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diff --git a/old/12frd10.txt b/old/12frd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e82bb7d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12frd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7919 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Etext History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 12 +#18 in our series by Thomas Carlyle +V12 of 21 + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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Thompson +drthom@ihug.co.nz + + + + + +BOOK XII. + +FIRST SILESIAN WAR, AWAKENING A GENERAL +EUROPEAN ONE, BEGINS. + +December, 1740-May, 1741. + + +Chapter I. + +OF SCHLESIEN, OR SILESIA. + +Schlesien, what we call Silesia, lies in elliptic shape, spread on +the top of Europe, partly girt with mountains, like the crown or +crest to that part of the Earth;--highest table-land of Germany or +of the Cisalpine Countries; and sending rivers into all the seas. +The summit or highest level of it is in the southwest; longest +diameter is from northwest to southeast. From Crossen, whither +Friedrich is now driving, to the Jablunka Pass, which issues upon +Hungary, is above 250 miles; the AXIS, therefore, or longest +diameter, of our Ellipse we may call 230 English miles;--its +shortest or conjugate diameter, from Friedland in Bohemia +(Wallenstein's old Friedland), by Breslau across the Oder to the +Polish Frontier, is about 100. The total area of Schlesien is +counted to be some 20,000 square miles, nearly the third of +England Proper. + +Schlesien--will the reader learn to call it by that name, on +occasion? for in these sad Manuscripts of ours the names alternate +--is a fine, fertile, useful and beautiful Country. It leans +sloping, as we hinted, to the East and to the North; a long curved +buttress of Mountains ("RIESENGEBIRGE, Giant Mountains," is their +best-known name in foreign countries) holding it up on the South +and West sides. This Giant-Mountain Range,--which is a kind of +continuation of the Saxon-Bohemian "Metal Mountains (ERZGEBIRGE)" +and of the straggling Lausitz Mountains, to westward of these, +--shapes itself like a bill-hook (or elliptically, as was said): +handle and hook together may be some 200 miles in length. +The precipitous side of this is, in general, turned outwards, +towards Bohmen, Mahren, Ungarn (Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, in our +dialects); and Schlesien lies inside, irregularly sloping down, +towards the Baltic and towards the utmost East, From the Bohemian +side of these Mountains there rise two Rivers: Elbe, tending for +the West; Morawa for the South;--Morawa, crossing Moravia, gets +into the Donau, and thence into the Black-Sea; while Elbe, after +intricate adventures among the mountains, and then prosperously +across the plains, is out, with its many ships, into the Atlantic. +Two rivers, we say, from the Bohemian or steep side: and again, +from the Silesian side, there rise other two, the Oder and the +Weichsel (VISTULA); which start pretty near one another in the +Southeast, and, after wide windings, get both into the Baltic, at a +good distance apart. + +For the first thirty, or in parts, fifty miles from the Mountains, +Silesia slopes somewhat rapidly; and is still to be called a +Hill-country, rugged extensive elevations diversifying it: but +after that, the slope is gentle, and at length insensible, or +noticeable only by the way the waters run. From the central part of +it, Schlesien pictures itself to you as a plain; growing ever +flatter, ever sandier, as it abuts on the monotonous endless +sand-flats of Poland, and the Brandenburg territories; nothing but +Boundary Stones with their brass inscriptions marking where the +transition is; and only some Fortified Town, not far off, keeping +the door of the Country secure in that quarter. + +On the other hand, the Mountain part of Schlesien is very +picturesque; not of Alpine height anywhere (the Schnee-Koppe itself +is under 5,000 feet), so that verdure and forest wood fail almost +nowhere among the Mountains; and multiplex industry, besung by +rushing torrents and the swift young rivers, nestles itself high +up; and from wheat husbandry, madder and maize husbandry, to +damask-weaving, metallurgy, charcoal-burning, tar-distillery, +Schlesien has many trades, and has long been expert and busy at +them to a high degree. A very pretty Ellipsis, or irregular Oval, +on the summit of the European Continent;--"like the palm of a left +hand well stretched out, with the Riesengebirge for thumb!" said a +certain Herr to me, stretching out his arm in that fashion towards +the northwest. Palm, well stretched out, measuring 250 miles; and +the crossway 100. There are still beavers in Schlesien; the +Katzbach River has gold grains in it, a kind of Pactolus not now +worth working; and in the scraggy lonesome pine-woods, grimy +individuals, with kindled mounds of pine-branches and smoke +carefully kept down by sods, are sweating out a substance which +they inform you is to be tar. + + +HISTORICAL EPOCHS OF SCHLESIEN;--AFTER THE QUADS AND MARCHMEN. + +Who first lived in Schlesien, or lived long since in it, there is +no use in asking, nor in telling if one knew. "The QUADI and the +Lygii," says Dryasdust, in a groping manner: Quadi and consorts, in +the fifth or sixth Century, continues he with more confidence, +shifted Rome-ward, following the general track of contemporaneous +mankind; weak remnant of Quadi was thereupon overpowered by Slavic +populations, and their Country became Polish, which the eastern rim +of it still essentially is. That was the end of the Quadi in those +parts, says History. But they cannot speak nor appeal for +themselves; History has them much at discretion. Rude burial urns, +with a handful of ashes in them, have been dug up in different +places; these are all the Archives and Histories the Quadi now +have. It appears their name signifies WICKED. They are those poor +Quadi (WICKED PEOPLE) who always go along with the Marcomanni +(MARCHMEN), in the bead-roll Histories one reads; and I almost +guess they must have been of the same stock: "Wickeds and +Borderers;" considered, on both sides of the Border, to belong to +the Dangerous Classes in those times. Two things are certain: +First, QUAD and its derivatives have, to this day, in the speech of +rustic Germans, something of that meaning,--"nefarious," at least +"injurious," "hateful, and to be avoided:" for example, QUADdel, "a +nettle-burn;" QUETSchen, "to smash" (say, your thumb while +hammering); &c. &c. And then a second thing: The Polish equivalent +word is ZLE (Busching says ZLEXI); hence ZLEzien, SCHLEsien, +meaning merely BADland, QUADland, what we might called DAMAGitia, +or Country where you get into Trouble. That is the etymology, or +what passes for such. As to the History of Schlesien, hitherwards +of these burial urns dug up in different places, I notice, as not +yet entirely buriable, Three Epochs. + +FIRST EPOCH; CHRISTIANITY: A.D. 966. Introduction of Christianity; +to the length of founding a Bishopric that year, so hopeful were +the aspects; "Bishopric of Schmoger" (SchMAGram, dim little Village +still discoverable on the Polish frontier, not far from the Town of +Namslau); Bishopric which, after one removal farther inward, got +across the Oder, to "WRUTISLAV," which me now call Breslau; and +sticks there, as Bishopric of Breslau, to this day. Year 966: it +was in Adalbert, our Prussian Saint and Missionary's younger time. +Preaching, by zealous Polacks, must have been going on, while +Adalbert, Bright in Nobleness, was studying at Magdeburg, and +ripening for high things in the general estimation. This was a new +gift from the Polacks, this of Christianity; an infinitely more +important one than that nickname of "ZLEZIEN," or "DAMAGitia," +stuck upon the poor Country, had been. + +SECOND EPOCH; GET GRADUALLY CUT LOOSE FROM POLAND: A.D. 1139-1159. +Twenty years of great trouble in Poland, which were of lasting +benefit to Schlesien. In 1139 the Polack King, a very potent +Majesty whom we could name but do not, died; and left his Dominions +shared by punctual bequest among his five sons. Punctual bequest +did avail: but the eldest Son (who was King, and had Schlesien with +much else to his share) began to encroach, to grasp; upon which the +others rose upon him, flung him out into exile; redivided; +and hoped now they might have quiet. Hoped, but were disappointed; +and could come to no sure bargain for the next twenty years,--not +till "the eldest brother," first author of these strifes, "died an +exile in Holstein," or was just about dying, and had agreed to take +Schlesien for all claims, and be quiet thenceforth. + +His, this eldest's, three Sons did accordingly, in 1159, get +Schlesien instead of him; their uncles proving honorable. Schlesien +thereby was happy enough to get cut loose from Poland, and to +continue loose; steering a course of its own;--parting farther and +farther from Poland and its habits and fortunes. These three Sons, +of the late Polish Majesty who died in exile in Holstein, are the +"Piast Dukes," much talked of in Silesian Histories: of whose +merits I specify this only, That they so soon as possible strove to +be German. They were Progenitors of all the "Piast Dukes," +Proprietors of Schlesien thenceforth, till the last of them died +out in 1675,--and a certain ERBVERBRUDERUNG they had entered into +could not take effect at that time. Their merits as Sovereign Dukes +seem to have been considerable; a certain piety, wisdom and +nobleness of mind not rare among them; and no doubt it was partly +their merit, if partly also their good luck, that they took to +Germany, and leant thitherward; steering looser and looser from +Poland, in their new circumstances. They themselves by degrees +became altogether German; their Countries, by silent immigration, +introduction of the arts, the composures and sobrieties, became +essentially so. On the eastern rim there is still a Polack remnant, +its territories very sandy, its condition very bad; remnant which +surely ought to cease its Polack jargon, and learn some dialect of +intelligible Teutsch, as the first condition of improvement. In all +other parts Teutsch reigns; and Schlesien is a green abundant +Country; full of metallurgy, damask-weaving, grain-husbandry.-- +instead of gasconade, gilt anarchy, rags, dirt, and NIE POZWALAM. + +A.D. 1327; GET COMPLETELY CUT LOOSE. The Piast Dukes, who soon +ceased to be Polish, and hung rather upon Bohemia, and thereby upon +Germany, made a great step in that direction, when King Johann, old +ICH-DIEN whom we ought to recollect, persuaded most of them, all of +them but two, "PRETIO AC PRECE," to become Feudatories (Quasi- +Feudatories, but of a sovereign sort) to his Crown of Bohemia. +The two who stood out, resisting prayer and price, were the Duke of +Jauer and the Duke of Schweidnitz,--lofty-minded gentlemen, perhaps +a thought too lofty. But these also Johann's son, little Kaiser +Karl IV., "marrying their heiress," contrived to bring in;--one +fruitful adventure of little Karl's, among the many wasteful he +made, in the German Reich. Schlesien is henceforth a bit of the +Kingdom of Bohemia; indissolubly hooked to Germany; and its +progress in the arts and composures, under wise Piasts with +immigrating Germans, we guess to have become doubly rapid. +[Busching, <italic> Erdbeschreibung, <end italic> viii. 725; +Hubner, t. 94.] + +THIRD EPOCH; ADOPT THE REFORMATION: A.D. 1414-1517. Schlesien, +hanging to Bohemia in this manner, extensively adopted Huss's +doctrines; still more extensively Luther's; and that was a +difficult element in its lot, though, I believe, an unspeakably +precious one. It cost above a Century of sad tumults, Zisca Wars; +nay above two Centuries, including the sad Thirty-Years War;--which +miseries, in Bohemia Proper, were sometimes very sad and even +horrible. But Schlesien, the outlying Country, did, in all this, +suffer less than Bohemia Proper; and did NOT lose its Evangelical +Doctrine in result, as unfortunate Bohemia did, and sink into +sluttish "fanatical torpor, and big Crucifixes of japanned Tin by +the wayside," though in the course of subsequent years, named of +Peace, it was near doing so. Here are the steps, or unavailing +counter-steps, in that latter direction:-- + +A.D. 1537. Occurred, as we know, the ERBVERBRUDERUNG; Duke of +Liegnitz, and of other extensive heritages, making Deed of +Brotherhood with Kur-Brandenburg;--Deed forbidden, and so far as +might be, rubbed out and annihilated by the then King of Bohemia, +subsequently Kaiser Ferdinand I., Karl V.'s Brother. Duke of +Liegnitz had to give up his parchments, and become zero in that +matter: Kur-Brandenburg entirely refused to do so; kept his +parchments, to see if they would not turn to something. + +A.D. 1624. Schlesien, especially the then Duke of Liegnitz +(great-grandson of the ERBVERBRUDERUNG one), and poor Johann +George, Duke of Jagerndorf, cadet of the then Kur-Brandenburg, went +warmly ahead into the Winter-King project, first fire of the +Thirty-Years War; sufferings from Papal encroachment, in high +quarters, being really extreme. Warmly ahead; and had to smart +sharply for it;--poor Johann George with forfeiture of Jagerndorf, +with REICHES-ACHT (Ban of the Empire), and total ruin; fighting +against which he soon died. Act of Ban and Forfeiture was done +tyrannously, said most men; and it was persisted in equally so, +till men ceased speaking of it;--Jagerndorf Duchy, fruit of the +Act, was held by Austria, ever after, in defiance of the Laws of +the Reich. Religious Oppression lay heavy on Protestant Schlesien +thenceforth; and many lukewarm individualities were brought back to +Orthodoxy by that method, successful in the diligent skilled hands +of Jesuit Reverend Fathers, with fiscals and soldiers in the rear +of them. + +A.D. 1648. Treaty of Westphalia mended much of this, and set fair +limits to Papist encroachment;--had said Treaty been kept: but how +could it? By Orthodox Authority, auxious to recover lost souls, or +at least to have loyal subjects, it was publicly kept in name; and +tacitly, in substance, it was violated more and more. Of the +"Blossoming of Silesian Literature," spoken of in Books; of the +Poet Opitz, Poets Logan, Hoffmannswaldau, who burst into a kind of +Song better or worse at this Period, we will remember nothing; but +request the reader to remember it, if he is tunefully given, or +thinks it a good symptom of Schlesien. + +A.D. 1707. Treaty of Altranstadt: between Kaiser Joseph I. and Karl +XII. Swedish Karl, marching through those parts,--out of Poland, in +chase of August the Physically Strong, towards Saxony, there to +beat him soft,--was waited upon by Silesian Deputations of a +lamentable nature; was entreated, for the love of Christ and His +Evangel, to "Protect us poor Protestants, and get the Treaty of +Westphalia observed on our behalf, and fair-play shown!" Which Karl +did; Kaiser Joseph, with such weight of French War lying on him, +being much struck with the tone of that dangerous Swede. The Pope +rebuked Kaiser Joseph for such compliance in the Silesian matter: +"Holy Father," answered this Kaiser (not of distinguished orthodoxy +in the House), "I am too glad he did not ask me to become Lutheran; +I know not how I should have helped myself!" [Pauli, <italic> +Allgemeine Preussische Staats-Geschichte <end italic> (viii. +298-592); Busching, <italic> Erdbeschreibung <end italic> (viii. +700-739); &c.--Heinrich Wuttke, <italic> Friedrichs des Grossen +Besitzergreifung von Schlesien <end italic> (Seizure of Silesia by +Friedrich, 2 vols. Leipzig, 1843), I mention only lest ingenuous +readers should be tempted by the Title to buy it. Wuttke begins at +the Creation of the World; and having, in two heavy volumes, at +last struggled down close TO the BESITZERGREIFUNG or Seizure in +question, calls halt; and stands (at ease, we will hope) immovably +there for the seventeen years since.] + +These are the Three Epochs;--most things, in respect of this Third +or Reformation Epoch, stepping steadily downward hitherto. As to +the Fourth Epoch, dating "13th Dec. 1740," which continues, up to +our day and farther, and is the final and crowning Epoch of +Silesian History,--read in the following Chapters. + + + +Chapter II. + +FRIEDRICH MARCHES ON GLOGAU. + +At what hour Friedrich ceased dancing on that famous Ball-night of +Bielfeld's, and how long he slept after, or whether at all, no +Bielfeld even mythically says: but next morning, as is patent to +all the world, Tuesday, 13th December, 1740, at the stroke of nine, +he steps into his carriage; and with small escort rolls away +towards Frankfurt-on-Oder; [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end +italic> i. 452; Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> +p. 456.] out upon an Enterprise which will have results for himself +and others. + +Two youngish military men, Adjutant-Generals both, were with him, +Wartensleben, Borck; both once fellow Captains in the Potsdam +Giants, and much in his intimacy ever since. Wartensleben we once +saw at Brunswick, on a Masonic occasion; Borck, whom we here see +for the first time, is not the Colonel Borck (properly +Major-General) who did the Herstal Operation lately; still less is +he the venerable old Minister, Marlborough Veteran, and now +Field-Marshal Borck, whom Hotham treated with, on a certain +occasion. There are numerous Borcks always in the King's service; +nor are these three, except by loose cousinry, related to one +another. The Borcks all come from Stettin quarter; a brave kindred, +and old enough,--"Old as the Devil, DAS IST SO OLD ALS DE BORCKEN +UND DE DUWEL," says the Pomeranian Proverb;-- the Adjutant-General, +a junior member of the clan, chances to be the notablest of them at +this moment. Wartensleben, Borck, and a certain Colonel von der +Golz, whom also the King much esteems, these are his company on +this drive. For escort, or guard of honor out of Berlin to the next +stages, there is a small body of Hussars, Life-guard and other +Cavalry, "perhaps 500 horse in all." + +They drive rapidly, through the gray winter; reach Frankfurt-on- +Oder, sixty miles or more; where no doubt there is military +business waiting. They are forward, on the morrow, for dinner, +forty miles farther, at a small Town called Crossen, which looks +over into Silesia; and is, for the present, headquarters to a +Prussian Army, standing ready there and in the environs. +Standing ready, or hourly marching in, and rendezvousing; now about +28,000 strong, horse and foot. A Rearguard of Ten or Twelve +Thousand will march from Berlin in two days, pause hereabouts, and +follow according to circumstances: Prussian Army will then be some +40,000 in all. Schwerin has been Commander, manager and mainspring +of the business hitherto: henceforth it is to be the King; +but Schwerin under him will still have a Division of his own. + +Among the Regiments, we notice "Schulenburg Horse-Grenadiers," +--come along from Landsberg hither, these Horse-Grenadiers, with +little Schulenburg at the head of them;--"Dragoon Regiment +Bayreuth," "Lifeguard Carbineers," "Derschau of Foot;" and other +Regiments and figures slightly known to us, or that will be better +known. [List in <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 453.] +Rearguard, just getting under way at Berlin, has for leaders the +Prince of Holstein-Beck ("Holstein-VAISSELLE," say wags, since the +Principality went all to SILVER-PLATE) and the Hereditary Prince of +Anhalt-Dessau, whom we called the Young Dessauer, on the Strasburg +Journey lately: Rearguard, we say, is of 12,000; main Army is +28,000; Horse and Foot are in the proportion of about 1 to 3. +Artillery "consists of 20 three-pounders; 4 twelve-pounders; +4 howitzers (HAUBITZEN); 4 big mortars, calibre fifty pounds; +and of Artillerymen 166 in all." + +With this Force the young King has, on his own basis (pretty much +in spite of all the world, as we find now and afterwards), +determined to invade Silesia, and lay hold of the Property he has +long had there;--not computing, for none can compute, the sleeping +whirlwinds he may chance to awaken thereby. Thus lightly does a man +enter upon Enterprises which prove unexpectedly momentous, and +shape the whole remainder of his days for him; crossing the Rubicon +as it were in his sleep. In Life, as on Railways at certain points, +--whether you know it or not, there is but an inch, this way or +that, into what tram you are shunted; but try to get out of it +again! "The man is mad, CET HOMME-LA EST FOL!" said Louis XV. when +he heard it. [Raumer, <italic> Beitrage <end italic> (English +Translation, called <italic> Frederick II. and his Times; from +British Museum and State-Paper 0ffice: <end italic> --a very +indistinct poor Book, in comparison with whet it might have been), +p. 73 (24th Dec. 1740).] + + +FRIEDRICH AT CROSSEN, AND STILL IN HIS OWN TERRITORY, +14th-16th DECEMBER;--STEPS INTO SCHLESIEN. + +At all events, the man means to try;--and is here dining at +Crossen, noon of Wednesday, the 14th; certain important persons, +--especially two Silesian Gentlemen, deputed from Grunberg, +the nearest Silesian Town, who have come across the border on +business,--having the honor to dine with him. To whom his manner is +lively and affable; lively in mood, as if there lay no load upon +his spirits. The business of these two Silesian Gentlemen, a Baron +von Hocke one of them, a Baron von Kestlitz the other, was To +present, on the part of the Town and Amt of Grunberg, a solemn +Protest against this meditated entrance on the Territory of +Schlesien; Government itself, from Breslau, ordering them to do so. +Protest was duly presented; Friedrich, as his manner is, and +continues to be on his march, glances politely into or at the +Protest; hands it, in silence, to some page or secretary to deposit +in the due pigeon-hole or waste-basket; and invites the two +Silesian Gentlemen to dine with him; as, we see, they have the +honor to do. "He (ER) lives near Grunberg, then, Mein Herr von +Hocke?" "Close to it, IHRO MAJESTAT. My poor mansion, Schloss of +Deutsch-Kessel, is some fifteen miles hence; how infinitely at your +Majesty's service, should the march prove inevitable, and go that +way!"--"Well, perhaps!" I find Friedrich did dine, the second day +hence, with one of these Gentlemen; and lodged with the other. +Government at Breslau has ordered such Protest, on the part of the +Frontier populations and Official persons: and this is all that +comes of it. + +During these hours, it chanced that the big Bell of Crossen dropped +from its steeple,--fulness of time, or entire rottenness of +axle-tree, being at last completed, at this fateful moment. Perhaps +an ominous thing? Friedrich, as Caesar and others have done, +cheerfully interprets the omen to his own advantage: "Sign that the +High is to be brought low!" says Friedrich. Were the march-routes, +wagon-trains, and multifarious adjustments perfect to the last item +here at Crossen, he will with much cheerfulness step into Silesia, +independent of all Grunberg Protests and fallen Bells. + +On the second day he does actually cross; "the regiments marching +in, at different points; some reaching as far as 25 miles in." +It is Friday, 16th December, 1740; there has a game begun which +will last long! They went through the Village of Lasgen; that was +the first point of Silesian ground ("Circle of Schwiebus," our old +friend, is on the left near by); and "Schwerin's Regiment was the +foremost." Others cross more to the left or right; "marching +through the Village of Lessen," and other dim Villages and little +Towns, round and beyond Grunberg; all regiments and divisions +bearing upon Grunberg and the Great Road; but artistically +portioned out,--several miles in breadth (for the sake of +quarters), and, as is generally the rule, about a day's march in +length. This evening nearly the whole Army was on Silesian ground. + +Printed "Patent" or Proclamation, briefly assuring all Silesians, +of whatever rank, condition or religion, "That we have come as +friends to them, and will protect all persons in their privileges, +and molest no peaceable mortal," is posted on Church-doors, and +extensively distributed by hand. Soldiers are forbidden, "under +penalty of the rods," Officers under that of "cassation with +infamy," to take anything, without first bargaining and paying +ready money for it. On these terms the Silesian villages cheerfully +enough accept their new guests, interesting to the rural mind; and +though the billeting was rather heavy, "as many as 24 soldiers to a +common Farmer (GARTNER)," no complaints were made. In one Schloss, +where the owners had fled, and no human response was to be had by +the wayworn-soldiery, there did occur some breakages and impatient +kickings about; which it grieved his Majesty to hear of, next +morning;--in one, not in more. + +Official persons, we perceive, study to be absolutely passive. +This was the Burgermeister's course at Grunberg to-night; Grunberg, +first Town on the Frontier, sets an example of passivity which +cannot be surpassed. Prussian troops being at the Gate of Grunberg, +Burgermeister and adjuncts sitting in a tacit expectant condition +in their Town-hall, there arrives a Prussian Lieutenant requiring +of the Burgermeister the Key of said Gate. "To deliver such Key? +Would to God I durst, Mein Herr Lieutenant; but how dare I! +There is the Key lying: but to GIVE it--You are not the Queen of +Hungary's Officer, I doubt?"--The Prussian Lieutenant has to put +out hand, and take the Key; which he readily does. And on the +morrow, in returning it, when the march recommences, there are the +same phenomena: Burgermeister or assistants dare not for the life +of them touch that Key: It lay on the table; and may again, in the +course of Providence, come to lie!--The Prussian Lieutenant lays it +down accordingly, and hurries out, with a grin on his face. +There was much small laughter over this transaction; Majesty +himself laughing well at it. Higher perfection of passivity no +Burgermeister could show. + +The march, as readers understand, is towards Glogau; a strongish +Garrison Town, now some 40 miles ahead; the key of Northern +Schlesien. Grunberg (where my readers once slept for the night, in +the late King's time, though they have forgotten it) is the first +and only considerable Town on the hither side of Glogau. On to +Glogau, I rather perceive, the Army is in good part provisioned +before starting: after Glogau,--we must see. Bread-wagons, Baggage- +wagons, Ammunition-and-Artillery wagons, all is in order; Army +artistically portioned out. That is the form of march; with Glogau +ahead. King, as we said above, dines with his Baron von Hocke, at +the Schloss of Deutsch-Kessel, short way beyond Grunberg, this +first day: but he by no means loiters there;--cuts across, a dozen +miles westward, through a country where his vanguard on its various +lines of march ought to be arriving;--and goes to lodge, at the +Schloss of Schweinitz, with his other Baron, the Von Kestlitz of +Wednesday at Crossen. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +i. 459.] This is Friday, 16th December, his first night on +Silesian ground. + + +WHAT GLOGAU, AND THE GOVERNMENT AT BRESLAU, DID UPON IT. + +Silesia, in the way of resistance, is not in the least prepared for +him. A month ago, there were not above 3,000 Austrian Foot and 600 +Horse in the whole Province: neither the military Governor Count +Wallis, nor the Imperial Court, nor any Official Person near or +far, had the least anticipation of such a Visit. Count Wallis, who +commands in Glogau, did in person, nine or ten days ago, as the +rumors rose ever higher, run over to Crossen; saw with his eyes the +undeniable there; and has been zealously endeavoring ever since, +what he could, to take measures. Wallis is now shut in Glogau; +his second, the now Acting Governor, General Browne, a still more +reflective man, is doing likewise his utmost; but on forlorn terms, +and without the least guidance from Court. Browne has, by violent +industry, raked together, from Mahren and the neighboring +countries, certain fractions which raise his Force to 7,000 Foot: +these he throws, in small parties, into the defensible points; +or, in larger, into the Chief Garrisons. New Cavalry he cannot get; +the old 600 Horse he keeps for himself, all the marching Army he +has. [Particulars in <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +i. 465; total of Austrian Force seems to be 7,800 horse and foot.] + +Fain would he get possession of Breslau, and throw in some garrison +there; but cannot. Neither he nor Wallis could compass that. +Breslau is a City divided against itself, on this matter; full of +emotions, of expectations, apprehensions for and against. There is +a Supreme Silesian Government (OBER-AMT "Head-Office," kind of +Austrian Vice-Royalty) in Breslau; and there is, on Breslau's own +score, a Town-Rath; strictly Catholic both these, Vienna the breath +of their nostrils. But then also there are forty-four Incorporated +Trades; Oppressed Protestant in Majority; to whom Vienna is not +breath, but rather the want of it. Lastly, the City calls itself +Free; and has crabbed privileges still valid; a "JUS PROESIDII" (or +right to be one's own garrison) one of them, and the most +inconvenient just now. Breslau is a REICH-STADT; in theory, +sovereign member of the Reich, and supreme over its own affairs, +even as Austria itself:--and the truth is, old Theory and new Fact, +resolved not to quarrel, have lapsed into one another's arms in a +quite inextricable way, in Breslau as elsewhere! With a Head +Government which can get no orders from Vienna, the very Town-Rath +has little alacrity, inclines rather to passivity like Grunberg; +and a silent population threatens to become vocal if you press +upon it. + +Breslau, that is to say the OBER-AMT there, has sent courier on +courier to Vienna for weeks past: not even an answer;--what can +Vienna answer, with Kur-Baiern and others threatening war on it, +and only l0,000 pounds in its National Purse? Answer at last is, +"Don't bother! Danger is not so near. Why spend money on couriers, +and get into such a taking?" General Wallis came to Breslau, after +what he had seen at Crossen; and urged strongly, in the name of +self-preservation, first law of Nature, to get an Austrian real +Garrison introduced; wished much (horrible to think of!) "the +suburbs should be burnt, and better ramparts raised:" but could not +succeed in any of these points, nor even mention some of them in a +public manner. "You shall have a Protestant for commandant," +suggested Wallis; "there is Count von Roth, Silesian-Lutheran, an +excellent Soldier!"--"Thanks," answered they, "we can defend +ourselves; we had rather not have any!" And the Breslau Burghers +have, accordingly, set to drill themselves; are bringing out old +cannon in quantity; repairing breaches; very strict in sentry-work: +"Perfectly able to defend our City,--so far as we see good!"-- +Tuesday last, December 13th (the very day Friedrich left Berlin), +as this matter of the Garrison, long urged by the Ober-Amt, had at +last been got agreed to by the Town-Rath, "on proviso of consulting +the Incorporated Trades", or at least consulting their Guild- +Masters, who are usually a silent folk,--the Guild-Masters suddenly +became in part vocal; and their forty-four Guilds unusually +so:--and there was tumult in Breslau, in the Salz-Ring (big central +Square or market-place, which they call RING) such as had not been; +idle population, and guild-brethren of suspicious humor, gathering +in multitudes into and round the fine old Town-hall there; +questioning, answering, in louder and louder key; at last bellowing +quite in alt; and on the edge of flaming into one knew not what: +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 469.]--till the matter +of Austrian Garrison (much more, of burning the suburbs!) had to be +dropt; settled in what way we see. + +Head Government (OBER-AMT) has, through its Northern official +people, sent Protest, strict order to the Silesian Population to +look sour on the Prussians:--and we saw, in consequence, the two +Silesian Gentlemen did dine with Friedrich, and he has returned +their visits; and the Mayor of Grunberg would not touch his keys. +Head Government is now redacting a "Patent," or still more solemn +Protest of its own; which likewise it will affix in the Salz-Ring +here, and present to King Friedrich: and this--except "despatching +by boat down the river a great deal of meal to Glogau", which was +an important quiet thing, of Wallis's enforcing--is pretty much all +it can do. No Austrian Garrison can be got in ("Perfectly able to +defend ourselves!")--let Government and Wallis or Browne contrive +as they may. And as to burning the suburbs, better not whisper of +that again. Breslau feels, or would fain feel itself "perfectly +able;"--has at any rate no wish to be bombarded; and contains +privately a great deal of Protestant humor. Of all which, +Friedrich, it is not doubted, has notice more or less distinct; +and quickens his march the more. + +General Browne is at present in the Southern parts; an able active +man and soldier; but, with such a force what can he attempt to do? +There are three strong places in the Country, Glogau, then Brieg, +both on the Oder river; lastly Neisse, on the Neisse river, a +branch of the Oder (one of the FOUR Neisse rivers there are in +Germany, mostly in Silesia,--not handy to the accurate reader of +German Books). Browne is in Neisse; and will start into a strange +stare when the flying post reaches him: Prussians actually on +march! Debate with them, if debate there is to be, Browne himself +must contrive to do; from Breslau, from Vienna, no Government +Supreme or Subordinate can yield his 8,000 and him the least help. + +Glogau, as we saw, means to defend itself; at least, General Wallis +the Commandant, does, in spite of the Glogau public; and is, with +his whole might, digging, palisading, getting in meal, salt meat +and other provender;--likewise burning suburbs, uncontrollable he, +in the small place; and clearing down the outside edifices and +shelters, at a diligent rate. Yesterday, 15th December, he burnt +down the "three Oder-Mills, which lie outside the big suburban +Tavern, also the ZIEGEL-SCHEUNE (Tile-Manufactory)," and other +valuable buildings, careless of public lamentation,--fire catching +the Town itself, and needing to be quenched again. +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 473-475.] Nay, he was +clear for burning down, or blowing up, the Protestant Church, +indispensable sacred edifice which stands outside the walls: +"Prussians will make a block-house of it!" said Wallis. A chief +Protestant, Baron von Something, begged passionately for only +twelve hours of respite,--to lay the case before his Prussian +Majesty. Respite conceded, he and another chief Protestant had +posted off accordingly; and did the next morning (Friday, 16th), +short way from Crossen, meet his Majesty's carriage; who graciously +pulled up for a few instants, and listened to their story. "MEINE +HERREN, you are the first that ask a favor of me on Silesian +ground; it shall be done you!" said the King; and straightway +despatched, in polite style, his written request to Wallis, +engaging to make no military use whatever of said Church, "but to +attack by the other side, if attack were necessary." Thus his +Majesty saved the Church of Glogau; which of course was a popular +act. Getting to see this Church himself a few days hence, he said, +"Why, it must come down at any rate, and be rebuilt; so ugly +a thing!" + +Wallis is making strenuous preparation; forces the inhabitants, +even the upper kinds of them, to labor day and night by relays, in +his rampartings, palisadings; is for burning all the adjacent +Villages,--and would have done it, had not the peasants themselves +turned out in a dangerous state of mind. He has got together about +1,000 men. His powder, they say, is fifty years old; but he has +eatable provender from Breslau, and means to hold out to the +utmost. Readers must admit that the Austrian military, Graf von +Wallis to begin with,-- still more, General Browne, who is a +younger man and has now the head charge,--behave well in their +present forsaken condition. Wallis (Graf FRANZ WENZEL this one, not +to be confounded with an older Wallis heard of in the late Turk +War) is of Scotch descent,--as all these Wallises are; "came to +Austria long generations ago; REICHSGRAFS since 1612:"--Browne is +of Irish; age now thirty-five, ten years younger than Wallis. +Read this Note on the distinguished Browne:-- + +"A German-Irish Gentleman, this General (ultimately Fieldmarshal) +Graf von Browne; one of those sad exiled Irish Jacobites, or sons +of Jacobites, who are fighting in foreign armies; able and notable +men several of them, and this Browne considerably the most so. +We shall meet him repeatedly within the next eighteen years. +Maximilian-Ulysses Graf von Browne: I said he was born German; +Basel his birthplace (23d October, 1705), Father also a soldier: +he must not be confounded with a contemporary Cousin of his, who is +also 'Fieldmarshal Browne,' but serves in Russia, Governor of Riga +for a long time in the coming years. This Austrian General, +Fieldmarshal Browne, will by and by concern us somewhat; and the +reader may take note of him. + +"Who the Irish Brothers Browne, the Fathers of these Marshals +Browne, were? I have looked in what Irish Peerages and printed +Records there were, but without the least result. One big dropsical +Book, of languid quality, called <italic> King James's Irish +Army-List, <end italic> has multitudes of Brownes and others, in an +indistinct form; but the one Browne wanted, the one Lacy, almost +the one Lally, like the part of HAMLET, are omitted. There are so +many Irish in the like case with these Brownes. A Lacy we once +slightly saw or heard of; busy in the Polish-Election time,-- +besieging Dantzig (investing Dantzig, that Munnich might besiege +it);--that Lacy, 'Governor of Riga,' whom the RUSSIAN Browne will +succeed, is also Irish: a conspicuous Russian man; and will have a +Son Lacy, conspicuous among the Austrians. Maguires, Ogilvies (of +the Irish stock), Lieutenants 'Fitzgeral;' very many Irish; +and there is not the least distinct account to be had of any of +them." [For Browne see "Anonymous of Hamburg" (so I have had to +label a J.F.S. <italic> Geschichte des &c. <end italic>--in fact, +History of Seven-Years War, in successive volumes, done chiefly by +the scissors; Leipzig and Frankfurt, 1759, et seqq.), i. 123-131 +n.: elaborate Note of eight pages there; intimating withal that he, +J.F.S., wrote the <italic> "Life of Browne," <end italic> a Book I +had in vain sought for; and can now guess to consist of those same +elaborate eight pages, PLUS water and lathering to the due amount. +Anonymous "of Hamburg" I call my J.F.S.,--having fished him out of +the dust-abysses in that City: a very poor take; yet worth citing +sometimes, being authentic, as even the darkest Germans generally +are.--For a glimpse of LACY (the Elder Lacy) see Busching, <italic> +Beitrage, <end italic> vi. 162.--For WALLIS (tombstone Note on +Wallis) see (among others who are copious in that kind of article, +and keep large sacks of it, in admired disorder) Anonymous +Seyfarth, <italic> Geschichte Friedrichs des Andern <end italic> +(Leipzig, 1784-1788), i. 112 n.; and Anonymous, <italic> Leben der +&c. Marie Theresie <end italic> (Leipzig, 1781), 27 n.: laboriously +authentic Books both; essentialy DICTIONARIES,--stuffed as into a +row of blind SACKS.] + +Let us attend his Majesty on the next few marches towards Glogau, +to see the manner of the thing a little; after which it will +behoove us to be much more summary, and stick by the +main incidents. + + +MARCH TO WEICHAU (SATURDAY, 17th, AND STAY SUNDAY THERE); +TO MILKAU (MONDAY, 19th); GET TO HERRENDORF, WITHIN SIGHT OF +GLOGAU, DECEMBER 22d. + +Friedrich's march proceeds with speed and regularity. Strict +discipline is maintained; all things paid for, damage carefully +avoided: "We come, not as invasive enemies of you or of the Queen +of Hungary, but as protective friends of Silesia and of her +Majesty's rights there;--her Majesty once allowing us (as it is +presumable she will) our own rights in this Province, no man shall +meddle with hers, while we continue here." To that effect runs the +little "Patent," or initiatory Proclamation, extensively handed +out, and posted in public places, as was said above; and the +practice is conformable. To all men, coming with Protests or +otherwise, we perceive, the young King is politeness itself; +giving clear answer, and promise which will be kept, on the above +principle. Nothing angers him except that gentlemen should +disbelieve, and run away. That a mansion be found deserted by its +owners, is the one evil omen for such mansion. Thus, at the Schloss +of Weichau (which is still discoverable on the Map, across the +"Black Ochel" and the "White," muddy streams which saunter eastward +towards, the Oder there, nothing yet running westward for the +Bober, our other limitary river), next night after Schweinitz, +second night in Silesia, there was no Owner to be met with; and the +look of his Majesty grew FINSTER (dark); remembering what had +passed yesternight, in like case, at that other Schloss from which +the owner with his best portable furniture had vanished. At which +Schloss, as above noticed, some disorders were committed by angry +parties of the march;--doors burst open (doors standing impudently +dumb to the rational proposals made them!), inferior remainders of +furniture smashed into firewood, and the like,--no doubt to his +Majesty's vexation. Here at Weichau stricter measures were taken: +and yet difficulties, risks were not wanting; and the AMTMANN +(Steward of the place) got pulled about, and once even a stroke or +two. Happily the young Herr of Weichau appeared in person on the +morrow, hearing his Majesty was still there: "Papa is old; lives at +another Schloss; could not wait upon your Majesty; nor, till now, +could I have that honor."--"Well; lucky that you have come: +stay dinner!" Which the young Count did, and drove home in the +evening to reassure Papa; his Majesty continuing there another +night, and the risk over. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +i. 459.] + +This day, Sunday, 18th, the Army rests; their first Sunday in +Silesia, while the young Count pays his devoir: and here in +Weichau, as elsewhere, it is in the Church, Catholic nearly always, +that the Heretic Army does its devotions, safe from weather at +least: such the Royal Order, they say; which is taken note of, by +the Heterodox and by the Orthodox. And ever henceforth, this is the +example followed; and in all places where there is no Protestant +Church and the Catholics have one, the Prussian Army-Chaplain +assembles his buff-belted audience in the latter: "No offence, +Reverend Fathers, but there are hours for us, and hours for you; +and such is the King's Order." There is regular divine-service in +this Prussian Army; and even a good deal of inarticulate religion, +as one may see on examining. + +Country Gentlemen, Town Mayors and other civic Authorities, soon +learn that on these terms they are safe with his Majesty; march +after march he has interviews with such, to regulate the supplies, +the necessities and accidents of the quartering of his Troops. +Clear, frank, open to reasonable representation, correct to his +promise; in fact, industriously conciliatory and pacificatory: +such is Friedrich to all Silesian men. Provincial Authorities, who +can get no instructions from Head-quarters; Vienna saying nothing, +Breslau nothing, and Deputy-Governor Browne being far south in +Neisse,--are naturally in difficulties: How shall they act? +Best not to act at all, if one can help it; and follow the Mayor of +Grunberg's unsurpassable pattern!-- + +"These Silesians," says an Excerpt I have made, "are still in +majority Protestant; especially in this Northern portion of the +Province; they have had to suffer much on that and other scores; +and are secretly or openly in favor of the Prussians. +Official persons, all of the Catholic creed, have leant heavy, not +always conscious of doing it, against Protestant rights. The +Jesuits, consciously enough, have been and are busy with them; +intent to recall a Heretic Population by all methods, fair and +unfair. We heard of Charles XII.'s interference, three-and-thirty +years ago; and how the Kaiser, hard bested at that time, had to +profess repentance and engage for complete amendment. Amendment +did, for the moment, accordingly take place. Treaty of Westphalia +in all its stipulations, with precautionary improvements, was +re-enacted as Treaty of Altranstadt; with faithful intention of +keeping it too, on Kaiser Joseph's part, who was not a +superstitious man: 'Holy Father, I was too glad he did not demand +my own conversion to the Protestant Heresy, bested as I am,--with +Louis Quatorze and Company upon the neck of me!' Some improvement +of performance, very marked at first, did ensue upon this +Altranstadt Treaty. But the sternly accurate Karl of Sweden soon +disappeared from the scene; Kaiser Joseph of Austria soon +disappeared; and his Brother, Karl VI., was a much more +orthodox person. + +"The Austrian Government, and Kaiser Karl's in particular, is not +to be called an intentionally unjust one; the contrary, I rather +find; but it is, beyond others, ponderous; based broad on such +multiplex formalities, old habitudes; and GRAVITATION has a great +power over it. In brief, Official human nature, with the best of +Kaisers atop, flagitated continually by Jesuit Confessors, does +throw its weight on a certain side: the sad fact is, in a few years +the brightness of that Altranstadt improvement began to wax dim; +and now, under long Jesuit manipulation, Silesian things are nearly +at their old pass; and the patience of men is heavily laden. To see +your Chapel made a Soldiers' Barrack, your Protestant School become +a Jesuit one,--Men did not then think of revolting under injuries; +but the poor Silesian weaver, trudging twenty miles for his Sunday +sermon; and perceiving that, unless their Mother could teach the +art of reading, his boys, except under soul's peril, would now +never learn it: such a Silesian could not want for reflections. +Voiceless, hopeless, but heavy; and dwelling secretly, as under +nightmare, in a million hearts. Austrian Officiality, wilfully +unjust, or not wilfully so, is admitted to be in a most heavy- +footed condition; can administer nothing well. Good Government in +any kind is not known here: Possibly the Prussian will be better; +who can say? + +"The secret joy of these populations, as Friedrich advances among +them, becomes more and more a manifest one. Catholic Officials do +not venture on any definite hope, or definite balance of hope and +fear, but adopt the Mayor of Grunberg's course, and study to be +passive and silent. The Jesuit-Priest kind are clear in their minds +for Austria; but think, Perhaps Prussia itself will not prove very +tyrannous? At all events, be silent; it is unsafe to stir. +We notice generally, it is only in the Southern or Mountain regions +of Silesia, where the Catholics are in majority, that the +population is not ardently on the Prussian side. Passive, if they +are on the other side; accurately passive at lowest, this it is +prescribed all prudent men to be." + +On the 18th, while divine service went on at Weichau, there was at +Breslau another phenomenon observable. Provincial Government in +Breslau had, at length, after intense study, and across such +difficulties as we have no idea of, got its "Patent," or carefully +worded Protestation against Prussia, brought to paper; and does, +this day, with considerable solemnity, affix it to the Rathhaus +door there, for the perusal of mankind; despatching a Copy for his +Prussian Majesty withal, by two Messengers of dignity. It has +needed courage screwed to the sticking-place to venture on such a +step, without instruction from Head-quarters; and the utmost powers +of the Official mind have been taxed to couch this Document in +language politely ambiguous, and yet strong enough;--too strong, +some of us now think it. In any case, here it now is; Provincial +Government's bolt, so to speak, is shot. The affixing took place +under dark weather-symptoms; actual outburst of thunder and rain at +the moment, not to speak of the other surer omens. So that, to the +common mind at Breslau, it did not seem there would much fruit come +of this difficult performance. Breslau is secretly a much-agitated +City; and Prussian Hussar Parties, shooting forth to great +distances ahead, were, this day for the first time, observed within +sight of it. + +And on the same Sunday we remark farther, what is still more +important: Herr von Gotter, Friedrich's special Envoy to Vienna, +has his first interview with the Queen of Hungary, or with Grand- +Duke Franz the Queen's Husband and Co-Regent; and presents there, +from Friedrich's own hand, written we remember when, brief distinct +Note of his Prussian Majesty's actual Proposals and real meaning in +regard to this Silesian Affair. Proposals anxiously conciliatory in +tone, but the heavy purport of which is known to us: Gotter had +been despatched, time enough, with these Proposals (written above a +month ago); but was instructed not to arrive with them, till after +the actual entrance into Silesia. And now the response to them +is--? As good as nothing; perhaps worse. Let that suffice us at +present. Readers, on march for Glogau, would grudge to pause over +State-papers, though we shall have to read this of Friedrich's at +some freer moment. + +Monday, 19th, before daybreak, the Army is astir again, +simultaneously wending forward; spread over wide areas, like a vast +cloud (potential thunder in it) steadily advancing on the winds. +Length of the Army, artistically portioned out, may be ten or +fifteen miles, breadth already more, and growing more; Schwerin +always on the right or western wing, close by the Bober River as +yet, through Naumburg and the Towns on that side,--Liegnitz and +other important Towns lying ahead for Schwerin, still farther apart +from the main Body, were Glogau once settled. + +So that the march is in two Columns; Schwerin, with the westernmost +small column, intending towards Liegnitz, and thence ever farther +southward, with his right leaning on the high lands which rise more +and more into mountains as you advance. Friedrich himself commands +the other column, has his left upon the Oder, in a country mounting +continually towards the South, but with less irregularity of level, +and generally flat as yet. From beginning to end, the entire field +of march lies between the Oder and its tributary the Bober; +climbing slowly towards the sources of both. Which two rivers, as +the reader may observe, form here a rectangular or trapezoidal +space, ever widening as we go southward. Both rivers, coming from +the Giant Mountains, hasten directly north; but Oder, bulging out +easterly in his sandy course, is obliged to turn fairly westward +again; and at Glogau, and a good space farther, flows in that +direction;--till once Bober strikes in, almost at right angles, +carrying Oder with HIM, though he is but a branch, straight +northward again. Northward, but ever slower, to the swollen Pommern +regions, and sluggish exit into the Baltic there. + +One of the worst features is the state of the weather. On Sunday, +at Breslau, we noticed thunder bursting out on an important +occasion; "ominous," some men thought;--omen, for one thing, that +the weather was breaking. At Weichau, that same day, rain began, +--the young Herr of Weichau, driving home to Papa from dinner with +Majesty, would get his share of it;--and on Monday, 19th, there was +such a pour of rain as kept most wayfarers, though it could not the +Prussian Army, within doors. Rain in plunges, fallen and falling, +through that blessed day; making roads into mere rivers of mud. +The Prussian hosts marched on, all the same. Head-quarters, with +the van of the wet Army, that night, were at Milkau;--from which +place we have a Note of Friedrich's for Friend Jordan, perhaps +producible by and by. His Majesty lodged in some opulent Jesuit +Establishment there. And indeed he continued there, not idle, under +shelter, for a couple of days. The Jesuits, by their two head men, +had welcomed him with their choicest smiles; to whom the King was +very gracious, asking the two to dinner as usual, and styling them +"Your Reverence." Willing to ingratiate himself with persons of +interest in this Country; and likes talk, even with Jesuits +of discernment. + +On the morrow (20th), came to him, here at Milkau,-- probably from +some near stage, for the rain was pouriug worse than ever,--that +Breslau "Patent," or strongish Protestation, by its two Messengers +of dignity. The King looked over it "without visible anger" or +change of countenance; "handed it," we expressly see, "to a Page to +reposit" in the proper waste-basket;--spoke politely to the two +gentlemen; asked each or one of them, "Are you of the Ober-Amt at +Breslau, then?"--using the style of ER (He).--"No, your Majesty; +we are only of the Land-Stande" (Provincial Parliament, such as it +is). "Upon which [do you mark!] his Majesty became still more +polite; asked them to dinner, and used the style of SIE." For their +PATENT, now lying safe in its waste-basket, he gave them signed +receipt; no other answer. + +Rain still heavier, rain as of Noah, continued through this +Tuesday, and for days afterwards: but the Prussian hosts, hastening +towards Glogau, marched still on. This Tuesday's march, for the +rearward of the Army, 10,000 foot and 2,000 horse; march of ten +hours long, from Weichau to the hamlet Milkau (where his Majesty +sits busy and affable),--is thought to be the wettest on record. +Waters all out, bridges down, the Country one wild lake of eddying +mud. Up to the knee for many miles together; up to the middle for +long spaces; sometimes even up to the chin or deeper, where your +bridge was washed away. The Prussians marched through it, as if +they had been slate or iron. Rank and file, nobody quitted his +rank, nobody looked sour in the face; they took the pouring of the +skies, and the red seas of terrestrial liquid, as matters that must +be; cheered one another with jocosities, with choral snatches +(tobacco, I consider, would not burn); and swashed unweariedly +forward. Ten hours some of them were out, their march being twenty +or twenty-five miles; ten to fifteen was the average distance come. +Nor, singular to say, did any loss occur; except of ALMOST one poor +Army-Chaplain, and altogether of one poor Soldier's Wife;--sank +dangerously both of them, beyond redemption she, taking the wrong +side of some bridge-parapet. Poor Soldier's Wife, she is not named +to me at all; and has no history save this, and that "she was of +the regiment Bredow." But I perceive she washed herself away in a +World-Transaction; and there was one rough Bredower, who probably +sat sad that night on getting to quarters. His Majesty surveyed the +damp battalions on the morrow (21st), not without sympathy, not +without satisfaction; allowed them a rest-day here at Milkau, to +get dry and bright again; and gave them "fifteen thalers a +company," which is about ninepence apiece, with some words of +praise. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i.482.] + +Next day, Thursday, 22d, his Majesty and they marched on to +Herrendorf; which is only five miles from Glogau, and near enough +for Head-quarters, in the now humor of the place. Wallis has his +messenger at Herrendorf, "Sorry to warn your Majesty, That if there +be the least hostility committed, I shall have to resist it to the +utmost." Head-quarters continue six days at Herrendorf, Army (main +body, or left Column, of the Army) cantoned all round, till we +consider what to do. + +As to the right Column, or Schwerin's Division, that, after a +rest-day or two, gathers itself into more complete separation here, +tucking in its eastern skirts; and gets on march again, by its own +route. Steadily southward;--and from Liegnitz, and the upland +Countries, there will be news of Schwerin and it before long. +Rain ending, there ensued a ringing frost;--not favorable for +Siege-operations on Glogau:--and Silesia became all of flinty +glass, with white peaks to the Southwest, whither Schwerin is gone. + + + +Chapter III. + +PROBLEM OF GLOGAU. + +Friedrich was over from Herrendorf with the first daylight, +"reconnoitring Glogau, and rode up to the very glacis;" scanning it +on all sides. [Ib. i. 484.] Since Wallis is so resolute, here is an +intricate little problem for Friedrich, with plenty of corollaries +and conditions hanging to it. Shall we besiege Glogau, then? We +have no siege-cannon here. Time presses, Breslau and all things in +such crisis; and it will take time. By what methods COULD Glogau be +besieged?--Readers can consider what a blind many-threaded coil of +things, heaping itself here in wide welters round Glogau, and +straggling to the world's end, Friedrich has on hand: probably +those six days, of Head-quarters at Herrendorf, were the busiest he +had yet had. + +One thing is evident, there ought to be siege-cannon got +straightway; and, still more immediate, the right posts and +battering-places should be ready against its coming.--"Let the +Young Dessauer with that Rearguard, or Reserve of 10,000, which is +now at Crossen, come up and assist here," orders Friedrich; "and +let him be swift, for the hours are pregnant!" On farther +reflection, perhaps on new rumors from Breslau, Friedrich perceives +that there can be no besieging of Glogau at this point of time; +that the Reserve, Half of the Reserve, must be left to "mask" it; +to hold it in strict blockade, with starvation daily advancing as +an alIy to us, and with capture by bombarding possible when we +like. That is the ultimate decision;--arrived at through a welter +of dubieties, counterpoisings and perilous considerations, which we +now take no account of. A most busy week; Friedrich incessantly in +motion, now here now there; and a great deal of heavy work got well +and rapidly done. The details of which, in these exuberant +Manuscripts, would but weary the reader. Choosing of the proper +posts and battering-places (post "on the other side of the River," +"on this side of it," "on the Island in the middle of it"), and +obstinate intrenching and preparing of the same in spite of frost; +"wooden bridge built" farther up; with "regulation of the river- +boats, the Polish Ferry," and much else: all this we omit; and will +glance only at one pregnant point, by way of sample:-- + +... "Most indispensable of all, the King has to provide +Subsistences:--and enters now upon the new plan, which will have to +be followed henceforth. The Provincial Chief-men (LANDES-AELTESTEN, + Land's-ELDESTS, their title) are summoned, from nine or ten +Circles which are likely to be interested: they appear punctually, +and in numbers,--lest contumacy worsen the inevitable. King dines +them, to start with; as many as 'ninety-five covers,'--day not +given, but probably one of the first in Herrendorf: not Christmas +itself, one hopes! + +"Dinner done, the ninety-five Land's-Eldest are instructed by +proper parties, What the Infantry's ration is, in meat, in bread, +exact to the ounce; what the Cavalry's is, and that of the +Cavalry's Horse. Tabular statement, succinct, correct, clear to the +simplest capacity, shows what quotities of men on foot, and of men +on horseback, or men with draught-cattle, will march through their +respective Circles; Lands-Eldests conclude what amount of meal and +butcher's-meat it will be indispensable to have in readiness;--what +Lands-Eldest can deny the fact? These Papers still exist, at least +the long-winded Summary of them does: and I own the reading of it +far less insupportable than that of the mountains of Proclamatory, +Manifesto and Diplomatic matter. Nay it leaves a certain wholesome +impression on the mind, as of business thoroughly well done; and a +matter, capable, if left in the chaotic state, of running to all +manner of depths and heights, compendiously forced to become cosmic +in this manner. + +"These Lands-Eldest undertake, in a mildly resigned or even hopeful +humor. They will manage as required, in their own Circles; will +communicate with the Circles farther on; and everywhere the due +proviants, prestations, furtherances, shall be got together by fair +apportionment on the Silesian Community, and be punctually ready +a,s the Army advances. Book-keeping there is to be, legible record +of everything; on all hands 'quittance' for everything furnished; +and a time is coming, when such quittance, presented by any +Silesian man, will be counted money paid by him, and remitted at +the next tax-day, or otherwise made good. Which promise also was +accurately kept, the hoped-for time having come. It must be owned +the Prussian Army understands business; and, with brevity, reduces +to a minimum its own trouble, and that of other people, non- +fighters, who have to do with it. Non-fighters, I say; to fighters +we hope it will give a respectable maximum of trouble when applied +to!" [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 492-499.] + +The Gotter Negotiation at Vienna, which we saw begin there that wet +Sunday, is now fast ending, as good as ended; without result except +of a negative kind. Gotter's Proposals,--would the reader wish to +hear these Proposals, which were so intensely interesting at one +time? They are fivefold; given with great brevity by Friedrich, by +us with still greater:-- +1. "Will fling myself heartily into the Austrian scale, and +endeavor for the interest of Austria in this Pragmatic matter, with +my whole strength against every comer. +2. "Will make treaty with Vienna, with Russia and the Sea-Powers, +to that effect. +3. "Will help by vote, and with whole amount of interest will +endeavor, to have Grand-Duke Franz, the Queen's Husband, chosen +Kaiser; and to maintain such choice against all and sundry. +Feel myself strong enough to accomplish this result; and may, +without exaggeration, venture to say it shall be done. +4. "To help the Court of Vienna in getting its affairs into good +order and fencible condition,--will present to it, on the shortest +notice, Two Million Gulden (200,000 pounds) ready money."-- +Infinitely welcome this Fourth Proposition; and indeed all the +other Three are welcome: but they are saddled with a final +condition, which pulls down all again. This, which is studiously +worded, politely evasive in phrase, and would fain keep old +controversies asleep, though in substance it is so fatally +distinct,--we give in the King's own words: +5. "For such essential services as those to which I bind myself by +the above very onerous conditions, I naturally require a +proportionate recompense; some suitable assurance, as indemnity for +all the dangers I risk, and for the part (ROLE) I am ready to play: +in short, I require hereby the entire and complete cession of all +Silesia, as reward for my labors and dangers which I take upon +myself in this course now to be entered upon for the preservation +and renown of the House of Austria;"--Silesia all and whole; and we +say nothing of our "rights" to it; politely evasive to her +Hungarian Majesty, though in substance we are so fatally distinct. +[Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> p. 451; +"from Olenschlager, <italic> Geschichte des Interegni <end italic> +[Frankfurt, 1746], i. 134."] + +These were Friedrich's Proposals; written down with his own hand at +Reinsberg, five or six weeks ago (November 17th is the date of it); +in what mood, and how wrought upon by Schwerin and Podewils, we saw +above. Gotter has fulfilled his instructions in regard to this +important little Document; and now the effect of it is--? +Gotter can report no good effect whatever. "Be cautious," Friedrich +instructs him farther; "modify that Fifth Proposal; I will take +less than the whole, 'if attention is paid to my just claims on +Schlesien.'" To that effect writes Friedrich once or twice. But it +is to no purpose; nor can Gotter, with all his industry, report +other than worse and worse. Nay, he reports before long, not +refusal only, but refusal with mockery: "How strange that his +Prussian Majesty, whose official post in Germany, as Kur- +Brandenburg and Kaiser's Chamberlain, has been to present ewer and +towel to the House of Austria, should now set up for prescribing +rules to it!" A piece of wit, which could not but provoke +Friedrich; and warn him that negotiation on this matter might as +well terminate. Such had been his own thought, from the first; but +in compliance with Schwerin and Podewils he was willing to try. + +Better for Maria Theresa, and for all the world how much better, +could she have accepted this Fifth Proposition! But how could she, +--the high Imperial Lady, keystone of Europe, though by accident +with only a few pounds of ready money at present? Twenty years of +bitter fighting, and agony to herself and all the world, were +necessary first; a new Fact of Nature having turned up, a new +European Kingdom with real King to it; NOT recognizable as such, +by the young Queen of Hungary or by any other person, till it do +its proofs. + + +WHAT BERLIN IS SAYING; WHAT FRIEDRICH IS THINKING. + +What Friedrich's own humor is, what Friedrich's own inner man is +saying to him, while all the world so babbles about his Silesian +Adventure? Of this too there are, though in diluted state, some +glimmerings to be had,--chiefly in the Correspondence with Jordan. + +Ingenious Jordan, Inspector of the Poor at Berlin,--his thousand +old women at their wheels humming pleasantly in the background of +our imaginations, though he says nothing of that,--writes twice a +week to his Majesty: pleasant gossipy Letters, with an easy +respectfulness not going into sycophancy anywhere; which keep the +campaigning King well abreast of the Berlin news and rumors: +something like the essence of an Old Newspaper; not without worth +in our present Enterprise. One specimen, if we had room! + + +JORDAN TO THE KING (successively from Berlin,--somewhat abridged.) + +No. 1. "BERLIN, 14th DECEMBER, 1740 [day after his Majesty left]. +Everybody here is on tiptoe for the Event; of which both origin and +end are a riddle to the most. I am charmed to see a part of your +Majesty's Dominions in a state of Pyrrhonism; the disease is +epidemical here at present. Those who, in the style of theologians, +consider themselves entitled to be certain, maintain That your +Majesty is expected with religious impatience by the Protestants, +and that the Catholics hope to see themselves delivered from a +multitude of imposts which cruelly tear up the beautiful bosom of +their Church. You cannot but succeed in your valiant and stoical +Enterprise, since both religion and worldly interest rank +themselves under your flag. + +"Wallis," Austrian Commandant in Glogau, "they say, has punished a +Silesian Heretic of enthusiastic turn, as blasphemer, for +announcing that a new Messiah is just coming. I have a taste for +that kind of martyrdom. Critical persons consider the present step +as directly opposed to certain maxims in the ANTI-MACHIAVEL. + +"The word MANIFESTO--[your Majesty's little PATENT on entering +Silesia, which no reader shall be troubled with at present]--is the +burden of every conversation. there is a short Piece of the kind to +come out to-day, by way of preface to a large complete exposition, +which a certain Jurisconsult is now busy with. People crowd to the +Bookshops for it, as if looking out for a celestial phenomenon that +had been predicted.--This is the beginning of my Gazette; can only +come out twice a week, owing to the arrangement of the Posts. +Friday, the day your Majesty crosses into Silesia, I shall spend in +prayer and devotional exercises: Astronomers pretend that Mars will +that day enter"--no matter what. + +NOTE, The above Manifesto rumor is correct; Jurisconsult is +ponderous Herr Ludwig, Kanzler (Chancellor) of Halle University, +monster of law-learning,--who has money also, and had to help once +with a House in Berlin for one Nussler, a son-in-law of his, +transiently known to us;--ponderous Ludwig, matchless or difficult +to match in learning of this kind, will write ample enough +Deductions (which lie in print still, to the extent of tons' +weight), and explain the ERBVERBRUDERUNG and violence done upon it, +so that he who runs may read. Postpone him to a calmer time. + +No. 2. "BERLIN, SATURDAY, 17th DECEMBER. Manifesto has appeared," +--can be seen, under thick strata of cobwebs, in many Books; +[In <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 448, 453 (what +Jordan now alludes to); IB. 559-592 ("Deduction" itself, Ludwig in +all his strength, some three weeks hence; in OLENSCHLAGER +(doubtless); in &c. &c.] is not worth reading now: Incontestable +rights which our House has for ages had on Schlesien, and which +doubtless the Hungarian Majesty will recognize; not the slightest +injury intended, far indeed from that; and so on!--"people are +surprised at its brevity; and, studying it as theologians do a +passage of Scripture, can make almost nothing of it. Clear as +crystal, says one; dexterously obscure by design, says another. + +"Rumor that the Grand-Duke of Lorraine," Maria Theresa's Husband, +"was at Reinsberg incognito lately," Grand-Duke a concerting party, +think people looking into the thing with strong spectacles on their +nose! "M. de Beauvau [French Ambassador Extraordinary, to whom the +aces were promised if they came] said one thing that surprised me: +'What put the King on taking this step, I do not know; but perhaps +it is not such a bad one.' Surprising news that the Elector of +Saxony, King of Poland, is fallen into inconsolable remorse for +changing his religion [to Papistry, on Papa's hest, many long years +ago] and that it is not to the Pope, but to the King of Prussia, +that he opens his heart to steady his staggering orthodoxy." +Very astonishing to Jordan. "One thing is certain, all Paris rings +with your Majesty's change of religion" (over to Catholicism, say +those astonishing people, first conjurers of the universe)! + +No. 3. "BERLIN, 20th DECEMBER. M. de Beauvau," French Ambassador, +"is gone. Ended, yesterday, his survey of the Cabinet of Medals; +charmed with the same: charmed too, as the public is, with the rich +present he has got from said Cabinet [coronation medal or medals in +gold, I could guess]: people say the King of France's Medal given +to our M. de Camas is nothing to it. + +"Rumor of alliance between your Majesty and France with Sweden," +--premature rumor. Item, "Queen of Hungary dead in child-birth;" +--ditto with still more emphasis! "The day before yesterday, in all +churches, was prayer to Heaven for success to your Majesty's arms; +interest of the Protestant religion being the one cause of the War, +or the only one assigned by the reverend gentlemen. At sound of +these words, the zeal of the people kindles: 'Bless God for raising +such a Defender! Who dared suspect our King's indifference +to Protestantism?'" + +A right clever thing this last (O LE BEAU COUP D'ETAT)! exclaims +Jordan,--though it is not clever or the contrary, not being +dramatically prearranged, as Jordan exults to think. Jordan, though +there are dregs of old devotion lying asleep in him, which will +start into new activity when stirred again, is for the present a +very unbelieving little gentleman, I can perceive.--This is the +substance of public rumor at Berlin for one week. +Friedrich answers:-- + +TO M. JORDAN, AT BERLIN. + +"QUARTER AT MILKAU, TOWARDS GLOGAU, 19th DECEMBER, 1740 +[comfortable Jesuit-Establishment at Milkau, Friedrich just got in, +out of the rain].--Seigneur Jordan, thy Letter has given me a deal +of pleasure in regard to all these talkings thou reportest. +To-morrow [not to-morrow, nor next day; wet troops need a rest] I +arrive at our last station this side Glogau, which place I hope to +get in a few days. All favors my designs: and I hope to return to +Berlin, after executing them gloriously and in a way to be content +with. Let the ignorant and the envious talk; it is not they that +shall ever serve as loadstar to my designs; not they, but Glory +[LA GLOIRE; Fame, depending not on them]: with the love of that I +am penetrated more than ever; my troops have their hearts big with +it, and I answer to thee for success. Adieu, dear Jordan. Write me +all the ill that the public says of thy Friend, and be persuaded +that I love and will esteem thee always."--F. + +JORDAN TO THE KING. + +No. 4; "BERLIN, 24th DECEMBER. Your Majesty's Letter fills me with +joy and contentment. The Town declared your Majesty to be already +in Breslau; founding on some Letter to a Merchant here. Ever since +they think of your Majesty acting for Protestantism, they make you +step along with strides of Achilles to the ends of Silesia.-- +Foreign Courts are all rating their Ambassadors here for not +finding you out. + +"Wolf," his negotiations concluded at last, "has entered Halle +almost like the triumphant Entry to Jerusalem. A concourse of +pedants escorted him to his house. Lange [his old enemy, who +accused him of Atheism and other things] has called to see him, and +loaded him with civilities, to the astonishment of the old +Orthodox." There let him rest, well buttoned in gaiters, and +avoiding to mount stairs. ... "Madame de Roucoulles has sent me the +three objects adjoined, for your Majesty's behoof,"--woollen +achievements, done by the needle, good against the winter weather +for one she nursed. The good old soul. Enough now, of Jordan. +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xvii. 75-78.] + +Voltaire, who left Berlin 2d or 3d December, seems to have been +stopt by overflow of rivers about Cleve, then to have taken boat; +and is, about this very time, writing to Friedrich "from a vessel +on the Coasts of Zealand, where I am driven mad." (Intends, +privately, for Paris before long, to get his MAHOMET acted, if +possible.) To Voltaire, here is a Note coming: + +KING TO H. DE VOLTAIRE (at Brussels, if once got thither). + +"QUARTER OF HERRENDORF IN SILESIA, +23d December, 1740. + +"MY DEAR VOLTAIRE,--I have received two of your Letters; but could +not answer sooner; I am like Charles Twelfth's Chess-King, who was +always kept on the move. For a fortnight past, we have been +continually afoot and under way, in such weather as you never saw. + +"I am too tired to reply to your charming Verses; and shivering too +much with cold to taste all the charm of them: but that will come +round again. Do not ask poetry from a man who is actually doing the +work of a wagoner, and sometimes even of a wagoner stuck in the +mud. Would you like to know my way of life? We march from seven in +the morning till four in the afternoon. I dine then; afterwards I +work, I receive tiresome visits; with these comes a detail of +insipid matters of business. 'Tis wrong-headed men, punctiliously +difficult, who are to be set right; heads too hot which must be +restrained, idle fellows that must be urged, impatient men that +must be rendered docile, plunderers to restrain within the bounds +of equity, babblers to hear babbling, dumb people to keep in talk: +in fine, one has to drink with those that like it, to eat with +those that are hungry; one has to become a Jew with Jews, a Pagan +with Pagans. + +"Such are my occupations;--which I would willingly make over to +another, if the Phantom they call Fame (GLOIRE) did not rise on me +too often. In truth, it is a great folly, but a folly difficult to +cast away when once you are smitten by it. [Phantom of GLOIRE +somewhat rampant in those first weeks; let us see whether it will +not lay itself again, forevermore, before long!] + +"Adieu, my dear Voltaire; may Heaven preserve from misfortune the +man I should so like to sup with at night, after fighting in the +morning! The Swan of Padua [Algarotti, with his big hook-nose and +dusky solemnly greedy countenance] is going, I think, to Paris, to +profit by my absence; the Philosopher Geometer [big Maupertuis, in +red wig and yellow frizzles, vainest of human kind] is squaring +curves; poor little Jordan [with the kindly hazel eyes, and pen +that pleasantly gossips to us] is doing nothing, or probably +something near it. Adieu once more, dear Voltaire; do not forget +the absent who love you. FREDERIC." +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xxii. 57.] + + +SCHWERIN AT LIEGNITZ; FRIEDRICH HUSHES UP THE GLOGAU PROBLEM, +AND STARTS WITH HIS BEST SPEED FOR BRESLAU. + +Meanwhile, on the Western road, and along the foot of the snowy +peaks over yonder, Schwerin with the small Right column is going +prosperously forwards. Two columns always, as the reader +recollects,--two parallel military currents, flowing steadily on, +shooting out estafettes, or horse-parties, on the right and left; +steadily submerging all Silesia as they flow forward. Left column +or current is in slight pause at Glogau here; but will directly be +abreast again. On Tuesday, 27th, Schwerin is within wind of +Liegnitz; on Wednesday morning, while the fires are hardly lighted, +or the smoke of Liegnitz risen among the Hills, Schwerin has done +his feat with the usual deftness: Prussian grenadiers came softly +on the sentry, softly as a dream; but with sudden levelling of +bayonets, sudden beckoning, "To your Guard-house!"--and there, turn +the key upon his poor company and him. Whereupon the whole Prussian +column marches in; tramp tramp, without music, through the streets: +in the Market-place they fold themselves into a ranked mass, and +explode into wind-harmony and rolling of drums. Liegnitz, mostly in +nightcap, looks cautiously out of window: it is a deed done, IHR +HERREN; Liegnitz ours, better late than never; and after so many +years, the King has his own again. Schwerin is sumptuously lodged +in the Jesuits, Palace: Liegnitz, essentially a Protestant Town, +has many thoughts upon this event, but as yet will be stingy of +speaking them. + +Thus is Liegnitz managed. A pleasant Town, amid pleasant hills on +the rocky Katzbach; of which swift stream, and other towns and +passes on it, we shall yet hear more. Population, silently +industrious in weaving and otherwise, is now above 14,000; was then +perhaps about half that number. Patiently inarticulate, by no means +bright in speech or sentiment; a much-enduring, steady-going, +frugal, pious and very desirable people. + +The situation of Breslau, all this while, is very critical. +Much bottled emotion in the place; no Austrian Garrison admissible; +Authorities dare not again propose such a thing, though Browne is +turning every stone for it,--lest the emotion burst bottle, and +take fire. I have dim account that Browne has been there, has got +300 Austrian dragoons into the Dom Insel (CATHEDRAL ISLAND; "Not in +the City, you perceive!" says General Browne: "no, separated by the +Oder, on both sides, from the rest of the City; that stately mass +of edifices, and good military post");--and had hoped to get the +suburbs burnt, after all. But the bottled emotion was too +dangerous. For, underground, there are ANTI-Brownes: one +especially; a certain busy Deblin, Shoemaker by craft, whom +Friedrich speaks of, but gives no name to; this zealous Cordwainer, +Deblin, and he is not the only individual of like humor, operates +on the guild-brothers and lower populations: [Preuss, <italic> +Thronbesteigung, <end italic> p. 469; <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, +<end italic> ii. 61. ] things seem to be looking worse and worse +for the Authorities, in spite of General Browne and his activities +and dragoons. + +What the issue will be? Judge if Friedrich wished the Young +Dessauer come! Friedrich's Hussar parties (or Schwerin's, +instructed by Friedrich) go to look if the Breslau suburbs are +burnt. Far from it, if Friedrich knew;--the suburbs merely sit +quaking at such a proposal, and wish the Prussians were here. +"But there is time ahead of us," said everybody at Breslau; +"Glogau will take some sieging!" Browne, in the course of a day or +two,--guessing, I almost think, that Glogau was not to be +besieged,--ranked his 300 Austrian dragoons, and rode away; +sending the Austrian State-Papers, in half a score of wagons, ahead +of him. "Archives of Breslau!" cried the general population, at +sight of these wagons; and largely turned out, with emotion again +like to unbottle itself. "Mere Tax-Ledgers, and records of the +Government Offices; come and convince yourselves!" answered the +Authorities. And the ten wagons went on; calling at Ohlau and +Brieg, for farther lading of the like kind. Which wagons the +Prussian light-horse chased, but could not catch. On to Mahren went +these Archive-wagons; to Brunn, far over the Giant Mountains;--did +not come back for a long while, nor to their former Proprietor at +all. Tuesday, 27th, Leopold the Young Dessauer does finally arrive, +with his Reserve, at Glogau: never man more welcome; such a +fermentation going on at Breslau,--known to Friedrich, and what it +will issue in, if he delay, not known. With despatch, Leopold is +put into his charge; posts all yielded to him; orders given,-- +blockade to be strictness itself, but no fighting if avoidable; +"starvation will soon do it, two months at most," hopes Friedrich, +too sanguine as it proved:--and with earliest daylight on the 28th, +Friedrich's Army, Friedrich himself in the van as usual, is on +march again; at its best speed for Breslau. Read this Note for +Jordan:-- + +FRIEDRICH TO M. JORDAN, AT BERLIN. + +"HERRENDORF, 27th Dec. 1740. + +"SIEUR JORDAN,--I march to-morrow for Breslau; and shall be there +in four days [three, it happened; there rising, as would seem, new +reason for haste]. You Berliners [of the 24th last] have a spirit +of prophecy, which goes beyond me. In fine, I go my road; and thou +wilt shortly see Silesia ranked in the list of our Provinces. +Adieu; this is all I have time to tell thee. Religion [Silesian +Protestantism, and Breslau's Cordwainer], religion and our brave +soldiers will do the rest. + +"Tell Maupertuis I grant those Pensions he proposes for his +Academicians; and that I hope to find good subjects for that +dignity in the Country where I am, withal. Give him my compliments. + +FREDERIC." + +The march was of the swiftest,--swifter even than had been +expected;--which, as Silesia is all ringing glass, becomes more +achievable than lately. But certain regiments outdid themselves in +marching; "in three marches, near upon seventy miles,"--with their +baggage jingling in due proximity. Through Glasersdorf, thence +through Parchwitz, Neumarkt, Lissa, places that will be better +known to us;--on Saturday, last night of the Year, his Majesty +lodged at a Schloss called Pilsnitz, five miles to west of Breslau; +and van-ward regiments, a good few, quartered in the Western and +Southern suburbs of Breslau itself; suburbs decidedly glad to see +them, and escape conflagration. The Town-gates are hermetically +shut;--plenty of emotion bottled in the 100,000 hearts within. +The sentries on the walls presented arms; nay, it is affirmed, some +could not help exclaiming, "WILKOMMEN, IHR LIEBEN HERREN (Welcome, +dear Sirs)!" [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 534.] + +Colonel Posadowsky (active Horse Colonel whom we have seen before, +who perhaps has been in Breslau before) left orders "at the Scultet +Garden-House," that all must be ready and the rooms warmed, his +Majesty intending to arrive here early on the morrow. Which +happened accordingly; Majesty alighting duly at said Garden-House, +near by the Schweidnitz Gate,--I fancy almost before break of day. + + + +Chapter IV. + +BRESLAU UNDER SOFT PRESSURE. + +The issue of this Breslau transaction is known, or could be stated +in few words; nor is the manner of it such as would, for Breslau's +sake, deserve many. But we are looking into Friedrich, wish to know +his manners and aspects: and here, ready to our hand, a Paper turns +up, compiled by an exact person with better leisure than ours, +minutely detailing every part of the affair. This Paper, after the +question, Burn or insert? is to have the lot of appearing here, +with what abridgments are possible:-- + +"SUNDAY, 1st JANUARY, 1741. The King having established himself in +Herrn Scultet's Garden-House, not far from the Schweidnitz Gate, +there began a delicate and great operation. The Prussians, in a +soft cautious manner, in the gray of the morning, push out their +sentries towards the three Gates on this side of the Oder; seize +any 'Excise House,' or the like, that may be fit for a post; and +softly put 'twenty grenadiers' in it. All this before sunrise. +Breslau is rigidly shut; Breslau thought always it could stand upon +its guard, if attacked;--is now, in Official quarters, dismally +uncertain if it can; general population becoming certain that it +cannot, and waiting anxious on the development of this grand drama. + +"About 7 A.M. a Prussian subaltern advancing within cry of the +Schweidnitz Gate, requests of the Town-guard there, To send him out +a Town-Officer. Town-Officer appears; is informed, 'That Colonels +Posadowsky and Borck, Commissioners or plenipotentiary Messengers +from his Prussian Majesty, desire admittance to the Chief +Magistrate of Breslau, for the purpose of signifying what his +Prussian Majesty's instructions are.' Town-Officer bows, and goes +upon his errand. Town-Officer is some considerable time before he +can return; City Authorities being, as we know, various, partly +Imperial, partly Civic; elderly; and some of them gone to church,-- +for matins, or to be out of the way. However, he does at last +return; admits the two Colonels, and escorts them honorably, to the +Chief RATHS-SYNDIC (Lord-Mayor) old Herr von Gutzmar's; where the +poor old "President of the OBER AMT" (Von Schaffgotsch the name of +this latter) is likewise in attendance. + +"Prussian Majesty's proposals are of the mildest sort: 'Nothing +demanded of Breslau but the plainly indispensable and indisputable, +That Prussia be in it what Austria has been. In all else, STATUS +QUO. Strict neutrality to Breslau, respect for its privileges as a +Free City of the Reich; protection to all its rights and privileges +whatsoever. Shall be guarded by its own Garrison; no Prussian +soldier to enter except with sidearms; only 30 guards for the +King's person, who will visit the City for a few days;--intends to +form a Magazine, with guard of 1,000 men, but only outside the +City: no requisitions; ready money for everything. Chief Syndic +Gutzmar and President Schaffgotsch shall consider these points.' +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 537.] Syndic and +President answer, Surely! Cannot, however, decide till they have +assembled the Town-Rath; the two Herren Colonels will please to be +guests of Breslau, and lodge in the City till then. + +"And they lodged, accordingly, in the 'GROSSE RING' (called also +SALZ-RING, big Central Square, where the Rathhaus is); and they +made and received visits,--visited especially the Chief President's +Office, the Ober-Amt, and signified there, that his Prussian +Majesty's expectation was, They would give some account of that +rather high Proclamation or 'Patent' they had published against him +the other day, amid thunder and lightning here, and what they now +thought would be expedient upon it? All in grave official terms, +but of such a purport as was not exhilarating to everybody in those +Ober-Amt localities. + +"MONDAY MORNING, 2d JANUARY. The Rath is assembled; and consults,-- +consults at great length. RATH-House and Syndic Gutzmar, in such +crisis, would fain have advice from AMT-House or President +Schaffgotsch; but can get none: considerable coming and going +between them: at length, about 3 in the afternoon, the Treaty is +got drawn up; is signed by the due Breslau hands, and by the two +Prussian Colonels,--which latter ride out with it, about 4 of the +clock; victorious after thirty hours. Straight towards the Scultet +Garden ride they; Town-guard presenting Arms, at the Schweidnitz +Gate; nay Town-band breaking out into music, which is never done +but to Ambassadors and high people. By thirty hours of steady soft +pressure, they have brought it thus far. + +"Friedrich had waited patiently all Sunday, keeping steady guard at +the Gates; but on Monday, naturally, the thirty hours began to hang +heavy: at all events, he perceived that it would be well to +facilitate conclusions a little from without. Breslau stands on the +West, more strictly speaking, on the South side of the Oder, which +makes an elbow here, and thus bounds it, or mostly bounds it, on +two sides. The big drab-colored River spreads out into Islands, of +a confused sort, as it passes; which are partly built upon, and +constitute suburbs of the Town,--stretching over, here and there, +into straggles of farther suburb beyond the River, where a road +with its bridge happens to cross for the Eastern parts. +The principal of these Islands is the DOM INSEL,"--known to General +Browne and us,--"on which is the Cathedral, and the CLOSE with rich +Canons and their edifices; Island filled with strong high +architecture; and a superior military post. + +"Friedrich has already as good as possessed himself of the three +landward Gates, which look to the south and to the west; the +riverward gates, or those on the north and the east, he perceives +that it were good now also to have; these, and even perhaps +something more? 'Gather all the river-boats, make a bridge of them +across the Oder; push across 400 men:' this is done on Monday +morning, under the King's own eye. This done, 'March up to that +riverward Gate, and also to that other, in a mild but dangerous- +looking manner; hew the beams of said Gate in two; start the big +locks; fling wide open said Gate and Gates:' this too is done; +Town-guard looking mournfully on. This done, 'March forward +swiftly, in two halves, without beat of drum,--whitherward +you know!' + +"Those three hundred Austrian Dragoons, we saw them leave the Dom +Island, three days ago; there are at present only Six Men, of the +BISHOP'S Guard, walking under arms there,--at the end of the chief +bridge, on the Townward side of their Dom Island. See, Prussian +caps and muskets, ye six men under arms! The six men clutch at +their drawbridge, and hastily set about hoisting:--alas, another +Prussian corps, which has come privately by the eastern (or +Country-ward) Bridge, King himself with it, taps them on the +shoulder at this instant; mildly constrains the six into their +guard-house: the drawbridge falls; 400 Prussian grenadiers take +quiet possession of the Dom Island: King may return to the Scultet +Garden, having quickened the lazy hours in this manner. To such of +the Canons as he came upon, his Majesty was most polite; they most +submiss. The six soldiers of the drawbridge, having spoken a little +loud,--still more a too zealous beef-eater of old Schaffgotsch's +found here, who had been very loud,--were put under arrest; but +more for form's sake; and were let go, in a day or two." + +Nothing could be gentler on Friedrich's part, and on that of his +two Colonels, than this delicate operation throughout:-- and at +4 P.M., after thirty hours of waiting, it is done, and nobody's +skin scratched. Old Syndic Gutzmar, and the Town-Rath, urged by +perils and a Town Population who are Protestant, have signed the +Surrender with good-will, at least with resignation, and a feeling +of relief. The Ober-Amt Officials have likewise had to sign; +full of all the silent spleen and despondency which is natural to +the situation: spleen which, in the case of old Schaffgotsch, weak +with age, becomes passionately audible here and there. He will have +to give account of that injurious Proclamation, or Queen's +"Patent," to this King that has now come. + + + +KING ENTERS BRESLAW; STAYS THERE, GRACIOUS AND VIGILANT, +FOUR DAYS (Jan. 2d-6th, 1741). + +In the Royal Entrance which took place next day, note these points. +Syndic Gutzmar and the Authorities came out, in grand coaches, at 8 +in the morning; had to wait awhile; the King, having ridden away to +look after his manifold affairs, did not get back till 10. Town +Guard and Garrison are all drawn out; Gates all flung open, +Prussian sentries withdrawn from them, and from the Excise-houses +they had seized: King's Kitchen-and-Proviant Carriages (four mules +to each, with bells, with uncommonly rich housings): King's Body- +Coach very grand indeed, and grandly escorted, the Thirty Body- +guards riding ahead; but nothing in it, only a most superfine cloak +"lined wholly with ermine" flung upon the seat. Other Coaches, more +or less grandly escorted; Head Cup-bearers, Seneschals, Princes, +Margraves:--but where is the King? King had ridden away, a second +time, with chief Generals, taking survey of the Town Walls, round +as far as the ZIEGEL-THOR (Tile-Gate, extreme southeast, by the +river-edge): he has thus made the whole circuit of Breslau;-- +unwearied in picking up useful knowledge, "though it was very +cold," while that Procession of Coaches went on. + +At noon, his Majesty, thrifty of time, did enter: on horseback, +Schwerin riding with him; behind him miscellaneous chief Officers; +Borck and Posadowsky among others; some miscellany of Page-people +following. With this natural escort, he rode in; Town-Major +(Commandant of Town-guard), with drawn sword going ahead;--King +wore his usual Cocked Hat, and practical Blue Cloak, both a little +dimmed by service: but his gray horse was admirable; and four +scarlet Footmen, grand as galloon and silver fringe could make +them, did the due magnificence in dress. He was very gracious; +saluting to this side and to that, where he noticed people of +condition in the windows. "Along Schweidnitz Street, across the +Great Ring, down Albrecht Street." He alighted, to lodge, at the +Count-Schlegenberg House; which used to be the Austrian Cardinal +von Sinzendorf Primate of Silesia's hired lodging,-- Sinzendorf's +furniture is put gently aside, on this new occasion. King came on +the balcony; and stood there for some minutes, that everybody might +see him. The "immense shoutings," Dryasdust assures me, have been +exaggerated; and I am warned not to believe the KRIEGS-FAMA such +and such a Number, except after comparing it with him.--That day +there was dinner of more than thirty covers, Chief Syndic Gutzmar +and other such guests; but as to the viands, says my friend, these, +owing to the haste, were nothing to speak of. [<italic>Helden- +Geschichte, <end italic> i. 545-548.] + +Dinner, better and better ordered, King more and more gracious, so +it continued all the four days of his Majesty's stay:--on the +second day be had to rise suddenly from table, and leave his guests +with an apology; something having gone awry, at one of the Gates. +Awry there, between the Town Authorities and a General Jeetz of +his,--who is on march across the River at this moment (on what +errand we shall hear), and a little mistakes the terms. His Majesty +puts Jeetz right; and even waits, till he sees his Brigade and him +clear across. A junior Schaffgotsch, [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, +<end italic> ii. 159.] not the inconsolable Schaffgotsch senior, +but his Nephew, was one of the guests this second day; an +ecclesiastic, but of witty fashionable type, and I think a very +worthless fellow, though of a family important in the Province. +Dinner falls about noon; does not last above two hours or three, so +that there is space for a ride ("to the Dom," the first afternoon, +"four runners" always), and for much indoor work, before the +supper-hour. + +As the Austrian Authorities sat silent in their place, and gave no +explanation of that "Patent," affixed amid thunder and lightning, +--they got orders from his Majesty to go their ways next day; +and went. In behalf of old President von Schaffgotsch, a chief of +the Silesian Nobility, and man much loved, the Breslau people, +and men from every guild and rank of society, made petition That, +he should be allowed to continue in his Town House here. Which +"first request of yours" his Majesty, with much grace, is sorry to +be obliged to refuse. The suppressed, and insuppressible, weak +indignation of old Schaffgotsch is visible on the occasion; nor, I +think, does Friedrich take it ill; only sends him out of the way +with it, for the time. The Austrian Ober-Amt vanished bodily from +Breslau in this manner; and never returned. Proper "War-Commission +(FELD-KRIEGS-COMMISSARIAT)," with Munchow, one of those skilful +Custrin Munchows, at the top of it, organized itself instead; +which, almost of necessity, became Supreme Government in a City +ungoverned otherwise:--and truly there was little regret of the +Ober-Amt, in Breslau; and ever less, to a marked extent, as the +years went on. + +On the 5th of January (fourth and last night here), his Majesty +gave a grand Ball. Had hired, or Colonel Posadowsky instead of him +had hired, the Assembly Rooms (REDOUTEN-SAAL), for the purpose: +"Invite all the Nobility high and low;"-- expense by estimate is a +ducat (half-guinea) each; do it well, and his Majesty will pay. +About 6 in the evening, his Majesty in person did us the honor to +drive over; opened the Ball with Madam the Countess von +Schlegenberg (I should guess, a Dowager Lady), in whose house he +lodges. I am not aware that his Majesty danced much farther; but he +was very condescending, and spoke and smiled up and down;--till, +about l0 P.M., an Officer came in with a Letter. Which Letter his +Majesty having read, and seemingly asked a question or two in +regard to, put silently in his pocket, as if it were a finished +thing. Nevertheless, after a few minutes, his Majesty was found to +have silently withdrawn; and did not return, not even to supper. +Perceiving which, all the Prussian official people gradually +withdrew; though the dancing and supping continued not the less, to +a late hour. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 557.] + +"Open the Austrian Mail-bag (FELLEISEN); see a little what they are +saying over there!" Such order had evidently been given, this +night. In consequence of which, people wrote by Dresden, and not +the direct way, in future; wishing to avoid that openable +FELLEISEN. Next morning, January 6th, his Majesty had left for +Ohlau,--early, I suppose; though there proved to be nothing +dangerous ahead there, after all. + + + +Chapter V. + +FRIEDRICH PUSHES FORWARD TOWARDS BRIEG AND NEISSE. + +Ohlau is a pleasant little Town, two marches southeast of Breslau; +with the Ohlau River on one side, and the Oder on the other; +capable of some defence, were there a garrison. Brieg the important +Fortress, still on the Oder, is some fifteen miles beyond Ohlau; +after which, bending straight south and quitting Oder, Neisse the +still more important may be thirty miles:--from Breslau to Neisse, +by this route (which is BOW, not STRING), sixty-five or seventy +miles. One of my Topographers yields this Note, if readers care +for it:-- + +"Ohlau River, an insignificant drab-colored stream, rises well +south of Breslau, about Strehlen; makes, at first, direct eastward +towards the Oder; and then, when almost close upon it, breaks off +to north, and saunters along, irregularly parallel to Oder, for +twenty miles farther, before it can fall fairly in. To this +circumstance both Breslau and a Town of Ohlau owe their existence; +Towns, both of them, 'between the waters,' and otherwise well +seated; Ohlau sheltering itself in the attempted outfall of its +little river; Breslau clustering itself about the actual outfall: +both very defensible places in the old rude time, and good for +trade in all times. Both Oder and Ohlau Rivers have split and +spread themselves into islands and deltas a good deal, at their +place of meeting; and even have changed their courses, and cut out +new channels for themselves, in the sandy country; making a very +intricate watery network of a site for Breslau: and indeed the +Ohlau River here, for centuries back, has been compelled into wide +meanderings, mere filling of rampart-ditches, so that it issues +quite obscurely, and in an artificial engineered condition, +at Breslau." + +Ohlau had been expected to make some defence; General Browne having +thrown 300 men into it, and done what he could for the works. +And Ohlau did at first threaten to make some; but thought better of +it overnight, and in effect made none; but was got (morning of +January 9th) on the common terms, by merely marching up to it in +minatory posture. "Prisoners of War, if you make resistance; +Free Withdrawal [Liberty to march away, arms shouldered, and not +serve against us for a year], if you have made none:" this is the +common course, where there are Austrian Soldiers at all; the course +where none are, and only a few Syndics sit, with their Town-Key +laid on the table, a prey to the stronger hand, we have +already seen. + +From Ohlau, proper Detachment, under General Kleist, is pushed +forward to summon Brieg; Jeetz from the other side of the river +(whom we saw crossing at Breslau the other day, interrupting his +Majesty's dinner) is to co-operate with Kleist in that enterprise, +--were the Country once cleared on his, Jeetz's, east side of Oder; +especially were Namslau once had, a small Town and Castle over +there, which commands the Polish and Hungarian road. Friedrich's +hopes are buoyant; Schwerin is swiftly rolling forward to +rightward, nothing resisting him; Detachment is gone from Schwerin, +over the Hills, to Glatz (the GRAFSCHAFT, or County Glatz, an +Appendage to Schlesien), under excellent guidance; under guidance, +namely, of Colonel Camas, who has just come home from his Parisian +Embassy, and got launched among the wintry mountains, on a new +operation,--which, however, proves of non-effect for the present. +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 678; Orlich, <italic> +Geschichte der beiden Schlesischen Kriege, <end italic> i. 49.] + +Indeed, it is observable that southward of Breslau, the dispute, +what dispute there can be, properly begins; and that General Browne +is there, and shows himself a shining man in this difficult +position. It must be owned, no General could have made his small +means go farther. Effective garrisons, 1,600 each, put into Brieg +and Neisse; works repaired, magazines collected, there and +elsewhere; the rest of his poor 7,000 thriftily sprinkled about, in +what good posts there are, and "capable of being got together in +six hours:" a superior soldier, this Browne, though with a very bad +task; and seems to have inspired everybody with something of his +own temper. So that there is marching, detaching, miscellaneous +difficulty for Friedrich in this quarter, more than had been +expected. If the fate of Brieg and Neisse be inevitable, Browne +does wonders to delay it. + +Of the Prussian marches in these parts, recorded by intricate +Dryasdust, there was no point so notable to me as this unrecorded +one: the Stone Pillar which, I see, the Kleist Detachment was sure +to find, just now, on the march from Ohlau to Brieg; last portion +of that march, between the village of Briesen and Brieg. The Oder, +flowing on your left hand, is hereabouts agreeably clothed with +woods: the country, originally a swamp, has been drained, and given +to the plough, in an agreeable manner; and there is an excellent +road paved with solid whinstone,--quarried in Strehlen, twenty +miles away, among the Hills to the right yonder, as you may guess; +--road very visible to the Prussian soldier, though he does not ask +where quarried. These beautiful improvements, beautiful humanities, +--were done by whom? "Done in 1584," say the records, by "George +the Pious;" Duke of Liegnitz, Brieg and Wohlau; 156 years ago. +"Pious" his contemporaries called this George;--he was son of the +ERBVERBRUDERUNG Duke, who is so important to us; he was +grandfather's grandfather of the last Duke of all; after whom it +was we that should have got these fine Territories; they should all +have fallen to the Great Elector, had not the Austrian strong hand +provided otherwise. George did these plantations, recoveries to the +plough; made this perennial whinstone road across the swamps; upon +which, notable to the roughest Prussian (being "twelve feet high by +eight feet square"), rises a Hewn Mass with this Inscription on +it,--not of the name or date of George; but of a thought of his, +which is not without a pious beauty to me:-- +<italic> +Straverunt alii nobis, nos Posteritati; +Omnibus at Christus stravit ad asra viam. +<end italic> +Others have made roads for us; we make them for still others: +Christ made a road to the stars for us all. +[Zollner, <italic> Briefe uber Schlesien, <end italic> i. 175; +Hubner, i. t. 101.] + +I know not how many Brandenburgers of General Kleist's Detachment, +or whether any, read this Stone; but they do all rustle past it +there, claiming the Heritage of this Pious George; and their mute +dim interview with him, in this manner, is a thing slightly more +memorable than orders of the day, at this date. + +It was on the 11th, two days after Ohlau, that General Kleist +summoned Brieg; and Brieg answered resolutely, No. There is a +garrison of 1,600 here, and a proper magazine: nothing for it but +to "mask" Brieg too; Kleist on this side the River, Jeetz on that, +--had Jeetz once done with Namslau, which he has not by any means. +Namslau's answer was likewise stiffly in the negative; and Jeetz +cannot do Namslau, at least not the Castle, all at once; having no +siege-cannon. Seeing such stiffness everywhere, Friedrich writes to +Glogau, to the Young Dessauer, "Siege-artillery hither! Swift, by +the Oder; you don't need it where you are!" and wishes it were +arrived, for behoof of Neisse and these stiff humors. + + +FRIEDRICH COMES ACROSS TO OTTMACHAU; SITS THERE, IN SURVEY OF +NEISSE, TILL HIS CANNON COME. + +The Prussians met with serious resistance, for the first time (9th +January, same day when Ohlau yielded), at a place called Ottmachau; +a considerable little Town and Castle on the Neisse River, not far +west of Neisse Town, almost at the very south of Silesia. It lay on +the route of Schwerin's Column; long distances ahead of Liegnitz, +--say, by straight highway a hundred miles;--during which, to right +and to left, there had been nothing but submission hitherto. +No resistance was expected here either, for there was not hope in +any; only that Browne had been here; industrious to create delay +till Neisse were got fully ready. He is, by every means, girding up +the loins of Neisse for a tight defence; has put 1,600 men into it, +with proper stores for them, with a resolute skilful Captain at the +top of them: assiduous Browne had been at Ottmachau, as the outpost +of Neisse, a day or two before; and, they say, had admonished them +"Not to yield on any terms, for he would certainly come to their +relief." Which doubtless he would have done, had it been in his +power; but how, except by miracle, could it be? On the 9th of +January, when Schwerin comes up, Browne is again waiting +hereabouts. Again in defensive posture, but without force to +undertake anything; stands on the Southern Uplands, with Bohmen and +Mahren and the Giant Mountains at his back;--stands, so to speak, +defensive at his own House-door, in this manner; and will have, +after SEEING Ottmachau's fate and Neisse's, to duck in with a slam! +At any rate, he had left these Towns in the above firm humor, +screwed to the sticking-place; and had then galloped else-whither +to screw and prepare. + +And so the Ottmachau Austrians, "260 picked grenadiers" (400 +dragoons there also at first were, who, after flourishing about on +the outskirts as if for fighting, rode away), fire "DESPERAT," says +my intricate friend; [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, i. 672-677; +Orlich, i. 50.] entirely refusing terms from Schwerin; kill twelve +of his people (Major de Rege, distinguished Engineer Major, one of +them): so that Schwerin has to bring petards upon them, four cannon +upon them; and burst in their Town Gate, almost their Castle Gate, +and pretty much their Castle itself;--wasting three days of his +time upon this paltry matter. Upon which they do signify a +willingness for "Free Withdrawal." "No, IHR HERREN" answers, +Schwerin; "not now; after such mad explosion. His Majesty will have +to settle it." Majesty, who is by this time not far off, comes over +to Ottmachau (January 12th); gives words of rebuke, rebuke not very +inexorable; and admits them Prisoners of War. "The officers were +sent to Custrin, common men to Berlin;" the usual arrangement in +such case. Ottmachau Town belongs to the Right Reverend von +Sinzendorf, Bishop of Breslau, and Primate; whose especial Palace +is in Neisse; though he "commonly sends his refractory Priests to +do their penance in the Schloss at Ottmachau here,"--and, I should +say, had better himself make terms, and come out hitherward, under +present aspects. + +Friedrich continues at Ottmachau; head-quarters there thenceforth, +till he see Neisse settled. On the morrow, 13th) he learns that the +Siege Artillery is at Grotkau; well forward towards Neisse; +halfway between Brieg and it. Same day, Colonel Camas returns to +him out of Glatz; five of his men lost; and reports That Browne has +had the roads torn up, that Glatz is mere ice and obstruction, and +that nothing can be made of it at this season. Good news +alternating with not so good. + +The truth is, Friedrich has got no Strong Place in Schlesien; +all strengths make unexpected defence; paltry little Namslan itself +cannot be quite taken, Castle cannot, till Jeetz gets his siege- +artillery,--which does not come along so fast as that to Neisse +does. Here is an Excerpt from my Dryasdust, exact though abridged, +concerning Jeetz:-- + +"JANUARY 24th, 1741. Prussians, masters of the Town for a couple of +weeks back, have got into the Church at Namslau, into the Cloister; +are preparing plank floors for batteries, cutting loop-holes; +diligent as possible,--siege-guns now at last just coming. +The Castle fires fiercely on them, makes furious sallies, steals +six of our oxen,--makes insolent gestures from the walls; at least +one soldier does, this day. 'Sir, may I give that fellow a shot?' +asks the Prussian sentry. 'Do, then,' answers his Major: 'too +insolent that one!' And the sentry explodes on him; brings him +plunging down, head foremost (HERUNTER PURZELTE); the too insolent +mortal, silent enough thenceforth." [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, +<end italic> i. 703.]--Jeetz did get his cannon, though not till +now, this very day I think; and then, in a couple of days more, +Jeetz finished off Namslau ("officers to Custrin, Common men to +Berlin"); and thereupon blockades the Eastern side of Brieg, +joining hands with Kleist on the Western: whereby Brieg, like +Glogau, is completely masked,--till the season mend. + +Friedrich, now that his artillery is come, expects no difficulty +with Neisse. A "paltry hamlet (BICOQUE)" he playfully calls it; +and, except this, Silesia is now his. Neisse got (which would be +the desirable thing), or put under "mask" as Glogau is, and as +Brieg is being, Austria possesses not an inch of land within these +borders. Here are some Epistolary snatches; still in the light +style, not to say the flimsy and uplifted; but worth giving, so +transparent are they; off hand, like words we had heard his Majesty +SPEAK, in his high mood:-- + +KING TO M. JORDAN, AT BERLIN (two successive Letters). + +1. "OTTMACHAU, 14th JANUARY, 1741 [second day after our arrival +there]. My dear Monsieur Jordan, my sweet Monsieur Jordan, my quiet +Monsieur Jordan, my good, my benign, my pacific, my humanest +Monsieur Jordan,--I announce to Thy Serenity the conquest of +Silesia; I warn thee of the bombardment of Neisse [just getting +ready], and I prepare thee for still more important projects; +and instruct thee of the happiest successes that the womb of +Fortune ever bore. + +"This ought to suffice thee. Be my Cicero as to the justice of my +cause, and I will be thy Caesar as to the execution. Adieu: thou +knowest whether I am not, with the most cordial regard, thy +faithful friend.--F." + +2. "OTTMACHAU, 17th JANUARY, 1741. I have the honor to inform your +Humanity that we are christianly preparing to bombard Neisse; +and that if the place will not surrender of good-will, needs must +that it be beaten to powder (NECESSITE SERA DE L'ABIMER). For the +rest, our affairs go the best in the world; and soon thou wilt hear +nothing more of us. For in ten days it will all be over; and I +shall have the pleasure of seeing you and hearing you, in about +a fortnight. + +"I have seen neither my Brother [August Wilhelm, not long ago at +Strasburg with us, and betrothed since then] nor Keyserling: +I left them at Breslau, not to expose them to the dangers of war. +They perhaps will be a little angry; but what can I do?--The rather +as, on this occasion, one cannot share in the glory, unless one is +a mortar! + +"Adieu, M. le Conseiller [Poor's-RATH, so styled]. Go and amuse +yourself with Horace, study Pausanias, and be gay over Anacreon. +As to me, who for amusement have nothing but merlons, fascines and +gabions, [Merlons are mounds of earth placed behind the solid or +blind parts of the parapet (that is, between the embrasures) of a +Fortification; fascines are bundles of brushwood for filling up a +ditch; gabions, baskets filled with earth to be ranged in defence +till you get trenches dug.] I pray God to grant me soon a +pleasanter and peacefuler occupation, and you health, satisfaction +and whatever your heart desires.--F." [<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> xvii. 84.] + +KING FRIEDRICH TO M. LE COMTE ALGAROTTI (gone on a journey). + +"OTTMACHAU, 17th JANUARY, 1741 [same day as the above to Jordan]. +I have begun to settle the Figure of Prussia: the outline will not +be altogether regular; for the whole of Silesia is taken, except +one miserable hamlet (BICOQUE), which perhaps I shall have to keep +blockaded till next spring. + +"Up to this time, the whole conquest has cost only Twenty Men, and +Two Officers, one of whom is the poor De Rege, whom you have seen +at Berlin,"--De Rege, Engineer Major, killed here at Ottmachau, in +Schwerin's late tussle. + +"You are greatly wanting to me here. So soon as you have talked +that business over, write to me about it. [What is the business? +Whither is the dusky Swan of Padua gone?] In all these three +hundred miles I have found no human creature comparable to the Swan +of Padua. I would willingly give ten cubic leagues of ground for a +genius similar to yours. But I perceive I was about entreating you +to return fast, and join me again,--while you are not yet arrived +where your errand was. Make haste to arrive, then; to execute your +commission, and fly back to me. I wish you had a Fortunatus Hat; +it is the only thing defective in your outfit. + +"Adieu, dear Swan of Padua: think, I pray you, sometimes of those +who are getting themselves cut in slices [ECHINER, chined] for the +sake of glory here, and above all do not forget your friends who +think a thousand times of you. "FREDERIC." +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xviii. 28.] + +The object of the dear Swan's journey, or even the whereabouts of +it, cannot be discovered without difficulty; and is not much worth +discovering. "Gone to Turin," we at last make out, "with secret +commissions:" [Denina, <italic> La Prusse Litteraire <end italic> +(Berlin, 1790), i. 198. A poor vague Book; only worth consulting in +case of extremity.] desirable to sound the Sardinian Majesty a +little, who is Doorkeeper of the Alps, between France and Austria, +and opens to the best bidder? No great things of a meaning in this +mission, we can guess, or Algarotti had not gone upon it,--though +he is handy, at least, for keeping it unnoticed by the Gazetteer +species. Nor was the Swan successful, it would seem; the more the +pity for our Swan! However, he comes back safe; attends Friedrich +in Silesia; and in the course of next month readers will see him, +if any reader wished it. + + + +Chapter VI. + +NEISSE IS BOMBARDED. + +Neisse, which Friedrich calls a paltry hamlet (BICOQUE) is a +pleasant strongly fortified Town, then of perhaps 6 or 8,000 +inhabitants, now of double that number; stands on the right or +south bank of the Neisse,--at this day, on both banks. Pleasant +broad streets, high strong houses, mostly of stone. Pleasantly +encircled by green Hills, northward buttresses of the Giant +Mountains; itself standing low and level, on rich ground much +inclined to be swampy. A lesser river, Biele, or Bielau, coming +from the South, flows leisurely enough into the Neisse,--filling +all the Fortress ditches, by the road. Orchard-growth and meadow- +growth are lordly (HERRLICH); a land rich in fruit, and flowing +with milk and honey. Much given to weaving, brewing, stocking- +making; and, moreover, trades greatly in these articles, and above +all in Wine. Yearly on St. Agnes Day, "21st January, if not a +Sunday," there is a Wine-fair here; Hungarian, of every quality +from Tokay downward, is gathered here for distribution into Germany +and all the Western Countries. While you drink your Tokay, know +that it comes through Neisse. St. Agnes Day falls but unhandily +this year; and I think the Fair will, as they say, AUSBLEIBEN, or +not be held. + +Neisse is a Nest of Priests (PFAFFEN-NEST), says Friedrich once; +which came in this way. About 600 years ago, an ill-conditioned +Heir-Apparent of the Liegnitz Sovereign to whom it then belonged, +quarrelled with his Father, quarrelled slightly with the Universe; +and, after moping about for some time, went into the Church. +Having Neisse for an apanage already his own, he gave it to the +Bishop of Breslau; whose, in spite of the old Father's protestings, +it continued, and continues. Bishops of Breslau are made very +grand by it; Bishops of Breslau have had their own difficulties +here. Thus once (in our Perkin-Warbeck time, A.D. 1497), a Duke of +Oppeln, sitting in some Official Conclave or meeting of magnates +here,--zealous for country privilege, and feeling himself +insufferably put upon,--started up, openly defiant of Official men; +glaring wrathfully into Duke Casimir of Teschen (Bohemian-Austrian +Captain of Silesia), and into the Bishop of Breslau himself; nay at +last, flashed out his sword upon those sublime dignitaries. +For which, by and by, he had to lay his head on the block, in the +great square here; and died penitent, we hope. + +This place, my Dryasdust informs me, had many accidents by floodage +and by fire; was seized and re-seized in the Thirty-Years War +especially, at a great rate: Saxon Arnheim, Austrian Holk, Swedish +Torstenson; no end to the battering and burning poor Neisse had, to +the big ransoms "in new Reichs-thalers and 300 casks of wine." +But it always rebuilt itself, and began business again. How happy +when it could get under some effectual Protector, of the Liegnitz +line, of the Austrian-Bohemian line, and this or the other +battering, just suffered, was to be the last for some time!--Here +again is a battering coming on it; the first of a series that are +now imminent. + +The reader is requested to look at Neisse; for besides the Tokay +wine, there will things arrive there.--Neisse River, let us again +mention, is one of four bearing that name, and all belonging to the +Oder:--could not they be labelled, then, or NUMBERED, in some way? +This Neisse, which we could call Neisse the FIRST (and which +careful readers may as well make acquaintance with on their Map, +where too they will find Neisse the SECOND, "the WUTHENDE or +Roaring Neisse," and two others which concern us less), rises in +the "Western Snow-Mountains (SCHNEEGEBIRGE)," Southwestern or Glatz +district of the Giant Mountains; drains Glatz County and grows big +there; washes the Town of Glatz; then eastward by Ottmachau, by +Neisse Town; whence turning rather abruptly north or northeast, it +gets into the Oder not far south of Brieg. + +Neisse as a Place of Arms, the chief Fortress of Silesia and the +nearest to Austria, is extremely desirable for Friedrich; but there +is no hope of it without some kind of Siege; and Friedrich +determines to try in that way. From Ottmachau, accordingly, and +from the other sides, the Siege-Artillery being now at hand, due +force gathers itself round Neisse, Schwerin taking charge; and for +above a week there is demonstrating and posting, summoning and +parleying; and then, for three days, with pauses intervening, there +is extremely furious bombardment, red-hot at times: "Will you +yield, then?"--with steady negative from Neisse. Friedrich's +quarter is at Ottmachau, twelve miles off; from which he can ride +over, to see and superintend. The fury of his bombardment, which +naturally grieved him, testifies the intensity of his wish. But it +was to no purpose. The Commandant, Colonel von Roth (the same who +was proposed for Breslau lately, a wise head and a stout, famed in +defences) had "poured water on his ramparts," after well repairing +them,--made his ramparts all ice and glass;--and done much else. +Would the reader care to look for a moment? Here, from our waste +Paper-masses, is abundance, requiring only to be abridged:-- + +"JANUARY, 1741: MONDAY, 9th-WEDNESDAY, 11th. Monday, 9th, day when +that sputter at Ottmachau began,--Prussian light-troops appeared +transiently on the heights about Neisse, for the first time. +Directly on sight of whom, Commandant Roth assembled the Burghers +of the place; took a new Oath of Fidelity from one and all; +admonished them to do their utmost, as they should see him do. +The able-bodied and likeliest of them (say about 400) he has had +arranged into Militia Companies, with what drill there could be in +the interim; and since his coming, has employed every moment in +making ready. Wednesday, llth, he locks all the Gates, and stands +strictly on his guard. The inhabitants are mostly Catholic; with +sumptuous Bishops of Breslau, with KREUZHERREN (imaginary Teutsch +or other Ritters with some reality of money), with Jesuit +Dignitaries, Church and Quasi-Church Officialities, resident among +them: population, high and low, is inclined by creed to the Queen +of Hungary. Commandant Roth has only 1,200 regular soldiers; at the +outside 1,600 men under arms: but he has gunpowder, he has meal; +experience also and courage; and hopes these may suffice him for a +time. One of the most determined Commandants; expert in the defence +of strong places. A born Silesian (not Saxon, as some think),--and +is of the Augsburg Confession; but that circumstance is not +important here, though at Breslau Browne thought it was. + +"THURSDAY, 12th. The Prussians, in regular force, appear on the +Kaninchen Berg (Cony Hill, so called from its rabbits), south of +the River, evidently taking post there. Roth fires a signal shot; +the Southern Suburbs of Neisse, as preappointed, go up in flame; +crackle high and far; in a lamentable manner (ERBARMLICH), through +the grim winter air." This is the day Friedrich came over to +Ottmachau, and settled the sputter there. + +"Next day, and next again, the same phenomena at Neisse; the +Prussians edging ever nearer, building their batteries, preparing +to open their cannonade. Whereupon Roth burns the remaining +Suburbs, with lamentable crackle; on all sides now are mere ashes. +Bishop's Mill, Franciscan Cloister, Bishop's Pleasure-garden, with +its summer-houses; Bishop's Hospital, and several Churches: +Roth can spare none of these things, with the Prussians nestling +there. Surely the Bishop himself, respectable Cardinal Graf von +Sinzendorf, had better get out of these localities while time yet +is?" "Saturday, 14th," that was the day Friedrich, at Ottmachau, +wrote as above to Jordan (Letter No. 1), while the Neisse Suburbs +crackled lamentably, twelve miles off, "Schwerin gets order to +break up, in person, from Ottmachan to-morrow, and begin actual +business on the Kaninchen Hill yonder. + +"SUNDAY, 15th. Schwerin does; marches across the River; takes post +on the south side of Neisse: notable to the Sunday rustics. +Nothing but burnt villages and black walls for Schwerin, in that +Cony-Hill quarter, and all round; and Roth salutes him with one +twenty-four pounder, which did no hurt. And so the cannonade +begins, Sunday, 15th; and intermittently, on both sides of the +River, continues, always bursting out again at intervals, till +Wednesday; a mere preliminary cannonade on Schwerin's part; +making noise, doing little hurt: intended more to terrify, but +without effect that way on Roth or the Townsfolk. The poor Bishop +did, on the second day of it, come out, and make application to +Schwerin; was kindly conducted to his Majesty, who happened to be +over there; was kept to dinner; and easily had leave to retire to +Freywalde, a Country-House he has, in the safe distance. +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 683.] There let him +be quiet, well out of these confused batterings and burnings +of property. + +"His Majesty's Head-quarter is at Ottmachau, but in two hours he +can be here any day; and looks into everything; sorry that the +cannonade does not yet answer. And remnants of suburbs are still +crackling into flame; high Country-Houses of Kreuzherren, of +Jesuits; a fanatic people seemingly all set against us. 'If Neisse +will not yield of good-will, needs is it must be beaten to powder,' +wrote his Majesty to Jordan in these circumstances, as we read +above. Roth is sorry to observe, the Prussians have still one good +Bishop's-mansion, in a place called the Karlau (Karl-Meadow), with +the Bishop's winter fuel all ready stacked there; but strives to +take order about the same. + +"WEDNESDAY, 18th. This day two provocations happened. First, in the +morning by his Majesty's order, Colonel Borck (the same we saw at +Herstal) had gone with a Trumpeter towards Roth; intending to +inform Roth how mild the terms would be, how terrible the penalty +of not accepting them. But Roth or Roth's people singularly +disregard Borck and his Parley Trumpet; answer its blasts by +musketry; fire upon it, nay again fire worse when it advances a +step farther; on these terms Borck and Trumpet had to return. +Which much angered his Majesty at Ottmachau that evening; as was +natural. Same evening, our fine quarters in the Karlau crackled up +in flame, the Bishop's winter firewood all along with it: this was +provocation second. Roth had taken order with the Karlau; and got a +resolute Butcher to do the feat, under pretext of bringing us beef. +It is piercing cold; only blackened walls for us now in the Karlau +or elsewhere. His Majesty, naturally much angered, orders for the +morrow a dose of bomb-shells and red-hot balls. Plant a few mortars +on the North side too, orders his Majesty. + +"THURSDAY, 19th. Accordingly, by 8 of the clock, cannon batteries +reawaken with a mighty noise, and red-hot balls are noticeable; +and at 10 the actual bombarding bursts out, terrible to hear and +see;--first shell falling in Haubitz the Clothier's shop, but being +happily got under. Roth has his City Militia companies, organized +with water-hose for quenching of the red-hot balls: in which they +became expert. So that though the fire caught many houses, they +always put it out. Late in the night, hearing no word from Roth, +the Prussians went to bed. + +"FRIDAY, 20th. Still no word; on which, about 4 P.M., the Prussian +batteries awaken again: volcanic torrent of red-hot shot and +shells, for seven hours; still no word from Roth. About 11 at night +his Majesty again sends a Drum (Parley Trumpet or whatever it is) +to the Gate; formally summons Roth; asks him, 'If he has well +considered what this can lead to? Especially what he, Roth, meant +by firing on our first Trumpet on Wednesday last?' Roth answered, +'That as to the Trumpet, he had not heard of it before. On the +other hand, that this mode of sieging by red-hot balls seems a +little unusual; for the rest, that he has himself no order or +intention but that of resisting to the last.' Some say the Drum +hereupon by order talked of 'pounding Neisse into powder, mere +child's-play hitherto;' to which Roth answered only by respectful +dumb-show. + +"SATURDAY, 21st-MONDAY, 23d. Midnight of Friday-Saturday, on this +answer coming, the fire-volcanoes open again;--nine hours long; +shells, and red-hot material, in terrible abundance. Which hit +mostly the churches, Jesuits' Seminariums and Collegiums; +but produced no change in Roth. From 9 A.M. the batteries are +silent. Silent still, next morning: Divine Service may proceed, if +it like. But at 4 of the afternoon, the batteries awaken worse than +ever; from seven to nine bombs going at once. Universal rage, of +noise and horrid glare, making night hideous, till 10 of the clock; +Roth continuing inflexible. This is the last night of the Siege." + +Friedrich perceived that Roth would not yield; that the utter +smashing-down of Neisse might more concern Friedrich than Roth; +--that, in fine, it would be better to desist till the weather +altered. Next day, "Monday, 23d, between noon and 1 o'clock," the +Prussians drew back;--converted the siege into a blockade. +Neisse to be masked, like Brieg and Glogau (Brieg only half done +yet, Jeetz without cannon till to-morrow, 24th, and little Namslau +still gesticulating): "The only thing one could try upon it was +bombardment. A Nest of Priests (PFAFFEN-NEST); not many troops in +it: but it cannot well be forced at present. If spring were here, +it will cost a fortnight's work." [FRIEDRICH TO THE OLD DESSAUER: +Fraction of Letter (Ottmachau, 16th-21st January, 1741) cited by +Orlich, i. 51;--from the Dessau Archives, where Herr Orlich has +industriously been. To all but strictly military people these +pieces of Letters are the valuable feature of Orlich's Book; and a +general reader laments that it does not all consist of such, +properly elucidated and labelled into accessibility.] + +A noisy business; "King's high person much exposed: a bombardier +and then a sergeant were killed close by him, though in all he lost +only five men." [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +i. 680-690.] + + +BROWNE VANISHES IN A SLIGHT FLASH OF FIRE. + +Browne all this while has hung on the Mountain-side, witnessing +these things; sending stores towards Glatz southwestward, and +"ruining the ways" behind them; waiting what would become of +Neisse. Neisse done, Schwerin is upon him; Browne makes off +Southeastward, across the Mountains, for Moravia and home; +Schwerin following hard. At a little place called Gratz, [The name, +in old Slavic speech, signifies TOWN; and there are many GRATZES: +KONIGINgratz (QUEEN'S, which for brevity is now generally called +KONIGSgratz, in Bohemia); Gratz in Styria; WINDISCHgratz +(Wendish-town); &c.] on the Moravian border, Browne faced round, +tried to defend the Bridge of the Oppa, sharply though without +effect; and there came (January 25th) a hot sputter between them +for a few minutes:--after which Browne vanished into the interior, +and we hear, in these parts, comparatively little more of him +during this War. Friend and foe must admit that he has neglected +nothing; and fairly made the best of a bad business here. He is but +an interim General, too; his Successor just coming; and the Vienna +Board of War is frequently troublesome,--to whose windy +speculations Browne replies with sagacious scepticism, and here and +there a touch of veiled sarcasm, which was not likely to conciliate +in high places. Had her Hungarian Majesty been able to retain +Browne in his post, instead of poor Neipperg who was sent instead, +there might have been a considerably different account to give of +the sequel. But Neipperg was Tutor (War-Tutor) to the Grand-Duke; +Browne is still of young standing (age only thirty-five), with a +touch of veiled sarcasm; and things must go their course. + +In Schlesien, Schwerin is now to command in chief; the King going +off to Berlin for a little, naturally with plenty of errand there. +The Prussian Troops go into Winter-quarters; spread themselves +wide; beset the good points, especially the Passes of the Hills,-- +from Jagerndorf, eastward to the Jablunka leading towards Hungary; +--nay they can, and before long do, spread into the Moravian +Territories, on the other side; and levy contributions, the Queen +proving unreasonable. + +It was Monday, 23d, when the Siege of Neisse was abandoned: on +Wednesday, Friedrich himself turns homeward; looks into +Schweidnitz, looks into Liegnitz; and arrives at Berlin as the week +ends,--much acclamation greeting him from the multitude. +Except those three masked Fortresses, capable of no defence to +speak of, were Winter over, Silesia is now all Friedrich's,--has +fallen wholly to him in the space of about Seven Weeks. The seizure +has been easy; but the retaining of it, perhaps he himself begins +to see more clearly, will have difficulties! From this point, the +talk about GLOIRE nearly ceases in his Correspondence. In those +seven weeks he has, with GLOIRE or otherwise, cut out for himself +such a life of labor as no man of his Century had. + + + +Chapter VII. + +AT VERSAILLES, THE MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY CHANGES HIS +SHIRT, AND BELLEISLE IS SEEN WITH PAPERS. + +While Friedrich was so busy in Silesia, the world was not asleep +around him; the world never is, though it often seems to be, round +a man and what action he does in it. That Sunday morning, First Day +of the Year 1741, in those same hours while Friedrich, with energy, +with caution, was edging himself into Breslau, there went on in the +Court of Versailles an interior Phenomenon; of which, having by +chance got access to it face to face, we propose to make the reader +participant before going farther. + +Readers are languidly aware that phenomena do go on round their +Friedrich; that their busy Friedrich, with his few Voltaires and +renowned persons, are not the only population of their Century, by +any means. Everybody is aware of that fact; yet, in practice, +almost everybody is as good as not aware; and the World all round +one's Hero is a darkness, a dormant vacancy. How strange when, as +here, some Waste-paper spill (so to speak) turns up, which you can +KINDLE; and, by the brief flame of it, bid a reader look with his +own eyes!--From Herr Doctor Busching, who did the GEOGRAPHY and +about a Hundred other Books,--a man of great worth, almost of +genius, could he have elaborated his Hundred Books into Ten (or +distilled, into flasks of aqua-vitae, what otherwise lies tumbling +as tanks of mash and wort, now run very sour and mal-odorous);-- +it is from Herr Busching that we gain the following rough Piece, +illuminative if one can kindle it:-- + +The Titular-Herr Baron Anton von Geusau, a gentleman of good parts, +scholastic by profession, and of Protestant creed, was accompanying +as Travelling Tutor, in those years, a young Graf von Reuss. +Graf von Beuss is one of those indistinct Counts Reuss, who always +call themselves "Henry;" and, being now at the eightieth and +farther, with uncountable collateral Henrys intertwisted, are +become in effect anonymous, or of nomenclature inscrutable to +mankind. Nor is the young one otherwise of the least interest to +us;--except that Herr Anton, the Travelling Tutor, punctually kept +a Journal of everything. Which Journal, long afterwards, came into +the hands of Busching, also a punctual man; and was by him +abridged, and set forth in print in his <italic> Beitrage. <end +italic> Offering at present a singular daguerrotype glimpse of the +then actual world, wherever Graf von Reuss and his Geusau happened +to be. Nine-tenths of it, even in Busching's Abridgment, are now +fallen useless and wearisome; but to one studying the days that +then were, even the effete commonplace of it occasionally becomes +alive again. And how interesting to catch, here and there, a +Historical Figure on these conditions; Historical Figure's very +self, in his work-day attitude; eating his victuals; writing, +receiving letters, talking to his fellow-creatures; unaware that +Posterity, miraculously through some chink of the Travelling +Tutor's producing, has got its eye upon him. + +"SUNDAY, 1st JANUARY, 1741, Geusau and his young Gentleman leave +Paris, at 5 in the morning, and drive out to Versailles; intending +to see the ceremonies of New-year's day there. Very wet weather it +had been, all Wednesday, and for days before; [See in <italic> +Barbier <end italic> (ii. 283 et seqq.) what terrible Noah-like +weather it had been; big houses, long in soak, tumbling down at +last into the Seine; CHASSE of St. Genevieve brought out (two days +ago), December 30th, to try it by miracle; &c. &c.] but on this +Sunday, New-year's morning, all is ice and glass; and they slid +about painfully by lamplight,--with unroughened horses, and on the +Hilly or Meudon road, having chosen that as fittest, the waters +being out;--not arriving at Court till 9. Nor finding very much to +comfort them, except on the side of curiosity, when there. +Ushers, INTRODUCTEURS, Cabinet Secretaries, were indeed assiduous +to oblige; and the King's Levee will be: but if you follow it, to +the Chapel Royal to witness high mass, you must kneel at elevation +of the host; and this, as reformed Christians, Reuss and his Tutor +cannot undertake to do. They accept a dinner invitation (12 the +hour) from some good Samaritan of Quality; and, for sights, will +content themselves with the King's Levee itself, and generally with +what the King's Antechamber and the OEil-de-Boeuf can exhibit to +them. The Most Christian King's Levee [LEVER, literally here his +Getting out of Bed] is a daily miracle of these localities, only +grander on New-year's day; and it is to the following effect:-- + +"Till Majesty please to awaken, you saunter in the Salle des +Ambassadeurs; whole crowds jostling one another there; gossiping +together in a diligent, insipid manner;" gossip all reported; +snatches of which have acquired a certain flavor by long keeping;-- +which the reader shall imagine. "Meanwhile you keep your eye on the +Grate of the Inner Court, which as yet is only ajar, Majesty +inaccessible as yet. Behold, at last, Grate opens itself wide; sign +that Majesty is out of bed; that the privileged of mankind may +approach, and see the miracles." Geusau continues, abridged by +Busching and us:-- + +"The whole Assemblage passed now into the King's Anteroom; had to +wait there about half an hour more, before the King's bedroom was +opened. But then at last, lo you,--there is the King, visible to +Geusau and everybody, washing his hands.' Which effected itself in +this way: 'The King was seated; a gentleman-in-waiting knelt, +before him, and held the Ewer, a square vessel silver-gilt, firm +upon the King's breast; and another gentleman-in-waiting poured +water on the King's hands.' Merely an official washing, we +perceive; the real, it is to be hoped, had, in a much more +effectual way, been going on during the half-hour just elapsed. +After washing, the King rose for an instant; had his dressing-gown, +a grand yellow silky article with silver flowerings, pulled off, +and flung round his loins; upon which he sat down again, and,"-- +observe it, ye privileged of mankind,--"the Change of Shirt took +place! 'They put the clean shirt down over his head,' says Anton, +(and plucked up the dirty one from within, so that of the naked +skin you saw little or nothing.'" Here is a miracle worth getting +out of bed to look at! + +"His Majesty now quitted chair and dressing-gown; stood up before +the fire; and, after getting on the rest of his clothing, which, on +account of Czarina Anne's death [readers remember that], was of +violet or mourning color, he had the powder-mantle thrown round +him, and sat down at the Toilette to have his hair frizzled. The +Toilette, a table with white cover shoved into the middle of the +room, had on it a mirror, a powder-knife, and"--no mortal cares +what. "The King," what all mortals note, as they do the heavenly +omens, "is somewhat talky; speaks sometimes with the Dutch +Ambassador, sometimes with the Pope's Nuncio, who seems a jocose +kind of gentleman; sometimes with different French Lords, and at +last with the Cardinal Fleury also,--to whom, however, he does not +look particularly gracious,"--not particularly this time. These are +the omens; happy who can read them!--Majesty then did his morning- +prayer, assisted only by the common Almoners-in-waiting (Cardinal +took no hand, much less any other); Majesty knelt before his bed, +and finished the business 'in less than six seconds.' After which +mankind can ebb out to the Anteroom again; pay their devoir to the +Queen's Majesty, which all do; or wait for the Transit to Morning +Chapel, and see Mesdames of France and the others flitting past in +their sedans. + +"Queen's Majesty was already altogether dressed," says Geusau, +almost as if with some disappointment; "all in black; a most +affable courteous Majesty; stands conversing with the Russian +Ambassador, with the Dutch ditto, with the Ladies about her, and at +last, 'in a friendly and merry tone,' with old Cardinal Fleury. +Her Ladies, when the Queen spoke with them, showed no constraint at +all; leant loosely with their arms on the fire-screens, and took +things easy. Mesdames of France"--Geusau saw Mesdames. Poor little +souls, they are the LOQUE, the COCHON (Rag, Pig, so Papa would call +them, dear Papa), who become tragically visible again in the +Revolution time:--all blooming young children as yet (Queen's +Majesty some thirty-seven gone), and little dreaming what lies +fifty years ahead! King Louis's career of extraneous gallantries, +which ended in the Parc-aux-Cerfs, is now just beginning: think of +that too; and of her Majesty's fine behavior under it; so affable, +so patient, silent, now and always!--"In a little while, their +Majesties go along the Great Gallery to Chapel;" whither the +Protestant mind cannot with comfort accompany. [Busching, <italic> +Beitrage, <end italic> ii. 59-78.] + +This is the daily miracle done at Versailles to the believing +multitude; only that on New-year's day, and certain supreme +occasions, the shirt is handed by a Prince of the Blood, and the +towel for drying the royal hands by a ditto, with other +improvements; and the thing comes out in its highest power of +effulgence,--especially if you could see high mass withal. In the +Antechamber and (OEil-de-Boeuf, Geusau, among hundreds of phenomena +fallen dead to us, saw the Four following, which have still +some life:-- +1. Many Knights of the Holy Ghost (CHEVALIERS DU SAINT ESPRIT) are +about; magnificently piebald people, indistinct to us, and fallen +dead to us: but there, among the company, do not we indisputably +see, "in full Cardinal's costume," Fleury the ancient Prime +Minister talking to her Majesty? Blandly smiling; soft as milk, yet +with a flavor of alcoholic wit in him here and there. That is a man +worth looking at, had they painted him at all. Red hat, red +stockings; a serenely definite old gentleman, with something of +prudent wisdom, and a touch of imperceptible jocosity at times; +mildly inexpugnable in manner: this King, whose Tutor he was twenty +years ago, still looks to him as his father; Fleury is the real +King of France at present. His age is eighty-seven gone; the King's +is thirty (seven years younger than his Queen): and the Cardinal +has red stockings and red hat; veritably there, successively in +both Antechambers, seen by Geusau, January 1st, 1741: that is all +I know. +2. The Prince de Clermont, a Prince of the Blood, "handed the +shirt," TESTE Geusau. Some other Prince, notable to Geusau, and to +us nameless, had the honor of the "towel:" but this Prince de +Clermont, a dissolute fellow of wasted parts, kind of Priest, kind +of Soldier too, is seen visibly handing the shirt there;--whom the +reader and I, if we cared about it, shall again see, getting beaten +by Prince Ferdinand, at Crefeld, within twenty years hence. +These are points first and second, slightly noticeable, slightly if +at all. + +Of the actual transit to high mass, transit very visible in the +Great Gallery or OEil-de-Boeuf, why should a human being now say +anything? Queen, poor Stanislaus's Daughter, and her Ladies, in +their sublime sedans, one flood of jewels, sail first; next sails +King Louis, shirt warm on his back, with "thirty-four Chevaliers of +the Holy Ghost" escorting; next "the Dauphin" (Boy of eleven, Louis +XVI.'s. Father), and "Mesdames of France, with"--but even Geusau +stops short. Protestants cannot enter that Chapel, without peril of +idolatry; wherefore Geusau and Pupil kept strolling in the general +(OEil-de-Boeuf,--and "the Dutch Ambassador approved of it," he for +one. And here now is another point, slightly noticeable:-- +3. High mass over, his Majesty sails back from Chapel, in the same +magnificently piebald manner; and vanishes into the interior; +leaving his Knights of the Holy Ghost, and other Courtier +multitude, to simmer about, and ebb away as they found good. +Geusau and his young Reuss had now the honor of being introduced to +various people; among others "to the Prince de Soubise." Prince de +Soubise: frivolous, insignificant being; of whom I have no portrait +that is not nearly blank, and content to be so;--though Herr von +Geusau would have one, with features and costume to it, when he +heard of the Beating at Rossbach, long after! Prince de Soubise is +pretty much a blank to everybody:--and no sooner are we loose of +him, than (what every reader will do well to note) 4. Our Herren +Travellers are introduced to a real Notability: Monseigneur, soon +to be Marechal, the Comte de Belleisle; whom my readers and I are +to be much concerned with, in time coming. "A tall lean man (LANGER +HAGERER MANN), without much air of quality," thinks Geusau; +but with much swift intellect and energy, and a distinguished +character, whatever Geusau might think. "Comte de Belleisle was +very civil; but apologized, in a courtly and kind way, for the +hurry he was in; regretting the impossibility of doing the honors +to the Comte de Reuss in this Country,--his, Belleisle's, Journey +into Germany, which was close at hand, overwhelming him with +occupations and engagements at present. And indeed, even while he +spoke to us," says Geusau, "all manner of Papers were put into his +hand." [Busching, ii. 79; see Barbier, ii. 282, 287.] + +"Journey to Germany, Papers put into his hand:" there is perhaps no +Human Figure in the world, this Sunday (except the one Figure now +in those same moments over at Breslau, gently pressing upon the +locked Gates there), who is so momentous for our Silesian +Operations; and indeed he will kindle all Europe into delirium; and +produce mere thunder and lightning, for seven years to come,-- with +almost no result in it, except Silesia! A tall lean man; there +stands he, age now fifty-six, just about setting out on such +errand. Whom one is thankful to have seen for a moment, even in +that slight manner. + +OF BELLEISLE AND HIS PLANS. + +Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, Comte de Belleisle, is Grandson of +that Intendant Fouquet, sumptuous Financier, whom Louis XIV. at +last threw out, and locked into the Fortress of Pignerol, amid the +Savoy Alps, there to meditate for life, which lasted thirty years +longer. It was never understood that the sumptuous Fouquet had +altogether stolen public moneys, nor indeed rightly what he had +done to merit Pignerol; and always, though fallen somehow into such +dire disfavor, he was pitied and respected by a good portion of the +public. "Has angered Colbert," said the public; "dangerous rivalry +to Colbert; that is what has brought Pignerol upon him." Out of +Pignerol that Fouquet never came; but his Family bloomed up into +light again; had its adventures, sometimes its troubles, in the +Regency time, but was always in a rising way:--and here, in this +tall lean man getting papers put into his hand, it has risen very +high indeed. Going as Ambassador Extraordinary to the Germanic +Diet, "to assist good neighbors, as a neighbor and Most Christian +Majesty should, in choosing their new Kaiser to the best +advantage:" that is the official color his mission is to have. +Surely a proud mission;--and Belleisle intends to execute it in a +way that will surprise the Germanic Diet and mankind. Privately, +Belleisle intends that he, by his own industries, shall himself +choose the right Kaiser, such Kaiser as will suit the Most +Christian Majesty and him; he intends to make a new French thing of +Germany in general; and carries in his head plans of an amazing +nature! He and a Brother he has, called the Chevalier de Belleisle, +who is also a distinguished man, and seconds M. le Comte with +eloquent fire and zeal in all things, are grandsons of that old +Fouquet, and the most shining men in France at present. +France little dreams how much better it perhaps were, had they also +been kept safe in Pignerol!-- + +The Count, lean and growing old, is not healthy; is ever and anon +tormented, and laid up for weeks, with rheumatisms, gouts and +ailments: but otherwise he is still a swift ardent elastic spirit; +with grand schemes, with fiery notions and convictions, which +captivate and hurry off men's minds more than eloquence could, so +intensely true are they to the Count himself;--and then his Brother +the Chevalier is always there to put them into the due language and +logic, where needed. [Voltaire, xxviii. 74; xxix. 392; &c.] +A magnanimous high-flown spirit; thought to be of supreme skill +both in War and in Diplomacy; fit for many things; and is still +full of ambition to distinguish himself, and tell the world at all +moments, "ME VOILA; World, I too am here!"--His plans, just now, +which are dim even to himself, except on the hither skirt of them, +stretch out immeasurable, and lie piled up high as the skies. +The hither skirt of them, which will suffice the reader at +present, is:-- + +That your Grand-Duke Franz, Maria Theresa's Husband, shall in no +wise, as the world and Duke Franz expect, be the Kaiser chosen. +Not he, but another who will suit France better: "Kur-Sachsen +perhaps, the so-called King of Poland? Or say it were Karl Albert +Kur-Baiern, the hereditary friend and dependent of France? We are +not tied to a man: only, at any and at all rates, not Grand-Duke +Franz." This is the grand, essential and indispensable point, alpha +and omega of points; very clear this one to Belleisle,--and towards +this the first steps, if as yet only the first, are also clear to +him. Namely that "the 27th of February next",--which is the time +set by Kur-Mainz and the native Officials for the actual meeting of +their Reichstag to begin Election Business, will be too early a +time; and must be got postponed. [Adelung, ii. 185 ("27th February- +1st March, 1741, at Frankfurt-on-Mayn," appointed by Kur-Mainz +"Arch-Chancellor of the REICH," under date November 3d, 1740);-- +ib. 236 ("Delay for a month or two," suggests Kur-Pfalz, on January +12th, seconded by others in the French interest);-- upon which the +appointment, after some arguing, collapsed into the vague, and +there ensued delay enough; actual Election not till January 24th, +1742.] Postponed; which will be possible, perhaps for long; one +knows not for how long: that is a first step definitely clear to +Belleisle. Towards which, as preliminary to it and to all the +others in a dimmer state, there is a second thing clear, and has +even been officially settled (all but the day): That, in the mean +while, and surely the sooner the better, he, Belleisle, Most +Christian Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary to the Reichstag +coming,--do, in his most dazzling and persuasive manner, make a +Tour among German Courts. Let us visit, in our highest and yet in +our softest splendor, the accessible German Courts, especially the +likely or well-disposed: Mainz, Koln, Trier, these, the three +called Spiritual, lie on our very route; then Pfalz, Baiern, +Sachsen:--we will tour diligently up and down; try whether, by +optic machinery and art-magic of the mind, one cannot bring +them round. + +In all these preliminary steps and points, and even in that alpha +and omega of excluding Grand-Duke Franz, and getting a Kaiser of +his own, Belleisle succeeded. With painful results to himself and +to millions of his fellow-creatures, to readers of this History, +among others. And became in consequence the most famous of mankind; +and filled the whole world with rumor of Belleisle, in those +years.--A man of such intrinsic distinction as Belleisle, whom +Friedrich afterwards deliberately called a great Captain, and the +only Frenchman with a genius for war; and who, for some time, +played in Europe at large a part like that of Warwick the +Kingmaker: how has he fallen into such oblivion? Many of my readers +never heard of him before; nor, in writing or otherwise, is there +symptom that any living memory now harbors him, or has the least +approach to an image of him! "For the times are babbly," says +Goethe," And then again the times are dumb:-- + <italic> + Denn geschwatzig sind die Zeiten, + Und sie sind auch wieder stumm." + <end italic> + + Alas, if a man sow only chaff, in never so sublime a manner, with +the whole Earth and the long-eared populations looking on, and +chorally singing approval, rendering night hideous,--it will avail +him nothing. And that, to a lamentable extent, was Belleisle's +case. His scheme of action was in most felicitously just accordance +with the national sense of France, but by no means so with the Laws +of Nature and of Fact; his aim, grandiose, patriotic, what you +will, was unluckily false and not true. How could "the times" +continue talking of him? They found they had already talked too +much. Not to say that the French Revolution has since come; and has +blown all that into the air, miles aloft,--where even the solid +part of it, which must be recovered one day, much more the gaseous, +which we trust is forever irrecoverable, now wanders and whirls; +and many things are abolished, for the present, of more value +than Belleisle!-- + +For my own share, being, as it were, forced accidentally to look at +him again, I find in Belleisle a really notable man; far superior +to the vulgar of noted men, in his time or ours. Sad destiny for +such a man! But when the general Life-element becomes so +unspeakably phantasmal as under Louis XV., it is difficult for any +man to be real; to be other than a play-actor, more or less +eminent,and artistically dressed. Sad enough, surely, when the +truth of your relation to the Universe, and the tragically earnest +meaning of your Life, is quite lied out of you, by a world sunk in +lies; and you can, with effort, attain to nothing but to be a more +or less splendid lie along with it! Your very existence all become +a vesture, a hypocrisy, and hearsay; nothing left of you but this +sad faculty of sowing chaff in the fashionable manner! +After Friedrich and Voltaire, in both of whom, under the given +circumstances, one finds a perennial reality, more or less,-- +Belleisle is next; none FAILS to escape the mournful common lot by +a nearer miss than Belleisle. + +Beyond doubt, there are in this man the biggest projects any French +head has carried, since Louis XIV. with his sublime periwig first +took to striking the stars. How the indolent Louis XV. and the +pacific Fleury have been got into this sublimely adventurous mood? +By Belleisle chiefly, men say;--and by King Louis's first +Mistresses, blown upon by Belleisle; poor Louis having now, at +length, left his poor Queen to her reflections, and taken into that +sad line, in which by degrees he carried it so far. There are three +of them, it seems;--the first female souls that could ever manage +to kindle, into flame or into smoke: in this or any other kind, +that poor torpid male soul: those Mailly Sisters, three in number +(I am shocked to hear), successive, nay in part simultaneous! +They are proud women, especially the two younger; with ambition in +them, with a bravura magnanimity, of the theatrical or operatic +kind; of whom Louis is very fond. "To raise France to its place, +your Majesty; the top of the Universe, namely!" "Well; if it could +be done,--and quite without trouble?" thinks Louis. +Bravura magnanimity, blown upon by Belleisle, prevails among these +high Improper Females, and generally in the Younger Circles of the +Court; so that poor old Fleury has had no choice but to obey it or +retire. And so Belleisle stalks across the OEil-de-Boeuf in that +important manner, visibly to Geusau; and is the shining object in +Paris, and much the topic there at present. + +A few weeks hence, he is farther--a little out of the common turn, +but not beyond his military merits or capabilities--made Marechal +de France; [<italic> Fastes de Louis XV., <end italic> i. 356 (12th +February, 1741).] by way of giving him a new splendor in the German +Political World, and assisting in his operations there, which +depend much upon the laws of vision. French epigrams circulate in +consequence, and there are witty criticisms; to which Belleisle, +such a dusky world of Possibility lying ahead, is grandly +indifferent. Marechal de France;--and Geusau hears (what is a fact) +that there are to be "thirty young French Lords in his suite;" his +very "Livery," or mere plush retinue, "to consist of 110 persons;" +such an outfit for magnificence as was never seen before. And in +this equipment, "early in March" (exact day not given), +magnificence of outside corresponding to grandiosity of faculty and +idea, Belleisle, we shall find, does practically set off towards +Germany;--like a kind of French Belus, or God of the Sun; capable to +dazzle weak German Courts, by optical machinery, and to set much +rotten thatch on fire!-- + +"There are curious daguerrotype glimpses of old Paris to be found +in that Notebook of Geusau's", says another Excerpt; "which come +strangely home to us, like reality at first-hand;--and a rather +unexpected Paris it is, to most readers; many things then alive +there, which are now deep underground. Much Jansenist Theology +afloat; grand French Ladies piously eager to convert a young +Protestant Nobleman like Reuss; sublime Dorcases, who do not rouge, +or dress high, but eschew the evil world, and are thrifty for the +Poor's sake, redeeming the time. There is a Cardinal de Polignac, +venerable sage and ex-political person, of astonishing erudition, +collector of Antiques (with whom we dined); there is the Chevalier +Ramsay, theological Scotch Jacobite, late Tutor of the young +Turenne. So many shining persons, now fallen indistinct again. +And then, besides gossip, which is of mild quality and in fair +proportion,--what talk, casuistic and other, about the Moral +Duties, the still feasible Pieties, the Constitution Unigenitus! +All this alive, resonant at dinner-tables of Conservative stamp; +the Miracles of Abbe Paris much a topic there:--and not a whisper +of Infidel Philosophies; the very name of Voltaire not once +mentioned in the Reuss section of Parisian things. + +"There is rumor now and then of a 'Comte de Rothenbourg,' +conspicuous in the Parisian circles; a shining military man, but +seemingly in want of employment; who has lost in gambling, within +the last four years, upwards of 50,000 pounds (1,300,000 livres, +the exact cipher given). This is the Graf von Rothenburg whom +Friedrich made acquaintance with, in the Rhine Campaign six years +ago, and has ever since had in his eye;--whom, in a few weeks +hence, Friedrich beckons over to him into the Prussian States: +'Hither, and you shall have work!' Which Rothenburg accepts; with +manifold advantage to both parties:--one of Friedrich's most +distinguished friends for the rest of his life. + +"Of Cardinal Polignac there is much said, and several dinners with +him are transacted, dialogue partly given: a pious wise old +gentleman really, in his kind (age now eighty-four); looking mildly +forth upon a world just about to overset itself and go topsy-turvy, +as he sees it will. His ANTI-LUCRETIUS was once such a Poem!--but +we mention him here because his fine Cabinet of Antiques came to +Berlin on his death, Friedrich purchasing; and one often hears of +it (if one cared to hear) from the Prussian Dryasdust in subsequent +years. [Came to Charlottenburg, August, 1742 (old Polignac had died +November last, ten months after those Geusau times): cost of the +Polignac Cabinet was 40,000 thalers (6,000 pounds) say some, 90,000 +livres (under 4,000 pounds) say others; cheap at either price;-- +and, by chance, came opportunely, "a fire having just burnt down +the Academy Edifice," and destroyed much ware of that kind. +Rodenbeck, i. 73; Seyfarth (Anonymous), <italic> Geschichte +Friedrichs des Andern, <end italic> i. 236.] + +"Of Friedrich's unexpected Invasion of Silesia there are also +talkings and surmisings, but in a mild indifferent tone, and much +in the vague. And in the best-informed circles it is thought +Belleisle will manage to HAVE Grand-Duke Franz, the Queen of +Hungary's Husband, chosen Kaiser, and, in some mild good way, put +an end to all that;"--which is far indeed from Belleisle's +intention! + + + +Chapter VIII. + +PHENOMENA IN PETERSBURG. + +I know not whether Major Winterfeld, who was sent to Petersburg in +December last, had got back to Berlin in February, now while +Friedrich is there: but for certain the good news of him had, That +he had been completely successful, and was coming speedily, to +resume his soldier duties in right time. As Winterfeld is an +important man (nearly buried into darkness in the dull Prussian +Books), let us pause for a moment on this Negotiation of his;--and +on the mad Russian vicissitudes which preceded and followed, so far +as they concern us. Russia, a big demi-savage neighbor next door, +with such caprices, such humors and interests, is always an +important, rather delicate object to Friedrich; and Fortune's mad +wheel is plunging and canting in a strange headlong way there, of +late. Czarina Anne, we know, is dead; the Autocrat of All the +Russias following the Kaiser of the Romans within eight days. +Iwan, her little Nephew, still in swaddling-clothes, is now +Autocrat of All the Russias if he knew it, poor little red-colored +creature; and Anton Ulrich and his Mecklenburg Russian Princess-- +But let us take up the matter where our Notebooks left it, in +Friedrich Wilhelm's time:-- + +"Czarina Anne with the big cheek," continues that Notebook, [Supra, +p. 129.] "was extremely delighted to see little Iwan; but enjoyed +him only two months; being herself in dying circumstances. +She appointed little Iwan her Successor, his Mother and Father to +be Guardians over him; but one Bieren (who writes himself Biron, +and "Duke of Courland,' being Czarina's Quasi-Husband these many +years) to be Guardian, as it were, over both them and him. Such had +been the truculent insatiable Bieren's demand on his Czarina. +'You are running on your destruction,' said she, with tears; +but complied, as she had been wont. + +"Czarina Anne died 28th October, 1740; leaving a Czar in his +cradle; little Czar Iwan of two months, with Mother and Father to +preside over him, and to be themselves presided over by Bieren, in +this manner. [Mannstein, pp. 264-267 (28th October, by Russian or +Old Style, is "17th;" we TRANSLATE, in this and other cases, +Russian or English, into New Style, unless the contrary is +indicated). This was the first great change for Anton Ulrich; +but others greater are coming. Little Anton, readers know, is +Friedrich's Brother-in-law, much patronized by Austria; Anton's +spouse is the Half-Russian Princess Catherine of Mecklenburg (now +wholly Russian, and called Princess Anne), whom Friedrich at one +time thought of applying for, in his distress about a Wife. These +two, will they side with Prussia, will they side with Austria? +It was hardly worth inquiry, had not Fortune's wheel made suddenly +a great cant, and pitched them to the top, for the time being. + +"Bieren lasted only twenty days. He was very high and arbitrary +upon everybody; Anne and Anton Ulrich suffering naturally most from +him. They took counsel with Feldmarschall Munnich on the matter; +who, after study, declared it a remediable case. Friday, 18th +November, Munnich had, by invitation, to dine with Duke Bieren; +Munnich went accordingly that day, and dined; Duke looking a little +flurried, they say: and the same evening, dinner being quite over, +and midnight come, Munnich had his measures all taken, soldiers +ready, warrant in hand;--and arrested Bieren in his bed; +mere Siberia, before sunrise, looming upon Bieren. Never was such a +change as this from 18th day to 19th with a supreme Bieren. +Our friend Mannstein, excellent punctual Aide-de-Camp of Munnich, +was the executor of the feat; and has left punctual record of it, +as he does of everything,---what Bieren said, and what Madam +Bieren, who was a little obstreperous on the occasion. [Mannstein, +p. 268.] What side Anton Ulrich and Spouse will take in a quarrel +between Prussia and Austria, is now well worth asking. + +"Anton Ulrich and Wife Anne, that is to say, 'Regent Anne' and +'Generalissimo Anton Ulrich,' now ruled, with Munnich for right- +hand man; and these were high times for Anton Ulrich, Generalissimo +and Czar's-Father; who indeed was modest, and did not often +interfere in words, though grieved at the foolish ways his Wife +had. An indolent flabby kind of creature, she, unfit for an +Autocrat; sat in her private apartments, all in a huddle of +undress; had foolish notions,--especially had soubrettes who led +her about by the ear. And then there was a 'Princess Elizabeth,' +Cousin-german of Regent Anne,--daughter, that is to say, last child +there now was, of Peter the Great and his little brown Catherine: +--who should have been better seen to. Harmless foolish Princess, +not without cunning; young, plump, and following merely her +flirtations and her orthodox devotions; very orthodox and soft, but +capable of becoming dangerous, as a centre of the disaffected. +As 'Czarina Elizabeth' before long, and ultimately as 'INFAME CATIN +DU NORD, she--" But let us not anticipate! + +It was in this posture of affairs, about a month after it had +begun, that Winterfeld arrived in Petersburg; and addressed himself +to Munnich, on the Prussian errand. Winterfeld was Munnich's Son- +in-law (properly stepson-in-law, having married Munnich's +stepdaughter, a Fraulein von Malzahn, of good Prussian kin); +was acquainted with the latitudes and longitudes here, and well +equipped for the operation in hand. To Madam Munnich, once Madam +Malzahn, his Mother-in-law, he carried a diamond ring of 1,200 +pounds, "small testimony of his Prussian Majesty's regard to so +high a Prussian Lady;" to Munnich's Son and Madam's a present of +3,000 pounds on the like score: and the wheels being oiled in this +way, and the steam so strong (son Winterfeld an ardent man, father +Munnich the like, supreme in Russia, and the thing itself a +salutary thing), the diplomatic speed obtained was great. +Winterfeld had arrived in Petersburg December 19th: Treaty of +Alliance to the effect, "Firm friends and good neighbors, we Two, +Majesties of Prussia and of All the Russias; will help each the +other, if attacked, with 12,000 men,"--was signed on the 27th: +whole Transaction, so important to Friedrich, complete in eight +days. Austrian Botta, directly on the heel of those unsatisfactory +Dialogues about Silesian roads, about troops that were pretty, but +had never looked the wolf in the face,--had rushed off, full speed, +for Petersburg, in hopes of running athwart such a Treaty as +Winterfeld's, and getting one for Austria instead. But he arrived +too late; and perhaps could have done nothing had he been in time. +Botta tried his utmost for years afterwards, above ground and +below, to obstruct and reverse this thing; but it was to no +purpose, and even to less; and only, in result, brought Botta +himself into flagrant diplomatic trouble and scandal; which made +noise enough in the then Gazetteer world, and was the finale of +Botta's Russian efforts, [Adelung, iii. ii. 289; Mannstein, p. 375 +("Lapuschin Plot," of Botta's raising, found out "August, 1743;"-- +Botta put in arrest, &c.).] though not worth mentioning now. +The Russian Notebook continues:-- + +"Munnich, supreme in Russia since Bieren's removal, had wise +counsels for the Regent Anne and her Husband; though perhaps, being +a high old military gentleman, he might be somewhat abrupt in his +ways. And there were domestic Ostermanns, foreign Bottas, La +Chetardies, and dangerous Intriguers and Opposition figures, to +improve any grudge that might arise. Sure enough, in March, 1741, +Feldmarschall Munnich was forbid the Court (some Ostermann +succeeding him there): 'Ever true to your Two Highnesses, though no +longer needed;'--and withdrew, in a lofty friendly strain; his Son +continuing at Court, though Papa had withdrawn. Supreme Munnich had +lasted about four months; Supreme Bieren hardly three weeks;--and +Siberia is still agape. + +"Munnich being gone to his own Town-Mansion, and Regent Anne +sitting in hers in a huddle of undress; little accessible to her +long-headed melancholic Ostermann, and too accessible to her +Livonian maid: with poor little Anton Ulrich pouting and +remonstrating, but unable to help,--this state of matters, with +such intrigues undermining it, could not last forever. And had not +Princess Elizabeth been of indolent luxurious nature, intent upon +her prayers and flirtations, it would have ended sooner even than +it did. Princess Elizabeth had a Surgeon called L'Estoc; a Marquis +de la Chetardie, a high-flown French Excellency (who used to be at +Berlin, to our young Friedrich's delight), was her--What shall I +say? La Chetardie himself had no scruple to say it! These two +plotted for her; these were ready,--could she have been got ready; +which was not so easy. Regent Anne had her suspicions; but the +Princess was so indolent, so good: at last, when directly taxed +with such a thing, the Princess burst into ingenuous weeping; quite +disarmed Regent Anne's suspicions;--but found she had now better +take L'Estoc's advice, and proceed at once. Which she did. + +"And so, on the morrow morning, 5th December, 1741, by aid of the +Preobrazinsky Regiment, and the motions usual on such occasions,-- +in fact by merely pulling out the props from an undermined state of +matters,--she reduced said state gently to ruin, ready for carting +to Siberia, like its foregoers; and was hereby Czarina of All the +Russias, prosperously enough for the rest of her life. Twenty years +or rather more. An indolent, orthodox, plump creature, disinclined +to cruelty; 'not an ounce of nun's flesh in her composition,' said +the wits. She maintained the Friedrich Treaty, indignant at Botta +and his plots; was well with Friedrich, or might have been kept so +by management, for there was no cause of quarrel, but the reverse, +between the Countries,--could Friedrich have held his witty tongue, +when eavesdroppers were by. But he could not always; though he +tried. And sarcastic quizzing (especially if it be truth too), on +certain female topics, what Improper Female, Czarina of All the +Russias, could stand it? The history is but a distressing one, a +disgusting one, in human affairs. Elizabeth was orthodox, too, and +Friedricb not, 'the horrid man!' The fact is,--fact dismally +indubitable, though it is huddled into discreet dimness, and all +details of it (as to what Friedrich's witticisms were, and the +like) are refused us in the Prussian Books,--indignation, owing to +such dismal cause, became fixed hate on the Czarina's part, and +there followed terrible results at last: A Czarina risen to the +cannibal pitch upon a man, in his extreme need;--'INFAME CATIN DU +NORD,' thinks the man! Friedrich's wit cost him dear; him, and half +a million others still dearer, twenty years hence."--Till which +time we will gladly leave the Czarina and it. + +Major von Winterfeld had been in Russia before this; and had wooed +his fair Malzahn there. He is the same Winterfeld whom we once saw +dining by the wayside with the late Friedrich Wilhelm, on that last +Review-Journey his Majesty made. A Captain in the Potsdam Giants at +that time; always in great favor with the late King; and in still +greater with the present,--who finds in him, we can dimly discover, +and pretty much in him alone, a soul somewhat like his own; the one +real "peer" he had about him. A man of little education; bred in +camps; yet of a proud natural eminency, and rugged nobleness of +genius and mind. Let readers mark this fiery hero-spirit, lying +buried in those dull Books, like lightning among clay. Here is +another anecdote of his Russian business:-- + +"Winterfeld had gone, in Friedrich Wilhelm's time, with a party of +Prussian drill-sergeants for Petersburg [year not given]; and duly +delivered them there. He naturally saw much of Feldmarschall +Munnich, naturally saw the Step-daughter of the Feldmarschall, a +shining beauty in Petersburg; Winterfeld himself a man of shining +gifts, and character; and one of the handsomest tall men in the +world. Mutual love between the Fraulein and him was the rapid +result. But how to obtain marriage? Winterfeld cannot marry, +without leave had of his superiors: you, fair Malzahn, are Hof-Dame +of Princess Elizabeth, all your fortune the jewels you wear; and it +is too possible she will not let you go! + +"They agreed to be patient, to be silent; to watch warily till +Winterfeld got home to Prussia, till the Fraulein Malzahn could + + + + +also contrive to get home. Winterfeld once home, and the King's +consent had, the Fraulein applied to Princess Elizabeth for leave +of absence: 'A few months, to see my friends in Deutschland, your +Highness!' Princess Elizabeth looked hard at her; answered +evasively this and that. At last, being often importuned, she +answered plainly, 'I almost feel convinced thou wilt never come +back!' Protestations from the Fraulein were not wanting:-- +'Well then,' said Elizabeth, 'if thou art so sure of it, leave me +thy jewels in pledge. Why not?' The poor Fraulein could not say +why; had to leave her jewels, which were her whole fine fortune, +'worth 100,000 rubles' (20,000 pounds); and is now the brave Wife +of Winterfeld;--but could never, by direct entreaty or circuitous +interest and negotiation, get back the least item of her jewels. +Elizabeth, as Princess and as Czarina, was alike deaf on that +subject. Now or henceforth that proved an impossible private +enterprise for Winterfeld, though he had so easily succeeded in the +public one." [Retzow, <italic> Charakteristik des siebenjahrigen +Krieges <end italic> (Berlin, 1802), i. 45 n.] + +The new Czarina was not unmerciful. Munnich and Company were tried +for life; were condemned to die, and did appear on the scaffold +(29th January, 1742), ready for that extreme penalty; but were +there, on the sudden, pardoned or half-pardoned by a merciful new +Czarina, and sent to Siberia and outer darkness. Whither Bieren had +preceded them. To outer darkness also, though a milder destiny had +been intended them at first, went Anton Ulrich and his Household. +Towards native Germany at first; they had got as far as Riga on the +way to Germany, but were detained there, for a long while (owing to +suspicions, to Botta Plots, or I know not what), till finally they +were recalled into Russian exile. Strict enough exile, seclusion +about Archangel and elsewhere; in convents, in obscure +uncomfortable places:--little Iwan, after vicissitudes, even went +underground; grew to manhood, and got killed (partly by accident, +not quite by murder), some twenty-three years hence, in his dungeon +in the Fortress of Schlusselburg, below the level of the Ladoga +waters there. Unluckier Household, which once seemed the luckiest +of the world, was never known. Canted suddenly, in this way, from +the very top of Fortune's wheel to the very bottom; never to rise +more;--and did not even die, at least not all die, for thirty or +forty years after. [Anton Ulrich, not till 15th May, 1775 (two +Daughters of his went, after this, to "Horstens, a poor Country- +House in Jutland," whither Catherine II. had manumitted them, with +pension;--she had wished Anton Ulrich to go home, many years +before; but he would not, from shame).--Iwan had perished 5th +August, 1764 (Catherine II. blamed for his death, but without +cause); Iwan's Mother, Princess Anne, (mercifully) 18th March, +1746. See Russian Histories, TOOKE, CASTERA, &c.,--none of which, +except MANNSTEIN, is good for much, or to be trusted +without scrutiny.] + +This is the Chetardie-L'Estoc conspiracy, of 5th December, 1741; +the pitching up of Princess Elizabeth, and the pitching down of +Anton Ulrich and his Munnichs, who had before pitched Bieren down. +After which, matters remained more stationary at Petersburg: +Czarina Elizabeth, fat indolent soul, floated with a certain native +buoyancy, with something of bulky steadiness, in the turbid plunge +of things, and did not sink. On the contrary, her reign, so called, +was prosperous, though stupid; her big dark Countries, kindled +already into growth, went on growing rather. And, for certain, she +herself went on growing, in orthodox devotions of spiritual type +(and in strangely heterodox ditto of NONspiritual!); in indolent +mansuetudes (fell rages, if you cut on the RAWS at all!); +in perpetual incongruity; and, alas, at last, in brandy-and-water, +--till, as "INFAME CATIN DU NORD," she became terribly important to +some persons! + +At her accession, and for two years following, Czarina Elizabeth, +in spite of real disinclination that way, had a War on her hands: +the Swedish War (August, 1741-August, 1743), which, after long +threatening on the Swedish side, had broken out into unwelcome +actuality, in Anton Ulrich's time; and which could not, with all +the Czarina's industry, be got rid of or staved off; Sweden being +bent upon the thing, reason or no reason. War not to be spoken of, +except on compulsion, in the most voluminous History! It was the +unwisest of wars, we should say, and in practice probably the +contemptiblest; if there were not one other Swedish War coming, +which vies with it in these particulars, of which we shall be +obliged to speak, more or less, at a future stage. Of this present +Russian-Swedish war, having happily almost nothing to do with it, +we can, except in the way of transient chronology, refrain +altogether from speaking or thinking. + +Poor Sweden, since it shot Karl XII. in the trenches at +Fredericshall, could not get a King again; and is very anarchic +under its Phantasm King and free National Palaver,--Senate with +subaltern Houses;--which generally has French gold in its pocket, +and noise instead of wisdom in its head. Scandalous to think of or +behold. The French, desirous to keep Russia in play during these +high Belleisle adventures now on foot, had, after much egging, +bribing, flattering, persuaded vain Sweden into this War with +Russia. "At Narva they were 80,000, we 8,000; and what became of +them!" cry the Swedes always. Yes, my friends, but you had a +Captain at Narva; you had not yet shot your Captain when you did +Narva! "Faction of Hats," "Faction of Caps" (that is, NIGHT-caps, +as being somnolent and disinclined to France and War): seldom did a +once-valiant far-shining Nation sink to such depths, since they +shot their Captain, and said to Anarchy, "THOU art Captaincy, we +see, and the Divine thing!" Of the Wars and businesses of such a +set of mortals let us shun speaking, where possible. + +Mannstein gives impartial account, pleasantly clear and compact, to +such as may be curious about this Swedish-Russian War; and, in the +didactic point of view, it is not without value. To us the +interesting circumstance is, that it does not interfere with our +Silesian operations at all; and may be figured as a mere +accompaniment of rumbling discord, or vacant far-off noise, going +on in those Northern parts,--to which therefore we hope to be +strangers in time coming. Here are some dates, which the reader may +take with him, should they chance to illustrate anything:-- + +"AUGUST 4th, 1741. The Swedes declare War: 'Will recover their lost +portions of Finland, will,' &c. &c. They had long been meditating +it; they had Turk negotiations going on, diligent emissaries to the +Turk (a certain Major Sinclair for one, whom the Russians waylaid +and assassinated to get sight of his Papers) during the late Turk- +Russian War; but could conclude nothing while that was in activity; +concluded only after that was done,--striking the iron when grown +COLD. A chief point in their Manifesto was the assassination of +this Sinclair; scandal and atrocity, of which there is no doubt now +the Russians were guilty. Various pretexts for the War:--prime +movers to it, practically, were the French, intent on keeping +Russia employed while their Belleisle German adventure went on, and +who had even bargained with third parties to get up a War there, as +we shall see. + +"SEPTEMBER 3d, 1741. At Wilmanstrand,--key of Wyborg, their +frontier stronghold in Finland, which was under Siege,--the Swedes +(about 5,000 of them, for they had nothing to live upon, and lay +scattered about in fractions) made fight, or skirmish, against a +Russian attacking party: Swedes, rather victorious on their hill- +top, rushed down; and totally lost their bit of victory, their +Wilmanstrand, their Wyborg, and even the War itself;--for this was, +in literal truth, the only fighting done by them in the entire +course of it, which lasted near two years more. The rest of it was +retreat, capitulation, loss on loss without stroke struck; till +they had lost all Finland, and were like to lose Sweden itself,-- +Dalecarlian mutiny bursting out ('Ye traitors, misgovernors, worthy +of death!'), with invasive Danes to rear of it;--and had to call in +the very Russians to save them from worse. Czarina Elizabeth at the +time of her accession, six months after Wilmanstrand, had made +truce, was eager to make peace: 'By no means!' answered Sweden, +taking arms again, or rather taking legs again; and rushing +ruin-ward, at the old rate, still without stroke. + +"JUNE 28th, 1743. They did halt; made Peace of Abo (Truce and +Preliminaries signed there, that day: Peace itself, August 17th); +Czarina magnanimously restoring most of their Finland (thinking to +herself, 'Not done enough for me yet; cook it a little yet!');-- +and settling who their next King was to be, among other friendly +things. And in November following, Keith, in his Russian galleys, +with some 10,000 Russians on board, arrived in Stockholm; +protective against Danes and mutinous Dalecarles: stayed there till +June of next year, 1744." [Adelung, ii. 445. Mannstein, pp. 297 +(Wilmanstrand Affair, himself present), 365 (Peace), 373 (Keith's +RETURN with his galleys). Comte de Hordt (present also, on the +Swedish side, and subsequently a Soldier of Friedrich's) <italic> +Memoires) <end italic> (Berlin, 1789), i. 18-88. The murder of +Sinclair (done by "four Russian subalterns, two miles from Naumberg +in Silesia, 17th June, 1739, about 7 P.M.") is amply detailed from +Documents, in a late Book: Weber, <italic> Aus Vier Jahrhunderten +<end italic> (Leipzig, 1858), i. 274-279.] Is not this a War! + +On the Russian side, General Keith, under Field-marshal Lacy as +chief in command (the same Keith whom we saw at Oczakow under +Munnich, some time ago), had a great deal of the work and +management; which was of a highly miscellaneous kind, commanding +fleets of gunboats, and much else; and readers of MANNSTEIN can +still judge,--much more could King Friedrich, earnestly watching +the affair itself as it went on,--whether Keith did not do it in a +solid and quietly eminent and valiant manner. Sagacious, skilful, +imperturbable, without fear and without noise; a man quietly ever +ready. He had quelled, once, walking direct into the heart of it, a +ferocious Russian mutiny, or uproar from below, which would have +ruined everything in few minutes more. [Mannstein, p. 130 (no date, +April-May, 1742.) He suffered, with excellent silence, now and +afterwards, much ill-usage from above withal;--till Friedrich +himself, in the third year hence, was lucky enough to get him as +General. Friedrich's Sister Ulrique, the marriage of Princess +Ulrique,--that also, as it chanced, had something to do with this +Peace of Abo. But we anticipate too far. + + + +Chapter IX. + +FRIEDRICH RETURNS TO SILESIA. + +Friedrich stayed only three weeks at home; moving about, from +Berlin to Potsdam, to Reinsberg and back: all the gay world is in +Berlin, at this Carnival time; but Friedrich has more to do with +business, of a manifold and over-earnest nature, than with Carnival +gayeties. French Valori is here, "my fat Valori," who is beginning +to be rather a favorite of Friedrich's: with Excellency Valori, and +with the other Foreign Excellencies, there was diplomatic passaging +in these weeks; and we gather from Valori, in the inverse way +(Valori fallen sulky), that it was not ill done on Friedrich's +part. He had some private consultation with the Old Dessauer, too; +"probably on military points," thinks Valori. At least there was +noticed more of the drill-sergeant than before, in his handling of +the Army, when he returned to Silesia, continues the sulky one. +"Troops and generals did not know him again,"--so excessively +strict was he grown, on the sudden. And truly "he got into details +which were beneath, not only a Prince who has great views, but even +a simple Captain of Infantry,"--according to my (Valori's) military +notions and experiences! [Valori, i. 99.]-- + +The truth is, Friedrich begins to see, more clearly than he did +with GLOIRE dazzling him, that his position is an exceedingly grave +one, full of risk, in the then mood and condition of the world; +that he, in the whole world, has no sure friend but his Army; +and that in regard to IT he cannot be too vigilant! The world is +ominous to this youngest of the Kings more than to another. +Sounds as of general Political Earthquake grumble audibly to him +from the deeps: all Europe likely, in any event, to get to +loggerheads on this Austrian Pragmatic matter; the Nations all +watching HIM, to see what he will make of it:--fugleman he to the +European Nations, just about bursting up on such an adventure. +It may be a glorious position, or a not glorious; but, for certain, +it is a dangerous one, and awfully solitary!-- + +Fuglemen the world and its Nations always have, when simultaneously +bent any-whither, wisely or unwisely; and it is natural that the +most adventurous spirit take that post. Friedrich has not sought +the post; but following his own objects, has got it; and will be +ignominiously lost, and trampled to annihilation under the hoofs of +the world, if he do not mind! To keep well ahead;--to be rapid as +possible; that were good:--to step aside were still better! +And Friedrich we find is very anxious for that; "would be content +with the Duchy of Glogau, and join Austria;" but there is not the +least chance that way. His Special Envoy to Vienna, Gotter, and +along with him Borck the regular Minister, are come home; +all negotiation hopeless at Vienna; and nothing but indignant war- +preparation going on there, with the most animated diligence, and +more success than had seemed possible. That is the law of +Friedrich's Silesian Adventure: "Forward, therefore, on these +terms; others there are not: waste no words!" Friedrich recognizes +to himself what the law is; pushes stiffly forward, with a fine +silence on all that is not practical, really with a fine steadiness +of hope, and audacity against discouragements. Of his anxieties, +which could not well be wanting, but which it is royal to keep +strictly under lock and key, of these there is no hint to Jordan or +to anybody; and only through accidental chinks, on close scrutiny, +can we discover that they exist. Symptom of despondency, of +misgiving or repenting about his Enterprise, there is none +anywhere, Friedrich's fine gifts of SILENCE (which go deeper than +the lips) are noticeable here, as always; and highly they availed +Friedrich in leading his life, though now inconvenient to +Biographers writing of the same!-- + +It was not on matters of drill, as Valori supposes, that Friedrich +had been consulting with the Old Dessauer: this time it was on +another matter. Friedrich has two next Neighbors greatly +interested, none more so, in the Pragmatic Question: Kur-Sachsen, +Polish King, a foolish greedy creature, who is extremely uncertain +about his course in it (and indeed always continued so, now against +Friedrich, now for him, and again against); and Kur-Hanover, our +little George of England, whose course is certain as that of the +very stars, and direct against Friedrich at this time, as indeed, +at all times not exceptional, it is apt to be. Both these +Potentates must be attended to, in one's absence; method to be +gentle but effectual; the Old Dessauer to do it:--and this is what +these consultings had turned upon; and in a month or two, readers, +and an astonished Gazetteer world, will see what comes of them. + +It was February 19th when Friedrich left Berlin; the 21st he spends +at Glogau, inspecting the Blockade there, and not ill content with +the measures taken: "Press that Wallis all you can," enjoins he: +"Hunger seems to be slow about it! Summon him again, were your new +Artillery come up; threaten with bombardment; but spare the Town, +if possible. Artillery is coming: let us have done here, and soon!" +Next day he arrives, not at Breslau as some had expected, but at +Schweidnitz sidewards; a strong little Town, at least an +elaborately fortified, of which we shall hear much in time coming. +It lies a day's ride west of Breslau: and will be quieter for +business than a big gazing Capital would be,--were Breslau even +one's own city; which it is not, though perhaps tending to be. +Breslau is in transition circumstances at present; a little +uncertain WHOSE it is, under its Munchows and new managers: Breslau +he did not visit at all on this occasion. To Schweidnitz certain +new regiments had been ordered, there to be disposed of in +reinforcing: there, "in the Count Hoberg's Mansion," he principally +lodges for six weeks to come; shooting out on continual excursions; +but always returning to Schweidnitz, as the centre, again. + +Algarotti, home from Turin (not much of a success there, but always +melodious for talk), had travelled with him; Algarotti, and not +long after, Jordan and Maupertuis, bear him company, that the +vacant moments too be beautiful. We can fancy he has a very busy, +very anxious, but not an unpleasant time. He goes rapidly about, +visiting his posts,--chiefly about the Neisse Valley; Neisse being +the prime object, were the weather once come for siege-work. He is +in many Towns (specified in RODENBECK and the Books, but which may +be anonymous here); doubtless on many Steeples and Hill-tops; +questioning intelligent natives, diligently using his own eyes: +intent to make personal acquaintance with this new Country,--where, +little as he yet dreams of it, the deadly struggles of his Life lie +waiting him, and which he will know to great perfection before all +is done! + +Neisse lies deep enough in Prussian environment; like Brieg, like +Glogau, strictly blockaded; our posts thereabouts, among the +Mountains, thought to be impregnable. Nevertheless, what new thing +is this? Here are swarms of loose Hussar-Pandour people, wild +Austrian Irregulars, who come pouring out of Glatz Country; +disturbing the Prussian posts towards that quarter; and do not let +us want for Small War (KLEINE KRIEG) so called. General Browne, it +appears, is got back to Glatz at this early season, he and a +General Lentulus busy there; and these are the compliments they +send! A very troublesome set of fellows, infesting one's purlieus +in winged predatory fashion; swooping down like a cloud of +vulturous harpies on the sudden; fierce enough, if the chance +favor; then to wing again, if it do not. Communication, especially +reconnoitring, is not safe in their neighborhood. Prussian +Infantry, even in small parties, generally beats them; Prussian +Horse not, but is oftener beaten,--not drilled for this rabble and +their ways. In pitched fight they are not dangerous, rather are +despicable to the disciplined man; but can, on occasion, do a great +deal of mischief. + +Thus, it was not long after Friedrich's coming into these parts, +when he learnt with sorrow that a Body of "500 Horse and 500 Foot" +(or say it were only 300 of each kind, which is the fact [Orlich, +i. 79; <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> ii. 68.]) had +eluded our posts in the Mountains, and actually got into Neisse. +"The Foot will be of little consequence," writes Friedrich; +"but the Horse, which will disturb our communications, are a +considerable mischief." This was on the 5th of March. And about a +week before, on the 27th of February, there had well-nigh a far +graver thing befallen,--namely the capture of Friedrich himself, +and the sudden end of all these operations. + + +SKIRMISH OF BAUMGARTEN, 27th FEBRUARY, 1741. + +In most of the Anecdote-Books there used to figure, and still does, +insisting on some belief from simple persons, a wonderful Story in +very vague condition: How once "in the Silesian Wars," the King, in +those Upper Neisse regions, in the Wartha district between Glatz +and Neisse, was, one day, within an inch of being taken,--clouds of +Hussars suddenly rising round him, as he rode reconnoitring, with +next to no escort, only an adjutant or so in attendance. How he +shot away, keeping well in the shade; and erelong whisked into a +Convent or Abbey, the beautiful Abbey of Kamenz in those parts; +and found Tobias Stusche, excellent Abbot of the place, to whom he +candidly disclosed his situation. How the excellent Tobias +thereupon instantly ordered the bells to be rung for a mass +extraordinary, Monks not knowing why; and, after bells, made his +appearance in high costume, much to the wonder of his Monks, with a +SECOND Abbot, also in high costume, but of shortish stature, whom +they never saw before or after. Which two Abbots, or at least +Tobias, proceeded to do the so-called divine office there and then; +letting loose the big chant especially, and the growl of organs, in +a singularly expressive manner. How the Pandours arrived in clouds +meanwhile; entered, in searching parties, more or less reverent of +the mass; searched high and low; but found nothing, and were +obliged to take Tobias's blessing at last, and go their ways. +How the Second Abbot thereupon swore eternal friendship with +Tobias, in the private apartments; and rode off as--as a rescued +Majesty, determined to be more cautious in Pandour Countries for +the future! [Hildebrandt, <italic> Anekdoten, <end italic> i. 1-7. +Pandour proper is a FOOT-soldier (tall raw-boned ill-washed biped, +in copious Turk breeches, rather barish in the top parts of him; +carries a very long musket, and has several pistols and butcher's- +knives stuck in his girdle): specifically a footman; but readers +will permit me to use him withal, as here, in the generic sense.]-- +Which story, as to the body of it, is all myth; though, as is +oftenest the case, there lies in it some soul of fact too. +The History-Books, which had not much heeded the little fact, would +have nothing to do with this account of it. Nevertheless the people +stuck to their Myth; so that Dryasdust (in punishment for his +sinful blindness to the human and divine significance of facts) was +driven to investigate the business; and did at last victoriously +bring it home to the small occurrence now called SKIRMISH OF +BAUMGARTEN, which had nearly become so great in the History of the +World,--to the following effect. + +There are two Valleys with roads that lead from that Southwest +quarter of Silesia towards Glatz, each with a little Town at the +end of it, looking up into it: Wartha the name of the one: +Silberberg that of the other. Through the Wartha Valley, which is +southernmost, young Neisse River comes rushing down,--the blue +mountains thereabouts very pretty, on a clear spring day, says my +touring friend. Both at Wartha, and at Silberberg the little Town +which looks into the mouth of the northernmost Valley, the +Prussians have a post. Old Derschau, Malplaquet Derschau, with +headquarters at Frankenstein, some seven or eight miles nearer +Schweidnitz, has not failed in that precaution. Friedrich wished to +visit Silberberg and Wartha; set out accordingly, 27th February, +with small escort, carelessly as usual: the Pandour people had wind +of it; knew his habits on such occasions; and, gliding through +other roadless valleys, under an adventurous Captain, had +determined to whirl him off. And they were in fact not far from +succeeding, had not a mistake happened. + +Silberberg, and Wartha the southernmost, which stands upon the +Neisse River (rushing out there into the plainer country), are each +about seven or eight miles from Frankenstein, the Head-quarters; +and there are relays of posts, capable of supporting one another, +all the way from Frankenstein to each. Friedrich rode to Silberberg +first; examined the post, found it right; then rode across to +Wartha, seven or eight miles southward; examined Wartha likewise; +after which, he sat down to dinner in that little Town, with an +Officer or two for company,--having, I suppose, found all right in +both the posts. In the way hither, he had made some change in the +relay arrangements, which at first involved some diminution of his +own escort, and then some marching about and redistributing: +so that, externally, it seemed as if the Principal Relay-party were +now marching on Baumgarten, an intermediate Village,--at least so +the Pandour Captain understands the movements going on; and +crouches into the due thickets in consequence, not doubting but the +King himself is for Baumgarten, and will be at hand presently. +Principal relay-party, a squadron of Schulenburg's Dragoons, with a +stupid Major over them, is not quite got into Baumgarten, when +"with horrible cries the Pandour Captain with about 500 horse," +plunges out of cover, direct upon the throat of it: and Friedrich, +at Wartha, is but just begun dining when tumult of distant musketry +breaks in upon him. With Friedrich himself, at this time, as I +count, there might be 150 Horse; in Wartha post itself are at least +"forty hussars and fifty foot." By no means "nothing but a single +adjutant," as the Myth bears. + +The stupid Major ought to have beaten this rabble, though above two +to one of him. But he could not, though he tried considerably; +on the contrary, he was himself beaten; obliged to make off, +leaving "ten dragoons killed, sixteen prisoners, one standard and +two kettle-drums:"--victorv and all this plunder, ye Pandour +gentry; but evidently no King. The Pandour gentry, on the instant, +made off too, alarm being abroad; got into some side-valley, with +their prisoners and drum-and-standard honors, and vanished from +view of mankind. + +Friedrich had started from dinner; got his escort under way, with +the forty hussars and the fifty foot, and what small force was +attainable; and hurried towards the scene. He did see, by the road, +another strongish party of Pandours; dashed them across the Neisse +River out of sight;--but, getting to Baumgarten, found the field +silent, and ten dead men upon it. "I always told you those +Schulenburg Dragoons were good for nothing!" writes he to the Old +Dessauer; but gradually withal, on comparing notes, finds what a +danger he had run, and how rash and foolish he had been. +"An ETOURDERIE (foolish trick)," he calls it, writing to Jordan; +"a black eye;" and will avoid the like. Vienna got its two kettle- +drums and flag; extremely glad to see them; and even sang TE-DEUM +upon them, to general edification. [Orlich, i. 62-64.] This is the +naked primordial substance out of which the above Myth grew to its +present luxuriance in the popular imagination. Place, the little +Village of Baumgarten; day, 27th February, 1741. Of Tobias Stusche +or the Convent of Kamenz, not one authentic word on this occasion. +Tobias did get promotions, favors in coming years: a worthy Abbot, +deserving promotion on general grounds; and master of a Convent +very picturesque, but twelve miles from the present scene +of action. + + +ASPECTS OF BRESLAU. + +Friedrich avoided visiting Breslau, probably for the reasons above +given; though there are important interests of his there, +especially his chief Magazine; and issues of moment are silently +working forward. Here are contemporary Excerpts (in abridged form), +which are authentic, and of significance to a lively reader:-- + +"BRESLAU, MIDDLE OF JANUARY, 1741. The Prussian Envoy, Herr von +Gotter, had appeared here, returning from Vienna; Gotter, and then +Borck, who made no secret in Breslau society, That not the +slightest hope of a peaceable result existed, as society might have +flattered itself; but that war and battle would have to decide this +matter. A Saxon Ambassador was also here, waiting some time; +message thought to be insignificant:--probably some vague +admonitory stuff again from Kur-Sachsen (Polish King, son of August +the Strong, a very insignificant man), who acts as REICHS-VICARIUS +in those Northern parts." For the reader is to know, there are +Reichs-Vicars more than one (nay more than two on this occasion, +with considerable jarring going on about them); and I could say +much about their dignities, limits, duties, [Adelung, ii. 143, &c.; +Kohler, <italic> Reichs-Historie, <end italic> pp. 585-589.]--if +indeed there were any duties, except dramatic ones! But the Reich +itself, and Vicarship along with it, are fallen into a nearly +imaginary condition; and the Regensburg Diet (not Princes now, but +mere Delegates of Princes, mostly Bombazine People), which, "ever +since 1663," has sat continual, instead of now and then, is become +an Enchanted Piggery, strange to look upon, under those earnest +stars. "As King Friedrich did not call at Greslau," after those +Neisse bombardments, but rolled past, straight homewards, the three +Excellencies all departed,--Borck and Gotter to Berlin, the Saxon +home again with his insignificant message. + +"JANUARY 19th. Schwerin too was here in the course of the winter, +to see how the magazines and other war-preparations were going on: +Breslau outwardly and inwardly is whirling with business, and +offers phenomena. For instance, it is known that the Army-Chest, +heaps of silver and gold in it, lies in the Scultet Garden-House, +where the King lodged; and that only one sentry walks there, and +that in the guard-house itself, which is some way off, there are +only thirty men. January 19th, about 9 of the clock, +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 700.] alarm rises, +That 2,000 DIEBS-GESINDEL (Collective Thief-rabble of Breslau and +dependencies) are close by; intending a stroke upon said Garden- +House and Army-Chest! Perhaps this rumor sprang of its own accord; +--or perhaps not quite? It had been very rife; and ran high; not +without remonstrances in Town-Hall, and the like, which we can +imagine. Issue was, The Officer on post at Scultet's loaded his +treasure in carts; conveyed it, that same night, to the interior of +the City, in fact to the OBERAMTS-HAUS (Government-House that was); +--which doubtless was a step in the right direction. For now the +Two Feld-Kriegs-Commissariat Gentlemen (one of whom is the expert +Munchow, son of our old Custrin friend), supreme Prussian +Authorities here, do likewise shift out of their inns; and take old +Schaffgotsch's apartments in the same Oberamts-Haus; mutely +symbolling that perhaps THEY are likely to become a kind of +Government. And the reader can conceive how, in such an element, +the function of governing would of itself fall more and more into +their hands. They were consummately polite, discreet, friendly +towards all people; and did in effect manage their business, tax- +gatherings in money and in kind, with a perfection and precision +which made the evil a minimum. + +"FEBRUARY 17th. ... This day also, there arrived at Breslau, by +boat up the Oder, ten heavy cannon, three mortars, and ammunition +of powder, bombshells, balls, as much as loaded fifty wagons; +the whole of which were, in like manner, forwarded to Ohlau. +This day, as on other days before and after. Great Magazines +forming here; the Military chiefly at Ohlau; at Breslau the +Provender part,--and this latter under noteworthy circumstances. +In the Dom-Island, namely; which is definable (in a case of such +necessity) as being 'outside the walls.' Especially as the Reverend +Fathers have mostly glided into corners, and left the place vacant. +In the Dom-Island, it certainly is; and such a stock,--all bought +for money down, and spurred forward while the roads were under +frost,--'such a stock as was not thought to be in all Silesia,' +says exaggerative wonder. The vacant edifices in the Dom-Island are +filled to the neck with meal and corn; the Prussian brigade now +quartering there ('without the walls,' in a sense) to guard the +same. And in the Bishop's Garden [poor Sinzendorf, far enough away +and in no want of it just now] are mere hay-mows, bigger than +houses: who can object,--in a case of necessity? No man, unless he +politically meddle, is meddled with; politically meddling, you are +at once picked up; as one or two are,--clapped into gentle arrest, +or, like old Schaffgotsch, and even Sinzendorf before long, +requested to leave the Country till it get settled. Rigor there is, +but not intentional injustice on Munchow's part, and there is a +studious avoidance of harsh manner. + +"FEBRUARY-MARCH. Considerable recruiting in Schlesien: six hundred +recruits have enlisted in Breslau alone. Also his Prussian Majesty +has sent a supply of Protestant Preachers, ordained for the +occasion, to minister where needed;--which is piously acknowledged +as a godsend in various parts of Silesia. Twelve came first, all +Berliners; soon afterwards, others from different parts, till, in +the end, there were about Sixty in all. Rigorous, punctilious +avoidance of offence to the Catholic minorities, or of whatever +least thing Silesian Law does not permit, is enjoined upon them; +'to preach in barns or town-halls, where by Law you have no +Church.' Their salary is about 30 pounds a year; they are all put +under supervision of the Chaplain of Margraf Karl's Regiment" (a +judicious Chaplain, I have no doubt, and fit to be a Bishop); +and so far as appears, mere benefit is got of them by Schlesien as +well as by Friedrich, in this function. Friedrich is careful to +keep the balance level between Catholic and Protestant; but it has +hung at such an angle, for a long while past! In general, we +observe the Catholic Dignitaries, and the zealous or fanatic of +that creed, especially the Jesuits, are apt to be against him: +as for the non-fanatic, they expect better government, secular +advantage; these latter weigh doubtfully, and with less weight +whichever way. In the general population, who are Protestant, he +recognizes friends;--and has sent them Sixty Preachers, which by +Law was their due long since. Here follow two little traits, comic +or tragi-comic, with which we can conclude:-- + +"Detached Jesuit parties, here and there, seem to have mischief in +hand in a small way, encouraging deserters and the like;--and we +keep an eye on them. No discontent elsewhere, at least none +audible; on the contrary, much enlisting on the part of the +Silesian youth, with other good symptoms. But in the Dom, there is, +singular to say, a Goblin found walking, one night;--advancing, not +with airs from Heaven, upon the Prussian sentry there! The Prussian +sentry handles arms; pokes determinedly into the Goblin, and +finding him solid, ever more determinedly, till the Goblin shrieked +'Jesus Maria!' and was hauled to the Guard-house for +investigation." A weak Goblin; doubtless of the valet kind; worth +only a little whipping; but testifies what the spirit is. + +"Another time, two deserter Frenchmen getting hanged [such the law +in aggravated cases], certain polite Jesuits, who had by permission +been praying and extreme-unctioning about them, came to thank the +Colonel after all was over. Colonel, a grave practical man, needs +no 'thanks;' would, however, 'advise your Reverences to teach your +people that perjury is not permissible, that an oath sworn ought to +be kept;' and in fine 'would advise you Holy Fathers hereabouts, +and others, to have a care lest you get into'--And twitching his +reins, rode away without saying into what." [<italic> Helden- +Geschichte, <end italic> i. 723.] + + +AUSTRIA IS STANDING TO ARMS. + +Schwerin has been doing his best in this interim; collecting +magazines with double diligence while the roads are hard, taking up +the Key-positions far and wide, from the Jablunka round to the +Frontier Valleys of Glatz again. He was through Jablunka, at one +time; on into Mahren, as far as Olmutz; levying contributions, +emitting patents: but as to intimidating her Hungarian Majesty, if +that was the intention, or changing her mind at all, that is not +the issue got. Austria has still strength, and Pragmatic Sanction +and the Laws of Nature have! Very fixed is her Hungarian Majesty's +determination, to part with no inch of Territory, but to drive the +intrusive Prussians home well punished. + +How she has got the funds is, to this day, a mystery;--unless +George and Walpole, from their Secret-Service Moneys, have smuggled +her somewhat.? For the Parliament is not sitting, and there will be +such jargonings, such delays: a preliminary 100,000 pounds, say by +degrees 200,000 pounds,--we should not miss it, and in her +Majesty's hands it would go far! Hints in the English Dryasdust we +have; but nothing definite; and we are left to our guesses. [Tindal +(XX. 497) says expressly 200,000 pounds, but gives no date or other +particular.] A romantic story, first set current by Voltaire, has +gone the round of the world, and still appears in all Histories: +How in England there was a Subscription set on foot for her +Hungarian Majesty; outcome of the enthusiasm of English Ladies of +quality,--old Sarah Duchess of Marlborough putting down her name +for 40,000 pounds, or indeed putting down the ready sum itself; +magnanimous veteran that she was. Voltaire says, omitting date and +circumstance, but speaking as if it were indubitable, and a thing +you could see with eyes: "The Duchess of Marlborough, widow of him +who had fought for Karl VI. [and with such signal returns of +gratitude from the said Karl VI.], assembled the principal Ladies +of London; who engaged to furnish 100,000 pounds among them; the +Duchess herself putting down [EN DEPOSA, tabling IN CORPORE] 40,000 +pounds of it. The Queen of Hungary had the greatness of soul to +refuse this money;--needing only, as she intimated, what the Nation +in Parliament assembled might please to offer her." [Voltaire, +<italic> OEuvres (Siecle de Louis XV., <end italic> c. 6), +xxviii. 79.] + +One is sorry to run athwart such a piece of mutual magnanimity; +but the fact is, on considering a little and asking evidence, it +turns out to be mythical. One Dilworth, an innocent English soul +(from whom our grandfathers used to learn ARITHMETIC, I think), +writing on the spot some years after Voltaire, has this useful +passage: "It is the great failing of a strong imagination to catch +greedily at wonders. Voltaire was misinformed; and would perhaps +learn, by a second inquiry, a truth less splendid and amusing. +A Contribution was, by News-writers upon their own authority, +fruitlessly proposed. It ended in nothing: the Parliament voted a +supply;"--that did it, Mr. Dilworth; supplies enough, and many of +them! "Fruitlessly, by News-writers on their own authority;" +that is the sad fact. [<italic> The Life and Heroick Actions of +Frederick III. <end italic> (SIC, a common blunder), by W. H. +Dilworth, M.A. (London, 1758), p. 25. A poor little Book, one of +many coming out on that subject just then (for a reason we shall +see on getting thither); which contains, of available now, the +above sentence and no more. Indeed its brethren, one of them by +Samnel Johnson (IMPRANSUS, the imprisoned giant), do not even +contain that, and have gone wholly to zero.-- Neither little +Dilworth nor big Voltaire give the least shadow of specific date; +but both evidently mean Spring, 1742 (not 1741).] + +It is certain, little George, who considers Pragmatic Sanction as +the Keystone of Nature in a manner, has been venturing far deeper +than purse for that adorable object; and indeed has been diving, +secretly, in muddier waters than we expected, to a dangerous +extent, on behalf of it, at this very time. In the first days of +March, Friedrich has heard from his Minister at Petersburg of a +DETESTABLE PROJECT, [Orlich, i. 83 (scrap of Note to Old Dessauer; +no date allowed us; "early in March").]--project for "Partitioning +the Prussian Kingdom," no less; for fairly cutting into Friedrich, +and paring him down to the safe pitch, as an enemy to Pragmatic and +mankind. They say, a Treaty, Draught of a Treaty, for that express +object, is now ready; and lies at Petersburg, only waiting +signature. Here is a Project! Contracting parties (Russian +signature still wanting) are: Kur-Sachsen; her Hungarian Majesty; +King George; and that Regent Anne (MRS. Anton Ulrich, so to speak), +who sits in a huddle of undress, impatient of Political objects, +but sensible to the charms of handsome men. To the charms of Count +Lynar, especially: the handsomest of Danish noblemen (more an +ancient Roman than a Dane), whom the Polish Majesty, calculating +cause and effect, had despatched to her, with that view, in the +dead of winter lately. To whom she has given ear;--dismissing her +Munnich, as we saw above;--and is ready for signing, or perhaps has +signed! [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> ii. 68.] +Friedrich's astonishment, on hearing of this "detestable Project," +was great. However, he takes his measures on it;--right lucky that +he has the Old Dessauer, and machinery for acting on Kur-Sachsen +and the Britannic Majesty. "Get your machinery in gear!" is +naturally his first order. And the Old Dessauer does it, with +effect: of which by and by. + +Never did I hear, before or since, of such a plunge into the muddy +unfathomable, on the part of little George, who was an honorable +creature, and dubitative to excess: and truly this rash plunge +might have cost him dear, had not he directly scrambled out again. +Or did Friedrich exaggerate to himself his Uncle's real share in +the matter? I always guess, there had been more of loose talk, of +hypothesis and fond hope, in regard to George's share, than of +determinate fact or procedure on his own part. The transaction, +having had to be dropped on the sudden, remains somewhat dark; +but, in substance, it is not doubtful; [Tindal, xx. 497.] and +Parliament itself took afterwards to poking into it, though with +little effect. Kur-Sachsen's objects in the adventure were of the +earth, earthy; but on George's part it was pure adoration of +Pragmatic Sanction, anxiety for the Keystone of Nature, and lest +Chaos come again. In comparison with such transcendent divings, +what is a little Secret-Service money!-- + +The Count Lynar of this adventure, who had well-nigh done such a +feat in Diplomacy, may turn up transiently again. A conspicuous, +more or less ridiculous person of those times. Busching (our +Geographical friend) had gone with him, as Excellency's Chaplain, +in this Russian Journey; which is a memorable one to Busching; +and still presents vividly, through his Book, those haggard Baltic +Coasts in midwinter, to readers who have business there. Such a +journey for grimness of outlook, upon pine-tufts and frozen sand; +for cold (the Count's very tobacco-pipe freezing in his mouth), for +hardship, for bad lodging, and extremity of dirt in the unfreezable +kinds, as seldom was. They met, one day on the road, a Lord +Hyndford, English Ambassador just returning from Petersburg, with +his fourgons and vehicles, and arrangements for sleep and victual, +in an enviably luxurious condition,--whom we shall meet, to our +cost. They saw, in the body, old Field-marshal Lacy, and dined with +him, at Riga; who advised brandy schnapps; a recipe rejected by +Busching. And other memorabilia, which by accident hang about this +Lynar. [Busching, <italic> Beitrage, <end italic> vi. 132-164.]-- +All through Regent Anne's time he continued a dangerous object to +Friedrich; and it was a relief when Elizabeth CATIN became +Autocrat, instead of Deshabille Anne and her Lynar. Adieu to him, +for fifteen years or more. + +Of Friedrich's military operations, of his magazines, posts, +diligent plannings and gallopings about, in those weeks; of all +this the reader can form some notion by looking on the map and +remembering what has gone before: but that subterranean growling +which attended him, prophetic of Earthquake, that universal +breaking forth of Bedlams, now fallen so extinct, no reader can +imagine. Bedlams totally extinct to everybody; but which were then +very real, and raged wide as the world, high as the stars, to a +hideous degree among the then sons of men;--unimaginable now by +any mortal. + +And, alas, this is one of the grand difficulties for my readers and +me; Friedrich's Life-element having fallen into such a dismal +condition. Most dismal, dark, ugly, that Austrian-Succession +Business, and its world-wide battlings, throttlings and +intriguings: not Dismal Swamp, under a coverlid of London Fog, +could be uglier! A Section of "History" so called, which human +nature shrinks from; of which the extant generation already knows +nothing, and is impatient of hearing anything! Truly, Oblivion is +very due to such an Epoch: and from me far be it to awaken, beyond +need, its sordid Bedlams, happily extinct. But without Life- +element, no Life can be intelligible; and till Friedrich and one or +two others are extricated from it, Dismal Swamp cannot be quite +filled in. Courage, reader!--Our Constitutional Historian makes +this farther reflection:-- + +"English moneys, desperate Russian intrigues, Treaties made and +Treaties broken--If instead of Pragmatic Sanction with eleven +Potentates guaranteeing, Maria Theresa had at this time had 200,000 +soldiers and a full treasury (as Prince Eugene used to advise the +late Kaiser), how different might it have been with her, and with +the whole world that fell upon one another's throats in her +quarrel! Some eight years of the most disastrous War; and except +the falling of Silesia to its new place, no result gained by it. +War at any rate inevitable, you object? English-Spanish War having +been obliged to kindle itself; French sure to fall in, on the +Spanish side; sure to fall upon Hanover, so soon as beaten at sea, +and thus to involve all Europe? Well, it is too likely. But, even +in that case, the poor English would have gone upon their necessary +Spanish War, by the direct road and with their eyes open, instead +of somnambulating and stumbling over the chimney-tops; and the +settlement might have come far sooner, and far cheaper to mankind. +--Nay, we are to admit that the new place for Silesia was, +likewise, the place appointed it by just Heaven; and Friedrich's +too was a necessary War. Heaven makes use of Shadow-hunting Kaisers +too; and its ways in this mad world are through the great Deep." + + +THE YOUNG DESSAUER CAPTURES GLOGAU (MARCH 9th); THE OLD +DESSAUER, BY HIS CAMP OF GOTTIN (APRIL 2d), CHECKMATES +CERTAIN DESIGNING PERSONS. + +Money somewhere her Hungarian Majesty has got; that is one thing +evident. She has an actual Army on foot, "drawn out of Italy," or +whence she could; formidable Army, says rumor, and getting well +equipped;--and here are the Pandour Precursors of it, coming down +like storm-clouds through the Glatz valleys;--nearly finishing the +War for her at a stroke, the other day, had accident favored;--and +have thrown reinforcement of 600 into Neisse. Friedrich is not +insensible to these things; and amid such alarms from far and from +near, is becoming eager to have, at least, Glogau in his hand. +Glogau, he is of opinion, could now, and should, straightway +be done. + +Glogau is not a strong place; after all the repairing, it could +stand little siege, were we careless of hurting it. But Wallis is +obstinate; refuses Free Withdrawal; will hold out to the uttermost, +though his meal is running low. He pretends there is relief coming; +relief just at hand; and once, in midnight time, "lets off a rocket +and fires six guns," alarming Prince Leopold as if relief were just +in the neighborhood. A tough industrious military man; stiff to his +purpose, and not without shift. + +Friedrich thinks the place might be had by assault: "Open trenches; +set your batteries going, which need not injure the Town; need only +alarm Wallis, and TERRIFY it; then, under cover of this noise and +feint of cannonading, storm with vigor." Leopold, the Young +Dessauer, is cautious; wants petards if he must storm, wants two +new battalions if he must open trenches;--he gets these requisites, +and is still cunctatory. Friedrich has himself got the notion, +"from clear intelligence," true or not, that relief to Glogau is +actually on way; and under such imminences, Russian and other, in +so ticklish a state of the world, he becomes more and more +impatient that this thing were done. In the first week of March, +still hurrying about on inspection-business, he writes, from four +or five different places ("Mollwitz near Brieg" is one of them, a +Village we shall soon know better), Note after Note to Leopold; +who still makes difficulties, and is not yet perfect to the last +finish in his preparations. "Preparations!" answers Friedrich +impatiently (date MOLLWITZ, 5th MARCH, the third or fourth +impatient Note he has sent); and adds, just while quitting Mollwitz +for Ohlau, this Postscript in his own hand:-- + +P.S. "I am sorry you have not understood me! They have, in Bohmen, +a regular enterprise on hand for the rescue of Glogau. I have +Infantry enough to meet them; but Cavalry is quite wanting. +You must therefore, without delay, begin the siege. Let us finish +there, I pray you!" [Orlich, i. 70.] + +And next day, Monday 6th, to cut the matter short, he despatches +his General-Adjutant Goltz in person (the distance is above seventy +miles), with this Note wholly in autograph, which nothing vocal on +Leopold's part will answer:-- + +"OHLAU, 6th MARCH. As I am certainly informed that the Enemy will +make some attempt, I hereby with all distinctness command, That, so +soon as the petards are come [which they are], you attack Glogau. +And you must make your Arrangement (DISPOSITION) for more than one +attack; so that if one fail, the other shall certainly succeed. +I hope you will put off no longer;--otherwise the blame of all the +mischief that might arise out of longer delay must lie on you +alone." [Ib. i. 71.] + +Goltz arrived with this emphatic Piece, Tuesday Evening, after his +course of seventy miles: this did at last rouse our cautious Young +Dessauer; and so there is next obtainable, on much compression, the +following authentic Excerpt:-- + +"GLOGAU, 8th MARCH, 1741. His Durchlaucht the Prince Leopold +summoned all the Generals at noon; and informed them That, this +very night, Glogau must be won. He gave them their Instructions in +writing: where each was to post himself; with what detachments; +how to proceed. There are to be three Attacks: one up stream, +coming on with the River to its right; one down stream, River to +its left; and a third from the landward side, perpendicular to the +other two. The very captains that shall go foremost are specified; +at what hour each is to leave quarters, so that all be ready +simultaneously, waiting in the posts assigned;--against what points +to advance out of these, and storm Rampart and Wall. Places, times, +particulars, everything is fixed with mathematical exactitude: +'Be steady, be correct, especially be silent; and so far as Law of +Nature will permit, be simultaneous! When the big steeple of Glogau +peals Midnight,--Forward, with the first stroke; with the second, +much more with the twelfth stroke, be one and all of you, in the +utmost silence, advancing! And, under pain of death, two things: +Not one shot till you are in; No plundering when you are.'--In this +manner is the silent three-sided avalanche to be let go. +Whereupon", says my Dryasdust, "the Generals retired; and had, for +one item, their fire-arms all cleaned and new-loaded." +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 823; ii. 165.] + +Without plans of Glogau, and more detail and study than the reader +would consent to, there can no Narrative be given. Glogau has +Ramparts, due Ring-fence, palisaded and repaired by Wallis; +inside of this is an old Town-Wall, which will need petards: +there are about 1,000 men under Wallis, and altogether on the +works, not to count a mortar or two, fifty-eight big guns. +The reader must conceive a poor Town under blockade, in the wintry +night-time, with its tough Count Wallis; ill-off for the +necessaries of life; Town shrouded in darkness, and creeping +quietly to its bed. This on the one hand: and on the other hand, +Prussian battalions marching up, at 10 o'clock or later, with the +utmost softness of step; "taking post behind the ordinary field- +watches;" and at length, all standing ranked, in the invisible +dark; silent, like machinery, like a sleeping avalanche: Husht!-- +No sentry from the walls dreams of such a thing. "Twelve!" sings +out the steeple of Glogau; and in grim whisper the word is, +"VORWARTS!" and the three-winged avalanche is in motion. + +They reach their glacises, their ditches, covered ways, correct as +mathematics; tear out chevaux-de-frise, hew down palisades, in the +given number of minutes: Swift, ye Regiment's-carpenters; +smite your best! Four cannon-shot do now boom out upon them; +which go high over their heads, little dreaming how close at hand +they are. The glacis is thirty feet high, of stiff slope, and +slippery with frost: no matter, the avalanche, led on by Leopold in +person, by Margraf Karl the King's Cousin, by Adjutant Goltz and +the chief personages, rushes up with strange impetus; hews down a +second palisade; surges in;--Wallis's sentries extinct, or driven +to their main guards. There is a singular fire in the besieging +party. For example, Four Grenadiers,--I think of this First Column, +which succeeded sooner, certainly of the Regiment Glasenapp,--four +grenadiers, owing to slippery or other accidents, in climbing the +glacis, had fallen a few steps behind the general body; and on +getting to the top, took the wrong course, and rushed along +rightward instead of leftward. Rightward, the first thing they come +upon is a mass of Austrians still ranked in arms; fifty-two men, as +it turned out, with their Captain over them. Slight stutter ensues +on the part of the Four Grenadiers; but they give one another the +hint, and dash forward: "Prisoners?" ask they sternly, as if all +Prussia had been at their rear. The fifty-two, in the darkness, in +the danger and alarm, answer "Yes."--"Pile arms, then!" Three of +the grenadiers stand to see that done; the fourth runs off for +force, and happily gets back with it before the comedy had become +tragic for his comrades. "I must make acquaintance with these four +men," writes Friedrich, on hearing of it; and he did reward them by +present, by promotion to sergeantcy (to ensigncy one of them), or +what else they were fit for. Grenadiers of Glasenapp: these are the +men Friedrich heard swearing-in under his window, one memorable +morning when he burst into tears! At half-past Twelve, the +Ramparts, on all sides, are ours. + +The Gates of the Town, under axe and petard, can make little +resistance, to Leopold's Column or the other two. A hole is soon +cut in the Town-Gate, where Leopold is; and gallant Wallis, who had +rallied behind it, with his Artillery-General and what they could +get together, fires through the opening, kills four men; but is +then (by order, and not till then) fired upon, and obliged to draw +back, with his Artillery-General mortally hurt. Inside he attempts +another rally, some 200 with him; and here and there perhaps a +house-window tries to give shot; but it is to no purpose, not the +least stand can be made. Poor Wallis is rapidly swept back, into +the Market-place, into the Main Guard-house; and there piles arms: +"Glogau yours, Ihr Herren, and we prisoners of War!" The steeple +had not yet quite struck One. Here has been a good hour's-work! + +Glogau, as in a dream, or half awake, and timidly peeping from +behind window-curtains, finds that it is a Town taken. Glogau +easily consoles itself, I hear, or even is generally glad; +Prussian discipline being so perfect, and ingress now free for the +necessaries of life. There was no plundering; not the least insult: +no townsman was hurt; not even in houses where soldiers had tried +firing from windows. The Prussian Battalions rendezvous in the +Market-place, and go peaceably about their patrolling, and other +business; and meddle with nothing else. They lost, in killed, ten +men; had of killed and wounded, forty-eight; the Austrians rather +more. [Orlich, i. 75, 78; <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +i. 829; irreconcilable otherwise, in some slight points.] +Wallis was to have been set free on parole; but was not,--in +retaliation for some severity of General Browne's in the interim +(picking up of two Silesian Noblemen, suspected of Prussian +tendency, and locking them in Brunn over the Hills),--and had to go +to Berlin, till that was repaired. To the wounded Artillery-General +there was every tenderness shown, but he died in few days.--The +other Prisoners were marched to the Custrin-Stettin quarter; "and +many of them took Prussian service." + +And this is the Scalade of Glogau: a shining feat of those days; +which had great rumor in the Gazettes, and over all the then +feverish Nations, though it has now fallen dim again, as feats do. +Its importance at that time, its utility to Friedrich's affairs, +was undeniable; and it filled Friedrich with the highest +satisfaction, and with admiration to overflowing. Done 9th March, +1741; in one hour, the very earliest of the day. + +Goltz posted back to Schweidnitz with the news; got thither about +5 P.M.; and was received, naturally, with open arms. Friedrich in +person marched out, next morning, to make FEU-DE-JOIE and +TE-DEUM-ing;--there was Royal Letter to Leopold, which flamed +through all the Newspapers, and can still be read in innumerable +Books; Letter omissible in this place. We remark only how punctual +the King is, to reward in money as well as praise, and not the high +only, but the low that had deserved: to Prince Leopold he presents +2,000 pounds; to each private soldier who had been of the storm, +say half a guinea,--doubling and quadrupling, in the special cases, +to as high as twenty guineas, of our present money. To the old +Gazetteers, and their readers everywhere, this of Glogau is a very +effulgent business; bursting out on them, like sudden Bude-light, +in the uncertain stagnancy and expectancy of mankind. Friedrich +himself writes of it to the Old Dessauer:-- + +"The more I think of the Glogau business, the more important I find +it. Prince Leopold has achieved the prettiest military stroke (DIE +SCHONSTE ACTION) that has been done in this Century. From my heart +I congratulate you on having such a Son. In boldness of resolution, +in plan, in execution, it is alike admirable; and quite gives a +turn to my affairs." [Date, 13th March, 1741 (Orlich, i. 77).] + +And indeed, it is a perfect example of Prussian discipline, and +military quality in all kinds; such as it would be difficult to +match elsewhere. Most potently correct; coming out everywhere with +the completeness and exactitude of mathematics; and has in it such +a fund of martial fire, not only ready to blaze out (which can be +exampled elsewhere), but capable of bottling itself IN, and of +lying silently ready. Which is much rarer; and very essential in +soldiering! Due a little to the OLD Dessauer, may we not say, as +well as to the Young? Friedrich Wilhelm is fallen silent; but his +heavy labors, and military and other drillings to Prussian mankind, +still speak with an audible voice. + +About three weeks after this of Glogau, Leopold the Old Dessauer, +over in Brandenburg, does another thing which is important to +Friedrich, and of great rumor in the world. Steps out, namely, with +a force of 36,000 men, horse, foot and artillery, completely +equipped in all points; and takes Camp, at this early season, at a +place called Gottin, not far from Magdeburg, handy at once for +Saxony and for Hanover; and continues there encamped,--"merely for +review purposes." Readers can figure what an astonishment it was to +Kur-Sachsen and British George; and how it struck the wind out of +their Russian Partition-Dream, and awoke them to a sense of the +awful fact!--Capable of being slit in pieces, and themselves +partitioned, at a day's warning, as it were! It was on April 2d, +that Leopold, with the first division of the 36,000, planted his +flag near Gottin. No doubt it was the "detestable Project" that had +brought him out, at so early a season for tent-life, and nobody +could then guess why. He steadily paraded here, all summer; +keeping his 36,000 well in drill, since there was nothing else +needed of him. + +The Camp at Gottin flamed greatly abroad through the timorous +imaginations of mankind, that Year; and in the Newspapers are many +details of it. And, besides the important general fact, there is +still one little point worth special mention: namely, that old +Field-marshal Katte (Father of poor Lieutenant Katte whom we knew) +was of it; and perhaps even got his death by it: "Chief Commander +of the Cavalry here," such honor had he; but died at his post, in a +couple of months, "at Rekahn, May 31st;" [<italic> Militair- +Lexikon, <end italic> ii. 254.] poor old gentleman, perhaps unequal +to the hardships of field-life at so early a season of the year. + + +FRIEDRICH TAKES THE FIELD, WITH SOME POMP; GOES INTO THE MOUNTAINS, +--BUT COMES FAST BACK. + +At Glogau there was Homaging, on the very morrow after the storm; +on the second day, the superfluous regiments marched off: no want +of vigorous activity to settle matters on their new footing there. +General Kalkstein (Friedrich's old Tutor, whom readers have +forgotten again) is to be Commandant of Glogau; an office of honor, +which can be done by deputy except in cases of real stress. +The place is to be thoroughly new-fortified,--which important point +they commit to Engineer Wallrave, a strong-headed heavy-built Dutch +Officer, long since acquired to the service, on account of his +excellence in that line; who did, now and afterwards, a great deal +of excellent engineering for Friedrich; but for himself (being of +deep stomach withal, and of life too dissolute) made a tragic thing +of it ultimately. As will be seen, if we have leisure. + +In seven or eight days, Prince Leopold having wound up his Glogau +affairs, and completed the new preliminaries there, joins the King +at Schweidnitz. In the highest favor, as was natural. Kalkstein is +to take a main hand in the Siege of Neisse; for which operation it +is hoped there will soon be weather, if not favorable yet +supportable. What of the force was superfluous at Glogau had at +once marched off, as we observed; and is now getting re-distributed +where needful. There is much shifting about; strengthening of +posts, giving up of posts: the whole of which readers shall imagine +for themselves,--except only two points that are worth remembering: +FIRST, that Kalkstein with about 12,000 takes post at Grotkau, some +twenty-five miles north of Neisse, ready to move on, and open +trenches, when required: and SECOND, that Holstein-Beck gets posted +at Frankenstein (chief place of that Baumgarten Skirmish), say +thirty-five miles west-by-north of Neisse; and has some 8 or 10,000 +Horse and Foot thereabouts, spread up and down,--who will be much +wanted, and not procurable, on an occasion that is coming. + +Friedrich has given up the Jablunka Pass; called in the Jablunka +and remoter posts; anxious to concentrate, before the Enemy get +nigh. That is the King's notion; and surely a reasonable one; +the AREA of the Prussian Army, as I guess it from the Maps, being +above 2,000 square miles, beginning at Breslau only, and leaving +out Glogau. Schwerin thinks differently, but without good basis. +Both are agreed, "The Austrian Army cannot take the field till the +forage come," till the new grass spring, which its cavalry find +convenient. That is the fair supposition; but in that both are +mistaken, and Schwerin the more dangerously of the two.--Meanwhile, +the Pandour swarms are observably getting rifer, and of stormier +quality; and they seem to harbor farther to the East than formerly, +and not to come all out of Glatz. Which perhaps are symptomatic +circumstances? The worst effect of these preliminary Pandour clouds +is, Your scout-service cannot live among them; they hinder +reconnoitring, and keep the Enemy veiled from you. Of that sore +mischief Friedrich had, first and last, ample experience at their +hands! This is but the first instalment of Pandours to Friedrich; +and the mere foretaste of what they can do in the veiling way. + +Behind the Mountains, in this manner, all is inane darkness to +Friedrich and Schwerin. They know only that Neipperg is +rendezvousing at Olmutz; and judge that he will still spend many +weeks upon it; the real facts being: That Neipperg--"who arrived in +Olmutz on the 10th of March," the very day while Glogau was +homaging--has been, he and those above him and those under him, +driving preparations forward at a furious rate. That Neipperg held +--I think at Steinberg his hithermost post, some twenty miles +hither of Olmutz--a Council of War, "all the Generals and even +Lentulus from Glatz, present at it," day not given; where the +unanimous decision was, "March straightway; save Neisse, since +Glogau is gone!"--and in fine, That on the 26th, Neipperg took the +road accordingly, "in spite of furious snow blowing in his face;" +and is ever since (30,000 strong, says rumor, but perhaps 10,000 of +them mere Pandours) unweariedly climbing the Mountains, laboriously +jingling forward with his heavy guns and ammunition-wagons; +"contending with the steep snowy icy roads;" intent upon saving +Neisse. This is the fact; profoundly unknown to Friedrich and +Schwerin; who will be much surprised, when it becomes patent to +them at the wrong time. + +SCHWEIDNITZ, 27th MARCH. This day Friedrich, with considerable +apparatus, pomp and processional cymballing, greatly the reverse of +his ulterior use and wont in such cases, quitted Schweidnitz and +his Algarottis; solemnly opening Campaign in this manner; and drove +off for Ottmachau, having work there for to-morrow. + +The Siege of Neisse is now to proceed forthwith; trenches to be +opened April 4th. Friedrich is still of opinion, that his posts lie +too wide apart; that especially Schwerin, who is spread among the +Hills in Jagerndorf Country, ought to come down, and take closer +order for covering the siege. [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end +italic> ii. 70.] Schwerin answers, That if the King will spare him +a reinforcement of eight squadrons and nine battalions (say 1,200 +Horse, 9,000 Foot), he will maintain himself where he is, and no +Enemy shall get across the Mountains at all. That is Schwerin's +notion; who surely is something of a judge. Friedrich assents; will +himself conduct the reinforcement to Schwerin, and survey matters, +with his own eyes, up yonder. Friedrich marches from Ottmachau, +accordingly, 29th March;--Kalkstein, Holstein-Beck, and others are +to be rendezvoused before Neisse, in the interim; trenches ready +for opening on the sixth day hence;--and in this manner, climbs +these Mountains, and sees Jagerndorf Country for the first time. + +Beautiful blue world of Hills, ridge piled on ridge behind that +Neisse region; fruitful valleys lapped in them, with grim stone +Castles and busy little Towns disclosing themselves as we advance: +that is Jagerndorf Country,--which Uncle George of Anspach, +hundreds of years ago, purchased with his own money; which we have +now come to lay hold of as his Heir! Friedrich, I believe, thinks +little of all this, and does not remember Uncle George at all. +But such are the facts; and the Country, regarded or not, is very +blue and beautiful, with the Spring sun shining on it; or with the +sudden Spring storms gathering wildly on the peaks, as if for +permanent investiture, but vanishing again straightway, leaving +only a powdering of snow. + +He met Schwerin at Neustadt, half-way to Jagerndorf; whither they +proceeded next day. "What news have you of the Enemy?" was +Friedrich's first question. Schwerin has no news whatever; only +that the Enemy is far off, hanging in long thin straggle from +Olmutz westward. "I have a spy out," said Schwerin; "but he has not +returned yet,"--nor ever will, he might have added. If diligent +readers will now take to their Map, and attend day by day, an +invincible Predecessor has compelled what next follows into human +intelligibility, and into the Diary Form, for their behoof;-- +readers of an idler turn can skip: but this confused hurry-scurry +of marches issues in something which all will have to attend to. + +"JAGERNDORF, 2d APRIL, 1741. This is the day when the Old Dessauer +makes appearance with the first brigades of his Camp at Gottin. +Friedrich is satisfied with what he has seen of Jagerndorf matters; +and intends returning towards Neisse, there to commence on the 4th. +He is giving his final orders, and on the point of setting off, +when--Seven Austrian Deserters, 'Dragoons of Lichtenstein,' come +in; and report, That Neipperg's Army is within a few miles! +And scarcely had they done answering and explaining, when sounds +rise of musketry and cannon, from our outposts on that side; +intimating that here is Neipperg's Army itself. Seldom in his life +was Friedrich in an uglier situation. In Jagerndorf, an open Town, +are only some three or four thousand men, 'with three field-pieces, +and as much powder as will charge them forty times.' Happily these +proved only the Pandour outskirts of Neipperg's Army, scouring +about to reconnoitre, and not difficult to beat; the real body of +it is ascertained to be at Freudenthal, fifteen miles to westward, +southwestward; making towards Neisse, it is guessed, by the other +or western road, which is the nearer to Glatz and to the Austrian +force there. + +"Had Neipperg known what was in Jagerndorf--! But he does not know. +He marches on, next morning, at his usual slow rate; wide clouds of +Pandours accompanying and preceding him; skirmishing in upon all +places [upon Jagerndorf, for instance, though fifteen miles wide of +their road], to ascertain if Prussians are there. One can judge +whether Friedrich and Schwerin were thankful when the huge alarm +produced nothing! 'The mountain,' as Friedrich says, 'gave birth to +a mouse;'--nay it was a 'mouse' of essential vital use to Friedrich +and Schwerin; a warning, That they must instantly collect +themselves, men and goods; and begone one and all out of these +parts, double-quick towards Neisse. Not now with the hope of +besieging Neisse,--far from that;--but of getting their wide- +scattered posts together thereabouts, and escaping destruction +in detail! + +"APRIL 4th, HEAD-QUARTERS NEUSTADT. By violent exertion, with the +sacrifice only of some remote little storehouses, all is +rendezvoused at Jagerndorf, within two days; and this day they +march; King and vanguard reaching Neustadt, some twenty-five miles +forward, some twenty still from Neisse. At Neustadt, the posts that +had stood in that neighborhood are all assembled, and march with +the King to-morrow. Of Neipperg, except by transitory contact with +his Pandour clouds, they have seen nothing: his road is pretty much +parallel to theirs, and some fifteen miles leftward, Glatzward; +goes through Zuckmantel, Ziegenhals, straight upon Neisse. +[Zuckmantel, "Twitch-Cloak," occurs more than once as a Town's name +in those regions: name which, says my Dryasdust without smile +visible, it got from robberies done on travellers, "twitchings of +your cloak," with stand-and-deliver, as you cross those wild +mountain spaces. (Zeiller, <italic> Beschreibung des Konigreichs +Boheim, <end italic> Frankfurt, 1650;--a rather worthless old Book, +like the rest of Zeiller's in that kind.)] Neipperg's men are +wearied with the long climb out of Mahren; and he struggles towards +Neisse as the first object;--holding upon Glatz and Lentulus with +his left. Numerous orders have been speeded from the King's +quarters, at Jagerndorf, and here at Neustadt; order especially to +Holstein-Beck at Frankenstein, and to Kalkstein at Grotkau, How +they are to unite, first with one another; and then to cross Neisse +River, and unite with the King,--to which end there is already a +Bridge laid for them, or about to be laid in good time. + +"APRIL 5th, HEAD-QUARTERS STEINAU. Steinau is a little Town twenty +miles east of Neisse, on the road to Kosel [strongish place, on the +Oder, some forty miles farther east]: here Friedrich, with the main +body, take their quarters; rearguard being still at Neustadt. +Temporary Bridge there is, ready or all but ready, at Sorgau +[twelve miles to north of us, on our left]: by this Kalkstein, with +his 10,000, comes punctually across; while other brigades from the +Kosel side are also punctual in getting in; which is a great +comfort: but of Holstein-Beck there is no vestige, nor did there +ever appear any. Holstein, 'whom none of the repeated orders sent +him could reach,' says Friedrich, 'remained comfortably in his +quarters; and looked at the Enemy rushing past him to right and +left, without troubling his head with them.' [<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> ii. 70.] The too easy-minded Holstein! +Austrian Deserters inform us, That General Neipperg arrived to-day +with his Army in Neisse; and has there been joined by Lentulus with +the Glatz force, chiefly cavalry, a good many thousands. We may be +attacked, then, this very night, if they are diligent? Friedrich +marks out ground and plan in such case, and how and where each is +to rank himself. There came nothing of attack; but the poor little +Village of Steinau, with so many troops in it and baggage-drivers +stumbling about, takes fire; burns to ashes; 'and we had great +difficulty in saving the artillery and powder through the narrow +streets, with the houses all burning on each hand.'" Fancy it,--and +the poor shrieking inhabitants; gone to silence long since with +their shrieks, not the least whisper left of them. "The Prussians +bivouac on the field, each in the place that has been marked out. +Night extremely cold." + +In this poor Steinau was a Schloss, which also went up in fire; +disclosing certain mysteries of an almost mythical nature to the +German Public. It was the Schloss of a Grafin von Callenberg, a +dreadful old Dowager of Medea-Messalina type, who "always wore +pistols about her;" pistols, and latterly, with more and more +constancy, a brandy-bottle;--who has been much on the tongues of +men for a generation back. Herr Nussler (readers recollect shifty +Nussler) knew her, in the way of business, at one time; with pity, +if also with horror. Some weeks ago, she was, by the Austrian +Commandant at Neisse, summoned out of this Schloss, as in +correspondence with Prussian Officers: peasants breaking in, tied +her with ropes to the bed where she was; put bed and her into a +farm-cart, and in that scandalous manner delivered her at Neisse to +the Commandant; by which adventure, and its rages and +unspeakabilities, the poor old Callenberg is since dead. And now +the very Schloss is dead; and there is finis to a human dust- +vortex, such as is sometimes noisy for a time. Perhaps Nussler may +again pass that way, if we wait. [Busching, <italic> Beitrage, <end +italic> ii.273 et seqq.] + +"APRIL 6th, HEAD-QUARTERS FRIEDLAND. To Friedland on the 6th.,--and +do not, as expected, get away next morning. Friedland is ten miles +down the Neisse, which makes a bend of near ninety degrees opposite +Steinau; and runs thence straight north for the Oder, which it +reaches some dozen miles or more above Brieg. Both Steinau and +Friedland are a good distance from the River; Friedland, the nearer +of the two, with Sorgau Bridge direct west of it, is perhaps eight +miles from that important structure. There, being now tolerably +rendezvoused, and in strength for action, Friedrich purposes to +cross Neisse River to-morrow; hoping perhaps to meet Holstein-Beck, +and incorporate him; anxious, at any rate, to get between the +Austrians and Ohlau, where his heavy Artillery, his Ammunition, not +to mention other indispensables, are lying. The peculiarity of +Neipperg at this time is, that the ground he occupies bears no +proportion to the ground he commands. His regular Horse are +supposed to be the best in the world; and of the Pandour kind, who +live, horse and man, mainly upon nothing (which means upon theft), +his supplies are unlimited. He sits like a volcanic reservoir, +therefore, not like a common fire of such and such intensity and +power to burn;--casts the ashes of him, on all sides, to many +miles distance. + +"FRIDAY 7th APRIL, FRIEDLAND (still Head-quarters). Unluckily, on +trying, there is no passage to be had at Sorgau. The Officer on +charge there still holds the Bridge, but has been obliged to break +away the farther end of it; 'Lentulus and Dragoons, several +thousands strong' (such is the report), having taken post there. +Friedrich commands that the Bridge be reinstated; field-pieces to +defend it; Prince Leopold to cross, and clear the ways. All Friday, +Friedrich waiting at Friedland, was spent in these details. +Leopold in due force started for Sorgau, himself with Cavalry in +the van; Leopold did storm across, and go charging and fencing, +some space, on the other side; but, seeing that it was in truth +Lentulus, and Dragoons without limit, had to send report +accordingly; and then to wind himself to this side again, on new +order from the King. What is to be done, then? Here is no crossing. +Friedrich decides to go down the River; he himself to Lowen, +perhaps near twenty miles farther down, but where there is a Bridge +and Highway leading over; Prince Leopold, with the heavier +divisions and baggages, to Michelau, some miles nearer, and there +to build his Pontoons and cross. Which was effected, with success. +And so, + +"SATURDAY, 8th APRIL, With great punctuality, the King and Leopold +met at Michelau, both well across the Neisse. Here on Pontoons, +Leopold had got across about noon; and precisely as he was +finishing, the King's Column, which had crossed at Lowen, and come +up the left bank again, arrived. The King, much content with +Leopold's behavior, nominates him General of Infantry, a stage +higher in promotion, there and then. Brieg Blockade is, as natural, +given up; the Blockading Body joining with the King, this morning, +while he passed that way. From Holstein-Beck not the least +whisper,--nor to him, if we knew it. + +"Neipperg has quitted Neisse; but walks invisible within clouds of +Pandours; nothing but guessing as to Neipperg's motions. +Rightly swift, aud awake to his business, Neipperg might have done, +might still do, a stroke upon us here. But he takes it easy; +marches hardly five miles a day, since he quitted Neisse again. +From Michelau, Friedrich for his part turns southwestward, in quest +of Holstein and other interests; marches towards Grotkau, not +intending much farther that night. Thick snow blowing in their +faces, nothing to be seen ahead, the Prussian column tramps along. +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> ii. 156.] In Leipe, a +little Hamlet sidewards of the road, short way from Grotkau, our +Hussar Vanguard had found Austrian Hussars; captured forty, and +from them learned that the Austrian Army is in Grotkau; that they +took Grotkau half an hour before, and are there! A poor Lieutenant +Mitschepfal (whom I think Friedrich used to know in Reinsberg) lay +in Grotkau, 'with some sixty recruits and deserters,' says +Friedrich,--and with several hundreds of camp-laborers (intended +for the trenches, which will not now be opened):--Mitschepfal made +a stout defence; but, after three hours of it, had to give in: and +there is nothing now for us at Grotkau. 'Halt,' therefore! Neipperg +is evidently pushing towards Ohlau, towards Breslau, though in a +leisurely way; there it will behoove us to get the start of him, if +humanly possible: To the right about, therefore, without delay! +The Prussians repass Leipe (much to the wonder of its simple +people); get along, some seven miles farther, on the road for +Ohlau; and quarter, that night, in what handy villages there are; +the King's Corps in two Villages, which he calls 'Pogrel and +Alsen,'"--which are to be found still on the Map as "Pogarell and +Alzenau," on the road from Lowen towards Ohlau. + +This is the end of that March into the Mountains, with Neisse Siege +hanging triumphant ahead. These are the King's quarters, this +wintry Spring night, Saturday, 8th April, 1741; and it is to be +guessed there is more of care than of sleep provided for him there. +Seldom, in his life, was Friedrich in a more critical position; +and he well knows it, none better. And could have his remorses upon +it,--were these of the least use in present circumstances. Here are +two Letters which he wrote that night; veiling, we perceive, a very +grim world of thoughts; betokening, however, a mind made up. +Jordan, Prince August Wilhelm Heir-Apparent, and other fine +individuals who shone in the Schweidnitz circle lately, are in +Breslau, safe sheltered against this bad juncture; Maupertuis was +not so lucky as to go with them. + +THE KING TO PRINCE AUGUST WILHELM (in Breslau). + +"POGARELL, 8th April, 1741. + +"MY DEAREST BROTHER,--The Enemy has just got into Silesia; we are +not more than a mile (QUART DE MILLE) from them. To-morrow must +decide our fortune. + +"If I die, do not forget a Brother who has always loved you very +tenderly. I recommend to you my most dear Mother, my Domestics, and +my First Battalion [LIFEGUARD OF FOOT, men picked from his own old +Ruppin Regiment and from the disbanded Giants, star of all the +Battalions]. [See Preuss, i. 144, iv. 309; Nicolai, <italic> +Beschreibung von Berlin, <end italic> iii, 1252.] Eichel and +Schuhmacher [Two of the Three Clerks] are informed of all my +testamentary wishes. Remember me always, you; but console yourself +for my death: the glory of the Prussian Arms, and the honor of the +House have set me in action, and will guide me to my last moment. +You are my sole Heir: I recommend to you, in dying, those whom I +have the most loved during my life: Keyserling, Jordan, +Wartensleben; Hacke, who is a very honest man; Fredersdorf +[Factotum], and Eichel, in whom you may place entire confidence. +I bequeath 8,000 crowns (1,200 pounds, which I have with me, to my +Domestics; but all that I have elsewhere depends on you. To each of +my Brothers and Sisters make a present in my name; a thousand +affectionate regards (AMITIES ET COMPLIMENTS) to my Sister of +Baireuth. You know what I think on their score; and you know better +than I could tell you, the tenderness and all the sentiments of +most inviolable friendship with which I am, dearest Brother, + +"Your faithful Brother and Servant till death, + +"FEDERIC." +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xxvi. 85; List of + +Friedrich's Testamentary arrangements in Note there,--Six in all, +at different times, besides this.] + +THE KING TO M. JORDAN (in Breslau). + +"POGARELL, 8th April, 1741. + +"My DEAR JORDAN,---We are going to fight to-morrow. Thou knowest +the chances of war; the life of Kings not more regarded than that +of private people. I know not what will happen to me. + +"If my destiny is finished, remember a friend, who loves thee +always tenderly: if Heaven prolong my days, I will write to thee +after to-morrow, and thou wilt hear of our victory. Adieu, dear +friend; I shall love thee till death. + +"FEDERIC." +[Ib. xvii. 98.] + +The King, we incidentally discover somewhere, "had no sleep that +night;" none, "nor the next night either,"--such a crisis coming, +still not come. + + + +Chapter X. + +BATTLE OF MOLLWITZ. + +"To-morrow," Sunday, did not prove the Day of Fight, after all. +Being a day of wild drifting snow, so that you could not see twenty +paces, there was nothing for it but to sit quiet. The King makes +all his dispositions; sketches out punctually, to the last item, +where each is to station himself, how the Army is to advance in +Four Columns, ready for Neipperg wherever he may be,--towards Ohlau +at any rate, whither it is not doubted Neipperg is bent. +These snowy six-and-thirty hours at Pogarell were probably, since +the Custrin time, the most anxious of Friedrich's life. + +Neipperg, for his part, struggles forward a few miles, this Sunday, +April 9th; the Prussians rest under shelter in the wild weather. +Neipperg's head-quarters, this night, are a small Village or +Hamlet, called Mollwitz: there and in the adjacent Hamlets, chiefly +in Laugwitz and Gruningen, his Army lodges itself:--he is now +fairly got between us and Ohlau,--if, in the blowing drift, we knew +it, or he knew it. But, in this confusion of the elements, neither +party knows of the other: Neipperg has appointed that to-morrow, +Monday, l0th, shall be a rest-day:--appointment which could by no +means be kept, as it turned out! + +Friedrich had despatched messengers to Ohlau, that the force there +should join him; messengers are all captured. The like message had +already gone to Brieg, some days before, and the Blockading Body, a +good few thousand strong, quitted Brieg, as we saw, and effected +their junction with him. All day, this Sunday, 9th, it still snows +and blows; you cannot see a yard before you. No hope now of +Holstein-Beck. Not the least news from any quarter; Ohlau +uncertain, too likely the wrong way: What is to be done? We are cut +off from our Magazines, have only provision for one other day. +"Had this weather lasted," says an Austrian reporter of these +things, "his Majesty would have passed his time very ill." +[<italic> Feldzuge der Preussen <end italic> (the complete Title +is, <italic> Sammlung ungedruckter Nachrichten so die Geschichte +der Feldzuge der Preussen von 1740 bis 1779 erlautern, <end italic> +or in English words, <italic> Collection of unprinted Narratives +which elucidate the Prussian Campaigns from 1740 to 1779: <end +italic> 5 vols. Dresden, 1782-1785), i. 33. Excellent Narratives, +modest, brief, effective (from Private Diaries and the like; many +of them given also in SEYFARTH); well worth perusal by the studious +military man, and creditably characteristic of the Prussian writers +of them and actors in them.] + +Of the Battle of Mollwitz, as indeed of all Friedrich's Battles, +there are ample accounts new and old, of perfect authenticity and +scientific exactitude; so that in regard to military points the due +clearness is, on study, completely attainable. But as to personal +or human details, we are driven back upon a miscellany of sources; +most of which, indeed all of which except Nicolai, when he +sparingly gives us anything, are of questionable nature; +and, without intending to be dishonest, do run out into the +mythical, and require to be used with caution. The latest and +notablest of these, in regard to Mollwitz, is the pamphlet of a +Dr. Fuchs; from which, in spite of its amazing quality, we expect +to glean a serviceable item here and there. [<italic> Jubelschrift +zur Feier <end italic> (Centenary) <italic> der Schlacht bei +Mollwitz, 10 April, 1741, <end italic> von Dr. Medicinae Fuchs +(Brieg, 10th April, 1841).] It is definable as probably the most +chaotic Pamphlet ever written; and in many places, by dint of +uncorrected printing, bad grammar, bad spelling, bad sense, and in +short, of intrinsic darkness in so vivacious a humor, it has become +abstruse as Sanscrit; and really is a sharp test of what knowledge +you otherwise have of the subject. Might perhaps be used in that +way, by the Examining Military Boards, in Prussia and elsewhere, if +no other use lie in it? Fuchs's own contributions, mere ignorance, +folly and credulity, are not worth interpreting: but he has +printed, and in the same abstruse form, one or two curious Parish +Manuscripts, particularly a "HISTORY" of this War, privately jotted +down by the then Schoolmaster of Mollwitz, a good simple accurate +old fellow-creature; through whose eyes it is here and there worth +while to look. In regard to Fuchs himself, a late Tourist says:-- + +"This 'Centenary-Celebration Pamphlet' (Celebration itself, so +obtuse was the Country, did not take effect) was by a zealous, +noisy but not wise, old Medical Gentleman of these parts, called +Dr. Fuchs (FOX); who had set his heart on raising, by subscription, +a proper National Monument on the Field of Mollwitz, and so closing +his old career. Subscriptions did not take, in that April, 1841, +nor in the following months or twelve-months: the zealous Doctor, +therefore, indignantly drew his own purse; got a big Obelisk of +Granite hewn ready, with suitable Inscription on it; carted his big +Obelisk from the quarries of Strehlen; assembled the Country round +it, on Mollwitz Field; and passionately discoursed and pleaded, +That at least the Country should bring block-and-tackle, with +proper framework, and set up this Obelisk on the pedestal he had +there built for it. The Country listened cheerfully (for the old +Doctor was a popular man, clever though flighty); but the Country +was again obtuse in the way of active furtherance, and would not +even bring block-and-tackle. The old Doctor had to answer, 'Well, +then!' and go on his way on more serious errands. The cattle have +much undermined, and rubbed down, his poor Pedestal, which is of +rubble-work; his Obelisk still lies mournfully horizontal, +uninjured;--and really ought to be set up, by some parish-rate, or +effort of the community otherwise." [Tourist's Note (Brieg, 1858).] + +From the old Mollwitz Schoolmaster we distil the following:-- + +"MOLLWITZ, SUNDAY, 9th APRIL. Country for two days back: was in new +alarm by the Austrian Garrison of Brieg now left at liberty, who +sallied out upon the Villages about, and plundered black-cattle, +sheep, grain, and whatever they could come at. But this day +(Sunday) in Mollwitz the whole Austrian Army was upon us. +First, there went 300 Hussars through the Village to Gruningen, who +quartered themselves there; and rushed hither and thither into +houses, robbing and plundering. From one they took his best horses, +from another they took linen, clothes, and other furnitures and +victual. General Neuburg [Neipperg] halted here at Mollwitz, with +the whole Army; before the Village, in mind to quarter. And quarter +was settled, so that a BAUER [Plough-Farmer] got four to five +companies to lodge, and a GARTNER [Spade-Farmer] two or three +hundred cavalry. .The houses were full of Officers, the GARTE +[Garths] and the Fields full of horsemen and baggage; and all +round, you saw nothing but fires burning; the ZAUNE [wooden +railings] were instantly torn down for firewood; the hay, straw, +barley and haver, were eaten away, and brought to nothing; +and everything from the barns was carried out. And, as the whole +Army could not lodge itself with us, 1,100 Infantry quartered at +Laugwitz; Barzdorf got 400 Cavalry; and this day, nobody knew what +would come of it." [Extract in FUCHS, p. 6.] + +Monday morning, the Prussians are up betimes; King Friedrich, as +above noted, had not, or had hardly at all, slept during those two +nights, such his anxieties. This morning, all is calm, sleeked out +into spotless white; Pogarell and the world are wrapt as in a +winding-sheet, near two feet of snow on the ground. Air hard and +crisp; a hot sun possible about noon season. "By daybreak" we are +all astir, rendezvousing, ranking,--into Four Columns; ready to +advance in that fashion for battle, or for deploying into battle, +wherever the Enemy turn up. The orders were all given overnight, +two nights ago; were all understood, too, and known to be +rhadamanthine; and, down to the lowest pioneer, no man is uncertain +what to do. If we but knew where the Enemy is; on which side of us; +what doing, what intending? + +Scouts, General-Adjutants are out on the quest; to no purpose +hitherto. One young General-Adjutant, Saldern, whose name we shall +know again, has ridden northward, has pulled bridle some way north +of Pogarell; hangs, gazing diligently through his spy-glass, +there;--can see nothing but a Plain of silent snow, with sparse +bearding of bushes (nothing like a hedge in these countries), and +here and there a tree, the miserable skeleton of a poplar:-- +when happily, owing to an Austrian Dragoon--Be pleased to accept +(in abridged form) the poor old Schoolmaster's account of a +small thing:-- + +"Austrian Dragoon of the regiment Althan, native of Kriesewitz in +this neighborhood, who was billeted in Christopher Schonwitz's, had +been much in want of a clean shirt, and other interior outfit; +and had, last night, imperatively despatched the man Scholzke, a +farm-servant of the said Christopher's, off to his, the Dragoon's, +Father in Kriesewitz, to procure such shirt or outfit, and to +return early with the same; under penalty of--Scholzke and his +master dare not think under what penalty. Scholzke, floundering +homewards with the outfit from Kriesewitz, flounders at this moment +into Saldern's sphere of vision: 'Whence, whither?' asks Saldern: +'Dost thou know where the Austrians are?' (RECHT GUT: in Mollwitz, +whither I am going!' Saldern takes him to the King,--and that was +the first clear light his Majesty had on the matter." [Fuchs, pp. +6, 7.] That or something equivalent, indisputably was; Saldern and +"a Peasant," the account of it in all the Books. + +The King says to this Peasant, "Thou shalt ride with me to-day!" +And Scholzke, Ploschke others call him,--heavy-footed rational +biped knowing the ground there practically, every yard of it,--did, +as appears, attend the King all morning; and do service, that was +recognizable long years afterwards. "For always," say the Books, +"when the King held review here, Ploschke failed not to make +appearance on the field of Pogarell, and get recognition and a gift +from his Majesty." + +At break of day the ranking and arranging began. Pogarell clock is +near striking ten, when the last squadron or battalion quits +Pogarell; and the Four Columns, punctiliously correct, are all +under way. Two on each side of Ohlau Highway; steadily advancing, +with pioneers ahead to clear any obstacle there may be. +Few obstacles; here and there a little ditch (where Ploschke's +advice may be good, under the sleek of the snow), no fences, smooth +wide Plain, nothing you would even call a knoll in it for many +miles ahead and around. Mollwitz is some seven miles north from +Pogarell; intermediate lie dusty fractions of Villages more than +one; two miles or more from Mollwitz we come to Pampitz on our +left, the next considerable, if any of them can be +counted considerable. + +"All these Dorfs, and indeed most German ones," says my Tourist, +"are made on one type; an agglomerate of dusty farmyards, with +their stalls and barns; all the farmyards huddled together in two +rows; a broad negligent road between, seldom mended, never swept +except by the elements. Generally there is nothing to be seen, on +each hand, but thatched roofs, dead clay walls and rude wooden +gates; sometimes a poor public-house, with probable beer in it; +never any shop, nowhere any patch of swept pavement, or trim +gathering-place for natives of a social gossipy turn: the road lies +sleepy, littery, good only for utilitarian purposes. In the middle +of the Village stands Church and Churchyard, with probably some +gnarled trees around it: Church often larger than you expected; +the Churchyard, always fenced with high stone-and-mortar wall, is +usually the principal military post of the place. Mollwitz, at the +present day, has something of whitewash here and there; one of the +farmer people, or more, wearing a civilized prosperous look. +The belfry offers you a pleasant view: the roofs and steeples of +Brieg, pleasantly visible to eastward; villages dotted about, +Laugwitz, Barzdorf, Hermsdorf, clear to your inquiring: and to +westward, and to southward, tops of Hill-country in the distance. +Westward, twenty miles off, are pleasant Hills; and among them, if +you look well, shadowy Town-spires, which you are assured are +Strehlen, a place also of interest in Friedrich's History.--Your +belfry itself, in Mollwitz, is old, but not unsound; and the big +iron clock grunts heavily at your ear, or perhaps bursts out in a +too deafening manner, while you study the topographies. +Pampitz, too, seems prosperous, in its littery way; the Church is +bigger and newer,"--owing to an accident we shall hear of soon;-- +"Country all about seems farmed with some industry, but with +shallow ploughing; liable to drought. It is very sandy in quality; +shorn of umbrage; painfully naked to an English eye." That is the +big champaign, coated with two feet of snow, where a great Action +is now to go forward. + +Neipperg, all this while, is much at his ease on this white +resting-day, He is just sitting down to dinner at the Dorfschulze’s +(Village Provost, or miniature Mayor of Mollwitz), a composed man; +when--rockets or projectiles, and successive anxious sputterings +from the steeple-tops of Brieg, are hastily reported: what can it +mean? Means little perhaps;--Neipperg sends out a Hussar party to +ascertain, and composedly sets himself to dine. In a little while +his Hussar party will come galloping back, faster than it went; +faster and fewer;--and there will be news for Neipperg during +dinner! Better here looking out, though it was a rest-day?-- + +The truth is, the Prussian advance goes on with punctilious +exactitude, by no means rapidly. Colonel Count van Rothenburg,-- +the same whom we lately heard of in Paris as a miracle of gambling, +--he now here, in a new capacity, is warily leading the Vanguard of +Dragoons; warily, with the Four Columns well to rear of him: +the Austrian Hussar party came upon Rothenburg, not two miles from +Mollwitz; and suddenly drew bridle. Them Rothenburg tumbles to the +right-about, and chases;--finds, on advancing, the Austrian Army +totally unaware. It is thought, had Rothenburg dashed forward, and +sent word to the rearward to dash forward at their swiftest, the +Austrian Army might have been cut in pieces here, and never have +got together to try battle at all. But Rothenburg had no orders; +nay, had orders Not to get into fighting;--nor had Friedrich +himself, in this his first Battle, learned that feline or leonine +promptitude of spring which he subsequently manifested. Far from +it! Indeed this punctilious deliberation, and slow exactitude as on +the review-ground, is wonderful and noteworthy at the first start +of Friedrich;--the faithful apprentice-hand still rigorous to the +rules of the old shop. Ten years hence, twenty years hence, had +Friedrich found Neipperg in this condition, Neipperg's account had +been soon settled!-- Rothenburg drove back the Hussars, all manner +of successive Hussar parties, and kept steadily ahead of the main +battle, as he had been bidden. + +Pampitz Village being now passed, and in rear of them to left, the +Prussian Columns halt for some instants; burst into field-music; +take to deploying themselves into line. There is solemn wheeling, +shooting out to right and left, done with spotless precision: +once in line,--in two lines, "each three men deep," lines many +yards apart,--they will advance on Mollwitz; still solemnly, field- +music guiding, and banners spread. Which will be a work of time. +That the King's frugal field-dinner was shot away, from its camp- +table near Pampitz (as Fuchs has heard), is evidently mythical; +and even impossible, the Austrians having yet no cannon within +miles of him; and being intent on dining comfortably themselves, +not on firing at other people's dinners. + +Fancy Neipperg's state of mind, busy beginning dinner in the little +Schulze's, or Town-Provost's house, when the Hussars dashed in at +full gallop, shouting "DER FEIND, The Enemy! All in march there; +vanguard this side of Pampitz; killed forty of us!"--Quick, your +Plan of Battle, then? Whitherward; How; What? answer or perish! +Neipperg was infinitely struck; dropt knife and fork: "Send for +Romer, General of the Horse!" Romer did the indispensable: a swift +man, not apt to lose head. Romer's battle-plan, I should hope, is +already made; or it will fare ill with Neipperg and him. But beat, +ye drummers; gallop, ye aides-de-camp as for life! The first thing +is to get our Force together; and it lies scattered about in three +other Villages besides Mollwitz, miles apart. Neipperg's trumpets +clangor, his aides-de-camp gallop: he has his left wing formed, and +the other parts in a state of rapid genesis, Horse and Foot pouring +in from Laugwitz, Barzdorf, Gruningen, before the Prussians have +quite done deploying themselves, and got well within shot of him. +Romer, by birth a Saxon gentleman, by all accounts a superior +soldier and excellent General of Horse, commands this Austrian left +wing, General Goldlein, [(Anonymous) MARIA THERESA (already cited), +p. 8 n.] a Swiss veteran of good parts, presiding over the Infantry +in that quarter. Neipperg himself, were he once complete, will +command the right wing. + +Neipperg is to be in two lines, as the Prussians are, with horse on +each wing, which is orthodox military order. His length of front, +I should guess, must have been something better than two English +miles: a sluggish Brook, called of Laugwitz, from the Village of +that name which lies some way across, is on his right hand; +sluggish, boggy; stagnating towards the Oder in those parts:-- +improved farming has, in our time, mostly dried the strip of bog, +and made it into coarse meadow, which is rather a relief amid the +dry sandy element. Neipperg's right is covered by that. His left +rests on the Hamlet of Gruningen, a mile-and-half northeast of +Mollwitz;--meant to have rested on Hermsdorf nearly east, but the +Prussians have already taken that up. The sun coming more and more +round to west of south (for it is now past noon) shines right in +Neipperg's face, and is against him: how the wind is, nobody +mentions,--probably there was no wind. His regular Cavalry, 8,600, +outnumbers twice or more that of the Prussians, not to mention +their quality; and he has fewer Infantry, somewhat in proportion;-- +the entire force on each side is scarcely above 20,000, the +Prussians slightly in majority by count. In field-pieces Neipperg +is greatly outnumbered; the Prussians having about threescore, he +only eighteen. [Kausler, <italic> Atlas der merkwurdigsten +Schlachten, <end italic> p. 232.] And now here ARE the Prussians, +close upon our left wing, not yet in contact with the right,--which +in fact is not yet got into existence;--thank Heaven they have not +come before our left got into existence, as our right (if you knew +it) has not yet quite finished doing!-- + +The Prussians, though so ready for deploying, have had their own +difficulties and delays. Between the boggy Brook of Laugwitz on +their left, and the Village of Hermsdorf, two miles distant, on +which their right wing is to lean, there proves not to be room +enough; [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> ii. 73.] and +then, owing to mistake of Schulenburg (our old pipe-clay friend, +who commands the right wing of Horse here, and is not up in time), +there is too much room. Not room enough, for all the Infantry, we +say: the last three Battalions of the front line therefore, the +three on the utmost right, wheel round, and stand athwart; +EN POTENCE (as soldiers say), or at right angles to the first line; +hanging to it like a kind of lid in that part,--between Schulenburg +and them,--had Schulenburg come up. Thus are the three battalions +got rid of at least; "they cap the First Prussian line +rectangularly, like a lid," says my authority,--lid which does not +reach to the Second Line by a good way. This accidental arrangement +had material effects on the right wing. Unfortunate Schulenburg did +at last come up:--had he miscalculated the distances, then? Once on +the ground, he will find he does not reach to Hermsdorf after all, +and that there is now too much room! What his degree of fault was I +know not; Friedrich has long been dissatisfied with these Dragoons +of Schulenburg; "good for nothing, I always told you" (at that +Skirmish of Baumgarten): and now here is the General himself fallen +blundering!--In respect of Horse, the Austrians are more than two +to one; to make out our deficiency, the King, imitating something +he had read about Gustavus Adolphus, intercalates the Horse- +Squadrons, on each wing, with two Battalions of Grenadiers, and SO +lengthens them;--"a manoeuvre not likely to be again imitated," +he admits. + +All these movements and arrangements are effected above a mile from +Mollwitz, no enemy yet visible. Once effected, we advance again +with music sounding, sixty pieces of artillery well in front,-- +steady, steady!--across the floor of snow which is soon beaten +smooth enough, the stage, this day, of a great adventure. And now +there is the Enemy's left wing, Romer and his Horse; their right +wing wider away, and not yet, by a good space, within cannon-range +of us. It is towards Two of the afternoon; Schulenburg now on his +ground, laments that he will not reach to Hermsdorf;--but it may be +dangerous now to attempt repairing that error? At Two of the clock, +being now fairly within distance, we salute Romer and the Austrian +left, with all our sixty cannon; and the sound of drums and +clarinets is drowned in universal artillery thunder. Incessant, for +they take (by order) to "swift-shooting," which is almost of the +swiftness of musketry in our Prussian practice; and from sixty +cannon, going at that rate, we may fancy some effect. The Austrian +Horse of the left wing do not like it; all the less as the +Austrians, rather short of artillery, have nothing yet to +reply with. + +No Cavalry can stand long there, getting shivered in that way; +in such a noise, were there nothing more. "Are we to stand here +like milestones, then, and be all shot without a stroke struck?" +"Steady!" answers Romer. But nothing can keep them steady: "To be +shot like dogs (WIE HUNDE)! For God's sake (URN GOTTES WILLEN), +lead us forward, then, to have a stroke at them!"--in tones ever +more plangent, plaintively indignant; growing ungovernable. +And Romer can get no orders; Neipperg is on the extreme right, many +things still to settle there; and here is the cannon-thunder going, +and soon their very musketry will open. And--and there is +Schulenburg, for one thing, stretching himself out eastwards +(rightwards) to get hold of Hermsdorf; thinking this an opportunity +for the manoeuvre. "Forward!" cries Romer; and his thirty +Squadrons, like bottled whirlwind now at last let loose, dash upon +Schulenburg's poor ten (five of them of Schulenburg's own +regiment,--who are turned sideways too, trotting towards Hermsdorf, +at the wrong moment,--and dash them into wild ruin. That must have +been a charge! That was the beginning of hours of chaos, seemingly +irretrievable, in that Prussian right wing. + +For the Prussian Horse fly wildly; and it is in vain to rally. +The King is among them; has come in hot haste, conjuring and +commanding: poor Schulenburg addresses his own regiment, "Oh, +shame, shame! shall it be told, then?" rallies his own regiment, +and some others; charges fiercely in with them again; gets a sabre- +slash across the face,--does not mind the sabre-slash, small +bandaging will do;--gets a bullet through the head (or through the +heart, it is not said which); [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end +italic> i. 899.] and falls down dead; his regiment going to the +winds again, and HIS care of it and of other things concluding in +this honorable manner. Nothing can rally that right wing; or the +more you rally, the worse it fares: they are clearly no match for +Romer, these Prussian Horse. They fly along the front of their own +First Line of Infantry, they fly between the two Lines; Romer +chasing,--till the fire of the Infantry (intolerable to our +enemies, and hitting some even of our fugitive friends) repels him. +For the notable point in all this was the conduct of the Infantry; +and how it stood in these wild vortexes of ruin; impregnable, +immovable, as if every man of it were stone; and steadily poured +out deluges of fire,--"five Prussian shots for two Austrian:"--such +is perfect discipline against imperfect; and the iron ramrod +against the wooden. + +The intolerable fire repels Romer, when he trenches on the +Infantry: however, he captures nine of the Prussian sixty guns; +has scattered their Horse to the winds; and charges again and +again, hoping to break the Infantry too,--till a bullet kills him, +the gallant Romer; and some other has to charge and try. It was +thought, had Goldlein with his Austrian Infantry advanced to +support Romer at this juncture, the Battle had been gained. +Five times, before Romer fell and after, the Austrians charged +here; tried the Second Line too; tried once to take Prince Leopold +in rear there. But Prince Leopold faced round, gave intolerable +fire; on one face as on the other, he, or the Prussian Infantry +anywhere, is not to be broken. "Prince Friedrich", one of the +Margraves of Schwedt, King's Cousin, whom we did not know before, +fell in these wild rallyings and wrestlings; "by a cannon-ball, at +the King's hand," not said otherwise where. He had come as +Volunteer, few weeks ago, out of Holland, where he was a rising +General: he has met his fate here,--and Margraf Karl, his Brother, +who also gets wounded, will be a mournful man to-night. + +The Prussian Horse, this right wing of it, is a ruined body; +boiling in wild disorder, flooding rapidly away to rearward,-- +which is the safest direction to retreat upon. They "sweep away the +King's person with them," say some cautious people; others say, +what is the fact, that Schwerin entreated, and as it were +commanded, the King to go; the Battle being, to all appearance, +irretrievable. Go he did, with small escort, and on a long ride,-- +to Oppeln, a Prussian post, thirty-five miles rearward, where there +is a Bridge over the Oder and a safe country beyond. So much is +indubitable; and that he despatched an Aide-de-camp to gallop into +Brandenburg, and tell the Old Dessauer, "Bestir yourself! Here all +seems lost!"-- and vanished from the Field, doubtless in very +desperate humor. Upon which the extraneous world has babbled a good +deal, "Cowardice! Wanted courage: Haha!" in its usual foolish way; +not worth answer from him or from us. Friedrich's demeanor, in that +disaster of his right wing, was furious despair rather; and neither +Schulenburg nor Margraf Friedrich, nor any of the captains, killed +or left living, was supposed to have sinned by "cowardice" in a +visible degree!-- + +Indisputable it is, though there is deep mystery upon it, the King +vanishes from Mollwitz Field at this point for sixteen hours, into +the regions of Myth, "into Fairyland," as would once have been +said; but reappears unharmed in to-morrow's daylight: at which +time, not sooner, readers shall hear what little is to be said of +this obscure and much-disfigured small affair. For the present we +hasten back to Mollwitz,--where the murderous thunder rages +unabated all this while; the very noise of it alarming mankind for +thirty miles round. At Breslau, which is thirty good miles off, +horrible dull grumble was heard from the southern quarter ("still +better, if you put a staff in the ground, and set your ear to it"); +and from the steeple-tops, there was dim cloudland of powder-smoke +discernible in the horizon there. "At Liegnitz," which is twice the +distance, "the earth sensibly shook," [<italic> Helden-Geschichte; +<end italic> and Jordan's Letter, infra.]--at least the air did, +and the nerves of men. + +"Had Goldlein but advanced with his Foot, in support of gallant +Romer!" say the Austrian Books. But Goldlein did not advance; +nor is it certain he would have found advantage in so doing: +Goldlein, where he stands, has difficulty enough to hold his own. +For the notable circumstance, miraculous to military men, still is, +How the Prussian Foot (men who had never been in fire, but whom +Friedrich Wilhelm had drilled for twenty years) stand their ground, +in this distraction of the Horse. Not even the two outlying +Grenadier Battalions will give way: those poor intercalated +Grenadiers, when their Horse fled on the right and on the left, +they stand there, like a fixed stone-dam in that wild whirlpool of +ruin. They fix bayonets, "bring their two field-pieces to flank" +(Winterfeld was Captain there), and, from small arms and big, +deliver such a fire as was very unexpected. Nothing to be made of +Winterfeld and them. They invincibly hurl back charge after charge; +and, with dogged steadiness, manoeuvre themselves into the general +Line again; or into contact with the three superfluous Battalions, +arranged EN POTENCE, whom we heard of. Those three, ranked athwart +in this right wing ("like a lid," between First Line and second), +maintained themselves in like impregnable fashion,--Winterfeld +commanding;--and proved unexpectedly, thinks Friedrich, the saving +of the whole. For they also stood their ground immovable, like +rocks; steadily spouting fire-torrents. Five successive charges +storm upon them, fruitless: "Steady, MEINE KINDER; fix bayonets, +handle ramrods! There is the Horse-deluge thundering in upon you; +reserve your fire, till you see the whites of their eyes, and get +the word; then give it them, and again give it them: see whether +any man or any horse can stand it!" + +Neipperg, soon after Romer fell, had ordered Goldlein forward: +Goldlein with his Infantry did advance, gallantly enough; but to no +purpose. Goldlein was soon shot dead; and his Infantry had to fall +back again, ineffectual or worse. Iron ramrods against wooden; +five shots to two: what is there but falling back? Neipperg sent +fresh Horse from his right wing, with Berlichingen, a new famed +General of Horse; Neipperg is furiously bent to improve his +advantage, to break those Prussians, who are mere musketeers left +bare, and thinks that will settle the account: but it could in no +wise be done. The Austrian Horse, after their fifth trial, renounce +charging; fairly refuse to charge any more; and withdraw dispirited +out of ball-range, or in search of things not impracticable. +The Hussar part of them did something of plunder to rearward;--and, +besides poor Maupertuis's adventure (of which by and by), and an +attempt on the Prussian baggage and knapsacks, which proved to be +"too well guarded,"--"burnt the Church of Pampitz," as some small +consolation. The Prussians had stript their knapsacks, and left +them in Pampitz: the Austrians, it was noticed, stript theirs in +the Field; built walls of them, and fired behind,the same, in a +kneeling, more or less protected posture,--which did not avail +them much. + +In fact, the Austrian Infantry too, all Austrians, hour after hour, +are getting wearier of it: neither Infantry nor Cavalry can stand +being riddled by swift shot in that manner. In spite of their +knapsack walls, various regiments have shrunk out of ball-range; +and several cannot, by any persuasion, be got to come into it +again. Others, who do reluctantly advance,--see what a figure they +make; man after man edging away as he can, so that the regiment +"stands forty to eighty men deep, with lanes through it every two +or three yards;" permeable everywhere to Cavalry, if we had them; +and turning nothing to the Enemy but color-sergeants and bare poles +of a regiment! And Romer is dead, and Goldlein of the Infantry is +dead. And on their right wing, skirted by that marshy Brook of +Laugwitz,--Austrian right wing had been weakened by detachments, +when Berlichingen rode off to succeed Romer,--the Austrians are +suffering: Posadowsky's Horse (among whom is Rothenburg, once +vanguard), strengthened by remnants who have rallied here, are at +last prospering, after reverses. And the Prussian fire of small +arms, at such rate, has lasted now for five hours. The Austrian +Army, becoming instead of a web a mere series of flying tatters, +forming into stripes or lanes in the way we see, appears to have +had about enough. + +These symptoms are not hidden from Schwerin. His own ammunition, +too, he knows is running scarce, and fighters here and there are +searching the slain for cartridges:--Schwerin closes his ranks, +trims and tightens himself a little; breaks forth into universal +field-music, and with banners spread, starts in mass wholly, +"Forwards!" Forwards towards these Austrians and the setting sun. + +An intelligent Austrian Officer, writing next week from Neisse, +[<italic> Feldzuge der Preussen <end italic> (above cited), +i. 38.]' confesses he never saw anything more beautiful. "I can +well say, I never in my life saw anything more beautiful. +They marched with the greatest steadiness, arrow-straight, and +their front like a line (SCHNURGLEICH), as if they had been upon +parade. The glitter of their clear arms shone strangely in the +setting sun, and the fire from them went on no otherwise than a +continued peal of thunder." Grand picture indeed; but not to be +enjoyed as a Work of Art, for it is coming upon us! "The spirits of +our Army sank altogether", continues he; "the Foot plainly giving +way, Horse refusing to come forward, all things wavering towards +dissolution:"--so that Neipperg, to avoid worse, gives the word to +go;--and they roll off at double-quick time, through Mollwitz, over +Laugwitz Bridge and Brook, towards Grotkau by what routes they can. +The sun is just sunk; a quarter to eight, says the intelligent +Austrian Officer,--while the Austrian Army, much to its amazement, +tumbles forth in this bad fashion. + +They had lost nine of their own cannon, and all of those Prussian +nine which they once had, except one: eight cannon MINUS, in all. +Prisoners of them were few, and none of much mark: two Field- +marshals, Romer and Goldlein, lie among the dead; four more of that +rank are wounded. Four standards too are gone; certain kettle-drums +and the like trophies, not in great number. Lieutenant-General +Browne was of these retreating Austrians; a little fact worth +noting: of his actions this day, or of his thoughts (which latter +surely must have been considerable), no hint anywhere. +The Austrians were not much chased; though they might have been,-- +fresh Cavalry (two Ohlau regiments, drawn hither by the sound +[Interesting correct account of their movements and adventures this +day and some previous days, in Nicolai, <italic> Anekdoten, <end +italic> ii. 142-148.]) having hung about to rear of them, for some +time past; unable to get into the Fight, or to do any good till +now. Schwerin, they say, though he had two wounds, was for pursuing +vigorously: but Leopold of Anhalt over-persuaded him; urged the +darkness, the uncertainty. Berlichingen, with their own Horse, +still partly covered their rear; and the Prussians, Ohlauers +included, were but weak in that branch of the service. +Pursuit lasted little more than two miles, and was never hot. +The loss of men, on both sides, was not far from equal, and rather +in favor of the Austrian side:--Austrians counted in killed, +wounded and missing, 4,410 men; Prussians 4,613; [Orlich, i. 108; +Kansler, p. 235, correct; <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +i. 895, incorrect.]--but the Prussians bivouacked on the ground, or +quartered in these Villages, with victory to crown them, and the +thought that their hard day's work had been well done. Besides +Margraf Friedrich, Volunteer from Holland, there lay among the +slain Colonel Count von Finkenstein (Old Tutor's Son), King's +friend from boyhood, and much loved. He was of the six whom we saw +consulting at the door at Reinsberg, during a certain ague-fit; +and he now rests silent here, while the matter has only come +thus far. + +Such was Mollwitz, the first Battle for Silesia; which had to cost +many Battles first and last. Silesia will be gained, we can expect, +by fighting of this kind in an honest cause. But here is something +already gained, which is considerable, and about which there is no +doubt. A new Military Power, it would appear, has come upon the +scene; the Gazetteer-and-Diplomatic world will have to make itself +familiar with a name not much heard of hitherto among the Nations. +"A Nation which can fight," think the Gazetteers; "fight almost as +the very Swedes did; and is led on by its King too,--who may prove, +in his way, a very Charles XII., or small Macedonia's Madman, for +aught one knows?" In which latter branch of their prognostic the +Gazetteers were much out.-- + +The Fame of this Battle, which is now so sunk out of memory, was +great in Europe; and struck, like a huge war-gong, with long +resonance, through the general ear. M. de Voltaire had run across +to Lille in those Spring days: there is a good Troop of Players in +Lille; a Niece, Madame Denis, wife of some Military Commissariat +Denis, important in those parts, can lodge the divine Emilie and +me;--and one could at last see MAHOMET, after five years of +struggling, get upon the boards, if not yet in Paris by a great +way, yet in Lille, which is something. MAHOMET is getting upon the +boards on those terms; and has proceeded, not amiss, through an Act +or two, when a Note from the King of Prussia was handed to +Voltaire, announcing the victory of Mollwitz. Which delightful Note +Voltaire stopt the performance till he read to the Audience: +"Bravissimo!" answered the Audience. "You will see," said M. de +Voltaire to the friends about him, "this Piece at Mollwitz will +make mine succeed:" which proved to be the fact. [Voltaire, +<italic> OEuvres (Vie Privee), <end italic> ii. 74.] For the French +are Anti-Austrian; and smell great things in the wind. "That man is +mad, your Most Christian Majesty?" "Not quite; or at any rate not +mad only!" think Louis and his Belleisles now. + +Dimly poring in those old Books, and squeezing one's way into +face-to-face view of the extinct Time, we begin to notice what a +clangorous rumor was in Mollwitz to the then generation of +mankind;--betokening many things; universal European War, as the +first thing. Which duly came to pass; as did, at a slower rate, the +ulterior thing, not yet so apparent, that indeed a new hour had +struck on the Time Horologe, that a New Epoch had risen. Yes, my +friends. New Charles XII. or not, here truly has a new Man and King +come upon the scene: capable perhaps of doing something? +Slumberous Europe, rotting amid its blind pedantries, its lazy +hypocrisies, conscious and unconscious: this man is capable of +shaking it a little out of its stupid refuges of lies, and +ignominious wrappages and bed-clothes, which will be its grave- +clothes otherwise; and of intimating to it, afar off, that there is +still a Veracity in Things, and a Mendacity in Sham-Things, and +that the difference of the two is infinitely more considerable than +was supposed. + +This Mollwitz is a most deliberate, regulated, ponderously +impressive (GRAVITATISCH) Feat of Arms, as the reader sees; done +all by Regulation methods, with orthodox exactitude; in a slow, +weighty, almost pedantic, but highly irrefragable manner. It is the +triumph of Prussian Discipline; of military orthodoxy well put in +practice: the honest outcome of good natural stuff in those +Brandenburgers, and of the supreme virtues of Drill. Neipperg and +his Austrians had much despised Prussian soldiering: "Keep our soup +hot," cried they, on running out this day to rank themselves; "hot +a little, till we drive these fellows to the Devil!" That was their +opinion, about noon this day: but that is an opinion they have +renounced for all remaining days and years.--It is a Victory due +properly to Friedrich Wilhelm and the Old Dessauer, who are far +away from it. Friedrich Wilhelm, though dead, fights here, and the +others only do his bidding on this occasion. His Son, as yet, adds +nothing of his own; though he will ever henceforth begin largely +adding,--right careful withal to lose nothing, for the Friedrich +Wilhelm contribution is invaluable, and the basis of everything;-- +but it is curious to see in what contrast this first Battle of +Friedrich's is with his latter and last ones. + +Considering the Battle of Mollwitz, and then, in contrast, the +intricate Pragmatic Sanction, and what their consequences were and +their antecedents, it is curious once more! This, then, is what the +Pragmatic Sanction has come to? Twenty years of world-wide +diplomacy, cunningly devised spider-threads overnetting all the +world, have issued here. Your Congresses of Cambray, of Soissons, +your Grumkow-Seckendorf Machiavelisms, all these might as well have +lain in their bed. Real Pragmatic Sanction would have been, A well- +trained Army and your Treasury full. Your Treasury is empty +(nothing in it but those foolish 200,000 English guineas, and the +passionate cry for more): and your Army is not trained as this +Prussian one; cannot keep its ground against this one. Of all those +long-headed Potentates, simple Friedrich Wilhelm, son of Nature, +who had the honesty to do what Nature taught him, has come out, +gainer. You all laughed at him as a fool: do you begin to see now +who was wise, who fool? He has an Army that "advances on you with +glittering musketry, steady as on the parade-ground, and pours out +fire like one continuous thunder-peal;" so that, strange as it +seems, you find there will actually be nothing for you but--taking +to your heels, shall we say?--rolling off with despatch, as second- +best! These things are of singular omen. Here stands one that will +avenge Friedrich Wilhelm,--if Friedrich Wilhelm were not already +sufficiently avenged by the mere verdict of facts, which is +palpably coming out, as Time peels the wiggeries away from them +more and more. Mollwitz and such places are full of veracity; +and no head is so thick as to resist conviction in that kind. + + +OF FRIEDRICH'S DISAPPEARANCE INTO FAIRYLAND, IN THE INTERIM; +AND OF MAUPERTUIS'S SIMILAR ADVENTURE. + +Of the King's Flight, or sudden disappearance into Fairyland, +during this first Battle, the King himself, who alone could have +told us fully, maintained always rigorous silence, and nowhere +drops the least hint. So that the small fact has come down to us +involved in a great bulk of fabulous cobwebs, mostly of an ill- +natured character, set agoing by Voltaire, Valori and others {which +fabulous process, in the good-natured form, still continues +itself); and, except for Nicolai's good industry (in his ANEKDOTEN- +Book), we should have difficulty even in guessing, not to say +understanding, as is now partly possible. The few real particulars +--and those do verify themselves, and hang perfectly together, when +the big globe of fable is burnt off from them--are to the +following effect. + +"Battle lost," said Schwerin: "but what is the loss of a Battle to +that of your Majesty's own Person? For Heaven's sake, go; get +across the Oder; be you safe, till this decide itself!" That was +reasonable counsel. If defeated, Schwerin can hope to retreat upon +Ohlau, upon Breslau, and save the Magazines. This side the Oder, +all will be movements, a whirlpool of Hussars; but beyond the Oder, +all is quiet, open. To Ohlau, to Glogau, nay home to Brandenburg +and the Old Dessauer with his Camp at Gottin, the road is free, by +the other side of the Oder.--Schwerin and Prince Leopold urging +him, the King did ride away; at what hour, with what suite, or with +what adventures (not mostly fabulous) is not known:--but it was +towards Lowen, fifteen miles off (where he crossed Neisse River, +the other day); and thence towards Oppeln, on the Oder, eighteen +miles farther; and the pace was swift. Leopold, on reflection, +ordered off a Squadron of Gens-d'Armes to overtake his Majesty, at +Lowen or sooner; which they never did. Passing Pampitz, the King +threw Fredersdorf a word, who was among the baggage there: +"To Oppeln; bring the Purse, the Privy Writings!" Which +Fredersdorf, and the Clerks (and another Herr, who became Nicolai's +Father-in-law in after years) did; and joined the King at Lowen; +but I hope stopped there. + +The King's suite was small, names not given; but by the time he got +to Lowen, being joined by cavalry fugitives and the like, it had +got to be seventy persons: too many for the King. He selected what +was his of them; ordered the gates to be shut behind him on all +others, and again rode away. The Leopold Squadron of Gens-d'Armes +did not arrive till after his departure; and having here lost trace +of him, called halt, and billeted for the night. The King speeds +silently to Oppeln on his excellent bay horse, the worse-mounted +gradually giving in. At Oppeln is a Bridge over the Oder, a free +Country beyond: Regiment La Motte lay, and as the King thinks, +still lies in Oppeln;--but in that he is mistaken. Regiment La +Motte is with the baggage at Pampitz, all this day; and a wandering +Hussar Party, some sixty Austrians, have taken possession of +Oppeln. The King, and the few who had not yet broken down, arrive +at the Gate of Oppeln, late, under cloud of night: "Who goes?" +cried the sentry from within. "Prussians! A Prussian Courier!" +answer they;--and are fired upon through the gratings; +and immediately draw back, and vanish unhurt into Night again. +"Had those Hussars only let him in!" said Austria afterwards: but +they had not such luck. It was at this point, according to Valori, +that the King burst forth into audible ejaculations of a lamentable +nature. There is no getting over, then, even to Brandenburg, and in +an insolvent condition. Not open insolvency and bankrupt disgrace; +no, ruin, and an Austrian jail, is the one outlook. "O MON DIEU, +O God, it is too much (C'EN EST TROP)!" with other the like +snatches of lamentation; [Valori, i. 104.] which are not +inconceivable in a young man, sleepless for the third night, in +these circumstances; but which Valori knows nothing of, except by +malicious rumor from the valet class,--who have misinformed Valori +about several other points. + +The King riding diligently, with or without ejaculations, back +towards Lowen, comes at an early hour to the Mill of Hilbersdorf, +within a mile-and-half of that place. He alights at the Mill; +sends one of his attendants, almost the only one now left, to +inquire what is in Lowen. The answer, we know, is: "A squadron of +Gens-d'Armes there; furthermore, a Prussian Adjutant come to say, +Victory at Mollwitz!" Upon which the King mounts again;--issues +into daylight, and concludes these mythical adventures. That "in +Lowen, in the shop at the corner of the Market-place, Widow +Panzern, subsequently Wife Something-else, made his Majesty a cup +of coffee, and served a roast fowl along with it," cannot but be +welcome news, if true; and that his Majesty got to Mollwitz again +before dark that same "day," [Fuchs, p. 11.] is liable to +no controversy. + +In this way was Friedrich snatched by Morgante into Fairyland, +carried by Diana to the top of Pindus (or even by Proserpine to +Tartarus, through a bad sixteen hours), till the Battle whirlwind +subsided. Friendly imaginative spirits would, in the antique time, +have so construed it: but these moderns were malicious-valetish, +not friendly; and wrapped the matter in mere stupid worlds of +cobweb, which require burning. Friedrich himself was stone-silent +on this matter, all his life after; but is understood never quite +to have pardoned Schwerin for the ill-luck of giving him such +advice. [Nicolai, ii. 180-195 (the one true account); Laveaux, +i. 194; Valori, i. 104; &c., &c. (the myth in various stages). +Most distractedly mythical of all, with the truth clear before it, +is the latest version, just come out, in <italic> Was sich die +Schlesier vom alten Fritz erzahlen <end italic> (Brieg, 1860), +pp. 113-125.] + +Friedrich's adventure is not the only one of that kind at Mollwitz; +there is another equally indubitable,--which will remain obscure, +half-mythical to the end of the world. The truth is, that Right +Wing of the Prussian Army was fallen chaotic, ruined; and no man, +not even one who had seen it, can give account of what went on +there. The sage Maupertuis, for example, had climbed some tree or +place of impregnability ("tree" Voltaire calls it, though that is +hardly probable), hoping to see the Battle there. And he did see +it, much too clearly at last! In such a tide of charging and +chasing, on that Right Wing and round all the Field in the Prussian +rear; in such wide bickering and boiling of Horse-currents,--which +fling out, round all the Prussian rear quarters, such a spray of +Austrian Hussars for one element,--Maupertuis, I have no doubt, +wishes much he were at home, doing his sines and tangents. An +Austrian Hussar-party gets sight of him, on his tree or other +standpoint (Voltaire says elsewhere he was mounted on an ass, the +malicious spirit!)--too certain, the Austrian Hussars got sight of +him: his purse, gold watch, all he has of movable is given frankly; +all will not do. There are frills about the man, fine laces, cloth; +a goodish yellow wig on him, for one thing:--their Slavonic +dialect, too fatally intelligible by the pantomime accompanying it, +forces sage Maupertuis from his tree or standpoint; the big red +face flurried into scarlet, I can fancy; or scarlet and ashy-white +mixed; and--Let us draw a veil over it! He is next seen shirtless, +the once very haughty, blustery, and now much-humiliated man; +still conscious of supreme acumen, insight and pure science; and, +though an Austrian prisoner and a monster of rags, struggling to +believe that he is a genius and the Trismegistus of mankind. What a +pickle! The sage Maupertuis, as was natural, keeps passionately +asking, of gods and men, for an Officer with some tincture of +philosophy, or even who could speak French. Such Officer is at last +found; humanely advances him money, a shirt and suit of clothes; +but can in nowise dispense with his going to Vienna as prisoner. +Thither he went accordingly; still in a mythical condition. Of +Voltaire's laughing, there is no end; and he changes the myth from +time to time, on new rumors coming; and there is no truth to be had +from him. [Voltaire, <italic> OEuvres (Vie Prive), <end italic> ii. +33-34; and see his LETTERS for some were after the event.] + +This much is certain: at Vienna, Maupertuis, prisoner on parole, +glided about for some time in deep eclipse, till the Newspapers +began babbling of him. He confessed then that he was Maupertuis, +Flattener of the Earth; but for the rest, "told rather a blind +story about himself," says Robinson; spoke as if he had been of the +King's suite, "riding with the King," when that Hussar accident +befell;--rather a blind story, true story being too sad. The Vienna +Sovereignties, in the turn things had taken, were extremely kind; +Grand-Duke Franz handsomely pulled out his own watch, hearing what +road the Maupertuis one had gone; dismissed the Maupertuis, with +that and other gifts, home:--to Brittany (not to Prussia), till +times calmed for engrafting the Sciences. [<italic> Helden- +Geschichte, <end italic> i. 902; Robinson's Despatch (Vienna, +22d April, 1741, n.s.); Voltaire, ubi supra.] + +On Wednesday, Friedrich writes this Note to his Sister; the first +utterance we have from him since those wild roamings about Oppeln +and Hilbersdorf Mill:-- + +KING TO WILHELMINA (at Baireuth; two days after Mollwitz). + +"OHLAU, 12th April, 1741. + +"MY DEAREST SISTER,--I have the satisfaction to inform you that we +have yesterday [day before yesterday; but some of us have only had +one sleep!] totally beaten the Austrians. They have lost more than +5,000 men, killed, wounded and prisoners. We have lost Prince +Friedrich, Brother of Margraf Karl; General Schulenburg, +Wartensleben of the Carabineers, and many other Officers. +Our troops did miracles; and the result shows as much. It was one +of the rudest Battles fought within memory of man. + +"I am sure you will take part in this happiness; and that you will +not doubt of the tenderness with which I am, my dearest Sister,-- +Yours wholly, FEDERIC." +[<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> xxvii. i. 101.] + +And on the same day there comes, from Breslau, Jordan's Answer to +the late anxious little Note from Pogarell; anxieties now gone, and +smoky misery changed into splendor of flame: + +JORDAN TO THE KING (finds him at Ohlau). + +"BRESLAU, 11th April, 1741. +"SIRE,--Yesterday I was in terrible alarms. The sound of the cannon +heard, the smoke of powder visible from the steeple-tops here; +all led us to suspect that there was a Battle going on. +Glorious confirmation of it this morning! Nothing but rejoicing +among all the Protestant inhabitants; who had begun to be in +apprehension, from the rumors which the other party took pleasure +in spreading. Persons who were in the Battle cannot enough +celebrate the coolness and bravery of your Majesty. For myself, I +am at the overflowing point. I have run about all day, announcing +this glorious news to the Berliners who are here. In my life I have +never felt a more perfect satisfaction. + +"M. de Camas is here, very ill for the last two days; attack of +fever--the Doctor hopes to bring him through,"--which proved beyond +the Doctor: the good Camas died here three days hence (age sixty- +three); an excellent German-Frenchman, of much sense, dignity and +honesty; familiar to Friedrich from infancy onwards, and no doubt +regretted by him as deserved. The Widow Camas, a fine old Lady, +German by birth, will again come in view. Jordan continues:-- + +"One finds, at the corner of every street, an orator of the Plebs +celebrating the warlike feats of your Majesty's troops. I have +often, in my idleness, assisted at these discourses: not artistic +eloquence, it must be owned, but spurting rude from the heart. ..." + +Jordan adds in his next Note: "This morning (14th) I quitted M. de +Camas; who, it is thought, cannot last the day. I have hardly left +him during his illness:" [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end +italic> xvii. 99.]--and so let that scene close. + +Neipperg, meanwhile, had fallen back on Neisse; taken up a strong +encampment in that neighborhood; he lies thereabouts all summer; +stretched out, as it were, in a kind of vigilant dog-sleep on the +threshold, keeping watch over Neisse, and tries fighting no more at +this time, or indeed ever after, to speak of. And always, I think, +with disadvantage, when he does try a little. He had been Grand- +Duke Franz's Tutor in War-matters; had got into trouble at Belgrade +once before, and was almost hanged by the Turks. George II. had +occasionally the benefit of him, in coming years. Be not too severe +on the poor man, as the Vienna public was; he had some faculty, +though not enough. "Governor of Luxemburg," before long: there, for +most part, let him peacefully drill, and spend the remainder of his +poor life. Friedrich says, neither Neipperg nor himself, at this +time, knew the least of War; and that it would be hard to settle +which of them made the more blunders in their Silesian tussle. + +Friedrich, in about three weeks hence, was fully ready for opening +trenches upon Brieg; did open trenches, accordingly, by moonlight, +in a grand nocturnal manner (as readers shall see anon); and, by +vigorous cannonading,--Marechal de Belleisle having come, by this +time, to enjoy the fine spectacle,--soon got possession of Brieg, +and held it thenceforth. Neisse now alone remained, with Neipperg +vigilantly stretched upon the threshold of it. But the Marechal de +Belleisle, we say, had come; that was the weighty circumstance. +And before Neisse can be thought of, there is a whole Europe, +bickering aloft into conflict; embattling itself from end to end, +in sequel of Mollwitz Battle; and such a preliminary sea of +negotiating, diplomatic finessing, pulse-feeling, projecting and +palavering, with Friedrich for centre all summer, as--as I wish +readers could imagine without my speaking of it farther! +But they cannot. + +MAP ON PAGE 75 GOES HEREABOUTS-------- + + + +Chapter XI. + +THE BURSTING FORTH OF BEDLAMS: BELLEISLE AND THE +BREAKERS OF PRAGMATIC SANCTION. + +The Battle of Mollwitz went off like a signal-shot among the +Nations; intimating that they were, one and all, to go battling. +Which they did, with a witness; making a terrible thing of it, over +all the world, for above seven years to come. Foolish Nations; +doomed to settle their jarring accounts in that terrible manner! +Nay, the fewest of them had any accounts, except imaginary ones, to +settle there at all; and they went into the adventure GRATIS, +spurred on by spectralities of the sick brain, by phantasms of +hope, phantasms of terror; and had, strictly speaking, no actual +business in it whatever. + +Not that Mollwitz kindled Europe; Europe was already kindled for +some two years past;--especially since the late Kaiser died, and +his Pragmatic Sanction was superadded to the other troubles afoot. +But ever since that Image of JENKINS'S EAR had at last blazed up in +the slow English brain, like a fiery constellation or Sign in the +Heavens, symbolic of such injustices and unendurabilities, and had +lighted the Spanish-English War, Europe was slowly but pretty +surely taking fire. France "could not see Spain humbled," she said: +England (in its own dim feeling, and also in the fact of things) +could not do at all without considerably humbling Spain. France, +endlessly interested in that Spanish-English matter, was already +sending out fleets, firing shots,--almost, or altogether, putting +forth her hand in it. "In which case, will not, must not, Austria +help us?" thought England,--and was asking, daily, at Vienna (with +intense earnestness, but without the least result), through +Excellency Robinson there, when the late Kaiser died. Died, poor +gentleman;--and left his big Austrian Heritages lying, as it were, +in the open market-place; elaborately tied by diplomatic packthread +and Pragmatic Sanction; but not otherwise protected against the +assembled cupidities of mankind! Independently of Mollwitz, or of +Silesia altogether, it was next to impossible that Europe could +long avoid blazing out; especially unless the Spanish-English +quarrel got quenched, of which there was no likelihood. + +But if not as cause, then as signal, or as signal and cause +together (which it properly was), the Battle of Mollwitz gave the +finishing stroke, and set all in motion. This was "the little stone +broken loose from the mountain;" this, rather than the late +Kaiser's Death, which Friedrich defined in that manner. Or at +least, this was the first LEAP it took; hitting other stones big +and little, which again hit others with their leaping and rolling, +--till the whole mountain-side is in motion under law of gravity, +and you behold one wide stone-torrent thundering towards the +valleys; shivering woods, farms, habitations clean away with it: +fatal to any Image of composite Clay and Brass which it may meet! + +There is, accordingly, from this point, a change in Friedrich's +Silesian Adventure; which becomes infinitely more complicated for +him,--and for those that write of him, no less! Friedrich's +business henceforth is not to be done by direct fighting, but +rather by waiting to see how, and on what side, others will fight: +nor can we describe or understand Friedrich's business, except as +in connection with the immense, obsolete, and indeed delirious +Phenomenon called Austrian-Succession War, upon which it is +difficult to say any human word. If History, driven upon Dismal +Swamp with its horrors and perils, can get across unsunk, she will +be lucky! + +For, directly on the back of Mollwitz, there ensued, first, an +explosion of Diplomatic activity such as was never seen before; +Excellencies from the four winds taking wing towards Friedrich; and +talking and insinuating, and fencing and fugling, after their sort, +in that Silesian Camp of his, the centre being there. A universal +rookery of Diplomatists;--whose loud cackle and cawing is now as if +gone mad to us; their work wholly fallen putrescent and avoidable, +dead to all creatures. And secondly, in the train of that, there +ensued a universal European War, the French and the English being +chief parties in it; which abounds in battles and feats of arms, +spirited but delirious, and cannot be got stilled for seven or +eight years to come; and in which Friedrich and his War swim only +as an intermittent Episode henceforth. What to do with such a War; +how extricate the Episode, and leave the War lying? The War was at +first a good deal mad; and is now, to men's imagination, fallen +wholly so; who indeed have managed mostly to forget it; only the +Episode (reduced thereby to an UNintelligible state) retaining +still some claims on them. + +It is singular into what oblivion the huge Phenomenon called +Austrian-Succession War has fallen; which, within a hundred years +ago or little more, filled all mortal hearts! The English were +principals on one side; did themselves fight in it, with their +customary fire, and their customary guidance ("courageous Wooden +Pole with Cocked Hat," as our friend called it); and paid all the +expenses, which were extremely considerable, and are felt in men's +pockets to this day: but the English have more completely forgotten +it than any other People. "Battle of Dettingen, Battle of Fontenay, +--what, in the Devil's name, were we ever doing there?" the +impatient Englishman asks; and can give no answer, except the +general one: "Fit of insanity; DELIRIUM TREMENS, perhaps FURENS;-- +don't think of it!" Of Philippi and Arbela educated Englishmen can +render account; and I am told young gentlemen entering the Army are +pointedly required to say who commanded at Aigos-Potamos and +wrecked the Peloponnesian War: but of Dettingen and Fontenoy, where +is the living Englishman that has the least notion, or seeks for +any? The Austrian-Succession War did veritably rage for eight +years, at a terrific rate, deforming the face of Earth and Heaven; +the English paying the piper always, and founding their National +Debt thereby:--but not even that could prove mnemonic to them; +and they have dropped the Austrian-Succession War, with one accord, +into the general dustbin, and are content it should lie there. +They have not, in their language, the least approach to an +intelligible account of it: How it went on, whitherward, whence; +why it was there at all,--are points dark to the English, and on +which they do not wish to be informed. They have quitted the +matter, as an unintelligible huge English-and-Foreign Delirium +(which in good part it was); Delirium unintelligible to them; +tedious, not to say in parts, as those of the Austrian Subsidies, +hideous and disgusting to them; happily now fallen extinct; and +capable of being skipped, in one's inquiries into the wonders of +this England and this World. Which, in fact, is a practical +conclusion not so unwise as it looks. + +"Wars are not memorable," says Sauerteig, "however big they may +have been, whatever rages and miseries they may have occasioned, or +however many hundreds of thousands they may have been the death +of,--except when they have something of World-History in them +withal. If they are found to have been the travail-throes of great +or considerable changes, which continue permanent in the world, men +of some curiosity cannot but inquire into them, keep memory of +them. But if they were travail-throes that had no birth, who of +mortals would remember them? Unless perhaps the feats of prowess, +virtue, valor and endurance, they might accidentally give rise to, +were very great indeed. Much greater than the most were, which came +out in that Austrian-Succession case! Wars otherwise are mere +futile transitory dust-whirlwinds stilled in blood; extensive fits +of human insanity, such as we know are too apt to break out;--such +as it rather beseems a faithful Son of the House of Adam NOT to +speak about again; as in houses where the grandfather was hanged, +the topic of ropes is fitly avoided. + +"Never again will that War, with its deliriums, mad outlays of +blood, treasure, and of hope and terror, and far-spread human +destruction, rise into visual life in any imagination of living +man. In vain shall Dryasdust strive: things mad, chaotic and +without ascertainable purpose or result, cannot be fixed into human +memories. Fix them there by never so many Documentary Histories, +elaborate long-eared Pedantries, and cunning threads, the poor +human memory has an alchemy against such ill usage;--it forgets +them again; grows to know them as a mere torpor, a stupidity and +horror, and instinctively flies from Dryasdust and them." + +Alive to any considerable degree, in the poor human imagination, +this Editor does not expect or even wish the Austrian-Succession +War to be. Enough for him if it could be understood sufficiently to +render his poor History of Friedrich intelligible. For it enwraps +Friedrich like a world-vortex henceforth; modifies every step of +his existence henceforth; and apart from it, there is no +understanding of his business or him. "So much as sticks to +Friedrich:" that was our original bargain! Assist loyally, +O reader, and we will try to make the indispensable a minimum +for you. + + +WHO WAS TO BLAME FOR THE AUSTRIAN-SUCCESSION WAR? + +The first point to be noted is, Where did it originate? To which +the answer mainly is, With that lean Gentleman whom we saw with +Papers in the OEil-de-Boeuf on New-year's day last. With +Monseigneur the Marechal de Belleisle principally; with the +ambitious cupidities and baseless vanities of the French Court and +Nation, as represented by Belleisle. George II.'s Spanish War, if +you will examine, had a real necessity in it. Jenkins's Ear was the +ridiculous outside figure this matter had: Jenkins's Ear was one +final item of it; but the poor English People, in their wrath and +bellowings about that small item, were intrinsically meaning: +"Settle the account; let us have that account cleared up and +liquidated; it has lain too long!" And seldom were a People more in +the right, as readers shall yet see. + +The English-Spanish War had a basis to stand on in this Universe. +The like had the Prussian-Austrian one; so all men now admit. +If Friedrich had not business there, what man ever had in an +enterprise he ventured on? Friedrich, after such trial and proof as +has seldom been, got his claims on Schlesien allowed by the +Destinies. His claims on Schlesien;--and on infinitely higher +things; which were found to be his and his Nation's, though he had +not been consciously thinking of them in making that adventure. +For, as my poor Friend insists, there ARE Laws valid in Earth and +in Heaven; and the great soul of the world is just. Friedrich had +business in this War; and Maria Theresa VERSUS Friedrich had +likewise cause to appear in court, and do her utmost pleading +against him. + +But if we ask, What Belleisle or France and Louis XV. had to do +there? the answer is rigorously, Nothing. Their own windy vanities, +ambitions, sanctioned not by fact and the Almighty Powers, but by +phantasm and the babble of Versailles; transcendent self-conceit, +intrinsically insane; pretensions over their fellow-creatures which +were without basis anywhere in Nature, except in the French brain +alone: it was this that brought Belleisle and France into a German +War. And Belleisle and France having gone into an Anti-Pragmatic +War, the unlucky George and his England were dragged into a +Pragmatic one,--quitting their own business, on the Spanish Main, +and hurrying to Germany,--in terror as at Doomsday, and zeal to +save the Keystone of Nature these. That is the notable point in +regard to this War: That France is to be called the author of it, +who, alone of all the parties, had no business there whatever. +And the wages due to France for such a piece of industry,--the +reader will yet see what wages France and the other parties got, at +the tail of the affair. For that too is apparent in our day. + +We have often said, the Spanish-English War was itself likely to +have kindled Europe; and again Friedrich's Silesian War was itself +likely,--France being nearly sure to interfere. But if both these +Wars were necessary ones, and if France interfered in either of +them on the wrong side, the blame will be to France, not to the +necessary Wars. France could, in no way, have interfered in a more +barefacedly unjust and gratuitous manner than she now did; nor, on +any terms, have so palpably made herself the author of the +conflagration of deliriums that ensued for above Seven years +henceforth. Nay for above Twenty years,--the settlement of this +Silesian Pragmatic-Antipragmatic matter (and of Jenkins's Ear, +incidentally, ALONG with this!) not having fairly completed itself +till 1763. + + +HOW BELLEISLE MADE VISIT TO TEUTSCHLAND; AND THERE WAS NO +FIT HENRY THE FOWLER TO WELCOME HIM. + +It is very wrong to keep Enchanted Wiggeries sitting in this world, +as if they were things still alive! By a species of "conservatism," +which gets praised in our Time, but which is only a slothful +cowardice, base indifference to truth, and hatred to trouble in +comparison with lies that sit quiet, men now extensively practise +this method of procedure;--little dreaming how bad and fatal it at +all times is. When the brains are out, things really ought to die; +--no matter what lovely things they were, and still affect to be, +the brains being out, they actually ought in all cases to die, and +with their best speed get buried. Men had noses, at one time; +and smelt the horror of a deceased reality fallen putrid, of a once +dear verity become mendacious, phantasmal; but they have, to an +immense degree, lost that organ since, and are now living +comfortably cheek-by-jowl with lies. Lies of that sad +"conservative" kind,--and indeed of all kinds whatsoever: for that +kind is a general mother; and BREEDS, with a fecundity that is +appalling, did you heed it much!-- + +It was pity that the "Holy Romish Reich, Teutsch by Nation," had +not got itself buried some ages before. Once it had brains and +life, but now they were out. Under the sway of Barbarossa, under +our old anti-chaotic friend Henry the Fowler, how different had it +been! No field for a Belleisle to come and sow tares in; no rotten +thatch for a French Sun-god to go sailing about in the middle of, +and set fire to! Henry, when the Hungarian Pan-Slavonic Savagery +came upon him, had got ready in the interim; and a mangy dog was +the "tribute" he gave them; followed by the due extent of broken +crowns, since they would not be content with that. That was the due +of Belleisle too,--had there been a Henry to meet him with it, on +his crossing the marches, in Trier Country, in Spring, 1741: +"There, you anarchic Upholstery-Belus, fancying yourself God of the +Sun; there is what Teutschland owes you. Go home with that; and +mind your own business, which I am told is plentiful, if you had +eye for it!" + +But the sad truth is, for above Four Centuries now,--and especially +for Three, since little Kaiser Karl IV. "gave away all the moneys +of it," in his pressing occasions, this Holy Romish Reich, Teutsch +by Nation, has been more and ever more becoming an imaginary +quantity; the Kaisership of it not capable of being worn by +anybody, except a Hapsburger who had resources otherwise his own. +The fact is palpable. And Austria, and Anti-Reformation Entity, +"conservative" in that bad sense, of slothfully abhorring trouble +in comparison with lies, had not found the poison more mal-odorous +in this particular than in many others. And had cherished its "Holy +Romish Reich" grown UNholy, phantasmal, like so much else in +Austrian things; and had held firm grip of it, these Three Hundred +years; and found it a furthersome and suitable thing, though +sensible it was more and more becoming an Enchanted Wiggery pure +and simple. Nor have the consequences failed; they never do. +Belleisle, Louis XIV., Henri II., Francois I.: it is long since the +French have known this state of matters; and been in the habit of +breaking in upon it, fomenting internal discontents, getting up +unjust Wars,--with or without advantage to France, but with endless +disadvantage to Germany. Schmalkaldic War; Thirty-Years War; +Louis XIV.'s Wars, which brought Alsace and the other fine +cuttings; late Polish-Election War, and its Lorraine; Austrian- +Succession War: many are the wars kindled on poor Teutschland by +neighbor France; and large is the sum of woes to Europe and to it, +chargeable to that score. Which appears even yet not to be +completed?--Perhaps not, even yet. For it is the penalty of being +loyal to Enchanted Wiggeries; of living cheek-by-jowl with lies of +a peaceable quality, and stuffing your nostrils, and searing your +soul, against the accursed odor they all have!--For I can assure +you the curse of Heaven does dwell in one and all of them; and the +son of Adam cannot too soon get quit of their bad partnership, cost +him what it may. + +Belleisle's Journey as Sun-god began in March,--"end of March, +1741," no date of a day to be had for that memorable thing:--and he +went gyrating about, through the German Courts, for almost a year +afterwards; his course rather erratic, but always in a splendor as +of Belus, with those hundred and thirty French Lords and Valets, +and the glory of Most Christian King irradiating him. Very diligent +for the first six months, till September or October next, which we +may call his SEED-TIME; and by no means resting after nine or +twelve months, while the harrowing and hoeing went on. In January, +1742, he had the great satisfaction to see a Bavarian Kaiser got, +instead of an Austrian; and everywhere the fruit of his diligent +husbandry begin to BEARD fairly above ground, into a crop of facts +(like armed men from dragon's teeth), and "the pleasure of the"-- +WHOM was it the pleasure of?--"prosper in his hands." Belleisle was +a pretty man; but I doubt it was not "the Lord" he was doing the +pleasure of, on this occasion, but a very Different Personage, +disguised to resemble him in poor Belleisle's eyes!-- + +Austria was not dangerous to France in late times, and now least of +all; how far from it,--humbled by the loss of Lorraine; and now as +it were bankrupt, itself in danger from all the world. And France, +so far as express Treaties could bind a Nation, was bound to +maintain Austria in its present possessions. The bitter loss of +Lorraine had been sweetened to the late Kaiser by that solitary +drop of consolation;--as his Failure of a Life had been, poor man: +"Failure the most of me has been; but I have got Pragmatic +Sanction, thanks to Heaven, and even France has signed it!" Loss of +Lorraine, loss of Elsass, loss of the Three Bishoprics; since Karl +V.'s times, not to speak of earlier, there has been mere loss on +loss:--and now is the time to consummate it, think Belleisle and +France, in spite of Treaties. + +Towards humbling or extinguishing Austria, Belleisle has two +preliminary things to do: FIRST, Break the Pragmatic Sanction, and +get everybody to break it; SECOND, Guide the KAISERWAHL (Election +of a Kaiser), so that it issue, not in Grand-Duke Franz, Maria +Theresa's Husband, as all expect it will, but in another party +friendly to France:--say in Karl Albert of Bavaria, whose Family +have long been good clients of ours, dependent on us for a living +in the Political World. Belleisle, there is little doubt, had from +the first cast his eye on this unlucky Karl Albert for Kaiser; +but is uncertain as to carrying him. Belleisle will take another if +he must; Kur-Sachsen, for example;--any other, and all others, only +not the Grand-Duke: that is a point already fixed with Belleisle, +though he keeps it well in the background, and is careful not to +hint it till the time come. + +In regard to Pragmatic Sanction, Belleisle and France found no +difficulty,--or the difficulty only (which we hope must have been +considerable) of eating their own Covenant in behalf of Pragmatic +Sanction; and declaring, which they did without visible blush, That +it was a Covenant including, if not expressly, then tacitly, as all +human covenants do, this clause, "SALVO JURE TERTII (Saving the +rights of Third Parties),"--that is, of Electors of Bavaria, and +others who may object, against it! O soul of honor, O first Nation +of the Universe, was there ever such a subterfuge? Here is a field +of flowering corn, the biggest in the world, begirt with elaborate +ring-fence, many miles of firm oak-paling pitched and buttressed; +--the poor gentleman now dead gave you his Lorraine, and almost his +life, for swearing to keep up said paling. And you do keep it up,-- +all except six yards; through which the biggest team on the highway +can drive freely, and the paltriest cadger's ass can step in for +a bellyful! + +It appears, the first Nation of the Universe had, at an early +period of their consultations, hit upon this of SALVO JURE TERTII, +as the method of eating their Covenant, before an enlightened +public. [20th January, 1741, in their Note of Ceremony, recognizing +Maria Theresa as Queen of Hungary, Note which had been due so very +long (ADELUNG, ii. 206), there is ominous silence on Pragmatic +Sanction; "beginning of March," there is virtual avowal of SALVO +JURE (ib. 279);--open avowal on Belleisle's advent (ib. 305).] +And they persisted in it, there being no other for them. +An enlightened public grinned sardonically, and was not taken in; +but, as so many others were eating their Covenants, under equally +poor subterfuges, the enlightened public could not grin long on any +individual,--could only gape mutely, with astonishment, on all. +A glorious example of veracity and human nobleness, set by the gods +of this lower world to their gazing populations, who could read in +the Gazettes! What is truth, falsity, human Kingship, human +Swindlership? Are the Ten Commandments only a figure of speech, +then? And it was some beggarly Attorney-Devil that built this +sublunary world and us? Questions might rise; had long been +rising;--but now there was about enough, and the response to them +was falling due; and Belleisle himself, what is very notable, had +been appointed to get ready the response. Belleisle (little as +Belleisle dreamt of it, in these high Enterprises) was ushering in, +by way of response, a RAGNAROK, or Twilight of the Gods, which, as +"French Revolution, or Apotheosis of SANSCULOTTISM," is now well +known;--and that is something to consider of! + + +DOWNBREAK OF PRAGMATIC SANCTION; MANNER OF THE CHIEF +ARTISTS IN HANDLING THEIR COVENANTS. + +The operation once accomplished on its own Pragmatic Covenant, +France found no difficulty with the others. Everybody was disposed +to eat his Covenant, who could see advantage in so doing, after +that admirable example. The difficulty of France and Belleisle +rather was, to keep the hungry parties back: "Don't eat your +Covenant TILL the proper time; patience, we say!" A most sad +Miscellany of Royalties, coming all to the point, "Will you eat +your Covenant, Will you keep it?"--and eating, nearly all; in fact, +wholly all that needed to eat. + +On the first Invasion of Silesia, Maria Theresa had indignantly +complained in every Court; and pointing to Pragmatic Sanction, had +demanded that such Law of Nature be complied with, according to +covenant. What Maria Theresa got by this circuit of the Courts, +everybody still knows. Except England, which was willing, and +Holland, which was unwilling, all Courts had answered, more or less +uneasily: "Law of Nature,--humph: yes!"--and, far from doing +anything, not one of them would with certainty promise to do +anything. From England alone and her little King (to whom Pragmatic +Sanction is the Palladium of Human Freedoms and the Keystone of +Nature) could she get the least help. The rest hung back; would not +open heart or pocket; waited till they saw. They do now see; +now that Belleisle has done his feat of Covenant-eating!-- + +Eleven great Powers, some count Thirteen, some Twelve, [Scholl, +ii. 286; Adelung, LIST, ii. 127.]--but no two agree, and hardly one +agrees with himself;--enough, the Powers of Europe, from Naples and +Madrid to Russia and Sweden, have all signed it, let us say a Dozen +or a Baker's-Dozen of them. And except our little English Paladin +alone, whose interest and indeed salvation seemed to him to lie +that way, and who needed no Pragmatic Covenant to guide him, nobody +whatever distinguished himself by keeping it. Between December, +1740, when Maria Theresa set up her cries in all Courts, on to +April, 1741, England, painfully dragging Holland with her, had +alone of the Baker's-Dozen spoken word of disapproval; much less +done act of hindrance. Two especially (France and Bavaria, not to +mention Spain) had done the reverse, and disowned, and declared +against, Pragmatic Sanction. And after the Battle of Mollwitz, when +the "little stone" took its first leap, and set all thundering, +then came, like the inrush of a fashion, throughout that high +Miscellany or Baker's-Dozen, the general eating of Covenants (which +was again quickened in August, for a reason we shall see): +and before November of that Year, there was no Covenant left to +eat. Of the Baker's-Dozen nobody remained but little George the +Paladin, dragging Holland painfully along with him;--and Pragmatic +Sanction had gone to water, like ice in a June day, and its +beautiful crystalline qualities and prismatic colors were forever +vanished from the world. Will the reader note a point or two, a +personage or two, in this sordid process,--not for the process's +sake, which is very sordid and smells badly, but for his own sake, +to elucidate his own course a little in the intricacies now coming +or come upon him and me? + +1. ELECTOR OF BAVARIA.--Karl Albert of Baiern is by some counted +as a Signer of the Pragmatic Sanction, and by others not; +which occasions that discrepancy of sum-total in the Books. And he +did once, in a sense, sign it, he and his Brother of Koln; +but, before the late Kaiser's death, he had openly drawn back from +it again; and counted himself a Non-signer. Signer or not, he, for +his part, lost no moment (but rather the contrary) in openly +protesting against it, and signifying that he never would +acknowledge it. Of this the reader saw something, at the time of +her Hungarian Majesty's Accession. Date and circumstances of it, +which deserve remembering, are more precisely these: October 20th, +1740, Karl Albert's Ambassador, Perusa by name, wrote to Karl from +Vienna, announcing that the Kaiser was just dead. From Munchen, on +the 21st, Karl Albert, anticipating such an event, but not yet +knowing it, orders Perusa, in CASE of the Kaiser's decease, which +was considered probable at Munchen, to demand instant audience of +the proper party (Kanzler Sinzendorf), and there openly lodge his +Protest. Which Perusa did, punctually in all points,--no moment +LOST, but rather the contrary, as we said! Let poor Karl Albert +have what benefit there is in that fact. He was, of all the Anti- +Pragmatic Covenant-Breakers (if he ever fairly were such), the only +one that proceeded honorably, openly and at once, in the matter; +and he was, of them all, by far the most unfortunate. + +This is the poor gentleman whom Belleisle had settled on for being +Kaiser. And Kaiser he became; to his frightful sorrow, as it +proved: his crown like a crown of burning iron, or little better! +There is little of him in the Books, nor does one desire much: +a tall aquiline type of man; much the gentleman in aspect; and in +reality, of decorous serious deportment, and the wish to be high +and dignified. He had a kind of right, too, in the Anti-Pragmatic +sense; and was come of Imperial kindred,--Kaiser Ludwig the +Bavarian, and Kaiser Rupert of the Pfalz, called Rupert KLEMM, or +Rupert Smith's-vice, if any reader now remember him, were both of +his ancestors. He might fairly pretend to Kaisership and to +Austrian ownership,--had he otherwise been equal to such +enterprises. But, in all ambitions and attempts, howsoever grounded +otherwise, there is this strict question on the threshold: "Are you +of weight for the adventure; are not you far too light for it?" +Ambitious persons often slur this question; and get squelched to +pieces, by bringing the Twelve Labors of Hercules on Unherculean +backs! Not every one is so lucky as our Friedrich in that +particular,--whose back, though with difficulty, held out. +Which poor Karl Albert's never had much likelihood to do. +Few mortals in any age have offered such an example of the +tragedies which Ambition has in store for her votaries; and what a +matter Hope FULFILLED may be to the unreflecting Son of Adam. + +We said, he had a kind of right to Austria, withal. He descended by +the female line from Kaiser Ferdinand I. (as did Kur-Sachsen, +though by a younger Daughter than Karl Albert's Ancestress); and he +appealed to Kaiser Ferdinand's Settlement of the Succession, as a +higher than any subsequent Pragmatic could be. Upon which there +hangs an incident; still famous to German readers. Karl Albert, +getting into Public Argument in this way, naturally instructed +Perusa to demand sight of Kaiser Ferdinand's Last Will, the tenor +of which was known by authentic Copy in Munchen, if not elsewhere +among the kindred. After some delay, Perusa (4th November, 1740), +summoning the other excellencies to witness, got sight of the Will: +to his horror, there stood, in the cardinal passage, instead of +"MUNNLICHE" (male descendants), "EHELICHE" (lawfully begotten +descendants),--fatal to Karl Albert's claim! Nor could he PROVE +that the Parchment had been scraped or altered, though he kept +trying and examining for some days. He withdrew thereupon, by +order, straightway from Vienna; testifying in dumb-show what he +thought. "It is your Copy that is false," cried the Vienna people: +"it has been foisted on you, with this wrong word in it; done by +somebody (your friend, the Excellency Herr von Hartmann, shall we +guess?), wishing to curry favor with ambitious foolish persons!" +Such was the Austrian story. Perhaps in Munchen itself their +Copyist was not known;--for aught I learn, the Copy was made long +since, and the Copyist dead. Hartmann, named as Copyist by the +Vienna people, made emphatic public answer: "Never did I copy it, +or see it!" And there rose great argument, which is not yet quite +ended, as to the question, "Original falsified, or Copy falsified?" +--and the modern vote, I believe, rather clearly is, That the +Austrian Officials had done it--in a case of necessity. [Adelung, +ii. 150-154 (14th-20th November, 1740), gives the public facts, +without commentary. Hormayr (<italic> Anemonen aus dem Tagebuch +eines alten Pilgersmannes, <end italic> Jena, 1845, i. 162-169,-- +our old Hormayr of the AUSTRIAN PLUTARCH, but now Anonymous, and in +Opposition humor) considers the case nearly proved against Austria, +and that Bartenstein and one Bessel, a pillar of the Church, were +concerned in it.] Possi-ble? "But you will lose your soul!" said +the Parson once to a poor old Gentlewoman, English by Nation, who +refused, in dying, to contradict some domestic fiction, to give up +some domestic secret: "But you will lose your soul, Madam!"-- +"Tush, what signifies my poor silly soul compared with the honor of +the family?"-- + +2. KING FRIEDRICH;--King Friedrich may be taken as the Anti- +Pragmatic next in order of time. He too lost not a moment, and +proceeded openly; no quirking to be charged upon him. His account +of himself in this matter always was: "By the Treaty of +Wusterhausen, 1726, unquestionably Prussia undertook to guarantee +Pragmatic Sanction; the late Kaiser undertaking in return, by the +same Treaty, to secure Berg and Julich to Prussia, and to have some +progress made in it within six months from signing. +And unquestionably also, the late Kaiser did thereupon, or even had +already done, precisely the reverse; namely, secured, so far as in +him was possible, Berg and Julich to Kur-Pfalz. Such Treaty, having +in this way done suicide, is dead and become zero: and I am free, +in respect of Pragmatic Sanction, to do whatever shall seem good to +me. My wish was, and would still be, To maintain Pragmatic +Sanction, and even to support it by 100,000 men, and secure the +Election of the Grand-Duke to the Kaisership,--were my claims on +Silesia once liquidated. But these have no concern with Pragmatic +Sanction, for or against: these are good against whoever may fall +Heir to the House of Austria, or to Silesia: and my intention is, +that the strong hand, so long clenched upon my rights, shall open +itself by this favorable opportunity, and give them out." That is +Friedrich's case. And in truth the jury everywhere has to find,--so +soon as instructed, which is a long process in some sections of it +(in England, for example),--That Pragmatic Sanction has not, except +helpless lamentations, "Alas that YOU should be here to insist upon +your rights, and to open fists long closed!"--the least, word to +say to Friedrich. + +3. TERMAGANT OF SPAIN.--Perhaps the most distracted of the Anti- +Pragmatic subterfuges was that used by Spain, when the She-dragon +or Termagant saw good to eat her Covenant; which was at a very +early stage. The Termagant's poor Husband is a Bourbon, not a +Hapsburg at all: "But has not he fallen heir to the Spanish +Hapsburgs; become all one as they, an ALTER-EGO of the Spanish +Hapsburgs?" asks she. "And the Austrian Hapsburgs being out, do not +the Spanish Hapsburgs come in? He, I say, this BOURBON-Hapsburg, he +is the real Hapsburg, now that the Austrian Branch is gone; +President he of the Golden Fleece [which a certain "Archduchess," +Maria Theresa, had been meddling with]; Proprietor, he, of Austrian +Italy, and of all or most things Austrian!"--and produces +Documentary Covenants of Philip II. with his Austrian Cousins; +"to which Philip," said the Termagant, "we Bourbons surely, if you +consider it, are Heir and Alter-Ego!" Is not, this a curious case +of testamentary right; human greed obliterating personal +identity itself? + +Belleisle had a great deal of difficulty, keeping the Termagant +back till things were ripe. Her hope practically was, Baby Carlos +being prosperous King of Naples this long while, to get the +Milanese for another Baby she has,--Baby Philip, whom she once +thought of making Pope;--and she is eager beyond measure to have a +stroke at the Milanese. "Wait!" hoarsely whispers Belleisle to her; +and she can scarcely wait. Maria Theresa's Note of Announcement +"New Queen of Hungary, may it please you!" the French, as we saw, +were very long in answering. The Termagant did not answer it at +all; complained on the contrary, "What is this, Madam! Golden +Fleece, you?"--and, early in March, informed mankind that she was +Spanish Hapsburg, the genuine article; and sent off Excellency +Montijos, a little man of great expense, to assist at the Election +of a proper Kaiser, and be useful to Belleisle in the great things +now ahead. [Spain's Golden-Fleece pretensions, 17th January, 1741 +(Adelung, ii. 233, 234); "Publishes at Paris," in March (ib. 293); +and on the 23d March accredits Montijos (ib. 293): Italian War, +held back by Belleisle and the English Fleets, cannot get begun +till October following.] + +4. KING OF POLAND.--The most ticklish card in Belleisle's game, and +probably the greatest fool of these Anti-Pragmatic Dozen, was +Kur-Sachsen, King of Poland. He, like Karl Albert Kur-Baiern, +derives from Kaiser Ferdinand, though by a YOUNGER Daughter, and +has a like claim on the Austrian Succession; claim nullified, +however, by that small circumstance itself, but which he would fain +mend by one makeshift or another; and thinks always it must surely +be good for something. This is August III., this King of Poland, as +readers know; son of August the Strong: Papa made him change to the +Catholic religion so called,--for the sake of getting Poland, which +proves a very poor possession to him. Who knows what damage the +poor creature may have got by that sad operation;--which all Saxony +sighed to the heart on hearing of; for it was always hoped he had +some real religion, and would deliver them from that Babylonish +Captivity again! He married Kaiser Joseph I.'s Daughter,--Maria +Theresa's Cousin, and by an Elder Brother;--this, too, ought surely +to be something in the Anti-Pragmatic line? It is true, Kur-Baiern +has to Wife another Daughter of Kaiser Joseph's; but she is the +younger: "I am senior THERE, at least! "thinks the foolish man. + +Too true, he had finally, in past years, to sign Pragmatic +Sanction; no help for it, no hope without it, in that Polish- +Election time. He will have to eat his Covenant, therefore, as the +first step in Anti-Pragmatism; and he is extremely in doubt as to +the How, sometimes as to the Whether. And shifts and whirls, +accordingly, at a great rate, in these months and years; now on +Maria Theresa's side, deluded by shadows from Vienna, and getting +into Russian Partition-Treaties; anon tickled by Belleisle into the +reverse posture; then again reversing. An idle, easy-tempered, yet +greedy creature, who, what with religious apostasy in early +manhood, what with flaccid ambitions since, and idle gapings after +shadows, has lost helm in this world; and will make a very bad +voyage for self and country. + +His Palinurus and chief Counsellor, at present and afterwards, is a +Count von Bruhl, once page to August the Strong; now risen to such +height: Bruhl of the three hundred and sixty-five suits of clothes; +whom it has grown wearisome even to laugh at. A cunning little +wretch, they say, and of deft tongue; but surely among the unwisest +of all the Sons of Adam in that day, and such a Palinurus as seldom +steered before. Kur-Sachsen, being Reichs-Vicar in the Northern +Parts,--(Kur-Baiern and Kur-Pfalz, as friends and good +Wittelsbacher Cousins surely ought, in a crisis like this, have +agreed to be JOINT-Vicars in the Southern Parts, and no longer +quarrel upon it),--Kur-Sachsen has a good deal to do in the +Election preludings, formalities and prearrangements; and is +capable, as Kur-Pfalz and Cousin always are, of serving as chisel +to Belleisle's mallet, in such points, which will plentifully +turn up. + +5. KING OF SARDINIA.--Reichs-Vicar in the Italian Parts is Charles +Amadeus King of Sardinia (tough old Victor's Son, whom we have +heard of): an office mostly honorary; suitable to the important +individual who keeps the Door of the Alps. Charles Amadeus had +signed the Pragmatic Sanction; but eats his Covenant, like the +others, on example of France;--having, as he now bethinks himself, +claims on the Milanese. There are two claimants on the Milanese, +then; the Spanish Termagant, and he? Yes; and they will have their +difficulties, their extensive tusslings in Italian War and +otherwise, to make an adjustment of it; and will give Belleisle +(at least the Doorkeeper will) an immensity of trouble, in +years coming. + +In this way do the Pragmatic people eat their own Covenant, one +after the other, and are not ashamed;--till all have eaten, or as +good as eaten; and, almost within year and day, Pragmatic Sanction +is a vanished quantity; and poor Kaiser Karl's life-labor is not +worth the sheepskin and stationery it cost him. History reports in +sum, That "nobody kept the Pragmatic Sanction; that the few +[strictly speaking, the one] who acted by it, would have done +precisely the same, though there had never been such a Document in +existence." To George II., it is, was and will be, the Keystone of +Nature, the true Anti-French palladium of mankind; and he, dragging +the unwilling Dutch after him, will do great things for it: +but nobody else does anything at all. Might we hope to bid adieu to +it, in this manner, and never to mention it again!-- + +Document more futile there had not been in Nature, nor will be. +Friedrich had not yet fought at Mollwitz in assertion of his +Silesian claim, when the poor Pope--poor soul, who had no Covenant +to eat, but took pattern by others--claimed, in solemn Allocution, +Parma and Piacenza for the Holy See. [Adelung, ii. 376 (5th April, +1741)] All the world is claiming. Of the Court of Wurtemberg and +its Protestings, and "extensive Deduction" about nothing at all, we +do not speak; [Ib. ii. 195, 403.] nor of Montmorency claiming +Luxemburg, of which he is Titular "Duke;" nor of Monsignore di +Guastalla claiming Mantua; nor of--In brief, the fences are now +down; a broad French gap in those miles of elaborate paling, which +are good only as firewood henceforth, and any ass may rush in and +claim a bellyful. Great are the works of Belleisle!-- + + +CONCERNING THE IMPERIAL ELECTION (Kaiserwahl) THAT IS +TO BE: CANDIDATES FOR KAISERSHIP. + +At equal step with the ruining of Pragmatic Sanction goes on that +spoiling of Grand-Duke Franz's Election to the Kaisership: +these two operations run parallel; or rather, under different +forms, they are one and the same operation. "To assist, as a Most +Christian neighbor ought, in picking out the fit Kaiser," was +Belleisle's ostensible mission; and indeed this does include +virtually his whole errand. Till three months after Belleisle's +appearance in the business, Grand-Duke Franz never doubted but he +should be Kaiser; Friedrich's offers to, help him in it he had +scorned, as the offer of a fifth wheel to his chariot, already +rushing on with four. "Here is Kur-Bohmen, Austria's own vote," +counts the Grand-Duke; "Kur-Sachsen, doing Prussian-Partition +Treaties for us; Kur-Trier, our fat little Schonborn, Austrian to +the bone; Kur-Mainz, important chairman, regulator of the Conclave; +here are Four Electors for us: then also Kur-Pfalz, he surely, in +return for the Berg-Julich service; finally, and liable to no +question Kur-Hanover, little George of England with his endless +guineas and resources, a little Jack-the-Giantkiller, greater than +all Giants, Paladin of the Pragmatic and us: here are Six Electors +of the Nine. Let Brandenburg and the Bavarian Couple, Kur-Baiern +and Kur-Koln, do their pleasure!" This was Grand-Duke +Franz's calculation. + +By the time Belleisle had been three months in Germany, the Grand- +Duke's notion had changed; and he began "applying to the +Sea-Powers," "to Russia," and all round. In Belleisle's sixth +month, the Grand-Duke, after such demolition of Pragmatic, and such +disasters and contradictions as had been, saw his case to be +desperate; though he still stuck to it, Austrian-like,--or rather, +Austria for him stuck to it, the Grand-Duke being careless of such +things;--and indeed, privately, never did give in, even AFTER the +Election, as we shall have to note. + +The Reich itself being mainly a Phantasm or Enchanted Wiggery, its +"Kaiser-Choosing" (KAISERWAHL),--now getting under way at +Frankfurt, with preliminary outskirts at Regensburg, and in the +Chancery of Mainz--is very phantasmal, not to say ghastly; +and forbidding, not inviting, to the human eye. Nine Kurfursts, +Choosers of Teutschland's real Captain, in none of whom is there +much thought for Teutschland or its interests,--and indeed in +hardly more than One of whom (Prussian Friedrich, if readers will +know it) is there the least thought that way; but, in general, much +indifference to things divine or diabolic, and thought for one's +own paltry profits and losses only! So it has long been; and so it +now is, more than usual.--Consider again, are Enchanted Wiggeries a +beautiful thing, in this extremely earnest World?-- + +The Kaiserwahl is an affair depending much on processions, +proclamations, on delusions optical, acoustic; on palaverings, +manoeuvrings, holdings back, then hasty pushings forward; +and indeed is mainly, in more senses than one, under guidance of +the Prince of the Power of the Air. Unbeautiful, like a World- +Parliament of Nightmares (if the reader could conceive such a +thing); huge formless, tongueless monsters of that species, doing +their "three readings,"--under Presidency or chief-pipership as +above! Belleisle, for his part, is consummately skilful, and +manages as only himself could. Keeps his game well hidden, not a +hint or whisper of it except in studied proportions; spreads out +his lines, his birdlime; tickles, entices, astonishes; goes his +rounds, like a subtle Fowler, taking captive the minds of men; +a Phoebus-Apollo, god of melody and of the sun, filling his net +with birds. + +I believe, old Kur-Pfalz, for the sake of French neighborhood, and +Berg-and-Julich, were there nothing more, was very helpful to him; +--in March past, when the Election was to have been, when it would +have gone at once in favor of the Grand-Duke, Kur-Pfalz got the +Election "postponed a little." Postponing, procrastinating; +then again pushing violently on, when things are ripe: Belleisle +has only to give signal to a fit Kur-Pfalz. In all Kurfurst Courts, +the French Ambassadors sing diligently to the tune Belleisle sets +them; and Courts give ear, or will do, when the charmer +himself arrives. + +Kur-Sachsen, as above hinted, was his most delicate operation, in +the charming or trout-tickling way. And Kur-Sachsen--and poor +Saxony, ever since--knows if he did not do it well! "Deduct this +Kur-Sachsen from the Austrian side," calculates Belleisle; "add him +to ours, it is almost an equality of votes. Kur-Baiern, our own +Imperial Candidate; Kur-Koln, his Brother; Kur-Pfalz, by genealogy +his Cousin (not to mention Berg-Julich matters); here are three +Wittelsbachers, knit together; three sure votes; King Friedrich, +Kur-Brandenburg, there is a fourth; and if Kur-Sachsen would join?" +But who knows if Kur-Sachsen will! The poor soul has himself +thoughts of being Kaiser; then no thoughts, and again some: +thoughts which Belleisle knows how to handle. "Yes, Kaiser you, +your Majesty; excellent!" And sets to consider the methods: +"Hm, ha, hm! Think, your Majesty: ought not that Bohemian Vote to +be excluded, for one thing? Kur-Bohmen is fallen into the distaff, +Maria Theresa herself cannot vote. Surely question will rise, +Whether distaff can, validly, hand it over to distaff's husband, as +they are about doing? Whether, in fact, Kur-Bohmen is not in +abeyance for this time?" "So!" answered Kur-Sachsen, Reichs- +Vicarius. And thereupon meetings were summoned; Nightmare +Committees sat on this matter under the Reichs-Vicar, slowly +hatching it; and at length brought out, "Kur-Bohmen NOT +transferable by the distaff; Kur-Bohmen in abeyance for this time." +Greatly to the joy of Belleisle; infinitely to the chagrin of her +Hungarian Majesty,--who declared it a crying injustice (though I +believe legally done in every point); and by and by, even made it a +plea of Nullity, destructive to the Election altogether, when her +Hungarian Majesty's affairs looked up again, and the world would +listen to Austrian sophistries and obstinacies. This was an +essential service from Kur-Sachsen. [Began, indistinctly, "in +March" (1741); languid "for some months" (Adelung, ii. 292); +"November 4th," was settled in the negative, "Kur-Bohmen not to +have a vote" (<italic> Maria Theresiens Leben, <end italic> +p. 47 n.). + +After which Kur-Sachsen's own poor Kaisership died away into +"Hm, ha, hm!" again, with a grateful Belleisle. Who nevertheless +dexterously retained Kur-Sachsen as ally; tickling the poor wretch +with other baits. Of the Kaiser he had really meant all along, +there was dead silence, except between the parties; no whisper +heard, for six months after it had been agreed upon; none, for two +or near three months after formal settlement, and signing and +sealing. Karl Albert's Treaty with Belleisle was 18th May, 1741; +and he did not declare himself a Candidate till 1st-4th July +following. [Adelung, ii. 357, 421.] Belleisle understands the +Nightmare Parliaments, the electioneering art, and how to deal with +Enchanted Wiggeries. More perfect master, in that sad art, has not +turned up on record to one's afflicted mind. Such a Sun-god, and +doing such a Scavengerism! Belleisle, in the sixth month (end of +August, 1741), feels sure of a majority. How Belleisle managed, +after that, to checkmate George of England, and make even George +vote for him, and the Kaiserwahl to be unanimous against Grand- +Duke Franz, will be seen. Great are Belleisle's doings in this +world, if they were useful either to God or man, or to Belleisle +himself first of all!-- + + +TEUTSCHLAND TO BE CARVED INTO SOMETHING OF SYMMETRY, +SHOULD THE BELLEISLE ENTERPRISES SUCCEED. + +Belleisle's schemes, in the rear of all this labor, are grandiose +to a degree. Men wonder at the First Napoleon's mad notions in that +kind. But no Napoleon, in the fire of the revolutionary element; no +Sham-Napoleon, in the ashes of it: hardly a Parisian Journalist of +imaginative turn, speculating on the First Nation of the Universe +and what its place is,--could go higher than did this grandiose +Belleisle; a man with clear thoughts in his head, under a torpid +Louis XV. Let me see, thinks Belleisle. Germany with our Bavarian +for Kaiser; Germany to be cut into, say, Four little Kingdoms: +1. Bavaria with the lean Kaiserhood; 2. Saxony, fattened by its +share of Austria; 3. Prussia the like; 4. Austria itself, shorn +down as above, and shoved out to the remote Hungarian parts: VOILA. +These, not reckoning Hanover, which perhaps we cannot get just yet, +are Four pretty Sovereignties. Three, or Two, of these hireable by +gold, it is to be hoped. And will not France have a glorious time +of it; playing master of the revels there, egging one against the +other! Yes, Germany is then, what Nature designed it, a Province of +France: little George of Hanover himself, and who knows but England +after him, may one day find their fate inevitable, like the others. +O Louis, O my King, is not this an outlook? Louis le Grand was +great; but you are likely to be Louis the Grandest; and here is a +World shaped, at last, after the real pattern! + +Such are, in sad truth, Belleisle's schemes; not yet entirely +hatched into daylight or articulation; bnt becoming articulate, to +himself and others, more and more. Reader, keep them well in mind: +I had rather not speak of them again. They are essential to our +Story; but they are afflictively vain, contrary to the Laws of +Fact; and can, now or henceforth, in nowise be. My friend, it was +not Beelzebub, nor Mephistopheles, nor Autolyeus-Apollo that built +this world and us; it was Another. And you will get your crown well +rapped, M. le Marechal, for so forgetting that fact! France is an +extremely pretty creature; but this of making France the supreme +Governor and God's-Vicegerent of Nations, is, was, and remains, one +of the maddest notions. France at its ideal BEST, and with a demi- +god for King over it, were by no means fit for such function; nay +of many Nations is eminently the unfittest for it. And France at +its WORST or nearly so, with a Louis XV. over it by way of demi-god +--O Belleisle, what kind of France is this; shining in your +grandiose imagination, in such contrast to the stingy fact: like a +creature consisting of two enormous wings, five hundred yards in +potential extent, and no body bigger than that of a common cock, +weighing three pounds avoirdupois. Cock with his own gizzard much +out of sorts, too! + +It was "early in March" [Adelung, ii. 305.] when Belleisle, the +Artificial Sun-god, quitted Paris on this errand. He came by the +Moselle road; called on the Rhine Kurfursts, Koln, Trier, Mainz; +dazzling them, so far as possible, with his splendor for the mind +and for the eye. He proceeded next to Dresden, which is a main +card: and where there is immense manipulation needed, and the most +delicate trout-tickling; this being a skittish fish, and an +important, though a foolish. Belleisle was at Dresden when the +Battle of Mollwitz fell out: what a windfall into Belleisle's game! +He ran across to Friedrich at Mollwitz, to congratulate, to +consult,--as we shall see anon. + +Belleisle, I am informed, in this preliminary Tour of his, speaks +only, or hints only (except in the proper quarters), of Election +Business; of the need there perhaps is, on the part of an Age +growing in liberal ideas, to exclude the Austrian Grand-Duke; +to curb that ponderous, harsh, ungenerous House of Austria, too +long lording it over generous Germany; and to set up some better +House,--Bavaria, for example; Saxony, for example? Of his plans in +the rear of this he is silent; speaks only by hints, by innuendoes, +to the proper parties. But ripening or ripe, plans do lie to rear; +far-stretching, high-soaring; in part, dark even at Versailles; +darkly fermenting, not yet developed, in Belleisle's own head; only +the Future Kaiser a luminous fixed point, shooting beams across the +grandiose Creation-Process going on there. + +By the end of August, 1741, Belleisle had become certain of his +game; 24th January, 1742, he saw himself as if winner. +Before August, 1741, he had got his Electors manipulated, tickled +to his purpose, by the witchery of a Phoebus-Autolycus or +Diplomatic Sun-god; majority secured for a Bavarian Kaiser, and +against an Austrian one. And in the course of that month,--what was +still more considerable!--he was getting, under mild pretexts, +about a hundred thousand armed Frenchmen gently wafted over upon +the soil of Germany. Two complete French Armies, 40,000 each (PLUS +their Reserves), one over the Upper Rhine, one over the Lower; +about which we shall hear a great deal in time coming! Under mild +pretexts: "Peaceable as lambs, don't you observe? Merely to protect +Freedom of Election, in this fine neighbor country; and as allies +to our Friend of Bavaria, should he chance to be new Kaiser, and to +persist in his modest claims otherwise." This was his crowning +stroke. Which finished straightway the remnants of Pragmatic +Sanction and of every obstacle; and in a shining manner swept the +roads clear. And so, on January 24th following, the Election, long +held back by Belleisle's manoeuvrings, actually takes effect,--in +favor of Karl Albert, our invaluable Bavarian Friend. Austria is +left solitary in the Reich; Pragmatic Sanction, Keystone of Nature, +which Belleisle and France had sworn to keep in, is openly torn out +by Belleisle and by France and the majority of mankind; +and Belleisle sees himself, to all appearance, winner. + +This was the harvest reaped by Belleisle, within year and day; +after endless manoeuvring, such as only a Belleisle in the +character of Diplomatic Sun-god could do. Beyond question, the +distracted ambitions of several German Princes have been kindled by +Belleisle; what we called the rotten thatch of Germany is well on +fire. This diligent sowing in the Reich--to judge by the 100,000, +armed men here, and the counter hundreds of thousands arming-- +has been a pretty stroke of dragon's-teeth husbandry on +Belleisle's part. + + +BELLEISLE ON VISIT TO FRIEDRICH; SEES FRIEDRICH BESIEGE +BRIEG, WITH EFFECT. + +It was April 26th when Marechal de Belleisle, with his Brother the +Chevalier, with Valori and other bright accompaniment, arrived in +Friedrich's Camp. "Camp of Mollwitz" so named; between Mollwitz and +Brieg; where Friedrich is still resting, in a vigilant expectant +condition; and, except it be the taking of Brieg, has nothing +military on hand. Wednesday, 26th April, the distinguished +Excellency--escorted for the last three miles by 120 Horse, and the +other customary ceremonies--makes his appearance: no doubt an +interesting one to Friedrich, for this and the days next following. +Their talk is not reported anywhere: nor is it said with exactitude +how far, whether wholly now, or only in part now, Belleisle +expounded his sublime ideas to Friedrich; or what precise reception +they got. Friedrich himself writes long afterwards of the event; +but, as usual, without precision, except in general effect. Now, or +some time after, Friedrich says he found Belleisle, one morning, +with brow clouded, knit into intense meditation: "Have you had bad +news, M. le Marechal?" asks Friedrich. "No, oh no! I am considering +what we shall make of that Moravia?"--"Moravia; Hm!" Friedrich +suppresses the glance that is rising to his eyes: "Can't you give +it to Saxony, then? Buy Saxony into the Plan with it!" "Excellent," +answers Belleisle, and unpuckers his stern brow again. + +Friedrich thinks highly, and about this time often says so, of the +man Belleisle: but as to the man's effulgencies, and wide-winged +Plans, none is less seduced by them than Friedrich: "Your chickens +are not hatched, M. le Marechal; some of us hope they never will +be,--though the incubation-process may have uses for some of us!" +Friedrich knows that the Kaisership given to any other than Grand- +Duke Franz will be mostly an imaginary quantity. "A grand Symbolic +Cloak in the eyes of the vulgar; but empty of all things, empty +even of cash, for the last Two Hundred Years: Austria can wear it +to advantage; no other mortal. Hang it on Austria, which is a solid +human figure,--so." And Friedrich wishes, and hopes always, Maria +Theresa will agree with him, and get it for her Husband. "But to +haug it on Bavaria, which is a lean bare pole? Oh, M. le Marechal! +--And those Four Kingdoms of yours: what a brood of poultry, those! +Chickens happily yet UNhatched;--eggs addle, I should venture to +hope:--only do go on incubating, M. le Marechal!" That is +Friedrich's notion of the thing. Belleisle stayed with Friedrich "a +few days," say the Books. After which, Friedrich, finding Belleisle +too winged a creature, corresponded, in preference, with Fleury and +the Head Sources;--who are always intensely enough concerned about +those "aces" falling to him, and how the same are to be "shared." +[Details in <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 912, 962, +916; in <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> ii. 79, 80; &c.] + +Instead of parade or review in honor of Belleisle, there happened +to be a far grander military show, of the practical kind. The Siege +of Brieg, the Opening of the Trenches before Brieg, chanced to be +just ready, on Belleisle's arrival:--and would have taken effect, +we find, that very night, April 26th, had not a sudden wintry +outburst, or "tempest of extraordinary violence," prevented. +Next night, night of the 27th-28th, under shine of the full Moon, +in the open champaign country, on both sides of the River, it did +take effect. An uncommonly fine thing of its sort; as one can still +see by reading Friedrich's strict Program for it,--a most minute, +precise and all-anticipating Program, which still interests +military men, as Friedrich's first Piece in that kind,--and +comparing therewith the Narratives of the performance which ensued. +[<italic> Ordre und Dispositiones (SIC), wornach sich der General- +Lieutenant von Kalckstein bei Eroffnung der Trancheen, &c. +(Oeuvres de Frederic, <end italic> xxx. 39-44): the Program. +<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 916-928: +the Narrative.] + + +Kalkstein, Friedrich's old Tutor, is Captain of the Siege; +under him Jeetz, long used to blockading about Brieg. The silvery +Oder has its due bridges for communication; all is in readiness, +and waiting manifold as in the slip,--and there is Engineer +Walrave, our Glogau Dutch friend, who shall, at the right instant, +"with his straw-rope (STROHSEIL) mark out the first parallel," and +be swift about it! There are 2,000 diggers, with the due +implements, fascines, equipments; duly divided, into Twelve equal +Parties, and "always two spademen to one pickman " (which indicates +soft sandy ground): these, with the escorting or covering +battalions, Twelve Parties they also, on both sides of the River, +are to be in their several stations at the fixed moments; +man, musket, mattock, strictly exact. They are to advance at +Midnight; the covering battalions so many yards ahead: no speaking +is permissible, nor the least tobacco-smoking; no drum to be +allowed for fear of accident; no firing, unless you are fired on. +The covering battalions are all to "lie flat, so soon as they get +to their ground, all but the Officers and sentries." To rear of +these stand Walrave and assistants, silent, with their straw-rope; +--silent, then anon swift, and in whisper or almost by dumb-show, +"Now, then!" After whom the diggers, fascine-men, workers, each in +his kind, shall fall to, silently, and dig and work as for life. + +All which is done; exact as clock-work: beautiful to see, or half +see, and speak of to your Belleisle, in the serene moonlight! Half +an hour's marching, half an hour's swift digging: the Town-clock of +Brieg was hardly striking One, when "they had dug themselves in." +And, before daybreak, they had, in two batteries, fifty cannon in +position, with a proper set of mortars (other side the River),-- +ready to astonish Piccolomini and his Austrians; who had not had +the least whisper of them, all night, though it was full moon. +Graf von Piccolomini, an active gallant person, had refused terms, +some time before; and was hopefully intent on doing his best. +And now, suddenly, there rose round Piccolomini such a tornado of +cannonading and bombardment, day after day, always "three guns of +ours playing against one of theirs," that his guns got ruined; +that "his hay-magazines took fire,"--and the Schloss itself, which +was adjacent to them, took fire (a sad thing to Friedrich, who +commanded pause, that they might try quenching, but in vain):--and +that, in short, Piccolomini could not stand it; but on the 4th of +May, precisely after one week's experience, hung out the white +flag, and "beat chamade at 3 of the afternoon." He was allowed to +march out next morning, with escort to Neisse; parole pledged, Not +to serve against us for two years coming. + +Friedrich in person (I rather guess, Belleisle not now at his side) +saw the Garrison march out;--kept Piccolomini to dinner; a gallant +Piccolomini, who had hoped to do better, but could not. This was a +pretty enough piece of Siege-practice. Torstenson, with his Swedes, +had furiously besieged Brieg in 1642, a hundred years ago; and +could do nothing to it. Nothing, but withdraw again, futile; +leaving 1,400 of his people dead. Friedrich, the Austrian Garrison +once out, set instantly about repairing the works, and improving +them into impregnability,--our ugly friend Walrave presiding over +that operation too. + +Belleisle, we may believe, so long as he continued, was full of +polite wonder over these things; perhaps had critical advices here +and there, which would be politely received. It is certain he came +out extremely brilliant, gifted and agreeable, in the eyes of +Friedrich; who often afterwards, not in the very strictest +language, calls him a great man, great soldier, and by far the +considerablest person you French have. It is no less certain, +Belleisle displayed, so far as displayable, his magnificent +Diplomatic Ware to the best advantage. To which, we perceive, the +young King answered, "Magnificent, indeed!" but would not bite all +at once; and rather preferred corresponding with Fleury, on +business points, keeping the matter dexterously hanging, in an +illuminated element of hope and contingency, for the present. + +Belleisle, after we know not how many days, returned to Dresden; +perfected his work at Dresden, or shoved it well forward, with +"that Moravia" as bait. "Yes, King of Moravia, you, your Polish +Majesty, shall be!"--and it is said the simple creature did so +style himself, by and by, in certain rare Manifestoes, which still +exist in the cabinets of the curious. Belleisle next, after only a +few days, went to Munchen; to operate on Karl Albert Kur-Baiern, a +willing subject. And, in short, Belleisle whirled along +incessantly, torch in hand; making his "circuit of the German +Courts,"--details of said circuit not to be followed by us farther. +One small thing only I have found rememberable; probably true, +though vague. At Munchen, still more out at Nymphenburg, the fine +Country-Palace not far off, there was of course long conferencing, +long consulting, secret and intense, between Belleisle with his +people and Karl Albert with his. Karl Albert, as we know, was +himself willing. But a certain Baron von Unertl--heavy-built +Bavarian of the old type, an old stager in the Bavarian Ministries +--was of far other disposition. One day, out at Nymphenburg, Unertl +got to the Council-room, while Belleisle and Company were there: +Unertl found the apartment locked, absolutely no admittance; and +heard voices, the Kurfurst's and French voices, eagerly at work +inside. "Admit me, Gracious Herr; UM GOTTES WILLEN, me!" No +admission. Unertl, in despair, rushed round to the garden side of +the Apartment; desperately snatched a ladder, set it up to the +window, and conjured the Gracious Highness: "For the love of +Heaven, my ALLERGNADIGSTER, don't! Have no trade with those French! +Remember your illustrious Father, Kurfurst Max, in the Eugene- +Marlborough time, what a job he made of it, building actual +architecture on THEIR big promises, which proved mere acres of gilt +balloon!" [Hormayr, <italic> Anemonen <end italic> (cited above), +ii. 152.] Words terribly prophetic; but they were without effect on +Karl Albert. + +The rest of Belleisle's inflammatory circuitings and extensive +travellings, for he had many first and last in this matter, shall +be left to the fancy of the reader. May 18th, he made formal Treaty +with Karl Albert: Treaty of Nymphenburg, "Karl Albert to be Kaiser; +Bavaria, with Austria Proper added to it, a Kingdom; French armies, +French moneys, and other fine items." [Given in Adelung, ii. 359.] +Treaty to be kept dead secret; King Friedrich, for the present, +would not accede. [Given in Adelung, ii. 421.] June 25th, after +some preliminary survey of the place, Belleisle made his Entry into +Frankfurt: magnificent in the extreme. And still did not rest +there; but had to rush about, back to Versailles, to Dresden, +hither, thither: it was not till the last day of July that he +fairly took up his abode in Frankfurt; and--the Election eggs, so +to speak, being now all laid--set himself to hatch the same. +A process which lasted him six months longer, with curious +phenomena to mankind. Not till the middle of August did he bring +those 80,000 Armed Frenchmen across the Rhine, "to secure peace in +those parts, and freedom of voting." Not till November 4th had +Kur-Sachsen, with the Nightmares, finished that important problem +of the Bohemian Vote, "Bohemian Vote EXCLUDED for this time;"-- +after which all was ready, though still not in the least hurry. +November 20th, came the first actual "Election-Conference (WAHL- +CONFERENZ)" in the Romer at Frankfurt; to which succeeded Two +Months more of conferrings (upon almost nothing at all): +and finally, 24th January, 1742, came the Election itself, Karl +Albert the man; poor wretch, who never saw another good day in +this world. + +Belleisle during those six months was rather high and airy, +extremely magnificent; but did not want discretion: "more like a +Kurfurst than an Ambassador;" capable of "visiting Kur-Mainz, with +servants purposely in OLD liveries,"--where the case needed old, +where Kur-Mainz needed snubbing; not otherwise. [Buchholz, ii. +57 n.] "The Marechal de Belleisle," says an Eye-witness, of some +fame in those days, "comes out in a variety of parts, among us +here; plays now the General, now the Philosopher, now the Minister +of State, now the French Marquis;--and does them all to perfection. +Surely a master in his art. His Brother the Chevalier is one of the +sensiblest and best-trained persons you can see. He has a +penetrating intellect; is always occupied, and full of great +schemes; and has nevertheless a staid kind of manner. He is one of +the most important Personages here; and in all things his Brother's +right hand." [Von Loen, <italic> Kleine Schriften <end italic> +(cited in Adelung, ii. 400).] In Frankfurt, both Belleisle and his +Brother were much respected, the Brother especially, as men of +dignified behavior and shining qualities; but as to their hundred +and thirty French Lords and other Valetry, these by their +extravagances and excesses (AUSSCHWEIFUNGEN) made themselves +extremely detestable, it would appear. [Buchholz, ii. 54; +in Adelung, ii. 398 n., a French BROCARD on the subject, of +sufficient emphasis.] + + + +Chapter XII. + +SORROWS OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY. + +George II. did not hear of Mollwitz for above a fortnight after it +fell out; but he had no need of Mollwitz to kindle his wrath or his +activity in that matter. [Mollwitz first heard of in London, April +25th (14th); Subsidy of 300,000 pounds voted same day. <italic> +London Gazette <end italic> (April 11th-14th, 1741); <italic> +Commons Journals, <end italic> xxiii. 705.] George II. had seen, +all along, with natural manifold aversion and indignation, these +high attempts of his Nephew. "Who is this new little King, that +will not let himself be snubbed, and laughed at, and led by the +nose, as his Father did; but seems to be taking a road of his own, +and tacitly defying us all? A very high conduct indeed, for a +Sovereign of that magnitude. Aspires seemingly to be the leader +among German Princes; to reduce Hanover and us,--us, with the gold +of England in our breeches-pocket,--to the second place? A reverend +old Bishop of Liege, twitched by the rochet, and shaken hither and +thither, like a reverend old clothes-screen, till he agree to stand +still and conform. And now a Silesia seized upon; a Pragmatic +Sanction kicked to the winds: the whole world to be turned topsy- +turvy, and Hanover and us, with our breeches-pocket, reduced to--?" + +The emotions, the prognosticatings, and distracted procedures of +his Britannic Majesty, of which we have ourselves seen somewhat, in +this fermentation of the elements, are copiously set down for us by +the English Dryasdust (mostly in unintelligible form): but, except +for sane purposes, one must be careful not to dwell on them, to the +sorrow of readers. Seldom was there such a feat of Somnambulism, as +that by the English and their King in the next twenty Years. +To extract the particle of sanity from it, and see how the poor +English did get their own errand done withal, and Jenkins's Ear +avenged,--that is the one interesting point; Dryasdust and the +Nightmares shall, to all time, be welcome to the others. Here are +some Excerpts, a select few; which will perhaps be our readiest +expedient. These do, under certain main aspects, shadow forth the +intricate posture of King George and his Nation, when Belleisle, as +Protagonistes or Chief Bully, stept down into the ring, in that +manner; asking, "Is there an Antagonistes, then, or Chief +Defender?" I will label them, number them; and, with the minimum of +needful commentary, leave them to imaginative readers. + + +No. 1. SNATCH OF PARLIAMENTARY ELOQUENCE BY MR. VINER +(19th April, 1741). + +The fuliginous explosions, more or less volcanic, which went on in +Parliament and in English society, against Friedrich's Silesian +Enterprise, for long years from this date, are now all dead and +avoidable,--though they have left their effects among us to this +day. Perhaps readers would like to see the one reasonable word I +have fallen in with, of opposite tendency; Mr. Viner's word, at the +first starting of that question: plainly sensible word, which, had +it been attended to (as it was not), might have saved us so much +nonsense, not of idle talk only, but of extremely serious deed +which ensued thereupon! + +"LONDON, 19th APRIL, 1741. This day [Mollwitz not yet known, Camp +of Gottin too well known!] King George, in his own high person, +comes down to the House of Lords,--which, like the Other House, is +sunk painfully in Walpole Controversies, Spanish-War Controversies, +of a merely domestic nature;--and informs both Honorable Houses, +with extreme caution, naming nobody, That he much wishes they would +think of helping him in these alarming circumstances of the +Celestial Balance, ready apparently to go heels uppermost. +To which the general answer is, 'Yes, surely!'--with a vote of +300,000 pounds for her Hungarian Majesty, a few days hence. +From those continents of Parliamentary tufa, now fallen so waste +and mournful, here is one little piece which ought to be extricated +into daylight:-- + +"MR. VINER (on his legs): ... 'If I mistake not the true intention +of the Address proposed,' in answer to his Majesty's most gracious +Speech from the Throne, 'we are invited to declare that we will +oppose the King of Prussia in his attempts upon Silesia: +a declaration in which I see not how any man can concur who KNOWS +NOT the nature of his Prussian Majesty's Claim, and the Laws of the +German Empire [NOR DO I, MR. V.]! It ought therefore, Sir, to have +been the first endeavor of those by whom this Address has been so +zealously supported, to show that his Prussian Majesty's Claim, so +publicly explained [BY KAUZLER LUDWIG, OF HALLE, WHO, IT SEEMS, HAS +STAGGERED OR CONVINCED MR. VINER], so firmly urged and so strongly +supported, is without foundation and reason, and is only one of +those imaginary titles which Ambition may always find to the +dominions of another.' (HEAR MR VINER!)" [Tindal, xx. 491, gives +the Royal Speech (DATE in a very slobbery condition); see also +Coxe, <italic> House of Austria, <end italic> iii. 365. Viner's +Fragment of a Speech is in Thackeray, <italic> Life of Chatham, +<end italic> i. 87.] ... + +A most indispensable thing, surely. Which was never done, nor can +ever be done; but was assumed as either unnecessary or else done of +its own accord, by that Collective Wisdom of England (with a sage +George II. at the head of it); who plunged into Dettingen, +Fontenoy, Austrian Subsidies, Aix-la-Chapelle, and foundation of +the English National Debt, among other strange things, in +consequence!-- + +Upon that of Kanzler Ludwig, and the "so public Explanation" (which +we slightly heard of long since), here is another Note,--unless +readers prefer to skip it:-- + +"That the Diplomatic and Political world is universally in travail +at this time, no reader need be told; Europe everywhere in dim +anxiety, heavy-laden expectation (which to us has fallen so +vacant); looking towards inevitable changes and the huge inane. +All in travail;--and already uttering printed Manifestoes, Patents, +Deductions, and other public travail-SHRIEKS of that kind. +Printed; not to speak of the unprinted, of the oral which vanished +on the spot; or even of the written which were shot forth by +breathless estafettes, and unhappily did not vanish, but lie in +archives, still humming upon us, "Won't you read me, then?"--Alas, +except on compulsion, No! Life being precious (and time, which is +the stuff of life), No!-- + +"At Reinsberg as elsewhere, at Reinsberg first of all, it had been +felt, in October last, that there would be Manifestoes needed; +learned Proof, the more irrefragable the better, of our Right to +Silesia. It was settled there, Let Ludwig, Kanzler of the +University of Halle, do it. [Herr Kanzler Ludwig, monster of +Antiquarian, Legal and other Learning there: wealthy, too, and +close-fisted; whom we have seen obliged to open his closed fist, +and to do building in the Friedrich Strasse, before now; +Nussler, his son-in-law, having no money:--as careless readers have +perhaps forgotten?] Ludwig set about his new task with a proud joy. +Ludwig knows that story, if he know anything. Long years ago he put +forth a Chapter upon it; weighty Chapter; in a Book of weight, said +Judges;--Book weighing, in pounds avoirdupois and otherwise, none +of us now knows what: [Title of this weighty Performance (see +Preuss, <italic> Thronbesteigung, <end italic> p. 432) is, or was +(size not given), <italic> Germania Princeps <end italic> (Halae, +1702). Preuss says farther, "That Book ii. c. 3 handles the +Prussian claims: Jagerndorf being ? 13; Liegnitz, ? 14; Oppeln and +Ratibor, ? 16;--and that Ludwig had sent a Copy of this Argument +[weighty Performance altogether? Or Book ii. c. 3 of it, which +would have had a better chance?] to King Friedrich, on the death of +Kaiser Karl VI."]--but, in after years, it used to be said by +flatterers of the Kanzler, 'Herr Kanzler, see the effect of +Learning. It was you, it was your weighty Book, that caused all +this World-tumult, and flung the Nations into one another's hair!' +Upon which the old Kanzler would blush: 'You do me too much honor!' + +"Ludwig, directly on order given, gathered out his documents again, +in the King's name this time; and promised something weighty by +New-year's day at latest." Doubtless to the joy of Nussler, who has +still no regular appointment, though well deserving one. "And sure +enough, on January 7th) at Berlin, 'in three languages,' Ludwig's +DEDUCTION had come out; an eager Public waiting for it: [Title is, +<italic> Rechtsgegrundetes Eigenthum <end italic> (in the Latin +copies, <italic> Patrimonium, <end italic> and <italic> Propriete +fondee en Droit <end italic> in the French copies) <italic> des +&c., <end italic>--that is to say, <italic> Legal Right of Propetiy +in the Royal-Electoral House of Brandenburg to the Duchies and +Principalities of Jagerndorf, Liegnitz, Brieg, Wohlau <end italic> +(Berlin, 7th January, 1741).]--and at Berlin it was generally +thought to be conclusive. I have looked into Ludwig's Deduction, +stern duty urging, in this instance for one: such portions as I +read are nothing like so stupid as was expected; and, in fact, are +not to be called stupid at all, but fit for their purpose, and +moderately intelligible to those who need them,"--which happily we +do not in this place. + +Judicious Mr. Viner availed nothing against the Proposed Address; +any more than he would against the Atlantic Tide, coming in +unanimous, under influence of the Moon itself,--as indeed this +Address, and the triumphant Subsidy which was voted in the rear of +it, may be said to have done. [Coxe, iii. 265.] Subsidy of 300,000 +pounds to her Hungarian Majesty; which, with the 200,000 pounds +already gone that road, makes a handsome Half-million for the +present Year. The first gush of the Britannia Fountain,--which +flowed like an Amalthea's Horn for seven years to come; +refreshing Austria, and all thirsty Pragmatic Nations, to defend +the Keystone of this Universe. Unluckily every guinea of it went, +at the same time, to encourage Austria in scorning King Friedrich's +offers to it; which perhaps are just offers, thinks Mr. Viner; +which once listened to, Pragmatic Sanction would be safe. +[Mr. Viner was of Pupham, or Pupholm, in Lincolnshire, for which +County he sat then, and for many years before and after,--from +about 1713 till 1761, when he died. A solid, instructed man, say +his contemporaries. "He was a friend of Bolingbroke's, and had a +house near Bolingbroke's Battersea one." He is Great great- +grandfather to the present Mr. Viner, and to the Countess de +Grey and Ripon; which is an interesting little fact.] + +This Parliament is strong for Pragmatic Sanction, and has high +resentments against Walpole; in both which points the New +Parliament, just getting elected, will rival and surpass it,-- +especially in the latter point, that of uprooting Walpole, which +the Nation is bent on, with a singular fury. Pragmatic Sanction +like to be ruined; and Walpole furiously thrown out: what a pair of +sorrows for poor George! During his late Caroline's time, all went +peaceably, and that of "governing" was a mere pleasure; Walpole and +Caroline cunningly doing that for him, and making him believe he +was doing it. But now has come the crisis, the collapse; and his +poor Majesty left alone to deal with it!-- + + +No. 2. CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORIAN ON THE PHENOMENON OF WALPOLE IN ENGLAND. + +"For above Ten Years, Walpole himself", says my Constitutional +Historian (unpublished), "for almost Twenty Years, Walpole +virtually and through others, has what they call 'governed' +England; that is to say, has adjusted the conflicting Parliamentary +Chaos into counterpoise, by what methods he had; and allowed +England, with Walpole atop, to jumble whither it would and could. +Of crooked things made straight by Walpole, of heroic performance +or intention, legislative or administrative, by Walpole, nobody +ever heard; never of the least hand-breadth gained from the Night- +realm in England, on Walpole's part: enough if he could manage to +keep the Parish Constable walking, and himself float atop. +Which task (though intrinsically zero for the Community, but all- +important to the Walpole, of Constitutional Countries) is a task +almost beyond the faculty of man, if the careless reader knew it! + +"This task Walpole did,--in a sturdy, deep-bellied, long-headed, +John-Bull fashion, not unworthy of recognition. A man of very +forcible natural eyesight, strong natural heart,--courage in him to +all lengths; a very block of oak, or of oakroot, for natural +strength. He was always very quiet with it, too; given to digest +his victuals, and be peaceable with everybody. He had one rule, +that stood in place of many: To keep out of every business which it +was possible for human wisdom to stave aside. 'What good will you +get of going into that? Parliamentary criticism, argument and +botheration? Leave well alone. And even leave ill alone:--are you +the tradesman to tinker leaky vessels in England? You will not want +for work. Mind your pudding, and say little!' At home and abroad, +that was the safe secret. For, in Foreign Politics, his rule was +analogous: 'Mind your own affairs. You are an Island, you can do +without Foreign Politics; Peace, keep Peace with everybody: +what, in the Devil's name, have you to do with those dog-worryings +over Seas? Once more, mind your pudding!' Not so bad a rule; +indeed it is the better part of an extremely good one;--and you +might reckon it the real rule for a pious Rritannic Island +(reverent of God, and contemptuous of the Devil) in times of +general Down-break and Spiritual Bankruptcy, when quarrellings of +Sovereigns are apt to be mere dog-worryings and Devil's work, not +good to interfere in. + +"In this manner, Walpole, by solid John-Bull faculty (and methods +of his own), had balanced the Parliamentary swaggings and +clashings, for a great while; and England had jumbled whither it +could, always in a stupid, but also in a peaceable way. As to those +same 'methods of his own' they were--in fact they were Bribery. +Actual purchase of votes by money slipt into the hand. Go straight +to the point. 'The direct real method this,' thinks Walpole: +'is there in reality any other?' A terrible question to +Constitutional Countries; which, I hear, has never been resolved in +the negative, by the modern improvements of science. Changes of +form have introduced themselves; the outward process, I hear, is +now quite different. According as the fashions and conditions +alter,--according as you have a Fourth Estate developed, or a +Fourth Estate still in the grub stage and only developing,--much +variation of outward process is conceivable. + +"But Votes, under pain of Death Official, are necessary to your +poor Walpole: and votes, I hear, are still bidden for, and bought. +You may buy them by money down (which is felony, and theft simple, +against the poor Nation); or by preferments and appointments of the +unmeritorious man,--which is felony double-distilled (far deadlier, +though more refined), and theft most compound; theft, not of the +poor Nation's money, but of its soul and body so far, and of ALL +its moneys and temporal and spiritual interests whatsoever; +theft, you may say, of collops cut from its side, and poison put +into its heart, poor Nation! Or again, you may buy, not of the +Third Estate in such ways, but of the Fourth, or of the Fourth and +Third together, in other still more felonious and deadly, though +refined ways. By doing clap-traps, namely; letting off +Parliamentary blue-lights, to awaken the Sleeping Swineries, and +charm them into diapason for you,--what a music! Or, without clap- +trap or previous felony of your own, you may feloniously, in the +pinch of things, make truce with the evident Demagogos, and Son of +Nox and of Perdition, who has got 'within those walls' of yours, +and is grown important to you by the Awakened Swineries, risen into +alt, that follow him. Him you may, in your dire hunger of votes, +consent to comply with; his Anarchies you will pass for him into +'Laws,' as you are pleased to term them;--instead of pointing to +the whipping-post, and to his wicked long ears, which are so fit to +be nailed there, and of sternly recommending silence, which were +the salutary thing.--Buying may be done in a great variety of ways. +The question, How you buy? is not, on the moral side, an important +one. Nay, as there is a beauty in going straight to the point, and +by that course there is likely to be the minimum of mendacity for +you, perhaps the direct money-method is a shade less damnable than +any of the others since discovered;--while, in regard to practical +damage resulting, it is of childlike harmlessness in comparison! + +"That was Walpole's method; with this to aid his great natural +faculty, long-headed, deep-bellied, suitable to the English +Parliament and Nation, he went along with perfect success for ten +or twenty years. And it might have been for longer,--had not the +English Nation accidentally come to wish, that it should CEASE +jumbling NO-whither; and try to jumble SOME-whither, at least for a +little while, on important business that had risen for England in a +certain quarter. Had it not been for Jenkins's Ear blazing out in +the dark English brain, Walpole might have lasted still a long +while. But his fate lay there:--the first Business vital to England +which might turn up; and this chanced to be the Spanish War. +How vital, readers shall see anon. Walpole, knowing well enough in +what state his War-apparatus was, and that of all his Apparatuses +there was none in a working state, but the Parliamentary one,-- +resisted the Spanish War; stood in the door against it, with a +rhinoceros determination, nay almost something of a mastiff's; +resolute not to admit it, to admit death as soon. Doubtless he had +a feeling it would be death, the sagacious man;--and such it is now +proving; the Walpole Ministry dying by inches from it; dying hard, +but irremediably. + +"The English Nation was immensely astonished, which Walpole was +not, any more than at the other Laws of Nature, to find Walpole's +War-apparatus in such a condition. All his Apparatuses, Walpole +guesses, are in no better, if it be not the Parliamentary one. +The English Nation is immensely astonished, which Walpole again is +not, to find that his Parliamentary Apparatus has been kept in gear +and smooth-going by the use of OIL: 'Miraculous Scandal of +Scandals!' thinks the English Nation. 'Miracle? Law of Nature, you +fools!' thinks Walpole. And in fact there is such a storm roaring +in England, in those and in the late and the coming months, as +threatens to be dangerous to high roofs,--dangerous to Walpole's +head at one time. Storm such as had not been witnessed in men's +memory; all manner of Counties and Constituencies, with solemn +indignation, charging their representatives to search into that +miraculous Scandal of Scandals, Law of Nature, or whatever it may +be; and abate the same, at their peril. + +"To the now reader there is something almost pathetic in these +solemn indignations, and high resolves to have Purity of Parliament +and thorough Administrative Reform, in spite of Nature and the +Constitutional Stars;--and nothing I have met with, not even the +Prussian Dryasdust, is so unsufferably wearisome, or can pretend to +equal in depth of dull inanity, to ingenuous living readers, our +poor English Dryasdust's interminable, often-repeated Narratives, +volume after volume, of the debatings and colleaguings, the +tossings and tumults, fruitless and endless, in Nation and National +Palaver, which ensued thereupon. Walpole (in about a year hence), +[February 13th (2d), 1742, quitting the House after bad usage +there, said he would never enter it again; nor did: February 22d, +resigned in favor of Pulteney and Company (Tindal, xx. 530; +Thackeray, i. 45).] though he struck to the ground like a +rhinoceros, was got rolled out. And a Successor, and series of +Successors, in the bright brand-new state, was got rolled in; +with immense shouting from mankind:--but up to this date we have no +reason to believe that the Laws of Nature were got abrogated on +that occasion, or that the constitutional stars have much altered +their courses since." + +That Walpole will probably be lost, goes much home to the Royal +bosom, in these troublous Spring months of 1741, as it has done and +will do. And here, emerging from the Spanish Main just now, is a +second sorrow, which might quite transfix the Royal bosom, and +drive Majesty itself to despair; awakening such insoluble +questions,--furnishing such proof, that Walpole and a good few +other persons (persons, and also things, and ideas and practices, +deep-rooted in the Country) stand much in need of being lost, if +England is to go a good road! + +The Spanish War being of moment to us here, we will let our +Constitutional Historian explain, in his own dialect, How it was so +vital to England; and shall even subjoin what he gives as History +of it, such being so admirably succinct, for one quality. + + +No. 3. OF THE SPANISH WAR, OR THE JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION. + +"There was real cause for a War with Spain. It is one of the few +cases, this, of a war from necessity. Spain, by Decree of the +Pope,--some Pope long ago, whose name we will not remember, in +solemn Conclave, drawing accurately 'his Meridian Line,' on I know +not what Telluric or Uranic principles, no doubt with great +accuracy 'between Portugal and Spain,'--was proprietor of all those +Seas and Continents. And now England, in the interim, by Decree of +the Eternal Destinies, had clearly come to have property there, +too; and to be practically much concerned in that theoretic +question of the Pope's Meridian. There was no reconciling of theory +with fact. 'Ours indisputably,' said Spain, with loud articulate +voice; 'Holiness the Pope made it ours!'--while fact and the +English, by Decree of the Eternal Destinies, had been grumbling +inarticulately the other way, for almost two hundred years past, +and no result had. + +"In Oliver Cromwell's time, it used to be said, 'With Spain, in +Europe, there may be peace or war; but between the Tropics it is +always war.' A state of things well recognized by Oliver, and acted +on, according to his opportunities. No settlement was had in +Oliver's brief time; nor could any be got since, when it was +becoming yearly more pressing. Bucaniers, desperate naval gentlemen +living on BOUCAN, or hung beef; who are also called Flibustiers +(FLIBUTIERS, 'Freebooters,' in French pronunciation, which is since +grown strangely into FILIBUSTERS, Fillibustiers, and other mad +forms, in the Yankee Newspapers now current): readers have heard of +those dumb methods of protest. Dumb and furious; which could bring +no settlement; but which did astonish the Pope's Decree, slashing +it with cutlasses and sea-cannon, in that manner, and circuitously +forwarded a settlement. Settlement was becoming yearly more +needful: and, ever since the Treaty of Utrecht especially, there +had been an incessant haggle going on, to produce one; without the +least effect hitherto. What embassyings, bargainings, bargain- +breakings; what galloping of estafettes; acres of diplomatic paper, +now fallen to the spiders, who always privately were the real +owners! Not in the Treaty of Utrecht, not in the Congresses of +Cambray, of Soissons, Convention of Pardo, by Ripperda, Horace +Walpole, or the wagging of wigs, could this matter be settled at +all. Near two hundred years of chronic misery;--and had there been, +under any of those wigs, a Head capable of reading the Heavenly +Mandates, with heart capable of following them, the misery might +have been briefly ended, by a direct method. With what immense +saving in all kinds, compared with the oblique method gone upon! +In quantity of bloodshed needed, of money, of idle talk and +estafettes, not to speak of higher considerations, the saving had +been incalculable. For it was England's one Cause of War during the +Century we are now upon; and poor England's course, when at last +driven into it, went ambiguously circling round the whole Universe, +instead of straight to the mark. Had Oliver Cromwell lived ten +years longer;--but Oliver Cromwell did not live; and, instead of +Heroic Heads, there came in Constitutional Wigs, which makes a +great difference. + +"The pretensions of Spain to keep Half the World locked up in +embargo were entirely chimerical; plainly contradictory to the Laws +of Nature; and no amount of Pope's Donation Acts, or Ceremonial in +Rota or Propaganda, could redeem them from untenability, in the +modern days. To lie like a dog in the manger over South America, +and say snarling, 'None of you shall trade here, though I cannot!' +--what Pope or body of Popes can sanction such a procedure? +Had England had a Head, instead of Wigs, amid its diplomatists, +England, as the chief party interested, would have long since +intimated gently to such dog in the manger: 'Dog, will you be so +obliging as rise! I am grieved to say, we shall have to do +unpleasant things otherwise. Dogs have doors for their hutches: +but to pretend barring the Tropic of Cancer,--that is too big a +door for any dog. Can nobody but you have business here, then, +which is not displeasing to the gods? We bid you rise!' And in this +mode there is no doubt the dog, bark and bite as he might, would +have ended by rising; not only England, but all the Universe being +against him. And furthermore, I compute with certainty, the +quantity of fighting needed to obtain such result would, by this +mode, have been a minimum. The clear right being there, and now +also the clear might, why take refuge in diplomatic wiggeries, in +Assiento Treaties, and Arrangements which are NOT analogous to the +facts; which are but wigged mendacities, therefore; and will but +aggravate in quantity and in quality the fighting yet needed? +Fighting is but (as has been well said) a battering out of the +mendacities, pretences, and imaginary elements: well battered-out, +these, like dust and chaff, fly torrent-wise along the winds, and +darken all the sky; but these once gone, there remain the facts and +their visible relation to one another, and peace is sure. + +"The Assiento Treaty being fixed upon, the English ought to have +kept it. But the English did not, in any measure; nor could pretend +to have done. They were entitled to supply Negroes, in such and +such number, annually to the Spanish Plantations; and besides this +delightful branch of trade, to have the privilege of selling +certain quantities of their manufactured articles on those coasts; +quantities regulated briefly by this stipulation, That their +Assiento Ship was to be of 600 tons burden, so many and no more. +The Assiento Ship was duly of 600 tons accordingly, promise kept +faithfully to the eye; but the Assiento Ship was attended and +escorted by provision-sloops, small craft said to be of the most +indispensable nature to it. Which provision-sloops, and +indispensable small craft, not only carried merchandise as well, +but went and came to Jamaica and back, under various pretexts, with +ever new supplies of merchandise; converting the Assiento Ship into +a Floating Shop, the Tons burden and Tons sale of which set +arithmetic at defiance. This was the fact, perfectly well known in +England, veiled over by mere smuggler pretences, and obstinately +persisted in, so profitable was it. Perfectly well known in Spain +also, and to the Spanish Guarda-Costas and Sea-Captains in those +parts; who were naturally kept in a perennial state of rage by it, +--and disposed to fly out into flame upon it, when a bad case +turned up! Such a case that of Jenkins had seemed to them; +and their mode of treating it, by tearing off Mr. Jenkins's Ear, +proved to be--bad shall we say, or good?--intolerable to England's +thick skin; and brought matters to a crisis, in the ways +we saw." ... + +The Jenkins's-Ear Question, which then looked so mad to everybody, +how sane has it now grown to my Constitutional Friend! In abstruse +ludicrous form there lay immense questions involved in it; +which were serious enough, certain enough, though invisible to +everybody. Half the World lay hidden in embryo under it. +Colonial-Empire, whose is it to be? Shall Half the World be +England's, for industrial purposes; which is innocent, laudable, +conformable to the Multiplication-table at least, and other plain +Laws? Or shall it be Spain's for arrogant-torpid sham-devotional +purposes, contradictory to every Law? The incalculable Yankee +Nation itself, biggest Phenomenon (once thought beautifulest) of +these Ages,--this too, little as careless readers on either side of +the sea now know it, lay involved. Shall there be a Yankee Nation, +shall there not be; shall the New World be of Spanish type, shall +it be of English? Issues which we may call immense. Among the then +extant Sons of Adam, where was he who could in the faintest degree +surmise what issues lay in the Jenkins's-Ear Question? And it is +curious to consider now, with what fierce deep-breathed doggedness +the poor English Nation, drawn by their instincts, held fast upon +it, and would take no denial, as if THEY had surmised and seen. +For the instincts of simple guileless persons (liable to be counted +STUPID, by the unwary) are sometimes of prophetic nature, and +spring from the deep places of this Universe!--My Constitutional +Friend entitles his next Section CARTHAGENA; but might more fitly +have headed it (for such in reality it is, Carthagena proving the +evanescent point of that sad business), + + +SUCCINCT HISTORY OF THE SPANISH WAR, WHICH BEGAN IN 1739; +AND ENDED--WHEN DID IT END? + +1. WAR, AND PORTO-BELLO (NOVEMBER, 1739-MARCH, 1740).--"November +4th, 1739, War was at length (after above four months' obscure +quasi-declaring of it, in the shape of Orders in Council, Letters +of Marque, and so on) got openly declared; 'Heralds at Arms at the +usual places' blowing trumpets upon it, and reading the royal +Manifesto, date of which is five days earlier, 'Kensington, October +30th (19th).' The principal Events that ensue, arrange themselves +under Three Heads, this of Porto-Bello being the FIRST; and (by +intense smelting) are datable as follows:--[<italic> Gentleman's +Magazine, <end italic> ix. 551, x. 124, 142, 144, 350; Tindal, +xx. 430-433, 442; &c.] + +"Tuesday Evening, 1st December, 1739, Admiral Vernon, our chosen +Anti-Spaniard, finding, a while ago, that he had missed the Azogue +Ships on the Coast of Spain, and must try America and the Spanish +Main, in that view arrives at Porto-Bello. Next day, December 2d, +Vernon attacks Porto-Bello; attacks certain Castles so called, with +furious broadsiding, followed by scalading; gets surrender (on the +3d);--seamen have allowance instead of plunder;--blows up what +Castles there are; and returns to Port Royal in Jamaica. + +"Never-imagined joy in England, and fame to Vernon, when the news +came: 'Took it with Six Ships,' cry they; 'the scurvy Ministry, who +had heard him, in the fire of Parliamentary debate, say Six, would +grant him no more: invincible Vernon!' Nay, next Year, I see, +'London was illuminated on the Anniversary of Porto-Bello:'-- +day settled in permanence as one of the High-tides of the Calendar, +it would appear. And 'Vernon's Birthday' withal--how touching is +stupidity when loyal!--was celebrated amazingly in all the chief +Towns, like a kind of Christmas, when it came round; Nature having +deigned to produce such a man, for a poor Nation in difficulties. +Invincible Vernon, it is thought by Gazetteers, 'will look in at +Carthagena shortly;' much more important Place, where a certain +Governor Don Blas has been insolent withal, and written +Vernon letters. + +"2. PRELIMINARIES TO CARTHAGENA (MARCH-NOVEMBER, 1740).--Monday, +14th March, 1740, Vernon did, accordingly, look in on Carthagena; +[<italic> Gentleman's Magazine, <end italic> x. 350.] cast anchor +in the shallow waste of surfs there, that Monday; and tried some +bombarding, with bomb-ketches and the like, from Thursday till +Saturday following. Vernon hopes he did hit the Jesuits' College, +South Bastion, Custom-house and other principal edifices; but found +that there was no getting near enough on that seaward side. +Found that you must force the Interior Harbor,--a big Inland Gulf +or Lake, which gushes in by what they call LITTLE-MOUTH (Boca- +Chica), and has its Booms, Castles and Defences, which are numerous +and strongish;--and that, for this end, you must have seven or +eight thousand Land Forces, as well as an addition of Ships. +On Saturday Evening, therefore, Vernon calls in his bomb-ketches; +sails past, examining these things; and goes forth on other small +adventures. For example,-- + +"Sunday, 3d April, 1740, 'about 10 at night' opens cannonade on +Chagres (place often enough taken, by cutlass and pistol, in the +Bucanier times); and, on Tuesday, 5th, gets surrender of Chagres: +'Custom-house crammed with goods, which we set fire to.' On news of +which, there is again, in England, joy over the day of small +things. The poor English People are set on this business of +avenging Jenkins's Ear, and of having the Ocean Highway unbarred; +and hope always it can be done by the Walpole Apparatuses, which +ought to be in working order, and are not. 'Support this hero, you +Walpole and Company, in his Carthagena views: it will be better +for you!" + +"Walpole and Company, aware of that fact, do take some trouble +about it; and now, may not we say, PAULLO MAJORA CANAMUS? +All through that Summer, 1740,"--while King Friedrich went rushing +about, to Strasburg, to Wesel; doing his Herstals and +Practicalities, with a light high hand, in almost an entertaining +manner; and intent, still more, on his Voltaires and a Life to the +Muses,--"there was, in England, serious heavy tumult of activity, +secret and public. In the Dockyards, on the Drill-grounds, what a +stir: Camp in the Isle of Wight, not to mention Portsmouth and the +Sea-Industries; 6,000 Marines are to be embarked, as well as Land +Regiments,--can anybody guess whither? America itself is to furnish +'one Regiment, with Scotch Officers to discipline it,' if they can. + +"Here is real haste and effort; but by no means such speed as could +be wished; multiplex confusions and contradictions occurring, as is +usual, when your machinery runs foul. Nor are the Gazetteers +without their guesses, though they study to be discreet. 'Here is +something considerable in the wind; a grand idea, for certain;'-- +and to men of discernment it points surely towards Carthagena and +heroic Vernon out yonder? Government is dumb altogether; and lays +occasional embargo; trying hard (without success), in the delays +that occurred, to keep it secret from Don Blas and others. +The outcome of all which was, + +"3. CARTHAGENA ITSELF (NOVEMBER, 1740--APRIL, 1741).--On November +6th,--by no means 'July 3d,' as your first fond program bore; +which delay was itself likely to be fatal, unless the Almanac, and +course of the Tropical Seasons would delay along with you!--we say, +On Sunday, 6th November, 1740 [Kaiser Karl's Funeral just over, and +great thoughts going on at Reinsberg], Rear-Admiral Sir Chaloner +Ogle,--so many weeks and months after the set time,--does sail from +St. Helen's (guessed, for Carthagena); all people sending blessings +with him. Twenty-five big Ships of the Line, with three Half- +Regiments on board; fireships, bomb-ketches, in abundance; and +eighty Transports, with 6,000 drilled Marines: a Sea-and-Land Force +fit to strengthen Hero Vernon with a witness, and realize his +Carthagena views. A very great day at Portsmouth and St. Helen's +for these Sunday folk. [Tindal, xx. 463 (LISTS, &c. there; date +wrong, "31st October," instead of 26th (o.s.),--many things wrong, +and all things left loose and flabby, and not right! As is poor +Tindal's way).] + +"Most obscure among the other items in that Armada of Sir +Chaloner's, just taking leave of England; most obscure of the items +then, but now most noticeable, or almost alone noticeable, is a +young Surgeon's-Mate,--one Tobias Smollett; looking over the waters +there and the fading coasts, not without thoughts. A proud, soft- +hearted, though somewhat stern-visaged, caustic and indignant young +gentleman. Apt to be caustic in speech, having sorrows of his own +under lock and key, on this and subsequent occasions. +Excellent Tobias; he has, little as he hopes it, something +considerable by way of mission in this Expedition, and in this +Universe generally. Mission to take Portraiture of English +Seamanhood, with the due grimness, due fidelity; and convey the +same to remote generations, before it vanish. Courage, my brave +young Tobias; through endless sorrows, contradictions, toils and +confusions, you will do your errand in some measure; and that will +be something!-- + +"Five weeks before (29th September, 1740, which was also several +months beyond time set), there had sailed, strictly hidden by +embargoes which were little effectual, another Expedition, all +Naval; intended to be subsidiary to this one: Commodore Anson's, of +three inconsiderable Ships; who is to go round Cape Horn, if he +can; to bombard Spanish America from the other side; and stretch +out a hand to Vernon in his grand Carthagena or ulterior views. +Together they may do some execution, if we judge by the old +Bucanier and Queen-Elizabeth experiences? Anson's Expedition has +become famous in the world, though Vernon got no good of it." + +Well! Here truly was a business; not so ill-contrived. Somebody of +head must have been at the centre of this: and it might, in result, +have astonished the Spaniard, and tumbled him much topsy-turvy in +those latitudes,--had the machinery for executing it been well in +gear. Under Friedrich Wilhelm's captaincy and management, every +person, every item, correct to its time, to its place, to its +function, what a thing! But with mere Walpole Machinery: alas, it +was far too wide a Plan for Machinery of that kind, habitually out +of order, and only used to be as correct as--as it could. +Those DELAYS themselves, first to Anson, then to Ogle, since the +Tropical Almanac would not delay along with them, had thrown both +Enterprises into weather such as all but meant impossibility in +those latitudes! This was irremediable;--had not been remediable, +by efforts and pushings here and there. The best of management, as +under Anson, could not get the better of this; worst of management, +as in the other case, was likely to make a fine thing of it! Let us +hasten on:-- + +"January 20th, 1741, We arrive, through much rough weather and +other confused hardships, at Port Royal in Jamaica; find Vernon +waiting on the slip; the American Regiment, tolerably drilled by +the Scotch Lieutenants, in full readiness and equipment; a body of +Negroes superadded, by way of pioneer laborers fit for those hot +climates. One sad loss there had been on the voyage hither: +Land forces had lost their Commander, and did not find another. +General Cathcart had died of sickness on the voyage; a Charles Lord +Cathcart, who was understood to possess some knowledge of his +business; and his Successor, one Wentworth, did not happen to have +any. Which was reckoned unlucky, by the more observant. +Vernon, though in haste for Carthagena, is in some anxiety about a +powerful French Fleet which has been manoeuvring in those waters +for some time; intent on no good that Vernon can imagine. The first +thing now is, See into that French Fleet. French Fleet, on our +going to look in the proper Island, is found to be all off for +home; men 'mostly starved or otherwise dead,' we hear; so that now, +after this last short delay,--To Carthagena with all sail. + +"Wednesday Evening, 15th March, 1741, We anchor in the Playa +Grande, the waste surfy Shallow which washes Carthagena seaward: +124 sail of us, big and little. We find Don Blas in a very prepared +posture. Don Blas has been doing his best, this twelvemonth past; +plugging up that Boca-Chica (LITTLE MOUTH) Ingate, with batteries, +booms, great ships; and has castles not a few thereabouts and in +the Interior Lake or Harbor; all which he has put in tolerable +defence, so far as can be judged: not an inactive, if an insolent +Don. We spend the next five days in considering and surveying these +Performances of his: What is to be done with them; how, in the +first place, we may force Boca-Chica; and get in upon his Interior +Castles and him. After consideration, and plan fixed: + +"Monday, 20th March, Sir Chaloner, with broadsides, sweeps away +some small defences which lie to left of Boca-Chica [to our LEFT, +to Boca-Chica's RIGHT, if anybody cares to be particular]. +Whereupon the Troops land, some of them that same evening; and, +within the next two days, are all ashore, implements, Negroes and +the rest; building batteries, felling wood; intent to capture +Boca-Chica Castle, and demolish the War-Ships, Booms, and fry of +Fascine and other Batteries; and thereby to get in upon Don Blas, +and have a stroke at his Interior Castles and Carthagena itself. +Till April 5th, here are sixteen days of furious intricate work; +not ill done:--the physical labor itself, the building of +batteries, with Boca-Chica firing on you over the woods, is +scarcely do-able by Europeans in that season; and the Negroes who +are able for it, 'fling down their burdens, and scamper, whenever a +gun goes off.' Furious fighting, too, there was, by seamen and +landsmen; not ill done, considering circumstances. + +"On the sixteenth day, April 5th [King Friedrich hurrying from the +Mountains that same day, towards Steinau, which took fire with him +at night], Boca-Chica Castle and the intricate War-Ships, Booms, +and Castles thereabouts (Don Blas running off when the push became +intense), are at last got. So that now, through Boca-Chica, we +enter the Interior Harbor or Harbors. 'Harbors' which are of wide +extent, and deep enough: being in fact a Lake, or rather Pair of +Lakes, with Castles (CASTILLO GRANDE, 'Castle Grand,' the chief of +them), with War-Ships sunk or afloat, and miscellaneous +obstructions: beyond all which, at the farther shore, some five +miles off, Carthagena itself does at last lie potentially +accessible; and we hope to get in upon Don Blas and it. There ensue +five days of intricate sea-work; not much of broadsiding, mainly +tugging out of sunk War-Ships, and the like, to get alongside of +Castle Grand, which is the chief obstruction. + +"April 10, Castle Grand itself is got; nobody found in it when we +storm. Don Blas and the Spaniards seem much in terror; burning any +Ships they still have, near Carthagena; as if there were no chance +now left." This is the very day of Mollwitz Battle; near about the +hour when Schwerin broke into field-music, and advanced with +thunderous glitter against the evening sun! "Carthagena Expedition +is, at length, fairly in contact with its Problem,--the question +rising, 'Do you understand it, then?' + +"Up to this point, mistakes of management had been made good by +obstinate energy of execution; clear victory had gone on so far, +the Capture of Carthagena now seemingly at hand. One thing was +unfortunate: 'the able Mr. Moor [meritorious Captain of Foot, who, +by accident, had spent some study on his business], the one real +Engineer we had,' got killed in that Boca-Chica struggle: an end to +poor Moor! So that the Siege of Carthagena will have to go on +WITHOUT Engineer science henceforth. May be important, that,--who +knows? Another thing was still more palpably important: Sea-General +Vernon had an undisguised contempt for Land-General Wentworth. +'A mere blockhead, whose Brother has a Borough,' thinks Vernon +(himself an Opposition Member, of high-sniffing, angry, not too +magnanimous turn);--and withdraws now to his Ships; intimating: +'Do your Problem, then; I have set you down beside it, which was my +part of the affair!'--Let us give the attack of Fort Lazar, and end +this sad business. + +"Sunday, 16th April, Wentworth, once master of the Uppermost Lake +or Harbor (what the Natives call the SURGIDERO, or Anchorage +Proper), had disembarked, high up to the right, a good way south of +Carthagena; meaning to attack there-from a certain Fort Lazar, +which stands on a Hill between Carthagena and him: this Hill and +Fort once his, he has Carthagena under his cannon; Carthagena in +his pocket, as it were. 'Fort not to be had without batteries,' +thinks Wentworth; though the sickly rainy season has set in. +'Batteries? Scaling-ladders, you mean!' answers Vernon, with +undisguised contempt. For the two are, by this time, almost in open +quarrel. Wentworth starts building batteries, in spite of the rain- +deluges; then stops building;--decides to do it by scalade, after +all. And, at two in the morning of this Sunday, April 16th, sets +forth, in certain columns,--by roads ill-known, with arrangements +that do NOT fit like clock-work,--to storm said Hill and Fort. +The English are an obstinate people; and strenuous execution will +sometimes amend defects of plan,--sometimes not. + +"The obstinate English, nothing in them but sullen fire of valor, +which has to burn UNluminous, did, after mistake on mistake, climb +the rocks or heights of Lazar Hill, in spite of the world and Don +Blas's cannonading; but found, when atop, That Fort Lazar, raining +cannon-shot, was still divided from them by chasms; that the +scaling-ladders had not come (never did come, owing to indiscipline +somewhere),--and that, without wings as of eagles, they could not +reach Fort Lazar at all! For about four hours, they struggled with +a desperate doggedness, to overcome the chasms, to wrench aside the +Laws of Nature, and do something useful for themselves; patiently, +though sulkily; regardless of the storm of shot which killed 600 of +them, the while. At length, finding the Laws of Nature too strong +for them, they descended gloomily: 'in gloomy silence' marched home +to their tents again,--in a humor too deep for words. + +"Yes; and we find they fell sick in multitudes, that night; +and, 'in two days more, were reduced from 6,645 to 3,200 +effective;' Vernon, from the sea, looking disdainfully on:--and it +became evident that the big Project had gone to water; and that +nothing would remain but to return straightway to Jamaica, in +bankrupt condition. Which accordingly was set about. And ten days +hence (April 26th)) the final party of them did get on board,-- +punctual to take 'three tents,' their last rag of Siege-furniture, +along with them; 'lest Don Blas have trophies,' thinks poor +Wentworth. And sailed away, with their sad Siege finished in such +fashion. Strenuous Siege; which, had the War-Sciences been +foolishness, and the Laws of Nature and the rigors of Arithmetic +and Geometry been stretchable entities, might have succeeded +better!" [Smollett's Account, <italic> Miscellaneous Works <end +italic> (Edinburgh, 1806), iv. 445-469, is that of a highly +intelligent Eye-witness, credible and intelligible in +every particular.] + +"Evening of April 26th:"--I perceive it was in the very hours while +Belleisle arrived in Friedrich's Camp at Mollwitz; eve of that +Siege of Brieg, which we saw performing itself with punctual regard +to said Laws and rigors, and issuing in so different a manner! +Nothing that my Constitutional Historian has said equals in pungent +enormity the matter-of-fact Picture, left by Tobias Smollett, of +the sick and wounded, in the interim which follow&d that attempt on +Fort Lazar and the Laws of Nature:-- + +"As for the sick and wounded", says Tobias, "they were, next day, +sent on board of the transports and vessels called hospital-ships; +where they languished in want of every necessary comfort and +accommodation. They were destitute of surgeons, nurses, cooks and +proper provision; they were pent up between decks in small vessels, +where they had not room to sit upright; they wallowed in filth; +myriads of maggots were hatched in the putrefaction of their sores, +which had no other dressing than that of being washed by themselves +with their own allowance of brandy; and nothing was heard but +groans, lamentations and the language of despair, invoking death to +deliver them from their miseries. What served to encourage this +despondence, was the prospect of those poor wretches who had +strength and opportunity to look around them; for there they beheld +the naked bodies of their fellow-soldiers and comrades floating up +and down the harbor, affording prey to the carrion-crows and +sharks, which tore them in pieces without interruption, and +contributing by their stench to the mortality that prevailed. + +"This picture cannot fail to be shocking to the humane reader, +especially when he is informed, that while those miserable objects +cried in vain for assistance, and actually perished for want of +proper attendance, every ship of war in the fleet could have spared +a couple of surgeons for their relief; and many young gentlemen of +that profession solicited their captains in pain for leave to go +and administer help to the sick and wounded. The necessities of the +poor people were well known; the remedy was easy and apparent; +but the discord between the chiefs was inflamed to such a degree of +diabolical rancor, that the one chose rather to see his men perish +than ask help of the other, who disdained to offer his assistance +unasked, though it might have saved the lives of his fellow- +subjects." [Smollett, IBID. (Anderson's Edition), iv. 466.] + +In such an amazing condition is the English Fighting Apparatus +under Walpole, being important for England's self only; while the +Talking Apparatus, important for Walpole, is in such excellent +gearing, so well kept in repair and oil! By Wentworth's blame, who +had no knowledge of war; by Vernon's, who sat famous on the +Opposition side, yet wanted loyalty of mind; by one's blame and +another's, WHOSE it is idle arguing, here is how your Fighting +Apparatus performs in the hour when needed. Unfortunate General, or +General's Cocked-Hat (a brave heart too, they say, though of brain +too vacant, too opaque); unfortunate Admiral (much blown away by +vanity, in-nature and Parliamentary wind);--doubly unfortunate +Nation, that employs such to lead its armaments! How the English +Nation took it? The English Nation has had much of this kind to +take, first and last; and apparently will yet have. "Gloomy +silence," like that of the poor men going home to their tents, is +our only dialect towards it. + +This is a dreadful business, this of the wrecked Carthagena +Expedition; such a force of war-munitions in every kind,-- +including the rare kind, human Courage and force of heart, only not +human Captaincy, the rarest kind,--as could have swallowed South +America at discretion, had there been Captains over it. Has gone +blundering down into Orcus and the shark's belly, in that +unutterable manner. Might have been didactic to Eugland, more than +it was; England's skin being very thick against lessons of that +nature. Might have broken the heart of a little Sovereign Gentleman +Curator of England, had he gone hypochondriacally into it; which he +was far from doing, brisk little Gentleman; looking out else- +whither, with those eyes A FLEUR DE TETE, and nothing of insoluble +admitted into the brain that dwelt inside. + +What became subsequently of the Spanish War, we in vain inquire of +History-Books. The War did not die for many years to come, but +neither did it publicly live; it disappears at this point: a River +Niger, seen once flowing broad enough; but issuing--Does it issue +nowhere, then? Where does it issue? Except for my Constitutional +Historian, still unpublished, I should never have known where.-- +By the time these disastrous Carthagena tidings reached England, +his Britannic Majesty was in Hanover; involved, he, and all his +State doctors, English and Hanoverian, in awful contemplation on +Pragmatic Sanction, Kaiserwahl, Celestial Balance, and the saving +of Nature's Keystone, should this still prove possible to human +effort and contrivance. In which Imminency of Doomsday itself, the +small English-Spanish matter, which the Official people, and his +Majesty as much as any, had bitterly disliked, was quite let go, +and dropped out of view. Forgotten by Official people; left to the +dumb English Nation, whose concern it was, to administer as +IT could. + +Anson--with his three ships gone to two, gone ultimately to one--is +henceforth what Spanish War there officially is. Anson could not +meet those Vernon-Wentworth gentlemen "from the other side of the +Isthmus of Darien," the gentlemen, with their Enterprise, being +already bankrupt and away. Anson, with three inconsiderable ships, +which rotted gradually into one, could not himself settle the +Spanish War: but he did, on his own score, a series of things, +ending in beautiful finis of the Acapulco Ship, which were of +considerable detriment, and of highly considerable disgrace, to +Spain;--and were, and are long likely to be, memorable among the +Sea-heroisms of the world. Giving proof that real Captains, +taciturn Sons of Anak, are still born in England; and Sea-kings, +equal to any that were. Luckily, too, he had some chaplain or +ship's-surgeon on board, who saw good to write account of that +memorable VOYAGE of his; and did it, in brief, perspicuous terms, +wise and credible: a real Poem in its kind, or Romance all Fact; +one of the pleasantest little Books in the World's Library at this +date. Anson sheds some tincture of heroic beauty over that +otherwise altogether hideous puddle of mismanagement, platitude, +disaster; and vindicates, in a pathetically potential way, the +honor of his poor Nation a little. + +Apart from Official Anson, the Spanish War fell mainly, we may say, +into the hands of--of Mr. Jenkins himself, and such Friends of his, +at Wapping, Bristol and the Seaports, as might be disposed to go +privateering. In which course, after some crosses at first, and +great complaints of losses to Spanish Privateers, Wapping and +Bristol did at length eminently get the upper hand; and thus +carried on this Spanish War (or Spanish-French, Spain and France +having got into one boat), for long years coming; in an entirely +inarticulate, but by no means quite ineffectual manner,--indeed, to +the ultimate clearance of the Seas from both French and Spaniard, +within the next twenty years. Readers shall take this little +Excerpt, dated Three Years hence, and set it twinkling in the night +of their imaginations:-- + +BRISTOL, MONDAY, 21st (10th) SEPTEMBER, 1744. ... "Nothing is to be +seen here but rejoicings for the number of French prizes brought +into this port. Our Sailors are in high spirits, and full of money; +and while on shore, spend their whole time in carousing, visiting +their mistresses, going to plays, serenading, &c., dressed out with +laced hats, tossels (SIC), swords with sword-knots, and every other +way of spending their money." [Extract of a Letter from Bristol, in +<italic> Gentleman's Magazine, <end italic> xiv. 504.] + +Carthagena, Walpole, Viners: here are Sorrows for a Britannic +Majesty;--and these are nothing like all. But poor readers should +have some respite; brief breathing-time, were it only to use their +pocket-handkerchiefs, and summon new courage! + + + +Chapter XIII. + +SMALL-WAR: FIRST EMERGENCE OF ZIETHEN THE HUSSAR GENERAL INTO NOTICE. + +After Brieg, Friedrich undertook nothing military, except strict +vigilance of Neipperg, for a couple of months or more. Military, +especially offensive operations, are not the methods just now. +Rest on your oars; see how this seething Ocean of European +Politics, and Peace or War, will settle itself into currents, into +set winds; by which of them a man may steer, who happens to have a +fixed port in view. Neipperg, too, is glad to be quiescent; +"my Infantry hopelessly inferior," he writes to head-quarters: +"Could not one hire 10,000 Saxons, think you,"--or do several other +chimerical things, for help? Except with his Pandour people, +working what mischief they can, Neipperg does nothing. But this +Hungarian rabble is extensively industrious, scouring the country +far and wide; and gives a great deal of trouble both to Friedrich +and the peaceable inhabitants. So that there is plenty of Small War +always going on:--not mentionable here, any passage of it, except +perhaps one, at a place called Rothschloss; which concerns a +remarkable Prussian Hussar Major, their famed Ziethen, and is still +remembered by the Prussian public. + +We have heard of Captain, now Major Ziethen, how Friedrich Wilhelm +sent him to the Rhine Campaign, six years ago, to learn the Hussar +Art from the Austrians there. One Baronay (BARONIAY, or even +BARANYAI, as others write him), an excellent hand, taught him the +Art;--and how well he has learned, Baronay now sadly experiences. +The affair of Rothschloss (in abridged form) befell as follows:-- + +"In these Small-War businesses, Baronay, Austrian Major-General of +Hussars, had been exceedingly mischievous hitherto. It was but the +other day, a Prussian regular party had to go out upon him, just in +time; and to RE-wrench 'sixty cart-loads of meal,' wrenched by him +from suffering individuals; with which he was making off to Neisse, +when the Prussians [from their Camp of Mollwitz, where they still +are] came in sight. + +"And now again (May 16th) news is, That Baronay, and 1,400 Hussars +with him, has another considerable set of meal-carts,--in the +Village of Rothschloss, about twenty miles southward, Frankenstein +way; and means to march with them Neisse-ward to-morrow. +Two marches or so will bring him home; if Prussian diligence +prevent not. 'Go instantly,' orders Friedrich,--appointing +Winterfeld to do it: Winterfeld with 300 dragoons, with Ziethen and +Hussars to the amount of 600; which is more than one to two +of Austrians. + +"Winterfeld and Ziethen march that same day; are in the +neighborhood of Rothschloss by nightfall; and take their measures, +--block the road to Neisse, and do other necessary things. And go +in upon Baronay next morning, at the due rate, fiery men both of +them; sweep poor Baronay away, MINUS the meal; who finds even his +road blocked (bridge bursting into cannon-shot upon him, at one +point), instead of bridge, a stream, or slow current of quagmire +for him,--and is in imminent hazard. Ziethen's behavior was +superlative (details of it unintelligible off the ground); +and Baronay fled totally in wreck;--his own horse shot, and at the +moment no other to be had; swam the quagmire, or swashed through +it, 'by help of a tree;" and had a near miss of capture. +Recovering himself on the other side, Baronay, we can fancy, gave a +grin of various expression, as he got into saddle again: 'The arrow +so near killing was feathered from one's own wing, too!'--And +indeed, a day or two after, he wrote Ziethen a handsome Letter to +that effect." [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> i. 927; +Orlich, i. 120. <italic> The Life of General de Zieten <end italic> +(English Translation, very ill printed, Berlin, 1803), BY FRAU VON +BLUMENTHAL (a vaguish eloquent Lady, but with access to +information, being a connection of Z.'s), p. 84.] + +Ziethen, for minor good feats, had been made Lieutenant-Colonel, +the very day he marched; his Commission dates May 16th, 1741; +and on the morrow he handsels it in this pretty manner. He is now +forty-two; much held down hitherto; being a man of inarticulate +turn, hot and abrupt in his ways,--liable always to multifarious +obstruction, and unjust contradiction from his fellow-creatures. +But Winterfeld's report on this occasion was emphatic; and Ziethen +shoots rapidly up henceforth; Colonel within the year, General in +1744; and more and more esteemed by Friedrich during their +subsequent long life together. + +Though perhaps the two most opposite men in Nature, and standing so +far apart, they fully recognized one another in their several +spheres. For Ziethen too had good eyesight, though in abstruse +sort:--rugged simple son of the moorlands; nourished, body and +soul, on orthodox frugal oatmeal (so to speak), with a large +sprinkling of fire and iron thrown in! A man born poor: son of some +poor Squirelet in the Ruppin Country;--"used to walk five miles +into Ruppin on Saturday nights," in early life, "and have his hair +done into club, which had to last him till the week following." +[<italic> Militair-Lexikon, <end italic> iv. 310.] A big-headed, +thick-lipped, decidedly ugly little man. And yet so beautiful in +his ugliness: wise, resolute, true, with a dash of high +uncomplaining sorrow in him;--not the "bleached nigger" at all, as +Print-Collectors sometimes call him! No; but (on those oatmeal +terms) the Socrates-Odysseus, the valiant pious Stoic, and much- +enduring man. One of the best Hussar Captains ever built. +By degrees King Friedrich and he grew to be,--with considerable +tiffs now and then, and intervals of gloom and eclipse,--what we +might call sworn friends. On which and on general grounds, Ziethen +has become, like Friedrich himself, a kind of mythical person with +the soldiery and common people; more of a demi-god than any other +of Friedrich's Captains. + +Friedrich is always eagerly in quest of men like Ziethen; +specially so at this time. He has meditated much on the bad figure +his Cavalry made at Mollwitz; and is already drilling them anew in +multiplex ways, during those leisure days he now has,--with evident +success on the next trial, this very Summer. And, as his wont is, +will not rest satisfied there. But strives incessantly, for a +series of summers and years to come, till he bring them to +perfection; or to the likeness of his own thought, which probably +was not far from that. Till at length it can be said his success +became world-famous; and he had such Seidlitzes and Ziethens as +were not seen before or since. + +MAP FOR THE FIRST AND SECOND SILESIAN WAR HERE--------- + + +END OF BOOK 12------- + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Etext History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 12 + diff --git a/old/12frd10.zip b/old/12frd10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a09570 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12frd10.zip |