by sufferings endured for him. "Shocking ingratitude.!" +exclaim the sweet voices here too,--being of weak judgment, many +of them! Poor Katte's Father, a faithful old Soldier, not capable +of being more, he does, rather conspicuously, make Feldmarschall, +make Reichsgraf; happy, could these honors be a consolation to the +old man. The Munchows of Custrin,--readers remember their kindness +in that sad time; how the young boy went into petticoats again, +and came to the Crown-Prince's cell with all manner of +furnishings,--the Munchows, father and sons, this young gentleman +of the petticoats among them, he took immediate pains to reward by +promotion: eldest son was advanced into the General Directorium; +two younger sons, to Majorship, to Captaincy, in their respective +Regiments; him of the petticoats "he had already taken altogether +to himself," [Preuss, i. 66.] and of him we shall see a glimpse at +Wilhelmina's shortly, as a "milkbeard (JEUNE MORVEUX)" in personal +attendance on his Majesty. This was a notable exception. And in +effect there came good public service, eminent some of it, from +these Munchows in their various departments. And it was at length +perceived to have been, in the main, because they were of visible +faculty for doing work that they had got work to do; and the +exceptional case of the Munchows became confirmatory of the rule. + +Lieutenant Keith, again, whom we once saw galloping from Wesel to +save his life in that bad affair of the Crown-Prince's and his, +was nothing like so fortunate. Lieutenant Keith, by speed on that +Wesel occasion, and help of Chesterfield's Secretary, got across +to England; got into the Portuguese service; and has there been +soldiering, very silently, these ten years past,--skin and body +safe, though his effigy was cut in four quarters and nailed to the +gallows at Wesel;--waiting a time that would come. Time being +come, Lieutenant Keith hastened home; appealed to his effigy on +the gallows;--and was made a Lieutenant-Colonel merely, with some +slight appendages, as that of STALLMEISTER (Curator of the +Stables) and something else; income still straitened, though +enough to live upon. [Preuss, <italic> Friedrich mit Verwandten +und Freunden, <end italic> p. 281.] Small promotion, in comparison +with hope, thought the poor Lieutenant; but had to rest satisfied +with it; and struggle to understand that perhaps he was fit for +nothing bigger, and that he must exert himself to do this small +thing well. Hardness of heart in high places! Friedrich, one is +glad to see, had not forgotten the poor fellow, could he have done +better with him. Some ten years hence, quite incidentally, there +came to Keith, one morning, a fine purse of money from his +Majesty, one pretty gift in Keith's experience;--much the topic in +Berlin, while a certain solemn English gentleman happened to be +passing that way (whom we mean to detain a little by and by), who +reports it for us with all the circumstances. [Sir Jonas Hanway, +<italic> Travels, <end italic> &c. (London, 1753), ii. 202. +Date of the Gift is 1750.] + +Lieutenant Spaen too had got into trouble for the Crown-Prince's +sake, though we have forgotten him again; had "admitted Katte to +interviews," or we forget what;--had sat his "year in Spandau" in +consequence; been dismissed the Prussian service, and had taken +service with the Dutch. Lieutenant Spaen either did not return at +all, or disliked the aspects when he did, and immediately withdrew +to Holland again. Which probably was wise of him. At a late +period, King Friedrich, then a great King, on one of his Cleve +Journeys, fell in with Spaen; who had become a Dutch General of +rank, and was of good manners and style of conversation: +King Friedrich was charmed to see him; became his guest for the +night; conversed delightfully with him, about old Prussian matters +and about new; and in the colloquy never once alluded to that +interesting passage in his young life and Spaen's. [Nicolai, +<italic> Anekdoten, <end italic> vi. 178.] Hard as polished steel! +thinks Spaen perhaps; but, if candid, must ask himself withal, Are +facts any softer, or the Laws of Kingship to a man that holds it? +--Keith silently did his Lieutenant-Colonelcy with the appendages, +while life lasted: of the Page Keith, his Brother, who indeed had +blabbed upon the Prince, as we remember, and was not entitled to +be clamorous, I never heard that there was any notice taken; +and figure him to myself as walking with shouldered firelock, a +private Fusileer, all his life afterwards, with many reflections +on things bygone. [These and the other Prussian Keiths are all of +Scotch extraction; the Prussians, in natural German fashion, +pronounce their name KAH-IT (English "KITE" with nothing of the Y +in it), as may be worth remembering in a more important instance.] + +Old friendship, it would seem, is without weight in public +appointments here: old friends are somewhat astonished to find +this friend of theirs a King every inch! To old comrades, if they +were useless, much more if they were worse than useless, how +disappointing! "One wretched Herr [name suppressed, but known at +the time, and talked of, and whispered of], who had, like several +others, hoping to rise that way, been industrious in encouraging +the Crown-Prince's vices as to women, was so shocked at the return +he now met, that in despair he hanged himself in LobeJun" +(Lobegun, Magdeburg Country): here is a case for the humane! +[Kuster, <italic> Characterzuge des &c. von Saldern <end italic> +(Berlin, 1793), p. 63.] + +Friend Keyserling himself, "Caesarion" that used to be, can get +nothing, though we love him much; being an idle topsy-turvy fellow +with revenues of his own. Jordan, with his fine-drawn wit, French +logics, LITERARY TRAVELS, thin exactitude; what can be done for +Jordan? Him also his new Majesty loves much; and knows that, +without some official living, poor Jordan has no resource. +Jordan, after some waiting and survey, is made "Inspector of the +Poor;"--busy this Autumn looking out for vacant houses, and +arrangements for the thousand spinning women;--continues to be +employed in mixed literary services (hunting up of Formey, for +Editor, was one instance), and to be in much real intimacy. +That also was perhaps about the real amount of amiable Jordan. +To get Jordan a living by planting him in some office which he +could not do; to warm Jordan by burning our royal bed for him: +that had not entered into the mind of Jordan's royal friend. +The Munchows he did promote; the Finks, sons of his Tutor +Finkenstein: to these and other old comrades, in whom he had +discovered fitness, it is no doubt abundantly grateful to him to +recognize and employ it. As he notably does, in these and in other +instances. But before all things he has decided to remember that +he is King; that he must accept the severe laws of that trust, and +do IT, or not have done anything. + +An inverse sign, pointing in the same way, is the passionate +search he is making in Foreign Countries for such men as will suit +him. In these same months, for example, he bethinks him of two +Counts Schmettau, in the Austrian Service, with whom he had made +acquaintance in the Rhine Campaign; of a Count von Rothenburg, +whom he saw in the French Camp there; and is negotiating to have +them if possible. The Schmettaus are Prussian by birth, though in +Austrian Service; them he obtains under form of an Order home, +with good conditions under it; they came, and proved useful men +to him. Rothenburg, a shining kind of figure in Diplomacy as well +as Soldiership, was Alsatian German, foreign to Prussia; but him +too Friedrich obtained, and made much of, as will be notable by +and by. And in fact the soul of all these noble tendencies in +Friedrich, which surely are considerable, is even this, That he +loves men of merit, and does not love men of none; that he has an +endless appetite for men of merit, and feels, consciously and +otherwise, that they are the one thing beautiful, the one thing +needful to him. + +This, which is the product of all fine tendencies, is likewise +their centre or focus out of which they start again, with some +chance of fulfilment;--and we may judge in how many directions +Friedrich was willing to expand himself, by the multifarious kinds +he was inviting, and negotiating for. Academicians,--and not +Maupertuis only, but all manner of mathematical geniuses (Euler +whom he got, 's Gravesande, Muschenbroek whom he failed of); +and Literary geniuses innumerable, first and last. Academicians, +Musicians, Players, Dancers even; much more Soldiers and Civil- +Service men: no man that carries any honest "CAN DO" about with +him but may expect some welcome here. Which continued through +Friedrich's reign; and involved him in much petty trouble, not +always successful in the lower kinds of it. For his Court was the +cynosure of ambitious creatures on the wing, or inclined for +taking wing: like a lantern kindled in the darkness of the world; +--and many owls impinged upon him; whom he had to dismiss +with brevity. + +Perhaps it had been better to stand by mere Prussian or German +merit, native to the ground? Or rather, undoubtedly it had! +In some departments, as in the military, the administrative, +diplomatic, Friedrich was himself among the best of judges: but in +various others he had mainly (mainly, by no means blindly or +solely) to accept noise of reputation as evidence of merit; and in +these, if we compute with rigor, his success was intrinsically not +considerable. The more honor to him that he never wearied of +trying. "A man that does not care for merit," says the adage, +"cannot himself have any." But a King that does not care for +merit, what shall we say of such a King!-- + + +BEHAVIOR TO HIS MOTHER; TO HIS WIFE. + +One other fine feature, significant of many, let us notice: +his affection for his Mother. When his Mother addressed him as +"Your Majesty," he answered, as the Books are careful to tell us: +"Call me Son; that is the Title of all others most agreeable to +me!" Words which, there can be no doubt, came from the heart. +Fain would he shoot forth to greatness in filial piety, as +otherwise; fain solace himself in doing something kind to his +Mother. Generously, lovingly; though again with clear view of the +limits. He decrees for her a Title higher than had been customary, +as well as more accordant with his feelings; not "Queen Dowager," +but "Her Majesty the Queen Mother." He decides to build her a new +Palace; "under the Lindens" it is to be, and of due magnificence: +in a month or two, he had even got bits of the foundation dug, +and the Houses to be pulled down bought or bargained for; +[Rodenbeck, p. 15 (30th June-23d Aug. 1740); and correct Stenzel +(iv. 44).]--which enterprise, however, was renounced, no doubt +with consent, as the public aspects darkened. Nothing in the way +of honor, in the way of real affection heartily felt and +demonstrated, was wanting to Queen Sophie in her widowhood. +But, on the other hand, of public influence no vestige was +allowed, if any was ever claimed; and the good kind Mother lived +in her Monbijou, the centre and summit of Berlin society; +and restricted herself wisely to private matters. She has her +domesticities, family affections, readings, speculations; +gives evening parties at Monbijou. One glimpse of her in 1742 we +get, that of a perfectly private royal Lady; which though it has +little meaning, yet as it is authentic, coming from Busching's +hand, may serve as one little twinkle in that total darkness, and +shall be left to the reader and his fancy:-- + +A Count Henkel, a Thuringian gentleman, of high speculation, high +pietistic ways, extremely devout, and given even to writing of +religion, came to Berlin about some Silesian properties,--a man I +should think of lofty melancholic aspect; and, in severe type, +somewhat of a lion, on account of his Book called "DEATH-BED +SCENES, in four Volumes." Came to Berlin; and on the 15th August, +1742, towards evening (as the ever-punctual Busching looking into +Henkel's Papers gives it), "was presented to the Queen Mother; +who retained him to supper; supper not beginning till about ten +o'clock. The Queen Mother was extremely gracious to Henkel; +but investigated him a good deal, and put a great many questions," +not quite easy to answer in that circle, "as, Why he did not play? +What he thought of comedies and operas? What Preachers he was +acquainted with in Berlin? Whether he too was a Writer of Books? +[covertly alluding to the DEATH-BED SCENES, notes Busching]. +And abundance of other questioning. She also recounted many +fantastic anecdotes (VIEL ABENTEUERLICHES) about Count von +Zinzendorf [Founder of HERNNHUTH, far-shining spiritual Paladin of +that day, whom her Majesty thinks rather a spiritual Quixote]; and +declared that they were strictly true." [Busching's <italic> +Beitrage, <end italic> iv. 27.]' Upon which, EXIT Henkel, borne by +Busching, and our light is snuffed out. + +This is one momentary glance I have met with of Queen Sophie in +her Dowager state. The rest, though there were seventeen years of +it in all, is silent to mankind and me; and only her death, and +her Son's great grief about it, so great as to be surprising, is +mentioned in the Books. + +Actual painful sorrow about his Father, much more any new outburst +of weeping and lamenting, is not on record, after that first +morning. Time does its work; and in such a whirl of occupations, +sooner than elsewhere: and the loved Dead lie silent in their +mausoleum in our hearts,--serenely sad as Eternity, not in loud +sorrow as of Time. Friedrich was pious as a Son, however he might +be on other heads. To the last years of his life, as from the +first days of his reign, it was evident in what honor he held +Friedrich Wilhelm's memory; and the words "my Father," when they +turned up in discourse, had in that fine voice of his a tone which +the observers noted. "To his Mother he failed no day, when in +Berlin, however busy, to make his visit; and he never spoke to +her, except hat in hand." + +With his own Queen, Friedrich still consorts a good deal, in these +first times; is with her at Charlottenburg, Berlin, Potsdam, +Reinsberg, for a day or two, as occasion gives; sometimes at +Reinsberg for weeks running, in the intervals of war and business: +glad to be at rest amid his old pursuits, by the side of a kind +innocent being familiar to him. So it lasts for a length of time. +But these happy intervals, we can remark, grow rarer: whether the +Lady's humor, as they became rarer, might not sink withal, and +produce an acceleration in the rate of decline? She was thought to +be capable of "pouting (FAIRE LA FACHEE)," at one period! We are +left to our guesses; there is not anywhere the smallest whisper to +guide us. Deep silence reigns in all Prussian Books.--To feel or +to suspect yourself neglected, and to become MORE amiable +thereupon (in which course alone lies hope), is difficult for any +Queen! Enough, we can observe these meetings, within two or three +years, have become much rarer; and perhaps about the end of the +third or fourth year, they altogether cease; and pass merely into +the formal character. In which state they continued fixed, liable +to no uncertainty; and were transacted, to the end of Friedrich's +life, with inflexible regularity as the annual reviews were. +This is a curious section of his life; which there will be other +opportunities of noticing. But there is yet no thought of it +anywhere, nor for years to come; though fables to the contrary +were once current in Books. [Laveaux, &c.] + + +NO CHANGE IN HIS FATHER'S METHODS OR MINISTRIES. + +In the old mode of Administration, in the Ministries, Government +Boards, he made no change. These administrative methods of his +wise Father's are admirable to Friedrich, who knows them well; +and they continue to be so. These men of his Father's, them also +Friedrich knows, and that they were well chosen. In methods or in +men, he is inclined to make the minimum of alteration at present. +One Finance Hofrath of a projecting turn, named Eckart, who had +abused the last weak years of Friedrich Wilhelm, and much +afflicted mankind by the favor he was in: this Eckart Friedrich +appointed a commission to inquire into; found the public right in +regard to Eckart, and dismissed him with ignominy, not with much +other punishment. Minister Boden, on the contrary, high in the +Finance Department, who had also been much grumbled at, Friedrich +found to be a good man: and Friedrich not only retained Boden, but +advanced him; and continued to make more and more use of him in +time coming. His love of perfection in work done, his care of +thrift, seemed almost greater than his late Father's had been,--to +the disappointment of many. In the other Departments, Podewils, +Thulmeyer and the rest went on as heretofore;--only in general +with less to do, the young King doing more himself than had been +usual. Valori, "MON GROS VALORI (my fat Valori)," French Minister +here, whom we shall know better, writes home of the new King of +Prussia: "He begins his government, as by all appearance he will +carry it on, in a highly satisfactory way: everywhere traits of +benevolence, sympathy for his subjects, respect shown to the +memory of the Deceased," [<italic>Memoires des Negociations du +Marquis de Valori <end italic> (a Paris, 1820), i. 20 ("June 13th, +1740"). A valuable Book, which we shall often have to quote: +edited in a lamentably ignorant manner.]--no change made, where it +evidently is not for the better. + +Friedrich's "Three principal Secretaries of State," as we should +designate them, are very remarkable. Three Clerks he found, or had +known of, somewhere in the Public Offices; and now took, under +some advanced title, to be specially his own Private Clerks: +three vigorous long-headed young fellows, "Eichel, Schuhmacher, +Lautensack" the obscure names of them; [Rodenbeck, 15th June, +1740.] out of whom, now and all along henceforth, he got +immensities of work in that kind. They lasted all his life; +and, of course, grew ever more expert at their function. +Close, silent; exact as machinery: ever ready, from the smallest +clear hint, marginal pencil-mark, almost from a glance of the eye, +to clothe the Royal Will in official form, with the due rugged +clearness and thrift of words. "Came punctually at four in the +morning in summer, five in winter;" did daily the day's work; +and kept their mouths well shut. A very notable Trio of men; +serving his Majesty and the Prussian Nation as Principal +Secretaries of State, on those cheap terms;--nay almost as Houses +of Parliament with Standing Committees and appendages, so many +Acts of Parliament admittedly rather wise, being passed daily by +his Majesty's help and theirs!--Friedrich paid them rather well; +they saw no society; lived wholly to their work, and to their own +families. Eichel alone of the three was mentioned at all by +mankind, and that obscurely; an "abstruse, reserved, long-headed +kind of man;" and "made a great deal of money in the end," +insinuates Busching, [<italic> Beitrage, <end italic} v. 238, &c.] +no friend of Friedrich's or his. + +In superficial respects, again, Friedrich finds that the Prussian +King ought to have a King's Establishment, and maintain a decent +splendor among his neighbors,--as is not quite the case at +present. In this respect he does make changes. A certain quantity +of new Pages, new Goldsticks; some considerable, not too +considerable, new furbishing of the Royal Household,--as it were, +a fair coat of new paint, with gilding not profuse,--brought it to +the right pitch for this King, About "a hundred and fifty" new +figures of the Page and Goldstick kind, is the reckoning given. +[<italic> Helden Geschichte, <end italic> i. 353.] So many of +these; and there is an increase of 16,000 to one's Army going on: +that is the proportion noticeable. In the facts as his Father left +them Friedrich persisted all his life; in the semblances or outer +vestures he changed, to this extent for the present.--These are +the Phenomena of Friedrich's Accession, noted by us. + +Readers see there is radiance enough, perhaps slightly in excess, +but of intrinsically good quality, in the Aurora of this new +Reign. A brilliant valiant young King; much splendor of what we +could call a golden or soft nature (visible in those "New-Era" +doings of his, in those strong affections to his Friends); and +also, what we like almost better in him, something of a STEEL- +BRIGHT or stellar splendor (meaning, clearness of eyesight, +intrepidity, severe loyalty to fact),--which is a fine addition to +the softer element, and will keep IT and its philanthropies and +magnanimities well under rule. Such a man is rare in this world; +how extremely rare such a man born King! He is swift and he is +persistent; sharply discerning, fearless to resolve and perform; +carries his great endowments lightly, as if they were not heavy to +him. He has known hard misery, been taught by stripes; a light +stoicism sits gracefully on him. + +"What he will grow to?" Probably to something considerable. +Very certainly to something far short of his aspirations; +far different from his own hopes; and the world's concerning him. +It is not we, it is Father Time that does the controlling and +fulfilling of our hopes; and strange work he makes of them and us. +For example, has not Friedrich's grand "New Era," inaugurated by +him in a week, with the leading spirits all adoring, issued since +in French Revolution and a "world well suicided,"--the leading +spirits much thrown out in consequence! New Era has gone to great +lengths since Friedrich's time; and the leading spirits do not now +adore it, but yawn over it, or worse! Which changes to us the then +aspect of Friedrich, and his epoch and his aspirations, a good +deal.--On the whole, Friedrich will go his way, Time and the +leading spirits going theirs; and, like the rest of us, will grow +to what he can. His actual size is not great among the Kingdoms: +his outward resources are rather to be called small. The Prussian +Dominion at that date is, in extent, about four-fifths of an +England Proper, and perhaps not one-fifth so fertile: +subject Population is well under Two Millions and a Half; Revenue +not much above One Million Sterling,' [The exact statistic cipher +is, at Friedrich's Accession: PRUSSIAN TERRITORIES, 2,275 square +miles German (56,875 English); POPULATION, 2,240,000; ANNUAL +REVENUE, 7,371,707 thalers 7 groschen (1,105,756 pounds without +the pence). See Prenss, <italic> Buch fur Jedermann, <end italic> +i. 49; Stenzel, iii. 692; &c.]--very small, were not thrift such +a VECTIGAL. + +This young King is magnanimous; not much to be called ambitious, +or not in the vulgar sense almost at all,--strange as it may sound +to readers. His hopes at this time are many;--and among them, +I perceive, there is not wanting secretly, in spite of his +experiences, some hope that he himself may be a good deal +"happier" than formerly. Nor is there any ascetic humor, on his +part, to forbid trial. He is much determined to try. +Probably enough, as we guess and gather, his agreeablest +anticipations, at this time, were of Reinsberg: How, in the +intervals of work well done, he would live there wholly to the +Muses; have his chosen spirits round him, his colloquies, his +suppers of the gods. Why not? There might be a King of Intellects +conceivable withal; protecting, cherishing, practically guiding +the chosen Illuminative Souls of this world. A new Charlemagne, +the smallest new Charlemagne of Spiritual type, with HIS Paladins +round him; how glorious, how salutary in the dim generations now +going!--These too were hopes which proved signally futile. +Rigorous Time could not grant these at all;--granted, in his own +hard way, other things instead. But, all along, the Life-element, +the Epoch, though Friedrich took it kindly and never complained, +was ungenial to such a man. + +"Somewhat of a rotten Epoch, this into which Friedrich has been +born, to shape himself and his activities royal and other!"-- +exclaims Smelfungus once: "In an older earnest Time, when the +eternally awful meanings of this Universe had not yet sunk into +dubieties to any one, much less into levities or into mendacities, +into huge hypocrisies carefully regulated,--so luminous, vivid and +ingenuous a young creature had not wanted divine manna in his +Pilgrimage through Life. Nor, in that case, had he come out of it +in so lean a condition. But the highest man of us is born brother +to his Contemporaries; struggle as he may, there is no escaping +the family likeness. By spasmodic indignant contradiction of them, +by stupid compliance with them,--you will inversely resemble, if +you do not directly; like the starling, you can't get out!--Most +surely, if there do fall manna from Heaven, in the given +Generation, and nourish in us reverence and genial nobleness day +by day, it is blessed and well. Failing that, in regard to our +poor spiritual interests, there is sure to be one of two results: +mockery, contempt, disbelief, what we may call SHORT-DIET to the +length of very famine (which was Friedrich's case); or else slow- +poison, carefully elaborated and provided by way of +daily nourishment. + +"Unhappy souls, these same! The slow-poison has gone deep into +them. Instead of manna, this long while back, they have been +living on mouldy corrupt meats sweetened by sugar-of-lead; +or perhaps, like Voltaire, a few individuals prefer hunger, as the +cleaner alternative; and in contemptuous, barren, mocking humor, +not yet got the length of geniality or indignation, snuff the +east-wind by way of spiritual diet. Pilgriming along on such +nourishment, the best human soul fails to become very ruddy!-- +Tidings about Heaven are fallen so uncertain, but the Earth and +her joys are still Interesting: 'Take to the Earth and her joys;-- +let your soul go out, since it must; let your five senses and +their appetites be well alive.' That is a dreadful 'Sham-Christian +Dispensation' to be born under! You wonder at the want of heroism +in the Eighteenth Century. Wonder rather at the degree of heroism +it had; wonder how many souls there still are to be met with in it +of some effective capability, though dieting in that way,--nothing +else to be had in the shops about. Carterets, Belleisles, +Friedrichs, Voltaires; Chathams, Franklins, Choiseuls: there is an +effective stroke of work, a fine fire of heroic pride, in this man +and the other; not yet extinguished by spiritual famine or slow- +poison; so robust is Nature the mighty Mother!-- + +"But in general, that sad Gospel, 'Souls extinct, Stomachs well +alive!' is the credible one, not articulately preached, but +practically believed by the abject generations, and acted on as it +never was before. What immense sensualities there were, is known; +and also (as some small offset, though that has not yet begun in +1740) what immense quantities of Physical Labor and contrivance +were got out of mankind, in that Epoch and down to this day. +As if, having lost its Heaven, it had struck desperately down into +the Earth; as if it were a BEAVER-kind, and not a mankind any +more. We had once a Barbaossa; and a world all grandly true. +But from that to Karl VI., and HIS Holy Romish Reich in such a +state of 'Holiness'--!" I here cut short my abstruse Friend. + +Readers are impatient to have done with these miscellaneous +preludings, and to be once definitely under way, such a Journey +lying ahead. Yes, readers; a Journey indeed! And, at this point, +permit me to warn you that, where the ground, where Dryasdust and +the Destinies, yield anything humanly illustrative of Friedrich +and his Work, one will have to linger, and carefully gather it, +even as here. Large tracts occur, bestrewn with mere pedantisms, +diplomatic cobwebberies, learned marine-stores, and inhuman +matter, over which we shall have to skip empty-handed: this also +was among the sad conditions of our Enterprise, that it has to go +now too slow and again too fast; not in proportion to natural +importance of objects, but to several inferior considerations +withal. So busy has perverse Destiny been on it; perverse Destiny, +edacious Chance;--and the Dryasdusts, too, and Nightmares, in +Prussia as elsewhere, we know how strong they are! + +Friedrich's character in old age has doubtless its curious +affinities, its disguised identities, with these prognostic +features and indications of his youth: and to our readers,--if we +do ever get them to the goal, of seeing Friedrich a little with +their own eyes and judgments,--there may be pleasant contrasts and +comparisons of that kind in store, one day. But the far commoner +experience (which also has been my own),--here is Smelfungus's +stern account of that:-- + +"My friend, you will be luckier than I, if, after ten years, not +to say, in a sense, twenty years, thirty years, of reading and +rummaging in those sad Prussian Books, ancient and new (which +often are laudably authentic, too, and exact as to details), you +can gather any character whatever of Friedrich, in any period of +his life, or conceive him as a Human Entity at all! It is strange, +after such thousand-fold writing, but it is true, his History is +considerably unintelligible to mankind at this hour; left chaotic, +enigmatic, in a good many points,--the military part of it alone +being brought to clearness, and rendered fairly conceivable and +credible to those who will study. And as to the Man himself, or +what his real Physiognomy can have been--! Well, it must be owned +few men were of such RAPIDITY of face and aspect; so difficult to +seize the features of. In his action, too, there was such +rapidity, such secrecy, suddenness: a man that could not be read, +even by the candid, except as in flashes of lightning. And then +the anger of by-standers, uncandid, who got hurt by him; the hasty +malevolences, the stupidities, the opacities: enough, in modern +times, what is saying much, perhaps no man's motives, intentions, +and procedure have been more belied, misunderstood, +misrepresented, during his life. Nor, I think, since that, have +many men fared worse, by the Limner or Biographic class, the +favorable to him and the unfavorable; or been so smeared of and +blotched of, and reduced to a mere blur and dazzlement of cross- +lights, incoherences, incredibilities, in which nothing, not so +much as a human nose, is clearly discernible by way of feature!"-- +Courage, reader, nevertheless; on the above terms let us march +according to promise. + + + +Chapter II. + +THE HOMAGINGS. + +Young Friedrich, as his Father had done, considers it unnecessary +to be crowned. Old Friedrich, first of the name, and of the King +series, we did see crowned, with a pinch of snuff tempering the +solemnities. That Coronation once well done suffices all his +descendants hitherto. Such an expense of money,--of diluted +mendacity too! Such haranguing, gesturing, symbolic fugling, all +grown half false:--avoid lying, even with your eyes, or knees, or +the coat upon your back, so far as you easily can! + +Nothing of Coronation: but it is thought needful to have the +HULDIGUNGEN (Homagings) done, the Fealties sworn; and the young +Majesty in due course goes about, or gives directions, now here +now there, in his various Provinces, getting that accomplished. +But even in that, Friedrich is by no means strait-laced or +punctilious; does it commonly by Deputy: only in three places, +Konigsberg, Berlin, Cleve, does he appear in person. Mainly by +deputy; and always with the minimum of fuss, and no haranguing +that could be avoided. Nowhere are the old STANDE (Provincial +Parliaments) assembled, now or afterwards: sufficient for this and +for every occasion are the "Permanent Committees of the STANDE;" +nor is much speaking, unessential for despatch of business, used +to these. + +"STANDE--of Ritterschaft mainly, of Gentry small and great-- +existed once in all those Countries, as elsewhere," says one +Historian; "and some of them, in Preussen, for example, used to be +rather loud, and inclined to turbulence, till the curb, from a +judicious bridle-hand, would admonish them. But, for a long while +past,--especially since the Great Elector's time, who got an +'Excise Law' passed, or the foundations of a good Excise Law laid; +[Preuss, iv. 432; and <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> +pp. 379-383.] and, what with Excise, what with Domain-Farms, had a +fixed Annual Budget, which he reckoned fair to both parties,--they +have been dying out for want of work; and, under Friedrich +Wilhelm, may be said to have gone quite dead. What work was left +for them? Prussian Budget is fixed, many things are fixed: +why talk of them farther? The Prussian King, nothing of a fool +like certain others,"--which indeed is the cardinal point, though +my Author does not say so,--"is respectfully aware of the facts +round him; and can listen to the rumors too, so far as he finds +good. The King sees himself terribly interested to get into the +right course in all things, and avoid the wrong one! Probably he +does, in his way, seek 'wise Advice concerning the arduous matters +of the Kingdom;' nay I believe he is diligent to have it of the +wisest:--who knows if STANDE would always give it wiser; +especially STANDE in the haranguing condition?"--Enough, they are +not applied to. There is no Freedom in that Country. "No Freedom +to speak of," continues he: "but I do a little envy them their +Fixed Budget, and some other things. What pleasure there can be in +having your household arrangements tumbled into disorder every new +Year, by a new-contrived scale of expenses for you, I never could +ascertain!"-- + +Friedrich is not the man to awaken Parliamentary sleeping-dogs +well settled by his Ancestors. Once or twice, out of Preussen, in +Friedrich Wilhelm's time, there was heard some whimper, which +sounded like the beginning of a bark. But Friedrich Wilhelm was on +the alert for it: Are you coming in with your NIE POZWALAM (your +LIBERUM VETO), then? None of your Polish vagaries here. "TOUT LE +PAYS SERA RUINE (the whole Country will be ruined)," say you? +(Such had been the poor Marshal or Provincial SPEAKER'S +Remonstrance on one occasion): "I don't believe a word of that. +But I do believe the Government by JUNKERS [Country Squires] and +NIE POZWALAM will be ruined,"--as it is fully meant to be! "I am +establishing the King's Sovereignty like a rock of bronze (ICH +STABILIRE DIE SOUVERAINETAT WIE EINEN ROCHER VON BRONZE)," some +extremely strong kind of rock! [Forster, b. iii. +(<italic> Urkundenbuch, <end italic> i. 50); Preuss, iv. 420 n. +"NIE POZWALAM" (the formula of LIBERUM VETO) signifies "I Don't +Permit!"] This was one of Friedrich Wilhelm's marginalia in +response to such a thing; and the mutinous whimper died out again. +Parliamentary Assemblages are sometimes Collective Wisdoms, but +by no means always so. In Magdeburg we remember what trouble +Friedrich Wilhelm had with his unreasonable Ritters. +Ritters there, in their assembled capacity, had the Reich behind +them, and could not be dealt with like Preussen: but Friedrich +Wilhelm, by wise slow methods, managed Magdeburg too, and reduced +it to silence, or to words necessary for despatch of business. + +In each Province, a Permanent Committee--chosen, I suppose, by +King and Knights assenting; chosen I know not how, but admitted to +be wisely chosen--represents the once Parliament or STANDE; and +has its potency for doing good service in regard to all Provincial +matters, from roads and bridges upwards, and is impotent to do the +least harm. Roads and bridges, Church matters, repartition of the +Land-dues, Army matters,--in fact they are an effective non- +haranguing Parliament, to the King's Deputy in every such +Province; well calculated to illuminate and forward his subaltern +AMTmen and him. Nay, we observe it is oftenest in the way of gifts +and solacements that the King articulately communicates with these +Committees or their Ritterschafts. Projects for Draining of Bogs, +for improved Highways, for better Husbandry; loans granted them, +Loan-Banks established for the Province's behoof:--no need of +parliamentary eloquence on such occasions, but of something +far different. + +It is from this quiescent, or busy but noiseless kind of STANDE +and Populations that Friedrich has his HULDIGUNG to take;--and the +operation, whether done personally or by deputy, must be an +abundantly simple one. He, for his part, is fortunate enough to +find everywhere the Sovereignty ESTABLISHED; "rock of bronze" not +the least shaken in his time. He will graciously undertake, by +Written Act, which is read before the STANDE, King or King's +Deputy witnessing there, "To maintain the privileges" of his +STANDE and Populations; the STANDE answer, on oath, with lifted +hand, and express invocation of Heaven, That they will obey him as +true subjects; And so--doubtless with something of dining +superadded, but no whisper of it put on record--the HULDIGUNG will +everywhere very quietly transact itself. + +The HULDIGUNG itself is nothing to us, even with Friedrich there, +--as at Konigsberg, Berlin, Cleve, the three exceptional places. +To which, nevertheless, let us briefly attend him, for the sake of +here and there some direct glimpse we may get of the then +Friedrich's actual physiognomy and ways. Other direct view, or the +chance of such, is not conceded us out of those sad Prussian +Books; which are very full on this of the HULDIGUNG, if silent on +so many other points. [Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end +italic> p. 382.] + + +FRIEDRICH ACCEPTS THE HOMAGES, PERSONALLY, IN THREE PLACES. + +To Konigsberg is his first excursion on this errand. Preussen has +perhaps, or may be suspected of having, some remnants of sour +humors left in it, and remembrances of STANDE with haranguings and +even mutinies: there if anywhere the King in person may do good on +such an occasion, He left Berlin, July 7th, bound thitherward; +here is Note of that first Royal Tour,--specimen of several +hundreds such, which he had to do in the course of the next +forty-five years. + +"Friend Algarotti, charming talker, attended him; who else, +official and non-official, ask not. The Journey is to be +circuitous; to combine various businesses, and also to have its +amusements. They went by Custrin; glancing at old known Country, +which is at its greenest in this season. By Custrin, across the +Neumark, into Pommern; after that by an intricate winding route; +reviewing regiments, inspecting garrisons, now here now there; +doing all manner of inspections; talking I know not what; oftenest +lodging with favored Generals, if it suited. Distance to +Konigsberg, by the direct road, is about 500 miles; by this +winding one, it must have been 800: Journey thither took nine days +in all. Obliquely through Pommern, almost to the coast of the +Baltic; their ultimatum there a place called Coslin, where they +reviewed with strictness,--omitting Colberg, a small Sea-Fortress +not far rearward, time being short. Thence into West-Preussen, +into Polish Territory, and swiftly across that; keeping Dantzig +and its noises wide enough to the left: one night in Poland; +and the next they are in Ost-Preussen, place called Liebstadt,-- +again on home-ground, and diligently reviewing there. + +"The review at Liebstadt is remarkable in this, That the +regiments, one regiment especially, not being what was fit, a +certain Grenadier-Captain got cashiered on the spot; and the old +Commandant himself was soon after pensioned, and more gently sent +his ways. So strict is his Majesty. Contrariwise, he found +Lieutenant-General von Katte's Garrison, at Angerburg, next day, +in a very high perfection; and Colonel Posadowsky's regiment +specially so; with which latter gentleman he lodged that night, +and made him farther happy by the ORDER OF MERIT: Colonel +Posadowsky, Garrison of Angerburg, far off in East-Preussen, +Chevalier of the Order of Merit henceforth, if we ever meet him +again. To the good old Lieutenant-General von Katte, who no doubt +dined with them, his Majesty handed, on the same occasion, a +Patent of Feldmarschall;--intends soon to make him Graf; and did +it, as readers know. Both Colonel and General attended him +thenceforth, still by a circuitous route, to Konigsberg, to assist +in the solemnities there. By Gumbinnen, by Trakehnen,--the Stud of +Trakehnen: that also his Majesty saw, and made review of; +not without emotion, we can fancy, as the sleek colts were trotted +out on those new terms! At Trakehnen, Katte and the Colonel would +be his Majesty's guests, for the night they stayed. This is their +extreme point eastward; Konigsberg now lies a good way west of +them. But at Trakehnen they turn; and, Saturday, 16th July, 1740, +after another hundred miles or so, along the pleasant valley of +the Pregel, get to Konigsberg: ready to begin business on Monday +morning,--on Sunday if necessary." [From Preuss, <italic> +Thronbesteigung, <end italic> pp. 382, 385; Rodenbeck, p. 16; &c.] + +On Sunday there did a kind of memorability occur: The HULDIGUNGS- +PREDIGT (Homage Sermon)--by a reverend Herr Quandt, chief Preacher +there. Which would not be worth mentioning, except for this +circumstance, that his Majesty exceedingly admired Quandt, and +thought him a most Demosthenic genius, and the best of all the +Germans. Quandt's text was in these words: <italic> "Thine are we, +David, and on thy side, thou Son of Jesse; Peace, peace be unto +thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee." +<end italic> [<italic> First Chronicles, <end italic> xii. 18.] +Quandt began, in a sonorous voice, raising his face with +respectful enthusiasm to the King, "Thine are we, O Friedrich, and +on thy side, thou Son of Friedrich Wilhelm;" and so went on: +sermon brief, sonorous, compact, and sticking close to its text. +Friedrich stood immovable, gazing on the eloquent Demosthenic +Quandt, with admiration heightened by surprise;--wrote of Quandt +to Voltaire; and, with sustained enthusiasm, to the Public long +afterwards; and to the end of his days was wont to make Quandt an +exception, if perhaps almost the only one, from German barbarism, +and disharmony of mind and tongue. So that poor Quandt cannot ever +since get entirely forgotten, but needs always to be raked up +again, for this reason when others have ceased: an almost +melancholy adventure for poor Quandt and Another!-- + +The HULDIGUNG was rather grand; Harangue and Counter-harangue +permitted to the due length, and proper festivities following: +but the STANDE could not manage to get into vocal covenanting or +deliberating at all; Friedrich before leaving Berlin had answered +their hint or request that way, in these words: "We are likewise +graciously inclined to give to the said STANDE, before their +Homaging, the same assurance which they got from our Herr Father's +Majesty, who is now with God,"--general assurance that their, and +everybody's, "Rights shall be maintained [as we see they are],-- +with which, it is hoped (HOFFENTLICH), they will be content, and +get to peace upon this matter (SICH DABEI BERUHIGEN WERDEN)." +[Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> p. 380.] It will +be best for them! + +Friedrich gave away much corn here; that is, opened his Corn- +Granaries, on charitable terms, and took all manner of measures, +here as in other places, for relief of the scarcity there was. +Of the illuminations, never so grand, the reader shall hear +nothing. A "Torch-Procession of the Students" turned out a pretty +thing:--Students marching with torches, with fine wind-music, +regulated enthusiasm, fine succinct address to his Majesty; +and all the world escorting, with its "Live Forever!" Friedrich +gave the Students "a TRINK-GELAG (Banquet of Liquors)," how +arranged I do not know: and to the Speaker of the Address, a +likely young gentleman with VON to his name, he offered an +Ensigncy of Foot ("in Camas's Fusileer Regiment,"--Camas now gone +to Paris, embassying), which was joyfully accepted. +Joyfully accepted;--and it turned out well for all parties; +the young gentleman having risen, where merit was the rule of +rising, and become Graf and Lieutenant-General, in the course of +the next fifty years. [Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end +italic> p. 387.] + +Huldigung and Torch-Procession over, the Royal Party dashed +rapidly off, next morning (21st July), homewards by the shortest +route; and, in three days more, by Frankfurt-on-Oder (where a +glimpse of General Schwerin, a favorite General, was to be had), +were safe in Berlin; received with acclamation, nay with +"blessings and even tears" some say, after this pleasant +Fortnight's Tour. General Schwerin, it is rumored, will be made +Feldmarschall straightway, the Munchows are getting so promoted as +we said; edicts are coming out, much business speeding forward, +and the tongues of men keep wagging. + +Berlin HULDIGUNG--and indeed, by Deputy, that of nearly all the +other Towns--was on Tuesday, August 2d. At Berlin his Majesty was +present in the matter: but, except the gazing multitudes, and +hussar regiments, ranked in the Schloss-Platz and streets +adjoining, there was little of notable in it; the upholstery +arrangements thrifty in the extreme. His Majesty is prone to +thrift in this of the Huldigung, as would appear; perhaps +regarding the affair as scenic merely. Here, besides this of +Berlin, is another instance just occurring. It appears, the +Quedlinburg people, shut out from the light of the actual Royal +Countenance, cannot do their Homaging by Deputy, without at least +a Portrait of the King and of the Queen: How manage? asks the +Official Person. "Have a Couple of Daubs done in Berlin, three +guineas apiece; send them these," answers the King! [<italic> "On +doit faire barbouiller de mauvaises copies a Berlin, la piece a 20 +ecus. {end italic>--FR." Preuss, ii. (<italic> Urkundenbuch, <end +italic> s. 222).] + +Here in the Berlin Schloss, scene the Large Hall within doors, +there is a "platform raised three steps; and on this, by way of a +kind of throne, an arm-chair covered with old black velvet;" the +whole surmounted by a canopy also of old black velvet: not a +sublime piece of upholstery; but reckoned adequate. +Friedrich mounted the three steps; stood before the old chair, his +Princes standing promiscuously behind it; his Ritters in quantity, +in front and to right and left, on the floor. Some Minister of the +Interior explains suitably, not at too great length, what they are +met for; some junior Official, junior but of quality, responded +briefly, for himself and his order, to the effect, "Yea, truly:" +the HULDIGUNGENS-URKUNDE (Deed of Homage) was then read by the +proper Clerk, and the Ritters all swore; audibly, with lifted +hands. This is the Ritter Huldigung. + +His Majesty then steps out to the Balcony, for Oath and Homage of +the general Population. General population gave its oath, and +"three great shouts over and above." "ES LEBE DER KONIG!" thrice, +with all their throats. Upon which a shower of Medals, "Homage- +Medals," gold and silver (quantity not mentioned) rained down upon +them, in due succession; and were scrambled for, in the usual way. +"His Majesty," they write, and this is perhaps the one point worth +notice, "his Majesty, contrary to custom and to etiquette, +remained on the Balcony, some time after the ceremony, perhaps a +full half-hour;"--silent there, "with his look fixed attentively +on the immeasurable multitude before the Schloss; and seemed sunk +in deep reflection (BETRACHTUNG):"--an almost awfully eloquent +though inarticulate phenomenon to his Majesty, that of those +multitudes scrambling and huzzaing there! [Preuss, <italic> +Thronbesteigung, <end italic> p. 389.] + +These, with the Cleve one, are all the Hornagings Friedrich was +personally present at; the others he did by Deputy, all in one day +(2d August); and without fuss. Scenic matters these; in which, +except where he can, as in the Konigsberg case, combine +inspections and grave businesses with them, he takes no interest. +However, he is now, for the sake chiefly of inspections and other +real objects, bent on a Journey to Cleve;--the fellow of that to +Konigsberg: Konigsberg, Preussen, the easternmost outlying wing of +his long straggling Dominions; and then Cleve-Julich, its +counterpart on the southwestern side,--there also, with such +contingencies hanging over Cleve-Julich, it were proper to make +some mustering of the Frontier garrisons and affairs. [In regard +to the Day of HULDIGUNG at Cleve, which happily is not of the +least moment to us, Preuss (<italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> +p, 390) and <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> (i. 423) seem +to be in flat contradiction.] His Majesty so purposes: and we +purpose again to accompany,--not for inspection and mustering, but +for an unexpected reason. The grave Journey to Cleve has an +appendage, or comic side-piece, hanging to it; more than one +appendage; which the reader must not miss!--Before setting out, +read these two Fractions, snatched from the Diplomatist Wastebag; +looking well, we gain there some momentary view of Friedrich on +the business side. Of Friedrich, and also of Another:-- + +Sunday, 14th August, 1740, Dickens, who has been reporting +hitherto in a favorable, though in a languid exoteric manner, not +being in any height of favor, England or he,--had express Audience +of his Majesty; being summoned out to Potsdam for that end: +"Sunday evening, about 7 P.M."--Majesty intending to be off on the +Cleve Journey to-morrow. Let us accompany Dickens. Readers may +remember, George II. has been at Hanover for some weeks past; +Bielfeld diligently grinning euphemisms and courtly graciosities +to him; Truchsess hinting, on opportunity, that there are perhaps +weighty businesses in the rear; which, however, on the Britannic +side, seem loath to start. Britannic Majesty is much at a loss +about his Spanish War, so dangerous for kindling France and the +whole world upon him. In regard to which Prussia might be so +important, for or against.--This, in compressed form, is what +Dickens witnesses at Potsdam that Sunday evening from 7 P.M.:-- + +"Audience lasted above an hour: King turned directly upon +business; wishes to have 'Categorical Answers' as to Three Points +already submitted to his Britannic Majesty's consideration. +Clear footing indispensable between us. What you want of me? say +it, and be plain. What I want of you is, These three things:-- + "1. Guarantee for Julich and Berg. All the world knows WHOSE +these Duchies are. Will his Britannic Majesty guarantee me there? +And if so, How, and to what lengths, will he proceed about it? + "2. Settlement about Ost-Friesland. Expectancy of Ost-Friesland +soon to fall heirless, which was granted me long since, though +Hanover makes hagglings, counter-claimings: I must have some +Settlement about that. + "3. The like about those perplexities in Mecklenburg. +No difficulty there if we try heartily, nor is there such pressing +haste about it. + +"These are my three claims on England; and I will try to serve +England as far in return, if it will tell me how. 'Ah, beware of +throwing yourself into the arms of France!' modestly suggests +Dickens.--'Well, if France will guarantee me those Duchies, and +you will not do anything?' answers his Majesty with a fine laugh: +'England I consider my most natural friend and ally; but I must +know what there is to depend on there. Princes are ruled by their +interest; cannot follow their feelings. Let me have an explicit +answer; say, at Wesel, where I am to be on the 24th,'" ten days +hence. Britannic Majesty is at Hanover, and can answer within that +time. "This he twice told me, 'Wesel, 24th,' in the course of our +interview. Permit me to recommend the matter to your Lordship,"-- +my Lord Harrington, now attending the Britannic Majesty. + +"During the whole audience," adds Dickens, "the King was in +extreme good humor; and not only heard with attention all the +considerations I offered, but was not the least offended at any +objections I made to what he said. It is undoubtedly the best way +to behave with frankness to him." These last are Dickens's own +words; let them modestly be a memorandum to your Lordship. +This King goes himself direct to the point; and +straightforwardness, as a primary condition, will profit your +Lordship with him. [Dickens (in State-Paper Office, 17th +August, 1740).] + +Most true advice, this;--and would perhaps be followed, were it +quite easy! But things are very complicated. And the Britannic +Majesty, much plagued with Spanish War and Parliamentary noises in +that unquiet Island, is doubtless glad to get away to Hanover for +a little; and would fain be on holiday in these fine rural months. +Which is not well possible either. Jenkins's Ear, rising at last +like a fiery portent, has kindled the London Fog over yonder, in a +strange way, and the murky stagnancy is all getting on fire; +the English intent, as seldom any Nation was, to give the +Spaniards an effectual beating. Which they hope they can,--though +unexpected difficulties will occur. And, in the mean while, what +a riddle of potentialities for his poor Majesty to read, and pick +his way from!-- + +Bielfeld, in spite of all this, would fain be full of admiration +for the Britannic Majesty. Confesses he is below the middle size, +in fact a tiny little creature, but then his shape is perfect; +leg much to be commended,--which his Majesty knows, standing +always with one leg slightly advanced, and the Order of the Garter +on it, that mankind may take notice. Here is Bielfeld's +description faithfully abridged:-- + +"Big blue eyes, perhaps rather of parboiled character, though +proud enough; eyes flush with his face or more, rather IN RELIEF +than on a level with it,"--A FLEUR DE TETE, after the manner of a +fish, if one might say so, and betokening such an intellect behind +them! "Attitude constrained, leg advanced in that way; +his courtiers call it majestic. Biggish mouth, strictly shut in +the crescent or horse-shoe form (FERMEE EN CROISSANT); curly wig +(A NOEUDS, reminding you of lamb's-wool, color not known); +eyebrows, however, you can see are ashy-blond; general tint is +fundamentally livid; but when in good case, the royal skin will +take tolerably bright colors (PREND D'ASSEZ BELLES COULEURS). +As to the royal mind and understanding, what shall Bielfeld say? +That his Majesty sometimes makes ingenious and just remarks, and +is laudably serious at all times, and can majestically hold his +tongue, and stand with advanced leg, and eyes rather more than +flush. Sense of his dignity is high, as it ought to be; on great +occasions you see pride and a kind of joy mantling in the royal +countenance. Has been known to make explosions, and to be very +furious to Prince Fred and others, when pricked into:--but, my +friend, what mortal is exempt from failings? Majesty reads the +English Newspapers every morning in bed, which are often biting. +Majesty has his Walmoden, a Hanoverian Improper Female, Countess +of Yarmouth so called; quiet, autumnal, fair complexioned, stupid; +who is much a comfort to him. She keeps out of mischief, political +or other; and gives Bielfeld a gracious nod now and then." +[Bielfeld, i. 158.] Harrington is here too;--and Britannic Majesty +and he are busy governing the English Nation on these terms.-- +We return now to the Prussian Majesty. + +About six weeks after that of Dickens,--Cleve Journey and much +else now ended,--Praetorius the Danish Envoy, whom we slightly +knew at Reinsberg once, gives this testimony; writing home to an +Excellency at Copenhagen, whose name we need not inquire into:-- + +"To give your Excellency a just idea of the new Government here, +I must observe that hitherto the King of Prussia does as it were +everything himself; and that, excepting the Finance Minister von +Boden, who preaches frugality, and finds for that doctrine +uncommon acceptance, almost greater even than in the former reign, +his Majesty allows no counselling from any Minister; so that Herr +von Podewils, who is now the working hand in the department of +Foreign Affairs, has nothing given him to do but to expedite the +orders he receives from the Cabinet, his advice not being asked +upon any matter; and so it is with the other Ministers. +People thought the loss of Herr von Thulmeyer," veteran Foreign +Minister whom we have transiently heard of in the Double-Marriage +time, and perhaps have even seen at London or elsewhere, [Died 4th +August (Rodenbeck, p. 20).] "would be irreparable; so expert was +he, and a living archive in that business: however, his post seems +to have vanished with himself. His salary is divided between Herr +von Podewils," whom the reader will sometimes hear of again, +"Kriegsrath (Councillor of War) von Ilgen," son of the old +gentleman we used to know, "and Hofrath Sellentin who is RENDANT +OF THE LEGATIONS-KASSE" (Ambassadors' Paymaster, we could guess, +Ambassador Body having specialty of cash assigned it, comparable +with the specialty of value received from it, in this strict +frugal Country),--neither of which two latter names shall the +reader be troubled with farther. "A good many resolutions, and +responses by the King, I have seen: they combine laconic +expression with an admirable business eye (GESCHAFTSBLICK). +Unhappily,"--at least for us in the Diplomatic line, for your +Excellency and me unhappily,--"there is nobody about the King who +possesses his complete confidence, or whom we can make use of in +regard to the necessary introductions and preliminary movements. +Hereby it comes that,--as certain things can only be handled with +cautious foresight and circumlocution, and in the way of beginning +wide,--an Ambassador here is more thrown out of his course than in +any other Court; and knows not, though his object were steadily in +sight, what road to strike into for getting towards it." [Preuss, +<italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> p. 377 (2d October, 1740).] + + + +Chapter III. + +FRIEDRICH MAKES AN EXCURSION, NOT OF DIRECT SORT +INTO THE CLEVE COUNTRIES. + +King Friedrich did not quite keep his day at Wesel; indeed this +24th was not the first day, but the last of several, he had +appointed to himself for finis to that Journey in the Cleve +Countries; Journey rather complex to arrange. He has several +businesses ahead in those parts; and, as usual, will group them +with good judgment, and thrift of time. Not inspections merely, +but amusements, meetings with friends, especially French friends: +the question is, how to group them with skill, so that the +necessary elements may converge at the right moment, and one shot +kill three or four birds. This is Friedrich's fine way, +perceptible in all these Journeys. The French friends, flying each +on his own track, with his own load of impediments, Voltaire with +his Madame for instance, are a difficult element in such problem; +and there has been, and is, much scheming and corresponding about +it, within the last month especially. + +Voltaire is now at Brussels, with his Du Chatelet, prosecuting +that endless "lawsuit with the House of Honsbruck,"--which he, and +we, are both desirous to have done with. He is at the Hague, too, +now and then; printing, about to print, the ANTI-MACHIAVEL; +corresponding, to right and left, quarrelling with Van Duren the +Printer; lives, while there, in the VIEILLE COUR, in the vast +dusky rooms with faded gilding, and grand old Bookshelves "with +the biggest spider-webs in Europe." Brussels is his place for Law- +Consultations, general family residence; the Hague and that old +spider-web Palace for correcting Proof-sheets; doing one's own +private studies, which we never quite neglect. Fain would +Friedrich see him, fain he Friedrich; but there is a divine +Emilie, there is a Maupertuis, there are--In short, never were +such difficulties, in the cooking of an egg with water boiling; +and much vain correspondence has already been on that subject, as +on others equally extinct. Correspondence which is not pleasant +reading at this time; the rather as no reader can, without endless +searching, even understand it. Correspondence left to us, not in +the cosmic, elucidated or legible state; left mainly as the +Editorial rubbish-wagons chose to shoot it; like a tumbled quarry, +like the ruins of a sacked city;--avoidable by readers who are not +forced into it! [Herr Preuss's edition (<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> vols. xxi. xxii. xxiii.) has come out since +the above was written: it is agreeably exceptional; being, for the +first time, correctly printed, and the editor himself having +mostly understood it,--though the reader still cannot, on the +terms there allowed.] Take the following select bricks as sample, +which are of some use; the general Heading is, + +KING FRIEDERIC TO M. DE VOLTAIRE (at the Hague, or at Brussels). + +"CHARLOTTENBURG, 12th JUNE, 1740.--... My dear Voltaire, resist no +longer the eagerness I have to see you. Do in my favor whatever +your humanity allows. In the end of August, I go to Wesel, and +perhaps farther. Promise that you will come and join me; for I +could not live happy, nor die tranquil, without having embraced +you! Thousand compliments to the Marquise," divine Emilie. "I am +busy with both hands [Corn-Magazines, Free Press, Abolition of +Torture, and much else]; working at the Army with the one hand, at +the People and the Fine Arts with the other." + +"BERLIN, 5th AUGUST, 1740.--... I will write to Madame du +Chatelet, in compliance with your wish:" mark it, reader. +"To speak to you frankly concerning her journey, it is Voltaire, +it is you, it is my Friend that I desire to see; and the divine +Emilie with all her divinity is only the Accessory of the Apollo +Newtonized. + +"I cannot yet say whether I shall travel [incognito into foreign +parts a little] or not travel;" there have been rumors, perhaps +private wishes; but--... "Adieu, dear friend; sublime spirit, +first-born of thinking beings. Love me always sincerely, and be +persuaded that none can love and esteem you more than I. +VALE. FEDERIC." + +"BERLIN, 6th AUGUST [which is next day].--You will have received a +Letter from me dated yesterday; this is the second I write to you +from Berlin; I refer you to what was in the other. If it must be +(FAUT) that Emilie accompany Apollo, I consent; but if I could see +you alone, that is what I would prefer. I should be too much +dazzled; I could not stand so much splendor all at once; it would +overpower me. I should need the veil of Moses to temper the united +radiance of your two divinities." ... In short, don't bring her, +if you please. + +"REMUSBERG [poetic for REINSBERG], 8th AUGUST, 1740.--... My dear +Voltaire, I do believe Van Duren costs you more trouble and pains +than you had with HENRI QUATRE. In versifying the Life of a Hero, +you wrote the history of your own thoughts; but in coercing a +scoundrel you fence with an enemy who is not worthy of you." +To punish him, and cut short his profits, "PRINT, then, as you +wish [your own edition of the ANTI-MACHIAVEL, to go along with +his, and trip the feet from it]. FAITES ROULER LA PRESSE; erase, +change, correct; do as you see best; your judgment about it shall +be mine."--"In eight days I leave for [where thinks the reader? +"DANTZIG" deliberately print all the Editors, careful Preuss among +them; overturning the terrestrial azimuths for us, and making day +night!]--for Leipzig, and reckon on being at Frankfurt on the 22d. +In case you could be there, I expect, on my passage, to give you +lodging! At Cleve or in Holland, I depend for certain on embracing +you." [Preuss, <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xx. +pp. 5, 19-21; Voltaire, <italic> OEuvres, <end italic> lxxii. 226, +&c. (not worth citing, in comparison).] + +Intrinsically the Friedrich correspondence at this time, with +Voltaire especially, among many friends now on the wing towards +Berlin and sending letters, has,--if you are forced into +struggling for some understanding of it, and do get to read parts +of it with the eyes of Friedrich and Voltaire,--has a certain +amiability; and is nothing like so waste and dreary as it looks in +the chaotic or sacked-city condition. Friedrich writes with +brevity, oftenest on practicalities (the ANTI-MACHIAVEL, the +coming Interview, and the like), evidently no time to spare; +writes always with considerable sincerity; with friendliness, +much admiration, and an ingenuous vivacity, to M. de Voltaire. +Voltaire, at his leisure in Brussels or the Old Palace and its +spider-webs, writes much more expansively; not with insincerity, +he either;--with endless airy graciosities, and ingenious twirls, +and touches of flattering unction, which latter, he is aware, must +not be laid on too thick. As thus:-- + +In regard to the ANTI-MACHIAVEL,--Sire, deign to give me your +permissions as to the scoundrel of a Van Duren; well worth while, +Sire,--"IT is a monument for the latest posterity; the only Book +worthy of a King for these fifteen hundred years." + +This is a strongish trowelful, thrown on direct, with adroitness; +and even this has a kind of sincerity. Safer, however, to do it in +the oblique or reflex way,--by Ambassador Cumas, for example:-- + +"I will tell you boldly, Sir [you M. de Camas], I put more value +on this Book (ANTI-MACHIAVEL) than on the Emperor Julian's CAESAR, +or on the MAXIMS of Marcus Aurelius,"--I do indeed, having a kind +of property in it withal! [Voltaire, <italic> OEuvres, <end +italic> lxxii. 280 (to Camas, 18th October, 1740).] + +In fact, Voltaire too is beautiful, in this part of the +Correspondence; but much in a twitter,--the Queen of Sheba, not +the sedate Solomon, in prospect of what is coming. He plumes +himself a little, we perceive, to his d'Argentals and French +Correspondents, on this sublime intercourse he has got into with a +Crowned Head, the cynosure of mankind:---Perhaps even you, my best +friend, did not quite know me, and what merits I had! +Plumes himself a little; but studies to be modest withal; has not +much of the peacock, and of the turkey has nothing, to his old +friends. All which is very naive and transparent; natural and even +pretty, on the part of M. de Voltaire as the weaker vessel.-- +For the rest, it is certain Maupertuis is getting under way at +Paris towards the Cleve rendezvous. Brussels, too, is so near +these Cleve Countries; within two days' good driving:--if only the +times and routes would rightly intersect? + +Friedrich's intention is by no means for a straight journey +towards Cleve: he intends for Baireuth first, then back from +Baireuth to Cleve,--making a huge southward elbow on the map, with +Baireuth for apex or turning-point:--in this manner he will make +the times suit, and have a convergence at Cleve. To Baireuth;--who +knows if not farther? All summer there has gone fitfully a rumor, +that he wished to see France; perhaps Paris itself incognito? +The rumor, which was heard even at Petersburg, [Raumer's <italic> +Beitrage <end italic> (English Translation, London, 1837), p. 15 +(Finch's Despatch, 24th June, 1740).] is now sunk dead again; +but privately, there is no doubt, a glimpse of the sublime French +Nation would be welcome to Friedrich. He could never get to +Travelling in his young time; missed his Grand Tour altogether, +much as he wished it; and he is capable of pranks!--Enough, on +Monday morning, 15th August, 1740, [Rodenbeck, p. 15, slightly in +error: see Dickens's Interview, supra, p. 187.] Friedrich and +Suite leave Potsdam; early enough; go, by Leipzig, by the route +already known to readers, through Coburg and the Voigtland +regions; Wilhelmina has got warning, sits eagerly expecting her +Brother in the Hermitage at Baireuth, gladdest of shrill sisters; +and full of anxieties how her Brother would now be. The travelling +party consisted, besides the King, of seven persons: Prince August +Wilhelm, King's next Brother, Heir-apparent if there come no +children, now a brisk youth of eighteen; Leopold Prince of Anhalt- +Dessau, Old Dessauer's eldest, what we may call the "Young +Dessauer;" Colonel von Borck, whom we shall hear of again; +Colonel von Stille, already heard of (grave men of fifty, these +two); milk-beard Munchow, an Adjutant, youngest of the promoted +Munchows; Algarotti, indispensable for talk; and Fredersdorf, the +House-Steward and domestic Factotum, once Private in Schwerin's +Regiment, whom Bielfeld so admired at Reinsberg, foreseeing what +he would come to. One of Friedrich's late acts was to give +Factotum Fredersdorf an Estate of Land (small enough, I fancy, but +with country-house on it) for solace to the leisure of so useful a +man,--studious of chemistry too, as I have heard. Seven in all, +besides the King. [Rodenbeck, p. 19 (and for Chamberlain +Fredersdorf's estate, p. 15).] Direct towards Baireuth, incognito, +and at the top of their speed. Wednesday, 17th, they actually +arrive. Poor Wilhelmina, she finds her Brother changed; become a +King in fact, and sternly solitary; alone in soul, even as a King +must be! [Wilhelmina, ii. 322, 323.]-- + +"Algarotti, one of the first BEAUX-ESPRITS of this age," as +Wilhelmina defines him,--Friend Algarotti, the young Venetian +gentleman of elegance, in dusky skin, in very white linen and +frills, with his fervid black eyes, "does the expenses of the +conversation." He is full of elegant logic, has speculations on +the great world and the little, on Nature, Art, Papistry, Anti- +Papistry, and takes up the Opera in an earnest manner, as capable +of being a school of virtue and the moral sublime. His respectable +Books on the Opera and other topics are now all forgotten, and +crave not to be mentioned. To me he is not supremely beautiful, +though much the gentleman in manners as in ruffles, and +ingeniously logical:--rather yellow to me, in mind as in skin, and +with a taint of obsolete Venetian Macassar. But to Friedrich he is +thrice-dear; who loves the Sharp faceted cut of the man, and does +not object to his yellow or Extinct-Macassar qualities of mind. +Thanks to that wandering Baltimore for picking up such a jewel and +carrying him Northward! Algarotti himself likes the North: here in +our hardy climates,--especially at Berlin, and were his loved +Friedrich NOT a King,--Algarotti could be very happy in the +liberty allowed. At London, where there is no King, or none to +speak of, and plenty of free Intelligences, Carterets, Lytteltons, +young Pitts and the like, he is also well, were it not for the +horrid smoke upon one's linen, and the little or no French of +those proud Islanders. + +Wilhelmina seems to like him here; is glad, at any rate, that he +does the costs of conversation, better or worse. In the rest is no +hope. Stille, Borck are accomplished military gentlemen; but of +tacit nature, reflective, practical, rather than discursive, and +do not waste themselves by incontinence of tongue. Stille, by his +military Commentaries, which are still known to soldiers that +read, maintains some lasting remembrance of himself: Borck we +shall see engaged in a small bit of business before long. As to +Munchow, the JEUNE MORVEUX of an Adjutant, he, though his manners +are well enough, and he wears military plumes in his hat, is still +an unfledged young creature, "bill still yellow," so to speak;-- +and marks himself chiefly by a visible hankering after that +troublesome creature Marwitz, who is always coquetting. +Friedrich's conversation, especially to me Wilhelmina, seems +"GUINDE, set on stilts," likewise there are frequent cuts of +banter in him; and it is painfully evident he distinguishes my +Sister of Anspach and her foolish Husband, whom he has invited +over hither in a most eager manner, beyond what a poor Wilhelmina +with her old love can pretend to. Patience, my shrill Princess, +Beauty of Baireuth and the world; let us hope all will come right +again! My shrill Princess--who has a melodious strength like that +of war-fifes, too--knows how to be patient; and veils many things, +though of a highly unhypocritical nature. + +These were Three great Days at Baireuth; Wilhelmina is to come +soon, and return the visit at Berlin. To wait upon the King, known +though incognito, "the Bishop of Bamberg" came driving over: +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 419.] Schonborn, +Austrian Kanzler, or who? His old City we once saw (and plenty of +hanged malefactors swinging round it, during that JOURNEY TO THE +REICH);--but the Bishop himself never to our knowledge, Bishop +being absent then, I hope it is the same Bishop of Bamberg, whom +a Friend of Busching's, touring there about that same time, saw +dining in a very extraordinary manner, with medieval trumpeters, +"with waiters in spurs and buff-belts;" [Busching's <italic> +Beitrage; <end italic>--Schlosser (<italic> History of the +Eighteenth Century <end italic>) also quotes the scene.] if it is +not, I have not the slightest shadow of acquaintance with him,-- +there have been so many Bishops of Bamberg with whom one wishes to +have none! On the third day Friedrich and his company went away, +towards Wurzburg; and Wilhelmina was left alone with her +reflections. "I had had so much to say to him; I had got nothing +said at all:" alas, it is ever so. "The King was so changed, grown +so much bigger (GRANDI), you could not have known him again;" +stands finely erect and at full breadth, every inch a King; +his very stature, you would say, increased.--Adieu, my Princess, +pearl of Princesses; all readers will expect your return-visit at +Berlin, which is to be soon. + + +FRIEDRICH STRIKES OFF TO THE LEFT, AND HAS A VIEW OF +STRASBURG FOR TWO DAYS. + +Through Wurzburg, Frankfurt-on-Mayn, speeds Friedrich;-- +Wilhelmina and mankind understand that it is homewards and to +Cleve; but at Frankfurt, in deepest privacy, there occurs a sudden +whirl southward,--up the Rhine-Valley; direct towards Strasburg, +for a sight of France in that quarter! So has Friedrich decided,-- +not quite suddenly, on new Letters here, or new computations about +Cleve; but by forethought taken at Baireuth, as rather appears. +From Frankfurt to Strasburg, say 150 miles; from Strasburg home, +is not much farther than from Frankfurt home: it can be done, +then; husht! + +The incognito is to be rigorous: Friedrich becomes COMTE DUFOUR, a +Prussian-French gentleman; Prince August Wilhelm is Graf von +Schaffgotsch, Algarotti is Graf von Pfuhl, Germans these two; +what Leopold, the Young Dessauer, called himself,--still less what +the others, or whether the others were there at all, and not +shoved on, direct towards Wesel, out of the way as is likelier,-- +can remain uncertain to readers and me. From Frankfurt, then, on +Monday morning, 22d August, 1740, as I compute, through old known +Philipsburg Campaign country, and the lines of Ettlingen and +Stollhofen; there the Royal Party speeds eagerly (weather very +bad, as appears): and it is certain they are at Kehl on Tuesday +evening; looking across the long Rhine Bridge, Strasburg and its +steeples now close at hand. + +This looks to be a romantic fine passage in the History of the +young King;--though in truth it is not, and proves but a feeble +story either to him or us. Concerning which, however, the reader, +especially if he should hear that there exists precise Account of +it, Two Accounts indeed, one from the King's own hand, will not +fail of a certain craving to become acquainted with details. +This craving, foolish rather than wise, we consider it thriftiest +to satisfy at once; and shall give the King's NARRATIVE entire, +though it is a jingling lean scraggy Piece, partly rhyme, "in the +manner of Bachaumont and La Chapelle;" written at the gallop, a +few days hence, and despatched to Voltaire:--"You," dear Voltaire, +"wish to know what I have been about, since leaving Berlin; +annexed you will find a description of it," writes Friedrich. +[<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> xxii. 25 (Wesel, 2d Septemher, +1740).] Out of Voltaire's and other people's waste-baskets, it has +at length been fished up, patch by patch, and pasted together by +victorious modern Editors; and here it is again entire. The other +Narrative, which got into the Newspapers soon after, is likewise +of authentic nature,--Fassmann, our poor old friend, confirming +it, if that were needful,--and is happily in prose. [Given in +<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 420-423;--see likewise +Fassmann's <italic> Merkwurdigster Regierungs-Antritt <end italic> +(poor old Book on FRIEDRICH'S ACCESSION); Preuss +(<italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> pp. 395-400); &c. &c.] +Holding these two Pieces well together, and giving the King's +faithfully translated, in a complete state, it will be possible to +satisfy foolish cravings, and make this Strasburg Adventure +luminous enough. + + + KING FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE (from Wesel, 2d September, 1740), + CHIEFLY IN DOGGEREL, CONCERNING THE RUN TO STRASBURG. +Part of it, incorrect, in Voltaire, <italic> OEuvres <end italic> +(scandalous Piece now called <italic> Memoires, <end italic> once +<italic> Vie Privee du Roi de Prusse <end italic>), ii. 24-26; +finally, in Preuss, <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> +xiv. 156-161, the real and complete affair, as fished up by +victorious Preuss and others. + +"I have just finished a Journey, intermingled with singular +adventures, sometimes pleasant, sometimes the reverse. You know I +had set out for Baireuth,"--BRUXELLES the beautiful French Editor +wrote, which makes Egyptian darkness of the Piece!--"to see a +Sister whom I love no less than esteem. On the road [thither or +thence; or likeliest, THERE], Algarotti and I consulted the map, +to settle our route for returning by Wesel. Frankfurt-on-Mayn +comes always as a principal stage;--Strasburg was no great +roundabout: we chose that route in preference. The INCOGNITO was +decided, names pitched upon [Comte Dufour, and the others]; +story we were to tell: in fine, all was arranged and concerted to +a nicety as well as possible. We fancied we should get to +Strasburg in three days [from Baireuth]. + +But Heaven, which disposes of all things, +Differently regulated this thing. +With lank-sided coursers, +Lineal descendants from Rosinante, +With ploughmen in the dress of postilions, +Blockheads of impertinent nature; +Our carriages sticking fast a hundred times in the road, +We went along with gravity at a leisurely pace, +Knocking against the crags. +The atmosphere in uproar with loud thunder, +The rain-torrents streaming over the Earth +Threatened mankind with the Day of Judgment [VERY BAD WEATHER], +And in spite of our impatience, +Four good days are, in penance, +Lost forever in these jumblings. + +<italic> +Mais le ciel, qui de tout dispose, +Regla differemment la chose. +Avec de coursiers efflanques, +En ligne droites issus de Rosinante, +Et des paysans en postillons masques, +Dutors de race impertinente, +Notre carrosse en cent lieux accroche, +Nous allions gravement, d'une allure indolente, +Gravitant contre les rochers. +Les airs emus par le bruyant tonnerre, +Les torrents d'eau repandus sur la terre, +Du dernier jour menacaient les humains; +Et malgre notre impatience, +Quatre bons jours en penitence +Sont pour jamais perdus dans les charrains. +<end italic> + +"Had all our fatalities been limited to stoppages of speed on the +journey, we should have taken patience; but, after frightful +roads, we found lodgings still frightfuler. + +For greedy landlords +Seeing us pressed by hunger +Did, in a more than frugal manner, +In their infernal hovels, +Poisoning instead of feeding, +Steal from us our crowns. +O age different [in good cheer] from that of Lucullus! + +<italic> +Car des hotes interesses, +De la faim nous voyant presses, +D'une facon plus que frugale, +Dans une chaumiere infernale, +En nous empoisonnant, +Nous volaient nos ecus. +O siecle different des temps de Lucullus! +<end italic> + +"Frightful roads; short of victual, short of drink: nor was that +all. We had to undergo a variety of accidents; and certainly our +equipage must have had a singular air, for in every new place we +came to, they took us for something different. + +Some took us for Kings, +Some for pickpockets well disguised; +Others for old acquaintances. +At times the people crowded out, +Looked us in the eyes, +Like clowns impertinently curious. +Our lively Italian [Algarotti] swore; +For myself I took patience; +The young Count [my gay younger Brother, eighteen at present] + quizzed and frolicked; +The big Count [Heir-apparent of Dessau] silently swung his head, +Wishing this fine Journey to France, +In the bottom of his heart, most christianly at the Devil. + +<italic> +Les uns nous prenaient pour des rois, +D'autres pour des filous courtois, +D'autrespour gens de connaissance; +Parfois le peuple s'attroupait, +Entre les yeux nous regardait +En badauds curieux, remplis d'impertinence. +Notre vif Italien jurait, +Pour moi je prenais patience, +Le jeune Comte folatrait, +Le grand Comte se dandinait, +Et ce beau vogage de France +Dans le fond de son coeur chretiennement damnait. +<end italic> + +"We failed not, however, to struggle gradually along; at last we +arrived in that Stronghold, where [as preface to the War of 1734, +known to some of us]-- + +Where the garrison, too supple, +Surrendered so piteously +After the first blurt of explosion +From the cannon of the French. + +<italic> +Ou a garnison, troupe flasque, +Se rendit si piteusement +Apres la premiere bourasque +Du canon francais foudroyant. +<end italic> + + +You recognize Kehl in this description. It was in that fine +Fortress,--where, by the way, the breaches are still lying +unrepaired [Reich being a slow corpus in regard to such things], +--that the Postmaster, a man of more foresight than we, asked +If we had got passports? + +No, said I to him; of passports +We never had the whim. +Strong ones I believe it would need +To recall, to our side of the limit, +Subjects of Pluto King of the Dead: +But, from the Germanic Empire +Into the gallant and cynical abode +Of Messieurs your pretty Frenchmen,-- +A jolly and beaming air, +Rubicund faces, not ignorant of wine, +These are the passports which, legible if you look on us, +Our troop produces to you for that end. + +<italic> +Non, lui dis-je, des passe-ports +Nous n'eumes jamais la folie. +Il en faudrait, je crois, de forts +Pour ressusciter a la vie +De chez Pluton le roi des morts; +Mais de l'empire germanique +Au sejour galant et cynique +De Messieurs vos jolis Francais, +Un air rebondissant et frais, +Une face rouge et bachique, +Sont les passe-ports qu'en nos traits +Vous produit ici notre clique. +<end italic> + +"No, Messieurs, said the provident Master of Passports; +no salvation without passport. Seeing then that Necessity +had got us in the dilemma of either manufacturing passports +ourselves or not entering Strasburg, we took the former branch +of the alternative and manufactured one;--in which feat, the +Prussian arms, which I had on my seal, were marvellously +furthersome." + +This is a fact, as the old Newspapers and confirmatory Fassmann +more directly apprise us. "The Landlord [or Postmaster] at Kehl, +having signified that there was no crossing without Passport," +Friedrich, at first, somewhat taken aback, bethought him of his +watch-seal with the Royal Arms on it; and soon manufactured the +necessary Passport, signeted in due form;--which, however, gave a +suspicion to the Innkeeper as to the quality of his Guest. +After which, Tuesday evening, 23d August, "they at once got across +to Strasburg," says my Newspaper Friend, "and put up at the SIGN +OF THE RAVEN, there." Or in Friedrich's own jingle:-- + +"We arrived at Strasburg; and the Custom-house corsair, with his +inspectors, seemed content with our evidences. + +These scoundrels spied us, +With one eye reading our passport, +With the other ogling our purse. +Gold, which was always a resource, +Which brought, Jove to the enjoyment +Of Danae whom he caressed; +Gold, by which Caesar governed +The world happy under his sway; +Gold, more a divinity than Mars or Love; +Wonder-working Gold introduced us +That evening, within the walls of Strasburg." +[Given thus far, with several slight errors, in Voltaire, ii. +24-26;--the remainder, long unknown, had to be fished up, patch by +patch (Preuss, <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xiv. +159-161).] + +<italic> +Ces scelerats nous epiaient, +D'un oeil le passe-port lisaient, +De l'autre lorgnaient notre bourse. +L'or, qui toujours fut de ressource, +Par lequel Jupin jouissait +De Danae, qu'il caressait; +L'or, par qui Cesar gouvernait +Le monde heureux sous son empire; +L'or, plus dieu que Mars et l'Amour, +Le soir, dans les murs de Strasbourg. +<end italic> + +Sad doggerel; permissible perhaps as a sample of the Friedrich +manufacture, surely not otherwise! There remains yet more than +half of it; readers see what their foolish craving has brought +upon them! Doggerel out of which no clear story, such story as +there is, can be had; though, except the exaggeration and +contortion, there is nothing of fiction in it. We fly to the +Newspaper, happily at least a prose composition, which begins at +this point; and shall use the Doggerel henceforth as illustration +only or as repetition in the Friedrich-mirror, of a thing +OTHERWISE made clear to us:-- + +Having got into Strasburg and the RAVEN HOTEL; Friedrich now on +French ground at last, or at least on Half-French, German-French, +is intent to make the most of circumstances. The Landlord, with +one of Friedrich's servants, is straightway despatched into the +proper coffee-houses to raise a supper-party of Officers; politely +asks any likely Officer, "If he will not do a foreign Gentleman +[seemingly of some distinction, signifies Boniface] the honor to +sup with him at the Raven?"--"No, by Jupiter!" answer the most, in +their various dialects: "who is he that we should sup with him?" +Three, struck by the singularity of the thing, undertake; and with +these we must be content. Friedrich--or call him M. le Comte +Dufour, with Pfuhl, Schaffgotsch and such escort as we see-- +politely apologizes on the entrance of these officers: +"Many pardons, gentlemen, and many thanks. Knowing nobody; +desirous of acquaintance:--since you are so good, how happy, by a +little informality, to have brought brave Officers to keep me +company, whom I value beyond other kinds of men!" + +The Officers found their host a most engaging gentleman: +his supper was superb, plenty of wine, "and one red kind they had +never tasted before, and liked extremely;"--of which he sent some +bottles to their lodging next day. The conversation turned on +military matters, and was enlivened with the due sallies. +This foreign Count speaks French wonderfully; a brilliant man, +whom the others rather fear: perhaps something more than a Count? +The Officers, loath to go, remembered that their two battalions +had to parade next morning, that it was time to be in bed: "I will +go to your review," said the Stranger Count: the delighted +Officers undertake to come and fetch him, they settle with him +time and method; how happy! + +On the morrow, accordingly, they call and fetch him; he looks at +the review; review done, they ask him to supper for this evening: +"With pleasure!" and "walks with them about the Esplanade, to see +the guard march by." Before parting, he takes their names, writes +them in his tablets; says, with a smile, "He is too much obliged +ever to forget them." This is Wednesday, the 24th of August, 1740; +Field-Marshal Broglio is Commandant in Strasburg, and these +obliging Officers are "of the regiment Piedmont,"--their names on +the King's tablets I never heard mentioned by anybody (or never +till the King's Doggerel was fished up again). Field-Marshal +Broglio my readers have transiently seen, afar off;--"galloping +with only one boot," some say "almost in his shirt," at the Ford +of Secchia, in those Italian campaigns, five years ago, the +Austrians having stolen across upon him:--he had a furious gallop, +with no end of ridicule, on that occasion; is now Commandant here; +and we shall have a great deal more to do with him within the next +year or two. + +"This same day, 24th, while I [the Newspaper volunteer Reporter or +Own Correspondent, seemingly a person of some standing, whose +words carry credibility in the tone of them] was with Field- +Marshal Broglio our Governor here, there came two gentlemen to be +presented to him; 'German Cavaliers' they were called; who, I now +find, must have been the Prince of Prussia and Algarotti. +The Field-Marshal,"--a rather high-stalking white-headed old +military gentleman, bordering on seventy, of Piedmontese air and +breed, apt to be sudden and make flounderings, but the soul of +honor, "was very polite to the two Cavaliers, and kept them to +dinner. After dinner there came a so-styled 'Silesian Nobleman,' +who likewise was presented to the Field-Marshal, and affected not +to know the other two: him I now find to have been the Prince +of Anhalt." + +Of his Majesty's supper with the Officers that Wednesday, we are +left to think how brilliant it was: his Majesty, we hear farther, +went to the Opera that night,--the Polichinello or whatever the +"Italian COMODIE" was;--"and a little girl came to his box with +two lottery-tickets fifteen pence each, begging the foreign +Gentleman for the love of Heaven to buy them of her; which he did, +tearing them up at once, and giving the poor creature four +ducats," equivalent to two guineas, or say in effect even five +pounds of the present British currency. The fame of this foreign +Count and his party at The Raven is becoming very loud over +Strasburg, especially in military circles. Our volunteer Own +Correspondent proceeds (whom we mean to contrast with the Royal +Doggerel by and by):-- + +"Next morning," Thursday, 25th August, "as the Marshal with above +two hundred Officers was out walking on the Esplanade, there came +a soldier of the Regiment Luxemburg, who, after some stiff fugling +motions, of the nature of salutation partly, and partly demand for +privacy, intimated to the Marshal surprising news: That the +Stranger in The Raven was the King of Prussia in person; he, the +soldier, at present of the Regiment Luxemburg, had in other days, +before he deserted, been of the Prussian Crown-Prince's regiment; +had consequently seen him in Berlin, Potsdam and elsewhere a +thousand times and more, and even stood sentry where he was: +the fact is beyond dispute, your Excellency! said this +soldier."--Whew! + +Whereupon a certain Colonel, Marquis de Loigle, with or without a +hint from Broglio, makes off for The Raven; introduces himself, as +was easy; contrives to get invited to stay dinner, which also was +easy. During dinner the foreign Gentleman expressed some wish to +see their fortress. Colonel Loigle sends word to Broglio; +Broglio despatches straightway an Officer and fine carriage: +"Will the foreign Gentleman do me the honor?" The foreign +Gentleman, still struggling for incognito, declines the uppermost +seat of honor in the carriage; the two Officers, Loigle and this +new one, insist on taking the inferior place. Alas, the incognito +is pretty much out. Calling at some coffee-house or the like on +the road, a certain female, "Madame de Fienne," named the foreign +Gentleman "Sire,"--which so startled him that, though he utterly +declined such title, the two Officers saw well how it was. + +"After survey of the works, the two attendant Officers had +returned to the Field-Marshal; and about 4 P.M. the high Stranger +made appearance there. But the thing had now got wind, 'King of +Prussia here incognito!' The place was full of Officers, who came +crowding about him: he escaped deftly into the Marechal's own +Cabinet; sat there, an hour, talking to the Marechal [little +admiring the Marechal's talk, as we shall find], still insisting +on the incognito,"--to which Broglio, put out in his high paces by +this sudden thing, and apt to flounder, as I have heard, was not +polite enough to conform altogether. "What shall I do, in this +sudden case?" poor Broglio is thinking to himself: "must write to +Court; perhaps try to detain--?" Friedrioh's chief thought +naturally is, One cannot be away out of this too soon. "Sha'n't we +go to the Play, then, Monsieur le Marechal? Play-hour is come!"-- +Own Correspondent of the Newspaper proceeds:-- + +"The Marechal then went to the Play, and all his Officers with +him; thinking their royal prize was close at their heels. +Marechal and Officers fairly ahead, coast once clear, their royal +prize hastened back to The Raven, paid his bill; hastily summoning +Schaffgotsch and the others within hearing; shot off like +lightning; and was seen in Strasburg no more. Algarotti, who was +in the box with Broglio, heard the news in the house; regretful +rumor among the Officers, 'He is gone!' In about a quarter of an +hour Algarotti too slipped out; and vanished by extra post"-- +straight towards Wesel; but could not overtake the King (whose +road, in the latter part of it, went zigzag, on business as is +likely), nor see him again till they met in that Town. +[From <italic> Helden-Geschichte <end italic> (i. 420-424), &c.] + +This is the Prose Truth of those fifty or eight-and-forty hours in +Strasburg, which were so mythic and romantic at that time. +Shall we now apply to the Royal Doggerel again, where we left off, +and see the other side of the picture? Once settled in The Raven, +within Strasburg's walls, the Doggerel continues:-- + +"You fancy well that there was now something to exercise my +curiosity; and what desire I had to know the French Nation in +France itself. + +There I saw at length those French, +Of whom you have sung the glories; +A people despised by the English, +Whom their sad rationality fills with black bile; +Those French, whom our Germans +Reckon all to be destitute of sense; +Those French, whose History consists of Love-stories, +I mean the wandering kind of Love, not the constant; +Foolish this People, headlong, high-going, +Which sings beyond endurance; +Lofty in its good fortune, crawling in its bad; +Of an unpitying extent of babble, +To hide the vacancy of its ignorant mind. +Of the Trifling it is a tender lover; +The Trifling alone takes possession of its brain. +People flighty, indiscreet, imprudent, +Turning like the weathercock to every wind. +Of the ages of the Caesars those of the Louises are the shadow; +Paris is the ghost, of Rome, take it how you will. +No, of those vile French you are not one: +You think; they do not think at all. + +<italic> +La je vis enfin ces Francais +Dont vous avez chante la gloire; +Peuple meprise' des Anglais, +Que leur triste raison remplit de bile noire; +Ces Francais, que nos Allemands +Pensent tous prives de bon sens; +Ces Francais, do nt l'amour pourrait dicter l'histoire, +Je dis l'amour volage, et non l'amour constant; +Ce peuple fou, brusque et galant, +Chansonnier insupportable, +Superbe en sa fortune, en son malheur rampant, +D'un bavardage impitoyable, +Pour cacher le creux d'un esprit ignorant, +Tendre amant de la bagatelle, +Elle entre seule en sa cervelle; +Leger, indiscret, imprudent, +Comme ume girouette il revire a tout vent. +Des siecles des Cesars ceux des Louis sont l'ombre; +Rome efface Paris en tout sens, en tout point. +Non, des vils Francais vous n'etes pas du nombre; +Vous pensez, ils ne pensent point. +<end italic> + +"Pardon, dear Voltaire, this definition of the French; at worst, +it is only of those in Strasburg I speak. To scrape acquaintance, +I had to invite some Officers on our arrival, whom of course I did +not know. + +Three of them came at once, +Gayer, more content than Kings; +Singing with rusty voice. +In verse, their amorous exploits, +Set to a hornpipe. + +<italic> +Trois d'eux s'en vinrent a la fois, +Plus gais, plus contents que des rois, +Chantant d'une voix enrouee, +En vers, leurs amoureux exploits, +Ajustes sur une bourree. +<end italic> + +"M. de la Crochardiere and M. Malosa [two names from the tablets, +third wanting] had just come from a dinner where the wine had not +been spared. + +Of their hot friendship I saw the flame grow, +The Universe would have taken us for perfect friends: +But the instant of good-night blew out the business; +Friendship disappeared without regrets, +With the games, the wine, the table and the viands. + +<italic> +De leur chaude amitie je vis croitre le flamme, +L'univers nous eut pris pour des amis parfaits; +Mais l'instant des adieux en detruisit la trame, +L'amitie disparut, ssns causer des regrets, +Avec le jeu, le vin, et la table, et les mets. +<end italic> + +"Next day, Monsieur the Gouverneur of the Town and Province, +Marechal of France, Chevalier of the Orders of the King, &c. &c., +--Marechal Duc de Broglio, in fact," who was surprised at Secchia +in the late War,-- + +This General always surprised. +Whom with regret, young Louis [your King] +Saw without breeches in Italy +["With only one boot," was the milder rumor; which we adopted +(supra, vol. vi. p. 472), but this sadder one, too, was current; +and "Broglio's breeches," or the vain aspiration after them, like +a vanished ghost of breeches, often enough turn up in the +old Pamphlets.] +Galloping to hide away his life +From the Germans, unpolite fighters;-- + +<italic> +Ce general toujours surpris, +Qu'a regret le jeune Louis +Vit sans culottes en Italie, +Courir pour derober sa vie +Aux Germains, guerriers impolis. +<end italic> + +this General wished to investigate your Comte Dufour,--foreign +Count, who the instant he arrives sets about inviting people to +supper that are perfect strangers. He took the poor Count for a +sharper; and prudently advised M. de la Crochardiere not to be +duped by him. It was unluckily the good Marechal that proved to +be duped. + +He was born for surprise. +His white hair, his gray beard, +Formed a reverend exterior. +Outsides are often deceptive: +He that, by the binding, judges +Of a Book and its Author +May, after a page of reading, +Chance to recognize his mistake. + +<italic> +Il etait ne pour la surprise. +Ses cheveux blancs, sa barbe grise, +Formaient un sage exterieur. +Le dehors est souvent trompeur; +Qui juge par la reliure +D'un ouvrage et de son auteur +Dans une page de lecture +Peut reconnaitre son erreur. +<end italic> + +"That was my own experience; for of wisdom I could find nothing +except in his gray hair and decrepit appearance. His first opening +betrayed him; no great well of wit this Marechal, + +Who, drunk with his own grandeur, +Informs you of his name and his titles, +And authority as good as unlimited. +He cited to me all the records +Where his name is registered, +Babbled about his immense power, +About his valor, his talents +So salutary to France;-- +He forgot that, three years ago +[Six to a nearness,--"15th September, 1734," if your Majesty will +be exact.] +Men did not praise his prudence. + +<italic> +Qui, de sa grandeur enivre; +Decline son nom et ses titres, +Et son pouvoir a rien borne. +Il me cita tous les registres +Ou son nom est enregistre; +Bavard de son pouvoir immense, +De sa valeur, de ces talents +Si salutaires a la France: +Il oubliait, passe trois ans, +Qu'on ne louait pas sa prudence. +<end italic> + +"Not satisfied with seeing the Marechal, I saw the guard mounted + +By these Frenchmen, burning with glory, +Who, on four sous a day, +Will make of Kings and of Heroes the memory flourish: +Slaves crowned by the hands of Victory, +Unlucky herds whom the Court +Tinkles hither and thither by the sound of fife and drum. + +<italic> +A ces Francais brulants de gloire, +Dotes de quatre sous par jour, +Qui des rois, des heros font fleurir la memoire, +Esclaves couronnes des mains de la victoire, +Troupeaux malheureux que la cour +Dirige au seul bruit du tambour. +<end italic> + +"That was my fated term. A deserter from our troops got eye on me, +recognised me and denounced me. + +This wretched gallows-bird got eye on me; +Such is the lot of all earthly things; +And so of our fine mystery +The whole secret came to light." + +<italic> +Ce malheureux pendard me vit, +C'est le sort de toutes les choses; +Ainsi de motre pot aux roses +Tout le secret se decouvrit. +<end italic> + +Well; we must take this glimpse, such as it is, into the interior +of the young man,--fine buoyant, pungent German spirit, roadways +for it very bad, and universal rain-torrents falling, yet with +coruscations from a higher quarter;--and you can forget, if need +be, the "Literature" of this young Majesty, as you would a +staccato on the flute by him! In after months, on new occasion +rising, "there was no end to his gibings and bitter pleasantries +on the ridiculous reception Broglio had given him at Strasburg," +says Valori, [<italic> Memoires, <end italic> i. 88.]--of which +this Doggerel itself offers specimen. + +"Probably the weakest Piece I ever translated?" exclaims one, who +has translated several such. Nevertheless there is a straggle of +pungent sense in it,--like the outskirts of lightning, seen in +that dismally wet weather, which the Royal Party had. Its wit is +very copious, but slashy, bantery, and proceeds mainly by +exaggeration and turning topsy-turvy; a rather barren species of +wit. Of humor, in the fine poetic sense, no vestige. But there is +surprising veracity,--truthfulness unimpeachable, if you will read +well. What promptitude, too;--what funds for conversation, when +needed! This scraggy Piece, which is better than the things people +often talk to one another, was evidently written as fast as the +pen could go.--"It is done, if such a Hand could have DONE it, in +the manner of Bachaumont and La Chapelle," says Voltaire +scornfully, in that scandalous VIE PRIVEE;--of which phrase this +is the commentary, if readers need one:-- + +"Some seventy or eighty years before that date, a M. Bachaumont +and a M. la Chapelle, his intimate, published, in Prose skipping +off into dancings of Verse every now and then, 'a charming +RELATION of a certain VOYAGE or Home Tour' (whence or whither, or +correctly when, this Editor forgets), ["First printed in 1665," +say the Bibliographies; "but known to La Fontaine some time +before." Good!--Bachaumont, practically an important and +distinguished person, not literary by trade, or indeed otherwise +than by ennui, was he that had given (some fifteen years before) +the Nickname FRONDE (Bickering of Schoolboys) to the wretched +Historical Object which is still so designated in French annals.] +which they had made in partnership. 'RELATION' capable still of +being read, if one were tolerably idle;--it was found then to be +charming, by all the world; and gave rise to a new fashion in +writing; which Voltaire often adopts, and is supremely good at; +and in which Friedrich, who is also fond of it, by no means +succeeds so well." + +Enough, Friedrich got to Wesel, back to his business, in a day or +two; and had done, as we forever have, with the Strasburg Escapade +and its Doggerel. + + +FRIEDRICH FINDS M. DE MAUPERTUIS; NOT YET M. DE VOLTAIRE. + +Friedrich got to Wesel on the 29th; found Maupertuis waiting +there, according to appointment: an elaborately polite, somewhat +sublime scientific gentleman; ready to "engraft on the Berlin +crab-tree," and produce real apples and Academics there, so soon +as the King, the proprietor, may have leisure for such a thing. +Algarotti has already the honor of some acquaintance with +Maupertuis. Maupertuis has been at Brussels, on the road hither; +saw Voltaire and even Madame,--which latter was rather a ticklish +operation, owing to grudges and tiffs of quarrel that had risen, +but it proved successful under the delicate guidance of Voltaire. +Voltaire is up to oiling the wheels: "There you are, Monsieur, +like the [don't name What, though profane Voltaire does, writing +to Maupertuis a month ago]--Three Kings running after you!" A new +Pension to you from France; Russia outbidding France to have you; +and then that LETTER of Friedrich's, which is in all the +Newspapers: "Three Kings,"--you plainly great man, Trismegistus of +the Sciences called Pure! Madame honors you, has always done: +one word of apology to the high female mind, it will work wonders; +--come now! [Voltaire, <italic> OEuvres, <end italic> lxxii. 217, +216, 230 (Hague, 21st July, 1740, and Brussels, 9th Aug. &c).] + +No reader guesses in our time what a shining celestial body the +Maupertuis, who is now fallen so dim again, then was to mankind. +In cultivated French society there is no such lion as +M. Maupertuis since he returned from flattening the Earth in the +Arctic regions. "The Exact Sciences, what else is there to depend +on?" thinks French cultivated society: "and has not Monsieur done +a feat in that line?" Monsieur, with fine ex-military manners, has +a certain austere gravity, reticent loftiness and polite +dogmatism, which confirms that opinion. A studious ex-military +man,--was Captain of Dragoons once, but too fond of study,--who is +conscious to himself, or who would fain be conscious, that he is, +in all points, mathematical, moral and other, the man. A difficult +man to live with in society. Comes really near the limit of what +we call genius, of originality, poetic greatness in thinking;--but +never once can get fairly over said limit, though always +struggling dreadfully to do so. Think of it! A fatal kind of man; +especially if you have made a lion of him at any time. Of his +envies, deep-hidden splenetic discontents and rages, with +Voltaire's return for them, there will be enough to say in the +ulterior stages. He wears--at least ten years hence he openly +wears, though I hope it is not yet so flagrant--"a red wig with +yellow bottom (CRINIERE JAUNE);" and as Flattener of the Earth, +is, with his own flattish red countenance and impregnable stony +eyes, a man formidable to look upon, though intent to be amiable +if you do the proper homage. As to the quarrel with Madame take +this Note; which may prove illustrative of some things by +and by:-- + +Maupertuis is well known at Cirey; such a lion could not fail +there. All manner of Bernouillis, Clairauts, high mathematical +people, are frequent guests at Cirey: reverenced by Madame,--who +indeed has had her own private Professor of Mathematics; one Konig +from Switzerland (recommended by those Bernouillis), diligently +teaching her the Pure Sciences this good while back, not without +effect; and has only just parted with him, when she left on this +Brussels expedition. A BON GARCON, Voltaire says; though +otherwise, I think, a little noisy on occasion. There has been no +end of Madame's kindness to him, nay to his Brother and him,--sons +of a Theological Professorial Syriac-Hebrew kind of man at Berne, +who has too many sons;--and I grieve to report that this heedless +Konig has produced an explosion in Madame's feelings, such as +little beseemed him. On the road to Paris, namely, as we drove +hitherward to the Honsbruck Lawsuit by way of Paris, in Autumn +last, there had fallen out some dispute, about the monads, the VIS +VIVA, the infinitely little, between Madame and Konig; dispute +which rose CRESCENDO in disharmonious duet, and "ended," testifies +M. de Voltaire, "in a scene TRESDESAGREABLE." Madame, with an +effort, forgave the thoughtless fellow, who is still rather young, +and is without malice. But thoughtless Konig, strong in his +opinion about the infinitely little, appealed to Maupertuis: +"Am not I right, Monsieur?" "HE is right beyond question!" wrote +Maupertuis to Madame; "somewhat dryly," thinks Voltaire: and the +result is, there is considerable rage in one celestial mind ever +since against another male one in red wig and yellow bottom; +and they are not on speaking terms, for a good many months past. +Voltaire has his heart sore ("J'EN AI LE COEUR PERCE") about it, +needs to double-dose Maupertuis with flattery; and in fact has +used the utmost diplomacy to effect some varnish of a +reconcilement as Maupertuis passed on this occasion. As for Konig, +who had studied in some Dutch university, he went by and by to be +Librarian to the Prince of Orange; and we shall not fail to hear +of him again,--once more upon the infinitely little. +[From <italic> OEuvres de Voltaire, <end italic> ii. 126, lxxii. +(20, 216, 230), lxiii. (229-239), &c. &c.] + +Voltaire too, in his way, is fond of these mathematical people; +eager enough to fish for knowledge, here as in all elements, when +he has the chance offered: this is much an interest of his at +present. And he does attain sound ideas, outlines of ideas, in +this province,--though privately defective in the due +transcendency of admiration for it;--was wont to discuss cheerily +with Konig, about VIS VIVA, monads, gravitation and the infinitely +little; above all, bows to the ground before the red-wigged +Bashaw, Flattener of the Earth, whom for Madame's sake and his own +he is anxious to be well with. "Fall on your face nine times, ye +esoteric of only Impure Science!"--intimates Maupertuis to +mankind. "By all means!" answers M. de Voltaire, doing it with +alacrity; with a kind of loyalty, one can perceive, and also with +a hypocrisy grounded on love of peace. If that is the nature of +the Bashaw, and one's sole mode of fishing knowledge from him, +why not? thinks M. de Voltaire. His patience with M. de +Maupertuis, first and last, was very great. But we shall +find it explode at length, a dozen years hence, in a +conspicuous manner!-- + +"Maupertuis had come to us to Cirey, with Jean Bernouilli," says +Voltaire; "and thenceforth Maupertuis, who was born the most +jealous of men, took me for the object of this passion, which has +always been very dear to him." [VIE PRIVEE.] Husht, Monsieur!-- +Here is a poor rheumatic kind of Letter, which illustrates the +interim condition, after that varnish of reconcilement +at Brussels:-- + + VOLTAIRE TO M. DE MAUPERTUIS (at Wesel, waiting for the King, + or with him rather). + + "BRUSSELS, 29th August (1740), <italic> 3d year since + the world flattened. <end italic> +"How the Devil, great Philosopher, would you have had me write to +you at Wesel? I fancied you gone from Wesel, to seek the King of +Sages on his Journey somewhere. I had understood, too, they were +so delighted to have you in that fortified lodge (BOUGE FORTIFIE) +that you must be taking pleasure there, for he that gives pleasure +gets it. + +"You have already seen the jolly Ambassador of the amiablest +Monarch in the world,"--Camas, a fattish man, on his road to +Versailles (who called at Brussels here, with fine compliments, +and a keg of Hungary Wine, as YOU may have heard whispered). +"No doubt M. de Camas is with you. For my own share, I think it is +after you that he is running at present. But in truth, at the hour +while I say this, you are with the King;"--a lucky guess; King did +return to Wesel this very day. "The Philosopher and the Prince +perceive already that they are made for each other. You and +M. Algarotti will say, FACIAMUS HIC TRIA TABERNACULA: as to me, +I can only make DUO TABERNACULA,"--profane Voltaire! + +"Without doubt I would be with you if I were not at Brussels; +but my heart is with you all the same; and is the subject, all the +same, of a King who is, formed to reign over every thinking and +feeling being. I do not despair that Madame du Chatelet will find +herself somewhere on your route: it will be a scene in a fairy +tale;--she will arrive with a SUFFICIENT REASON [as your Leibnitz +says] and with MONADS. She does not love you the less though she +now believes the universe a PLENUM, and has renounced the notion +of VOID. Over her you have an ascendant which you will never lose. +In fine, my dear Monsieur, I wish as ardently as she to embrace +you the soonest possible. I recommend myself to your friendship in +the Court, worthy of you, where you now are."--TOUT A VOUS, +somewhat rheumatic! [Voltaire, lxxii. p. 243.] + +Always an anxious almost tremulous desire to conciliate this big +glaring geometrical bully in red wig. Through the sensitive +transparent being of M. de Voltaire, you may see that feeling +almost painfully busy in every Letter he writes to the Flattener +of the Earth. + + + +Chapter IV. + +VOLTAIRE'S FIRST INTERVIEW WITH FRIEDRICH. + +At Wesel, in the rear of all this travelling and excitement, +Friedrich falls unwell; breaks down there into an aguish feverish +distemper, which, for several months after, impeded his movements, +would he have yielded to it. He has much business on hand, too,-- +some of it of prickly nature just now;--but is intent as ever on +seeing Voltaire, among the first things. Diligently reading in the +Voltaire-Friedrich Correspondence (which is a sad jumble of +misdates and opacities, in the common editions), [Preuss (the +recent latest Editor, and the only well-informed one, as we said) +prints with accuracy; but cannot be read at all (in the sense of +UNDERSTOOD) without other light.] this of the aguish condition +frequently turns up; "Quartan ague," it seems; occasionally very +bad; but Friedrich struggles with it; will not be cheated of any +of his purposes by it. + +He had a busy fortnight here; busier than we yet imagine. +Much employment there naturally is of the usual Inspection sort; +which fails in no quarter of his Dominions, but which may be +particularly important here, in these disputed Berg-Julich +Countries, when the time of decision falls. How he does his +Inspections we know;--and there are still weightier matters afoot +here, in a silent way, of which we shall have to speak before +long, and all the world will speak. Business enough, parts of it +grave and silent, going on, and the much that is public, +miscellaneous, small: done, all of it, in a rapid-punctual precise +manner;--and always, after the crowded day, some passages of +Supper with the Sages, to wind up with on melodious terms. A most +alert and miscellaneously busy young King, in spite of the ague. + +It was in these Cleve Countries, and now as probably as +afterwards, that the light scene recorded in Laveaux's poor +HISTORY, and in all the Anecdote-Books, transacted itself one day. +Substance of the story is true; though the details of it go all at +random,--somewhat to this effect:-- + +"Inspecting his Finance Affairs, and questioning the parties +interested, Friedrich notices a certain Convent in Cleve, which +appears to have, payable from the Forest-dues, considerable +revenues bequeathed by the old Dukes, 'for masses to be said on +their behalf.' He goes to look at the place; questions the Monks +on this point, who are all drawn out in two rows, and have broken +into TE-DEUM at sight of him: 'Husht! You still say those Masses, +then?' 'Certainly, your Majesty!'--'And what good does anybody get +of them?' 'Your Majesty, those old Sovereigns are to obtain +Heavenly mercy by them, to be delivered out of Purgatory by +them.'--'Purgatory? It is a sore thing for the Forests, all this +while! And they are not yet out, those poor souls, after so many +hundred years of praying?' Monks have a fatal apprehension, No. +'When will they be out, and the thing complete?' Monks cannot say. +'Send me a courier whenever it is complete!' sneers the King, and +leaves them to their TE-DEUM." [C. Hildebrandt's Modern Edition +of the (mostly dubious) <italic> Anekdoten und Charakterzuge aus +dem Leben Friedrichs des Grossen <end italic> (and a very ignorant +and careless Edition it is; 6 vols. 12mo, Halberstadt, 1829), ii. +160; Laveaus (whom we already cited), <italic> Vie de Frederic; +<end italic> &c. &c. Nicolai's <italic> Anekdoten <end italic> +alone, which are not included in this Hildebrandt Collection, are +of sure authenticity; the rest, occasionally true, and often with +a kind of MYTHIC truth in them worth attending to, are otherwise +of all degrees of dubiety, down to the palpably false and absurd.] + +Mournful state of the Catholic Religion so called! How long must +these wretched Monks go on doing their lazy thrice-deleterious +torpid blasphemy; and a King, not histrionic but real, merely +signify that he laughs at them and it? Meseems a heavier whip than +that of satire might be in place here, your Majesty? The lighter +whip is easier;--Ah yes, undoubtedly! cry many men. But horrible +accounts are running up, enough to sink the world at last, while +the heavier whip is lazily withheld, and lazy blasphemy, fallen +torpid, chronic, and quite unconscious of being blasphemous, +insinuates itself into the very heart's-blood of mankind! +Patience, however; the heavy whip too is coming,--unless universal +death be coming. King Friedrich is not the man to wield such whip. +Quite other work is in store for King Friedrich; and Nature will +not, by any suggestion of that terrible task, put him out in the +one he has. He is nothing of a Luther, of a Cromwell; can look +upon fakirs praying by their rotatory calabash, as a ludicrous +platitude; and grin delicately as above, with the approval of his +wiser contemporaries. Speed to him on his own course! + +What answer Friedrich found to his English proposals,--answer due +here on the 24th from Captain Dickens,--I do not pointedly learn; +but can judge of it by Harrington's reply to that Despatch of +Dickens's, which entreated candor and open dealing towards his +Prussian Majesty. Harrington is at Herrenhausen, still with the +Britannic Majesty there; both of them much at a loss about their +Spanish War, and the French and other aspects upon it: "Suppose +his Prussian Majesty were to give himself to France against us!" +We will hope, not. Harrington's reply is to the effect, "Hum, +drum:--Berg and Julich, say you? Impossible to answer; minds not +made up here:--What will his Prussian Majesty do for US?" +Not much, I should guess, till something more categorical come +from you! His Prussian Majesty is careful not to spoil anything by +over-haste; but will wait and try farther to the utmost, Whether +England or France is the likelier bargain for him. + +Better still, the Prussian Majesty is intent to do something for +himself in that Berg-Julich matter: we find him silently examining +these Wesel localities for a proper "entrenched Camp," Camp say of +40,000, against a certain contingency that may be looked for. +Camp which will much occupy the Gazetteers when they get eye on +it. This is one of the concerns he silently attends to, on +occasion, while riding about in the Cleve Countries. Then there is +another small item of business, important to do well, which is now +in silence diligently getting under way at Wesel; which also is of +remarkable nature, and will astonish the Gazetteer and Diplomatic +circles. This is the affair with the Bishop of Liege, called also +the Affair of Herstal, which his Majesty has had privately laid up +in the corner of his mind, as a thing to be done during this +Excursion. Of which the reader shall hear anon, to great lengths, +--were a certain small preliminary matter, Voltaire's Arrival in +these parts, once off our hands. + +Friedrich's First Meeting with Voltaire! These other high things +were once loud in the Gazetteer and Diplomatic circles, and had no +doubt they were the World's History; and now they are sunk wholly +to the Nightmares, and all mortals have forgotten them,--and it is +such a task as seldom was to resuscitate the least memory of them, +on just cause of a Friedrich or the like, so impatient are men of +what is putrid and extinct:--and a quite unnoticed thing, +Voltaire's First Interview, all readers are on the alert for it, +and ready to demand of me impossibilities about it! Patience, +readers. You shall see it, without and within, in such light as +there was, and form some actual notion of it, if you will +co-operate. From the circum-ambient inanity of Old Newspapers, +Historical shot-rubbish, and unintelligible Correspondences, we +sift out the following particulars, of this First Meeting, or +actual Osculation of the Stars. + +The Newspapers, though their eyes were not yet of the Argus +quality now familiar to us, have been intent on Friedrich during +this Baireuth-Cleve Journey, especially since that sudden eclipse +of him at Strasburg lately; forming now one scheme of route for +him, now another; Newspapers, and even private friends, being a +good deal uncertain about his movements. Rumor now ran, since his +reappearance in the Cleve Countries, that Friedrich meant to have +a look at Holland before going home, And that had, in fact, been a +notion or intention of Friedrich's. "Holland? We could pass +through Brussels on the way, and see Voltaire!" thought he. + +In Brussels this was, of course, the rumor of rumors. +As Voltaire's Letters, visibly in a twitter, still testify to us. +King of Prussia coming! Madame du Chatelet, the "Princess Tour" +(that is, Tour-and-Taxis), all manner of high Dames are on the +tiptoe. Princess Tour hopes she shall lodge this unparalleled +Prince in her Palace: "You, Madame?" answers the Du Chatelet, +privately, with a toss of her head: "His Majesty, I hope, belongs +more to M. de Voltaire and me: he shall lodge here, please +Heaven!" Voltaire, I can observe, has sublime hostelry +arrangements chalked out for his Majesty, in case he go to Paris; +which he does n't, as we know. Voltaire is all on the alert, awake +to the great contingencies far and near; the Chatelet-Voltaire +breakfast-table,--fancy it on those interesting mornings, while +the post comes round! [Voltaire, xxii. 238-256 (Letters 22d +August-22d September, 1740).] + +Alas, in the first days of September,--Friedrich's Letter is dated +"Wesel, 2d" (and has the STRASBURD DOGGEREL enclosed in it),--the +Brussels Postman delivers far other intelligence at one's door; +very mortifying to Madame: "That his Majesty is fallen ill at +Wesel; has an aguish fever hanging on him, and only hopes to +come:" VOILA, Madame!--Next Letter, Wesel, Monday, 5th September, +is to the effect: "Do still much hope to come; to-morrow is my +trembling day; if that prove to be off!"--Out upon it, that proves +not to be off; that is on: next Letter, Tuesday, September 6th, +which comes by express (Courier dashing up with it, say on the +Thursday following) is,--alas, Madame!--here it is:-- + +KING FRIEDRICH TO M. DE VOLTAIRE AT BRUSSELS. + + "WESEL, 6th September, 1740. +"MY DEAR VOLTAIRE,--In spite of myself, I have to yield to the +Quartan Fever, which is more tenacious than a Jansenist; +and whatever desire I had of going to Antwerp and Brussels, I find +myself not in a condition to undertake such a journey without +risk. I would ask of you, then, if the road from Brussels to Cleve +would not to you seem too long for a meeting; it is the one means +of seeing you which remains to me. Confess that I am unlucky; +for now when I could dispose of my person, and nothing hinders me +from seeing you, the fever gets its hand into the business, and +seems to intend disputing me that satisfaction. + +"Let us deceive the fever, my dear Voltaire; and let me at least +have the pleasure of embracing you. Make my best excuses [polite, +rather than sincere] to Madame the MARQUISE, that I cannot have +the satisfaction of seeing her at Brussels. All that are about me +know the intention I was in; which certainly nothing but the fever +could have made me change. + +"Sunday next I shall be at a little Place near Cleve,"--Schloss of +Moyland, which, and the route to which, this Courier can tell you +of;--"where I shall be able to possess you at my ease. If the +sight of you don't cure me, I will send for a Confessor at once. +Adieu; you know my sentiments and my heart. [Preuss, <italic> +OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xxii. 27.] FREDERIC." + +After which the Correspondence suddenly extinguishes itself; +ceases for about a fortnight,--in the bad misdated Editions even +does worse;--and we are left to thick darkness, to our own poor +shifts; Dryasdust being grandly silent on this small interest of +ours. What is to be done? + + +PARTICULARS OF FIRST INTERVIEW, ON SEVERE SCRUTINY. + +Here, from a painful Predecessor whose Papers I inherit, are some +old documents and Studies on the subject,--sorrowful collection, +in fact, of what poor sparks of certainty were to be found +hovering in that dark element;--which do at last (so luminous are +certainties always, or "sparks" that will shine steady) coalesce +into some feeble general twilight, feeble but indubitable; +and even show the sympathetic reader how they were searched out +and brought together. We number and label these poor Patches of +Evidence on so small a matter; and leave them to the curious:-- + +No. 1. DATE OF THE FIRST INTERVIEW. It is certain Voltaire did +arrive at the little Schloss of Moyland, September llth, Sunday +night,--which is the "Sunday" just specified in Friedrich's +Letter. Voltaire had at once decided on complying,--what else?-- +and lost no time in packing himself: King's Courier on Thursday +late; Voltaire on the road on Saturday early, or the night before. +With Madame's shrill blessing (not the most musical in this vexing +case), and plenty of fuss. "Was wont to travel in considerable +style," I am told; "the innkeepers calling him "Your Lordship +(M. LE COMTE)." Arrives, sure enough, Sunday night; old Schloss of +Moyland, six miles from Cleve; "moonlight," I find,--the Harvest +Moon. Visit lasted three days. [Rodenbeck, p. 21; Preuss, &c. &c.] + +No. 2. VOLTAIRE'S DRIVE THITHER. Schloss Moyland: How far from +Brussels, and by what route? By Louvain, Tillemont, Tongres to +Maestricht; then from Maestricht up the Maas (left bank) to Venlo, +where cross; through Geldern and Goch to Cleve: between the Maas +and Rhine this last portion. Flat damp country; tolerably under +tillage; original constituents bog and sand. Distances I guess to +be: To Tongres 60 miles and odd; to Maestricht 12 or 15, from +Maestricht 75; in all 150 miles English. Two days' driving? +There is equinoctial moon, and still above twelve hours of +sunlight for "M. le Comte." + +No. 3. OF THE PLACE WHERE. Voltaire, who should have known, calls +it "PETIT CHATEAU DE MEUSE;" which is a Castle existing nowhere +but in Dreams. Other French Biographers are still more imaginary. +The little Schloss of Moyland--by no means "Meuse," nor even MORS, +which Voltaire probably means in saying CHATEAU DE MEUSE--was, as +the least inquiry settles beyond question, the place where +Voltaire and Friedrich first met. Friedrich Wilhelm used often to +lodge there in his Cleve journeys: he made thither for shelter, in +the sickness that overtook him in friend Ginkel's house, coming +home from the Rhine Campaign in 1734; lay there for several weeks +after quitting Ginkel's. Any other light I can get upon it, is +darkness visible. Busching pointedly informs me, +[<italic> Erdbeschreibung, v. 659, 677.] "It is a Parish [or patch +of country under one priest], and Till AND it are a Jurisdiction" +(pair of patches under one court of justice):--which does not much +illuminate the inquiring mind. Small patch, this of Moyland, size +not given; "was bought," says he, "in 1695, by Friedrich +afterwards First King, from the Family of Spaen,"--we once knew a +Lieutenant Spaen, of those Dutch regions,--"and was named a Royal +Mansion ever thereafter." Who lived in it; what kind of thing was +it, is it? ALTUM SILENTIUM, from Busching and mankind. Belonged to +the Spaens, fifty years ago;--some shadow of our poor banished +friend the Lieutenant resting on it? Dim enough old Mansion, with +"court" to it, with modicum of equipment; lying there in the +moonlight;--did not look sublime to Voltaire on stepping out. +So that all our knowledge reduces itself to this one point: +of finding Moyland in the Map, with DATE, with REMINISCENCE to us, +hanging by it henceforth! Good. [Stieler's <italic> Deutschland +<end italic> (excellent Map in 25 Pieces), Piece 12.--Till is a +mile or two northeast from Moyland; Moyland about 5 or 6 southeast +from Cleve.] + +Mors--which is near the Town of Ruhrort, about midway between +Wesel and Dusseldorf--must be some forty miles from Moyland, +forty-five from Cleve; southward of both. So that the place, +"A DEUX LIEUES DE CLEVES," is, even by Voltaire's showing, this +Moyland; were there otherwise any doubt upon it. "CHATEAU DE +MEUSE"--hanging out a prospect of MORS to us--is bad usage to +readers. Of an intelligent man, not to say a Trismegistus of men, +one expects he will know in what town he is, after three days' +experience, as here. But he does not always; he hangs out a mere +"shadow of Mars by moonlight," till we learn better. Duvernet, his +Biographer, even calls it "SLEUS-MEUSE;" some wonderful idea of +Sluices and a River attached to it, in Duvernet's head! [Duvernet +(2d FORM of him,--that is, <italic> Vie de Voltaire <end italic> +par T. J. D. V.), p. 117.] + + +WHAT VOLTAIRE THOUGHT OF THE INTERVIEW TWENTY YEARS AFTERWARDS + +Of the Interview itself, with general bird's-eye view of the Visit +combined (in a very incorrect state), there is direct testimony by +Voltaire himself. Voltaire himself, twenty years after, in far +other humor, all jarred into angry sarcasm, for causes we shall +see by and by,--Voltaire, at the request of friends, writes down, +as his Friedrich Reminiscences, that scandalous VIE PRIVEE above +spoken of, a most sad Document; and this is the passage referring +to "the little Place in the neighborhood of Cleve," where +Friedrich now waited for him: errors corrected by our laborious +Friend. After quoting something of that Strasburg Doggerel, the +whole of which is now too well known to us, Voltaire proceeds:-- + +"From Strasburg he," King Friedrich, "went to see his Lower German +Provinces; he said he would come and see me incognito at Brussels. +We prepared a fine house for him,"--were ready to prepare such +hired house as we had for him, with many apologies for its slight +degree of perfection (ERROR FIRST),--"but having fallen ill in the +little Mansion-Royal of Meuse (CHATEAU DE MEUSE), a couple of +leagues from Cleve,"--fell ill at Wesel; and there is no Chateau +de MEUSE in the world (ERRORS 2d AND 3d),--"he wrote to me that he +expected I would make the advances. I went, accordingly, to +present my profound homages. Maupertuis, who already had his +views, and was possessed with the rage of being President to an +Academy, had of his own accord,"--no, being invited, and at my +suggestion (ERROR 4th),--"presented himself there; and was lodged +with Algarotti and Keyserling [which latter, I suppose, had come +from Berlin, not being of the Strasburg party, he] in a garret of +this Palace. + +"At the door of the court, I found, by way of guard, one soldier. +Privy-Councillor Rambonet, Minister of State--[very subaltern man; +never heard of him except in the Herstal Business, and here] was +walking in the court; blowing in his fingers to keep them warm." +Sunday night, 11th September, 1740; world all bathed in moonshine; +and mortals mostly shrunk into their huts, out of the raw air. +"He" Rambonet "wore big linen ruffles at his wrists, very dirty +[visibly so in the moonlight? ERROR 5th extends AD LIBITUM over +all the following details]; a holed hat; an old official +periwig,"--ruined into a totally unsymmetric state, as would +seem,--"one side of which hung down into one of his pockets, and +the other scarcely crossed his shoulder. I was told, this man was +now intrusted with an affair of importance here; and that proved +true,"--the Herstal Affair. + +"I was led into his Majesty's apartment. Nothing but four bare +walls there. By the light of a candle, I perceived, in a closet, a +little truckle-bed two feet and a half broad, on which lay a man +muffled up in a dressing-gown of coarse blue duffel: this was the +King, sweating and shivering under a wretched blanket there, in a +violent fit of fever. I made my reverence, and began the +acquaintance by feeling his pulse, as if I had been his chief +physician. The fit over, he dressed himself, and took his place at +table. Algarotti, Keyserling, Maupertuis, and the King's Envoy to +the States-General"--one Rasfeld (skilled in HERSTAL matters, I +could guess),--"we were of this supper, and discussed, naturally +in a profound manner, the Immortality of the Soul, Liberty, Fate, +the Androgynes of Plato [the ANDROGYNOI, or Men-Women, in Plato's +CONVIVIUM; by no means the finest symbolic fancy of the divine +Plato],--and other small topics of that nature." [Voltaire, +<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> (Piece once called VIE PRIVEE), +ii. 26, 27.] + +This is Voltaire's account of the Visit,--which included three +"Suppers," all huddled into one by him here;--and he says nothing +more of it; launching off now into new errors, about HERSTAL, the +ANTI-MACHIAVEL, and so forth: new and uglier errors, with much +more of mendacity and serious malice in them, than in this +harmless half-dozen now put on the score against him. + +Of this Supper-Party, I know by face four of the guests: +Maupertuis, Voltaire, Algarotti, Keyserling;--Rasfeld, Rambonet +can sit as simulacra or mute accompaniment. Voltaire arrived on +Sunday evening; stayed till Wednesday. Wednesday morning, 14th of +the month, the Party broke up: Voltaire rolling off to left hand, +towards Brussels, or the Hague; King to right, on inspection +business, and circuitously homewards. Three Suppers there had +been, two busy Days intervening; discussions about Fate and the +Androgynoi of Plato by no means the one thing done by Voltaire and +the rest, on this occasion. We shall find elsewhere, "he declaimed +his MAHOMET" (sublime new Tragedy, not yet come out), in the +course of these three evenings, to the "speechless admiration" of +his Royal Host, for one; and, in the daytime, that he even drew +his pen about the Herstal Business, which is now getting to its +crisis, and wrote one of the Manifestoes, still discoverable. +And we need not doubt, in spite of his now sneering tone, that +things ran high and grand here, in this paltry little Schloss of +Moyland; and that those three were actually Suppers of the Gods, +for the time being. + +"Councillor Rambonet,', with the holed hat and unsymmetric wig, +continues Voltaire in the satirical vein, "had meanwhile mounted a +hired hack (CHEVAL DE LOUAGE;" mischievous Voltaire, I have no +doubt he went on wheels, probably of his own): "he rode all night; +and next morning arrived at the gates of Liege; where he took Act +in the name of the King his Master, whilst 2,000 men of the Wesel +Troops laid Liege under contribution. The pretext of this fine +Marching of Troops,"--not a pretext at all, but the assertion, +correct in all points, of just claims long trodden down, and now +made good with more spirit than had been expected,--"was certain +rights which the King pretended to, over a suburb of Liege. +He even charged me to work at a Manifesto; and I made one, good or +bad; not doubting but a King with whom I supped, and who called me +his friend, must be in the right. The affair soon settled itself +by means of a million of ducats,"--nothing like the sum, as we +shall see,--"which he exacted by weight, to clear the costs of the +Tour to Strasburg, which, according to his complaint in that +Poetic Letter [Doggerel above given], were so heavy." + +That is Voltaire's view; grown very corrosive after Twenty Years. +He admits, with all the satire: "I naturally felt myself attached +to him; for he had wit, graces; and moreover he was a King, which +always forms a potent seduction, so weak is human nature. +Usually it is we of the writing sort that flatter Kings: but this +King praised me from head to foot, while the Abbe Desfontaines and +other scoundrels (GREDINS) were busy defaming me in Paris at least +once a week." + +WHAT VOLTAIRE THOUGHT OF THE INTERVIEW AT THE TIME. + +But let us take the contemporary account, which also we have at +first hand; which is almost pathetic to read; such a contrast +between ruddy morning and the storms of the afternoon! Here are +two Letters from Voltaire; fine transparent human Letters, as his +generally are: the first of them written directly on getting back +to the Hague, and to the feeling of his eclipsed condition. + +VOLTAIRE TO M. DE MAUPERTUIS (with the King). + +"THE HAGUE, 18th September, 1740. +"I serve you, Monsieur, sooner than I promised; and that is the +way you ought to be served. I send you the answer of M. Smith,"-- +probably some German or Dutch SCHMIDT, spelt here in English, +connected with the Sciences, say with water-carriage, the +typographies, or one need not know what; "you will see where the +question stands. + +"When we both left Cleve,"--14th of the month, Wednesday last; +18th is Sunday, in this old cobwebby Palace, where I am correcting +ANTI-MACHIAVEL,--"and you took to the right,"--King, homewards, +got to HAM that evening,--"I could have thought I was at the Last +Judgment, where the Bon Dieu separates the elect from the damned. +DIVUS FREDERICUS said to you, 'Sit down at my right hand in the +Paradise of Berlin;' and to me, 'Depart, thou accursed, into +Holland.' + +"Here I am accordingly in this phlegmatic place of punishment, far +from the divine fire which animates the Friedrichs, the +Maupertuis, the Algarottis. For God's love, do me the charity of +some sparks in these stagnant waters where I am,"--stiffening, +cooling,--"stupefying to death. Instruct me of your pleasures, of +your designs. You will doubtless see M. de Valori,"--readers know +de Valori; his Book has been published; edited, as too usual, by a +Human Nightmare, ignorant of his subject and indeed of almost all +other things, and liable to mistakes in every page; yet partly +readable, if you carry lanterns, and love "MON GROS VALORI:"-- +"offer him, I pray you, my respects. If I do not write to him, the +reason is, I have no news to send: I should be as exact as I am +devoted, if my correspondence could be useful or agreeable to him. + +"Won't you have me send you some Books? If I be still in Holland +when your orders come, I will obey in a moment. I pray you do not +forget me to M. de Keyserling,"--Caesarion whom we once had at +Cirey; a headlong dusky little man of wit (library turned topsy- +turvy, as Wilhelmina called him), whom we have seen. + +"Tell me, I beg, if the enormous monad of Volfius--[Wolf, would +the reader like to hear about him? If so, he has only to speak!] +is arguing at Marburg, at Berlin, or at Hall [HALLE, which is a +very different place]. + +"Adieu, Monsieur: you can address your orders to me 'At the +Hague:' they will be forwarded wherever I am; and I shall be, +anywhere on earth,--Yours forever (A VOUS POUR JAMAIS)." +[Voltaire, lxxii. 252.] + +Letter Second, of which a fragment may be given, is to one +Cideville, a month later; all the more genuine as there was no +chance of the King's hearing about this one. Cideville, some kind +of literary Advocate at Rouen (who is wearisomely known to the +reader of Voltaire's Letters), had done, what is rather an +endemical disorder at this time, some Verses for the King of +Prussia, which he wished to be presented to his Majesty. +The presentation, owing to accidents, did not take place; +hear how Voltaire, from his cobweb Palace at the Hague, busy with +ANTI-MACHIAVEL, Van Duren and many other things,--18th October, +1740, on which day we find him writing many Letters,--explains the +sad accident:-- + +VOLTAIRE TO M. DE CIDEVILLE (at Rouen). + +"AT THE HAGUE, KING OF PRUSSIA'S PALACE, +18th October, 1740. + +"... This is my case, dear Cideville. When you sent me, enclosed +in your Letter, those Verses (among which there are some of +charming and inimitable turn) for our Marcus Aurelius of the +North, I did well design to pay my court to him with them. He was +at that time to have come to Brussels incognito: we expected him +there; but the Quartan Fever, which unhappily he still has, +deranged all his projects. He sent me a courier to Brussels,"-- +mark that point, my Cideville;--"and so I set out to find him in +the neighborhood of Cleve. + +"It was there I saw one of the amiablest men in the world, who +forms the charm of society, who would be everywhere sought after +if he were not King; a philosopher without austerity; full of +sweetness, complaisance and obliging ways (AGREMENS); +not remembering that he is King when he meets his friends; indeed +so completely forgetting it that he made me too almost forget it, +and I needed an effort of memory to recollect that I here saw +sitting at the foot of my bed a Sovereign who had an Army of +100,000 men. That was the moment to have read your amiable Verses +to him:"--yes; but then?--"Madame du Chatelet, who was to have +sent them to me, did not, NE L'A PA FAIT." Alas, no, they are +still at Brussels, those charming Verses; and I, for a month past, +am here in my cobweb Palace! But I swear to you, the instant I +return to Brussels, I, &c. &c. [Voltaire, lxii. 282.] + +Finally, here is what Friedrich thought of it, ten days after +parting with Voltaire. We will read this also (though otherwise +ahead of us as yet); to be certified on all sides, and sated for +the rest of our lives, concerning the Friedrich-Voltaire +First Interview. + +KING FRIEDRICH TO M. JORDAN (at Berlin). + +POTSDAM, 24th September, 1740. + +"Most respectable Inspector of the poor, the invalids, orphans, +crazy people and Bedlams,--I have read with mature meditation the +very profound Jordanic Letter which was waiting here;"--and do +accept your learned proposal. + +"I have seen that Voltaire whom I was so curious to know; but I +saw him with the Quartan hanging on me, and my mind as unstrung as +my body. With men of his kind one ought not to be sick; one ought +even to be specially well, and in better health than common, if +one could. + +"He has the eloquence of Cicero, the mildness of Pliny, the wisdom +of Agrippa; he combines, in short, what is to be collected of +virtues and talents from the three greatest men of Antiquity. +His intellect is at work incessantly; every drop of ink is a trait +of wit from his pen. He declaimed his MAHOMET to us, an admirable +Tragedy which he has done,"--which the Official people smelling +heresies in it ("toleration," "horrors of fanaticism," and the +like) will not let him act, as readers too well know:--"he +transported us out of ourselves; I could only admire and hold my +tongue. The Du Chatelet is lucky to have him: for of the good +things he flings out at random, a person who had no faculty but +memory might make a brilliant Book. That Minerva has just +published her Work on PHYSICS: not wholly bad. It was Konig"--whom +we know, and whose late tempest in a certain teapot--"that +dictated the theme to her: she has adjusted, ornamented here and +there with some touch picked from Voltaire at her Suppers. +The Chapter on Space is pitiable; the"--in short, she is still raw +in the Pure Sciences, and should have waited. ... + +"Adieu, most learned, most scientific, most profound Jordan,--or +rather most gallant, most amiable, most jovial Jordan;--I salute +thee, with assurance of all those old feelings which thou hast the +art of inspiring in every one that knows thee. VALE. + +"I write the moment of my arrival: be obliged to me, friend; for I +have been working, I am going to work still, like a Turk, or like +a Jordan." [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xvii. 71.] + +This is hastily thrown off for Friend Jordan, the instant after +his Majesty's circuitous return home. Readers cannot yet attend +his Majesty there, till they have brought the Affair of Herstal, +and other remainders of the Cleve Journey, along with them. + + + +Chapter V. + +AFFAIR OF HERSTAL. + +This Rambonet, whom Voltaire found walking in the court of the old +Castle of Moyland, is an official gentleman, otherwise unknown to +History, who has lately been engaged in a Public Affair; and is +now off again about it, "on a hired hack" or otherwise,--with very +good instructions in his head. Affair which, though in itself but +small, is now beginning to make great noise in the world, as +Friedrich wends homewards out of his Cleve Journey. He has set it +fairly alight, Voltaire and he, before quitting Moyland; and now +it will go of itself. The Affair of Herstal, or of the Bishop of +Liege; Friedrich's first appearance on the stage of politics. +Concerning which some very brief notice, if intelligible, will +suffice readers of the present day. + +Heristal, now called Herstal, was once a Castle known to all +mankind; King Pipin's Castle, who styled himself "Pipin of +Heristal," before he became King of the Franks and begot +Charlemagne. It lies on the Maas, in that fruitful Spa Country; +left bank of the Maas, a little to the north of Liege; +and probably began existence as a grander place than Liege +(LUTTICH), which was, at first, some Monastery dependent on +secular Herstal and its grandeurs:--think only how the race has +gone between these two entities; spiritual Liege now a big City, +black with the smoke of forges and steam-mills; Herstal an +insignificant Village, accidentally talked of for a few weeks in +1740, and no chance ever to be mentioned again by men. + +Herstal, in the confused vicissitudes of a thousand years, had +passed through various fortunes, and undergone change of owners +often enough. Fifty years ago it was in the hands of the Nassau- +Orange House; Dutch William, our English Protestant King, who +probably scarce knew of his possessing it, was Lord of Herstal +till his death. Dutch William had no children to inherit Herstal: +he was of kinship to the Prussian House, as readers are aware; +and from that circumstance, not without a great deal of +discussion, and difficult "Division of the Orange Heritage," this +Herstal had, at the long last, fallen to Friedrich Wilhelm's +share; it and Neuchatel, and the Cobweb Palace, and some other +places and pertinents. + +For Dutch William was of kin, we say; Friedrich I. of Prussia, by +his Mother the noble Wife of the Great Elector, was full cousin to +Dutch William: and the Marriage Contracts were express,--though +the High Mightinesses made difficulties, and the collateral Orange +branches were abundantly reluctant, when it came to the fulfilling +point. For indeed the matter was intricate. Orange itself, for +example, what was to be done with the Principality of Orange? +Clearly Prussia's; but it lies imbedded deep in the belly of +France, that will be a Caesarean-Operation for you! Had not +Neuchatel happened just then to fall home to France (or in some +measure to France) and be heirless, Prussia's Heritage of Orange +would have done little for Prussia! Principality of Orange was, by +this chance, long since, mainly in the First King's time, got +settled: [Neuchatel, 3d November, 1707, to Friedrich I., natives +preferring him to "Fifteen other Claimants;" Louis XIV. loudly +protesting: not till Treaty of Utrecht (14th March 1713, first +month of Friedrich Wilhelm's reign) would Louis XIV., on cession +of Orange, consent and sanction.] but there needed many years more +of good waiting, and of good pushing, on Friedrich Wilhelm's part; +and it was not till 1732 that Friedrich Wilhelm got the Dutch +Heritages finally brought to the square: Neuchatel and Valengin, +as aforesaid, in lieu of Orange; and now furthermore, the Old +Palace at Loo (that VIEILLE COUR and biggest cobwebs), with +pertinents, with Garden of Honslardik; and a string of items, +bigger and less, not worth enumerating. Of the items, this Herstal +was one;--and truly, so far as this went, Friedrich Wilhelm often +thought he had better never have seen it, so much trouble did it +bring him. + + +HOW THE HERSTALLERS HAD BEHAVED TO FRIEDRICH WILHELM. + +The Herstal people, knowing the Prussian recruiting system and +other rigors, were extremely unwilling to come under Friedrich +Wilhelm's sway, could they have helped it. They refused fealty, +swore they never would swear: nor did they, till the appearance, +or indubitable foreshine, of Friedrich Wilhelm's bayonets +advancing on them from the East, brought compliance. And always +after, spite of such quasi-fealty, they showed a pig-like +obstinacy of humor; a certain insignificant, and as it were +impertinent, deep-rooted desire to thwart, irritate and contradict +the said Friedrich Wilhelm. Especially in any recruiting matter +that might arise, knowing that to be the weak side of his Prussian +Majesty. All this would have amounted to nothing, had it not been +that their neighbor, the Prince Bishop of Liege, who imagined +himself to have some obscure claims of sovereignty over Herstal, +and thought the present a good opportunity for asserting these, +was diligent to aid and abet the Herstal people in such their +mutinous acts. Obscure claims; of which this is the summary, +should the reader not prefer to skip it:-- + +"The Bishop of Liege's claims on Herstal (which lie wrapt from +mankind in the extensive jungle of his law-pleadings, like a +Bedlam happily fallen extinct) seem to me to have grown mainly +from two facts more or less radical. + +"FACT FIRST. In Kaiser Barbarossa's time, year 1171, Herstal had +been given in pawn to the Church of Liege, for a loan, by the then +proprietor, Duke of Lorraine and Brabant. Loan was repaid, I do +not learn when, and the Pawn given back; to the satisfaction of +said Duke, or Duke's Heirs; never quite to the satisfaction of the +Church, which had been in possession, and was loath to quit, after +hoping to continue. 'Give us back Herstal; it ought to be ours!' +Unappeasable sigh or grumble to this effect is heard thenceforth, +at intervals, in the Chapter of Liege, and has not ceased in +Friedrich's time. But as the world, in its loud thoroughfares, +seldom or never heard, or could hear, such sighing in the Chapter, +nothing had come of it,--till-- + +"FACT SECOND. In Kaiser Karl V.'s time, the Prince Bishop of Liege +happened to be a Natural Son of old Kaiser Max's;--and had friends +at headquarters, of a very choice nature. Had, namely, in this +sort, Kaiser Karl for Nephew or Half-Nephew; and what perhaps was +still better, as nearer hand, had Karl's Aunt, Maria Queen of +Hungary, then Governess of the Netherlands, for Half-Sister. +Liege, in these choice circumstances, and by other good chances +that turned up, again got temporary clutch or half-clutch of +Herstal, for a couple of years (date 1546-1548, the Prince of +Orange, real proprietor, whose Ancestor had bought it for money +down, being then a minor); once, and perhaps a second time in like +circumstance; but had always to renounce it again, when the Prince +of Orange came to maturity. And ever since, the Chapter of Liege +sighs as before, 'Herstal is perhaps in a sense ours. We had once +some kind of right to it!'--sigh inaudible in the loud public +thoroughfares. That is the Bishop's claim. The name of him, if +anybody care for it, is 'Georg Ludwig, titular COUNT OF BERG,' now +a very old man: Bishop of Liege, he, and has been snatching at +Herstal again, very eagerly by any skirt or tagrag that might +happen to fly loose, these eight years past, in a rash and +provoking manner; [<italic> Delices du Pais de Liege <end italic> +(Liege, 1738); <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +ii. 57-62.]--age eighty-two at present; poor old fool, he had +better have sat quiet. There lies a rod in pickle for him, during +these late months; and will be surprisingly laid on, were the +time come!" + +"I have Law Authority over Herstal, and power of judging there in +the last appeal," said this Bishop:--"You!" thought Friedrich +Wilhelm, who was far off, and had little time to waste.-- +"Any Prussian recruiter that behaves ill, bring him to me!" said +the Bishop, who was on the spot. And accordingly it had been done; +one notable instance two years ago: a Prussian Lieutenant locked +in the Liege jail, on complaint of riotous Herstal; thereupon a +Prussian Officer of rank (Colonel Kreutzen, worthy old Malplaquet +gentleman) coming as Royal Messenger, not admitted to audience, +nay laid hold of by the Liege bailiff instead; and other unheard- +of procedures. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> ii. +63-73.] So that Friedrich Wilhelm had nothing but trouble with +this petty Herstal, and must have thought his neighbor Bishop a +very contentious high-flying gentleman, who took great liberties +with the Lion's whiskers, when he had the big animal at +an advantage. + +The episcopal procedures, eight years ago, about the First +Homaging of Herstal, had been of similar complexion; nor had other +such failed in the interim, though this last outrage exceeded them +all. This last began in the end of 1738; and span itself out +through 1739, when Friedrich Wilhelm lay in his final sickness, +less able to deal with it than formerly. Being a peaceable man, +unwilling to awaken conflagrations for a small matter, Friedrich +Wilhelm had offered, through Kreutzen on this occasion, to part +with Herstal altogether; to sell it, for 100,000 thalers, say +16,000 pounds, to the high-flying Bishop, and honestly wash his +hands of it. But the high-flying Bishop did not consent, gave no +definite answer; and so the matter lay,--like an unsettled +extremely irritating paltry little matter,--at the time Friedrich +Wilhelm died. + +The Gazetteers and public knew little about these particulars, or +had forgotten them again; but at the Prussian Court they were in +lively remembrance. What the young Friedrich's opinion about them +had been we gather from this succinct notice of the thing, written +seven or eight years afterwards, exact in all points, and still +carrying a breath of the old humor in it. "A miserable Bishop of +Liege thought it a proud thing to insult the late King. +Some subjects of Herstal, which belongs to Prussia, had revolted; +the Bishop gave them his protection. Colonel Kreutzen was sent to +Liege, to compose the thing by treaty; credentials with him, full +power, and all in order. Imagine it, the Bishop would not receive +him! Three days, day after day, he saw this Envoy apply at his +Palace, and always denied him entrance. These things had grown +past endurance." [Preuss, <italic> OEuvres (Memoires de +Brandebourg), end italic> ii. 53.] And Friedrich had taken note of +Herstal along with him, on this Cleve Journey; privately intending +to put Herstal and the high-flying Bishop on a suitabler footing, +before his return from those countries. + +For indeed, on Friedrich's Accession, matters had grown worse, not +better. Of course there was Fealty to be sworn; but the Herstal +people, abetted by the high-flying Bishop, have declined swearing +it. Apology for the past, prospect of amendment for the future, +there is less than ever. What is the young King to do with this +paltry little Hamlet of Herstal? He could, in theory, go into some +Reichs-Hofrath, some Reichs-Kammergericht (kind of treble and +tenfold English Court-of-Chancery, which has lawsuits 250 years +old),--if he were a theoretic German King. He can plead in the +Diets, and the Wetzlar Reichs-Kammergericht without end: +"All German Sovereigns have power to send their Ambassador +thither, who is like a mastiff chained in the back-yard [observes +Friedrich elsewhere] with privilege of barking at the Moon,"-- +unrestricted privilege of barking at the Moon, if that will avail +a practical man, or King's Ambassador. Or perhaps the Bishop of +Liege will bethink him, at last, what considerable liberty he is +taking with some people's whiskers? Four months are gone; +Bishop of Liege has not in the least bethought him: we are in the +neighborhood in person, with note of the thing in our memory. + + +FRIEDRICH TAKES THE ROD OUT OF PICKLE. + +Accordingly the Rath Rambonet, whom Voltaire found at Moyland that +Sunday night, had been over at Liege; went exactly a week before; +with this message of very peremptory tenor from his Majesty:-- + +TO THE PRINCE BISHOP OF LIEGE. + +"WESEL, 4th September, 1740. + +"MY COUSIN,--Knowing all the assaults (ATTEINTES) made by you upon +my indisputable rights over my free Barony of Herstal; and how the +seditious ringleaders there, for several years past, have been +countenanced (BESTARKET) by you in their detestable acts of +disobedience against me,--I have commanded my Privy Councillor +Rambonet to repair to your presence, and in my name to require +from you, within two days, a distinct and categorical answer to +this question: Whether you are still minded to assert your +pretended sovereignty over Herstal; and whether you will +protect the rebels at Herstal, in their disorders and +abominable disobedience? + +"In case you refuse, or delay beyond the term, the Answer which I +hereby of right demand, you will render yourself alone +responsible, before the world, for the consequences which +infallibly will follow. I am, with much consideration,-- +My Cousin,-- + +"Your very affectionate Cousin, + +"FRIEDRICH." +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> ii. 75, 111.] + +Rambonet had started straightway for Liege, with this missive; +and had duly presented it there, I guess on the 7th,--with notice +that he would wait forty-eight hours, and then return with what +answer or no-answer there might be. Getting no written answer, or +distinct verbal one; getting only some vague mumblement as good as +none, Rambonet had disappeared from Liege on the 9th; and was home +at Moyland when Voltaire arrived that Sunday evening,--just +walking about to come to heat again, after reportiag progress to +the above effect. + +Rambonet, I judge, enjoyed only one of those divine Suppers at +Moyland; and dashed off again, "on hired hack" or otherwise, the +very next morning; that contingency of No-answer having been the +anticipated one, and all things put in perfect readiness for it. +Rambonet's new errand was to "take act," as Voltaire calls it, "at +the Gates of Liege,"--to deliver at Liege a succinct Manifesto, +Pair of Manifestoes, both in Print (ready beforehand), and bearing +date that same Sunday, "Wesel, 11th September;" much calculated to +amaze his Reverence at Liege. Succinct good Manifestoes, said to +be of Friedrich's own writing; the essential of the two is this:-- + + +<italic> Exposition of the Reasons which have induced his Majesty +the King of Prussia to make just Reprisals on the Prince Bishop of +Liege. <end italic> + +"His Majesty the King of Prussia, being driven beyond bounds by +the rude proceedings of the Prince Bishop of Liege, has with +regret seen himself forced to recur to the Method of Arms, in +order to repress the violence and affront which the Bishop has +attempted to put upon him. This resolution has cost his Majesty +much pain; the rather as he is, by principle and disposition, far +remote from whatever could have the least relation to rigor +and severity. + +"But seeing himself compelled by the Bishop of Liege to take new +methods, he had no other course but to maintain the justice of his +rights (LA JUSTICE DE SES DROITS), and demand reparation for the +indignity done upon his Minister Von Kreuzen, as well as for the +contempt with which the Bishop of Liege has neglected even to +answer the Letter of the King. + +"As too much rigor borders upon cruelty, so too much patience +resembles weakness. Thus, although the King would willingly have +sacrificed his interests to the public peace and tranquillity, it +was not possible to do so in reference to his honor; and that is +the chief motive which has determined him to this resolution, so +contrary to his intentions. + +"In vain has it been attempted, by methods of mildness, to come to +a friendly agreement: it has been found, on the contrary, that the +King's moderation only increased the Prince's arrogance; +that mildness of conduct on one side only furnished resources to +pride on the other; and that, in fine, instead of gaining by soft +procedure, one was insensibly becoming an object of vexation +and disdain. + +"There being no means to have justice but in doing it for oneself, +and the King being Sovereign enough for such a duty,--he intends +to make the Prince of Liege feel how far he was in the wrong to +abuse such moderation so unworthily. But in spite of so much +unhandsome behavior on the part of this Prince, the King will not +be inflexible; satisfied with having shown the said Prince that he +can punish him, and too just to overwhelm him. FREDERIC. +"WESEL, September 11th, 174O." +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> ii. 77. Said to be by +Friedrich himself (Stenzel, iv. 59).] + +Whether Rambonet insinuated his Paper-Packet into the Palace of +Seraing, left it at the Gate of Liege (fixed by nail, if he saw +good), or in what manner he "took act," I never knew; and indeed +Rambonet vanishes from human History at this point: it is certain +only that he did his Formality, say two days hence;--and that the +Fact foreshadowed by it is likewise in the same hours, hour after +hour, getting steadily done. + +For the Manifestoes printed beforehand, dated Wesel, 11th +September, were not the only thing ready at Wesel; waiting, as on +the slip, for the contingency of No-answer. Major-General Borck, +with the due Battalions, squadrons and equipments, was also ready. +Major-General Borck, the same who was with us at Baireuth lately, +had just returned from that journey, when he got orders to collect +2,000 men, horse and foot, with the due proportion of artillery, +from the Prussian Garrisons in these parts; and to be ready for +marching with them, the instant the contingency of No-answer +arrives,--Sunday, 11th, as can be foreseen. Borck knows his route: +To Maaseyk, a respectable Town of the Bishop's, the handiest +for Wesel; to occupy Maaseyk and the adjoining "Counties of Lotz +and Horn;" and lie there at the Bishop's charge till his +Reverence's mind alter. + +Borck is ready, to the last pontoon, the last munition-loaf; +and no sooner is signal given of the No-answer come, than Borck, +that same "Sunday, 11th," gets under way; marches, steady as +clock-work, towards Maaseyk (fifty miles southwest of him, +distance now lessening every hour); crosses the Maas, by help of +his pontoons; is now in the Bishop's Territory, and enters +Maaseyk, evening of "Wednesday, 14th,"--that very day Voltaire and +his Majesty had parted, going different ways from Moyland; and +probably about the same hour while Rambonet was "taking act at the +Gate of Liege," by nail-hammer or otherwise. All goes punctual, +swift, cog hitting pinion far and near, in this small Herstal +Business; and there is no mistake made, and a minimum of +time spent. + +Borck's management was throughout good: punctual, quietly exact, +polite, mildly inflexible. Fain would the Maaseyk Town-Baths have +shut their gates on him; desperately conjuring him, "Respite for a +few hours, till we send to Liege for instructions!" But it was to +no purpose. "Unbolt, IHR HERREN; swift, or the petard will have to +do it!" Borck publishes his Proclamation, a mild-spoken rigorous +Piece; signifies to the Maaseyk Authorities, That he has to exact +a Contribution of 20,000 thalers (3,000 pounds) here, Contribution +payable in three days; that he furthermore, while he continues in +these parts, will need such and such rations, accommodations, +allowances,--"fifty LOUIS (say guineas) daily for his own private +expenses," one item;--and, in mild rhadamanthine language, waves +aside all remonstrance, refusal or delay, as superfluous +considerations: Unless said Contribution and required supplies +come in, it will be his painful duty to bring them in. +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 427; ii. 113.] + +The high-flying Bishop, much astonished, does now eagerly answer +his Prussian Majesty, "Was from home, was ill, thought he had +answered; is the most ill-used of Bishops;" and other things of a +hysteric character. [Ib. ii. 85, 86 (date, 16th September).] +And there came forth, as natural to the situation, multitudinous +complainings, manifestoings, applications to the Kaiser, to the +French, to the Dutch, of a very shrieky character on the Bishop of +Liege's part; sparingly, if at all noticed on Friedrich's: +the whole of which we shall consider ourselves free to leave +undisturbed in the rubbish-abysses, as henceforth conceivable to +the reader. "SED SPEM STUPENDE FEFELLIT EVENTUS," shrieks the poor +old Bishop, making moan to the Kaiser: "ECCE ENIM, PRAEMISSA +DUNTAXAT UNA LITERA, one Letter," and little more, "the said King +of Borussia has, with about 2,000 horse and foot, and warlike +engines, in this month of September, entered the Territory of +Liege;" [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> ii. 88.] which +is an undeniable truth, but an unavailing. Borck is there, and +"2,000 good arguments with him," as Voltaire defines the +phenomenon. Friedrich, except to explain pertinently what my +readers already know, does not write or speak farther on the +subject; and readers and he may consider the Herstal Affair, thus +set agoing under Borck's auspices, as in effect finished; and that +his Majesty has left it on a satisfactory footing, and may safely +turn his back on it, to wait the sure issue at Berlin before long. + + +WHAT VOLTAIRE THOUGHT OF HERSTAL. + +Voltaire told us he himself "did one Manifesto, good or bad," on +this Herstal business:--where is that Piece, then, what has become +of it? Dig well in the realms of Chaos, rectifying stupidities +more or less enormous, the Piece itself is still discoverable; +and, were pieces by Voltaire much a rarity instead of the reverse, +might be resuscitated by a good Editor, and printed in his WORKS. +Lies buried in the lonesome rubbish-mountains of that <italic> +Helden-Geschichte, <end italic>--let a SISTE VIATOR, scratched on +the surface, mark where. [Ib. ii. 98-98.] Apparently that is the +Piece by Voltaire? Yes, on reading that, it has every internal +evidence; distinguishes itself from the surrounding pieces, like a +slab of compact polished stone, in a floor rammed together out of +ruinous old bricks, broken bottles and mortar-dust;--agrees, too, +if you examine by the microscope, with the external indications, +which are sure and at last clear, though infinitesimally small; +and is beyond doubt Voltaire's, if it were now good for much. + +It is not properly a Manifesto, but an anonymous memoir published +in the Newspapers, explaining to impartial mankind, in a legible +brief manner, what the old and recent History of Herstal, and the +Troubles of Herstal, have been, and how chimerical and "null to +the extreme of nullity (NULLES DE TOUT NULLITE)" this poor +Bishop's pretensions upon it are. Voltaire expressly piques +himself on this Piece; [Letter to Priedrich: dateless, datable +"soon after 17th September;" which the rash dark Editors have by +guess misdated "August; "or, what was safer for them, omitted it +altogether. <italic> OEuvres de Voltaire <end italic> (Paris, +1818, 40 vols.) gives the Letter, xxxix. 442 (see also ibid. 453, +463); later Editors, and even Preuss, take the safer course.] +brags also how he settled "M. de Fenelon [French Ambassador at the +Hague], who came to me the day before yesterday," much out of +square upon the Herstal Business, till I pulled him straight. +And it is evident (beautifully so, your Majesty) how Voltaire +busied himself in the Gazettes and Diplomatic circles, setting +Friedrich's case right; Voltaire very loyal to Friedrich and his +Liege Cause at that time;--and the contrast between what his +contemporary Letters say on the subject, and what his ulterior +Pasquil called VIE PRIVEE says, is again great. + +The dull stagnant world, shaken awake by this Liege adventure, +gives voice variously; and in the Gazetteer and Diplomatic circles +it is much criticised, by no means everywhere in the favorable +tone at this first blush of the business. "He had written an ANTI- +Machiavel," says the Abbe St. Pierre, and even says Voltaire (in +the PASQUIL, not the contemporary LETTERS), "and he acts thus!" +Truly he does, Monsieur de Voltaire; and all men, with light upon +the subject, or even with the reverse upon it, must make their +criticisms. For the rest, Borck's "2,000 arguments" are there; +which Borck handles well, with polite calm rigor: by degrees the +dust will fall, and facts everywhere be seen for what they are. + +As to the high-flying Bishop, finding that hysterics are but +wasted on Friedrich and Borck, and produce no effect with their +2,000 validities, he flies next to the Kaiser, to the Imperial +Diet, in shrill-sounding Latin obtestations, of which we already +gave a flying snatch: "Your HUMILISSIMUS and FIDELISSIMUS +VASSALLUS, and most obsequient Servant, Georgius Ludovicus; +meek, modest, and unspeakably in the right: Was ever Member of the +Holy Roman Empire so snubbed, and grasped by the windpipe, before? +Oh, help him, great Kaiser, bid the iron gripe loosen itself!" +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> ii, 86-116.] The Kaiser +does so, in heavy Latin rescripts, in German DEHORTATORIUMS more +than one, of a sulky, imperative, and indeed very lofty tenor; +"Let Georgius Ludovicus go, foolish rash young Dilection (LIEBDEN, +not MAJESTY, we ourselves being the only Majesty), and I will +judge between you; otherwise--!" said the Kaiser, ponderously +shaking his Olympian wig, and lifting his gilt cane, or sceptre of +mankind, in an Olympian manner. Here are some touches of his +second sublimest DEHORTATORIUM addressed to Friedrich, in a very +compressed state: [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +ii. 127; a FIRST and milder (ibid. 73).]-- + +We Karl the Sixth, Kaiser of (TITLES ENOUGH), ... "Considering +these, in the Holy Roman Reich, almost unheard-of violent Doings +(THATLICHKEITEN), which We, in Our Supreme-Judge Office, cannot +altogether justify, nor will endure ... We have the trust that you +yourself will magnanimously see How evil counsellors have misled +your Dilection to commence your Reign, not by showing example of +Obedience to the Laws appointed for all members of the Reich, for +the weak and for the strong alike, but by such Doings +(THATHANDLUNGEN) as in all quarters must cause a great surprise. + +"We give your Dilection to know, therefore, That you must +straightway withdraw those troops which have broken into the Liege +Territory; make speedy restitution of all that has been extorted; +--especially General von Borck to give back at once those 50 louis +d'or daily drawn by him, to renounce his demand of the 20,000 +thalers, to make good all damage done, and retire with his whole +military force (MILITZ) over the Liege boundaries;--and in brief, +that you will, by law or arbitration, manage to agree with the +Prince Bishop of Liege, who wishes it very much. These things We +expect from your Dilection, as Kurfurst of Brandenburg, within the +space of Two Months from the Issuing of this; and remain,"-- +Yours as you shall demean yourself,--KARL. + +"Given at Wien, 4th of October, 1740."--The last Dehortatorium +ever signed by Karl VI. In two weeks after he ate too many +mushrooms,--and immense results followed! + +Dehortatoriums had their interest, at Berlin and elsewhere, for +the Diplomatic circles; but did not produce the least effect on +Borck or Friedrich; though Friedrich noted the Kaiser's manner in +these things, and thought privately to himself, as was evident to +the discerning, "What an amount of wig on that old gentleman!" +A notable Kaiser's Ambassador, Herr Botta, who had come with some +Accession compliments, in these weeks, was treated slightingly by +Friedrich; hardly admitted to Audience; and Friedrich's public +reply to the last Dehortatorium had almost something of sarcasm in +it: Evil counsellors yourself, Most Dread Kaiser! It is you that +are "misled by counsellors, who might chance to set Germany on +fire, were others as unwise as they!" Which latter phrase was +remarkable to mankind.--There is a long account already run up +between that old gentleman, with his Seckendorfs, Grumkows, with +his dull insolencies, wiggeries, and this young gentleman, who has +nearly had his heart broken and his Father's house driven mad by +them! Borck remains at his post; rations duly delivered, and fifty +louis a day for his own private expenses; and there is no answer +to the Kaiser, or in sharp brief terms (about "chances of setting +Germany on fire"), rather worse than none. + +Readers see, as well as Friedrich did, what the upshot of this +affair must be;--we will now finish it off, and wash our hands of +it, before following his Majesty to Berlin. The poor Bishop had +applied, shrieking, to the French for help;--and there came some +colloquial passages between Voltaire and Fenelon, if that were a +result. He had shrieked in like manner to the Dutch, but without +result of any kind traceable in that quarter: nowhere, except from +the Kaiser, is so much as a DEHORTATORIUM to be got. Whereupon the +once high-flying, now vainly shrieking Bishop discerns clearly +that there is but one course left,--the course which has lain wide +open for some years past, had not his flight gone too high for +seeing it. Before three weeks are over, seeing how Dehortatoriums +go, he sends his Ambassadors to Berlin, his apologies, proposals: +[Ambassadors arrived 28th September; last Dehortatorium not yet +out. Business was completed 20th October (Rodenbeck, IN DIEBUS).] +"Would not your Majesty perhaps consent to sell this Herstal, as +your Father of glorious memory was pleased to be willing once?"-- + +Friedrich answers straightway to the effect: "Certainly! Pay me +the price it was once already offered for: 100,000 thalers, PLUS +the expenses since incurred. That will be 180,000 thalers, besides +what you have spent already on General Borck's days' wages. +To which we will add thatwretched little fraction of Old Debt, +clear as noon, but never paid nor any part of it; 60,000 thalers, +due by the See of Liege ever since the Treaty of Utrecht; 60,000, +for which we will charge no interest: that will make 240,000 +thalers,--36,000 pounds, instead of the old sum you might have had +it at. Produce that cash; and take Herstal, and all the dust that +has risen out of it, well home with you." [Stenzel, iv. 60, who +counts in gulden, and is not distinct.] The Bishop thankfully +complies in all points; negotiation speedily done ("20th Oct." the +final date): Bishop has not, I think, quite so much cash on hand; +but will pay all he has, and 4 per centum interest till the whole +be liquidated. His Ambassadors "get gold snuffboxes;" and return +mildly glad! + +And thus, in some six weeks after Borck's arrival in those parts, +Borck's function is well done. The noise of Gazettes and +Diplomatic circles lays itself again; and Herstal, famous once for +King Pipin, and famous again for King Friedrich, lapses at length +into obscurity, which we hope will never end. Hope;--though who +can say? ROUCOUX, quite close upon it, becomes a Battle-ground in +some few years; and memorabilities go much at random in +this world! + + + +Chapter VI. + +RETURNS BY HANOVER; DOES NOT CALL ON HIS ROYAL UNCLE THERE. + +Friedrich spent ten days on his circuitous journey home; +considerable inspection to be done, in Minden, Magdeburg, not to +speak of other businesses he had. The old Newspapers are still +more intent upon him, now that the Herstal Affair has broken into +flame: especially the English Newspapers; who guess that there are +passages of courtship going on between great George their King and +him. Here is one fact, correct in every point, for the old London +Public: "Letters from Hanover say, that the King of Prussia passed +within a small distance of that City the 16th inst. N.S., on his +return to Berlin, but did not stop at Herrenhausen;"--about which +there has been such hoping and speculating among us lately. +[<italic> Daily Post, <end italic> 22d September, 1740; +other London Newspapers from July 31st downwards.] A fact which +the extinct Editor seems to meditate for a day or two; after which +he says (partly in ITALICS), opening his lips the second time, +like a Friar Bacon's Head significant to the Public: "Letters from +Hanover tell us that the Interview, which it was said his Majesty +was to have with the King of Prussia, did not take place, for +certain PRIVATE REASONS, which our Correspondent leaves us to +guess at!" + +It is well known Friedrich did not love his little Uncle, then or +thenceforth; still less his little Uncle him: "What is this +Prussia, rising alongside of us, higher and higher, as if it would +reach our own sublime level!" thinks the little Uncle to himself. +At present there is no quarrel between them; on the contrary, as +we have seen, there is a mutual capability of helping one another, +which both recognize; but will an interview tend to forward that +useful result? Friedrich, in the intervals of an ague, with +Herstal just broken out, may have wisely decided, No. "Our sublime +little Uncle, of the waxy complexion, with the proudly staring +fish-eyes,--no wit in him, not much sense, and a great deal of +pride,--stands dreadfully erect, 'plumb and more,' with the +Garter-leg advanced, when one goes to see him; and his remarks are +not of an entertaining nature. Leave him standing there: to him +let Truchsess and Bielfeld suffice, in these hurries, in this ague +that is still upon us." Upon which the dull old Newspapers, Owls +of Minerva that then were, endeavor to draw inferences. +The noticeable fact is, Friedrich did, on this occasion, pass +within a mile or two of his royal Uncle, without seeing him; +and had not, through life, another opportunity; never saw the +sublime little man at all, nor was again so near him. + +I believe Friedrich little knows the thick-coming difficulties of +his Britannic Majesty at this juncture; and is too impatient of +these laggard procedures on the part of a man with eyes A FLEUR- +DE-TETE. Modern readers too have forgotten Jenkins's Ear; it is +not till after long study and survey that one begins to perceive +the anomalous profundities of that phenomenon to the poor English +Nation and its poor George II. + +The English sent off, last year, a scanty Expedition, "six ships +of the line," only six, under Vernon, a fiery Admiral, a little +given to be fiery in Parliamentary talk withal; and these did +proceed to Porto-Bello on the Spanish Main of South America; did +hurl out on Porto-Bello such a fiery destructive deluge, of +gunnery and bayonet-work, as quickly reduced the poor place to the +verge of ruin, and forced it to surrender with whatever navy, +garrison, goods and resources were in it, to the discretion of +fiery Vernon,--who does not prove implacable, he or his, to a +petitioning enemy. Yes, humble the insolent, but then be merciful +to them, say the admiring Gazetteers. "The actual monster," how +cheering to think, "who tore off Mr. Jenkins's Ear, was got hold +of [actual monster, or even three or four different monsters who +each did it, the "hold got" being mythical, as readers see], and +naturally thought he would be slit to ribbons; but our people +magnanimously pardoned him, magnanimously flung him aside out of +sight;" [<italic> Gentleman's Magazine, <end italic> x. 124, 145 +(date of the Event is 3d December N.S., 1739).] impossible to +shoot a dog in cold blood. + +Whereupon Vernon returned home triumphant; and there burst forth +such a jubilation, over the day of small things, as is now +astonishing to think of. Had the Termagant's own Thalamus and +Treasury been bombarded suddenly one night by red-hot balls, +Madrid City laid in ashes, or Baby Carlos's Apanage extinguished +from Creation, there could hardly have been greater English joy +(witness the "Porto-Bellos" they still have, new Towns so named); +so flamy is the murky element growing on that head. And indeed had +the cipher of tar-barrels burnt, and of ale-barrels drunk, and the +general account of wick and tallow spent in illuminations and in +aldermanic exertions on the matter, been accurately taken, one +doubts if Porto-Bello sold, without shot fired, to the highest +bidder, at its floweriest, would have covered such a sum. For they +are a singular Nation, if stirred up from their stagnancy; and are +much in earnest about this Spanish War. + +It is said there is now another far grander Expedition on the +stocks: military this time as well as naval, intended for the +Spanish Main;--but of that, for the present, we will defer +speaking. Enough, the Spanish War is a most serious and most +furious business to those old English; and, to us, after forced +study of it, shines out like far-off conflagration, with a certain +lurid significance in the then night of things. Night otherwise +fallen dark and somniferous to modern mankind. As Britannic +Majesty and his Walpoles have, from the first, been dead against +this Spanish War, the problem is all the more ominous, and the +dreadful corollaries that may hang by it the more distressing to +the royal mind. + +For example, there is known, or as good as known, to be virtually +some Family Compact, or covenanted Brotherhood of Bourbonism, +French and Spanish: political people quake to ask themselves, "How +will the French keep out of this War, if it continue any length of +time? And in that case, how will Austria, Europe at large? +Jenkins's Ear will have kindled the Universe, not the Spanish Main +only, and we shall be at a fine pass!" The Britannic Majesty +reflects that if France take to fighting him, the first stab given +will probably be in the accessiblest quarter and the intensely +most sensitive,--our own Electoral Dominions where no Parliament +plagues us, our dear native country, Hanover. Extremely +interesting to know what Friedrich of Prussia will do in +such contingency? + +Well, truly it might have been King George's best bargain to close +with Friedrich; to guarantee Julich and Berg, and get Fredrich to +stand between the French and Hanover; while George, with an +England behind him, in such humor, went wholly into that Spanish +Business, the one thing needful to them at present. Truly; +but then again, there are considerations: "What is this Friedrich, +just come out upon the world? What real fighting power has he, +after all that ridiculous drilling and recruiting Friedrich +Wilhelm made? Will he be faithful in bargain; is not, perhaps, +from of old, his bias always toward France rather? And the Kaiser, +what will the Kaiser say to it?" These are questions for a +Britannic Majesty! Seldom was seen such an insoluble imbroglio of +potentialities; dangerous to touch, dangerous to leave lying;--and +his Britannic Majesty's procedures upon it are of a very slow +intricate sort; and will grow still more so, year after year, in +the new intricacies that are coming, and be a weariness to my +readers and me. For observe the simultaneous fact. All this while, +Robinson at Vienna is dunning the Imperial Majesty to remember old +Marlborough days and the Laws of Nature; and declare for us +against France, in case of the worst. What an attempt! +Imperial Majesty has no money; Imperial Majesty remembers recent +days rather, and his own last quarrel with France (on the Polish- +Election score), in which you Sea-Powers cruelly stood neuter! +One comfort, and pretty much one only, is left to a nearly +bankrupt Imperial heart; that France does at any rate ratify +Pragmatic Sanction, and instead of enemy to that inestimable +Document has become friend,--if only she be well let alone. +"Let well alone," says the sad Kaiser, bankrupt of heart as well +as purse: "I have saved the Pragmatic, got Fleury to guarantee it; +I will hunt wild swine and not shadows any more: ask me not!" +And now this Herstal business; the Imperial Dehortatoriums, +perhaps of a high nature, that are like to come? More hopeless +proposition the Britannic Majesty never made than this to the +Kaiser. But he persists in it, orders Robinson to persist; +knocks at the Austrian door with one hand, at the Prussian or +Anti-Austrian with the other; and gazes, with those proud fish- +eyes, into perils and potentialities and a sea of troubles. +Wearisome to think of, were not one bound to it! Here, from a +singular CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND, not yet got into +print, are two Excerpts; which I will request the reader to +try if he can take along with him, in view of much that +is Coming:-- + +1. A JUST WAR.--"This War, which posterity scoffs at as the WAR OF +JENKINS'S EAR, was, if we examine it, a quite indispensable one; +the dim much-bewildered English, driven into it by their deepest +instincts, were, in a chaotic inarticulate way, right and not +wrong in taking it as the Commandment of Heaven. For such, in a +sense, it was; as shall by and by appear. Not perhaps since the +grand Reformation Controversy, under Oliver Cromwell and +Elizabeth, had there, to this poor English People (who are +essentially dumb, inarticulate, from the weight of meaning they +have, notwithstanding the palaver one hears from them in certain +epochs), been a more authentic cause of War. And, what was the +fatal and yet foolish circumstance, their Constitutional Captains, +especially their King, would never and could never regard it as +such; but had to be forced into it by the public rage, there being +no other method left in the case. + +"I say, a most necessary War, though of a most stupid appearance; +such the fatality of it:--begun, carried on, ended, as if by a +People in a state of somnambulism! More confused operation never +was. A solid placid People, heavily asleep (and snoring much, +shall we say, and inarticulately grunting and struggling under +indigestions, Constitutional and other? Do but listen to the hum +of those extinct Pamphlets and Parliamentary Oratories of +theirs!),--yet an honestly intending People; and keenly alive to +any commandment from Heaven, that could pierce through the thick +skin of them into their big obstinate heart. Such a commandment, +then and there, was that monition about Jenkins's Ear. Upon which, +so pungent was it to them, they started violently out of bed, into +painful sleep-walking; and went, for twenty years and more, +clambering and sprawling about, far and wide, on the giddy edge of +precipices, over house-tops and frightful cornices and parapets; +in a dim fulfilment of the said Heaven's command. I reckon that +this War, though there were intervals, Treaties of Peace more than +one, and the War had various names,--did not end till 1763. +And then, by degrees, the poor English Nation found that (at, say, +a thousand times the necessary expense, and with imminent peril to +its poor head, and all the bones of its body) it had actually +succeeded,--by dreadful exertions in its sleep! This will be more +apparent by and by; and may be a kind of comfort to the sad +English reader, drearily surveying such somnambulisms on the part +of his poor ancestors." + +2. TWO DIFFICULTIES.--"There are Two grand Difficulties in this +Farce-Tragedy of a war; of which only one, and that not the worst +of the Pair, is in the least surmised by the English hitherto. +Difficulty First, which is even worse than the other, and will +surprisingly attend the English in all their Wars now coming, is: +That their fighting-apparatus, though made of excellent material, +cannot fight,--being in disorganic condition; one branch of it, +especially the 'Military' one as they are pleased to call it, +being as good as totally chaotic, and this in a quiet habitual +manner, this long while back. With the Naval branch it is +otherwise; which also is habitual there. The English almost as if +by nature can sail, and fight, in ships; cannot well help doing +it. Sailors innumerable are bred to them; they are planted in the +Ocean, opulent stormy Neptune clipping them in all his moods +forever: and then by nature, being a dumb, much-enduring, much- +reflecting, stout, veracious and valiant kind of People, they +shine in that way of life, which specially requires such. +Without much forethought, they have sailors innumerable, and of +the best quality. The English have among them also, strange as it +may seem to the cursory observer, a great gift of organizing; +witness their Arkwrights and others: and this gift they may often, +in matters Naval more than elsewhere, get the chance of +exercising. For a Ship's Crew, or even a Fleet, unlike a land +Army, is of itself a unity, its fortunes disjoined, dependent on +its own management; and it falls, moreover, as no land army can, +to the undivided guidance of one man,--who (by hypothesis, being +English) has now and then, from of old, chanced to be an +organizing man; and who is always much interested to know and +practise what has been well organized. For you are in contact with +verities, to an unexampled degree, when you get upon the Ocean, +with intent to sail on it, much more to fight on it;--bottomless +destruction raging beneath you and on all hands of you, if you +neglect, for any reason, the methods of keeping it down, and +making it float you to your aim! + +The English Navy is in tolerable order at that period. But as to +the English Army,--we may say it is, in a wrong sense, the wonder +of the world, and continues so throughout the whole of this +History and farther! Never before, among the rational sons of +Adam, were Armies sent out on such terms,--namely without a +General, or with no General understanding the least of his +business. The English have a notion that Generalship is not +wanted; that War is not an Art, as playing Chess is, as finding +the Longitude, and doing the Differential Calculus are (and a much +deeper Art than any of these); that War is taught by Nature, as +eating is; that courageous soldiers, led on by a courageous Wooden +Pole with Cocked-hat on it, will do very well. In the world I have +not found opacity of platitude go deeper among any People. This is +Difficulty First, not yet suspected by an English People, capable +of great opacity on some subjects. + +"Difficulty Second is, That their Ministry, whom they had to force +into this War, perhaps do not go zealously upon it. And perhaps +even, in the above circumstances, they totally want knowledge how +to go upon it, were they never so zealous; Difficulty Second might +be much helped, were it not for Difficulty First. But the +administering of War is a thing also that does not come to a man +like eating.--This Second Difficulty, suspicion that Walpole and +perhaps still higher heads want zeal, gives his Britannic Majesty +infinite trouble; and"-- + +--And so, in short, he stands there, with the Garter-leg advanced, +looking loftily into a considerable sea of troubles,--that day +when Friedrich drove past him, Friday, 16th September, 1740, and +never came so near him again. + +The next business for Friedrich was a Visit at Brunswick, to the +Affinities and Kindred, in passing; where also was an important +little act to be done: Betrothal of the young Prince, August +Wilhelm, Heir-Presumptive whom we saw in Strasburg, to a Princess +of that House, Louisa Amelia, younger Sister of Friedrich's own +Queen. A modest promising arrangement; which turned out well +enough,--though the young Prince, Father to the Kings that since +are, was not supremely fortunate otherwise. [Betrothal was 20th +September, 1740; Marriage, 5th January, 1742 (Buchholz, i. 207).] +After which, the review at Magdeburg; and home on the 24th, there +to "be busy as a Turk or as a M. Jordan,"--according to what we +read long since. + + + +Chapter VII. + +WITHDRAWS TO REINSBERG, HOPING A PEACEABLE WINTER. + +By this Herstal token, which is now blazing abroad, now and for a +month to come, it can be judged that the young King of Prussia +intends to stand on his own footing, quite peremptorily if need +be; and will by no means have himself led about in Imperial +harness, as his late Father was. So that a dull Public +(Herrenhausen very specially), and Gazetteer Owls of Minerva +everywhere, may expect events. All the more indubitably, when that +spade-work comes to light in the Wesel Country. It is privately +certain (the Gazetteers not yet sure about it, till they see the +actual spades going), this new King does fully intend to assert +his rights on Berg-Julich; and will appear there with his iron +ramrods, the instant old Kur-Pfalz shall decease, let France and +the Kaiser say No to it or say Yes. There are, in fact, at a fit +place, "Buderich in the neighborhood of Wesel," certain rampart- +works, beginnings as of an Entrenched Camp, going on;--"for Review +purposes merely," say the Gazetteers, IN ITALICS. Here, it +privately is Friedrich's resolution, shall a Prussian Army, of +the due strength (could be well-nigh 100,000 strong if needful), +make its appearance, directly on old Kur-Pfalz's decease, if one +live to see such event. [Stenzel, iv. 61.] France and the Kaiser +will probably take good survey of that Buderich phenomenon +before meddling. + +To do his work like a King, and shun no peril and no toil in the +course of what his work may be, is Friedrich's rule and intention. +Nevertheless it is clear he expects to approve himself magnanimous +rather in the Peaceable operations than in the Warlike; and his +outlooks are, of all places and pursuits, towards Reinsberg and +the Fine Arts, for the time being. His Public activity meanwhile +they describe as "prodigious," though the ague still clings to +him; such building, instituting, managing: Opera-House, French +Theatre, Palace for his Mother;--day by day, many things to be +recorded by Editor Formey, though the rule about them here is +silence except on cause. + +No doubt the ague is itself privately a point of moment. Such a +vexatious paltry little thing, in this bright whirl of Activities, +Public and other, which he continues managing in spite of it; +impatient to be rid of it. But it will not go: there IT reappears +always, punctual to its "fourth day,"--like a snarling street-dog, +in the high Ball-room and Work-room. "He is drinking Pyrmont +water;" has himself proposed Quinquina, a remedy just come up, but +the Doctors shook their heads; has tried snatches of Reinsberg, +too short; he intends soon to be out there for a right spell of +country, there to be "happy," and get quit of his ague. The ague +went,--and by a remedy which surprised the whole world, as will +be seen! + + + +WILHELMINA'S RETURN-VISIT. + +Monday, 17th October, came the Baireuth Visitors; Wilhelmina all +in a flutter, and tremor of joy and sorrow, to see her Brother +again, her old kindred and the altered scene of things. Poor Lady, +she is perceptibly more tremulous than usual; and her Narrative, +not in dates only, but in more memorable points, dances about at a +sad rate; interior agitations and tremulous shrill feelings +shivering her this way and that, and throwing things topsy-turvy +in one's recollection. Like the magnetic needle, shaky but +steadfast (AGITEE MAI CONSTANTE). Truer nothing can be, points +forever to the Pole; but also what obliquities it makes; +will shiver aside in mad escapades, if you hold the paltriest bit +of old iron near it,--paltriest clack of gossip about this loved +Brother of mine! Brother, we will hope, silently continues to be +Pole, so that the needle always comes back again; otherwise all +would go to wreck. Here, in abridged and partly rectified form, +are the phenomena witnessed:-- + +"We arrived at Berlin the end of October [Monday, 17th, as +above said]. My younger Brothers, followed by the Princes of the +Blood and by all the Court, received us at the bottom of the +stairs. I was led to my apartment, where I found the Reigning +Queen, my Sisters [Ulrique, Amelia], and the Princesses [of the +Blood, as above, Schwedt and the rest]. I learned with much +chagrin that the King was ill of tertian ague [quartan; but that +is no matter]. He sent me word that, being in his fit, he could +not see me; but that he depended on having that pleasure +to-morrow. The Queen Mother, to whom I went without delay, was in +a dark condition; rooms all hung with their lugubrious drapery; +everything yet in the depth of mourning for my Father. What a +scene for me! Nature has her rights; I can say with truth, I have +almost never in my life been so moved as on this occasion." +Interview with Mamma--we can fancy it--"was of the most touching." +Wilhelmina had been absent eight years. She scarcely knows the +young ones again, all so grown;--finds change on change: and that +Time, as he always is, has been busy. That night the Supper-Party +was exclusively a Family one. + +Her Brother's welcome to her on the morrow, though ardent enough, +she found deficient in sincerity, deficient in several points; +as indeed a Brother up to the neck in business, and just come out +of an ague-fit, does not appear to the best advantage. +Wilhelmina noticed how ill he looked, so lean and broken-down +(MAIGRE ET DEFAIT) within the last two months; but seems to have +taken no account of it farther, in striking her balances with +Friedrich. And indeed in her Narrative of this Visit, not, we will +hope, in the Visit itself, she must have been in a high state of +magnetic deflection,--pretty nearly her maximum of such, +discoverable in those famous MEMOIRS,--such a tumult is there in +her statements, all gone to ground-and-lofty tumbling in this +place; so discrepant are the still ascertainable facts from this +topsy-turvy picture of them, sketched by her four years hence (in +1744). The truest of magnetic needles; but so sensitive, if you +bring foreign iron near it! + +Wilhelmina was loaded with honors by an impartial Berlin Public +that is Court Public; "but, all being in mourning, the Court was +not brilliant. The Queen Mother saw little company, and was sunk +in sorrow;--had not the least influence in affairs, so jealous was +the new King of his Authority,--to the Queen Mother's surprise," +says Wilhelmina. For the rest, here is a King "becoming truly +unpopular [or, we fancy so, in our deflected state, and judging by +the rumor of cliques]; a general discontent reigning in the +Country, love of his subjects pretty much gone; people speaking of +him in no measured terms [in certain cliques]. Cares nothing about +those who helped him as Prince Royal, say some; others complain of +his avarice [meaning steady vigilance in outlay] as surpassing the +late King's; this one complained of his violences of temper +(EMPORTEMENS); that one of his suspicions, of his distrust, his +haughtinesses, his dissimulation" (meaning polite impenetrability +when he saw good). Several circumstances, known to Wilhelmina's +own experience, compel Wilhelmina's assent on those points. +"I would have spoken to him about them, if my Brother of Prussia +[young August Wilhelm, betrothed the other day] and the Queen +Regnant had not dissuaded me. Farther on I will give the +explanation of all this,"--never did it anywhere. "I beg those who +may one day read these MEMOIRS, to suspend their judgment on the +character of this great Prince till I have developed it." +[Wilhelmina, ii. 326.] O my Princess, you are true and bright, but +you are shrill; and I admire the effect of atmospheric +electricity, not to say, of any neighboring marine-store shop, or +miserable bit of broken pan, on one of the finest magnetic needles +ever made and set trembling! + +Wilhelmina is incapable of deliberate falsehood; and this her +impression or reminiscence, with all its exaggeration, is entitled +to be heard in evidence so far. From this, and from other sources, +readers will assure themselves that discontents were not wanting; +that King Friedrich was not amiable to everybody at this time,-- +which indeed he never grew to be at any other time. He had to be a +King; that was the trade he followed, not the quite different one +of being amiable all round. Amiability is good, my Princess; +but the question rises, "To whom?-for example, to the young +gentleman who shot himself in Lobegun?" There are young gentlemen +and old sometimes in considerable quantities, to whom, if you were +in your duty, as a King of men (or even as a "King of one man and +his affairs," if that is all your kingdom), you should have been +hateful instead of amiable! That is a stern truth; too much +forgotten by Wilhelmina and others. Again, what a deadening and +killing circumstance is it in the career of amiability, that you +are bound not to be communicative of your inner man, but +perpetually and strictly the reverse! It may be doubted if a good +King can be amiable; certainly he cannot in any but the noblest +ages, and then only to a select few. I should guess Friedrich was +at no time fairly loved, not by those nearest to him. He was +rapid, decisive; of wiry compact nature; had nothing of his +Father's amplitudes, simplicities; nothing to sport with and +fondle, far from it. Tremulous sensibilities, ardent affections; +these we clearly discover in him, in extraordinary vivacity; but +he wears them under his polished panoply, and is outwardly a +radiant but metallic object to mankind. Let us carry this along +with us in studying him; and thank Wilhelmina for giving us hint +of it in her oblique way.--Wilhelmima's love for her Brother rose +to quite heroic pitch in coming years, and was at its highest when +she died. That continuation of her MEMOIRS in which she is to +develop her Brother's character, was never written: it has been +sought for in modern times; and a few insignificant pages, with +evidence that there is not, and was not, any more, are all that +has turned up. [Pertz, <italic> Ueber die Denkwurdigkeiten der +Markgrafin van Bayreuth <end italic> (Paper read in the +<italic> Akademie der Wissenschaften, <end italic> Berlin, +25th April, 1850). + +Incapable of falsity prepense, we say; but the known facts, which +stand abundantly on record if you care to search them out, are +merely as follows: Friedrich, with such sincerity as there might +be, did welcome Wilhelmina on the morrow of her arrival; spoke of +Reinsberg, and of air and rest, and how pleasant it would be; +rolled off next morning, having at last gathered up his +businesses, and got them well in hand, to Reinsberg accordingly; +whither Wilhelmina, with the Queen Regnant and others of agreeable +quality, followed in two days; intending a long and pleasant spell +of country out there. Which hope was tolerably fulfilled, even for +Wilhelmina, though there did come unexpected interruptions, not of +Friedrich's bringing. + + +UNEXPECTED NEWS AT REINSBERG. + +Friedrich's pursuits and intended conquests, for the present, are +of peaceable and even gay nature. French Theatre, Italian Opera- +House, these are among the immediate outlooks. Voltaire, skilled +in French acting, if anybody ever were, is multifariously +negotiating for a Company of that kind,--let him be swift, be +successful. [Letters of Voltaire (PASSIM, in these months).] +An Italian Opera there shall be; the House is still to be built: +Captain Knobelsdorf, who built Reinsberg, whom we have known, is +to do it. Knobelsdorf has gone to Italy on that errand; "went by +Dresden, carefully examining the Opera-House there, and all the +famed Opera-Houses on his road." Graun, one of the best judges +living, is likewise off to Italy, gathering singers. Our Opera +too shall be a successful thing, and we hope, a speedy. Such are +Friedrich's outlooks at this time. + +A miscellaneous pleasant company is here; Truchsess and Bielfeld, +home from Hanover, among them; Wilhelmina is here;--Voltaire +himself perhaps coming again. Friedrich drinks his Pyrmont waters; +works at his public businesses all day, which are now well in +hand, and manageable by couriers; at evening he appears in +company, and is the astonishment of everybody; brilliant, like a +new-risen sun, as if he knew of no illness, knew of no business, +but lived for amusement only. "He intends Private Theatricals +withal, and is getting ready Voltaire's MORT DE CESAR." [Preuss, +<italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> p. 415.] These were pretty +days at Reinsberg. This kind of life lasted seven or eight weeks, +--in spite of interruptions of subterranean volcanic nature, some +of which were surely considerable. Here, in the very first week, +coming almost volcanically, is one, which indeed is the sum of +them all. + +Tuesday forenoon, 25th October, 1740, Express arrives at +Reinsberg; direct from Vienna five days ago; finds Friedrich under +eclipse, hidden in the interior, laboring under his ague-fit: +question rises, Shall the Express be introduced, or be held back? +The news he brings is huge, unexpected, transcendent, and may +agitate the sick King. Six or seven heads go wagging on this +point,--who by accident are namable, if readers care: "Prince +August Wilhelm," lately betrothed; "Graf Truchsess," home from +Hanover; "Colonel Graf von Finkenstein," old Tutor's Son, a +familiar from boyhood upwards; "Baron Pollnitz" kind of chief +Goldstick now, or Master of the Ceremonies, not too witty, but the +cause of wit; "Jordan, Bielfeld," known to us; and lastly, +"Fredersdorf," Major-domo and Factotum, who is grown from Valet to +be Purse-Keeper, confidential Manager, and almost friend,-- +a notable personage in Friedrich's History. They decide, +"Better wait!" + +They wait accordingly; and then, after about an hour, the +trembling-fit being over, and Fredersdorf having cautiously +preluded a little, and prepared the way, the Despatch is +delivered, and the King left with his immense piece of news. +News that his Imperial Majesty Karl VI. died, after short illness, +on Thursday, the 20th last. Kaiser dead: House of Hapsburg, and +its Five Centuries of tough wrestling, and uneasy Dominancy in +this world, ended, gone to the distaff:--the counter-wrestling +Ambitions and Cupidities not dead; and nothing but Pragmatic +Sanction left between the fallen House and them! Friedrich kept +silence; showed no sign how transfixed he was to hear such +tidings; which, he foresaw, would have immeasurable consequences +in the world. + +One of the first was, that it cured Friedrich of his ague. +It braced him (it, and perhaps "a little quinquina which he now +insisted on") into such a tensity of spirit as drove out his ague +like a mere hiccough; quite gone in the course of next week; +and we hear no more of that importunate annoyance. He summoned +Secretary Eichel, "Be ready in so many minutes hence;" rose from +his bed, dressed himself; [Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end +italic> p. 416.]--and then, by Eichel's help, sent off expresses +for Schwerin his chief General, and Podewils his chief Minister. +A resolution, which is rising or has risen in the Royal mind, will +be ready for communicating to these Two by the time they arrive, +on the second day hence. This done, Friedrich, I believe, joined +his company in the evening; and was as light and brilliant as if +nothing had happened. + + + +Chapter VIII. + +THE KAISER'S DEATH. + +The Kaiser's death came upon the Public unexpectedly; though not +quite so upon observant persons closer at hand. He was not yet +fifty-six out; a firm-built man; had been of sound constitution, +of active, not intemperate habits: but in the last six years, +there had come such torrents of ill luck rolling down on him, he +had suffered immensely, far beyond what the world knew of; and to +those near him, and anxious for him, his strength seemed much +undermined. Five years ago, in summer 1735, Robinson reported, +from a sure hand: "Nothing can equal the Emperor's agitation under +these disasters [brought upon him by Fleury and the Spaniards, +as after-clap to his Polish-Election feat]. His good Empress is +terrified, many times, he will die in the course of the night, +when singly with her he gives a loose to his affliction, confusion +and despair." Sea-Powers will not help; Fleury and mere ruin will +engulf! "What augments this agitation is his distrust in every one +of his own Ministers, except perhaps Bartenstein," [Robinson to +Lord Warrington, 5th July, 1735 (in State-Paper Office).]--who is +not much of a support either, though a gnarled weighty old stick +in his way ("Professor at Strasburg once"): not interesting to us +here. The rest his Imperial Majesty considers to be of sublimated +blockhead type, it appears. Prince Eugene had died lately, and +with Eugene all good fortune. + +And then, close following, the miseries of that Turk War, crashing +down upon a man! They say, Duke Franz, Maria Theresa's Husband, +nominal Commander in those Campaigns, with the Seckendorfs and +Wallises under him going such a road, was privately eager to have +done with the Business, on any terms, lest the Kaiser should die +first, and leave it weltering. No wonder the poor Kaiser felt +broken, disgusted with the long Shadow-Hunt of Life; and took to +practical field-sports rather. An Army that cannot fight, War- +Generals good only to be locked in Fortresses, an Exchequer that +has no money; after such wagging of the wigs, and such Privy- +Councilling and such War-Councilling:--let us hunt wild swine, and +not think of it! That, thank Heaven, we still have; that, and +Pragmatic Sanction well engrossed, and generally sworn to by +mankind, after much effort!-- + +The outer Public of that time, and Voltaire among them more +deliberately afterwards, spoke of "mushrooms," an "indigestion of +mushrooms;" and it is probable there was something of mushrooms +concerned in the event, Another subsequent Frenchman, still more +irreverent, adds to this of the "excess of mushrooms," that the +Kaiser made light of it. "When the Doctors told him he had few +hours to live, he would not believe it; and bantered his +Physicians on the sad news. 'Look me in the eyes,' said he; +'have I the air of one dying? When you see my sight growing dim, +then let the sacraments be administered, whether I order or not.'" +Doctors insisting, the Kaiser replied: "'Since you are foolish +fellows, who know neither the cause nor the state of my disorder, +I command that, once I am dead, you open my body, to know what the +matter was; you can then come and let me know!"' +[<italic> Anecdotes Germaniques <end italic> (Paris, 1769), +p. 692.]--in which also there is perhaps a glimmering of distorted +truth, though, as Monsieur mistakes even the day ("18th October," +says he, not 2Oth), one can only accept it as rumor from the +outside. + +Here, by an extremely sombre domestic Gentleman of great +punctuality and great dulness, are the authentic particulars, such +as it was good to mention in Vienna circles. [(Anonymous) <italic> +Des &c. Romischen Kaisers Carl VI. Leben und Thaten <end italic> +(Frankfurt und Leipzig, 1741), pp. 220-227.] An extremely dull +Gentleman, but to appearance an authentic; and so little defective +in reverence that he delicately expresses some astonishment at +Death's audacity this year, in killing so many Crowned Heads. +"This year 1740," says he, "though the weather throughout Europe +had been extraordinarily fine," or fine for a cold year, "had +already witnessed several Deaths of Sovereigns: Pope Clement XII., +Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, the Queen Dowager of Spain +[Termagant's old stepmother, not Termagant's self by a great way]. +But that was not enough: unfathomable Destiny ventured now on +Imperial Heads (WAGTE SICH AUCH AN KAISER-KRONEN): Karl VI., +namely, and Russia's great, Monarchess;"--an audacity to be +remarked. Of Russia's great Monarchess (Czarina Anne, with the big +cheek) we will say nothing at present; but of Karl VI. only,-- +abridging much, and studying arrangement. + +"Thursday, October 13th, returning from Halbthurn, a Hunting Seat +of his," over in Hungary some fifty miles, "to the Palace Favorita +at Vienna, his Imperial Majesty felt slightly indisposed,"-- +indigestion of mushrooms or whatever it was: had begun AT +Halbthurn the night before, we rather understand, and was the +occasion of his leaving. "The Doctors called it cold on the +stomach, and thought it of no consequence. In the night of +Saturday, it became alarming;" inflammation, thought the Doctors, +inflammation of the liver, and used their potent appliances, which +only made the danger come and go; "and on the Tuesday, all day, +the Doctors did not doubt his Imperial Majesty was dying. +["Look me in the eyes; pack of fools; you will have to dissect me, +you will then know:" Any truth in all that? No matter.] + +"At noon of that Tuesday he took the Sacrament, the Pope's Nuncio +administering. His Majesty showed uncommonly great composure of +soul, and resignation to the Divine Will;" being indeed +"certain,"--so he expressed it to "a principal Official Person +sunk in grief" (Bartenstein, shall we guess?), who stood by him-- +"certain of his cause," not afraid in contemplating that dread +Judgment now near: "Look at me! A man that is certain of his cause +can enter on such a Journey with good courage and a composed mind +(MIT GUTEM UND DELASSENEM MUTH)." To the Doctors, dubitating what +the disease was, he said, "If Gazelli" my late worthy Doctor, +"were still here, you would soon know; but as it is, you will +learn it when you dissect me;"--and once asked to be shown the Cup +where his heart would lie after that operation. + +"Sacrament being over," Tuesday afternoon, "he sent for his +Family, to bless them each separately. He had a long conversation +with Grand Duke Franz," titular of Lorraine, actual of Tuscany, +"who had assiduously attended him, and continued to do so, during +the whole illness." The Grand Duke's Spouse,--Maria Theresa, the +noble-hearted and the overwhelmed; who is now in an interesting +state again withal; a little Kaiserkin (Joseph II.) coming in five +months; first child, a little girl, is now two years old;--"had +been obliged to take to bed three days ago; laid up of grief and +terror (VOR SCHMERZEN UND SCHRECKEN), ever since Sunday the 16th. +Nor would his Imperial Majesty permit her to enter this death- +room, on account of her condition, so important to the world; +but his Majesty, turning towards that side where her apartment +was, raised his right hand, and commanded her Husband, and the +Archduchess her younger Sister, to tell his Theresa, That he +blessed her herewith, notwithstanding her absence." Poor Kaiser, +poor Theresa! "Most distressing of all was the scene with the +Kaiserin. The night before, on getting knowledge of the sad +certainty, she had fainted utterly away (STARKE OHNMACHT), and had +to be carried into the Grand Duchess's [Maria Theresa's] room. +Being summoned now with her Children, for the last blessing, she +cried as in despair, 'Do not leave me, Your Dilection, do not (ACH +EUER LIEBDEN VERLASSEN MICH DOCH NICHT)!'" Poor good souls! +"Her Imperial Majesty would not quit the room again, but remained +to the last. + +"Wednesday, 19th, all day, anxiety, mournful suspense;" poor +weeping Kaiserin and all the world waiting; the Inevitable visibly +struggling on. "And in the night of that day [night of 19th-20th +Oct., 1740], between one and two in the morning, Death snatched +away this most invaluable Monarch (DEN PREISWURDIGSTEN MONARCHEN) +in the 66th year of his life;" and Kaiser Karl VI., and the House +of Hapsburg and its Five tough Centuries of good and evil in this +world had ended. The poor Kaiserin "closed the eyes" that could +now no more behold her; "kissed his hands, and was carried out +more dead than alive." [Anonymous, UT SUPRA, pp. 220-227.-- +Adelung, <italic> Pragmatische Staatsgeschichte <end italic> +(Gotha, 1762-1767), ii. 120. JOHANN CHRISTOPH Adelung; the same +who did the DICTIONARY aud many other deserving Books; here is the +precise Title: <italic> "Pragmatische Staatsgeschichte Europens," +<end italic> that is, "Documentary History of Europe, from Kaiser +Karl's Death, 1740, till Peace of Paris, 1763." A solid, laborious +and meritorious Work, of its kind; extremely extensive (9 vols. +4to, some of which are double and even treble), mostly in the +undigested, sometimes in the quite uncooked or raw condition; +perhaps about a fifth part of it consists of "Documents" proper, +which are shippable. It cannot help being dull, waste, dreary, but +is everywhere intelligible (excellent Indexes too),--and offers an +unhappy reader by far the best resource attainable for survey of +that sad Period.] + +A good affectionate Kaiserin, I do believe; honorable, truthful, +though unwitty of speech, and converted by Grandpapa in a peculiar +manner, For her Kaiser too, after all, I have a kind of love. +Of brilliant articulate intellect there is nothing; nor of +inarticulate (as in Friedrich Wilhelm's case) anything +considerable: in fact his Shadow-Hunting, and Duelling with the +Termagant, seemed the reverse of wise. But there was something of +a high proud heart in it, too, if we examine; and even the +Pragmatic Sanction, though in practice not worth one regiment of +iron ramrods, indicates a profoundly fixed determination, partly +of loyal nature, such as the gods more or less reward. "He had +been a great builder," say the Histories; "was a great musician, +fit to lead orchestras, and had composed an Opera,"--poor Kaiser. +There came out large traits of him, in Maria Theresa again, under +an improved form, which were much admired by the world. He looks, +in his Portraits, intensely serious; a handsome man, stoically +grave; much the gentleman, much the Kaiser or Supreme Gentleman. +As, in life and fact, he was; "something solemn in him, even when +he laughs," the people used to say. A man honestly doing his very +best with his poor Kaisership, and dying of chagrin by it. +"On opening the body, the liver-region proved to be entirely +deranged; in the place where the gall-bladder should have been, a +stone of the size of a pigeon's egg was found grown into the +liver, and no gall-bladder now there." + +That same morning, with earliest daylight, "Thursday, 20th, six +A.M.," Maria Theresa is proclaimed by her Heralds over Vienna: +"According to Pragmatic Sanction, Inheritress of all the," &c. +&c.;--Sovereign Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and +Bohemia, for chief items. "At seven her Majesty took the Oath from +the Generals and Presidents of Tribunals,--said, through her +tears, 'All was to stand on the old footing, each in his post,'"-- +and the other needful words. Couriers shoot forth towards all +Countries;--one express courier to Regensburg, and the enchanted +Wiggeries there, to say That a new Kaiser will be needed; +REICHS-Vicar or Vicars (Kur-Sachsen and whoever more, for they are +sometimes disagreed about it) will have to administer in +the interim. + +A second courier we saw arrive at Reinsberg; he likewise may be +important. The Bavarian Minister, Karl Albert Kur-Baiern's man, +shot off his express, like the others; answer is, by return of +courier, or even earlier (for a messenger was already on the +road), Make protest! "We Kur-Baiern solemnly protest against +Pragmatic Sanction, and the assumption of such Titles by the +Daughter of the late Kaiser. King of Bohemia, and in good part +even of Austria, it is not you, Madam, but of right WE; as, by +Heaven's help, it is our fixed resolution to make good!" +Protest was presented, accordingly, with all the solemnities, +without loss of a moment. To which Bartenstein and the Authorities +answered "Pooh-pooh," as if it were nothing. It is the first +ripple of an immeasurable tide or deluge in that kind, threatening +to submerge the new Majesty of Hungary;--as had been foreseen at +Reinsberg; though Bartenstein and the Authorities made light of +it, answering "Pooh-pooh," or almost "Ha-ha," for the present. + +Her Hungarian Majesty's chief Generals, Seckendorf, Wallis, +Neipperg, sit in their respective prison-wards at this time (from +which she soon liberates them): Kur-Baiern has lodged protest; +at Reinsberg there will be an important resolution ready:--and in +the Austrian Treasury (which employs 40,000 persons, big and +little) there is of cash or available, resource, 100,000 florins, +that is to say, 10,000 pounds net. [Mailath, <italic> Geschichte +des Oestreichischen Kaiserstaats <end italic> (Hamburg, 1850), +v. 8.] And unless Pragmatic sheepskin hold tighter than some +persons expect, the affairs of Austria and of this young +Archduchess are in a threatening way. + +His Britannic Majesty was on the road home, about Helvoetsluys or +on the sea for Harwich, that night the Kaiser died; of whose +illness he had heard nothing. At London, ten days after, the +sudden news struck dismally upon his Majesty and the Political +Circles there: "No help, then, from that quarter, in our Spanish +War; perhaps far other than help!"--Nay, certain Gazetteers were +afraid the grand new Anti-Spanish Expedition itself, which was +now, at the long last, after such confusions and delays, lying +ready, in great strength, Naval and Military, would be +countermanded,--on Pragmatic-Sanction considerations, and the +crisis probably imminent. [London Newspapers (31st Oct.-6th Nov., +1740). But it was not countermanded; it sailed all the same, +"November 6th" (seventh day after the bad news); and made towards +--Shall we tell the reader, what is Officially a dead secret, +though by this time well guessed at by the Public, English and +also Spanish?--towards Carthagena, to reinforce fiery Vernon, in +the tropical latitudes; and overset Spanish America, beginning +with that important Town! + +Commodore Anson, he also, after long fatal delays, is off, several +weeks ago; [29th (18th) September, 1740.] round Cape Horn; hoping +(or perhaps already not hoping) to co-operate from the Other +Ocean, and be simultaneous with Vernon,--on these loose principles +of keeping time! Commodore Anson does, in effect, make a Voyage +which is beautiful, and to mankind memorable; but as to keeping +tryst with Vernon, the very gods could not do it on those terms! + + + +Chapter IX. + +RESOLUTION FORMED AT REINSBERG IN CONSEQUENCE. + +Thursday, 27th October, two days after the Expresses went for +them, Schwerin and Podewils punctually arrived at Reinsberg. +They were carried into the interior privacies, "to long +conferences with his Majesty that day, and for the next four days; +Majesty and they even dining privately together;" grave business +of state, none guesses how grave, evidently going on. +The resolution Friedrich laid before them, fruit of these two days +since the news from Vienna, was probably the most important ever +formed in Prussia, or in Europe during that Century: Resolution to +make good our Rights on Silesia, by this great opportunity, the +best that will ever offer. Resolution which had sprung, I find, +and got to sudden fixity in the head of the young King himself; +and which met with little save opposition from all the other sons +of Adam, at the first blush and for long afterwards. And, indeed, +the making of it good (of it, and of the immense results that hung +by it) was the main business of this young King's Life henceforth; +and cost him Labors like those of Hercules, and was in the highest +degree momentous to existing and not yet existing millions of +mankind,--to the readers of this History especially. + +It is almost touching to reflect how unexpectedly, like a bolt out +of the blue, all this had come upon Friedrich; and how it overset +his fine program for the winter at Reinsberg, and for his Life +generally. Not the Peaceable magnanimities, but the Warlike, are +the thing appointed Friedrich this winter, and mainly henceforth. +Those "GOLDEN or soft radiances" which we saw in him, admirable to +Voltaire and to Friedrich, and to an esurient philanthropic +world,--it is not those, it is "the STEEL-BRIGHT or stellar kind," +that are to become predominant in Friedrich's existence: +grim hail-storms, thunders and tornado for an existence to him, +instead of the opulent genialities and halcyon weather, +anticipated by himself and others! Indisputably enough to us, if +not yet to Friedrich, "Reinsberg and Life to the Muses" are done. +On a sudden, from the opposite side of the horizon, see, +miraculous Opportunity, rushing hitherward,--swift, terrible, +clothed with lightning like a courser of the gods: dare you clutch +HIM by the thundermane, and fling yourself upon him, and make for +the Empyrean by that course rather? Be immediate about it, then; +the time is now, or else never!--No fair judge can blame the young +man that he laid hold of the flaming Opportunity in this manner, +and obeyed the new omen. To seize such an opportunity, and +perilously mount upon it, was the part of a young magnanimous +King, less sensible to the perils, and more to the other +considerations, than one older would have been. + +Schwerin and Podewils were, no doubt, astonished to learn what the +Royal purpose was; and could not want for commonplace objections +many and strong, had this been the scene for dwelling on them, or +dressing them out at eloquent length. But they knew well this was +not the scene for doing more than, with eloquent modesty, hint +them; that the Resolution, being already taken, would not alter +for commonplace; and that the question now lying for honorable +members was, How to execute it? It is on this, as I collect, that +Schwerin and Podewils in the King's company did, with extreme +intensity, consult during those four days; and were, most +probably, of considerable use to the King, though some of their +modifications adopted by him turned out, not as they had +predicted, but as he. On all the Military details and outlines, +and on all the Diplomacies of this business, here are two Oracles +extremely worth consulting by the young King. + +To seize Silesia is easy: a Country open on all but the south +side; open especially on our side, where a battalion of foot might +force it; the three or four fortresses, of which only two, Glogau +and Neisse, can be reckoned strong, are provided with nothing as +they ought to be; not above 3,000 fighting men in the whole +Province, and these little expecting fight. Silesia can be seized: +but the maintaining of it?--We must try to maintain it, +thinks Friedrich. + +At Reinsberg it is not yet known that Kur-Baiern has protested; +but it is well guessed he means to do so, and that France is at +his back in some sort. Kur-Baiern, probably Kur-Sachsen, and +plenty more, France being secretly at their back. What low +condition Austria stands in, all its ready resources run to the +lees, is known; and that France, getting lively at present with +its Belleisles and adventurous spirits not restrainable by Fleury, +is always on the watch to bring Austria lower; capable, in spite +of Pragmatic Sanction, to snatch the golden moment, and spring +hunter-like on a moribund Austria, were the hunting-dogs once out +and in cry. To Friedrich it seems unlikely the Pragmatic Sanction +will be a Law of Nature to mankind, in these circumstances. +His opinion is, "the old political system has expired with the +Kaiser." Here is Europe, burning in one corner of it by Jenkins's +Ear, and such a smoulder of combustible material awakening nearer +hand: will not Europe, probably, blaze into general War; +Pragmatic Sanction going to waste sheepskin, and universal +scramble ensuing? In which he who has 100,000 good soldiers, and +can handle them, may be an important figure in urging claims, and +keeping what he has got hold of!-- + +Friedrich's mind, as to the fact, is fixed: seize Silesia we will: +but as to the manner of doing it, Schwerin and Podewils modify +him. Their counsel is: "Do not step out in hostile attitude at the +very first, saying, 'These Duchies, Liegnitz, Brieg, Wohlau, +Jagerndorf, are mine, and I will fight for them;' say only, +'Having, as is well known, interests of various kinds in this +Silesia, I venture to take charge of it in the perilous times now +come, and will keep it safe for the real owner.' Silesia seized in +this fashion," continue they, "negotiate with the Queen of +Hungary; offer her help, large help in men and money, against her +other enemies; perhaps she will consent to do us right?"-- +"She never will consent," is Friedrich's opinion. "But it is worth +trying?" urge the Ministers.--"Well," answers Friedrich, "be it in +that form; that is the soft-spoken cautious form: any form will +do, if the fact be there." That is understood to have been the +figure of the deliberation in this conclave at Reinsberg, during +the four days. [Stenzel (from what sources he does not clearly +say, no doubt from sources of some authenticity) gives this as +summary of it, iv. 61-65.] And now it remains only to fix the +Military details, to be ready in a minimum of time; and to keep +our preparations and intentions in impenetrable darkness from all +men, in the interim. Adieu, Messieurs. + +And so, on the 1st of November, fifth morning since they came, +Schwerin and Podewils, a world of new business silently ahead of +them, return to Berlin, intent to begin the same. All the Kings +will have to take their resolution on this matter; wisely, or else +unwisely. King Friedrich's, let it prove the wisest or not, is +notably the rapidest,--complete, and fairly entering upon action, +on November 1st. At London the news of the Kaiser's death had +arrived the day before; Britannic Majesty and Ministry, thrown +much into the dumps by it, much into the vague, are nothing like +so prompt with their resolution on it. Somewhat sorrowfully in the +vague. In fact, they will go jumbling hither and thither for about +three years to come, before making up their minds to a resolution: +so intricate is the affair to the English Nation and them! +Intricate indeed; and even imaginary,--definable mainly as a +bottomless abyss of nightmare dreams to the English Nation and +them! Productive of strong somnambulisms, as my friend has it!-- + + +MYSTERY IN BERLIN, FOR SEVEN WEEKS, WHILE THE PREPARATIONS GO +ON; VOLTAIRE VISITS FRIEDRICH TO DECIPHER IT, BUT CANNOT. + +Podewils and Schwerin gone, King Friedrich, though still very busy +in working-hours, returns to his society and its gayeties and +brilliancies; apparently with increased appetite after these four +days of abstinence. Still busy in his working-hours, as a King +must be; couriers coming and going, hundreds of businesses +despatched each day; and in the evening what a relish for +society,--Praetorius is quite astonished at it. Music, dancing, +play-acting, suppers of the gods, "not done till four in the +morning sometimes," these are the accounts Praetorius hears at +Berlin. "From all persons who return from Reinsberg," writes he, +"the unanimous report is, That the King works, the whole day +through, with an assiduity that is unique; and then, in the +evening, gives himself to the pleasures of society, with a +vivacity of mirth and sprightly humor which makes those Evening- +Parties charming." [Excerpt, in Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, +<end italic> p. 418.] So it had to last, with frequent short +journeys on Friedrich's part, and at last with change to Berlin as +head-quarters, for about seven weeks to come,--till the beginning +of December, and the day of action, namely. A notable little +Interim in Friedrich's History and that of Europe. + +Friedrich's secret, till almost the very end, remained +impenetrable; though, by degrees, his movements excited much +guessing in the Gazetteer and Diplomatic world everywhere. +Military matters do seem to be getting brisk in Prussia; arsenals +much astir; troops are seen mustering, marching, plainly to a +singular degree. Marching towards the Austrian side, towards +Silesia, some note. Yes; but also towards Cleve, certain +detachments of troops are marching,--do not men see? And the +Intrenchment at Buderich in those parts, that is getting forward +withal,--though privately there is not the least prospect of using +it, in these altered circumstances. Friedrich already guesses that +if he could get Silesia, so invaluable on the one skirt of him, he +mill probably have to give up his Berg-Julich claims on the other; +I fancy he is getting ready to do so, should the time come for +such alternative. But he labors at Buderich, all the same, and +"improves the roads in that quarter,"--which at least may help to +keep an inquisitive public at bay. These are seven busy weeks on +Friedrich's part, and on the world's: constant realities of +preparation, on the one part, industriously veiled; on the other +part, such shadows, guessings, spyings, spectral movements above +ground and below; Diplomatic shadows fencing, Gazetteer shadows +rumoring;--dreams of a world as if near awakening to something +great! "All Officers on furlough have been ordered to their +posts," writes Bielfeld, on those vague terms of his: "On arriving +at Berlin, you notice a great agitation in all departments of the +State. The regiments are ordered to prepare their equipages, and +to hold themselves in readiness for marching. There are magazines +being formed at Frankfurt-on-Oder and at Crossen,"--handy for +Silesia, you would say? "There are considerable trains of +Artillery getting ready, and the King has frequent conferences +with his Generals." [Bielfeld, i. 165 (Berlin, 30th November, is +the date he puts to it).] The authentic fact is: "By the middle of +November, Troops, to the extent of 30,000 and more, had got orders +to be ready for marching in three weeks hence; their public +motions very visible ever since, their actual purpose a mystery to +all mortals except three. + +Towards the end of November, it becomes the prevailing guess that +the business is immediate, not prospective; that Silesia may be in +the wind, not Julich and Berg. Which infinitely quickens the +shadowy rumorings and Diplomatic fencings of mankind. The French +have their special Ambassador here; a Marquis de Beauvau, +observant military gentleman, who came with the Accession +Compliment some time ago, and keeps his eyes well open, but cannot +see through mill-stones. Fleury is intensely desirous to know +Friedrich's secret; but would fain keep his own (if he yet have +one), and is himself quite tacit and reserved. To Fleury's Marquis +de Beauvau Friedrich is very gracious; but in regard to secrets, +is for a reciprocal procedure. Could not Voltaire go and try? +It is thought Fleury had let fall some hint to that effect, +carried by a bird of the air. Sure enough Voltaire does go; +is actually on visit to his royal Friend; "six days with him at +Reinsberg;" perhaps near a fortnight in all (20 November- +2 December or so), hanging about those Berlin regions, on the +survey. Here is an unexpected pleasure to the parties;--but in +regard to penetrating of secrets, an unproductive one! + +Voltaire's ostensible errand was, To report progress about the +ANTI-MACHIAVEL, the Van Duren nonsense; and, at any rate, to +settle the Money-accounts on these and other scores; and to +discourse Philosophies, for a day or two, with the First of Men. +The real errand, it is pretty clear, was as above. Voltaire has +always a wistful eye towards political employment, and would fain +make himself useful in high quarters. Fleury and he have their +touches of direct Correspondence now and then; and obliquely there +are always intermediates and channels. Small hint, the slightest +twinkle of Fleury's eyelashes, would be duly speeded to Voltaire, +and set him going. We shall see him expressly missioned hither, +on similar errand, by and by; though with as bad success as +at present. + +Of this his First Visit to Berlin, his Second to Friedrich, +Voltaire in the VIE PRIVEE says nothing. But in his SIECLE DE +LOUIS XV. he drops, with proud modesty, a little foot-note upon +it: "The Author was with the King of Prussia at that time; and can +affirm that Cardinal de Fleury was totally astray in regard to the +Prince he had now to do with." To which a DATE slightly wrong is +added; the rest being perfectly correct. [<italic> OEuvres <end +italic> (Siecle de Louis XV., c. 6), xxviii. 74.] No other details +are to be got anywhere, if they were of importance; the very dates +of it in the best Prussian Books are all slightly awry. Here, by +accident, are two poor flint-sparks caught from the dust +whirlwind, which yield a certain sufficing twilight, when put in +their place; and show us both sides of the matter, the smooth side +and the seamy:-- + +1. FRIEDRICH TO ALGAROTTI, AT BERLIN. From "Reinsberg, +21st Nov.," showing the smooth side. + +"MY DEAR SWAN OF PADUA,--Voltaire has arrived; all sparkling with +new beauties, and far more sociable than at Cleve. He is in very +good humor; and makes less complaining about his ailments than +usual. Nothing can be more frivolous than our occupations here:" +mere verse-making, dancing, philosophizing, then card-playing, +dining, flirting; merry as birds on the bough (and Silesia +invisible, except to oneself and two others). [<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> xviii. 25.] + +2. FRIEDRICH TO JORDAN, AT BERLIN. +"RUPPIN, 28th November. +"... Thy Miser [Voltaire, now gone to Berlin, of whom Jordan is to +send news, as of all things else], thy Miser shall drink to the +lees of his insatiable desire (SIC) to enrich himself: he shall +have the 3,000 thalers (450 pounds). He was with me six days: +that will be at the rate of 500 thalers (75 pounds) a day. That is +paying dear for one's merry-andrew (C'EST BIEN PAYER UN FOU); +never had court-fool such wages before." [Ib. xvii. 72. +Particulars of the money-payment (travelling expenses chiefly, +rather exorbitant, and THIS journey added to the list; and no +whisper of the considerable Van-Duren moneys, and copyright of +ANTI-MACHIAVEL, in abatement) are in Rodenbeck, i. 27. Exact sum +paid is 3,300 thalers; 2,000 a good while ago, 1,300 at this time, +which settles the greedy bill.] + +Which latter, also at first hand, shows us the seamy side. +And here, finally, with date happily appended, is a poetic snatch, +in Voltaire's exquisite style, which with the response gives us +the medium view:-- + +VOLTAIRE'S ADIEU (<italic> "Billet de Conge, <end italic> +2 December, 1740"). + +"Non, malgre vos vertus, non, malgre vos appas, + Mon ame n'est point satisfaite; + Non, vous n'etes qu'une coquette, +Qui subjuguez les coeurs, et ne rous donnez pas." + +FRIEDRICH'S RESPONSE. + +"Mon ame sent le prix de vos divins appas; +Mais ne presumez point qu'elle soit satisfaite. +Traitre, vous me quittez pour suivre une coquette; + Moi je ne vous quitterais pas." +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic <end italic> (xiv. 167); +<italic> OEuvres de Voltaire; <end italic> &c. &c.] + +--Meaning, perhaps, in brief English: V. "Ah, you are but a +beautiful coquette; you charm away our hearts, and do not give +your own [won't tell me your secret at all]!" F. "Treacherous +Lothario, it is you that quit me for a coquette [your divine +Emilie; and won't stay here, and be of my Academy]; +but however--!" Friedrich looked hopingly on the French, but could +not give his secret except by degrees and with reciprocity. +Some days hence he said to Marquis de Beauvau, in the Audience of +leave, a word which was remembered. + + +VIEW OF FRIEDRICH BEHIND THE VEIL. + +As to Friedrich himself, since about the middle of November his +plans seem to have been definitely shaped out in all points; +Troops so many, when to be on march, and how; no important detail +uncertain since then. November 17th, he jots down a little Note, +which is to go to Vienna, were the due hour come, by a special +Ambassador, one Count Gotter, acquainted with the ground there; +and explain to her Hungarian Majesty, what his exact demands are, +and what the exact services he will render. Of which important +little Paper readers shall hear again. Gotter's demands are at +first to be high: Our Four Duchies, due by law so long; these and +even more, considering the important services we propose; this is +to be his first word;--but, it appears, he is privately prepared +to put up with Two Duchies, if he can have them peaceably: +Duchies of Sagan and Glogau, which are not of the Four at all, but +which lie nearest us, and are far below the value of the Four, to +Austria especially. This intricate point Friedrich has already +settled in his mind. And indeed it is notably the habit of this +young King to settle matters with himself in good time: and in +regard to all manner of points, he will be found, on the day of +bargaining about them, to have his own resolution formed and +definitely fixed;--much to his advantage over conflicting parties, +who have theirs still flying loose. + +Another thing of much concernment is, To secure himself from +danger of Russian interference. To this end he despatches Major +Winterfeld to Russia, a man well known to him;--day of +Winterfeld's departure is not given; day of his arrival in +Petersburg is "19th December" just coming. Russia, at present, is +rather in a staggering condition; hopeful for Winterfeld's object. +On the 28th of October last, only eight days after the Kaiser, +Czarina Anne of Russia, she with the big cheek, once of Courland, +had died; "audacious Death," as our poor friend had it, "venturing +upon another Crowned Head" there. Bieren her dear Courlander, once +little better than a Horse-groom, now Duke of Courland, Quasi- +Husband to the late Big Cheek, and thereby sovereign of Russia, +this long while past, is left Official Head in Russia. Poor little +Anton Ulrich and his august Spouse, well enough known to us, have +indeed produced a Czar Iwan, some months ago, to the joy of +mankind: but Czar Iwan is in his cradle: Father and Mother's +function is little other than to rock the cradle of Iwan; +Bieren to be Regent and Autocrat over him and them in the interim. +To their chagrin, to that of Feldmarschall Munnich and many +others: the upshot of which will be visible before long. +Czarina Anne's death had seemed to Friedrich the opportune removal +of a dangerous neighbor, known to be in the pay of Austria: +here now are new mutually hostile parties springing up; chance, +surely, of a bargain with some of them? He despatches Winterfeld +on this errand;--probably the fittest man in Prussia for it. +How soon and perfectly Winterfeld succeeded, and what Winterfeld +was, and something of what a Russia he found it, we propose to +mention by and by. + +These, and all points of importance, Friedrich has settled with +himself some time ago. What his own private thoughts on the +Silesian Adventure are, readers will wish to know, since they can +at first hand. Hear Friedrich himself, whose veracity is +unquestionable to such as know anything of him:-- + +"This Silesian Project fulfilled all his (the King's) political +views,"--summed them all well up into one head. "It was a means of +acquiriug reputation; of increasing the power of the State; and of +terminating what concerned that long-litigated question of the +Berg-Julich Succession;"--can be sure of getting that, at lowest; +intends to give that up, if necessary. + +"Meanwhile, before entirely determining, the King weighed the +risks there were in undertaking such a War, and the advantages +that were to be hoped from it. On one side, presented itself the +potent House of Austria, not likely to want resources with so many +vast Provinces under it; an Emperor's Daughter attacked, who would +naturally find allies in the King of England, in the Dutch +Republic, and so many Princes of the Empire who had signed the +Pragmatic Sanction." Russia was--or had been, and might again be-- +in the pay of Vienna. Saxony might have some clippings from +Bohemia thrown to it, and so be gained over. Scanty Harvest, 1740, +threatened difficulties as to provisioning of troops. "The risks +were great. One had to apprehend the vicissitudes of war. A single +battle lost might be decisive. The King had no allies; and his +troops, hitherto without experience, would have to front old +Austrian soldiers, grown gray in harness, and trained to war by so +many campaigns. + +"On the other side were hopeful considerations,"--four in number: +FIRST, Weak condition of the Austrian Court, Treasury empty, War- +Apparatus broken in pieces; inexperienced young Princess to defend +a disputed succession, on those terms. SECOND, There WILL be +allies; France and England always in rivalry, both meddling in +these matters, King is sure to get either the one or the other.-- +THIRD, Silesian War lies handy to us, and is the only kind of +Offensive War that does; Country bordering on our frontier, and +with the Oder running through it as a sure high-road for +everything. FOURTH, "What suddenly turned the balance," or at +least what kept it steady in that posture,--"news of the Czarina's +death arrives:" Russia has ceased to count against us; and become +a manageable quantity. On, therefore!-- + +"Add to these reasons," says the King, with a candor which has not +been well treated in the History Books, "Add to these reasons, an +Army ready for acting; Funds, Supplies all found [lying barrelled +in the Schloss at Berlin];--and perhaps the desire of making +oneself a name," from which few of mortals able to achieve it are +exempt in their young time: "all this was cause of the War which +the King now entered upon." [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic <end +italic> (Histoire de mon Temps), i. 128.] + +"Desire to make himself a name; how shocking!" exclaim several +Historians. "Candor of confession that he may have had some such +desire; how honest!" is what they do not exclaim. As to the +justice of his Silesian Claims, or even to his own belief about +their justice, Friedrich affords not the least light which can be +new to readers here. He speaks, when business requires it, of +"those known rights" of his, and with the air of a man who expects +to be believed on his word; but it is cursorily, and in the +business way only; and there is not here or elsewhere the least +pleading:--a man, you would say, considerably indifferent to our +belief on that head; his eyes set on the practical merely. +"Just Rights? What are rights, never so just, which you cannot +make valid? The world is full of such. If you have rights and can +assert them into facts, do it; that is worth doing!"-- + +We must add two Notes, two small absinthine drops, bitter but +wholesome, administered by him to the Old Dessauer, whose gloomy +wonder over all this military whirl of Prussian things, and +discontent that he, lately the head authority, has never once been +spoken to on it, have been great. Guessing, at last, that it was +meant for Austria, a Power rather dear to Leopold, he can suppress +himself no longer; but breaks out into Cassandra prophesyings, +which have piqued the young King, and provoke this return:-- + +1. "REINSBERG, 24th November, 1740.--I have received your Letter, +and seen with what inquietude you view the approaching march of my +Troops. I hope you will set your mind at ease on that score; +and wait with patience what I intend with them and you. I have +made all my dispositions; and Your Serenity will learn, time +enough, what my orders are, without disquieting yourself about +them, as nothing has been forgotten or delayed."--FRIEDRICH. + +Old Dessauer, cut to the bone, perceives he will have to quit that +method and never resume it; writes next how painful it is to an +old General to see himself neglected, as if good for nothing, +while his scholars are allowed to gather laurels. Friedrich's +answer is of soothing character:-- + +2. "BERLIN, 2d DECEMBER, 1740.--You may be assured I honor your +merits and capacity as a young Officer ought to honor an old one, +who has given the world so many proofs of his talent (DEXTERITAT); +nor will I neglect Your Serenity on any occasion when you can help +me by your good Counsel and co-operation." But it is a mere +"bagatelle" this that I am now upon; though, next year, it may +become serious. + +For the rest, Saxony being a neighbor whose intentions one does +not know, I have privately purposed Your Serenity should keep an +outlook that way, in my absence. Plenty of employment coming for +Your Serenity. "But as to this present Expedition, I reserve it +for myself alone; that the world may not think the King of Prussia +marches with a Tutor to the Field."--FRIEDRICH. [Orlich, <italic> +Geschichte der Schlesischen Kriege <end italic> (Berlin, 1841), +i. 38, 39.] + +And therewith Leopold, eagerly complying, has to rest satisfied; +and beware of too much freedom with this young King again. + +"Berlin, December 2d," is the date of that last Note to the +Dessauer; date also of Voltaire's ADIEU with the RESPONSE;-- +on which same day, "Friday, December 2d," as I find from the Old +Books, his Majesty, quitting the Reinsberg sojourn, "had arrived +in Berlin about 2 P.M.; accompanied by Prince August Wilhelm +[betrothed at Brunswick lately]; such a crowd on the streets as if +they had never seen him before." He continued at Berlin or in the +neighborhood thenceforth. Busy days these; and Berlin a much +whispering City, as Regiment after Regiment marches away. +King soon to follow, as is thought,--"who himself sometimes deigns +to take the Regiments into highest own eyeshine, HOCHST-EIGENEN +AUGENSCHEIN" (that is, to review them), say the reverential +Editors. December 6th--But let us follow the strict sequence of +Phenomena at Berlin. + + +EXCELLENCY BOTTA HAS AUDIENCE; THEN EXCELLENCY DICKENS, +AND OTHERS: DECEMBER 6th, THE MYSTERY IS OUT. + +Of course her Hungarian Majesty, and her Bartensteins and +Ministries, heard enough of those Prussian rumors, interior +Military activities, and enigmatic movements; but they seem +strangely supine on the matter; indeed, they seem strangely +supine on such matters; and lean at ease upon the Sea-Powers, upon +Pragmatic Sanction and other Laws of Nature. But at length even +they become painfully interested as to Friedrich's intentions; +and despatch an Envoy to sift him a little: an expert Marchese di +Botta, Genoese by birth, skilful in the Russian and other +intricacies; who was here at Berlin lately, doing the Accession +Compliment (rather ill received at that time), and is fit for the +job. Perhaps Botta will penetrate him? That is becoming desirable, +in spite of the gay Private Theatricals at Reinsberg, and the +Berlin Carnival Balls he is so occupied with. + +England is not less interested, and the diligent Sir Guy is doing +his best; but can make out nothing satisfactory;--much the reverse +indeed; and falls into angry black anticipations. "Nobody here, +great or small," says his Excellency, "dares make any +representation to this young Prince against the measures he is +pursuing; though all are sensible of the confusion which must +follow. A Prince who had the least regard to honor, truth and +justice, could not act the part he is goingto do." Alas, no, +Excellency Dickens! "But it is plain his only view was, to deceive +us all, and conceal for a while his ambitious and mischievous +designs." [Despatch, 29th November-3d December, 1740: Raumer, +p. 58.] "Never was such dissimulation!" exclaims the Diplomatic +world everywhere, being angered at it, as if it were a vice on the +part of a King about to invade Silesia. Dissimulation, if that +mean mendacity, is not the name of the thing; it is the art of +wearing a polite cloak of darkness, and the King is little +disturbed what name they call it. + +Botta did not get to Berlin till December lst, had no Audience +till the 5th;--by which time it is becoming evident to Excellency +Dickens, and to everybody, that Silesia is the thing meant. +Botta hints as much in that first Audience, December 5th: +"Terrible roads, those Silesian ones, your Majesy!" says Botta, as +if historically merely, but with a glance of the eye. "Hm," +answers his Majesty in the same tone, "the worst that comes of +them is a little mud!"--Next day, Dickens had express Audience, +"Berlin, Tuesday 6th:" a smartish, somewhat flurried Colloquy with +the King; which, well abridged, may stand as follows:-- + +DICKENS. ... "Indivisibility of the Austrian Monarchy, Sire!"-- +KING. "Indivisibility? What do you mean?"--DICKENS. "The +maintenance of the Pragmatic Sanction."--KING. "Do you intend to +support it? I hope not; for such is not my intention." (There is +for you!) ... + +DICKENS. "England and Holland will much wonder at the measures +your Majesty was taking, at the moment when your Majesty proposed +to join with them, and were making friendly proposals!" (Has been +a deceitful man, Sir Guy, at least an impenetrable;--but this +latter is rather strong on your part!) "What shall I write to +England?" ("When I mentioned this," says Dickens, "the King grew +red in the face," eyes considerably flashing, I should think.) + +KING. "You can have no instructions to ask that question! And if +you had, I have an answer ready for you. England has no right to +inquire into my designs. Your great Sea-Armaments, did I ask you +any questions about them? No; I was and am silent on that head; +only wishing you good luck, and that you may not get beaten by the +Spaniards." (Dickens hastily draws in his rash horns again; +after a pass or two, King's natural color returns.) ... + +KING. "Austria as a Power is necessary against the Turks. But in +Germany, what need of Austria being so superlative? Why should +not, say, Three Electors united be able to oppose her? ... +Monsieur, I find it is your notion in England, as well as theirs +in France, to bring other Sovereigns under your tutorage, and lead +them about. Understand that I will not be led by either. ... Tush, +YOU are like the Athenians, who, when Philip of Macedon was ready +to invade them, spent their time in haranguing!" + +DICKENS. ... "Berg and Julich, if we were to guarantee them?"-- +KING. "Hm. Don't so much mind that Rhine Country: difficulties +there,--Dutch always jealous of one. But, on the other Frontier, +neither England nor Holland could take umbrage,"--points clearly +to Silesia, then, your Excellency Dickens? [Raumer, (from State- +Paper Office), pp. 63, 64.] + +Alas, yes! Troops and military equipments are, for days past, +evidently wending towards Frankfurt, towards Crossen, and even the +Newspapers now hint that something is on hand in that quarter. +Nay, this same day, TUESDAY, 6th DECEMBER, there has come out +brief Official Announcement, to all the Foreign Ministers at +Berlin, Excellency Dickens among them, "That his Royal Majesty, +our most all-gracious Herr, has taken the resolution to advance a +Body of Troops into Schlesien,"--rather out of friendly views +towards Austria (much business lying between us about Schlesien), +not out of hostile views by any means, as all Excellencies shall +assure their respective Courts. [Copy of the Paper in <italic> +Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 447.] Announcement which had +thrown the Excellency Dickens into such a frame of mind, before he +got his Audience to-day!-- + +SATURDAY following, which was December l0th, Marquis de Beauvau +had his Audience of leave; intending for Paris shortly: +Audience very gracious; covertly hinting, on both sides, more than +it said; ending in these words, on the King's side, which have +become famous: "Adieu, then, M. le Marquis. I believe I am going +to play your game; if the aces fall to me, we will share (<italic> +Je vais, je crois, jouer votre jeu: si les as me viennent, nous +partagerons)!" [Voltaire, <italic> OEuvres <end italic> (Siecle de +Louis XV., c. 6), xxviii. 74.] + +To Botta, all this while, Friedrich strove to be specially civil; +took him out to Charlottenburg, that same Saturday, with the Queen +and other guests; but Botta, and all the world, being now certain +about Silesia, and that no amount of mud, or other terror on the +roads, would be regarded, Botta's thoughts in this evening party +are not of cheerful nature. Next day, Sunday, December 11th, he +too gets his Audience of leave; and cannot help bursting out, when +the King plainly tells him what is now afoot, and that the +Prussian Ambassador has got instructions what to offer upon it at +Vienna. "Sire, you are going to ruin the House of Austria," cried +Botta, "and to plunge yourself into destruction (VOUS ABIMER) at +the same time!"--"Depends on the Queen," said Friedrich, "to +accept the Offers I have made her." Botta sank silent, seemed to +reflect, but gathering himself again, added with an ironical air +and tone of voice, "They are fine Troops, those of yours, Sire. +Ours have not the same splendor of appearance; but they have +looked the wolf in the face. Think, I conjure you, what you are +getting into!" Friedrich answered with vivacity, a little nettled +at the ironical tone of Botta, and his mixed sympathy and menace: +"You find my troops are beautiful; perhaps I shall convince you +they are good too." Yes, Excellency Botta, goodish troops; +and very capable "to look the wolf in the face,"--or perhaps in +the tail too, before all end! "Botta urged and entreated that at +least there should be some delay in executing this project. +But the King gave him to understand that it was now too late, and +that the Rubicon was passed." [Friedrich's own Account (<italic> +OEuvres, <end italic> ii. 57).] + +The secret is now out, therefore; Invasion of Silesia certain and +close at hand. "A day or two before marching," may have been this +very day when Botta got his audience, the King assembled his Chief +Generals, all things ready out in the Frankfurt-Crossen region +yonder; and spoke to them as follows; briefly and to the point:-- + +"Gentlemen, I am undertaking a War, in which I have no allies but +your valor and your good-will. My cause is just; my resources are +what we ourselves can do; and the issue lies in Fortune. +Remember continually the glory which your Ancestors acquired in +the plains of Warsaw, at Fehrbellin, and in the Expedition to +Preussen [across the Frische Haf on ice, that time]. Your lot is +in your own hands: distinctions and rewards wait upon your fine +actions which shall merit them. + +"But what need have I to excite you to glory? It is the one thing +you keep before your eyes; the sole object worthy of your labors. +We are going to front troops who, under Prince Eugene, had the +highest reputation. Though Prince Eugene is gone, we shall have to +measure our strength against brave soldiers: the greater will be +the honor if we can conquer. Adieu, go forth. I will follow you +straightway to the rendezvous of glory which awaits us." +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> ii.58.] + + +MASKED BALL, AT BERLIN, 12th-13th DECEMBER. + +On the evening of Monday, 12th, there was, as usual, Masked (or +Half-Masked) Ball, at the Palace. As usual; but this time it has +become mentionable in World-History. Bielfeld, personally +interested, gives us a vivid glance into it;--which, though +pretending to be real and contemporaneous, is unfortunately +MYTHICAL only, and done at a great interval of years (dates, and +even slight circumstances of fact, refusing to conform);--which, +however, for the truth there is in it, we will give, as better +than nothing. Bielfeld's pretended date is, "Berlin, 15th +December;" should have been 14th,--wrong by a day, after one's +best effort! + +"BERLIN, 15th DECEMBER, 1740. As for me, dear Sister, I am like a +shuttlecock whom the Kings of Prussia and of England hit with +their rackets, and knock to and fro. The night before last, I was +at the Palace Evening Party (ASSEMBLEE); which is a sort of Ball, +where you go in domino, but without mask on the face. The Queen +was there, and all the Court. About eight o'clock the King also +made his appearance. His Majesty, noticing M. de G---[that is DE +GUIDIKEN, or Guy Dickens], English Minister, addressed him; +led him into the embrasure of a window, and talked alone with him +for more than an hour [uncertain, probably apocryphal this]. +I threw, from time to time, a stolen glance at this dialogue, +which appeared to me to be very lively. A moment after, being just +dancing with Madame the Countess de--THREE ASTERISKS,--I felt +myself twitched by the domino; and turning, was much surprised to +see that it was the King; who took me aside, and said, 'Are your +boots oiled (VOS BOTTES SONT-ELLES GRAISSIES, Are you ready for a +journey)? ' I replied, 'Sire, they will always be so for your +Majesty's service.'--'Well, then, Truchsess and you are for +England; the day after to-morrow you go. Speak to M. de +Podewils!'--This was said like a flash of lightning. His Majesty +passed into another apartment; and I, I went to finish my minuet +with the Lady; who had been not less astonished to see me +disappear from her eyes, in the middle of the dance, than I was at +what the King said to me." [Bielfeld, i. 167, 168.] +Next morning, I-- + +The fact is, next morning, Truchsess and I began preparation for +the Court of London,--and we did there, for many months +afterwards, strive our best to keep the Britannic Majesty in some +kind of tune, amid the prevailing discord of events;--fact +interesting to some. And the other fact, interesting to everybody, +though Bielfeld has not mentioned it, is, That King Friedrich, the +same next morning, punctually "at the stroke of 9," rolled away +Frankfurt-ward,--into the First Silesian War! Tuesday, "13th +December, this morning, the King, privately quitting the Ball, has +gone [after some little snatch of sleep, we will hope] for +Frankfurt, to put himself at the head of his Troops." [Dickens (in +State-Paper Office), 13th December, 1740; see also <italic> +Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 452; &c. &c.] Bellona his +companion for long years henceforth, instead of Minerva and the +Muses, as he had been anticipating. + +Hereby is like to be fulfilled (except that Friedrich himself is +perhaps this "little stone") what Friedrich prophesied to his +Voltaire, the day after hearing of the Kaiser's death: "I believe +there will, by June next, be more talk of cannon, soldiers, +trenches, than of actresses, and dancers for the ballet. +This small Event changes the entire system of Europe. It is the +little stone which Nebuchadnezzar saw, in his dream, loosening +itself, and rolling down on the Image made of Four Metals, which +it shivers to ruin." [Friedrich to Voltaire, busy gathering actors +at that time, 26th October, 1740 (<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, +<end italic> xxii. 49).] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 11 + |