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diff --git a/2113.txt b/2113.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..377e5ca --- /dev/null +++ b/2113.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6290 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. +XIII. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XIII. (of XXI.) + Frederick The Great--First Silesian War, Leaving the General + European One Ablaze All Round, Gets Ended--May, 1741-July, + 1742. + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Posting Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2113] +Release Date: March 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + + + + +Produced by D.R. Thompson + + + + + +HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. OF PRUSSIA + +FREDERICK THE GREAT + +by Thomas Carlyle + +Volume XIII. + + + + +BOOK XIII. -- FIRST SILESIAN WAR, LEAVING THE GENERAL EUROPEAN ONE +ABLAZE ALL ROUND, GETS ENDED. -- May, 1741-July, 1742. + + + + +Chapter I. -- BRITANNIC MAJESTY AS PALADIN OF THE PRAGMATIC. + +Part First of his Britannic Majesty's Sorrows, the Britannic or Domestic +Part, is now perhaps conceivable to readers. But as to the Second, +the Germanic or Pragmatic Part,--articulate History, after much +consideration, is content to renounce attempting these; feels that these +will remain forever inconceivable to mankind in the now altered times. +So small a gentleman; and he feels, dismally though with heroism, that +he has got the axis of the world on his shoulder. Poor Majesty! His +eyes, proud as Jove's, are nothing like so perspicacious; a pair of the +poorest eyes: and he has to scan with them, and unriddle under pain of +death, such a waste of insoluble intricacies, troubles and world-perils +as seldom was,--even in Dreams. In fact, it is of the nature of a long +Nightmare Dream, all this of the Pragmatic, to his poor Majesty and +Nation; and wakeful History must not spend herself upon it, beyond the +essential. + +May 12th, betimes this Year, his Majesty got across to Hanover, +Harrington with him; anxious to contemplate near at hand that Camp of +the Old Dessauer's at Gottin, and the other fearful phenomena, French, +Prussian and other, in that Country. His Majesty, as natural, was much +in Germany in those Years; scanning the phenomena; a long while not +knowing what in the world to make of them. Bully Belleisle having stept +into the ring, it is evident, clear as the sun, that one must act, and +act at once; but it is a perfect sphinx-enigma to say How. Seldom +was Sovereign or man so spurred, and goaded on, by the highest +considerations; and then so held down, and chained to his place, by an +imbroglio of counter-considerations and sphinx-riddles! Thrice over, at +different dates (which shall be given), the first of them this Year, he +starts up as in spasm, determined to draw sword, and plunge in; twice +he is crushed down again, with sword half drawn; and only the third time +(in 1743) does he get sword out, and brandish it in a surprising though +useless manner. After which he feels better. But up to that crisis, his +case is really tragical,--had idle readers any bowels for him; which +they have not! One or two Fractions, snatched from the circumambient +Paper Vortex, must suffice us for the indispensable in this place:-- + + + + +CUNCTATIONS, YET INCESSANT AND UBIQUITOUS ENDEAVORINGS, OF HIS BRITANNIC +MAJESTY (1741-1743). + +... After the wonderful Russian Partition-Treaty, which his English +Walpoles would not hear of,--and which has produced the Camp of Gottin, +see, your Majesty!--George does nothing rashly. Far from it: indeed, +except it be paying money, he becomes again a miracle of cunctations; +and staggers about for years to come, like the--Shall we say, like the +White Hanover Horse amid half a dozen sieves of beans? Alas, no, like +the Hanover Horse with the shadows of half a dozen Damocles'-swords +dangling into the eyes of it;--enough to drive any Horse to its wit's +end!-- + +"To do, to dare," thinks the Britannic Majesty;--yes, and of daring +there is a plenty: but, "In which direction? What, How?" these are +questions for a fussy little gentleman called to take the world on +his shoulders. We suppose it was by Walpole's advice that he gave her +Hungarian Majesty that 200,000 pounds of Secret-Service Money;--advice +sufficiently Walpolean: "Russian Partition-Treaties; horrible to think +of;--beware of these again! Give her Majesty that cash; can be done; +it will keep matters afloat, and spoil nothing!" That, till the late +Subsidy payable within year and day hence, was all of tangible his +Majesty had yet done;--truly that is all her Hungarian Majesty has yet +got by hawking the world, Pragmatic Sanction in hand. And if that were +the bit of generosity which enabled Neipperg to climb the Mountains and +be beaten at Mollwitz, that has helped little! Very big generosities, to +a frightful cipher of Millions Sterling through the coming years, will +go the same road; and amount also to zero, even for the receiving party, +not to speak of the giving! For men and kings are wise creatures. + +But wise or unwise, how great are his Britannic Majesty's activities +in this Pragmatic Business! We may say, they are prodigious, incessant, +ubiquitous. They are forgotten now, fallen wholly to the spiders and +the dust-bins;--though Friedrich himself was not a busier King in those +days, if perhaps a better directed. It is a thing wonderful to us, but +sorrowful and undeniable. We perceive the Britannic Majesty's own little +mind pulsing with this Pragmatic Matter, as the biggest volcano would +do;--shooting forth dust and smoke (subsidies, diplomatic emissaries, +treaties, offers of treaty, plans, foolish futile exertions), at an +immense rate. When the Celestial Balances are canting, a man ought +to exert himself. But as to this of saving the House of Austria from +France,--surely, your Britannic Majesty, the shortest way to that, if +that is so indispensable, were: That the House of Austria should consent +to give up its stolen goods, better late than never; and to make this +King of Prussia its friend, as he offers to be! Joined with this King, +it would manage to give account of France and its balloon projects, by +and by. Could your Britannic Majesty but take Mr. Viner's hint; and, +in the interim, mind your OWN business!--His Britannic Majesty intends +immediate fighting; and, both in England and Hanover, is making +preparation loud and great. Nay, he will in his own person fight, if +necessary, and rather likes the thought of it: he saw Oudenarde in his +young days; and, I am told, traces in himself a talent for Generalship. +Were the Britannic Majesty to draw his own puissant sword!-His own +puissant purse he has already drawn; and is subsidizing to right and +left; knocking at all doors with money in hand, and the question, "Any +fighting done here?" In England itself there goes on much drilling, +enlisting; camping, proposing to camp; which is noisy enough in the +British Newspapers, much more in the Foreign. One actual Camp there was +"on Lexden Heath near Colchester," from May till October of this 1741, +[Manifold but insignificant details about it, in the old Newspapers of +those Months.]--Camp waiting always to be shipped across to the scene +of action, but never was:--this actual Camp, and several imaginary ones +here, which were alarming to the Continental Gazetteer. In England his +Majesty is busy that way; still more among his Hanoverians, now under +his own royal eye; and among his Danes and Hessians, whom he has +now brought over into Hanover, to combine with the others. Danes and +Hessians, 6,000 of each kind, he for some time keeps back in stall, upon +subsidy, ready for such an occasion. Their "Camp at Hameln," "Camp at +Nienburg" (will, with the Hanoverians, be 30,000 odd); their swashing +and blaring about, intending to encamp at Hameln, at Nienburg, and other +places, but never doing it, or doing it with any result: this, with the +alarming English Camps at Lexden and in Dreamland, which also were void +of practical issue, filled Europe with rumor this Summer.--Eager enough +to fight; a noble martial ardor in our little Hercules-Atlas! But there +lie such enormous difficulties on the threshold; especially these Two, +which are insuperable or nearly so. + +Difficulty FIRST, is that of the laggard Dutch; a People apt to be heavy +in the stern-works. They are quite languid about Pragmatic Sanction, +these Dutch; they answer his Britannic Majesty's enthusiasm with an +obese torpidity; and hope always they will drift through, in some way; +buoyant in their own fat, well ballasted astern; and not need such +swimming for life. "What a laggard notion," thinks his Majesty; "notion +in ten pair of breeches, so to speak!" This stirring up of the Dutch, +which lasts year on year, and almost beats Lord Stair, Lord Carteret, +and our chief Artists, is itself a thing like few! One of his Britannic +Majesty's great difficulties;--insuperable he never could admit it to +be. "Surely you are a Sea-Power, ye valiant Dutch; the OTHER Sea-Power? +Bound by Barrier Treaty, Treaty of Vienna, and Law of Nature itself, to +rise with us against the fatal designs of France; fatal to your Dutch +Barrier, first of all; if the Liberties of Mankind were indifferent +to you! How is it that you will not?" The Dutch cannot say how. France +rocks them in security, by oily-mouthed Diplomatists, Fenelon and +others: "Would not touch a stone of your Barrier, for the world, ye +admirable Dutch neighbors: on our honor, thrice and four times, No!" +They have an eloquent Van Hoey of their own at Paris; renowned in +Newspapers: "Nothing but friendship here!" reports Van Hoey always; +and the Dutch answer his Britannic Majesty: "Hm, rise? Well then, if we +must!"--but sit always still. + +Nowhere in Political Mechanics have I seen such a Problem as this +of hoisting to their feet the heavy-bottomed Dutch. The cunningest +leverage, every sort of Diplomatic block-and-tackle, Carteret and Stair +themselves running over to help in critical seasons, is applied; to +almost no purpose. Pull long, pull strong, pull all together,--see, the +heavy Dutch do stir; some four inches of daylight fairly visible below +them: bear a hand, oh, bear a hand!--Pooh, the Dutch flap down again, as +low as ever. As low,--unless (by Diplomatic art) you have WEDGED them at +the four inches higher; which, after the first time or two, is generally +done. At the long last, partially in 1743 (upon which his Britannic +Majesty drew sword), completely in 1747, the Dutch were got to their +feet;--unfortunately good for nothing when they were! Without them his +Britannic Majesty durst not venture. Hidden in those dust-bins, there +is nothing so absurd, or which would be so wearisome, did it not at last +become slightly ludicrous, as this of hoisting the Dutch. + +Difficulty SECOND, which in enormity of magnitude might be reckoned +first, as in order of time it ranks both first and last, is: The case +of dear Hanover; case involved in mere insolubilities. Our own dear +Hanover, which (were there nothing more in it) is liable, from that Camp +at Gottin, to be slit in pieces at a moment's warning! No drawing sword +against a nefarious Prussia, on those terms. The Camp at Gottin holds +George in checkmate. And then finally, in this same Autumn, 1741, when +a Maillebois with his 40 or 50,000 French (the Leftward or western of +those Two Belleisle Armies), threatening our Hanover from another side, +crossed the Lower Rhine--But let us not anticipate. The case of Hanover, +which everybody saw to be his Majesty's vulnerable point, was the +constant open door of France and her machinations, and a never-ending +theme of angry eloquences in the English Parliament as well. + +So that the case of Hanover proved insoluble throughout, and was like +a perpetual running sore. Oh the pamphleteerings, the denouncings, +the complainings, satirical and elegiac, which grounded themselves +on Hanover, the CASE OF THE HANOVER FORCES, and innumerable other +Hanoverian cases, griefs and difficulties! So pungently vital to +somnambulant mankind at that epoch; to us fallen dead as carrion, and +unendurable to think of. My friends, if you send for Gentlemen from +Hanover, you must take them with Hanover adhering more or less; and +ought not to quarrel with your bargain, which you reckoned so divine! +No doubt, it is singular to see a Britannic Majesty neglecting his own +Spanish War, the one real business he has at present; and running about +over all the world; busy, soul, body and breeches-pocket, in other +people's wars; egging on other fighting, whispering every likely fellow +he can meet, "Won't you perhaps fight? Here is for you, if so!"--hand to +breeches-pocket accompanying the word. But it must be said, and ought to +be better known than in our day it is, His Majesty's Ministers, and the +English State-Doctors generally, were precisely of the same mind. TO +them too the Austrian Quarrel was everything, their own poor Spanish +Quarrel nothing; and the complaint they make of his Majesty is rather +that he does not rush rapidly enough, with brandished sword, as well +as with guineas raining from him, into this one indispensable business. +"Owing to his fears for Hanover!" say they, with indignation, with no +end of suspicion, angry pamphleteering and covert eloquence, "within +those walls" and without. + +The suspicion of Hanover's checking his Majesty's Pragmatic velocity is +altogether well founded; and there need no more be said on that Hanover +score. Be it well understood and admitted, Hanover was the Britannic +Majesty's beloved son; and the British Empire his opulent milk-cow. +Richest of milk-cows; staff of one's life, for grand purposes and +small; beautiful big animal, not to be provoked; but to be stroked and +milked:--Friends, if you will do a Glorious Revolution of that kind, and +burn such an amount of tar upon it, why eat sour herbs for an inevitable +corollary therefrom! And let my present readers understand, at any +rate, that,--except in Wapping, Bristol and among the simple +instinctive classes (with whom, it is true, go Pitt and some illustrious +figures),--political England generally, whatever of England had +Parliamentary discourse of reason, and did Pamphlets, Despatches, +Harangues, went greatly along with his Majesty in that Pragmatic +Business. And be the blame of delirium laid on the right back, where it +ought to lie, not on the wrong, which has enough to bear of its own. And +go not into that dust-whirlwind of extinct stupidities, O reader:--what +reader would, except for didactic objects? Know only that it does of a +truth whirl there; and fancy always, if you can, that certain things and +Human Figures, a Friedrich, a Chatham and some others, have it for their +Life-Element. Which, I often think, is their principal misfortune +with Posterity; said Life-Element having gone to such an unutterable +condition for gods and men. + +"One other thing surprises us in those Old Pamphlets," says my +Constitutional Friend: "How the phrase, 'Cause of Liberty' ever and anon +turns up, with great though extinct emphasis, evidently sincere. After +groping, one is astonished to find it means Support of the House of +Austria; keeping of the Hapsburgs entire in their old Possessions +among mankind! That, to our great-grandfathers, was the 'Cause of +Liberty;'--said 'Cause' being, with us again, Electoral Suffrage and +other things; a notably different definition, perhaps still wider of the +mark. + +"Our great-grandfathers lived in perpetual terror that they would be +devoured by France; that French ambition would overset the Celestial +Balance, and proceed next to eat the British Nation. Stand upon your +guard then, one would have said: Look to your ships, to your defences, +to your industries; to your virtues first of all,--your VIRTUTES, +manhoods, conformities to the Divine Law appointed you; which are +the great and indeed sole strength to any Man or Nation! Discipline +yourselves, wisely, in all kinds; more and more, till there be no +anarchic fibre left in you. Unanarchic, disciplined at all points, you +might then, I should say, with supreme composure, let France, and the +whole World at its back, try what they could do upon you and the unique +little Island you are so lucky as to live in?--Foolish mortals: what +Potentiality of Battle, think you (not against France only, but against +Satanas and the Ministers of Chaos generally), would a poor Friedrich +Wilhelm, not to speak of better, have got out of such a Possession, had +it been his to put in drill! And drill is not of soldiers only; though +perhaps of soldiers first and most indispensably of all; since 'without +Being,' as my Friend Oliver was wont to say, 'Well-being is not +possible.' There is military drill; there is industrial, economic, +spiritual; gradually there are all kinds of drill, of wise discipline, +of peremptory mandate become effective everywhere, 'OBEY the Laws of +Heaven, or else disappear from these latitudes!' Ah me, if one dealt in +day-dreams, and prophecies of an England grown celestial,--celestial she +should be, not in gold nuggets, continents all of beef, and seas all +of beer, Abolition of Pain, and Paradise to All and Sundry, but in +that quite different fashion; and there, I should say, THERE were the +magnificent Hope to indulge in! That were to me the 'Cause of Liberty;' +and any the smallest contribution towards that kind of 'Liberty' were a +sacred thing!-- + +"Belleisle again may, if he pleases, call his the Cause of Sovereignty. +A Sovereign Louis, it would appear, has not governing enough to do +within his own French borders, but feels called to undertake Germany as +well;--a gentleman with an immense governing faculty, it would appear? +Truly, good reader, I am sick of heart, contemplating those empty +sovereign mountebanks, and empty antagonist ditto, with their Causes of +Liberty and Causes of Anti-Liberty; and cannot but wish that we had got +the ashes of that World-Explosion, of 1789, well riddled and smelted, +and the poor World were quit of a great many things!"-- + +My Constitutional Historian of England, musing on Belleisle and his +Anti-Pragmatic industries and grandiosities,--"how Chief-Bully Belleisle +stept down into the ring as a gay Volunteer, and foolish Chief-Defender +George had to follow dismally heroic, as a Conscript of Fate,"--drops +these words: in regard to the Wages they respectively had:-- + +"Nations that go into War without business there, are sure of +getting business as they proceed; and if the beginning were +phantasms,--especially phantasms of the hoping, self-conceited +kind,--the results for them are apt to be extremely real! As was the +case with the French in this War, and those following, in which his +Britannic Majesty played chief counter-tenor. From 1741, in King +Friedrich's First War, onwards to Friedrich's Third War, 1756-1763, +the volunteer French found a great deal of work lying ready for +them,--gratuitous on their part, from the beginning. And the results to +them came out, first completely visible, in the World-Miracles of 1789, +and the years following! + +"Nations, again, may be driven upon War by phantasm TERRORS, and go into +it, in sorrow of heart, not gayety of heart; and that is a shade +better. And one always pities a poor Nation, in such case;--as the +very Destinies rather do, and judge it more mercifully. Nay, the poor +bewildered Nation may, among its brain-phantasms, have something of +reality and sanity inarticulately stirring it withal. It may have a real +ordinance of Heaven to accomplish on those terms:--and IF so, it will +sometimes, in the most chaotic circuitous ways, through endless hazards, +at a hundred or a hundred thousand times the natural expense, ultimately +get it done! This was the case of the poor English in those Wars. + +"They were Wars extraneous to England little less than to France; +neither Nation had real business in them; and they seem to us now a +very mad object on the part of both. But they were not gratuitously gone +into, on the part of England; far from that. England undertook them, +with its big heart very sorrowful, strange spectralities bewildering +it; and managed them (as men do sleep-walking) with a gloomy solidity of +purpose, with a heavy-laden energy, and, on the whole, with a depth +of stupidity, which were very great. Yet look at the respective net +results. France lies down to rot into grand Spontaneous-Combustion, +Apotheosis of Sansculottism, and much else; which still lasts, to her +own great peril, and the great affliction of neighbors. Poor England, +after such enormous stumbling among the chimney-pots, and somnambulism +over all the world for twenty years, finds on awakening, that she is +arrived, after all, where she wished to be, and a good deal farther! +Finds that her own important little errand is somehow or other, +done;--and, in short, that 'Jenkins's Ear [as she named the thing] HAS +been avenged,' and the Ocean Highways 'opened' and a good deal more, in +a most signal way! For the Eternal Providences--little as poor Dryasdust +now knows of it, mumbling and maundering that sad stuff of his--do rule; +and the great soul of the world, I assure you once more, is JUST. And +always for a Nation, as for a man, it is very behooveful to be honest, +to be modest, however stupid!"-- + +By this time, however,--Mollwitz having fallen out, and Belleisle being +evidently on the steps,--his Britannic Majesty recognizes clearly, +and insists upon it, strengthened by his Harringtons and everybody of +discernment, That, nefarious or not, this Friedrich will require to be +bargained with. That, far from breaking in upon him, and partitioning +him (how far from it!), there is no conceivable method of saving the +Celestial Balances till HE be satisfied, in some way. This is the +one step his Britannic Majesty has yet made, out of these his choking +imbroglios; and truly this is one. Hyndford, his best negotiator, is on +the road for Friedrich's Camp; Robinson at Vienna, has been directed to +say and insist, "Bargain with that man; he must be bargained with, if +our Cause of Liberty is to be saved at all?"-- + +And now, having opened the dust-bin so far, that the reader's fancy +might be stirred without affliction to his lungs and eyes, let us shut +it down again,--might we but hope forever! That is too fond a hope. But +the background or sustaining element made imaginable, the few events +deserving memory may surely go on at a much swifter pace. + + + + +Chapter II. -- CAMP OF STREHLEN. + +Friedrich's Silesian Camps this Summer, Camp of Strehlen chiefly, were +among the strangest places in the world. Friedrich, as we have often +noticed, did not much pursue the defeated Austrians, at or near +Mollwitz, or press them towards flat ruin in their Silesian business: it +is clear he anxiously wished a bargain without farther exasperation; and +hoped he might get it by judicious patience. Brieg he took, with that +fine outburst of bombardment, which did not last a week: but Brieg +once his, he fell quiet again; kept encamping, here there, in that +Mollwitz-Neisse region, for above three months to come; not doing much, +beyond the indispensable; negotiating much, or rather negotiated with, +and waiting on events. [In Camp of Mollwitz (nearer Brieg than the +Battle-field was) till 28th May (after the Battle seven weeks); then to +Camp at Grotkau (28th May-9th June, twelve days); thence (9th June) to +Friedewalde, Herrnsdorf; to Strehlen (21st June-20th August, nine or +ten weeks in all). See _Helden-Geschichte_, i. 924, ii. 931; Rodenbeck, +Orlich, &c.] + +Both Armies were reinforcing themselves; and Friedrich's, for obvious +reasons, in the first weeks especially, became much the stronger. Once +in May, and again afterwards, weary of the pace things went at, he had +resolved on having Neisse at once; on attacking Neipperg in his strong +camp there, and cutting short the tedious janglings and uncertainties. +He advanced to Grotkau accordingly, some twelve or fifteen miles nearer +Neisse (28th May,--stayed till 9th June), quite within wind of Neipperg +and his outposts; but found still, on closer inspection, that he had +better wait;--and do so withal at a greater distance from Neipperg and +his Pandour Swarms. He drew back therefore to Strehlen, northwestward, +rather farther from Neisse than before; and lay encamped there for nine +or ten weeks to come. Not till the beginning of August did there fall +out any military event (Pandour skirmishing in plenty, but nothing +to call an event); and not till the end of August any that pointed to +conclusive results. As it was at Strehlen where mostly these Diplomacies +went on, and the Camp of Strehlen was the final and every way the main +one, it may stand as the representative of these Diplomatizing Camps to +us, and figure as the sole one which in fact it nearly was. + +Strehlen is a pleasant little Town, nestled prettily among its granite +Hills, the steeple of it visible from Mollwitz; some twenty-five miles +west of Brieg, some thirty south of Breslau, and about as far northwest +of Neisse: there Friedrich and his Prussians lie, under canvas mainly, +with outposts and detachments sprinkled about under roofs:--a Camp +of Strehlen, more or less imaginable by the reader. And worth his +imagining; such a Camp, if not for soldiering, yet for negotiating and +wagging of diplomatic wigs, as there never was before. Here, strangely +shifted hither, is the centre of European Politics all Summer. From the +utmost ends of Europe come Ambassadors to Strehlen: from Spain, France, +England, Denmark, Holland,--there are sometimes nine at once, how many +successively and in total I never knew. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. +932.] They lodge generally in Breslau; but are always running over to +Strehlen. There sits, properly speaking, the general Secret Parliament +of Europe; and from most Countries, except Austria, representatives +attend at Strehlen, or go and come between Breslau and Strehlen, +submissive to the evils of field-life, when need is. A surprising thing +enough to mankind, and big as the world in its own day; though gone +now to small bulk,--one Human Figure pretty much all that is left of +memorable in it to mankind and us. + +French Belleisle we have seen; who is gone again, long since, on his +wide errands; fat Valori too we have seen, who is assiduously here. The +other figures, except the English, can remain dark to us. Of Montijos, +the eminent Spaniard, a brown little man, magnificent as the Kingdom of +the Incas, with half a page of titles (half a peck, five-and-twenty or +more, of handles to his little name, if you should ever require it); +who, finding matters so backward at Frankfurt, and nothing to do there, +has been out, in the interim, touring to while away the tedium; and +is here only as sequel and corroboration of Belleisle,--say as +bottle-holder, or as high-wrought peacock's-tail, to Belleisle:--of +the eminent Montijos I have to record next to nothing in the shape of +negotiation ("Treaty" with the Termagant was once proposed by him here, +which Friedrich in his politest way declined); and shall mention only, +That his domestic arrangements were sumptuous and commodious in the +extreme. Let him arrive in the meanest village, destitute of +human appliances, and be directed to the hut where he is to +lodge,--straightway from the fourgons and baggage-chests of Montijos +is produced, first of all, a round of arras hangings, portable tables, +portable stove, gold plate and silver; thus, with wax-lights, wines +of richest vintage, exquisite cookeries, Montijos lodges, a king +everywhere, creating an Aladdin's palace everywhere; able to say, like +the Sage Bias, OMNIA MEA NAECUM PORTO. These things are recorded of +Montijos. What he did in the way of negotiation has escaped men's +memory, as it could well afford to do. + +Of Hyndford's appurtenances for lodging we already had a glimpse, +through Busching once;--pointing towards solid dinner-comforts rather +than arras hangings; and justifying the English genius in that respect. +The weight of the negotiations fell on Hyndford; it is between him and +French Valori that the matter lies, Montijos and the others being mere +satellites on their respective sides. Much battered upon, this Hyndford, +by refractory Hanoverians pitting George as Elector against the same +George as King, and egging these two identities to woful battle with +each other,--"Lay me at his Majesty's feet" full length, and let his +Majesty say which is which, then! A heavy, eating, haggling, unpleasant +kind of mortal, this Hyndford; bites and grunts privately, in a stupid +ferocious manner, against this young King: "One of the worst of men; +who will not take up the Cause of Liberty at all, and is not made in +the image of Hyndford at all." They are dreadfully stiff reading, those +Despatches of Hyndford: but they have particles of current news in them; +interesting glimpses of that same young King;--likewise of Hyndford, +laid at his Majesty's feet, and begging for self and brothers any good +benefice that may fall vacant. We can discern, too, a certain rough +tenacity and horse-dealer finesse in the man; a broad-based, shrewdly +practical Scotch Gentleman, wide awake; and can conjecture that the +diplomatic function, in that element, might have been in worse hands. He +is often laid metaphorically at the King's feet, King of England's; and +haunts personally the King of Prussia's elbow at all times, watching +every glance of him, like a British house-dog, that will not be taken +in with suspicious travellers, if he can help it; and casting perpetual +horoscopes in his dull mind. + +Of Friedrich and his demeanor in this strange scene, centre of a World +all drawing sword, and jumbling in huge Diplomatic and other delirium +about his ears, the reader will desire to see a direct glimpse or two. +As to the sad general Imbroglio of Diplomacies which then weltered +everywhere, readers can understand that, it has, at this day, fallen +considerably obscure (as it deserved to do); and that even Friedrich's +share of it is indistinct in parts. The game, wide as Europe, and one of +the most intricate ever played by Diplomatic human creatures, was kept +studiously dark while it went on; and it has not since been a +pleasant object of study. Many of the Documents are still unpublished, +inaccessible; so that the various moves in the game, especially what the +exact dates and sequence of them were (upon which all would turn), are +not completely ascertainable,--nor in truth are they much worth hunting +after, through such an element. One thing we could wish to have out of +it, the one thing of sane that was in it: the demeanor and physiognomy +of Friedrich as there manifested; Friedrich alone, or pretty much alone +of all these Diplomatic Conjurers, having a solid veritable object in +hand. The rest--the spiders are very welcome to it: who of mortals would +read it, were it made never so lucid to him? Such traits of Friedrich as +can be sifted out into the conceivable and indubitable state, the reader +shall have; the extinct Bedlam, that begirdled Friedrich far and +wide, need not be resuscitated except for that object. Of Friedrich's +fairness, or of Friedrich's "trickiness, machiavelism and attorneyism," +readers will form their own notion, as they proceed. On one point they +will not be doubtful, That here is such a sharpness of steady eyesight +(like the lynx's, like the eagle's), and, privately such a courage and +fixity of resolution, as are highly uncommon. + +April 26th, 1741, in the same days while Belleisle arrived in the Camp +at Mollwitz, and witnessed that fine opening of the cannonade upon +Brieg, Excellency Hyndford got to Berlin; and on notifying the event, +was invited by the King to come along to Breslau, and begin business. +England has been profuse enough in offering her "good offices with +Austria" towards making a bargain for his Prussian Majesty; but is +busy also, at the Hague, concerting with the Dutch "some strong joint +resolution,"--resolution, Openly to advise Friedrich to withdraw his +troops from Silesia, by way of starting fair towards a bargain. A very +strong resolution, they and the Gazetteers think it; and ask themselves, +Is it not likely to have some effect? Their High Mightinesses have been +screwing their courage, and under English urgency, have decided +(April 24th), [_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 964; the ADVICE itself, a very +mild-spoken Piece, but of riskish nature think the Dutch, is given, +ib. 965, 966.] "Yes, we will jointly so advise!" and Friedrich has +got inkling of it from Rasfeld, his Minister there. Hyndford's first +business (were the Dutch Excellency once come up, but those Dutch are +always hanging astern!) is to present said "Advice," and try what +will come of that, An "Advice" now fallen totally insignificant to the +Universe and to us,--only that readers will wish to see how Friedrich +takes it, and if any feature of Friedrich discloses itself in the +affair. + + + + +EXCELLENCY HYNDFORD HAS HIS FIRST AUDIENCE (Camp of Mollwitz, May 7th); +AND FRIEDRICH MAKES A MOST IMPORTANT TREATY,--NOT WITH HYNDFORD. + +May 2d, Hyndford arrived in Breslau; and after some preliminary +flourishings, and difficulties about post-horses and furnitures in a +seat of War, got to Brieg; and thence, May 7th, "to the Camp [Camp +of Mollwitz still], which is about an English mile off,"--Podewils +escorting him from Brieg, and what we note farther, Pollnitz too; +our poor old Pollnitz, some kind of Chief Goldstick, whom we did not +otherwise know to be on active duty in those rude scenes. Belleisle had +passed through Breslau while Hyndford was there:--"am unable to inform +your Lordship what success he has had." Brieg Siege is done only three +days ago; Castle all lying black; and the new trenching and fortifying +hardly begun. In a word, May 7th, 1741, "about 11 A.M.," Excellency +Hyndford is introduced to the King's Tent, and has his First Audience. +Goldstick having done his motions, none but Podewils is left present; +who sits at a table, taking notes of what is said. Podewils's Notes +are invisible to me; but here, in authentic though carefully compressed +state, is Hyndford's minute Narrative:-- + +Excellency Hyndford mentioned the Instructions he had, as to "good +offices," friendship and so forth. "But his Prussian Majesty had hardly +patience to hear me out; and said in a passion [we rise, where possible, +Hyndford's own wording; readers will allow for the leaden quality in +some parts]:--KING (in a passion). 'How is it possible, my Lord, to +believe things so contradictory? It is mighty fine all this that you now +tell me, on the part of the King of England; but how does it correspond +to his last Speech to his Parliament [19th April last, when Mr. Viner +was in such minority of one] and to the doings of his Ministers at +Petersburg [a pretty Partition-Treaty that; and the Excellency Finch +still busy, as I know!] and at the Hague [Excellency Trevor there, and +this beautiful Joint-Resolution and Advice which is coming!] to stir up +allies against me? I have reason rather to doubt the sincerity of the +King of England. They perhaps mean to amuse me. [That is Friedrich's +real opinion. [His Letter to Podewils (Ranke, ii. 268).]] But, by God, +they are mistaken! I will risk everything rather than abate the least of +my pretensions.'" + +Poor Hyndford said and mumbled what he could; knew nothing what +instructions Finch had, Trevor had, and--KING. "'My Lord, there seems +to be a contradiction in all this. The King of England, in his Letter, +tells me you are instructed as to everything; and yet you pretend +ignorance! But I am perfectly informed of all. And I should not be +surprised if, after all these fine words, you should receive some strong +letter or resolution for me,'"--Joint-Resolution to Advise, for example? + +Hyndford, not in the strength of conscious innocence, stands silent; the +King, "in his heat of passion," said to Podewils:--KING TO PODEWILS (on +the sudden). "'Write down, that my Lord would be surprised [as he +should be] to receive such Instructions!'" (A mischievous sparkle, +half quizzical, half practical, considerably in the Friedrich +style.)--Hyndford, "quite struck, my Lord, with this strange way of +acting," and of poking into one, protests with angry grunt, and "was put +extremely upon my guard." Of course Podewils did net write.... + +HYNDFORD. "'Europe is under the necessity of taking some speedy +resolution, things are in such a state of crisis. Like a fever in a +human body, got to such a height that quinquina becomes necessary.' ... +That expression made him smile, and he began to look a little cooler.... +'Shall we apply to Vienna, your Majesty?' + +FRIEDRICH. "'Follow your own will in that.' + +HYNDFORD. "'Would your Majesty consent now to stand by his Excellency +Gotter's original Offer at Vienna on your part? Agree, namely, in +consideration of Lower Silesia and Breslau, to assist the Queen with all +your troops for maintenance of Pragmatic Sanction, and to vote for the +Grand-Duke as Kaiser?' + +KING. "'Yes' [what the reader may take notice of, and date for himself]. + +HYNDFORD. "'What was the sum of money then offered her Hungarian +Majesty?' + +"King hesitated, as if he had forgotten; Podewils answered, 'Three +million florins (300,000 pounds).' + +KING. "'I should not value the money; if money would content her +Majesty, I would give more.'... Here was a long pause, which I did not +break;"--nor would the King. Podewils reminded me of an idea we had been +discoursing of together ("on his suggestion, my Lord, which I really +think is of importance, and worth your Lordship's consideration"); +whereupon, on such hint, + +HYNDFORD. "'Would your Majesty consent to an Armistice?' + +FRIEDRICH. "'Yes; but [counts on his fingers, May, June, till he comes +to December] not for less than six months,--till December 1st. By that +time they could do nothing,'" the season out by that time. + +HYNDFORD. "'His Excellency Podewils has been taking notes; if I am to be +bound by them, might I first see that he has mistaken nothing?' + +KING. "'Certainly!'"--Podewils's Note-protocol is found to be correct in +every point; Hyndford, with some slight flourish of compliments on both +sides, bows himself away (invited to dinner, which he accepts, "will +surely have that honor before returning to Breslau");--and so the First +Audience has ended. [Hyndford's Despatches, Breslau, 5th and 13th May, +1741. Are in State-Paper Office, like the rest of Hyndford's; also +in British Museum (Additional MSS. 11,365 &c.), the rough draughts of +them.] Baronay and Pandours are about,--this is ten days before the +Ziethen feat on Baronay;--but no Pandour, now or afterwards, will harm a +British Excellency. + +These utterances of Friedrich's, the more we examine them by other +lights that there are, become the more correctly expressive of what +Friedrich's real feelings were on the occasion. Much contrary, perhaps, +to expectation of some readers. And indeed we will here advise our +readers to prepare for dismissing altogether that notion of Friedrich's +duplicity, mendacity, finesse and the like, which was once widely +current in the world; and to attend always strictly to what Friedrich +says, if they wish to guess what he is thinking;--there being no such +thing as "mendacity" discoverable in Friedrich, when you take the +trouble to inform yourself. "Mendacity," my friends? How busy have +the Owls been with Friedrich's memory, in different countries of the +world;--perhaps even more than their sad wont is in such cases! For +indeed he was apt to be of swift abrupt procedure, disregardful of +Owleries; and gave scope for misunderstanding in the course of his life. +But a veracious man he was, at all points; not even conscious of +his veracity; but had it in the blood of him; and never looked upon +"mendacity" but from a very great height indeed. He does not, except +where suitable, at least he never should, express his whole meaning; but +you will never find him expressing what is not his meaning. Reticence, +not dissimulation. And as to "finesse,"--do not believe in that either, +in the vulgar or bad sense. Truly you will find his finesse is a very +fine thing; and that it consists, not in deceiving other people, but in +being right himself; in well discerning, for his own behoof, what the +facts before him are; and in steering, which he does steadily, in a most +vigilant, nimble, decisive and intrepid manner, by monition of the +same. No salvation but in the facts. Facts are a kind of divine thing +to Friedrich; much more so than to common men: this is essentially what +Religion I have found in Friedrich. And, let me assure you, it is an +invaluable element in any man's Religion, and highly indispensable, +though so often dispensed with! Readers, especially in our time English +readers, who would gain the least knowledge about Friedrich, in the +extinct Bedlam where his work now lay, have a great many things to +forget, and sad strata of Owl-droppings, ancient and recent, to sweep +away!-- + +To Friedrich a bargain with Austria, which would be a getting into port, +in comparison to going with the French in that distracted voyage of +theirs, is highly desirable. "Shall I join with the English, in hope +of some tolerable bargain from Austria? Shall I have to join with the +French, in despair of any?" Readers may consider how stringent upon +Friedrich that question now was, and how ticklish to solve. And it must +be solved soon,--under penalty of "being left with no ally at all" (as +Friedrich expresses himself), while the whole world is grouping itself +into armed heaps for and against! If the English would but get me a +bargain--? Friedrich dare not think they will. Nay, scanning these +English incoherences, these contradictions between what they say here +and what they do and say elsewhere, he begins to doubt if they zealously +wish it,--and at last to believe that they sincerely do not wish it; +that "they mean to amuse me" (as he said to Hyndford)--till my French +chance too is over. "To amuse me: but, PAR DIEU--!" His Notes to +Podewils, of which Ranke, who has seen them, gives us snatches, are +vivid in that sense: "I should be ashamed if the cunningest Italian +could dupe me; but that a lout of a Hanoverian should do it!"--and +Podewils has great difficulty to keep him patient yet a little; Valori +being so busy on the other side, and the time so pressing. Here are some +dates and some comments, which the reader should take with him;--here is +a very strange issue to the Joint-Resolution of a strong nature now on +hand! + +A few days after that First Audience, Ginkel the Dutch Excellency, with +the due Papers in his pocket, did arrive. Excellency Hyndford, who +is not without rough insight into what lies under his nose, discovers +clearly that the grand Dutch-English Resolution, or Joint-Exhortation +to evacuate Silesia, will do nothing but mischief; and (at his own +risk, persuading Ginkel also to delay) sends a Courier to England before +presenting it. And from England, in about a fortnight, gets for answer, +"Do harm, think you? Hm, ha!--Present it, all the same; and modify by +assurances afterwards,"--as if these would much avail! This is not +the only instance in which St. James's rejects good advice from its +Hyndford; the pity would be greater, were not the Business what it +is! Podewils has the greatest difficulty to keep Friedrich quiet till +Hyndford's courier get back. And on his getting back with such answer, +"Present it all the same," Friedrich will not wait for that ceremony, +or delay a moment longer. Friedrich has had his Valori at work, all this +while; Valori and Podewils, and endless correspondence and consultation +going on; and things hypothetically almost quite ready; so that-- + +June 5th, 1741, Friedrich, spurring Podewils to the utmost speed, and +"ordering secrecy on pain of death," signs his Treaty with France! A +kind of provisional off-and-on Treaty, I take it to be; which was +never published, and is thought to have had many IFS in it: signs this +Treaty;--and next day (June 6th, such is the impetuosity of haste) +instructs his Rasfeld at the Hague, "You will beforehand inform the +High Mightinesses, in regard to that Advice of April 24th, which they +determined on giving me, through the Excellency Herr von Ginkel +along with Excellency Hyndford, That such Advice can, by me, only be +considered as a blind complaisance to the Court of Vienna's improper +urgencies, improper in such a matter. That for certain I will not quit +Silesia till my claims be satisfied. And the longer I am forced to +continue warring for them here," wasting more resource and risk upon +them, "the higher they will rise!" [_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 963.] +And this is what comes of that terribly courageous Dutch-English +"Joint-Resolution of a strong nature;" it has literally cut before the +point: the Exhortation is not yet presented, but the Treaty with France +is signed in virtue of it!-- + +Undoubtedly this of June 5th is the most important Treaty in the +Austrian-Succession War, and the cardinal element of Friedrich's +procedure in that Adventure. And it has never been published; nor, till +Herr Professor Ranke got access to the Prussian Archives, has even the +date of signing it been rightly known; but is given two or three ways +in different express Collections of Treaties. [Scholl, ii. 297 (copying +"Flassan, _Hist. de la Diplom. Franc._ v. 142"), gives "5th July" as +the date; Adelung (ii. 357, 390, 441) guesses that it was "in August;" +Valori (i. 108), who was himself in it, gives the correct date,--but +then his Editor (thought inquiring readers) was such a sloven and +ignoramus. See Stenzel, iv. 143; Ranke, ii. 274.] Herr Ranke knows this +Treaty, and the correspondences, especially Friedrich's correspondence +with Podewils preparatory to it; and speaks, as his wont is, several +exact things about it; thanks to him, in the circumstances. I wish it +could be made, even with his help, fully intelligible to the reader! +For, were the Treaty never so express, surely the mode of keeping it, on +both parts, was very strange; and that latter concerns us somewhat. + +A very fast-and-loose Treaty, to all appearance! Outwardly it is a mere +Treaty of Alliance, each party guaranteeing the other for Fifteen Years; +without mention made of the joint Belleisle Adventure now in the wind. +But then, like the postscript to a lady's letter, there come "secret +articles" bearing upon that essential item: How France, in the course +of this current season 1741, is to bring an Army across the Rhine in +support of its friend Kur-Baiern VERSUS Austria; is, in the same term of +time, to make Sweden declare war on Russia (important for Friedrich, who +is never sure a moment that those Russians will not break in upon +him); and finally, most important of all, That France "guarantees Lower +Silesia with Breslau to his Prussian Majesty." In return for which his +Prussian Majesty--will do what? It is really difficult to say what: Be +a true ally and second to France in its grand German Adventure? Not +at all. Friedrich does not yet know, nor does Belleisle himself quite +precisely, what the grand German Adventure is; and Friedrich's wishes +never were, nor will be, for the prosperity of that. Support France, +at least in its small Bavarian Anti-Austrian Adventure? By no means +definitely even that. "Maintain myself in Lower Silesia with Breslau, +and fight my best to such end:" really that, you might say, is in +substance the most of what Friedrich undertakes; though inarticulately +he finds himself bound to much more,--and will frankly go into it, IF +you do as you have said; and unless you do, will not. Never was a more +contingent Treaty: "unless you stir up Sweden, Messieurs; unless +you produce that Rhine Army; unless--" such is steadily Friedrich's +attitude; long after this, he refuses to say whom he will vote for as +Kaiser: "Fortune of War will decide it," answers he, in regard to that +and to many other things; and keeps himself to an incomprehensible +extent loose; ready, for weeks and months after, to make bargain on his +own Silesian Affair with anybody that can. [Ranke, ii. 271, 275, 280.] + +For indeed the French also are very contingent; Fleury hanging one way, +Belleisle pushing another; and know not how far they will go on the +grand German Adventure, nor conclusively whether at all. Here is an +Anecdote by Friedrich himself. Valori was, one night, with him; and, +on rising to take leave, the fat hand, sticking probably in the big +waistcoat-pocket, twitched out a little diplomatic-looking Note; which +Friedrich, with gentle adroitness (permissible in such circumstances), +set his foot upon, till Valori had bowed himself out. The Note was +from Amelot, French Minister of the Foreign Department: "Don't give +his Prussian Majesty Glatz, if it can possibly be helped." Very well, +thought Friedrich; and did not forget the fine little Note on burning +it. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ ii. 90.] There went, in French couriers' +bags, a great many such, to Austria some of them, of far more +questionable tenor, within the next twelve months. + +Two things we have to remark: FIRST, That Friedrich, with an eye to real +business on his part in the Bavarian Adventure, in which Kur-Pfalz is +sure to accompany, volunteered (like a real man of business, and much to +Belleisle's surprise) to renounce the Berg-Julich controversy, and let +Kur-Pfalz have his way, that there might be no quarrelling among allies. +This too is contingent; but was gladly accepted by Belleisle. SECOND, +That Belleisle had instructed Valori, Not to insist on active help +from Friedrich in the German Adventure, but merely to stipulate for +his Neutrality throughout, in case they could get no more. How joyfully +would Friedrich have accepted this,--had Valori volunteered with it, +which he did not! [Ranke, ii. 280.] But, after all, in result it was the +same; and had to be,--PLUS only a great deal of clamor by and by, from +the French and the Gazetteers, about the Article in question. + +Was there ever so contingent a Treaty before? It is signed, Breslau, +5th June, 1741, and both parties have their hands loose, and make use of +their liberty for months to come; nay, in some sort, all along; feeling +how contingent it was! Friedrich did not definitely tie himself till +4th November next, five months after: when he signed the French-Bavarian +Treaty, renounced Berg-Julich controversies, and fairly went into +the French-Bavarian, smaller French Adventure; into the greater, or +wide-winged Belleisle one, he never went nor intended to go,--perhaps +even the contrary, if needful. Readers may try to remember these +elucidative items, riddled from the immensities of Dryasdust: I have no +more to give, nor can afford to return upon it. May not we well say, as +above, "A Treaty thought to have many IFS in it!"--And now, 8th June, +comes solemnly the Joint-Resolution itself; like mustard (under a +flourish of trumpets) three days after dinner:-- + +"CAMP OF GROTKAU, 8th JUNE. Hyndford and Ginkel [the same respectable +old Ginkel whom we used to know in Friedrich Wilhelm's time], having, +according to renewed order, got out from Breslau with that formidable +Dutch-English 'Advice' or Joint-Exhortation in their pocket, did this +day in the Camp at Grotkau present the same. A very mild-spoken Piece, +though it had required such courage; and which is not now worth speaking +of, things having gone as we see. Friedrich received it with a gracious +mien: 'Infinitely sensible to the trouble his Britannic Majesty and +their High Mightinesses took with his affairs; Document should receive +his best consideration,'--which indeed it has already done, and its +Answer withal: A FRENCH Treaty signed three days ago, in virtue of it! +'Might I request a short Private Audience of your Majesty?' solicits +Hyndford, intending to modify by new assurances, as bidden.--'Surely,' +answers Friedrich. + +"The two Excellencies dine with the King, who is in high spirits. After +dinner, Hyndford gets his Private Audience; does his best in the way of +'new assurances;' which produce what effect we can fancy. Among other +things, he appeals to the King's 'magnanimity, how grand and generous +it will be to accept moderate terms from Austria, to--' KING +(interrupting): 'My Lord, don't talk to me of magnanimity, a Prince +[acting not for himself but for his Nation] ought to consult his +interest in the first place. I am not against Peace: but I expect to +have Four Duchies given me.'" [State-Paper Office (Hyndford, Breslau, +12th June, 1741).] + +Hyndford and Ginkel slept that night in Grotkau Town: "at 4 next morning +the King sent us word, That if we had a mind to see the Army on march," +just moving off, Strehlen way, "we might come out by the North Gate." +We accordingly saw the whole Army leave Camp; and march in four columns +towards Friedewald, where Marshal Neipperg is encamped. "Not a bit +of it, your Excellency! Neipperg is safe at Neisse; amid inaccessible +embankments and artificial mud: and these are mere Hussar-Pandour rabble +out here; whom a push or two sends home again,--would it could keep them +there! But they are of sylvan (or SALVAGE) nature, affecting the shade; +and burst out, for theft and arson, sometimes at great distances, no +calculating where. The King's Army lay all that night upon their arms, +and encamped next morning, the 10th. I believe nothing happened that +day, for we were obliged to stay at Grotkau, for want of post-horses, a +good part of it." + +Hyndford hears (in secret Opposition Circles, and lays the flattering +unction to his soul and your Lordship's): "The King of Prussia's Army, +as I am informed, unless he will take counsel, another campaign will go +near to ruin. Everything is in the greatest disorder; utmost dejection +amongst the Officers from highest to lowest;"--fact being that the +King has important improvements and new drillings in view (to go on +at Strehlen), Cavalry improvements, Artillery improvements, unknown to +Hyndford and the Opposition; and will not be ruined next campaign. +"I hope the news we have here, of the taking of Carthagena, is true," +concludes he. Alas, your Excellency! + +By a different hand, from the southward Hungarian regions, far over the +Hills, take this other entry; almost of enthusiastic style:-- + +"PRESBURG, 25th JUNE. Maria Theresa, in high spirits about her English +Subsidy and the bright aspects, left Vienna about a week ago for +Presburg [a drive of fifty miles down the fine Donau country]; and is +celebrating her Coronation there, as Queen of Hungary, in a very sublime +manner. Sunday, 25th June, 1741, that is the day of putting on your +Crown,--Iron Crown of St. Stephen, as readers know. The Chivalry of +Hungary, from Palfy and Esterhazy downward, and all the world are there; +shining in loyalty and barbaric gold and pearl. A truly beautiful +Young Woman, beautiful to soul and eye, devout too and noble, though +ill-informed in Political or other Science, is in the middle of it, and +makes the scene still more noticeable to us. See, as the finish of +the ceremonies, she has mounted a high swift horse, sword girt to her +side,--a great rider always, this young Queen;--and gallops, Hungary +following like a comet-tail, to the Konigsberg [KING'S-HILL so called; +no great things of a Hill, O reader; made by barrow, you can see], +to the top of the Konigsberg; there draws sword; and cuts, grandly +flourishing, to the Four Quarters of the Heavens: 'Let any mortal, from +whatever quarter coming, meddle with Hungary if he dare!' [Adelung, ii. +293, 294.] Chivalrous Hungary bursts into passionate acclaim; old Palfy, +I could fancy, into tears; and all the world murmurs to itself, with +moist-gleaming eyes, 'REX NOSTER!' This is, in fact, the beautifulest +King or Queen that now is, this radiant young woman; beautiful things +have been, and are to be, reported of her; and she has a terrible voyage +just ahead,--little dreaming of it at this grand moment. I wish his +Britannic Majesty, or Robinson who has followed out hither, could +persuade her to some compliance on the Silesian matter: what a thing +were that, for herself, and for all mankind, just now! But she will not +hear of that; and is very obstinate, and her stupid Hofraths equally +and much more blamably so. Deaf to hard Facts knocking at their door; +ignorant what Noah's-Deluges have broken out upon them, and are rushing +on inevitable." + +By a notable coincidence, precisely while those sword-flourishings go +on at Presburg, Marechal Excellency Belleisle is making his Public Entry +into Frankfurt-on-Mayn: [25th June, 1741 (Adelung, ii. 399).] Frankfurt +too is in cheery emotion; streets populous with Sunday gazers, and +critics of the sublime in spectacle! This is not Belleisle's first +entrance; he himself has been here some time, settling his Household, +and a good many things: but today he solemnly leads in his Countess and +Appendages (over from Metz, where Madame and he officially reside in +common times, "Governor of Metz," one of his many offices);--leads in +Madame, in suitably resplendent manner; to kindle household fire, as it +were; and indicate that here is his place, till he have got a Kaiser +to his mind. Twin Phenomena, these two; going on 500 miles apart; +unconscious of one another, or of what kinship they happen to have!-- + + + + +EXCELLENCY ROBINSON BUSY IN THE VIENNA HOFRATH CIRCLES, TO PRODUCE A +COMPLIANCE. + +Britannic George, both for Pragmatic's sake and for dear Hanover's, +desires much there were a bargain made with Friedrich: How is the +Pragmatic to be saved at all, if Friedrich join France in its Belleisle +machinations, thinks George? And already here is that Camp of Gottin, +glittering in view like a drawn sword pointed at one's throat or at +one's Hanover. Nay, in a month or two hence, as the Belleisle schemes +got above ground in the shape of facts, this desire became passionate, +and a bargain with Prussia seemed the one thing needful. For, alas, +the reader will see there comes, about that time, a second sword (the +Maillebois Army, namely), pointed at one's throat from the French side +of things: so that a Paladin of the Pragmatic, and Hanoverian King of +England, knows not which way to turn! George's sincerity of wish is +perhaps underrated by Friedrich; who indeed knows well enough on which +side George's wishes would fall, if they had liberty (which they have +not), but much overrates "the astucity" of poor George and his English; +ascribing, as is often done, to fine-spun attorneyism what is mere +cunctation, ignorance, negligence, and other forms of a stupidity +perhaps the most honest in the world! By degrees Friedrich understood +better; but he never much liked the English ways of doing business. +George's desire is abundantly sincere, not wholly resting on sublime +grounds; and grows more and more intense every day; but could not be +gratified for a good while yet. + +Co-operating with Hyndford, from the Vienna side, is Excellency +Robinson; who has a still harder job of it there. Pity poor Robinson, +O English reader, if you can for indignation at the business he is in. +Saving the Liberties of Europe! thinks Robinson confidently: Founding +the English National Debt, answers Fact; and doing Bottom the Weaver, +with long ears, in the miserablest Pickleherring Tragedy that ever +was!--This is the same Robinson who immortalized himself, nine or ten +years ago, by the First Treaty of Vienna; thrice-salutary Treaty, which +DISJOINED Austria from Bourbon-Spanish Alliances, and brought her into +the arms of the grateful Sea-Powers again. Imminent Downfall of the +Universe was thus, glory to Robinson, arrested for that time. And now +we have the same Robinson instructed to sharpen all his faculties to the +cutting pitch, and do the impossible for this new and reverse face +of matters. What a change from 1731 to 1741! Bugbear of dreadful +Austrian-Spanish Alliance dissolves now into sunlit clouds, encircling +a beautiful Austrian Andromeda, about to be devoured for us; and the +Downfall of the Universe is again imminent, from Spain and others +joining AGAINST Austria. Oh, ye wigs, and eximious wig-blocks, called +right-honorable! If a man, sovereign or other, were to stay well at +home, and mind his own visible affairs, trusting a good deal that +the Universe would shift for itself, might it not be better for +him? Robinson, who writes rather a heavy style, but is full of +inextinguishable heavy zeal withal, will have a great deal to do in +these coming years. Ancestor of certain valuable Earls that now are; +author of immeasurable quantities of the Diplomatic cobwebs that then +were. + +To a modern English reader it is very strange, that Austrian scene of +things in which poor Robinson is puffing and laboring. The ineffable +pride, the obstinacy, impotency, ponderous pedantry and helplessness of +that dull old Court and its Hofraths, is nearly inconceivable to modern +readers. Stupid dilapidation is in all departments, and has long been; +all things lazily crumbling downwards, sometimes stumbling down +with great plunges. Cash is done; the world rising, all round, with +plunderous intentions; and hungry Ruin, you would say, coming visibly on +with seven-league boots: here is little room for carrying your head +high among mankind. High nevertheless they do carry it, with a grandly +mournful though stolid insolent air, as if born superior to this +Earth and its wisdoms and successes and multiplication-tables and iron +ramrods,--really with "a certain greatness," says somebody, "greatness +as of great blockheadism" in themselves and their neighbors;--and, like +some absurd old Hindoo Idol (crockery Idol of Somnauth, for instance, +with the belly of him smashed by battle-axes, and the cart-load of +gold coin all run out), persuade mankind that they are a god, though in +dilapidated condition. That is our first impression of the thing. + +But again, better seen into, there is not wanting a certain worthily +steadfast, conservative and broad-based high air (reminding you of "Kill +our own mutton, Sir!" and the ancient English Tory species), solid +and loyal, though stolid Ancient Austrian Tories, that definition will +suffice for us;--and Toryism too, the reader may rely on it, is much +patronized by the Upper Powers, and goes a long way in this world. Nay, +without a good solid substratum of that, what thing, with never so many +ballot-boxes, stump-orators, and liberties of the subject, is capable of +going at all, except swiftly to perdition? These Austrians have taken +a great deal of ruining, first and last! Their relation to the then +Sea-Powers, especially to England embarked on the Cause of Liberty, +fills one with amazement, by no means of an idolatrous nature; and is +difficult to understand at all, or to be patient with at all. + +Of disposition to comply with Prussia, Robinson finds, in spite of +Mollwitz and the sad experiences, no trace at Vienna. The humor +at Vienna is obstinately defiant; simply to regard Friedrich as a +housebreaker or thief in the night; whom they will soon deal with, were +they once on foot and implements in their hand: "Swift, ye Sea-Powers; +where are the implements, the cash, that means implements?" The Young +Hungarian Majesty herself is magnificently of that opinion, which +is sanctioned by her Bartensteins and wisest Hofraths, with hardly a +dissentient (old Sinzendorf almost alone in his contrary notion, and he +soon dies). Robinson urges the dangers from France. No Hofrath here will +allow himself to believe them; to believe them would be too horrible. +"Depend upon it, France's intentions are not that way. And at the worst, +if France do rise against us, it is but bargaining with France; better +so than bargaining with Prussia, surely. France will be contentable with +something in the Netherlands; what else can she want of us? Parings from +that outskirt, what are these compared with Silesia, a horrid gash into +the vital parts? And what is yielding to the King of France, compared +with yielding to your Prussian King!"-- + +It is true they have no money, these blind dull people; but are not +the Sea-Powers, England especially, there, created by Nature to supply +money? What else is their purpose in Creation? By Nature's law, as the +Sun mounts in the Ecliptic and then falls, these Sea-Powers, in the +Cause of Liberty, will furnish us money. No surrender; talk not to me of +Silesia or surrender; I will die defending my inheritances: what are +the Sea-Powers about, that they do not furnish more money in a prompt +manner? These are the things poor Robinson has to listen to: Robinson +and England, it is self-evident at Vienna, have one duty, that of +furnishing money. And in a prompt manner, if you please, Sir; why not +prompt and abundant? + +An English soul has small exhilaration, looking into those old +expenditures, and bullyings for want of promptitude! But if English +souls will solemnly, under high Heaven, constitute a Duke of Newcastle +and a George II. their Captains of the march Heavenward, and say, +without blushing for it, nay rejoicing at it, in the face of the +sun, "You are the most godlike Two we could lay hold of for that +object,"--what have English souls to expect? My consolation is, and, +alas, it is a poor one, the money would have been mostly wasted any way. +Buy men and gunpowder with your money, to be shot away in foreign parts, +without renown or use: is that so much worse than buying ridiculous +upholsteries, idle luxuries, frivolities, and in the end unbeautiful +pot-bellies corporeal and spiritual with it, here at home? I am struck +silent, looking at much that goes on under these stars;--and find that +misappointment of your Captains, of your Exemplars and Guiding and +Governing individuals, higher and lower, is a fatal business always; and +that especially, as highest instance of it, which includes all the lower +ones, this of solemnly calling Chief Captain, and King by the Grace of +God, a gentleman who is NOT so (and SEEMS to be so mainly by Malice of +the Devil, and by the very great and nearly unforgivable indifference +of Mankind to resist the Devil in that particular province, for the +present), is the deepest fountain of human wretchedness, and the head +mendacity capable of being done!-- + +As for the brave young Queen of Hungary, my admiration goes with that of +all the world. Not in the language of flattery, but of evident fact, the +royal qualities abound in that high young Lady; had they left the world, +and grown to mere costume elsewhere, you might find certain of them +again here. Most brave, high and pious-minded; beautiful too, and +radiant with good-nature, though of temper that will easily catch fire: +there is perhaps no nobler woman then living. And she fronts the roaring +elements in a truly grand feminine manner; as if Heaven itself and the +voice of Duty called her: "The Inheritances which my Fathers left me, +we will not part with these. Death, if it so must be; but not +dishonor:--Listen not to that thief in the night!" Maria Theresa has +not studied, at all, the History of the Silesian Duchies; she knows only +that her Father and Grandfather peaceably held them; it was not she +that sent out Seckendorf to ride 25,000 miles, or broke the heart of +Friedrich Wilhelm and his Household. Pity she had not complied with +Friedrich, and saved such rivers of bitterness to herself and mankind! +But how could she see to do it,--especially with little George at her +back, and abundance of money? This, for the present, is her method +of looking at the matter; this magnanimous, heroic, and occasionally +somewhat female one. + +Her Husband, the Grand Duke, an inert, but good-tempered, +well-conditioned Duke after his sort, goes with her. Him we shall see +try various things; and at length take to banking and merchandise, and +even meal-dealing on the great scale. "Our Armies had most part of their +meal circuitously from him," says Friedrich, of times long subsequent. +Now as always he follows loyally his Wife's lead, never she his: Wife +being, intrinsically as well as extrinsically, the better man, what +other can he do?--Of compliance with Friedrich in this Court, there is +practically no hope till after a great deal of beating have enlightened +it. Out of deference to George and his ardors, they pretend some +intention that way; and are "willing to bargain, your Excellency;"--no +doubt of it, provided only the price were next to nothing! + +And so, while the watchful edacious Hyndford is doing his best at +Strehlen, poor Robinson, blown into triple activity, corresponds in +a boundless zealous manner from Vienna; and at last takes to flying +personally between Strehlen and Vienna; praying the inexorable young +Queen to comply a little, and then the inexorable young King to be +satisfied with imaginary compliance; and has a breathless time of it +indeed. His Despatches, passionately long-winded, are exceedingly stiff +reading to the like of us. O reader, what things have to be read and +carefully forgotten; what mountains of dust and ashes are to be dug +through, and tumbled down to Orcus, to disengage the smallest fraction +of truly memorable! Well if, in ten cubic miles of dust and ashes, you +discover the tongue of a shoe-buckle that has once belonged to a man +in the least heroic; and wipe your brow, invoking the supernal and +the infernal gods. My heart's desire is to compress these Strehlen +Diplomatic horse-dealings into the smallest conceivable bulk. And yet +how much that is not metal, that is merely cinders, has got through: +impossible to prevent,--may the infernal gods deal with it, and reduce +Dryasdust to limits, one day! Here, however, are important Public News +transpiring through the old Gazetteers:-- + +"MUNCHEN, JULY 1st [or in effect a few days later, when the Letters +DATED July 1st had gone through their circuitous formalities], [Adelung, +ii. 421.] Karl Albert Kur-Baiern publicly declares himself Candidate for +the Kaisership; as, privately, he had long been rumored and believed to +be. Kur-Baiern, they say, has of militias and regulars together about +30,000 men on foot, all posted in good places along the Austrian +Frontier; and it is commonly thought, though little credible at Vienna, +that he intends invading Austria as well as contesting the Election. To +which the Vienna Hofrath answers in the style of 'Pshaw!' + +"VERSAILLES, 11th JULY. Extraordinary Council of State; Belleisle being +there, home from Frankfurt, to take final orders, and get official +fiat put upon his schemes. 'All the Princes of the Blood and all the +Marechals of France attend;' question is, How the War is to be, nay, +Whether War is to be at all,--so contingent is the French-Prussian +Bargain, signed five weeks ago. Old Fleury, to give freedom of +consultation and vote, quits the room. Some are of opinion, one Prince +of the Blood emphatically so, That Pragmatic Sanction should be kept, at +least War AGAINST it be avoided. But the contrary opinion triumphs, King +himself being strongly with it; Belleisle to be supreme in field and +cabinet; shall execute, like a kind of Dictator or Vice-Majesty, by his +own magnificent talent, those magnificent devisings of his, glorious to +France and to the King. [Ib. 417, 418; see also Baumer, p. 104 (if you +can for his date, which is given in OLD STYLE as if it were in New; a +very eclipsing method!).] These many months, the French have been arming +with their whole might. The Vienna people hear now, That an 'Army of +40,000 is rumored to be coming,' or even two Armies, 40,000 each; but +will not imagine that this is certain, or that it can be seriously meant +against their high House, precious to gods and men. Belleisle having +perfected the multiplex Army details, rushes back to Frankfurt and his +endless Diplomatic businesses (July 25th): Armies to be on actual march +by the 10th of August coming. 'During this Versailles visit, he had such +a crowd of Officers and great people paying court to him as was like the +King's Levee itself.' [Barbier, ii. 305.] + +"PASSAU, 31st JULY. Passau is the Frontier Austrian City on the +Donau (meeting of the Inn and Donau Valleys); a place of considerable +strength, and a key or great position for military purposes. Austrian, +or Quasi-Austrian; for, like Salzburg, it has a Bishop claiming some +imaginary sovereignties, but always holds with Austria. July 31st, early +in the morning, a Bavarian Exciseman ('Salt-Inspector') applied at the +gate of Passau for admission; gate was opened;--along with the Exciseman +'certain peasants' (disguised Bavarian soldiers) pushed in; held the +gate choked, till General Minuzzi, Karl Albert's General, with horse, +foot, cannon, who had been lurking close by, likewise pushed in; and at +once seized the Town. Town speedily secured, Minuzzi informs the Bishop, +who lives in his Schloss of Oberhaus (strongish place on a Hill-top, +other side the Donau), That he likewise, under pain of bombardment, +must admit garrison. The poor Bishop hesitates; but, finding bombardment +actually ready for him, yields in about two hours. Karl Albert publishes +his Manifesto, 'in forty-five pages folio' [Adelung, ii. 426.] (to +the effect, 'All Austria mine; or as good as all,--if I liked!'); and +fortifies himself in Passau. 'Insidious, nefarious!' shrieks Austria, +in Counter-Manifesto; calculates privately it will soon settle Karl +Albert,--'Unless, O Heavens, France with Prussia did mean to back +him!'--and begins to have misgivings, in spite of itself." + +Misgivings, which soon became fatal certainties. Robinson records, +doubtless on sure basis, though not dating it, a curious piece of +stage-effect in the form of reality; "On hearing, beyond possibility of +doubt, that Prussia, France, and Bavaria had combined, the whole Aulic +Council," Vienna Hofrath in a body, "fell back into their chairs [and +metaphorically into Robinson's arms] like dead men!" [Raumer, p. 104.] +Sat staring there;--the wind struck out of them, but not all the folly +by a great deal. Now, however, is Robinson's time to ply them. + + + + +EXCELLENCY ROBINSON HAS AUDIENCE OF FRIEDRICH (Camp of Strehlen, 7th +August, 1741). + +By unheard-of entreaties and conjurations, aided by these strokes of +fate, Robinson has at length extorted from his Queen of Hungary, and her +wise Hofraths, something resembling a phantasm of compliance; with which +he hurries to Breslau and Hyndford; hoping against hope that Friedrich +will accept it as a reality. Gets to Breslau on the 3d of August; thence +to Strehlen, consulting much with Hyndford upon this phantasm of a +compliance. Hyndford looks but heavily upon it;--from us, in this place, +far be it to look at all:--alas, this is the famed Scene they Two had at +Strehlen with Friedrich, on Monday, August 7th; reported by the faithful +pen of Robinson, and vividly significant of Friedrich, were it but +compressed to the due pitch. We will give it in the form of Dialogue: +the thing of itself falls naturally into the Dramatic, when the flabby +parts are cut away;--and was perhaps worthier of a Shakspeare than of a +Robinson, all facts of it considered, in the light they have since got. + +Scene is Friedrich's Tent, Prussian Camp in the neighborhood of the +little Town of Strehlen: time 11 o'clock A.M. Personages of it, Two +British subjects in the high Diplomatic line: ponderous Scotch Lord +of an edacious gloomy countenance; florid Yorkshire Gentleman with +important Proposals in his pocket. Costume, frizzled peruke powdered; +frills, wrist-frills and other; shoe-buckles, flapped waistcoat, +court-coat of antique cut and much trimming: all this shall be conceived +by the reader. Tight young Gentleman in Prussian military uniform, +blue coat, buff breeches, boots; with alert flashing eyes, and careless +elegant bearing, salutes courteously, raising his plumed hat. Podewils +in common dress, who has entered escorting the other Two, sits rather to +rearward, taking refuge beside the writing apparatus.--First passages +of the Dialogue I omit: mere pickeerings and beatings about the bush, +before we come to close quarters. For Robinson, the florid Yorkshire +Gentleman, is charged to offer,--what thinks the reader?--two million +guilders, about 200,000 pounds, if that will satisfy this young military +King with the alert Eyes! + +ROBINSON.... "'Two hundred thousand pounds sterling, if your Majesty +will be pleased to retire out of Silesia, and renounce this enterprise!' + +KING. "'Retire out of Silesia? And for money? Do you take me for a +beggar! Retire out of Silesia, which has cost me so much treasure and +blood in the conquest of it? No, Monsieur, no; that is not to be thought +of! If you have no better proposals to make, it is not worth while +talking.' These words were accompanied with threatening gestures and +marks of great anger;" considerably staggering to the Two Diplomatic +British gentlemen, and of evil omen to Robinson's phantasm of a +compliance. Robinson apologetically hums and hahs, flounders through the +bad bit of road as he can; flounderingly indicates that he has more to +offer. + +KING. "'Let us see then (VOYONS), what is there more?' + +ROBINSON (with preliminary flourishings and flounderings, yet +confidently, as now tabling his best card).... "'Permitted to offer +your Majesty the whole of Austrian Guelderland; lies contiguous to your +Majesty's Possessions in the Rhine Country; important completion of +these: I am permitted to say, the whole of Austrian Guelderland!' +Important indeed: a dirty stripe of moorland (if you look in Busching), +about equivalent to half a dozen parishes in Connemara. + +KING. "'What do you mean? [turning to Podewils]--QU'EST-CE QUE NOUS +MANQUE DE TOUTE LA GUELDRE (How much of Guelderland is theirs, and not +ours already)?' + +PODEWILS. "'Almost nothing (PRESQUE RIEN). + +KING (to Robinson). "'VOICI ENCORE DE GUEUSERIES (more rags and rubbish +yet)! QUOI, such a paltry scraping (BICOQUE) as that, for all my just +claims in Silesia? Monsieur--!' His Majesty's indignation increased +here, all the more as I kept a profound silence during his hot +expressions, and did not speak at all except to beg his Majesty's +reflection upon what I had said.--'Reflection?'" asks the King, with +eyes dangerous to behold;--"My Lord," continues Robinson, heavily +narrative, "his contempt of what I had said was so great," kicking his +boot through Guelderland and the guilders as the most contemptible of +objects, "and was expressed in such violent terms, that now, if ever (as +your Lordship perceives), it was time to make the last effort;" play our +trump-card down at once; "a moment longer was not to be lost, to hinder +the King from dismissing us;" which sad destiny is still too probable, +after the trump-card. Trump-card is this: + +ROBINSON.... "'The whole Duchy of Limburg, your Majesty! It is a Duchy +which--' I extolled the Duchy to the utmost, described it in the most +favorable terms; and added, that 'the Elector Palatine [old Kur-Pfalz, +on one occasion] had been willing to give the whole Duchy of Berg for +it.' + +PODEWILS. "'Pardon, Monsieur: that is not so; the contrary of so; +Kur-Pfalz was not ready to give Berg for it!'--[We are not deep in +German History, we British Diplomatic gentlemen, who are squandering, +now and of old, so much money on it! The Aulic Council, "falls into +our arms like dead men;" but it is certain the Elector Palatine was not +ready to give Berg in that kind of exchange.] + +KING. "'It is inconceivable to me how Austria should dare to think of +such a thing. Limburg? Are there not solemn Engagements upon Austria, +sanctioned and again sanctioned by all the world, which render every +inch of ground in the Netherlands inalienable?' + +ROBINSON. "'Engagements good as against the French, your Majesty. +Otherwise the Barrier Treaty, confirmed at Utrecht, was for our behoof +and Holland's.' + +KING. "'That is your present interpretation, But the French pretend it +was an arrangement more in their favor than against them.' + +ROBINSON. "'Your Majesty, by a little Engineer Art, could render Limburg +impregnable to the French or others.' + +KING. "'Have not the least desire to aggrandize myself in those parts, +or spend money fortifying there. Useless to me. Am not I fortifying +Brieg and Glogau? These are enough: for one who intends to live well +with his neighbors. Neither the Dutch nor the French have offended me; +nor will I them by acquisitions in the Netherlands. Besides, who would +guarantee them?' + +ROBINSON. "'The Proposal is to give guarantees at once.' + +KING. "'Guarantees! Who minds or keeps guarantees in this age? Has not +France guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction; has not England? Why don't +you all fly to the Queen's succor?'"--Robinson, inclined to pout, if he +durst, intimates that perhaps there will be succorers one day yet. + +KING. "'And pray, Monsieur, who are they?' + +ROBINSON. "'Hm, hm, your Majesty.... Russia, for example, which Power +with reference to Turkey--' + +KING. "'Good, Sir, good (BEAU, MONSIEUR, BEAU), the Russians! It is not +proper to explain myself; but I have means for the Russians' [a Swedish +War just coming upon Russia, to keep its hand in use; so diligent have +the French been in that quarter!]. + +ROBINSON (with some emphasis, as a Britannic gentleman). "'Russia is +not the only Power that has engagements with Austria, and that must keep +them too! So that, however averse to a breach--' + +KING ("laying his finger on his nose," mark him;--aloud, and with such +eyes). "'No threats, Sir, if you please! No threats' ["in a loud voice," +finger to nose, and with such eyes looking in upon me]. + +HYNDFORD (heavily coming to the rescue). "'Am sure his Excellency is +far from such meaning, Sire. His Excellency will advance nothing so very +contrary to his Instructions.'--Podewils too put in something proper" in +the appeasing way. + +ROBINSON. "'Sire, I am not talking of what this Power or that means to +do; but of what will come of itself. To prophesy is not to threaten, +Sire! It is my zeal for the Public that brought me hither; and--' + +KING. "'The Public will be much obliged to you, Monsieur! But hear me. +With respect to Russia, you know how matters stand. From the King of +Poland I have nothing to fear. As for the King of England,--he is my +relation [dear Uncle, in the Pawnbroker sense], he is my all: if he +don't attack me, I won't him. And if he do, the Prince of Anhalt [Old +Dessauer out at Gottin yonder] will take care of him.' + +ROBINSON. "'The common news now is [rumor in Diplomatic circles, rather +below the truth this time], your Majesty, after the 12th of August, will +join the French. [King looks fixedly at him in silence.] Sire, I venture +to hope not! Austria prefers your friendship; but if your Majesty +disdain Austria's advances, what is it to do? Austria must throw +itself entirely into the hands of France,--and endeavor to outbid your +Majesty.' [King quite silent.] + +"King was quite silent upon this head," says Robinson, reporting: +silence, guesses Robinson, founded most probably upon his "consciousness +of guilt"--what I, florid Yorkshire Gentleman, call GUILT, as being +against the Cause of Liberty and us!"From time to time he threw out +remarks on the advantageousness of his situation:--" + +KING.... "'At the head of such an Army, which the Enemy has already +made experience of; and which is ready for the Enemy again, if he have +appetite! With the Country which alone I am concerned with, conquered +and secured behind me; a Country that alone lies convenient to me; which +is all I want, which I now have; which I will and must keep! Shall I be +bought out of this country? Never! I will sooner perish in it, with all +my troops. With what face shall I meet my Ancestors, if I abandon my +right, which they have transmitted to me? My first enterprise; and to +be given up lightly?'"--With more of the like sort; which Friedrich, +in writing of it long after, seems rather ashamed of; and would fain +consider to have been mock fustian, provoked by the real fustian of Sir +Thomas Robinson, "who negotiated in a wordy high-droning way, as if he +were speaking in Parliament," says Friedrich (a Friedrich not taken +with that style of eloquence, and hoping he rather quizzed it than was +serious with it, [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ ii. 84.]--though Robinson and +Hyndford found in him no want of vehement seriousness, but rather the +reverse!)--He concludes: "Have I need of Peace? Let those who need it +give me what I want; or let them fight me again, and be beaten again. +Have not they given whole Kingdoms to Spain? [Naples, at one swoop, to +the Termagant; as broken glass, in that Polish-Election freak!] And to +me they cannot spare a few trifling Principalities? If the Queen does +not now grant me all I require, I shall in four weeks demand Four +Principalities more! [Nay, I now do it, being in sibylline tune.] I +now demand the whole of Lower Silesia, Breslau included;--and with that +Answer you can return to Vienna.' + +ROBINSON. "'With that Answer: is your Majesty serious?' + +KING. "'With that.'" A most vehement young King; no negotiating with +him, Sir Thomas! It is like negotiating for the Sibyl's Books: the +longer you bargain, the higher he will rise. In four weeks, time he will +demand Four Principalities more; nay, already demands them, the whole of +Lower Silesia and Breslau. A precious negotiation I have made of it! Sir +Thomas, wide-eyed, asks a second time:-- + +ROBINSON. "'Is that your Majesty's deliberate answer?' + +KING. "'Yes, I say! That is my Answer; and I will never give another.' + +HYNDFORD and ROBINSON (much flurried, to Podewils). "'Your Excellency, +please to comprehend, the Proposals from Vienna were--' + +KING. "'Messieurs, Messieurs, it is of no use even to think of it.' And +taking off his hat," slightly raising his hat, as salutation and finale, +"he retired precipitately behind the curtain of the interior corner of +the tent," says the reporter: EXIT King! + +ROBINSON (totally flurried, to Podewils). "'Your Excellency, France will +abandon Prussia, will sacrifice Prussia to self-interest.' + +PODEWILS. "'No, no! France will not deceive us; we have not deceived +France.'" (SCENE CLOSES; CURTAIN FALLS.) [State-Paper Office (Robinson +to Harrington, Breslau, 9th August, 1741); Raumer, pp. 106-110. Compare +_OEuvres de Frederic,_ ii. 84; and Valori, i. 119, 122.] + +The unsuccessfulest negotiation well imaginable by a public man. +Strehlen, Monday, 7th August, 1741:--Friedrich has vanished into the +interior of his tent; and the two Diplomatic gentlemen, the wind struck +out of them in this manner, remain gazing at one another. Here truly is +a young Royal gentleman that knows his own mind, while so many do not. +Unspeakable imbroglio of negotiations, mostly insane, welters over all +the Earth; the Belleisles, the Aulic Councils, the British Georges, +heaping coil upon coil: and here, notably, in that now so extremely +sordid murk of wiggeries, inane diplomacies and solemn deliriums, dark +now and obsolete to all creatures, steps forth one little Human +Figure, with something of sanity in it: like a star, like a gleam +of steel,--shearing asunder your big balloons, and letting out their +diplomatic hydrogen;--salutes with his hat, "Gentlemen, Gentlemen, it +is of no use!" and vanishes into the interior of his tent. It is to +Excellency Robinson, among all the sons of Adam then extant, that we owe +this interesting Passage of History,--authentic glimpse, face to face, +of the young Friedrich in those extraordinary circumstances: every +feature substantially as above, and recognizable for true. Many +Despatches his Excellency wrote in this world,--sixty or eighty volumes +of them still left,--but among them is this One: the angriest of mankind +cannot say that his Excellency lived and embassied quite in vain! + +The Two Britannic Gentlemen, both on that distressing Monday and the day +following, had the honor to dine with the King: who seemed in exuberant +spirits; cutting and bantering to right and left; upon the Court of +Vienna, among other topics, in a way which I Robinson "will not repeat +to your Lordship." Bade me, for example, "As you pass through Neisse, +make my compliments to Marshal Neipperg; and you can say, Excellency +Robinson, that I hope to have the pleasure of calling, one of these +days!"--Podewils, who was civil, pressed us much to stay over Wednesday, +the 9th. "On Thursday is to be a Grand Review, one of the finest +military sights; to which the Excellencies from Breslau, one and all, +are coming out." But we, having our Despatches and Expresses on hand, +pleaded business, and declined, in spite of Podewils's urgencies. And +set off for Breslau, Wednesday, morning,--meeting various Excellencies, +by degrees all the Excellencies, on the road for that Review we had +heard of. + +Readers must accept this Robinsoniad as the last of Friedrich's +Diplomatic performances at Strehlen, which in effect it nearly was; and +from these instances imagine his way in such things. Various Letters +there are, to Jordan principally, some to Algarotti; both of whom he +still keeps at Breslau, and sends for, if there is like to be an hour of +leisure. The Letters indicate cheerfulness of humor, even levity, in the +Writer; which is worth noting, in this wild clash of things now tumbling +round him, and looking to him as its centre: but they otherwise, though +heartily and frankly written, are, to Jordan and us, as if written +from the teeth outward; and throw no light whatever either on things +befalling, or on Friedrich's humor under them. Reading diligently, we do +notice one thing, That the talk about "fame (GLOIRE)" has died out. Not +the least mention now of GLOIRE;--perception now, most probably, that +there are other things than "GLOIRE" to be had by taking arms; and that +War is a terribly grave thing, lightly as one may go into it at +first! This small inference we do negatively draw, from the Friedrich +Correspondence of those months: and except this, and the levity of humor +noticeable, we practically get no light whatever from it; the practical +soul and soul's business of Friedrich being entirely kept veiled there, +as usual. + +And veiled, too, in such a way that you do not notice any veil,--the +young King being, as we often intimate, a master in this art. Which +useful circumstance has done him much ill with readers and mankind. For +if you intend to interest readers,--that is to say, idle neighbors, and +fellow-creatures in need of gossip,--there is nothing like unveiling +yourself: witness Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and many other poor waste +creatures, going off in self-conflagration, for amusement of the parish, +in that manner. But may not a man have something other on hand with his +Existence than that of "setting fire to it [such the process terribly +IS], to show the people a fine play of colors, and get himself +applauded, and pathetically blubbered over?" Alas, my friends!-- + +It is certain there was seldom such a life-element as this of +Friedrich's in Summer, 1741. Here is the enormous jumbling of a World +broken loose; boiling as in very chaos; asking of him, him more than +any other, "How? What?" Enough to put GLOIRE out of his head; and awaken +thoughts,--terrors, if you were of apprehensive turn! Surely no young +man of twenty-nine more needed all the human qualities than +Friedrich now. The threatenings, the seductions, big Belleisle +hallucinations,--the perils to you infinite, if you MISS the road. +Friedrich did not miss it, as is well known; he managed to pick it out +from that enormous jumble of the elements, and victoriously arrived by +it, he alone of them all. Which is evidence of silent or latent faculty +in him, still more wonderful than the loud-resounding ones of which the +world has heard. Probably there was not, in his history, any chapter +more significant of human faculty than this, which is not on record at +all. + + + + +Chapter III. -- GRAND REVIEW AT STREHLEN: NEIPPERG TAKES AIM AT BRESLAU, +BUT ANOTHER HITS IT. + +A day or two before that famous Audience of Hyndford and Robinson's, +Neipperg had quitted his impregnable Camp at Neisse, and taken the +field again; in the hope of perhaps helping Robinson's Negotiation by an +inverse method. Should Robinson's offers not prove attractive enough, +as is to be feared, a push from behind may have good effects. +Neipperg intends to have a stroke on Breslau; to twitch Breslau out of +Friedrich's hands, by a private manoeuvre on new resources that have +offered themselves. [_ Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 982, and ii. 227.] + +In Breslau, which is by great majority Protestant in creed and warmly +Prussian in temper, there has been no oppression or unfair usage heard +of to any class of persons; and certainly in the matter of Protestant +and Catholic, there has been perfect equality observed. True, the change +from favor and ascendency to mere equality, is not in itself welcome to +human creatures:--one conceives, for various reasons of lower and higher +nature, a minority of discontented individuals in Breslau, zealous for +their creed and old perquisites sacred and profane; who long in secret, +sometimes vocally to one another, for the good old times,--when souls +were not liable to perish wholesale, and people guilty only of loyalty +and orthodoxy to be turned out of their offices on suspicion. Friedrich +says, it was mainly certain zealous Old Ladies of Quality who went into +this adventure; and from whispering to one another, got into speaking, +into meeting in one another's houses for the purpose of concerting +and contriving. [_OEuvres,_ ii. 82, 83.] Zealous Old Ladies +of Quality,--these we consider were the Talking-Apparatus or +Secret-Parliament of the thing: but it is certain one or two Official +Gentlemen (Syndic Guzmar for instance, and others NOT yet become +Ex-Official) had active hand in it, and furnished the practical ideas. + +Continual Correspondence there was with Vienna, by those Old Ladies; +Guzmar and the others shy of putting pen to paper, and only doing it +where indispensable. Zealous Addresses go to her Hungarian Majesty, "Oh, +may the Blessed Virgin assist your Majesty!"--accompanied, it is said, +with Subscriptions of money (poor old souls); and what is much more +dangerous and feasible, there goes prompt notice to Neipperg of +everything the Prussian Army undertakes, and the Postscript always, +"Come and deliver us, your Excellency." Of these latter Documents, I +have heard of some with Syndic Guzmar's and other Official hands to +them. Generally such things can, through accidental Pandour channels, +were there no other, easily reach Neipperg; though they do not always. +Enough, could Neipperg appear at the Gates of Breslau, in some concerted +night-hour, or push out suitable Detachment on forced-march that +way,--it is evident to him he would be let in; might smother the few +Prussians that are in the Dom Island, and get possession of the Enemy's +principal Magazine and the Metropolis of the Province. Might not the +Enemy grow more tractable to Robinson's seductions in such case? + +Neipperg marches from Neisse (1st-6th August) with his whole Army; first +some thirty miles westward up the right or southern bank of the +Neisse; then crosses the Neisse, and circles round to northward, giving +Friedrich wide room: [Orlich, i. 130, 133.] that night of Robinson's +Audience, when Friedrich was so merry at dinner, Neipperg was engaged +in crossing the River; the second night after, Neipperg lay encamped and +intrenched at Baumgarten (old scene of Friedrich's Pandour Adventure), +while Hyndford and Robinson had got back to Breslau. In another day +or so, he may hope to be within forced-march of Breslau, to detach +Feldmarschall Browne or some sharp head; and to do a highly considerable +thing? + +Unluckily for Neipperg's Adventure, the Prussians had wind of it, some +time ago. They have got "a false Sister smuggled into that Old-Ladies' +Committee," who has duly reported progress; nay they have intercepted +something in Syndic Guzmar's own hand: and everything is known to +Friedrich. The Protestant population, and generally the practical quiet +part of the Breslauers, are harassed with suspicion of some such thing, +but can gain no certainty, nor understand what to do. Protestants +especially, who have been so zealous, "who were seen dropping down on +the streets to pray, while the muffled thunder came from Mollwitz that +day," [Ranke, ii. 289.]--fancy how it would now be, were the tables +suddenly turned, and indignant Orthodoxy made supreme again, with memory +fresh! But, in fact, there is no danger whatever to them. Schwerin +has orders about Breslau; Schwerin and the Young Dessauer are maturely +considering how to manage. + +Readers recollect how Podewils pressed the Two Britannic Excellencies to +stay in Strehlen a day or two longer: "Grand Review, with festivities, +just on hand; whole of the Foreign Ministers in Breslau invited out to +see it,"--though Hyndford and Robinson would not consent; but left on +the 9th, meeting the others at different points of the road. Next +day, Thursday, 10th August, was in fact a great day at Strehlen; grand +muster, manoeuvring of cavalry above all, whom Friedrich is delighted to +find so perfect in their new methods; riding as if they were centaurs, +horse and man one entity; capable of plunging home, at full gallop, in +coherent masses upon an enemy, and doing some good with him. "Neipperg's +Croat-people, and out-pickets on the distant Hill-sides, witnessed +these manoeuvres," [Ranke, ii. 288.] I know not with what criticism. +Furthermore, about noon-time, there was heard (mark it, reader) a +distant cannon-shot, one and no more, from the Northern side; which gave +his Majesty a lively pleasure, though he treated it as nothing. All the +Foreign Ministers were on the ground; doubtless with praises, so far as +receivable; and in the afternoon came festivities not a few. A great day +in Strehlen:--but in Breslau a much greater; which explained, to our Two +Excellencies, why Podewils had been so pressing! + +August 10th, at six in the morning, Schwerin, and under him the Young +Dessauer,--who had arrived in the Southwestern suburbs of Breslau +overnight, with 8,000 foot and horse, and had posted themselves in a +vigilant Anti-Neipperg manner there, and laid all their plans,--appear +at the Nicolai Gate; and demand, in the common way, transit for their +regiments and baggages: "bound Northward," as appears; "to Leubus," +where something of Pandour sort has fallen out. So many troops or +companies at a time, that is the rule; one quantity of companies you +admit; then close and bolt, till it have marched across and out at the +opposite Gate; after which, open again for a second lot. But in this +case,--owing to accident (very unusual) of a baggage-wagon breaking +down, and people hurrying to help it forward,--the whole regiment gets +in, escorted as usual by the Town-guard. Whole regiment; and marches, +not straight through; but at a certain corner strikes off leftward to +the Market-place; where, singular to say, it seems inclined to pause +and rearrange itself a little. Nay, more singular still, other +regiments (owing to like accidents), from other Gates, join it;--and--in +fact--"Herr Major of the Town-guard, in the King's name, you are +required to ground arms!" What can the Town Major do; Prussian +grenadiers, cannoneers, gravely environing him? He sticks his sword into +the scabbard, an Ex-Town Major; and Breslau City is become Friedrich's, +softly like a movement during drill. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 982, n. +227, 268; Adelung, ii. 439; Stenzel, iv. 152.] + +Not the least mistake occurred. Cannon with case-shot planted themselves +in all the thoroughfares, Horse-patrols went circulating everywhere; +Town-arsenal, gates, walls, are laid hold of; Town-guards all disarmed, +rather "with laughter on their part" than otherwise: "Majesty perhaps +will give us muskets of his own;--well!" The operation altogether +did not last above an hour-and-half, and nobody's skin got scratched. +Towards 9 A.M. Schwerin summoned the Town Dignitaries to their Rathhaus +to swear fealty; who at once complied; and on his stepping out with +proposal, to the general population, of "a cheer for King Friedrich, +Duke of Lower Silesia," the poor people rent the skies with their +"Friedrich and Silesia forever!" which they repeated, I think, seven +times. Upon which Schwerin fired off his signal-cannon, pointing to the +South; where other posts and cannons took up the sound, and pushed it +forward, till, as we noticed, it got to Friedrich in few minutes, on the +review-ground at Strehlen; right welcome to him, among the manoeuvrings +there. Protestant Breslau or cordwainer Doblin cannot lament such a +result; still less dare the devout Old Ladies of Quality openly lament, +who are trembling to the heart, poor old creatures, though no evil came +of it to them; penitent, let off for the fright; checking even their +aspirations henceforth. + +Syndic Guzmar and the peccant Officials being summoned out to Strehlen, +it had been asked of them, "Do you know this Letter?" Upon which +they fell on their knees, "ACH IHRO MAJESTAT!" unable to deny their +handwriting; yet anxious to avoid death on the scaffold, as Friedrich +said was usual under such behavior; and were sent home, after a few +hours of arrest. [Orlich, i. 134; _Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 228.] +Schwerin (as King's substitute till the King himself one day arrive) +continued to take the Homaging, and to make the many new arrangements +needful. All which went off in a soft and pleasantly harmonious +manner;--only the Jesuits scrupling a little to swear as yet; and +getting gently sent their ways, with revenues stopt in consequence. +Otherwise the swearing, which lasted for several days, was to appearance +a joyful process, and on the part of the general population an +enthusiastic one, "ES LEBE KONIG FRIEDRICH!" rising to the welkin +with insatiable emphasis, seven times over, on the least signal given. +Neipperg's Adventure, and Orthodox Female Parliament, have issued in +this sadly reverse manner. + +Robinson and Hyndford have to witness these phenomena; Robinson to shoot +off for Presburg again, with the worst news in the world. Queen and +Hofraths have been waiting in agony of suspense, "Will Friedrich bargain +on those gentle terms, and help us with 100,000 men?" Far from it, my +friends; how far! "My most important intelligence," writes the Russian +Envoy there, some days ago, ["5 August, 1741," not said to whom (in +Ranke, ii. 324 n.).] "is, that a Bavarian War has broken out, that +Kur-Baiern is in Passau. God grant that Monsieur Robinson may succeed in +his negotiation! All here are in the completest irresolution, and total +inactivity, till Monsieur Robinson return, or at least send news of +himself." + + + + +Chapter IV. -- FRIEDRICH TAKES THE FIELD AGAIN, INTENT ON HAVING NEISSE. + +This Breslau Adventure, which had yielded Friedrich so important +an acquisition, was furthermore the cause of ending these Strehlen +inactivities, and of recommencing field operations. August 11th, +Neipperg, provoked by the grievous news just come from Breslau, pushes +suddenly forward on Schweidnitz, by way of consolation; Schweidnitz, +not so strong as it might be made, where the Prussians have a principal +Magazine: "One might at least seize that?" thinks Neipperg, in his +vexed humor. But here too Friedrich was beforehand with him; broke out, +rapidly enough, to Reichenbach, westward, which bars the Neipperg +road to Schweidnitz: upon which,--or even before which (on rumor of it +coming, which was not YET true),--Neipperg, half done with his +first day's march, called halt; prudently turned back, and hastened, +Baumgarten way, to his strong Camp at Frankenstein again. His hope in +the Schweidnitz direction had lasted only a few hours; a hope springing +on the mere spur of pique, soon recognizable by him as futile; and now +anxieties for self-preservation had succeeded it on Neipperg's part. +For now Friedrich actually advances on him, in a menacing manner, hardly +hoping Neipperg will fight; but determined to have done with the Neisse +business, in spite of strong camps and cunctations, if it be possible. +[Orlich, i. 137, 138.] + +It was August 16th, when Friedrich stirred out of Strehlen; August 21st, +when he encamped at Reichenbach. Till September 7th, he kept manoeuvring +upon Neipperg, who counter-manoeuvred with vigilance, good judgment, +and would not come to action: September 7th, Friedrich, weary of these +hagglings, dashed off for Neisse itself, hoped to be across Neisse +River, and be between Neisse Town and Neipperg, before Neipperg could +get up. There would then be no method of preventing the Siege of Neisse, +except by a Battle: so Friedrich had hoped; but Neipperg again proved +vigilant. + +Accordingly, September 11th, Friedrich's Vanguard was actually across +the Neisse; had crossed at a place called Woitz, and had there got Two +Pontoon Bridges ready, when Friedrich, in the evening, came up with +the main Army, intending to cross;--and was astonished to find Neipperg +taking up position, in intricate ground, near by, on the opposite side! +Ground so intricate, hills, bogs, bushes of wood, and so close upon the +River, there was no crossing possible; and Friedrich's Vanguard had +to be recalled. Two days of waiting, of earnest ocular study; no +possibility visible. On the third day, Friedrich, gathering in his +pontoons overnight, marched off, down stream: Neisse-wards, but on the +left or north bank of the River; passed Neisse Town (the River between +him and it); and encamped at Gross Neundorf, several miles from Neipperg +and the River. Neipperg, at an equal step, has been wending towards his +old Camp, which lies behind Neisse, between Neisse and the Hills: there, +a river in front, dams and muddy inundations all round him, begirt with +plentiful Pandours, Neipperg waits what Friedrich will attempt from +Gross Neundorf. + +From Gross Neundorf, Friedrich persists twelve days (13th-25th +September), studying, endeavoring; mere impossibility ahead. And by this +time (what is much worth noting), Hyndford, silently quitting Breslau, +has got back to these scenes of war, occasionally visible in Friedrich's +Camp again;--on important mysterious business; which will have results. +Valori also is here in Camp; these two Excellencies jealously eying one +another; both of them with teeth rather on edge,--Europe having suddenly +got into such a plunge (as if the highest mountains were falling +into the deepest seas) since Friedrich began this Neipperg problem of +his;--in which, after twelve days, he sees mere impossibility ahead. + +On the twelfth day, Friedrich privately collects himself for a new +method: marches, soon after midnight, [26th September, 2 A.M.: Orlich, +i. 144.] fifteen miles down the River (which goes northward in this +part, as the reader may remember); crosses, with all his appurtenances, +unmolested; and takes camp a few miles inland, or on the right bank, and +facing towards Neisse again. He intends to be in upon Neipperg front the +rear quarter; and cut him off from Mahren and his daily convoys of food. +"Daily food cut off,--the thickest-skinned rhinoceros, the wildest lion, +cannot stand that: here, for Neipperg, is one point on which all his +embankments and mud-dams will not suffice him!" thinks Friedrich. +Certain preliminary operations, and military indispensabilities, there +first are for Friedrich,--Town of Oppeln to be got, which commands the +Oder, our rearward highway; Castle of Friedland, and the country between +Oder and Neisse Rivers:--while these preliminary things are being +done (September 28th-October 3d), Friedrich in person gradually pushes +forward towards Neipperg, reconnoitring, bickering with Croats: October +3d, preliminaries done, Neipperg's rear had better look to itself. + +Neipperg, well enough seeing what was meant, has by this time come out +of his mud-dams and impregnabilities; and advanced a few miles towards +Friedrich. Neipperg lies now encamped in the Hamlet of Griesau, a little +way behind Steinau,--poor Steinau, which the reader saw on fire one +night, when Friedrich and we were in those parts, in Spring last. +Friedrich's Camp is about five miles from Neipperg's on the other side +of Steinau. A tolerable champaign country; I should think, mostly in +stubble at this season. Nearly midway between these two Camps is a +pretty Schloss called Klein-Schnellendorf, occupied by Neipperg's Croats +just now, of which Prince Lobkowitz (he, if I remember, but it +matters nothing), an Austrian General of mark, far away at present, is +proprietor. + +Friedrich's Oppeln preparations are about complete; and he intends to +advance straightway. "Hold, for Heaven's sake, your Majesty!" exclaims +Hyndford; getting hold of him one day (waylaying him, in fact; for it +is difficult, owing to Valori); "Wait, wait; I have just been to the--to +the Camp of Neipperg," silently gesticulates Hyndford: "Within a week +all shall be right, and not a drop of blood shed!" Friedrich answers, by +silence chiefly, to the effect, "Tush, tush;" but not quite negatively, +and does in effect wait. We had better give the snatch of Dialogue in +primitive authentic form; date is, Camp of Neundorf, September 22d:-- + +FRIEDRICH (pausing impatiently, on the way towards his tent). "'MILORD, +DE QUOI S'AGIT-IL A PRESENT (What is it now, then)?' + +HYNDFORD. "'Should much desire to have some assurance from your Majesty +with regard to that neutrality of Hanover you were pleased to promise.' +All else is coming right; hastening towards beautiful settlement, were +that settled. + +FRIEDRICH. "'Have not I great reason to be dissatisfied with your Court? +Britannic Majesty, as King of England and as Elector of Hanover, is +wonderful! Milord, when you say a thing is white, Schweichelt, the +Hanoverian Excellency, calls it black, and VICE VERSA. But I will do +your King no harm; none, I say! Follow me to dinner; dinner is cold by +this time; and we have made more than one person think of us. Swift! +[and EXIT].'" [Hyndford's Despatch, Neisse, 4th October, 1741.] + +This is a strange motion on the part of Hyndford; but Friedrich, +severely silent to it, understands it very well; as readers soon will, +when they hear farther. But marvellous things have happened on the +sudden! In these three weeks, since the Camp of Strehlen broke up, there +have been such Events; strategic, diplomatic: a very avalanche of ruin, +hurling Austria down to the Nadir; of which it is now fit that the +reader have some faint conception, an adequate not being possible for +him or me:-- + +"AUGUST l5th, 1741. Robinson reappears in Presburg; and precious surely +are the news he brings to an Aulic Council fallen back in its chairs, +and staring with the wind struck out of it. Their expected Seizure +of Breslau gone heels over head, in that way; Friedrich imperiously +resolute, gleaming like the flash of steel amid these murky +imbecilities, and without the Cession of Silesia no Peace to be made +with him! And all this is as nothing, to news which arrives just on the +back of Robinson, from another quarter. + +"AUGUST 15th-21st. French Army of 40,000 men, special Army of Belleisle, +sedulously equipt and completed, visibly crosses the Rhine at Fort Louis +(an Island Fortress in the Rhine, thirty miles below Strasburg; STONES +of it are from the old Schloss of Hagenau);--steps over deliberately +there; and on the sixth day is all on German ground. These troops, to +be commanded by Belleisle, so soon as he can join them, are to be the +Elector of Bavaria's troops, Kur-Baiern Generalissimo over Belleisle and +them; [_Fastes de Louis XV.,_ ii. 264.] and they are on rapid march to +join that ambitious Kurfurst, in his Passau Expedition; and probably +submerge Vienna itself. + +"And what is this we hear farther, O Robinson, O Excellencies Hyndford, +Schweichelt and Company: That another French Army, of the same strength, +under Maillebois, has in the self-same days gone across the Lower Rhine +(at Kaisersworth, an hour's ride below Dusseldorf)! At Kaisersworth; +ostensibly for comforting and strengthening Kur-Koln (the lanky +Ecclesiastical Gentleman, Kur-Baiern's Brother), their excellent ally, +should anybody meddle with him. Ostensibly for this; but in reality to +keep the Sea-Powers, and especially George of England quiet. It marches +towards Osnabruck, this Maillebois Army; quarters itself up and down, +looking over into Hanover,--able to eat Hanover, especially if joined by +the Prussians and Old Leopold, at any moment. + +"These things happen in this month of August, close upon the rear of +that steel-shiny scene in the Tent at Strehlen, where Friedrich lifted +his hat, saying, ''T is of no use, Messieurs!'--which was followed by +the seizure of Breslau the wrong way. Never came such a cataract of evil +news on an Aulic Council before. The poor proud people, all these months +they have been sitting torpid, helpless, loftily stupid, like dumb +idols; 'in flat despair,' as Robinson says once, 'only without the +strength to be desperate.' + +"Sure enough the Sea-Powers are checkmated now. Let them make the least +attempt in favor of the Queen, if they dare. Holland can be overrun, +from Osnabruck quarter, at a day's warning. Little George has his +Hanoverians, his subsidized Hessians, Danes, in Hanover, his English on +Lexden Heath: let him come one step over the marches, Maillebois and +the Old Dessauer swallow him. It is a surprising stroke of +theatrical-practical Art; brought about, to old Fleury's sorrow, by +the genius of Belleisle, aud they say of Madame Chateauroux; enough to +strike certain Governing Persons breathless, for some time; and denotes +that the Universal Hurricane, or World-Tornado, has broken out. It is +not recorded of little George that he fell back in his chair, or stared +wider than usual with those fish-eyes: but he discerned well, glorious +little man, that here is left no shadow of a chance by fighting; that he +will have to sit stock-still, under awful penalties; and that if Maria +Theresa will escape destruction, she must make her peace with Friedrich +at any price." + +This fine event, 80,000 French actually across the Rhine, happened +in the very days while Friedrich and Neipperg had got into wrestle +again,--Neipperg just off from that rash march for Schweidnitz, and +whirling back on rumor (15th August), while the first instalment of the +French were getting over. Friedrich must admit that the French fulfil +their promises so far. A week ago or more, they made the Swedes +declare War against Russia, as covenanted. War is actually declared, +at Stockholm, August 4th, the Faction of Hats prevailing over that of +Nightcaps, after terrible debates and efforts about the mere declaring +of it, as if that alone were the thing needed. We mentioned this War +already, and would not willingly again. One of the most contemptible +Wars ever declared or carried on; but useful to Friedrich, as keeping +Russia off his hands, at a critical time, and conclusively forbidding +help to Austria from that quarter. + +Marechal de Belleisle, wrapt in Diplomatic and Electioneering business, +cannot personally take command for the present; but has excellent +lieutenants,--one of whom is Comte de Saxe, Moritz our old friend, +afterwards Marechal de Saxe. Among the finest French Armies, this of +Belleisle's is thought to be, that ever took the field: so many of +our Nobility in it, and what best Officers, Segurs, Saxes, future +Marechal's, we have. Army full of spirit and splendor; come to cut +Germany in four, and put France at last in its place in the Universe. +Here is courage, here is patriotism, of a sort. And if this is not the +good sort, the divinely pious, the humanly noble,--Fashionable Society +feels it to be so, and can hit no nearer. New-fashioned "Army of the +Oriflamme," one might call this of Belleisle's; kind of Sham-Sacred +French Army (quite in earnest, as it thinks);--led on, not by St. Denis +and the Virgin, but by Sun-god Belleisle and the Chateauroux, under +these sad new conditions! Which did not prosper as expected. + +"Let the Holy German Reich take no offence," said this Army, eager to +conciliate: "we come as friends merely; our intentions charitable, +and that only. Bavarian Treaty of Nymphenburg (18th May last) binds us +especially, this time; Treaty of Westphalia binds us sacredly at all +times. Peaceable to you, nay brotherly, if only you will be peaceable!" +Which the poor Reich, all but Austria and the Sea-Powers, strove what it +could to believe. + +On reaching the German shore out of Elsass, "every Officer put, the +Bavarian Colors, cockade of blue-and-white, on his hat;" [Adelung, +ii. 431.] a mere "Bavarian Army," don't you see? And the 40,000 wend +steadily forward through Schwaben eastward, till they can join Karl +Albert Kur-Baiern, who is Generalissimo, or has the name of such. +They march in Seven Divisions. Donauworth (a Town we used to know, in +Marlborough's time and earlier) is to be their first resting-point; +Ingolstadt their place-of-arms: will readers recollect those two +essential circumstances? To Donauworth is 250 miles; to Passau will be +180 more: five or six long weeks of marching. But after Donauworth +they are to go, the Infantry of them are, in boats; Horse, under +Saxe, marching parallel. Forward, ever forward, to Passau (properly to +Scharding, twelve miles up the Inn Valley, where his Bavarian Highness +is in Camp); and thence, under his Bavarian Highness, and in concert +with him, to pour forth, deluge-like, upon Linz, probably upon Vienna +itself, down the Donau Valley,--why not to Vienna itself, and ruin +Austria at one swoop? [Espagnac, _Histoire de Maurice Comte de Saxe_ +(German Translation, Leipzig, 1774), i. 83:--an excellent military +compend. _Campagnes des Trois Marechaux_ (Maillebois, Broglio, +Belleisle: Armsterdam. 1773), ii. 53-56:--in nine handy little volumes +(or if we include the NOAILLES and the COIGNY set, making "CING +MARECHAUX," nineteen volumes in all, and a twentieth for INDEX); +consisting altogether of Official Letters (brief, rapid, meant for +business, NOT for printing in the Newspapers); which are elucidative +BEYOND bargain, and would even be amusing to read,--were the topic +itself worth one's time.] + +The second or Maillebois French Army spreads itself, by degrees, +considerably over Westphalia;--straitened for forage, and otherwise +not the best of neighbors. But, in theory, in speech, this too was +abundantly conciliatory,--to the Dutch at least. "Nothing earthly in +view, nothing, ye magnanimous Dutch, except to lodge here in the most +peaceable manner, paying our way, and keep down disturbances that might +arise in these parts. That might arise; not from you, ye magnanimous +High Mightinesses, how far from it! Nor will we meddle with one broken +brick of your respectable Barrier, or Barrier Treaty, which is sacred +to us, or do you the shadow of an injury. No; a thousand times, upon +our honor, No!" For brevity's sake, I lend them that locution, "No, a +thousand times,"--and in actual arithmetic, I should think there are +at least four or five hundred times of it,--in those extinct Diplomatic +Eloquences of Excellency Fenelon and the other French;--vaguely +counting, in one's oppressed imagination, during the Two Years that +ensue. For the Dutch lazily believed, or strove to believe, this No of +Fenelon's; and took an obstinate laggard sitting posture, in regard +to Pragmatic Sanction; whereby the task of "hoisting" them (as above +hinted), which fell upon a certain King, became so famous in Diplomatic +History. + +Imagination may faintly picture what a blow this advent of Maillebois +was to his Britannic Majesty, over in Herrenhausen yonder! He has had +of Danes six thousand, of Hessians six, of Hanoverians sixteen,--in all +some 30,000 men, on foot here since Spring last, camping about (in two +formidable Camps at this moment); not to mention the 6,000 of English on +Lexden Heath, eager to be shipped across, would Parliament permit; and +now--let him stir in any direction if he dare. Camp of Gottin like a +drawn sword at one's throat (at one's Hanover) from the east; and lo, +here a twin fellow to it gleaming from the south side! Maillebois +can walk into the throat of Hanover at a day's warning. And such was +actually the course proposed by Maillebois's Government, more than +once, in these weeks, had not Friedrich dissuaded and forbidden. It is +a strangling crisis. What is his Britannic Majesty to do? Send orders, +"Double YOUR diligence, Excellency Robinson!" that is one clear point; +the others are fearfully insoluble, yet pressing for solution: in a six +weeks hence (September 27th), we shall see what they issue in!-- + +As for Robinson, he is duly with the Queen at Presburg; duly conjuring +incessantly, "Make your peace with Friedrich!" And her Majesty will not, +on the terms. Poor Robinson, urged two ways at once, is flurried doubly +and trebly; tossed about as Diplomatist never was. King of Prussia +flashes lightning-looks upon him, clapping finger to nose; Maria +Theresa, knowing he will demand cession of Silesia, shudders at sight of +him; and the Aulic Council fall into his arms like dead men, murmuring, +"Money; where is your money?" + +"AUGUST 29th. While Friedrich was pushing into Neipperg, in the +Baumgarten Country, and could get no battle out of him, Excellency +Robinson reappears at Breslau; Maria Theresa, after deadly efforts on +his part, has mended her offers, in these terrible circumstances; and +Robinson is here again. 'Half of Silesia, or almost half, provided his +Majesty will turn round, and help against the French:' these, secretly, +are Robinson's rich offers. The Queen, on consenting to these +new offers, had 'wrung her hands,' like one in despair, and said +passionately, 'Unless accepted within a fortnight, I will not be bound +by them!' 'Admit his Excellency to the honor of an interview,' solicits +Hyndford; 'his offers are much mended.' Notable to witness, Friedrich +will not see Robinson at all this time, nor even permit Podewils to see +him; signifies plainly that he wants to hear no more of his offers, and +that, in fact, the sooner he can take himself away from Breslau, it +will be the better. To that effect, Robinson, rushing back in mortified +astonished manner, reports progress at Presburg; to that and no +better. 'High Madam,' urges Robinson, still indefatigable, 'the King +of Prussia's help would be life, his hostility is death at this crisis. +Peace must be with him, at any price!' 'Price?' answers her Majesty +once: 'If Austria must fall, it is indifferent to me whether it be by +Kur-Baiern or Kur-Brandenburg!' [Stenzel, iv. 156.] Nevertheless, +in about a week she again yields to intense conjuring, and the +ever-tightening pressure of events;--King George, except it be for +counselling, is become stock-still, with Maillebois's sword at his +throat; and is, without metaphor, sinking towards absolute neutrality: +'Cannot help you, Madam, any farther; must not try it, or I perish, my +Hanover and I!'--So that Maria Theresa again mends her offers: 'Give +him all Lower Silesia, and he to join with me!' and Robinson post-haste +despatches a courier to Breslau with them. Notable again: King Friedrich +will not hear of them; answers by a 'No, I tell you! Time was, time +is not. I have now joined with France; and to join against it in this +manner? Talk to me no more!'" [Friedrich to Hyndford: _"Au Camp [de +Neuendorf] 14me septembre," 1741. "Milord j'ai recu les nouvelles +propositions d'alliance que l'infatigable Robinson vous envoie. Je les +trouve aussi chimeriques que les precedentes."--"Ces gens sont-ils fols, +Milord, de s'imaginer que je commisse la trahison de tourner en leur +faveur mes armes, et de"--"Je vous prie de ne me plus fatiguer avec +de pareilles propositions, et de me croire assez honnete homme pour ne +point violer mes engagements.--_ FREDERIC." (British Museum: Hyndford +Papers, fol. 133.)]... + +Here is a catastrophe for the Two Britannic Excellencies, and the Cause +of Freedom! Robinson, in dudgeon and amazement, has hurried back to +Presburg, has ceased sending even couriers; and, in a three weeks hence +(9th October, a day otherwise notable), wishes "to come home," the game +being up. [His Letter, "9th October, 1741" (in Lord Mahon's _History of +England,_ iii. Appendix, p. iii: edit. London, 1839)]. Such is Robinson's +gloomy view: finished, he, and the game lost,--unless perhaps Hyndford +could still do something? Of which what hope is there! Hyndford, who +has a rough sagacity in him, and manifests often a strong sense of the +practical and the practicable, strikes into--Readers, from the following +Fragments of Correspondence, now first made public, will gather for +themselves what new course, veiled in triple mystery, Hyndford had +struck into. Four bits of Notes, well worth reading, under their +respective dates:-- + +1. EXCELLENCY HYNDFORD TO SECRETARY HARRINGTON (Two Notes). "BRESLAU, +2d SEPTEMBER, 1711 [on the heel of Robinson's second miscarriage].... My +Lord, all these contretemps are very unlucky at present, when time is +so precious; for France is pressing the King of Prussia in the strongest +manner to declare himself; but whatever eventual preliminaries may be +probably agreed between them, I still doubt if they have any Treaty +signed"--have had one, any time these three months (since 5th June +last); signed sufficiently; but of a most fast-and-loose nature; neither +party intending to be rigorous in keeping it. "I wish to God the Court +of Vienna may be brought to think before it is too late." [HYNDFORD +PAPERS (Brit. Mus. Additional MSS. 11,366), ii. fol. 91.] + +2. "BRESLAU, 6th SEPTEMBER.... I am not without hopes of succeeding in a +project which has occurred to me on this occasion, and which seems to be +pretty well relished by some people [properly by one individual, Goltz, +the King's Adjutant and factotum], who are in great confidence about +the King of Prussia's person; and I think it is the only thing that now +remains to be tried; and as it is the least of two evils, I hope I shall +have the King my Master's approbation in attempting it; and if the Court +of Vienna will open their eyes, they must see it is the only thing left +to save them from utter destruction;"--and, finally, here it is:-- + +"Since Mr. Robinson left this place,--["Sooner YOU go, the better, +Sir!"],--"I have been sounding the people afore mentioned, the +individual afore hinted at, 'Whether the King of Prussia would hearken +to a Neutrality with respect to the Queen of Hungary, and at the same +time fulfil his engagements to his Majesty with respect to the defence +of his Majesty's German Dominions, IF she would give him the Lower +Silesia with Breslau?' At first they rejected it; saying it was a thing +they dared not propose. However, I have reason to believe, by a Letter I +saw this day, that it has been proposed to the King, and that he is not +absolutely averse to it. I shall know more in a few days; but if it +can be done at all, it must be done in the very greatest secrecy, for +neither the King nor his Ministers wish to appear in it; and I question +if his Minister Podewils will be informed of it." [_Hyndford Papers,_ +fol. 97, 98.] + +3. EXCELLENCY ROBINSON (in a flutter of excitement, temporary hope and +excitement, about Goltz) TO HYNDFORD, AT BRESLAU. + +"PRESBURG, 8th SEPTEMBER (N.S.), 1741. My Lord, I could desire your +Lordship to summon up, if it were necessary, the spirit of all your +Lordship's Instructions, and the sense of the King, of the Parliament, +and of the whole British Nation. It is upon this great moment that +depends the fate, not of the House of Austria, not of the Empire, but +of the House of Brunswick, of Great Britain, and of all Europe. I verily +believe the King of Prussia does not himself know the extent of the +present danger. With whatever motive he may act, there is not one, not +that of the mildest resentment, that can blind him to this degree, +of himself perishing in the ruin he is bringing upon others. With his +concurrence, the French will, in less than six weeks, be masters of +the German Empire. The weak Elector of Bavaria is but their instrument: +Prague and Vienna may, and probably will, be taken in that short time. +Will even the King of Prussia himself be reserved to the last? + +"Upon this single transaction [of your Lordship's affair with the +mysterious individual] depend the CITA MORS, or the VICTORIA LAETA of +all Europe. Nothing will equal the glory of your Lordship, in the latter +case, but that to be acquired by the King of Prussia in his immediate +imitation of the great Sobieski"--reputed "savior of Vienna," O your +Excellency!... "Prince Lichtenstein will, if found in time upon his +estates in Bohemia, be, I believe, the person to repair to the King of +Prussia, the moment your Lordship shall have signed the Preliminaries. +Once again, give me leave, my Lord, to express my most ardent wishes, +my"--T. ROBINSON. [_Hyndford Papers,_ fol. 102.] + +4. EXCELLENCY HYNDFORD TO SECRETARY HARRINGTON. + +"BRESLAU, 9th SEPTEMBER,... Received a message to meet him,"--HIM, +for we now speak in the singular number, though still without naming +Goltz,--"one of the persons I mentioned in my former Despatch: in a +very unsuspected place; for we have agreed to avoid all appearance of +familiarity. He told me he had received a Letter this morning from +the Camp,"--Prussian Majesty's Camp, or Bivouac (in the Munsterberg +Hill-Country), on that march towards Woitz, for crossing the Neisse upon +Neipperg, which proved impracticable,--"and that he could with pleasure +tell me that the King agreed to this last trial, although he would not, +nor could appear in it.... Then this person read to me a Paper, but I +could not see whether it was the King's hand or not; for when I desired +to take a copy, he said he could not show me the original; but dictated +as follows:-- + +"'Toute la Basse Silesie, la riviere de Neisse pour limite, la ville de +Neisse a nous, aussi bien que Glatz; de l'autre cote de l'Oder l'ancien +limite entre les Duches de Brieg et d'Oppeln. Namslau a nous. Les +affaires de religion IN STATU QUO. Point de dependance de la Boheme; +cession eternelle. En echange nous n'irons pas plus loin. Nous +assiegerons Neisse PRO FORMA: le commandant se rendra et sortira. Nous +prendrons les quartiers tranquillement, et ils pourront mener leur Armee +oh ils voudront. Que tout cela soit fini en douze jours.'" That is to +say:-- + +"'The whole of Lower Silesia, Neisse Town included; Neisse River for +boundary:--Glatz withal. Beyond the Oder, for the Duchies of Brieg and +Oppeln the ancient limits. Namslau ours. Affairs of Religion to continue +IN STATU QUO. No dependence [feudal tie or other, as there used to +be] on Bohemia; cession of Silesia to be absolute and forever.--We, in +return, will proceed no farther. We will besiege Neisse for form; +the Commandant shall surrender and depart. We will pass quietly into +winter-quarters; and the Austrian Army may go whither it will. Bargain +to be concluded within twelve days.'" [Coxe (iii. 272) gives this +Translation, not saying whence he had it.]--Can his Excellency Hyndford +get Vienna, get Feldmarschall Reipperg with power from Vienna, to +accept: Yes or No? Excellency Hyndford thinks, Yes; will try his very +utmost!-- + +"He (Goltz) then tore the Paper in very small pieces; and he repeated +again, that if the affair should be discovered, both the King and he +were determined to deny it.... 'But how about engagements with regard to +my Master's German Dominions; not a word about that?' He answered, 'You +have not the least to fear from France;' protested the King of Prussia's +great regard for his Majesty of England, &c. I told him these fine words +did not satisfy me; and that if this affair should succeed, I expected +there should be some stipulation." [_Hyndford Papers,_ fol. 115.] +Yes; and came, about a fortnight hence, "waylaying his Majesty" to get +one,--as readers saw above. + +Prussian Dryasdust (poor soul, to whom one is often cruel!) shall glad +himself with the following Two bits of Autography from Goltz, who had +instantly quitted Breslau again;--and, to us, they will serve as date +for the actual arrival of Excellency Hyndford in those fighting regions, +and commencement of his mysterious glidings about between Camp and Camp. + +GOLTZ TO THE EXCELLENCY HYNDFORD, AT BRESLAU (most Private). + +"AU CAMP DE NEUENDORF, 16me septembre, a 9 heures du seir. (1.) +"MILORD,--Vons savez que je suis porte pour la bonne cause. Sur ce pied +je prends la liberte de vous conseiller en ami et serviteur, de venir +ici incessamment, et de presser votre voyage de sorte que vous puissiez +paraitre publiquement lundi [18th] vers midi. Vous trouverez 6 (SIC) +chevaux de postes a Olau et a Grottkau tout prets. Hatez-vous, Milord, +tout ce que vous pourrez au monde. J'ai l'honneur de" Meaning, in brief +English:-- + +"Be at Neundorf here, publicly, on Monday next, 18th, towards noon." +Things being ripe. "Haste, Milord, haste!" + +"Ce 18me a 3 heures apres-midi. (2). "Je suis an desespoir, Milord, de +votre maladie. Voici le courrier que vous attendiez. Venez le plutot +que vous pourrez au monde; si non, dites au General Marwitz de quoi +il s'agit, afin qu'il puisse me le faire savoir.... Le courrier serait +arrive quatre heures plutot, si nous ne l'avions renvoye au Comte +Neuberg (SIC) a cause de votre maladie.--GOLTZ." [_Hyndford Papers,_ +fol. 150-152.]--That is to say:-- + +"Distressed inexpressibly by your Lordship's biliary condition. One +cannot travel under colic;--and things were so ripe! Courier would have +reached you four hours sooner, but we had to send him over to Neipperg +first. Come, oh come!"--Which Hyndford, now himself again, at once does. + +This is the Mystery, which, on September 22d, had arrived at that stage, +indicated above: "Tush! Follow me: Dinner is already falling cold, and +there are eyes upon us!" And in about another fortnight--But we +shall have to take the luggage with us, too, what minimum of it is +indispensable! + + + + +Chapter V. -- KLEIN-SCHNELLENDORF: FRIEDRICH GETS NEISSE, IN A FASHION. + +While these combined Mysteries and War-movements go on, in Neisse +and its Environs, the World-Phenomena continue,--in Upper Austria +and elsewhere. Of which take these select summits, or points chiefly +luminous in the dusk of the forgotten Past:-- + +LINZ, SEPTEMBER 14th. Karl Albert, being joined some days ago at +Scharding by the first three French Divisions, 15,000 men in all (the +other four Divisions of them are still in the Donauworth-Ingolstadt +quarter, making their manifold arrangements), has pushed forward, sixty +miles (land-marches, south side of the Donau, which makes a bend here), +and this day, September 14th, appears at Linz. Pleasant City of +Linz; where, as readers may remember, Mr. John Kepler, long ago, busy +discovering the System of the World (grandest Conquest ever made, or to +be made, by the Sons of Adam), had his poor CAMERA OBSCURA set out, to +get himself a livelihood in the interim: here now is Karl Albert's flag +on the winds, and, as it were, the Oriflamme with it, on a singularly +different Adventure. "Open Gates!" demands Karl Albert with authority: +"Admit me to my Capital of Upper Austria!" Which cannot be denied him, +there being nothing but Town-guards in the place. + +Karl Albert continued there some weeks, in a serenely victorious +posture; doing acts of authority; getting homaged by the STANDE; +pushing out his forces farther and farther down the Donau, post after +post,--victorious Oriflamme-Bavarian Army may be 40,000 strong or so, in +those parts. Friedrich urged him much to push on without pause, and +take opportunity by the forelock; sent Schmettau (elder of the two +Schmettaus, who is much employed on such business) to urge him; wrote an +express Paper of Considerations pressingly urgent: but he would not, and +continued pausing. + +Vienna, all in terror, is fortifying itself; citizens toiling at the +earthworks, resolute for making some defence; Constituted Authorities, +National Archives even, Court in a body, and all manner of Noble and +Official people, flying else-whither to covert: chiefly to Presburg, +where her Majesty already is. The Archives were carried to Gratz; the +two Dowager Empresses (for there are two, Maria Theresa's Mother, and +Maria Theresa's Aunt, Kaiser Joseph's Widow) fled different ways,--I +forget which. An agitated, paralyzed population. Except the diligent +wheelbarrows on the ramparts, no vehicle is rolling in Vienna but +furniture-wagons loading for flight. General Khevenhuller with 6,000, +who pesides with fine scientific skill, and an iron calmness and +clearness, over these fortifyings, is the only force left. [Anonymous, +_Histoire de la Derniere Guerre de Boheme_ (a Francfort, 1745-1747, 4 +tomes), i. 190. A lively succinct little Book, vague not false; still +readable, though not now, as then, with complete intelligence, to the +unprepared reader. Said, in Dictionaries, to be by Mauvillon PERE, +though it resembles nothing else of his that is known to me.]' +Neipperg's, our only Army in the world, is hundreds of miles away, +countermarching and manoeuvring about Woitz, and Neisse Town and +River,--pretty sure to be beaten in the end,--and it is high time there +were a Silesian bargain had, if Hyndford can get us any. + +DRESDEN, SEPTEMBER 19th (Excellency Hyndford just recovering from his +colic, in Breslau), Kur-Sachsen, after many waverings, signs Treaty of +Copartnery with France and Bavaria, seduced by "that Moravia," and the +ticklings of Belleisle acting on a weak mind. [Adelung, ii. 469, 304, +503.] His troops are 20,000, or rather more; said to be of good quality, +and well equipped. In February last we saw him engaged in Russian, +Anti-Prussian Partition schemes. In April, as these suddenly (on sight +of the Camp of Gottin) extinguished themselves, he agreed to go, in the +pacific way, with her Hungarian Majesty for friend (Treaty with her, +signed 11th April); but never went (Treaty never ratified); kept his +20,000 lying about in Camp, in an enigmatic manner,--first about +Torgau, latterly in the Lausitz, much nearer to the ERZGEBIRGE +(Metal-Mountains), Frontier of Bohemia;--and now signs as above; intent +to march as soon as possible. Is to have Four Circles of Bohemia, +imaginary Kingships of Moravia, and other prizes. Belleisle has tickled +that big trout: Belleisle could now have the Election as he wishes it, +would the Electors but be speedy; but they will not, and he is obliged +to push continually. + + +"Moriamur pro Rege nostro Maria Theresia," IN THE POETIC, AND THEN ALSO +IN THE PROSE FORM. + +PRESBURG, SEPTEMBER 21st. This is the date (or chief date, for, alas, +there turn out to be two!) of the world-famous "MORIAMUR PRO REGE NOSTRO +MARIA THERESIA;" of which there are now needed Two Narratives; the +generally received (in part mythical) going first, in the following +strain:-- + +"The Queen has been in Presburg mainly, where the Hungarian Diet is +sitting, ever since her Coronation-ceremony. On the 11th September [or +11th and 21st together], the afflicted Lady makes an appearance there, +which, for theatrical reality, has become very celebrated. Alas, it is +but three months since she galloped to the top of the Konigsberg, and +cut defiantly with bright sabre towards the Four Points of the Universe; +and already it has come to this. Hungarian Magnates in high session, +the high Queen enters, beautiful and sad,--and among her Ministers is +noticeable a Nurse with the young Archduke, some six months old, a fine +thriving child, perhaps too wise for his age, who became Kaiser Joseph +II. in after time. + +"The Hungarian Session is not on record for me, Hall of meeting, Magyar +Parliamentary eloquence unknown; nor is any point conspicuously visible, +exact and certain, except these [alas, not even these]: That it was the +11th of September; that her Majesty coming forward to speak, took the +child in her arms, and there, in a clear and melodiously piercing voice, +sorrow and courage on her noble face, beautiful as the Moon riding among +wet stormy clouds, spake, as the Hungarian Archives still have it, a +short Latin Harangue; in substance as follows:... 'Hostile invasion of +Austria; imminent peril, to this Kingdom of Hungary, to our person, +to our children, to our crown. Forsaken by all,--AB OMNIBUS DERELICTI +[Britannic Majesty himself standing stock-still,--blamably, one thinks, +the two swords being only at HIS throat, and a good way off!]--I have +no resource but to throw myself on the loyalty and help of Your renowned +Body, and invoke the ancient Hungarian virtue to rise swiftly and save +me!' Whereat the assembled Hungarian Synod, their wild Magyar hearts +touched to the core, start up in impetuous acclaim, flourish aloft their +drawn swords, and shout unanimously in passionate tenor-voice, 'MORIAMUR +(Let us die) for our Rex Maria Theresa!' [_Maria Theresiens Leben_ (which +speaks hypothetically), iv, 44; Coxe, iii. 270 (who is positive, "after +examining the Documents").] Which were not vain words. For a general +'Insurrection' was thereupon decreed; what the Magyars call their +'Insurrection,' which is by no means of rebellious nature; and many +noblemen, old Count Palfy himself a chief among them, though past +threescore and ten, took the field at their own cost; and the noise +of the Hungarian Insurrection spread like a voice of hope over all +Pragmatic countries."-- + +A very beautiful heroic scene; which has gone about the world, +circulating triumphantly through all hearts for above a Century past; +and has only of late acknowledged itself mythical,--not true, except as +toned down to the following stingy prose pitch:-- + +PRESBURG, SEPTEMBER 21st. Maria Theresa, since that fine +Coronation-scene, June 28th, has had a mixed time of it with her +Hungarian Diet; soft passages alternating with hard: a chivalrous +people, most consciously chivalrous; but a constitutional withal, very +stiff upon their Charter (PACTA CONVENTA, or whatever the name is); who +wrangle much upon privileges, upon taxes, and are difficult to keep long +in tune. Ten days ago (September 11th), her Majesty tried them on a new +tack; summoned them to her Palace; threw herself upon their nobleness, +"No allies but you in the world" (and other fine things, authentically, +as above, legible in the Archives to this day):--so spake the beautiful +young Queen, her eyes filling with tears as she went on, and yet a noble +fire gleaming through them. Which melted the Hungarian heart a good +deal; and produced fine cheering, some persons even shedding tears, +and voices of "Life and Fortune to your Majesty!" being heard in it. +In which humor the Diet returned to its Session-House, and voted the +"Insurrection,"--or general Arming of Hungary, County by County, each +according to its own contingent;--with all speed, in pursuance of her +Majesty's implied desire. This was voted in rapid manner; but again, +in the detail of executing, it was liable to haggles. From this day, +however, matters did decidedly improve; PACTA CONVENTA, or any remainder +of them, are got adjusted,--the good Queen yielding on many points. So +that, September 20th, Grand-Duke Franz is elected Co-regent,--let +him start from Vienna instantly, for Instalment;--and it is hoped the +Insurrection will go well, and not prove haggly, or hang fire in the +details. + +At any rate, next day, September 21st, Duke Franz, who arrived last +night,--and Baby with him, or in the train of him (to the joy of +Mamma!)--is in the Palace Audience-Hall, "at 8 A.M.;" ready for +the Diet, and what Homagings aud mutual Oath, as new Co-regent, are +necessary. Grand-Duke Franz, Mamma by his side, with the suitable +functionaries; and to rearward Nurse and Baby, not so conspicuous till +needed. Diet enters with the stroke of 8; solemnity proceeds. At the +height of the solemnity, when Duke Franz, who is really risen now to +something of a heroic mood, in these emergencies and perils, has just +taken his Oath, and will have to speak a fit word or two,--the Nurse, +doubtless on hint given, steps forward; holds up Baby (a fine noticing +fellow, I have no doubt,--"weighed sixteen pounds avoirdupois when +born"); as if Baby too, fine mutual product of the Two Co-regents, were +mutually swearing and appealing. Enough to touch any heart. "Life and +blood (VITAM ET SANGUINEM) for our Queen and Kingdom!" exclaims the +Grand-Duke, among other things. "Yes, VITAM ET SANGUINEM!" re-echoes +the Diet, "our life and our blood!" many-voiced, again and again;--and +returns to its own Place of Session, once more in a fine strain of loyal +emotion. + +And there, O reader, is the naked truth, neither more nor less. It was +some Vienna Pamphleteer of theatrical imaginative turn, finding the +thing apt, a year or two afterwards--who by kneading different dates +and objects into one, boldly annihilating time and space, and adding a +little paint,--gave it that seductive mythical form. From whom Voltaire +adopted it, with improvements, especially in the little Harangue; and +from Voltaire gratefully the rest of mankind. [Voltaire, _Siecle de +Louis XV.,_ c. 6 (_OEuvres,_ xxviii. 78); Coxe, _House of Austria,_ +iii. 270; and innumerable others (who give this Myth)]; _Maria Theresiens +Leben,_ p. 44 n. (who cites the Vienna Pamphleteers, without much +believing them); Mailath (a Hungarian), _Geschichte des OEsterrichischen +Kaiser-Staats_ (Hamburg, 1850), v. 11-13 (who explodes the fable). Cut +down to the practical, it stands as above:--by no means a bad +thing still. That of "bringing in Baby" was a pretty touch in the +domestic-royal way;--and surely very natural; and has no "art" in it, +or none to blame and not love rather, on the part of the bright young +Mother, now girdled in such tragic outlooks, and so glad to have Baby +back at least, and Papa with him! It is certain the "Insurrection" was +voted with enthusiasm; and even became rapidly a fact. And there was, in +few months hence, an immense mounted force of Hungarians raised, which +galloped and plundered (having almost no pay), and occasionally fenced +and fought, very diligently during all these Wars. Hussars, Croats, +Pandours, Tolpatches, Warasdins, Uscocks, never heard of in war before: +who were found very terrible to look upon once, in the imagination or +with the naked eye; but whose fighting talent, against regular troops, +was next to worthless; and who gradually became hateful rather than +terrible in the military world. + +HANOVER, SEPTEMBER 27th. Britannic Majesty, reduced to that frightful +pinch, has at last given way. Treaty of Neutrality for Hanover; +engagement again to stick one's puissant Pragmatic sword into its +scabbard, to be perfectly quiescent and contemplative in these +French-Bavarian Anti-Austrian undertakings, and digest one's indignation +as one can. For our Paladin of the Pragmatic what a posture! This is +the first of Three Attempts by our puissant little Paladin to draw +sword;--not till the third could he get his sword out, or do the least +fighting (even foolish fighting) with all the 40,000 he had kept on pay +and subsidy for years back. The Neutrality was for Hanover only, and +had no specific limit as to time. Opportunities did rise; but something +always rose along with them,--mainly the impossibility of hoisting those +lazy Dutch,--and checked one's noble rage. His Majesty has covenanted +to vote for Karl Albert as Kaiser; even he, and will make the thing +unanimous! A thoroughly check-mated Majesty. Passing home to +England, this time in a gloomy condition of mind, shortly after these +humiliations, he was just issuing from Osnabruck by the Eastern Gate, +when Maillebois's people entered by the Western,--the ugly shoes of +them insulting his kibes in this manner. And a furious Anti-Walpole +Parliament, most perturbed of National Palavers, is waiting him at St. +James's. Heavy-laden little Hercules that he is! + +Karl Albert lay at Linz for a month longer (till October 24th, six weeks +in all); pausing in uncertainties, in a pleasant dream of victory and +sovereignty; not pouncing on Vienna, as Friedrich urged on the French +and him, to cut the matter by the root. He does push forward certain +troops, Comte de Saxe with Three Horse Regiments as vanguard, ever +nearer to Vienna; at last to within forty miles of it; nay, light-horse +parties came within twenty-five miles. And there was skirmishing with +Mentzel, a sanguinary fellow, of whom we shall hear more; who had got +"1,000 Tolpatches" under him, and stood ruggedly at bay. + +Karl Albert has been sending out sovereign messages from Linz: Letters +to Vienna;--one letter addressed "To the Arch-duchess Maria Theresa;" +which came back unopened, "No such person known here." October 2d, he is +getting homaged at Linz, by the STANDE of the Province,--on summons +sent some time before,--many of whom attend, with a willing enough +appearance; Kur-Baiern rather a favorite in Upper Austria, say some. +Much fine processioning, melodious haranguing, there now is for Karl +Albert, and a pleasant dream of Sovereignty at Linz: but if he do not +pounce upon Vienna till Khevenhuller get it fortified? Khevenhuller is +drawing home Italian Garrisons, gradually gathering something like an +Army round him. In Khevenhuller's imperturbable military head, one of +the clearest and hardest, there is some hope. Above all, if Neipperg's +Army were to disengage itself, and be let loose into those parts? + + + + +EXCELLENCY HYNDFORD BRINGS ABOUT A MEETING AT KLEIN-SCHNELLENDORF (9th +October, 1741). + +It was the second day after that Homaging at Linz, when Hyndford (Sept. +22d) with mysterious negotiations, now nearly ripe, for disengaging +Neipperg, waylaid his Prussian Majesty; and was answered, as we saw, +with "Tush, tush! Dinner is already cold!" + +It must be owned, these Friedrich-Hyndford Negotiations, following on +an express French-Prussian Treaty of June 5th, which have to proceed +in such threefold mystery now and afterwards, are of questionable +distressing nature: nor can the fact that they are escorted copiously +enough by a correspondent sort on the French side, and indeed on the +Austrian and on all sides, be a complete consolation,--far otherwise, to +the ingenuous reader. Smelfungus indignantly calls it an immorality and +a dishonor, "a playing with loaded dice;" which in good part it surely +was. Nor can even Friedrich, who has many pleas for himself, obtain +spoken acquittal; unspoken, accompanied with regrets and pity, is all +even Friedrich can aspire to. My own impression is, Smelfungus, if +candid, would on clearer information and consideration have revoked much +of what he says here in censure of Friedrich. At all events, if asked: +Where then is the specifical not "superstitious" WANT of "veracity" you +ever found in Friedrich? and How, OTHERWISE than even as Friedrich did, +would you, most veracious Smelfungus, have plucked out your Silesia from +such an Element and such a Time?--he would be puzzled to answer. I give +his Fragment as I find it, with these deductions:-- + +"What negotiating we have had, and shall have," exclaims Smelfungus, my +sad foregoer,--"fit rather to be omitted from a serious History, +which intends to be read by human creatures! Bargaining, Promising, +Non-performing. False in general as dicers' oaths; false on this side +and on that, from beginning to end. Intercepted Letters from Fleury; +Letter dropping from Valori's waistcoat-pocket, upon which Friedrich +claps his foot: alas, alas, we are in the middle of a whole world of +that. Friedrich knows that the French are false to him; he by no means +intends to be romantically true to them, and that also they know. What +is the use to human creatures of recording all that melancholy stuff? +If sovereign persons want their diplomacies NOT to be swept into the +ash-pit, there are two conditions, especially one which is peremptory: +FIRST, that they should not be lies;--SECOND, that they should be of +some importance, some wisdom; which with known lies is not a possible +condition. To unravel cobwebs, and register laboriously and date and +sort in the sorrow of your soul the oaths of crowned dicers,--what use +is it to gods or men? Having well dressed and sliced your cucumber, +the next clear human duty is: Throw it out of window. In that foul +Lapland-witch world, of seething Diplomacies and monstrous wigged +mendacities, horribly wicked and despicably unwise, I find nothing +notable, memorable even in a small degree, except this aspect of a +young King who does know what he means in it. Clear as a star, sharp as +cutting steel (very dangerous to hydrogen balloons), he stands in the +middle of it, and means to extort his own from it by such methods as +there are. + +"Magnanimous I can by no means call Friedrich to his allies and +neighbors, nor even superstitiously veracious, in this business: but he +thoroughly understands, he alone, what just thing he wants out of it, +and what an enormous wigged mendacity it is he has got to deal with. For +the rest, he is at the gaming-table with these sharpers; their dice all +cogged;--and he knows it, and ought to profit by his knowledge of it. +And in short, to win his stake out of that foul weltering mellay, and go +home safe with it if he can." + +Very well, my friend! Let us keep to windward of the Diplomatic +wizard's-caldron; let Hyndford, Valori and Company preside over it, +throwing in their eye of newt and limb of toad, as occasion may be. +Enough, if the reader can be brought to conceive it; and how the young +King,--who perhaps alone had real business in this foul element, and +did not volunteer into it like the others, though it now unexpectedly +envelops him like a world-whirlwind (frightful enough, if one spoke of +that to anybody), is struggling with his whole soul to get well out of +it. As supremely adroit, all readers already know him; his appearance +what we called starlike,--always something definite, fixed and lucid in +it. + +He is dexterously holding aloof from Hyndford at present, clinging to +French Valori as his chosen companion: we may fancy what a time he has +of it, like a polygamist amid jealous wives. It will quicken Hyndford, +he perceives, in these ulterior stages, to leave him well alone. +Hyndford accordingly, as we have noticed, could not see the King at all; +had to try every plan, to watch, waylay the King for a bit of interview, +when indispensable. However, Hyndford, with his Neipperg in sight of +the peril, manages better than Robinson with his Aulic Council at a +distance: besides he is a long-headed dogged kind of man, with a surly +edacious strength, not inexpert in negotiation, nor easily turned aside +from any purpose he may have. + +Between the two Camps, nearly midway, lies a Hamlet called +Klein-Schnellendorf, LITTLE Schnellendorf, to distinguish it +from another Schnellendorf called GREAT, which is a mile or two +northwestward, out of the straight line. Not far from the first of +these poor Hamlets lies a Schloss or noble Mansion, likewise called +Klein-Schnellendorf, belonging to a certain Count von Sternberg, who is +not there at present, but whose servants are, and a party of Croats over +them for some days back: a pleasant airy Mansion among pleasant gardens, +well shut out from the intrusion of the world. Upon this Castle of +Klein-Schnellendorf judicious Hyndford has cast his eye:--and Neipperg, +now come to a state of readiness, approves the suggestion of Hyndford, +and promptly at the due moment converts it into a fact. Arrests namely, +on a given morning (the last act of his Croats there, who withdrew +directly with their batch of prisoners), every living soul within or +about the Mansion;--"suspected of treason;" only for one day;--and +in this way, has it reduced to the comfortable furnished solitude of +Sleeping Beauty's Castle; a place fit for high persons to hold a +Meeting in, which shall remain secret as the grave. Such a thing was +indispensable. For Friedrich, keeping shy of Hyndford, as he well may +with a Valori watching every step, has, by words, by silences, when +Hyndford could waylay him for a moment, sufficiently indicated what he +will and what he will not; and, for one indispensable condition, in the +present thrice-delicate Adventure, he will not sign anything; will give +and take word of honor, and fully bind himself, but absolutely not put +pen to paper at all. Neipperg being willing too, judicious Hyndford +finds a medium. Let the parties meet at Klein-Schnellendorf, and +judicious Hyndford be there with pen and paper. [Orlich, i. 146; +_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 1009.] + +Monday, 9th October, 1741, accordingly, there is meeting to be held. +Hyndford, Neipperg with his General Lentulus (a Swiss-Austrian General, +whose Son served under Friedrich afterwards), these wait for Friedrich, +on the one hand:--"to fix some cartel for exchange of prisoners," it +is said;--in these precincts of Klein-Schnellendorf; which are silent, +vacant, yet comfortably furnished, like Sleeping Beauty's Castle. +And Friedrich, on the other hand, is actually riding that way, with +Goltz;--visiting outposts, reconnoitring, so to speak. "Dine you with +Prince Leopold (the Young Dessauer), my fine Valori; I fear I shan't +be home to dinner!" he had said when going off; hoodwinking his +fine Valori, who suspects nothing. At a due distance from +Klein-Schnellendorf, the very groom is left behind; and Friedrich, with +Goltz only, pushes on to the Schloss. All ready there; salutations soon +done; business set about, perfected:--and Hyndford with pen and ink in +his hand, he, by way of Protocol, or summary of what had been agreed +on, on mutual word of honor, most brief but most clear on this occasion, +writes a State Paper, which became rather famous afterwards. This is the +Paper in condensed state; though clear, it is very dull! + +KLEIN-SCHNELLENDORF, 9th OCTOBER, 1741. Britannic Excellency Hyndford +testifies, That, here and now, his Majesty of Prussia, and Neipperg on +behalf of her Hungarian Majesty do, solemnly though only verbally, agree +to the following Four Things:-- + +"FIRST, That General Neipperg, on the 16th of the month [this day week] +shall have liberty to retire through the Mountains, towards Moravia; +unmolested, or with nothing but sham-attacks in the rear of him. SECOND, +That, in consequence, his Prussian Majesty, on making sham-siege of +Neisse, shall have the place surrendered to him on the fifteenth day. +THIRD, That there shall be, nay in a sense, there hereby is, a Peace +made; his Majesty retaining Neisse and Silesia [according to the limits +known to us:--nothing said of Glatz]; and that a complete Treaty to that +effect shall be perfected, signed and ratified, before the Year is out. +FOURTH, That these sham-hostilities, but only sham, shall continue; and +that his Majesty, wintering in Bohemia, and carrying on sham-hostilities +[to the satisfaction of the French], shall pay his own expenses, and do +no mischief." [Given in _Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 1009; in &c.] + +To these Four Things they pledge their word of honor; and Hyndford signs +and delivers each a Copy. Unwritten a Fifth Thing is settled, That the +present transaction in all parts of it shall be secret as death,--his +Majesty expressly insisting that, if the least inkling of it ooze out, +he shall have right to deny it, and refuse in any way to be bound by it. +Which likewise is assented to. + +Here is a pretty piece of work done for ourself and our allies, while +Valori is quietly dining with the Prince of Dessau! The King stayed +about two hours; was extremely polite, and even frank and communicative. +"A very high-spirited young King," thinks Neipperg, reporting of it; +"will not stand contradiction; but a great deal can be made of him, if +you go into his ideas, and humor him in a delicate dexterous way. He +did not the least hide his engagements with France, Bavaria, Saxony; but +would really, so far as I Neipperg could judge, prefer friendship with +Austria, on the given terms; and seems to have secretly a kind of pique +at Saxony, and no favor for the French and their plans." [Orlich, i. 149 +(in condensed state).] + +"Business being done [this is Hyndford's report], the King, who had been +politeness itself, took Neipperg aside, beckoning Hyndford to be of +the party, 'I wish you too, my Lord, to hear every word:--his Britannic +Majesty knows or should know my intentions never were to do him hurt, +but only to take care of myself; and pray inform him [what is the fact] +that I have ordered my Army in Brandenburg to go into winter-quarters, +and break up that Camp at Gottin.' Friedrich's talk to Neipperg is, How +he may assault the French with advantage: 'Join Lobkowitz and what force +he has in Bohmen; go right into your enemies, before they can unite +there. If the Queen prosper, I shall--perhaps I shall have no objection +to join her by and by? If her Majesty fail; well, every one must look +to himself.'" These words Hyndford listened to with an edacious solid +countenance, and greedily took them down. [Hyndford's Despatch, Breslau, +14th October, 1741.] + +Once more, a curious glimpse (perhaps imprudently allowed us, in the +circumstances) into the real inner man of Friedrich. He had, at this +time, now that the Belleisle Adventure is left in such a state, no +essential reason to wish the French ruined,--nor probably did he; but +only stated both chances, as in the way of unguarded soliloquy; and +was willing to leave Neipperg a sweet morsel to chew. Secret mode of +corresponding with the Court of Austria is agreed upon; not direct, but +through certain Commandants, till the Peace-Treaty be perfected,--at +latest "by December 24th," we hope. And so, "BON VOYAGE, and well across +the Mountains, M. LE MARECHAL; till we meet again! And you, +Excellency Hyndford, be so good you as write to me,--for Valori's +behoof,--complaining that I am deaf to all proposals, that nothing can +be had of me. And other Letters, pray, of the like tenor, all round; to +Presburg, to England, to Dresden:--if the Couriers are seized, it shall +be well. 'Your Letter to myself, let a trumpet come with it while I am +at dinner,' and Valori beside me!"--"Certainly, your Majesty," answers +Hyndford; and does it, does all this; which produces a soothing effect +on Valori, poor soul! + + + + +FRIEDRICH TAKES NEISSE BY SHAM SIEGE (CAPTURE NOT SHAM); GETS HOMAGED IN +BRESLAU; AND RETURNS TO BERLIN. + +Thus, if the Austrians hold to their bargain, has Friedrich, in a most +compendious manner, got done with a Business which threatened to be +infinite: by this short cut he, for his part, is quite out of the +waste-howling jungle of Enchanted Forest, and his foot again on the firm +free Earth. If only the Austrians hold to their bargain! But probably he +doubts if they will. Well, even in that case, he has got Neisse; stands +prepared for meeting them again; and, in the mean while, has freedom to +deny that there ever was such a bargain. + +Of the Political morality of this game of fast-and-loose, what have we +to say,--except, that the dice on both sides seem to be loaded; that +logic might be chopped upon it forever; that a candid mind will settle +what degree of wisdom (which is always essentially veracity), and what +of folly (which is always falsity), there was in Friedrich and the +others; whether, or to what degree, there was a better course open +to Friedrich in the circumstances:--and, in fine, it will have to be +granted that you cannot work in pitch and keep hands evidently clean. +Friedrich has got into the Enchanted Wilderness, populous with devils +and their works;--and, alas, it will be long before he get out of it +again, HIS life waning towards night before he get victoriously out, +and bequeath his conquest to luckier successors! It is one of the tragic +elements of this King's life; little contemplated by him, when he went +lightly into the Silesian Adventure, looking for honor bright, what he +called "GLOIRE," as one principal consideration, hardly a year ago!-- + +Neipperg, according to covenant, broke up punctually that day week, +October 16th; and went over the Mountains, through Jagerndorf, Troppau, +towards Mahren; Prussians hanging on his rear, and skirmishing about, +but only for imaginary or ostensible purposes. After a three-weeks +march, he gets to a place called Frating, [Espagnac, i. 104.] +easternmost border of Mahren, on the slopes of the Mannhartsberg +Hill-Country, which is within wind of Vienna itself; where, as we can +fancy, his presence is welcome as morning-light in the present dark +circumstances. + +Friedrich, on the morrow after Neipperg went, invested Neisse (October +17th); set about the Siege of Neisse with all gravity, as if it had been +the most earnest operation; which nobody of mankind, except three or +four, doubted but it was. Before opening of the trenches, Leopold young +Dessauer took the road for Glatz Country, and the adjoining Circles of +Bohemia; there to canton himself, peaceably according to contract; and +especially to have an eye upon Glatz, should the Klein-Schnellendorf +engagement go awry in any point. The King in his Dialogue with Neipperg +had said several things about Glatz, and what a sacrifice he made there +for the sake of speedy pace, the French having guaranteed him Glatz, +though he now forbore it. Leopold, who has with him some 15,000 horse +and foot, cantons himself judiciously in those ultramontane parts,--"all +the artillery in the Glatz Country;" [_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 431; +Orlich, i. 174.]--and we shall hear of him again, by and by, in regard +to other business that rises there. + +Neisse is a formidable Fortress, much strengthened since last year; but +here is a Besieger with much better chance! He marked out parallels, +sent summonses, reconnoitred, manoeuvred,--in a way more or less +surprising to the eye of Valori, who is military, and knows about +sieges. Rather singular, remarks Valori; good engineers much wanted +here! But the bombardment did finally begin: night of October 26th-27th, +the Prussiaus opened fire; and, at a terrible rate, cannonaded and +bombarded without intermission. In point of fire and noise it is +tremendous; Valori trusts it may be effective, in spite of faults; goes +to Breslau in hope: "Yes, go to Breslau, MON CHER VALORI; wait for me +there. Neipperg be chased, say you? Shall not he,--if we had got this +place!" And so the fire continues night and day. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ +i. 1006.] + +Fantastic Bielfeld, in his semi-fabulous style, has a LETTER on this +bombardment, attractive to Lovers of the Picturesque,--(written long +afterwards, and dated &c. WRONG). As Bielfeld is a rapid clever creature +of the coxcomb sort, and doubtless did see Neisse Siege, and entertained +seemingly a blazing incorrect recollection of it, his Pseudo-Neisse +Letter may be worth giving, to represent approximately what kind of +scene it was there at Neisse in the October nights:-- + +"Marechal Schwerin was lodged in a Village about three-quarters of a +mile from Head-Quarters. One day he did me the honor to invite me to +dinner; and even offered me a horse to ride thither with him. I found +excellent company; a superb repast, and wine of the gods. Host and +guests were in high spirits; and the pleasures of the table were kept up +so late, that it was midnight when we rose. I was obliged to return +to Head-Quarters, having still to wait upon the King, as usual. The +Marechal was kind enough to lend me another horse; but the groom +mischievously gave me the charger which the Marechal rode at the Battle +of Mollwitz; a very powerful animal, and which, from that day, had grown +very skittish. + +"I was made aware of this circumstance, before we were fairly out of the +Village; and the night being of the darkest, I twenty times ran the +risk of breaking my neck. We had to pass over a hill, to get to +Head-Quarters. When I reached the top, a shudder came over me, and my +hair stood on end. I had nobody with me but a strange groom. The country +all around was infested with troops and marauders; I was mounted on an +unmanageable horse. Under my feet, so to say, I saw the bombardment +of the Town of Neisse. I heard the roar of cannon and doleful shrieks. +Above our batteries the whole atmosphere was inflamed; and to complete +the calamity, I missed the way, and got lost in the darkness. Finally, +in descending the hill, my horse, frightened, made a terrible swerve or +side-jump. I did not know the cause; but after having, with difficulty, +got him into the road again, I found myself opposite to a deserter who +had been hanged that day! I was horribly disgusted by the sight; the +gallows being very low, and the head of the malefactor almost parallel +with mine. I spurred on, and galloped away from such unpleasant +night-company. At last I arrived at Head-Quarters, all in a +perspiration. I sent my horse back; and went in to the King, who asked +me at once, why I was so heated. I made his Majesty a faithful report of +all my disasters. He laughed much; and advised me seriously not again +to go out by night, and alone, beyond the circuit of Head-Quarters." +[Bielfeld, ii. 31, 32.] + +After four days and nights of this sublime Playhouse thunder (with real +bullets in it, which killed some men, and burnt considerable property), +the Neisse Commandant (not Roth this time, Roth is now in Brunn),--his +"fortnight of siege," October 17th to October 31st, being accomplished +or nearly so,--beat chamade; and was, after grave enough treatying, +allowed to march away. Marched, accordingly, on the correct +Klein-Schnellendorf terms; most of his poor garrison deserting, and +taking Prussian service. Ever since which moment, Neisse, captured in +this curious manner, has been Friedrich's and his Prussia's. + +November 1st, the Prussian soldiers entered the place; and Friedrich, +after diligent inspection and what orders were necessary, left for Brieg +on the following day;--where general illuminating and demonstrating +awaited him, amid more serious business. After strict examinations, and +approval of Walrave and his works at Brieg, he again takes the road; +enters Breslau, in considerable state (November 4th); where many Persons +of Quality are waiting, and the general Homaging is straightway to +be,--or indeed should have been some days ago, but has fallen behind by +delays in the Neisse affair. + +The Breslau HULDIGUNG,--Friedrich sworn to and homaged with the due +solemnities as "Sovereign Duke of Lower Silesia,"--was an event to throw +into fine temporary frenzy the descriptive Gazetteers, and Breslau City, +overflowing with Quality people come to act and to see on the occasion. +Event which can be left to the reader's fancy, at this date. There +were Corporations out in quantity, "all in cloaks" and with sublime +Addresses, partly in poetry, happily rather brief. There were beautiful +Prussian Life-guards "First Battalion," admirable to the softer sex, +not to speak of the harder); much military resonance and splendor. +Friedrich drove about in carriages-and-six, "nay carriage-and-eight, +horses cream-color:" a very high King indeed; and a very busy one, +for those four days (November 4th-8th) 1741), but full of grace and +condescension. The HULDIGUNG itself took effect on the 7th; in the fine +old Rathhaus, which Tourists still know,--the surrounding Apple-women +sweeping themselves clear away for one day. Ancient Ducal throne and +proper apparatus there was; state-sword unluckily wanting: Schwerin, who +was to act Grand-Marshal, could find no state-sword, till Friedrich drew +his own and gave it him. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 1022, 1025; ii. 349.] + +Podewils the Minister said something, not too much; to which one +Prittwitz, head of a Silesian Family of which we shall know individuals, +made pithy and pretty response, before swearing. "There were above Four +Hundred of Quality present, all in gala." The customary Free-Gift of the +STANDE Friedrich magnanimously refused: "Impossible to be a burden to +our Silesia in such harassed war-circumstances, instead of benefactor +and protector, as we intended and intend!" The Ceremony, swearing and +all, was over in two hours; hundreds of silver medals, not to speak of +the gold ones, flying about; and Breslau giving itself up joyfully +to dinner and festivities. And, after dinner, that evening, to +Illumination; followed by balls and jubilations for days after, in +a highly harmonious key. Of the lamps-festoons, astonishing +transparencies, and glad symbolic devices, I could say a great deal; +but will mention only two, both of comfortably edible or quasi-edible +tendency:--1. That of David Schulze, Flesher by profession; who had a +Transparency large as life, representing his own fat Person in the act +of felling a fat Ox; to which was appended this epigraph:-- + + + "Wer mir wird den Konig in Preussen verachten, + Den will ich wie diesen Ochsen schlacten." + + "Who dares me the King of Prussia insult, + Him I will serve like this fat head of nolt." + + Signed "DAVID SCHULER, A BRANDENBURGER."-- + +And then, + +2. How, in another quarter, there was set aloft IN RE, by some +Pastry-cook of patriotic turn: "An actual Ox roasted whole; filled with +pheasants, partridges, grouse, hares and geese; Prussian Eagle atop, +made of roasted fowls, larks and the like,"--unattainable, I doubt, +except for money down. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 359.] + +On the fifth morning, 9th November,--after much work done during this +short visit, much ceremonial audiencing, latterly, and raising to the +peerage,--Friedrich rolled on to Glogau. Took accurate survey of the +engineering and other interests there, for a couple of days; thence to +Berlin (noon of the 11th), joyfully received by Royal Family and all +the world;--and, as we might fancy, asking himself: "Am I actually home, +then; out of the enchanted jungles and their devilries; safe here, and +listening, I alone in Peace, to the universal din of War?" Alas, no; +that was a beautiful hypothesis; too beautiful to be long credible! +Before reaching Berlin,--or even Breslau, as appears,--Friedrich, +vigilantly scanning and discerning, had seen that fine hope as good as +vanish; and was silently busy upon the opposite one. + +In a fortnight hence, Hyndford, who had followed to Berlin, got +transient sight of the King one morning, hastening through some +apartment or other: "'My Lord,' said the King, 'the Court of Vienna has +entirely divulged our secret. Dowager Empress Amelia [Kaiser Joseph's +widow, mother of Karl Albert's wife] has acquainted the Court of Bavaria +with it; Wasner [Austrian Minister at Paris] has told Fleury; Sinzendorf +[ditto at Petersburg] has told the Court of Russia; Robinson, through +Mr. Villiers [your Saxon Minister], has told the Court of Dresden; and +several members of your Government in England have talked publicly about +it!' And, with a shrug of the shoulders, he left me,"--standing somewhat +agape there. [Hyndford's Despatch, Berlin, 28th November, 1741; Ib. +Breslau, 28th October (secret already known).] + + + + +Chapter VI. -- NEW MAYOR OF LANDSHUT MAKES AN INSTALLATION SPEECH. + +The late general Homaging at Breslau, and solemn Taking Possession +of the Country by King Friedrich, under such peaceable omens, had +straightway, as we gather, brought about, over Silesia at +large, or at least where pressingly needful, various little +alterations,--rectifications, by the Prussian model and new rule now +introduced. Of which, as it is better that the reader have some dim +notion, if easily procurable, than none at all, I will offer him one +example;--itself dim enough, but coming at first-hand, in the actual or +concrete form, and beyond disputing in whatever light or twilight it may +yield us. + +At Landshut, a pleasant little Mountain Town, in the Principality of +Schweidnitz, high up, on the infant River Bober, near the Bohemian +Frontier--(English readers may see QUINCY ADAMS'S description of it, and +of the long wooden spouts which throw cataracts on you, if walking the +streets in rain [John Quincy Adams (afterwards President of the United +States), _Letters on Silesia_ (London, 1804). "The wooden spouts are +now gone" (_Tourist's Note, of_ 1858).]): at Landshut, as in some other +Towns, it had been found good to remodel the Town Magistracy a little; +to make it partly Protestant, for one thing, instead of Catholic +(and Austrian), which it had formerly been. Details about the "high +controversies and discrepancies" which had risen there, we have +absolutely none; nor have the special functions of the Magistracy, what +powers they had, what work they did, in the least become distinct to us: +we gather only that a certain nameless Burgermeister (probably Austrian +and Catholic) had, by "Most gracious Royal Special-Order," been +at length relieved from his labors, and therewith "the much by him +persecuted and afflicted Herr Theodorus Spener" been named Burgermeister +instead. Which respectable Herr Theodorus Spener, and along with him +Herr Johann David Fischer as RATHS-SENIOR, and Herr Johann Caspar +Ruffer, and also Herr Johann Jacob Umminger, as new Raths (how many +of the old being left I cannot say), were accordingly, on the 4th of +December, 1741, publicly installed, and with proper solemnity took +their places; all Landshut looking on, with the conceivable interest +and astonishment, almost as at a change in the obliquity of the +ecliptic,--change probably for the better. + +Respectable Herr Theodorus Spener (we hope it is SpeNer, for they print +him SPEER in one of the two places, and we have to go by guess) is ready +with an Installation Speech on the occasion; and his Speech was judged +so excellent, that they have preserved it in print. Us it by no means +strikes by its Demosthenic or other qualities: meanwhile we listen to +it with the closest attention; hoping, in our great ignorance, to gather +from it some glimmerings of instruction as to the affairs, humors, +disposition and general outlook and condition of Landshut, and Silesia +in that juncture;--and though a good deal disappointed, have made an +Abstract of it in the English language, which perhaps the reader too, in +his great ignorance, will accept, in defect of better. Scene is Landshut +among the Giant Mountains on the Bohemian Border of Silesia: an old +stone Town, where there is from of old a busy trade in thread and linen; +Town consisting, as is common there, of various narrow winding +streets comparable to spider-legs, and of a roomy central Market-place +comparable to the body of the spider; wide irregular Market-place with +the wooden spouts (dry for the moment) all projecting round it. Time, +4th December, 1741 (doubtless in the forenoon); unusual crowd of +population simmering about the Market-place, and full audience of +the better sort gravely attentive in the interior of the Rathhaus; +Burgermeister Spener LOQUITUR [_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 416.] (liable to +abridgment here and there, on warning given):-- + +"I enter, then, in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, upon an Office, to +which Divine Providence has appointed, and the gracious and potent hand +of a great King has raised me. Great as is the dignity [giddy height of +Mayoralty in Landshut], though undeserved, which the Ever-Merciful has +thus conferred upon me, equally great and much greater is the burden +connected therewith. I confess"--He confesses, in high-stalking earnest +wooden language very foreign to us in every way: (1.) That his shoulders +are too weak; but that he trusts in God. For (2.) it is God's doing; and +He that has called Spener, will give Spener strength, the essential work +being to do God's will, to promote His honor, and the common weal. (3.) +That he comes out of a smaller Office (Office not farther specified, +probably exterior to the RATHS-COLLEGE, and subaltern to the late +tyrannous Mayor and it), and has taken upon him the Mayoralty of this +Town (an evident fact!); but that the labor and responsibility are +dreadfully increased; and that the point is not increase of honor, of +respectability or income, but of heavy duties. (A sonorous, pious-minded +Spener; much more in earnest than readers now think!) + +It is easy, intimates he, to govern a Town, if, as some have perhaps +done, you follow simply your own will, regardless of the sighs and +complaints your subjects utter for injustice undergone,--indifferent to +the thought that the caprice of one Town Sovereign is to be glorified by +so many thousand tears (dim glance into the past history of Landshut!). +Such Town Sovereign persecutes innocence, stops his ears to its cry; +flourishes his sharp scourge;--no one shall complain: for is it not +justice? thinks such a Town Sovereign. The reason is, He does not know +himself, poor man; has had his eye always on the duties of his subjects +towards him, and rarely or never on his towards them. A Sovereign Mayor +that governs by fear,--he must live in continual fear of every one, and +of himself withal. A weak basis: and capable of total overturn in one +day. On the contrary, the love of your burgher subjects: that, if you +can kindle it, will go on like a house on fire (AUSBRUCH EINES FEURES), +and streams of water won't put it out.... "And [let us now take Spener's +very words] if a man keep the fear of God before his eyes, there will be +no need for any other kind of fear. + +"I will therefore, you especially High-honored Gentlemen, study to +direct all my judicial endeavors to the honor of the great God, and to +inviolable fidelity towards my most gracious King and Lord [Friedrich, +by Decision of Providence--at Mollwitz and elsewhere]. + +"To the Citizens of this Town, from of old so dear to me, and now by +Royal grace committed to my charge, and therefore doubly and trebly +to be held dear, I mean to devote myself altogether. I will, on every +occasion and occurrence, still more expressly than aforetime, stand by +them; and when need is, not fail to bring their case before the just +Throne of our Anointed [Friedrich, by Decision of Providence]. Justice +and fairness I will endeavor, under whatever complexities, to make +my loadstar. Yes, I shall and will, by means of this my Office, equip +myself with weapons whereby I may be capable to damp such humors +(INTELLIGENTIEN), should such still be (but I believe there are now none +such), as may repugn against the Royal interest, with possibility of +being dangerous; and to put a bridle on mouths that are unruly. And, to +say much in little compass, I will be faithful to God, to my King and to +this Town. + +"Having now the honor and happiness to be put into Official friendship +with those Gentlemen who, as Burgermeisters, and as old and as new +Members of Council, have for long years made themselves renowned +among us, I will entertain, in respect of the former [the old] a firm +confidence That the zeal they have so strongly manifested for behoof of +the most serene Archducal House of Austria will henceforth burn in them +for our most Beloved Land's Prince whom God has now given us; that the +fire of their lately plighted truth and devotion, towards his +Royal Majesty, shall shine not in words only, but in works, and be +extinguished only with their lives. [Can that be, O Spener or Speer? Are +we alarm-clocks, that need only to be wound up, and told at what hour, +and for whom?] God, who puts Kings in and casts them out, has given to +us a no less potent Sovereign than supremely loving Land's-Father, who, +by the renown of his more than royal virtues, had taken captive the +hearts of his future subjects and children still sooner than even by his +arms, familiar otherwise to victory, he did the Land. And who shall +be puissant and mighty enough, now to lead men's minds in a contrary +direction; to control the Most High Power, ruler over hearts and Lands, +who had decreed it should be so; and again to change this change? [Hear +Spener: he has taken great pains with his Discourse, and understands +composition!] + +"This change, High-honored Gentlemen [of the Catholic persuasion], is +also for you a not unhappy one. For our now as pious as wise King will, +especially in one most vital point, take pattern by the King of all +Kings; and means to be lord of his subjects only, not of the consciences +of his subjects. He requires nothing from you but what you are already +bound by God, by conscience, and duty, to render: to wit, obedience and +inviolable unbroken fidelity. And by that, and without more asked than +that, you will render yourselves worthy of his protection, and become +partakers of the Royal favor. Nay you will render yourselves all the +worthier in that high quarter, and the more meritorious towards our +civic commonweal, the more you, High-honored Gentlemen [of the Catholic +persuasion], accept, with all frankness of colleague-love and amity, +me and the Evangelical brother Raths now introduced by Royal grace and +power; and make the new position generously tenable and available to +us;--and thereby bind with us the more firmly the band of peace and +colleague-unity, for helping up this dear, and for some years greatly +fallen, Town along with us. + +"We, for our poor part, will, one and all, strive only to surpass each +other in obedience and faith to our Most Gracious King. We will, as +Regents of the Citizenry committed to us, go before them with a good +example; and prove to all and every one, That, little and in war +untenable as our Landshut is, it shall, in extent and impregnability +of faith towards its Most Dearest Land's-Prince, approve itself +unconquerable. As well I as"--Professes now, in the most intricate +phraseology, that he, and Fischer and Umminger (giving not only the +titles, but a succinct history of all three, in a single sentence, +before he comes to the verb!), bring a true heart, &c. &c.--Or would +the reader perhaps like to see it IN NATURA, as a specimen of German +human-nature, and the art these Silesian spinners have in drawing out +their yarns? + +"As well I as [1.] The Titular Herr Johann David Fischer, distinguished +trader and merchant of this Town, who, by his tradings in and beyond +our Silesian Countries, has made himself renowned, and by his merit and +address in particular instances [delicate instances known to Landshut, +not to us] has made himself beloved, who has now been installed as +Raths-Senior; and also as [2.] The Titular Herr Johann Caspar Ruffer, +well-respected Citizen, and Revenue-office Manager here, who for many +years has with much fidelity and vigilance managed the Revenue-office, +and who for his experience in the economic constitution of this Town has +been all-graciously nominated Raths-Herr;--and not less [3.] The Titular +Johann Jacob Umminger, whilom Advocate at Law in Breslau, who, for his +good studies in Law, and manifested skill in the practice of Law, +has been an all-graciously nominated Supernumerary Councillor and +Notary's-Adjunct among us:--As well I as these Three not only assure +you, High-honored Gentlemen, of all imaginable estimation and return +of love on our part; but do likewise assure all and sundry these +respectable Herren Town-Jurats [specially present], representing here +the universal well-beloved Citizenry of our Town,--that we bring a heart +sincere, and intent only on aiming at the welfare of a Citizenry so +loveworthy. We have the firm purpose by God's grace, so to order our +walk, and so to conduct our government that we may, one day, when +summoned from our judgment-seats to answer before the Universal +Judgment-seat of Christ, be able to say, with that pious King and Judge +of Israel: 'Lord, thou knowest if we have walked uprightly before thee.' +And we hope to understand that the rewards of justice, in that Life, +will be much more than those of injustice in this. + +"We believe that the Most High will, in so far, bless these our honest +purposes and wholesome endeavors, as that the actual fruits thereof will +in time coming, and when Peace now soon expected (which God grant) has +returned to us, be manifest; and that if, in our Office, as is common, +we should rather have thorns of persecution than roses of recompense to +expect, yet to each of us there will at last accrue praise in the Earth +and reward in Heaven. [Hear Spener!] + +"Meanwhile we will unite all our wishes, That the Almighty may vouchsafe +to his Royal Majesty, our now All-dearest Duke and Land's-Father, many +long years of life and of happy reign; and maintain this All-highest +Royal-Prussian and Elector-Brandenburgic House in supremest splendor and +prosperity, undisturbed to the end of all Days; and along with it, +our Town-Council, and whole Merchantry and Citizenry, safe under this +Prussian Sceptre, in perpetual blessing, peace and unity [what a +modest prayer!]: to all which may Heaven speak its powerful Amen!" +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 416-422.]-- + +Whereupon solemn waving of hats; indistinct sough of loyal murmur from +the universal Landshut Population; after which, continued to the due +extent, they return to their spindles and shuttles again. + + + + +Chapter VII. + +FRIEDRICH PURPOSES TO MEND THE KLEIN-SCHNELLENDORF FAILURE: FORTUNES OF +THE BELLEISLE ARMAMENT. + +We shall not dwell upon the movements of the French into Germany for the +purpose of overwhelming Austria, and setting up four subordinate little +Sovereignties to take their orders from Louis XV. The plan was of the +mad sort, not recognized by Nature at all; the diplomacy was wide, +expensive, grandiose, but vain and baseless; nor did the soldiering that +followed take permanent hold of men's memory. Human nature cannot afford +to follow out these loud inanities; and, at a certain distance of time, +is bound to forget them, as ephemera of no account in the general +sum. Difficult to say what profit human nature could get out of such +transaction. There was no good soldiering on the part of the French +except by gleams here and there; bad soldiering for the most part, and +the cause was radically bad. Let us be brief with it; try to snatch from +it, huge rotten heap of old exuviae and forgotten noises and deliriums, +what fractions of perennial may turn up for us, carefully forgetting the +rest. + +Maillebois with his 40,000, we have seen how they got to Osnabruck, and +effectually stilled the war-fervor of little George II.; sent him home, +in fact, to England a checkmated man, he riding out of Osnabruck by one +gate, the French at the same moment marching in by the other. There +lies Maillebois ever since; and will lie, cantoned over Westphalia, "not +nearer than three leagues to the boundary of Hanover," for a year and +more. There let Maillebois lie, till we see him called away else-wither, +upon which the gallant little George, check-mate being lifted, will +get into notable military activity, and attempt to draw his sword +again,--though without success, owing to the laggard Dutch. Which also, +as British subjects, if not otherwise, the readers of this Book will +wish to see something of. Maillebois did not quite keep his stipulated +distance of "three leagues from the boundary" (being often short of +victual), and was otherwise no good neighbor. Among his Field-Officers, +there is visible (sometimes in trouble about quarters and the like) +a Marquis du Chatelet,--who, I find, is Husband or Ex-Husband to the +divine Emilie, if readers care to think of that! [_Campagnes_ (i. 45, +193); and French Peerage-Books,? DU CHATELAT.] Other known face, or +point of interest for or against, does not turn up in the Maillebois +Operation in those parts. + +As for the other still grander Army, Army of the Oriflamme as we have +called it,--which would be Belleisle's, were not he so overwhelmed with +embassying, and persuading the Powers of Germany,--this, since we last +saw it, has struck into a new course, which it is essential to indicate. +The major part of it (Four rear Divisions! if readers recollect) lay at +Ingolstadt, its place of arms; while the Vanward Three Divisions, under +Maurice Comte de Saxe, flowed onward, joining with Bavaria at Passau; +down the Donau Country, to Linz and farther, terrifying Vienna itself; +and driving all the Court to Presburg, with (fabulous) "MORIAMUR PRO +REGE NOSTRO MARIA THERESIA," but with actual armament of Tolpatches, +Pandours, Warasdins, Uscocks and the like unsightly beings of a +predatory centaur nature. Which fine Hungarian Armament, and others +still more ominous, have been diligently going on, while Karl Albert sat +enjoying his Homagings at Linz, his Pisgah-views Vienna-ward; and asking +himself, "Shall we venture forward, and capture Vienna, then?" + +The question is intricate, and there are many secret biasings concerned +in the solution of it. Friedrich, before Klein-Schnellendorf time, had +written eagerly, had sent Schmettau with eager message, "Push forward; +it is feasible, even easy: cut the matter by the root!" This, they say, +was Karl Albert's own notion, had not the French overruled him;--not +willing, some guess, he should get Austria, and become too independent +of them all at once. Nay, it appears Karl Albert had inducements of his +own towards Bohemia rather. The French have had Kur-Sachsen to manage +withal; and there are interests in Bohemia of his and theirs,--clippings +of Bohemia promised him as bribes, besides that "Kingdom of Moravia," +to get his 21,000 set on march. "Clippings of Bohemia? Interests of +Kur-Sachsen's in that Country?" asks Karl Albert with alarm: and thinks +it will be safer, were he himself present there, while Saxony and +France do the clippings in question! Sure enough, he did not push on. +Belleisle, from the distance, strongly opined otherwise; Karl Albert +himself had jealous fears about Bohmen. Friedrich's importunities and +urgencies were useless: and the one chance there ever was for Karl +Albert, for Belleisle and the Ruin of Austria, vanished without return. + +Karl Albert has turned off, leftwards, towards his Bohemian Enterprises: +French, Bavarians, Saxons, by their several routes, since the last days +of October, are all on march that way. We will mark an exact date here +and there, as fixed point for the reader's fancy. Poor Karl Albert, he +had sat some six weeks at Linz,--about three weeks since that Homaging +there (October 2d);--imaginary Sovereign of Upper Austria; looking over +to Vienna and the Promised Land in general. And that fine Pisgah-view +was all he ever had of it. Of Austrian or other Conquests earthly +or heavenly, there came none to him in this Adventure;--mere MINUS +quantities they all proved. For a few weeks more, there are, blended +with awful portents, an imaginary gleam or two in other quarters; after +which, nothing but black horror and disgrace, deepening downwards into +utter darkness, for the poor man. Belleisle is an imaginary Sun-god; but +the poor Icarus, tempted aloft in that manner into the earnest elements, +and melting at once into quills and rags, is a tragic reality!--Let us +to our dates:-- + +"OCTOBER 24th, The Bavarian Troops, who had lain at Mautern on the Donau +some time, forty miles from Vienna and the Promised Land, got under +way again;--not FORWARD, but sharp to left, or northward, towards the +Bohemian parts. Thither all the Belleisle Armaments are now bound; and a +general rallying of them is to be at Prag; for conquest of that Country, +as more inviting than Austria at present. Comte de Saxe, who had lain at +St. Polten, a march to southward of Mautern, he with the Vanward of the +great Belleisle Army, bestirred himself at the same time; and followed +steadily (Karl Albert in person was with Saxe), at a handy distance by +parallel roads. To Prag may be about 200 miles. Across the Mannhartsberg +Country, clear out of Austria, into Bohmen, towards Prag. At Budweis, +or between that and Tabor, Towns of our old friend Zisca's, of which +we shall hear farther in these Wars; Towns important by their +intricate environment of rock and bog, far up among the springs of +the Moldau,--there can these Bavarians, and this French Vanward of +Belleisle, halt a little, till the other parties, who are likewise on +march, get within distance." + +For in these same days, as hinted above, the Rearward of the Belleisle +Army (Four Divisions, strength not accurately given) pushes forward from +Donauworth, well rested, through the Bavarian Passes, towards Bohemia +and Prag: these have a longer march (say 250 miles)? to northeast; and +the leader of them is one Polastron, destined unhappily to meet us on a +future occasion. With them go certain other Bavarians; accompanying or +preceding, as in the Vanward case. And then the Saxons (21,000 strong, +a fine little Army, all that Saxony has) are, at the same time, come +across the Metal Mountains (ERZGEBIRGE), in quest of those Bohemian +clippings, of that Kingdom of Moravia: and march from the westward +upon Prag,--Rutowsky leading them. Comte de Rutowsky, Comte de Saxe's +Half-Brother, one of the Three Hundred and Fifty-four:--with whom is +CHEVALIER de Saxe, a second younger ditto; and I think there is still a +third, who shall go unnamed. In this grand Oriflamme Expedition, Four +of the Royal-Saxon Bastards altogether." Who cost us more distinguishing +than they are worth! + +Chief General of these Saxons, says an Authentic Author, is Rutowsky; +got from a Polish mother, I should guess: he commands in chief +here;--once had a regiment under Friedrich Wilhelm, for a while; but +has not much head for strategy, it may be feared. But mark that Fourth +individual of the Three Hundred and Fifty-four, who has a great deal. +Fourth individual, called Comte de Saxe, who is now in that French +Vanward a good way to east, was (must I again remind you!) the produce +of the fair Aurora von Konigsmark, Sister of the Konigsmark who vanished +instantaneously from the light of day at Hanover long since, and has +never reappeared more. It was in search of him that Aurora, who was +indeed a shining creature (terribly insolvent all her life, whose charms +even Charles XII. durst not front), came to Dresden; and,--in this +Comte de Saxe, men see the result. Tall enough, restless enough; most +eupeptic, brisk, with a great deal of wild faculty,--running to +waste, nearly all. There, with his black arched eyebrows, black swift +physically smiling eyes, stands Monseigneur le Comte, one of the +strongest-bodied and most dissolute-minded men now living on our Planet. +He is now turned of forty: no man has been in such adventures, has swum +through such seas of transcendent eupepticity determined to have its +fill. In this new Quasi-sacred French Enterprise, under the Banner +of Belleisle and the Chateauroux, he has at last, after many trials, +unconsciously found his culmination: and will do exploits of a wonderful +nature,--very worthy of said Banner and its patrons. + +"Here, then, are Three streams or Armaments pouring forward upon Prag; +perhaps some 60,000 men in all:--a good deal uncertain what they are to +do at Prag, except arrive simultaneously so far as possible. Belleisle, +far off, has fallen sick in these critical days. Comte de Saxe cannot +see his way in the matter at all: 'What are we to live upon,' asks Comte +de Saxe, 'were there nothing more!'--For, simultaneously with these +Three Armaments on march, there is an important Austrian one, likewise +on the road for Prag: that of Grand-Duke Franz, who has left Presburg, +with say 30,000 (including the Pandour element); and duly meets the +Neipperg, or late Silesian Army;--well capable, now, to do a stroke +upon the Three Armaments, if he be speedy? 'November 7th' it was when +Grand-Duke Franz picked up Neipperg, 'at Frating' deep in Moravia +(November 7th, the very day while Friedrich was getting homaged in +Breslau), and turned him northwestward again. The Grand-Duke, in such +strength, marches Rag-ward what he can; might be there before the +French, were he swift; and is at any rate in disagreeable proximity to +that Budmeis-Tabor Country, appointed as one's halting-place." + +And Belleisle, in these critical days, is--consider it!--"Poor +Belleisle, he has all the Election Votes ready; he has done unspeakable +labors in the diplomatic way; and leaves Europe in ebullition and +conflagration behind him. He has all these Armies in motion, and has got +rid of 'that Moravia,'--given it to Saxony, who adds the title 'King of +Moravia' to his other dignities, and has set on march those 21,000 men. +'Would he were ready with them!' Belleisle had been saying, ever since +the Treaty for them,--Treaty was, September 19th. Belleisle, to expedite +him, came to Dresden [what day is not said, but deep in October]; +intending next for the Prag Country, there to commence General, the +diplomacies being satisfactorily done. Valori ran over from Berlin to +wait upon him there. Alas, the Saxons are on march, or nearly so; but +the great man himself, worn down with these Herculean labors, has fallen +into rheumatic fever; is in bed, out at Hubertsburg (serene Country +Palace of his Moravian Polish Majesty); and cannot get the least well, +to march in person with the Three Armaments, with the flood of things he +has set reeling and whirling at such rate. + +"The sympathies of Valori go deep at this spectacle. The Alcides, who +was carrying the axis of the world, fallen down in physical rheumatism! +But what can sympathies avail? The great man sees the Saxons march +without him. The great man, getting no alleviation from physicians, +determines, in his patriotic heroism, to surrender glory itself; writes +home to Court, 'That he is lamed, disabled utterly; that they must +nominate another General.' And they nominate another; nominate Broglio, +the fat choleric Marshal, of Italian breed and physiognomy, whom we +saw at Strasburg last year, when Friedrich was there. Broglio will quit +Strasburg too soon, and come. A man fierce in fighting, skilled too in +tactics; totally incompetent in strategy, or the art of LEADING armies, +and managing campaigns;--defective in intelligence indeed, not wise to +discern; dim of vision, violent of temper; subject to sudden cranks, a +headlong, very positive, loud, dull and angry kind of man; with whose +tumultuous imbecilities the great Belleisle will be sore tried by and +by. 'I reckon this,' Valori says, 'the root of all our woes;' this +Letter which the great Belleisle wrote home to Court. Let men mark it, +therefore, as a cardinal point,--and snatch out the date, when they have +opportunity upon the Archives of France. [See Valori, i. 131.] + +"Monseigneur the Comte de Saxe, before quitting the Vienna Countries, +had left some 10,000 French and Bavarians, posted chiefly in Linz, under +a Comte de Segur, to maintain those Donau Conquests, which have cost +only the trouble of marching into them. Count Khevenhuller has ceased +working at the ramparts of Vienna, nothing of siege to be apprehended +now, civic terror joyfully vanishing again; and busies himself +collecting an Army at Vienna, with intent of looking into those same +French Segurs, before long. It is probable the so-called Conquests on +the Donau will not be very permanent. + +"NOVEMBER 19th-21st, The Three Belleisle Armaments, Karl Albert's first, +have, simultaneously enough for the case, arrived on three sides of +Prag; and lie looking into it,--extremely uncertain what to do when +there. To Comte de Saxe, to Schmettau, who is still here, the outlook +of this grand Belleisle Army, standing shelterless, provisionless, grim +winter at hand, long hundreds of miles from home or help, is in the +highest degree questionable, though the others seem to make little of +it: 'Fight the Grand-Duke when he comes,' say they; 'beat him, and--' +'Or suppose, he won't fight? Or suppose, we are beaten by him?' answer +Saxe and Schmettau, like men of knowledge, in the same boat with men of +none. (We have no strong place, or footing in this Country: what are we +to do? Take Prag!' advises Comte de Saxe, with earnestness, day after +day. [His Letters on it to Karl Albert and others (in Espagnac, i. +94-99).)] 'Take Prag: but how?' answer they. 'By escalade, by surprise, +and sword in hand, answers he: 'Ogilvy their General has but 3,000, and +is perhaps no wizard at his trade: we can do it, thus and thus, and +then farther thus; and I perceive we are a lost Army if we don't!' +So counsels Maurice Comte de Saxe, brilliant, fervent in his military +views;--and, before it is quite too late, Schmettau and he persuade +Karl Albert, persuade Rutowsky chief of the Saxons; and Count Polastron, +Gaisson or whatever subaltern Counts there are, of French type, have to +accede, and be saved in spite of themselves. And so, + +"SATURDAY NIGHT, 25th NOVEMBER, 1741, brightest of moonshiny nights, our +dispositions are all made: Several attacks, three if I remember; one of +them false, under some Polastron, Gaisson, from the south side; a couple +of them true, from the northwest and the southeast sides, under Maurice +with his French, and Rutowsky with his Saxons, these two. And there +is great marching 'on the side of the Karl-Thor (Charles-Gate),' where +Rutowsky is; and by Count Maurice 'behind the Wischerad;'--and shortly +after midnight the grand game begins. That French-Polastron attack, +false, though with dreadful cannonade from the south, attracts poor +Ogilvy with almost all his forces to that quarter; while the couple of +Saxon Captains (Rutowsky not at once successful, Maurice with his French +completely so) break in upon Ogilvy from rearward, on the right flank +and on the left; and ruin the poor man. Military readers will find the +whole detail of it well given in Espagnac. Looser account is to be had +in the Book they call Mauvillon's." [_Derniere Guerre de Boheme,_ +i. 252-264. Saxe's own Account (Letter to Chevalier de Folard) is in +Espagnac, i. 89 et seqq.] + +One thing I remember always: the bright moonlight; steeples of Prag +towering serene in silvery silence, and on a sudden the wreaths of +volcanic fire breaking out all round them. The opposition was but +trifling, null in some places, poor Ogilvy being nothing of a wizard, +and his garrison very small. It fell chiefly on Rutowsky; who met it +with creditable vigor, till relieved by the others. Comte Maurice, too, +did a shifty thing. Circling round by the outside of the Wischerad, by +rural roads in the bright moonshine, he had got to the Wall at +last, hollow slope and sheer wall; and was putting-to his +scaling-ladders,--when, by ill luck, they proved too short! Ten feet or +so; hopelessly too short. Casting his head round, Maurice notices the +Gallows hard by: "There, see you, are a few short ladders: MES ENFANS, +bring me these, and we will splice with rope!" Supplemented by the +gallows, Maurice soon gets in, cuts down the one poor sentry; rushes +to the Market-place, finds all his Brothers rushing, embraces them with +"VICTOIRE!" and "You see I am eldest; bound to be foremost of you!" + +"No point in all the War made a finer blaze in the French imagination, +or figured better in the French gazettes, than this of the Scalade of +Prag, 25th November, 1741. And surely it was important to get hold of +Prag; nevertheless, intrinsically it is no great thing, but an opportune +small thing, done by the Comte de Saxe, in spite of such contradiction +as we saw." + +It was while news of this exploit was posting towards Berlin, but +not yet arrived there, that Friedrich, passing through the apartment, +intimated to Hyndford, "Milord, all is divulged, our Klein-Schnellendorf +mystery public as the house-tops;" and vanished with a shrug of the +shoulders,--thinking doubtless to himself, "What is OUR next move to be, +in consequence?" Treaty with Kur-Baiern (November 4th) he had already +signed in consequence, expressly declaring for Kur-Baiern, and the +French intentions towards him. This news from Prag--Prag handsomely +captured, if Vienna had been foolishly neglected--put him upon a new +Adventure, of which in following Chapters we shall hear more. + + + + +THE FRENCH SAFE IN PRAG; KAISERWAHL JUST COMING ON. + +Grand-Duke Franz, with that respectable amount of Army under him, ought +surely to have advanced on Prag, and done some stroke of war for relief +of it, while time yet was. Grand-Duke Franz, his Brother Karl with him +and his old Tutor Neipperg, both of whom are thought to have some skill +in war, did advance accordingly. But then withal there was risk at Prag; +and he always paused again, and waited to consider. From Frating, on the +16th, [Espagnac, i. 87.] he had got to Neuhaus, quite across Mahren into +Bohemian ground, and there joined with Lobkowitz and what Bohemian +force there was; by this time an Army which you would have called much +stronger than the French. Forward, therefore! Yes; but with pauses, with +considerations. Pause of two days at Neuhaus; thence to Tabor (famed +Zisca's Tabor), a safe post, where again pause three days. From Tabor +is broad highway to Prag, only sixty miles off now:--screwing their +resolution to the sticking-point, Grand-Duke and Consorts advance at +length with fixed determination, all Friday, all Saturday (November +24th, 25th), part of Sunday too, not thinking it shall be only PART; +and their light troops are almost within sight of Prag, when--they learn +that Prag is scaladed the night before, and quite settled; that there +is nothing except destruction to be looked for in Prag! Back again, +therefore, to the Tabor-and-Budweis land. They strike into that boggy +broken country about Budweis, some 120 miles south of Prag; and will +there wait the signs of the times. + +Grand-Duke Franz had seen war, under Seckendorf, under Wallis and +otherwise, in the disastrous Turk Countries; but, though willing +enough, was never much of a soldier: as to Neipperg, among his own men +especially, the one cry is, He ought to go about his business out of +Austrian Armies, as an imbecile and even a traitor. "Is it conceivable +that Friedrich could have beaten us, in that manner, except by buying +Neipperg in the first place? Neipperg and the generality of them, in +that luckless Silesian Business? Glogau scaladed with the loss of half +a dozen men; Brieg gone within a week; Neisse ditto: and Mollwitz, above +all, where, in spite of Romer and such Horse-charging as was never seen, +we had to melt, dissolve, and roll away in the glitter of the evening +sun!" The common notion is, they are traitors, partial-traitors, one +and all. [_Guerre de Boheme,_ saepius.] Poor Neipperg he has seen hard +service, had ugly work to do: it was he that gave away Belgrade to the +Turks (so interpreting his orders), and the Grand Vizier, calling him +Dog of a Giaour: spat in his face, not far from hanging him; and the +Kaiser and Vienna people, on his coming home, threw him into prison, and +were near cutting off his head. And again, after such sleety marchings +through the Mountains, he has had to dissolve at Mollwitz; float away in +military deluge in the manner we saw. And now, next winter, here is he +lodged among the upland bogs at Budweis, escorted by mere curses. What +a life is the soldier's, like other men's; what a master is the world! +Aulic Cabinet is not all-wise; but may readily be wiser than the vulgar, +and, with a Maria Theresa at his head, it is incapable of truculent +impiety like that. Neipperg, guilty of not being a Eugene, is not hanged +as a traitor; but placed quietly as Commandant in Luxemburg, spends +there the afternoon of his life, in a more commodious manner. Friedrich +had, of late, rather admired his movements on the Neisse River; and +found him a stiff article to deal with. + +The French, now with Prag for their place of arms, stretched themselves +as far as Pisek, some seventy miles southwestward; occupied Pisek, +Pilsen and other Towns and posts, on the southwest side, some seventy +miles from Prag; looking towards the Bavarian Passes and homeward +succors that might come: the Saxons, a while after, got as far as +Teutschbrod, eighty miles on the southeastward or Moravian hand. Behind +these outposts, Prag may be considered to hang on Silesia, and have +Friedrich for security. This, in front or as forecourt of Friedrich's +Silesia, this inconsiderable section, was all of Bohemian Country the +French and Confederates ever held, and they did not hold this long. As +for Karl Albert, he had his new pleasant Dream of Sovereignty at Prag; +Titular of Upper Austria, and now of Bohmen as well; and enjoyed his +Feast of the Barmecide, and glorious repose in the captured Metropolis, +after difficulty overcome. December 7th, he was homaged (a good few of +the Nobility attending, for which they smarted afterwards), with much +processioning, blaring and TE-DEUM-ing: on the 19th he rolled off, home +to Munchen; there to await still higher Romish-Imperial glories, which +it is hoped are now at hand. + +A day or two after the Capture of Prag, Marechal de Belleisle, partially +cured of his rheumatisms, had hastened to appear in that City; and for +above four weeks he continued there, settling, arranging, ordering all +things, in the most consummate manner, with that fine military head of +his. About Christmas time, arrived Marechal de Broglio, his unfortunate +successor or substitute; to whom he made everything over; and hastened +off for Frankfurt, where the final crisis of KAISERWAHL is now at +hand, and the topstone of his work is to be brought out with shouting. +Marechal de Broglio had an unquiet Winter of it in his new command; and +did not extend his quarters, but the contrary. + + + + +BROGLIO HAS A BIVOUAC OF PISEK; KHEVENHULLER LOOKS IN UPON THE DONAU +CONQUESTS. + +Grand-Duke Franz edged himself at last a little out of that +Tabor-Budweis region, and began looking Prag-ward again;--hung about, +for some time, with his Hungarian light-troops scouring the country; +but still keeping Prag respectfully to right, at seventy miles distance. +December 28th, to Broglio's alarm, he tried a night-attack on Pisek, the +chief French outpost, which lies France-ward too, and might be vital. +But he found the French (Broglio having got warning) unexpectedly ready +for him at Pisek,--drawn up in the dark streets there, with torrents of +musketry ready for his Pandours and him;--and entirely failed of Pisek. +Upon which he turned eastward to the Budweis-Tabor fastnesses again; +left Brother Karl as Commander in those parts (who soon leaves Lobkowitz +as Substitute, Vienna in the idle winter-time being preferable);--left +Brother Karl, and proceeded in person, south, towards the Donau +Countries, to see how Khevenhuller might be prospering, who is in the +field there, as we shall hear. + +Of Pisek and the night-skirmish at Pisek, glorious to France, think +all the Gazettes, I should have said nothing, were it not that +Marechal Broglio, finding what a narrow miss he had made, established a +night-watch there, or bivouac, for six weeks to come; such as never was +before or since: Cavalry and Infantry, in quantity, bivouacking there, +in the environs of Pisek, on the grim Bohemian snow or snow-slush, in +the depth of winter, nightly for six weeks, without whisper of an enemy +at any time; whereby the Marechal did save Pisek (if Pisek was ever +again in danger), but froze horse and man to the edge of destruction +or into it; so that the "Bivouac of Pisek" became proverbial in French +Messrooms, for a generation coming. [_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 23, &c.] +And one hears in the mind a clangorous nasal eloquence from antique +gesticulative mustachio-figures, witty and indignant,--who are now gone +to silence again, and their fruitless bivouacs, and frosty and fiery +toils, tumbling pell-mell after them. This of Pisek was but one of +the many unwise hysterical things poor Broglio did, in that difficult +position; which, indeed, was too difficult for any mortal, and for +Broglio beyond the average. + +One other thing we note: Graf von Khevenhuller, solid Austrian man, +issued from Vienna, December 31st, last day of the Year, with an Army +of only some 15,000, but with an excellent military head of his own, to +look into those Conquests on the Donau. Which he finds, as he expected, +to be mere conquests of stubble, capable of being swept home again at +a very rapid rate. "Khevenhuller, here as always, was consummate in his +choice of posts," says Lloyd; [General Lloyd, _History of Seven-Years +War,_ &c. (incidentally, somewhere).]--discovered where the ARTERIES +of the business lay, and how to handle the same. By choice of posts, by +silent energy and military skill, Khevenhuller very rapidly sweeps Segur +back; and shuts him up in Linz. There Segur, since the first days of +January, is strenuously barricading himself; "wedging beams from house +to house, across the streets;"--and hopes to get provision, the Donau +and the Bavarian streams being still open behind him; and to hold out a +little. It will be better if he do,--especially for poor Karl Albert +and his poor Bavaria! Khevenhuller has also detached through the Tyrol +a General von Barenklau (BEAR'S-CLAW, much heard of henceforth in +these Wars), who has 12,000 regulars; and much Hussar-folk under bloody +Mentzel:-across the Tyrol, we say; to fall in upon Bavaria and Munchen +itself; which they are too like doing with effect. Ought not Karl Albert +to be upon the road again? What a thing, were the Kaiser Elect taken +prisoner by Pandours! + +In fine, within a short two weeks or so, Karl Albert quits Munchen, as +no safe place for him; comes across to Mannheim to his Cousin Philip, +old Kur-Pfalz, whom we used to know, now extremely old, but who has +marriages of Grand-daughters, and other gayeties, on hand; which a +Cousin and prospective Kaiser--especially if in peril of his life--might +as well come and witness. This is the excuse Karl Albert makes to an +indulgent Public; and would fain make to himself, but cannot. Barenklau +and Khevenhuller are too indisputable. Nay this rumor of Friedrich's +"Peace with Austria," divulged Bargain of Klein-Schnellendorf, if this +also (horrible to think) were true--! Which Friedrich assures him it is +not. Karl Albert writes to Friedrich, and again writes; conjuring him, +for the love of God, To make some thrust, then, some inroad or other, +on those man-devouring Khevenhullers; and take them from his, Karl +Albert's, throat and his poor Country's. Which Friedrich, on his own +score, is already purposing to do. + + + + +Chapter VIII. -- FRIEDRICH STARTS FOR MORAVIA, ON A NEW SCHEME HE HAS. + +The Austrian Court had not kept Friedrich's secret of +Klein-Schnellendorf, hardly even for a day. It was whispered to the +Dowager Empress, or Empresses; who whispered it, or wrote it, to some +other high party; by whom again as usual:--in fact, the Austrian Court, +having once got their Neipperg safe to hand, took no pains to keep the +secret; but had probably an interest rather in letting it filter out, to +set Friedrich and his Allies at variance. At all events, in the space of +a few weeks, as we have seen, the rumor of a Treaty between Austria and +Friedrich was everywhere rife; Friedrich, as he had engaged, everywhere +denying it, and indeed clearly perceiving that there was like to be no +ground for acknowledging it. The Austrian Court, instead of "completing +the Treaty before Newyear's-day," had broken the previous bargain; +evidently not meaning to complete; intent rather to wait upon their +Hungarian Insurrection, and the luck of War. + +There is now, therefore, a new turn in the game. And for this also +Friedrich has been getting the fit card ready; and is not slow to play +it. Some time ago, November 4th,--properly November 1st, hardly three +weeks since that of Klein-Schnellendorf,--finding the secret already out +("whispered of at Breslau, 28th October," casually testifies Hyndford), +he had tightened his bands with France; had, on November 4th, formally +acceded to Karl Albert's Treaty with France. [Accession agreed to, +"Frankfurt, Nov. 1st," 1741; ratified "Nov. 4th."] Glatz to be his: +he will not hear of wanting Glatz; nor of wanting elsewhere the proper +Boundary for Schlesien, "Neisse River both banks" (which Neipperg +had agreed to, in his late Sham-Bargain);--quite strict on these +preliminaries. + +And furthermore, Kur-Sachsen being now a Partner in that French-Bavarian +Treaty,--and a highly active one (with 21,000 in the field for him), who +is "King of Moravia" withal, and has some considerable northern Paring +of Bohemia thrown in, by way of "Road to Moravia,"--Friedrich made, at +the same time, special Treaty with Kur-Sachsen, on the points specially +mutual to them; on the Boundary point, first of all. Which latter treaty +is dated also November 1st, and was "ratified November 8th." + +Treaty otherwise not worth reading; except perhaps as it shows us +Friedrich putting, in his brief direct way, Kur-Sachsen at once into +Austria's place, in regard to Ober-Schlesien. "Boundary between +your Polish Majesty and me to be the River Neisse PLUS a full German +mile;"--which (to Belleisle's surprise) the Polish Majesty is willing +to accept; and consents, farther, Friedrich being of succinct turn, That +Commissioners go directly and put down the boundary-stones, and so an +end. "Let the Silesian matter stand where it stood," thinks Friedrich: +"since Austria will not, will you? Put down the boundary-pillars, +then!"--an interesting little glance into Friedrich's inner man. And +a Prussian Boundary Commissioner, our friend Nussler the man, did duly +appear;--whom perhaps we shall meet,--though no Saxon one quite did. +[Busching, _Beitrage,_ i. 339 (? NUSSLER).] It is this boundary clause, +it is Friedrich's little decision, "Put down the pillars, then," that +alone can now interest any mortal in this Saxon Bargain; the clause +itself, and the bargain itself, having quite broken down on the Saxon +side, and proved imaginary as a covenant made in dreams. Could not be +helped, in the sequel!-- + +Meanwhile, the preliminary diplomacies being done in this manner, +Friedrich had ordered certain of his own Forces to get in motion a +little; ordered Leopold, who has had endless nicety of management, since +the French and Saxons came into those Bohemian Circles of his, to +go upon Glatz; to lay fast hold of Glatz, for one thing. And farther +eastward, Schwerin, by order, has lately gone across the Mountains; +seized Troppau, Friedenthal; nay Olmutz itself, the Capital of +Mahren,--in one day (December 27th), garrison of Olmutz being too weak +to resist, and the works in disrepair. "In Heaven's name, what are +your intentions, then?" asked the Austrians there. "Peaceable in the +extreme," answered Schwerin, "if only yours are. And if they are +NOT--!" There sits Schwerin ever since, busy strengthening himself, and +maintains the best discipline; waiting farther orders. + +"The Austrians will not complete their bargain of Klein-Schnellendorf?" +thinks this young King; "Very well; we will not press them to +completion. We will not ourselves complete, should they now press. +We will try another method, and that without loss of time."--It was +a pungent reflection with Friedrich that Karl Albert had not pushed +forward on Vienna, from Linz that time, but had blindly turned off to +the left, and thrown away his one chance. "Cannot one still mend it; +cannot one still do something of the like?" thinks Friedrich now: +"Schwerin in Olmutz; Prussian Troops cantoned in the Highlands of +Silesia, or over in Bohemia itself, near the scene of action; the Saxons +eastward as far as Teutschbrod, still nearer; the French triumphant at +Prag, and reinforcement on the road for them: a combined movement on +Vienna, done instantly and with an impetus!" That is the thing Friedrich +is now bent upon; nor will he, like Karl Albert, be apt to neglect the +hour of tide, which is so inexorable in such operations. + +At Berlin, accordingly, he has been hurrying on his work, inspection, +preparation of many kinds,--Marriage of his Brother August Wilhelm, +for one business; [6th January, 1742 (in Bielfeld, ii. 55-69, exuberant +account of the Ceremony, and of B.'s part in it).]--and (January 18th), +after a stay of two months, is off fieldward again, on this new project. +To Dresden, first of all; Saxony being an essential element; and Valori +being appointed to meet him there on the French side. It is January +20th, 1742, when Friedrich arrives; due Opera festivities, "triple +salute of all the guns," fail not at Dresden; but his object was not +these at all. Polish Majesty is here, and certain of the warlike Bastard +Brothers home from Winter-quarters, Comte de Saxe for one; Valori also, +punctually as due; and little Graf von Bruhl, highest-dressed of human +creatures, who is factotum in this Court. + +"Your Polish Majesty, by treaty and title you are King of Moravia +withal: now is the time, now or never, to become so in fact! Forward +with your Saxons:" urges Friedrich: "The Austrians and their Lobkowitz +are weak in that Country: at Iglau, just over the Moravian border, they +have formed a Magazine; seize that, snatch it from Lobkowitz: that gives +us footing and basis there. Forward with your Saxons; Valori gives us +so-many French; I myself will join with 20,000: swift, steady, all at +once; we can seize Moravia, who knows if not Vienna itself, and for +certain drive a stroke right home into the very bowels of the Enemy!" +That is Friedrich's theme from the first hour of his arrival, and during +all the four-and-twenty that he stayed. + +In one hour, Polish Majesty, who is fonder of tobacco and pastimes than +of business, declared himself convinced;--and declared also that +the time of Opera was come; whither the two Majesties had to proceed +together, and suspend business for a while. Polish Majesty himself was +very easily satisfied; but with the others, as Valori reports it, the +argument was various, long and difficult. "Winter time; so dangerous, so +precarious," answer Bruhl and Comte de Saxe: There is this danger, this +uncertainty, and then that other;--which the King and Valori, with all +their eloquence, confute. "Impossible, for want of victual," answers +Maurice at last, driven into a corner: "Iglau, suppose we get it, will +soon be eaten; then where is our provision?"--"Provision?" answers +Valori: "There is M. de Sechelles, Head of our Commissariat in Prag; +such a Commissary never was before." "And you consent, if I take that in +hand?" urges Friedrich upon them. They are obliged to consent, on that +proviso. Friedrich undertakes Sechelles: the Enterprise cannot now +be refused. [_OEuvres de Frederic_, ii. 170; Valori, i. 139; &c. &c.] +"Alert, then; not a moment to be lost! Good-night; AU REVOIR, my noble +friends!"--and to-morrow many hours before daybreak, Friedrich is off +for Prag, leaving Dresden to awaken when it can. + +At Prag he renews acquaintance with his old maladroit Strasburg friend, +Marechal de Broglio, not with increase of admiration, as would seem; +declines the demonstrations and civilities of Broglio, business being +urgent: finds M. de Sechelles to be in truth the supreme of living +Commissaries (ready, in words which Friedrich calls golden, "to make +the impossible possible"): "Only march, then, noble Saxons: swift!"--and +dashes off again, next morning, to northeastward, through Leopold's +Bohemian cantonments, Glatz-ward by degrees, to be ready with his own +share of the affair; no delay in him, for one. January 24th, after +Konigsgratz and other Prussian posts,--January 24th, which is elsewhere +so notable a day,--his route goes northeast, to Glatz, a hundred miles +away, among the intricacies of the Giant Mountains, hither side of the +Silesian Highlands; wild route for winter season, if the young King +feared any route. From Berlin, hither and farther, he may have +gone well-nigh his seven hundred miles within the week; rushing on +continually (starts, at say four in the winter morning); doing endless +business, of the ordering sort, as he speeds along. + +Glatz, a southwestern mountainous Appendage to Silesia, abutting on +Moravia and Bohemia, is a small strong Country; upon which, ever since +the first Friedrich times, we have seen him fixed; claiming it too, as +expenses from the Austrians, since they will not bargain. For he rises +Sibyl-like: a year ago, you might have had him with his 100,000 to boot, +for the one Duchy of Glogau; and now--! At Glatz or in these adjacent +Bohemian parts, the Young Dessauer has been on duty, busy enough, ever +since the late Siege of Neisse: Glatz Town the Young Dessauer soon got, +when ordered; Town, Population, Territory, all is his,--all but the high +mountain Fortress (centre of the Town of Glatzj), with its stiff-necked +Austrian Garrison shut up there, which he is wearing out by hunger. We +remember the little Note from Valori's waistcoat-pocket, "Don't give +him Glatz, if you can possibly help it!" In his latest treaties with the +French and their Allies, Friedrich has very expressly bargained for the +Country (will even pay money for it); [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ ii. +85.] and is determined to have it, when the Austrians next take to +bargaining. Of Glatz Fortress, now getting hungered out by Leopold's +Prussian Detachment, I will say farther, though Friedrich heeds these +circumstances little at present, that it stands on a scarped rock, girt +by the grim intricate Hills; and that in the Arsenal, in dusty fabulous +condition, lies a certain Drum, which readers may have heard of. Drum +is not a fable, but an antique reality fallen flaccid; made, by express +bequest, as is mythically said, from the skin of Zisca, above 300 +years ago: altogether mythic that latter clause. Drum, Fortress, Town, +Villages and Territory, all shall be Friedrich's, had hunger done its +work. [Town already, after short scuffle, 14th January, 1742; Fortress, +by hunger (no firing nor being fired on, in the interim), 25th April +following,--when the once 2,000 of garrison, worn to about 200, pale +as shadows, marched away to Brunn; "only ten of them able for duty on +arriving." (Orlich, i. 174.)] + +Friedrich, while at Glatz this time, gave a new Dress to the Virgin, say +all the Biographers; of which the story is this. Holy Virgin stood in +the main Convent of Glatz, in rather a threadbare condition, when the +Prussians first approached; the Jesuits, and ardently Orthodox of both +sexes, flagitating Heaven and her with their prayers, that she would +vouchsafe to keep the Prussians out. In which case pious Madame +Something, wife of the Austrian Commandant, vowed her a new suit of +clothes. Holy Virgin did not vouchsafe; on the Contrary, here the +Prussians are, and Starvation with them. "Courage, nevertheless, my new +friends!" intimates Friedrich: "The Prussians are not bugaboos, as you +imagined: Holy Virgin shall have a new coat, all the same!" and was at +the expense of the bit of broadcloth with trimmings. He was in the way +of making such investments, in his light sceptical humor; and found +them answer to him. At Glatz, and through those Bohemian and Silesian +Cantonments, he sets his people in motion for the Moravian Expedition; +rapidly stirs up the due Prussian detachments from their Christmas rest +among the Mountains; and has work enough in these regions, now here now +there. Schwerin is already in Olmutz, for a month past; and towards him, +or his neighborhood, the march is to be. + +January 26th, Friedrich, now with considerable retinue about him, gets +from Glatz to Landskron, some fifty miles Olmutz-ward; such a march as +General Stille never saw,--"through the ice and through the snow, which +covered that dreadful Chain of Mountains between Bohmen and Mahren: we +did not arrive till very late; many of our carriages broken down, and +others overturned more than once." [Stille (Anonymous, Friedrich's +Old-Tutor Stille), _Campagnes du Roi de Prusse_ (English Translation, +12mo, London, 1763), p. 5. An intelligent, desirable little +Volume,--many misprints in the English form of it.] At Landskron next +day, Friedrich, as appointed, met the Chevalier de Saxe (CHEVALIER, by +no means Comte, but a younger Bastard, General of the Saxon Horse); and +endeavored to concert everything: Prussian rendezvous to be at Wischau, +on the 5th next; thence straightway to meet the Saxons at Trebitsch +(convenient for that Iglau),--if only the Saxons will keep bargain. + +January 28th, past midnight, after another sore march, Friedrich arrived +at Olmutz; a pretty Town,--with an excellent old Bishop, "a Graf von +Lichtenstein, a little gouty man about fifty-two years of age, with +a countenance open and full of candor; [Stille, p. 8.] in whose fine +Palace, most courteously welcomed, the King lodged till near the day +of rendezvousing. We will leave him there, and look westward a little; +before going farther into the Moravian Expedition. Friedrich himself is +evidently much bent on this Expedition; has set his heart on paying the +Austrians for their trickery at Klein-Schnellendorf, in this handsome +way, and still picking up the chance against them which Karl Albert +squandered. If only the French and Saxons would go well abreast with +Friedrich, and thrust home! But will they? Here is a surprising bit of +news; not of good omen, when it reaches one at Olmutz! + +"LINZ, 24th JANUARY, 1742 [day otherwise remarkable]. After the much +barricading, and considerable defiance and bravadoing, by Comte de Segur +and his 10,000, he has lost this City in a scandalous manner [not quite +scandalous, but reckoned so by outside observers]; and Linz City is not +now Segur's, but Khevenhuller's. To Khevenhuller's first summons M. de +Segur had answered, 'I will hang on the highest gallows the next man +that comes to propose such a thing!'--and within a week [Khevenhuller +having seized the Donau River to rear of Linz, and blasted off the +Bavarian party there], M. de Segur did himself propose it ('Free +withdrawal: Not serve against you for a year'); and is this day +beginning to march out of Linz." [_Campagnes des Trois Marechaux,_ iii. +280, &c.; Adelung, iii. A, p. 12, and p. 15 (a Paris street-song on +it).] Here is an example of defending Key-Positions! If Segur's be the +pattern followed, those Conquests on the Donau are like to go a fine +road!--There came to Friedrich, in all privacy, during his stay +in Olmutz at this Bishop's, a Diplomatic emissary from Vienna, +one Pfitzner; charged with apologies, with important offers +probably;--important; but not important enough. Friedrich blames himself +for being too abrupt on the man; might perhaps have learned something +from him by softer treatment. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ ii. 109.] After +three days, Pfitzner had to go his ways again, having accomplished +nothing of change upon Friedrich. + + + + +Chapter IX. -- WILHELMINA GOES TO SEE THE GAYETIES AT FRANKFURT. + +On the day when Friedrich, overhung by the grim winter Mountains, was +approaching Glatz, same day when Segur was evacuating Linz on those sad +terms, that is, on the 24th day of January, 1742,--two Gentlemen were +galloping their best in the Frankfurt-Mannheim regions; bearing what +they reckoned glad tidings towards Mannheim and Karl Albert; who is +there "on a visit" (for good reasons), after his triumphs at Prag and +elsewhere. The hindmost of the two Gentlemen is an Official of rank +(little conscious that he is preceded by a rival in message-bearing); +Official Gentleman, despatched by the Diet of Frankfurt to inform Karl +Albert, That he now is actually Kaiser of the Holy Romish Empire; votes, +by aid of Heaven and Belleisle, having all fallen in his favor. +Gallop, therefore, my Official Gentleman:--alas, another Gentleman, +Non-official, knowing how it would turn, already sat booted and saddled, +a good space beyond the walls of Frankfurt, waiting till the cannon +should fire; at the first burst of cannon, he (cunning dog) gives his +horse the spur; and is miles ahead of the toiling Official Gentleman, +all the way. [Adelung, iii. A, 52.] + +In the dreary mass of long-winded ceremonial nothingnesses, and +intricate Belleisle cobwebberies, we seize this one poor speck of +human foolery in the native state, as almost the memorablest in that +stupendous business. Stupendous indeed; with which all Germany has been +in travail these sixteen months, on such terms! And in verity has got +the thing called "German Kaiser" constituted, better or worse. Heavens, +was a Nation ever so bespun by gossamer; enchanted into paralysis, by +mountains of extinct tradition, and the want of power to annihilate +rubbish! There are glittering threads of the finest Belleisle +diplomacy, which seem to go beyond the Dog-star, and to be radiant, and +irradiative, like paths of the gods: and they are, seem what they might, +poor threads of idle gossamer, sunk already to dusty cobweb, unpleasant +to poor human nature; poor human nature concerned only to get them +well swept into the fire. The quantities of which sad litter, in this +Universe, are very great!-- + +Karl Albert, now at the top-gallant of his hopes: homaged Archduke of +Upper Austria, homaged King of Bohemia, declared Kaiser of the German +Nation,--is the highest-titled mortal going: and, poor soul, it is +tragical, once more, to think what the reality of it was for him. +Ejection from house and home; into difficulty, poverty, despair; life in +furnished lodgings, which he could not pay;--and at last heart-break, +no refuge for him but in the grave. All which is mercifully hidden at +present; so that he seems to himself a man at the top-gallant of his +wishes; and lives pleasantly, among his friends, with a halo round his +head to his own foolish sense and theirs. + +"Karl Albert, Kurfurst of Baiern [lazy readers ought to be reminded], +whose achievements will concern us to an unpleasant extent, for some +years, is now a lean man of forty-five; lean, erect, and of middle +stature; a Prince of distinguished look, they say; of elegant manners, +and of fair extent of accomplishment, as Princes go. His experiences in +this world, and sudden ups and downs, have been and will be many. Note a +few particulars of them; the minimum of what are indispensable here. + +"English readers know a Maximilian Kurfurst of Baiern, who took into +French courses in the great Spanish-Succession War; the Anti-Marlborough +Maximilian, who was quite ruined out by the Battle of Blenheim; put +under Ban of the Empire, and reduced to depend on Louis XIV. for a +living,--till times mended with him again; till, after the Peace of +Utrecht, he got reinstated in his Territories; and lived a dozen years +more, in some comparative comfort, though much sunk in debt. Well, our +Karl Albert is the son of that Anti-Marlborough Kurfurst Maximilian; +eldest surviving son; a daughter of the great Sobieski of Poland was his +mother. Nay, he is great-grandson of another still more distinguished +Maximilian, him of the Thirty-Years War,--(who took the Jesuits to his +very heart, and let loose Ate on his poor Country for the sake of them, +in a determined manner; and was the First of all the Bavarian KURFURSTS, +mere Dukes till then; having got for himself the poor Winter-King's +Electorship, or split it into two as ultimately settled, out of that bad +Business),--great-grandson, we say, of that forcible questionable First +Kurfurst Max; and descends from Kaiser Ludwig, 'Ludwig the BAIER,' if +that is much advantage to him. + +"In his young time he had a hard upcoming; seven years old at the Battle +of Blenheim, and Papa living abroad under Louis XIV.'s shelter, the poor +Boy was taken charge of by the victorious Austrian Kaisers, and brought +up in remote Austrian Towns, as a young 'Graf von Wittelsbach' +(nothing but his family name left him), mere Graf and private nobleman +henceforth. However, fortune took the turn we know, and he became Prince +again; nothing the worse for this Spartan part of his breeding. He made +the Grand Tour, Italy, France, perhaps more than once; saw, felt, and +tasted; served slightly, at a Siege of Belgrade (one of the many Sieges +of Belgrade);--wedded, in 1722, a Daughter of the late Kaiser Joseph's, +niece of the late Kaiser Karl's, cousin of Maria Theresa's; making the +due 'renunciations,' as was thought; and has been Kurfurst himself +for the last fourteen Years, ever since 1726, when his Father died. A +thrifty Kurfurst, they say, or at least has occasionally tried to be +so, conscious of the load of debts left on him; fond of pomps withal, +extremely polite, given to Devotion and to BILLETS-DOUX; of gracious +address, generous temper (if he had the means), and great skill in +speaking languages. Likes hunting a little,--likes several things, we +see!--has lived tolerably with his Wife and children; tolerably with +his Neighbors (though sour upon the late Kaiser now and then); and is +an ornament to Munchen, and well liked by the population there. A +lean, elegaut, middle-sized gentleman; descended direct from Ludwig the +ancient Kaiser; from Maximilian the First Kurfurst, who walked by the +light of Father Lammerlein (LAMBKIN) and Company, thinking IT light from +Heaven; and lastly is son of Maximilian the Third Kurfurst, whom learned +English readers know as the Anti-Marlborough one, ruined out by the +Battle of Blenheim. + +"His most important transaction hitherto has been the marriage with +Kaiser Joseph's Daughter;--of which, in Pollnitz somewhere, there is +sublime account; forgettable, all except the date (Vienna, 5th October, +1722), if by chance that should concern anybody. Karl Albert (KURPRINZ, +Electoral Prince or Heir-Apparent, at that time) made free renunciation +of all right to Austrian Inheritances, in such terms as pleased Karl +VI., the then Kaiser; the due complete 'renunciations' of inheriting in +Austria; and it was hoped he would at once sign the Pragmatic Sanction, +when published; but he has steadily refused to do so; 'I renounced for +my Wife,' says Kurfurst Karl, 'and will never claim an inch of Austrian +land on her account; but my own right, derived from Kaiser Ferdinand of +blessed memory, who was Father of my Great-grandmother, I did not, do +not, never will renounce; and I appeal to HIS Pragmatic Sanction, the +much older and alone valid one, according to which, it is not you, it is +I that am the real and sole Heir of Austria.' + +"This he says, and has steadily said or meant: 'It is I that am to be +King of Bohemia; I that shall and will inherit all your Austrias, Upper, +Under, your Swabian Brisgau or Hither Austria, and what of the Tyrol +remained wanting to me. Your Archduchess will have Hungary, the +Styrian-Carinthian Territories; Florence, I suppose, and the Italian +ones. What is hers by right I will be one of those that defend for her; +what is not hers, but mine, I will defend against her, to the best of +my ability!' This was privately, what it is now publicly, his argument; +from which he never would depart; refusing always to accept Kaiser +Karl's new Pragmatic Sanction; getting Saxony (who likewise had a +Ferdinand great-grandmother) to refuse,--till Polish Election compelled +poor Saxony, for a time. Karl Albert had likewise secretly, in past +years, got his abstruse old Cousin of the Pfalz (who mended the +Heidelberg Tun) to back him in a Treaty; nay, still better, still more +secretly, had got France itself to promise eventual hacking:--and, on +the whole, lived generally on rather bad terms with the late Kaiser +Karl, his Wife's Uncle; any reconciliation they had proving always +of temporary nature. In the Rhenish War (1734), Karl Albert, far from +assisting the Kaiser, raised large forces of his own; kept drilling +them, in four or three camps, in an alarming manner; and would not even +send his Reich's Contingent (small body of 3,000 he is by law bound +to send), till he perceived the War was just expiring. He was in angry +controversy with the Kaiser, claiming debts,--debts contracted in the +last generation, and debts going back to the Thirty-Years War, amounting +to hundreds of millions,--when the poor Kaiser died; refusing payment to +the last, nay claiming lands left HIM, he says, by Margaret Mouthpoke: +[Michaelis, ii. 260; Buchholz, ii. 9; Hormayr, _Anemonen,_ ii. 182; +&c.] 'Cannot pay your Serene Highness (having no money); and would not, +if I could!' Leaving Karl Albert to protest to the uttermost;"--which, +as we ourselves saw in Vienna, he at once honorably did. + +Karl Albert's subsequent history is known to readers; except the +following small circumstance, which occurred in his late transit, +flight, or whatever we may call it, to Mannheim, and is pleasantly made +notable to us by Wilhelmina. "His Highness on the way from Munchen," +intimates our Princess, "passed through Baireuth in a very bad +post-chaise." This, as we elsewhere pick out, was on January 16th; Karl +Albert in post-haste for the marriage-ceremony, which takes place at +Mannheim to-morrow. [Adelung, iii. A, 51.] "My Margraf, accidentally +hearing, galloped after him, came up with him about fifteen miles away: +they embraced, talked half an hour; very content, both." [Wilhelmina, +ii. 334.] + +And eight days afterwards, 24th January, 1742, busy Belleisle (how busy +for this year past, since we saw him in the OEil-de-Boeuf!) gets him +elected Kaiser;--and Segur, in the self-same hours, is packing out +of Linz; and one's Donau "Conquests," not to say one's Munchen, one's +Baiern itself, are in a fine way! The marriage-ceremony, witnessed on +the 17th, was one of the sublimest for Kur-Pfalz and kindred; and it too +had secretly a touch of tragedy in it for the Poor Karl Albert. A double +marriage: Two young Princesses, Grand-daughters, priceless Heiresses, +to old Kur-Pfalz; married, one of them to Duke Clement of Baiern, Karl +Albert's nephew, which is well enough: but married, the other and elder +of them, to Theodor of Deux-Ponts, who will one day--could we pierce the +merciful veil--be Kurfurst of Baiern, and succeed our own childless Son! +[Michaelis, ii. 265.] + +"Kaiser Karl VII.," such the style he took, is to be crowned February +12th; makes sublime Public Entry into Frankfurt, with that view, +January 31st;--both ceremonies splendid to a wonder, in spite of finance +considerations. Which circumstance should little concern us, were it +not that Wilhelmina, hearing the great news (though in a dim ill-dated +state), decided to be there and see; did go;--and has recorded her +experiences there, in a shrill human manner. Wishful to see our +fellow-creatures (especially if bound to look at them), even when they +are fallen phantasmal, and to make persons of them again, we will give +this Piece; sorry that it is the last we have of that fine hand. How +welcome, in the murky puddle of Dryasdust, is any glimpse by a lively +glib Wilhelmina, which we can discern to be human! Hear what Wilhelmina +says (in a very condensed form):-- + + + + +WILHELMINA AT THE CORONATION. + +Wilhelmina, in the end of January, 1742,--Karl Albert having shot +past, one day lately, in a bad post-chaise, and kindled the thought +in her,--resolved to go and see him crowned at Frankfurt, by way of +pleasure-excursion. We will, struggling to be briefer, speak in her +person; and indicate withal where the very words are hers, and where +ours. + +The Marwitz, elder Marwitz, her poor father being wounded at Mollwitz, +[_Militair-Lexikon,_ iii. 23; and _Preussische Adels-Lexikon,_ iii. +365.] had gone to Berlin to nurse him; but she returned just now,--not +much to my joy; I being, with some cause, jealous of that foolish minx. +The Duchess Dowager of Wurtemberg also came, sorrow on her; a foolish +talking woman, always cutting jokes, making eyes, giggling and +coquetting; "HAS some wit and manner, but wearies you at last: her +charms, now on the decline, were never so considerable as rumor said; in +the long-run she bores you with her French gayeties and sprightliness: +her character for gallantry is too notorious. She quite corrupted +Marwitz, in this and a subsequent visit; turned the poor girl's head +into a French whirligig, and undermined any little moral principle she +had. She was on the road to Berlin,"--of which anon, for it is not quite +nothing to us;--"but she was in no hurry, and would right willingly have +gone with us." And it required all our female diplomacy to get her +under way again, and fairly out of our course. January 28th, SHE off to +Berlin; WE, same day, to Frankfurt-on-Mayn. [Wilhelmina, ii. 334; see +pp. 335, 338, 347, &c. for the other salient points that follow.] + +Coronation was to have been (or we Country-folk thought it was), January +31st: Let us be there INCOGNITO, the night before; see it, and return +the day after. That was our plan. Bad roads, waters all out; we had to +go night and day;--reached the gates of Frankfurt, 30th January late. +Berghover, our Legationsrath there, says we are known everywhere; +Coronation is not to be till February 12th! I was fatigued to death, a +bad cold on me, too: we turned back to the last Village; stayed there +overnight. Back again to Berghover, in secret (A LA SOURDINE), next +night; will see the Public Entry of Karl Albert, which is to be +to-morrow (not quite, my Princess; January 31st for certain, [Adelung, +iii. A, 63; &c. &c.] did one the least care). "It was a very grand thing +indeed (DES PLUS SUPERBES); but I will not stop describing it. Masked +ball that night; where I had much amusement, tormenting the masks; not +being known to anybody. We next day retired to a small private +House, which Berghover had got for us, out of Town, for fear of +being discovered; and lodged there, waiting February 12th, under +difficulties." + +The weather was bitterly cold; we had brought no clothes; my dames and +I nothing earthly but a black ANDRIENNE each (whatever that may be), +to spare bulk of luggage: strictest incognito was indispensable. +The Marwitzes, for giggling, raillery, French airs, and absolute +impertinence, were intolerable, in that solitary place. We return to +Frankfurt again; have balls and theatres, at least: "of these latter I +missed none. One evening, my head-dress got accidentally shoved awry, +and exposed my face for a moment; Prince George of Hessen-Cassel, +who was looking that way, recognized me; told the Prince of Orange of +it;--they are in our box, next minute!" + +Prince George of Hessen-Cassel, did readers ever hear of him before? +Transiently perhaps, in Friedrich's LETTERS TO HIS FATHER; but have +forgotten him again; can know him only as the outline of a shadow. A +fat solid military man of fifty; junior Brother of that solid WILHELM, +Vice-regent and virtual "Landgraf of Hessen"--(VICE an elder and eldest +Brother, FRIEDRICH, the now Majesty of Sweden, who is actual Hereditary +Landgraf, but being old, childless, idle, takes no hold of it, and quite +leaves it to Wilhelm),--of whom English readers may have heard, and will +hear. For it is Wilhelm that hires us those "subsidized 6,000," who go +blaring about on English pay (Prince George merely Commandant of them); +and Wilhelm, furthermore, has wedded his Heir-Apparent to an English +Princess lately; [Princess Mary (age only about seventeen), 28th June, +1740; Prince's name was Friedrich (became Catholic, 1749; WIFE made +family-manager in Consequence, &c. &c.).] which also (as the poor young +fellow became Papist by and by) costs certain English people, among +others, a good deal of trouble. Uncle George, we say, is merely +Commandant of those blaring 6,000; has had his own real soldierings +before this; his own labors, contradictions, in his time; but has borne +all patiently, and grown fat upon it, not quarrelling with his burdens +or his nourishments. Perhaps we may transiently meet him again. + +As to the Prince of Orange, him we have seen more than once in times +past: a young fellow in comparison, sprightly, reckoned clever, but +somewhat humpbacked; married an English Princess, years ago ("Papa, if +he were as ugly as a baboon!")--which fine Princess, we find, has stopt +short at Cassel, too fatigued on the present occasion. "His ESPRIT," +continues Wilhelmina, "and his conversation, delighted me. His Wife, +he said, was at Cassel; he would persuade her to come and make my +acquaintance;"--could not; too far, in this cold season. "These two +Serene Highnesses would needs take me home in their carriage; they asked +the Margraf to let them stay supper: from that hour they were never out +of our house. Next morning, by means of them, the secret had got abroad. +Kur-Koln [lanky hook-nosed gentleman, richest Pluralist in the Church] +had set spies on us; next evening he came up to me, and said, 'Madam, +I know your Highness; you must dance a measure with me!' That comes of +one's head-gear getting awry! We had nothing for it but to give up the +incognito, and take our fate!" + +This dancing Elector of Koln, a man still only entering his forties, is +the new Emperor's Brother: [Clement August (Hubner, t. 134).] do readers +wonder to see him dance, being an Archbishop? The fact is certain,--let +the Three Kings and the Eleven Thousand Virgins say to it what they +will. "He talked a long time with me; presented to me the Princess +Clemence his Niece [that is to say, Wife of his Nephew ClemENT; one +of the Two whom his now Imperial Majesty saw married the other +day], [Michaelis, ii. 256, 123; Hubner, tt. 141, 134.] and then the +Princess"--in fact, presented all the three Sulzbach Princesses (for +there is a youngest, still to wed),--"and then Prince Theodor [happy +Husband of the eldest], and Prince Clement [ditto of the younger];" and +was very polite indeed. How keep our incognito, with all these people +heaping civilities upon us? Let us send to Baireuth for clothes, +equipages; and retire to our country concealment till they arrive. + +"Just as we were about setting off thither, I waiting till the Margraf +were ready, the Xargraf entered, and a Lady with him; who, he informed +me, was Madame de Belleisle, the French Ambassador's Wife:"--Wife of +the great Belleisle, the soul of all these high congregatings, +consultations, coronations, who is not Kaiser but maker of Kaisers: what +is to be done!--"I had carefully avoided her; reckoning she would have +pretensions I should not be in the humor to grant. I took my resolution +at the moment [being a swift decisive creature]; and received her like +any other Lady that might have come to me. Her visit was not long. The +conversation turned altogether upon praises of the King [my Brother]. I +found Madame de Belleisle very different from the notion I had formed +of her. You could see she had moved in high company (SENTAIT SON MONDE); +but her air appeared to me that of a waiting-maid (SOUBRETTE), and her +manners insignificant." Let Madame take that. + +"Monseigneur himself," when our equipages had come, "waited on me +several times,"--Monseigueur the grand Marechal de Belleisle, among the +other Principalities and Lordships: but of this lean man in black (who +has done such famous things, and will have to do the Retreat of Prag +within year and day), there is not a word farther said. Old Seckendorf +too is here; "Reich's-Governor of Philipsburg;" very ill with Austria, +no wonder; and striving to be well with the new Kaiser. Doubtless +old Seckendorf made his visit too (being of Baireuth kin withal), +and snuffled his respects: much unworthy of mention; not lovely to +Wilhelmina. Prince of Orange, hunchbacked, but sprightly and much the +Prince, bore me faithful company all the Coronation time; nor was George +of Hessen-Cassel wanting, good fat man. + +Of the Coronation itself, though it was truly grand, and even of an +Oriental splendor,[_Anemonen,_ ubi supra.] I will say nothing. The poor +Kaiser could not enjoy it much. He was dying of gout and gravel, and +could scarcely stand on his feet. Poor gentleman; and the French are +driven dismally out of Linz; and the Austrians are spreading like a +lava-flood or general conflagration over Baiern--Demon Mentzel, whom +they call Colonel Mentzel, he (if we knew it) is in Munchen itself, +just as we are getting crowned here! And unless King Friedrich, who is +falling into Mahren, in the flank of them, call back this Infernal Chase +a little, what hope is there in those parts!--The poor Kaiser, oftenest +in his bed, is courting all manner of German Princes,--consulting with +Seckendorfs, with cunning old stagers. He has managed to lead my Margraf +into a foolish bargain, about raising men for him. Which bargain I, on +fairly getting sight of it, persuade my Margraf to back out of; and, +in the end, he does so. Meanwhile, it detains us some time longer in +Frankfurt, which is still full of Principalities, busy with visitings +and ceremonials. + +Among other things, by way of forwarding that Bargain I was so averse +to, our Official People had settled that I could not well go without +having seen the Empress, after her crowning. Foolish people; entangling +me in new intricacies! For if she is a Kaiser's Daughter and Kaiser's +Spouse, am not I somewhat too? "How a King's Daughter and an Empress are +to meet, was probably never settled by example: what number of steps +down stairs does she come? The arm-chair (FAUTEUIL), is that to +be denied me?" And numerous other questions. The official people, +Baireuthers especially, are in despair; and, in fact, there were scenes. +But I held firm; and the Berlin ambassadors tempering, a medium was +struck: steps of stairs, to the due number, are conceded me; arm-chair +no, but the Empress to "take a very small arm-chair," and I to have a +big common chair (GRAND DOSSIER). So we meet, and I have sight of this +Princess, next day. + +In her place, I confess I would have invented all manner of etiquettes, +or any sort of contrivance, to save myself from showing face. "Heavens! +The Empress is below middle size, and so corpulent (PUISSANTE), she +looks like a ball; she is ugly to the utmost (LAIDE AU POSSIBLE), and +without air or grace." Kaiser Joseph's youngest Daughter,--the gods, +it seems, have not been kind to her in figure or feature! And her mind +corresponds to her appearance: she is bigoted to excess; passes +her nights and days in her oratory, with mere rosaries and gaunt +superstitious platitudes of that nature; a dark fat dreary little +Empress. "She was all in a tremble in receiving me; and had so +discountenanced an air, she could n't speak a word. We took seats. After +a little silence, I began the conversation, in French. She answered me +in her Austrian jargon, That she did not well understand that language, +and begged I would speak to her in German. Our conversation was not +long. Her Austrian dialect and my Lower-Saxon are so different that, +till you have practised, you are not mutually intelligible in them. +Accordingly we were not. A by-stander would have split with laughing at +the Babel we made of it; each catching only a word here and there, and +guessing the rest. This Princess was so tied to her etiquette, she would +have reckoned it a crime against the Reich to speak to me in a foreign +language; for she knew French well enough. + +"The Kaiser was to have been of this visit; but he had fallen so ill, he +was considered even in danger of his life. Poor Prince, what a lot had +he achieved for himself!" reflects Wilhelmina, as we often do. He was +soft, humane, affable; had the gift of captivating hearts. Not without +talent either; but then of an ambition far disproportionate to it. +"Would have shone in the second rank, but in the first went sorrowfully +eclipsed," as they say! He could not be a great man, nor had about him +any one that could; and he needed now to be so. This is the service a +Belleisle can do; inflating a poor man to Kaisership, beyond his natural +size! Crowned Kaiser, and Mentzel just entering his Munchen the while; +a Kaiser bedrid, stranded; lying ill there of gout and gravel, with +the Demon Mentzels eating him:--well may his poor little bullet of a +Kaiserinn pray for him night and day, if that will avail!-- + + + + +THE DUCHESS DOWAGER OF WURTEMBERG, RETURNING FROM BERLIN FAVORS US WITH +ANOTHER VISIT. + +I am sorry to say this is almost the last scene we shall get out of +Wilhelmina. She returns to Baireuth; breaks there conclusively that +unwise Frankfurt bargain; receives by and by (after several months, +when much has come and gone in the world) the returning Duchess of +Wurtemberg, effulgent Dowager "spoken of only as a Lais:" and has other +adventures, alluded to up and down, but not put in record by herself any +farther.--Sorrowfully let us hear Wilhelmina yet a little, on this Lais +Duchess, who will concern us somewhat. Dowager, much too effulgent, of +the late Karl Alexander, a Reichs-Feldmarschall (or FOURTH-PART of one, +if readers could remember) and Duke of Wurtemberg,--whom we once dined +with at Prag, in old Friedrich-Wilhelm and Prince-Eugene times:-- + +"This Princess, very famous on the bad side, had been at Berlin to see +her three Boys settled there, whose education she [and the STANDE of +Wurtemberg, she being Regent] had committed to the King. These Princes +had been with us on their road thither, just before their Mamma last +time. The Eldest, age fourteen, had gone quite agog (S'ETOIT AMOURACHE) +about my little Girl, age only nine; and had greatly diverted us by his +little gallantries [mark that, with an Alas!]. The Duchess, following +somewhat at leisure, had missed the King that time; who was gone for +Mahren, January 18th. ... I found this Princess wearing pretty well. Her +features are beautiful, but her complexion is faded and very yellow. Her +voice is so high and screechy, it cuts your ears; she does not want for +wit, and expresses herself well. Her manners are engaging for those whom +she wishes to gain; and with men are very free. Her way of thinking and +acting offers a strange contrast of pride and meanness. Her gallantries +had brought her into such repute that I had no pleasure in her visits." +[Wilhelmina, ii. 335.] No pleasure; though she often came; and her +Eldest Prince, and my little Girl--Well, who knows! + +Besides her three Boys (one of whom, as Reigning Duke, will become +notorious enough to Wilhelmina and mankind), the Lais Duchess has left +at Berlin--at least, I guess she has now left him, in exchange perhaps +for some other--a certain very gallant, vagabond young Marquis d'Argens, +"from Constantinople" last; originally from the Provence countries; +extremely dissolute creature, still young (whom Papa has had to +disinherit), but full of good-humor, of gesticulative loyal talk, and +frothy speculation of an Anti-Jesuit turn (has written many frothy +Books, too, in that strain, which are now forgotten): who became a very +great favorite with Friedrich, and will be much mentioned in subsequent +times. + +"In the end of July," continues Wilhelmina, "we went to Stouccard +[Stuttgard, capital of Wurtemberg, O beautiful glib tongue!], whither +the Duchess had invited us: but--" And there we are on blank paper; +our dear Wilhelmina has ceased speaking to us: her MEMOIRS end; and +oblivious silence wraps the remainder!-- + +Concerning this effulgent Dowager of Wurtemberg, and her late ways at +Berlin, here, from Bielfeld, is another snatch, which we will excerpt, +under the usual conditions: + +"BERLIN, FEBRUARY, 1742 [real date of all that is not fabulous in +Bielfeld, who chaotically dates it "6th December" of that Year]. ... A +day or two after this [no matter WHAT] I went to the German Play, the +only spectacle which is yet fairly afoot in Berlin. In passing in, I +noticed the Duchess Dowager of Wurtemberg, who had arrived, during my +absence, with a numerous and brilliant suite, as well to salute the King +and the Queens [King off, on his Moravian Business, before she came], +and to unite herself more intimately with our Court, as to see the Three +Princes her Children settled in their new place, where, by consent of +the States of Wurtemberg, they are to be educated henceforth. + +"As I had not yet had myself presented to the Duchess, I did not presume +to approach too near, and passed up into the Theatre. But she noticed +me in the side-scenes; asked who I was [such a handsome fashionable +fellow], and sent me order to come immediately and pay my respects. To +be sure, I did so; was most graciously received; and, of course, called +early next day at her Palace. Her Grand-Chamberlain had appointed me the +hour of noon. He now introduced me accordingly: but what was my surprise +to find the Princess in bed; in a negligee all new from the laundress, +and the gallantest that art could imagine! On a table, ready to her +hand, at the DOSSIER or bed-bead, stood a little Basin silver-gilt, +filled with Holy Water: the rest was decorated with extremely precious +Relics, with a Crucifix, and a Rosary of rock-crystal. Her dress, the +cushions, quilt, all was of Marseilles stuff, in the finest series of +colors, garnished with superb lace. Her cap was of Alencon lace, knotted +with a ribbon of green and gold. Figure to yourself, in this gallant +deshabille, a charming Princess, who has all the wit, perfection of +manner--and is still only thirty-seven, with a beauty that was once so +brilliant! Round the celestial bed were courtiers, doctors, almoners, +mostly in devotional postures; the three young Princes; and a Dame +d'Atours, who seemed to look slightly ENNUYEE or bored." I had the honor +to kiss her Serene Highness's hand, and to talk a great many peppered +insipidities suitable to the occasion. + +Dinner followed, more properly supper, with lights kindled: "Only I +cannot dress, you know," her Highness had said; "I never do, except for +the Queen-Mother's parties;"--and rang for her maids. So that you are +led out to the Anteroom, and go grinning about, till a new and still +more charming deshabille be completed, and her Most Serene Highness +can receive you again: "Now Messieurs! Pshaw, one is always stupid, +no ESPRIT at all except by candlelight!"--After which, such a dinner, +unmatchable for elegance, for exquisite gastronomy, for Attic-Paphian +brilliancy and charm! And indeed there followed hereupon, for weeks on +weeks, a series of such unmatchable little dinners; chief parts, under +that charming Presidency, being done by "Grand-Chamberlain Baron de" +Something-or-other, "by your humble servant Bielfeld, M. Jordan, and +a Marquis d'Argens, famous Provencal gentleman now in the suite of her +Highness:" [Bielfeld, ii. 74-78.]--feasts of the Barmecide I much doubt, +poor Bielfeld being in this Chapter very fantastic, MISDATEful to a mad +extent; and otherwise, except as to general effect, worth little serious +belief. + +We shall meet this Paphian Dowager again (Crucifix and Myrtle joined): +meet especially her D'Argens, and her Three little Princes more or +less;--wherefore, mark slightly (besides the D'Argens as above):-- + +"1. The Eldest little Prince, Karl Eugen; made 'Reigning Duke' within +three years hence [Mamma falling into trouble with the STANDE]: a man +still gloomily famous in Germany [Poet Schiller's Duke of Wurtemberg], +of inarticulate, extremely arbitrary turn,--married Wilhelmina's +Daughter by and by [with horrible usage of her]; and otherwise gave +Friedrich and the world cause to think of him. + +"2. The Second little Prince, Friedrich Eugen, Prussian General of some +mark, who will incidentally turn up again, He was afterwards Successor +to the Dukedom [Karl Eugen dying childless]; and married his Daughter to +Paul of Russia, from whom descend the Autocrats there to this day. + +"3. Youngest little Prince, Ludwig Eugen, a respectable Prussian +Officer, and later a French one: he is that 'Duc de Wirtemberg' who +corresponds with Voltaire [inscrutable to readers, in most of the +Editions]; and need not be mentioned farther." [See Michaelis, iii. 449; +Preuss, i. 476; &c. &c.] + +But enough of all this. It is time we were in Mahren, where the +Expedition must be blazing well ahead, if things have gone as expected. + + + + +Chapter X. -- FRIEDRICH DOES HIS MORAVIAN EXPEDITION WHICH PROVES A MERE +MORAVIAN FORAY. + + +While these Coronation splendors had been going on, Friedrich, in the +Moravian regions, was making experiences of a rather painful kind; his +Expedition prospering there far otherwise than he had expected. This +winter Expedition to Mahren was one of the first Friedrich had ever +undertaken on the Joint-stock Principle; and it proved of a kind rather +to disgust him with that method in affairs of war. + +A deeply disappointing Expedition. The country hereabouts was in bad +posture of defence; nothing between us and Vienna itself, in a manner. +Rushing briskly forward, living on the country where needful, on that +Iglau Magazine, on one's own Sechelles resources; rushing on, with +the Saxons, with the French, emulous on the right hand and the left, +a Captain like Friedrich might have gone far; Vienna itself--who +knows!--not yet quite beyond the reach of him. Here was a way to +check Khevenhuller in his Bavarian Operations, and whirl him back, +double-quick, for another object nearer home!--But, alas, neither the +Saxons nor the French would rush on, in the least emulous. The Saxons +dragged heavily arear; the French Detachment (a poor 5,000 under +Polastron, all that a captious Broglio could be persuaded to grant) +would not rush at all, but paused on the very frontier of Moravia, +Broglio so ordering, and there hung supine, or indeed went home. + +Friedrich remonstrated, argued, turned back to encourage; but it was +in vain. The Saxon Bastard Princes "lived for days in any Schloss they +found comfortable;" complaining always that there was no victual for +their Troops; that the Prussians, always ahead, had eaten the country. +No end to haggling; and, except on Friedrich's part, no hearty beginning +to real business. "If you wish at all to be 'King of Moravia,' what is +this!" thinks Friedrich justly. Broglio, too, was unmanageable,--piqued +that Valori, not Broglio, had started the thing;--showed himself +captious, dark, hysterically effervescent, now over-cautious, and again +capable of rushing blindly headlong. + +To Broglio the fact at Linz, which everybody saw to be momentous, was +overwhelming. Magnanimous Segur, and his Linz "all wedged with beams," +what a road have they gone! Said so valiantly they would make defence; +and did it, scarcely for four days: January 24th; before this Expedition +could begin! True, M. le Marechal, too true:--and is that a reason +for hanging back in this Mahren business; or for pushing on in it, +double-quick, with all one's strength? "But our Conquests on the Donau," +thinks Broglio, "what will become of them,--and of us!" To Broglio, +justly apprehensive about his own posture at Prag and on the Donau, +there never was such a chance of at once raking back all Austrians +homewards, post-haste out of those countries. But Broglio could by no +means see it so,--headstrong, blusterous, over-cautious and hysterically +headlong old gentleman; whose conduct at Prag here brought Strasburg +vividly to Friedrich's memory. Upon which, as upon the ghost of +Broglio's Breeches, Valori had to hear "incessant sarcasms" at this +time. + +In a word, from February 5th, when Friedrich, according to bargain, +rendezvoused his Prussians at Wischau to begin this Expedition, till +April 5th, when he re-rendezvoused them (at the same Wischau, as +chanced) for the purpose of ending it and going home,--Friedrich, +wrestling his utmost with Human Stupidity, "MIT DER DUMMHEIT +[as Schiller sonorously says], against which the very gods are +unvictorious," had probably two of the most provoking months of his +Life, or of this First Silesian War, which was fruitful in such to him. +For the common cause he accomplished nearly nothing by this Moravian +Expedition. But, to his own mind, it was rich in experiences, as to the +Joint-Stock Principle, as to the Partners he now had. And it doubtless +quickened his steps towards getting personally out of this imbroglio of +big French-German Wars,--home to Berlin, with Peace and Silesia in his +pocket,--which had all along been the goal of his endeavors. As a +feat of war it is by no means worth detailing, in this place,--though +succinct Stille, and bulkier German Books give lucid account, should +anybody chance to be curious. [Stille, _Campaigns of the King of +Prussia,_ i. 1-55; _Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 548-611; _OEuvres de +Frederic,_ ii. 110-114; Orlich, ii.; &c. &c.] Only under the other +aspect, as Friedrich's experience of Partnership, and especially of his +now Partners, are present readers concerned to have, in brief form, some +intelligible notion of it. + + + + +IGLAU IS GOT, BUT NOT THE MAGAZINE AT IGLAU. + +Friedrich was punctual at Wischau; Head-quarters there (midway between +Olmutz and Brunn), Prussians all assembled, 5th February, 1742. Wischau +is some eighty miles EAST or inward of Iglau; the French and Saxons are +to meet us about Trebitsch, a couple of marches from that Teutschbrod +of theirs, and well within one march of Iglau, on our route thither. +The French and Saxons are at Trebitsch, accordingly; but their minds +and wills seem to be far elsewhere. Rutowsky and the Chevalier de Saxe +command the Saxons (20,000 strong on paper, 16,000 in reality); Comte +de Polastron the French, who are 5,000, all Horse. Along with whom, +professedly as French Volunteer, has come the Comte de Saxe, capricious +Maurice (Marechal de Saxe that will be), who has always viewed +this Expedition with disfavor. Excellency Valori is with the French +Detachment, or rather poor Valori is everywhere; running about, from +quarter to quarter, sometimes to Prag itself; assiduous to heal rents +everywhere; clapping cement into manifold cracks, from day to day. +Through Valori we get some interesting glimpses into the secret humors +and manoeuvres of Comte Maurice. It is known otherwise Comte Maurice was +no friend to Belleisle, but looked for his promotion from the opposite +or Noailles party, in the French Court: at present, as Valori perceives, +he has got the ear of Broglio, and put much sad stuff into the loud +foolish mind of him. + +To these Saxon gentlemen, being Bastard-Royal and important to +conciliate, Friedrich has in a high-flown way assigned the Schloss of +Budischau for quarters, an excellent superbly magnificent mansion in +the neighborhood of Trebitsch, "nothing like it to be seen except +in theatres, on the Drop-scene of _The Enchanted Island;"_ [Stille, +_Campaigns,_ p. 14.] where they make themselves so comfortable, says +Friedrich, there is no getting them roused to do anything for three days +to come. And yet the work is urgent, and plenty of it. "Iglau, first of +all," urges Friedrich, "where the Austrians, 10,000 or so, under Prince +Lobkowitz, have posted themselves [right flank of that long straggle of +Winter Cantonments, which goes leftwards to Budweis and farther], and +made Magazines: possession of Iglau is the foundation-stone of our +affairs. And if we would have Iglau WITH the Magazines and not without, +surely there is not a moment to be wasted!" In vain; the Saxon Bastard +Princes feel themselves very comfortable. It was Sunday the 11th of +February, when our junction with them was completed: and, instead of +next morning early, it is Wednesday afternoon before Prince Dietrich +of Anhalt-Dessau, with the Saxon and French party roused to join his +Prussians and him, can at last take the road for Iglau. Prince Dietrich +makes now the reverse of delay; marches all night, "bivouacs in woods +near Iglau," warming himself at stick-fires till the day break; takes +Iglau by merely marching into it and scattering 2,000 Pandours, so soon +as day has broken; but finds the Magazines not there. Lobkowitz carted +off what he could, then burnt "Seventeen Barns yesterday;" and is +himself off towards Budweis Head-quarters and the Bohemian bogs again. +This comes of lodging Saxon royal gentlemen too well. + + + + +THE SAXONS THINK IGLAU ENOUGH; THE FRENCH GO HOME. + +Nay, Iglau taken, the affair grows worse than ever. Our Saxons now +declare that they understand their orders to be completed; that their +Court did not mean them to march farther, but only to hold by Iglau, +a solid footing in Moravia, which will suffice for the present. Fancy +Friedrich; fancy Valori, and the cracks he will have to fill! Friedrich, +in astonishment and indignation, sends a messenger to Dresden: "Would +the Polish Majesty BE 'King of Moravia,' then, or not be?" Remonstrances +at Budischau rise higher and higher; Valori, to prevent total explosion, +flies over once, in the dead of the night, to deal with Rutowsky and +Brothers. Rutowsky himself seems partly persuadable, though dreadfully +ill of rheumatism. They rouse Comte Maurice; and Valori, by this +Comte's caprices, is driven out of patience. "He talked with a flippant +sophistry, almost with an insolence" says Valori; "nay, at last, he made +me a gesture in speaking,"--what gesture, thumb to nose, or what, the +shuddering imagination dare not guess! But Valori, nettled to the quick, +"repeated it," and otherwise gave him as good as he brought. "He ended +by a gesture which displeased me"--"and went to bed." [Valori, i. 148, +149.] This is the night of February 18th; third night after Iglau was +had, and the Magazines in it gone to ashes. Which the Saxons think is +conquest enough. + +Poor Polish Majesty, poor Karl Albert, above all, now "Kaiser Karl +VII.," with nothing but those French for breath to his nostrils! With +his fine French Army of the Oriflamme, Karl Albert should have pushed +along last Autumn; and not merely "read the Paper" which Friedrich +sent him to that effect, "and then laid it aside." They will never have +another chance, his French and he,--unless we call this again a chance; +which they are again squandering! Linz went by capitulation; January +24th, the very day of one's "Election" as they called it: and ever +since that day of Linz, the series of disasters has continued rapid and +uniform in those parts. Linz gone, the rest of the French posts did not +even wait to capitulate; but crackled all off, they and our Conquests +on the Donau, like a train of gunpowder, and left the ground bare. And +General von Barenklau (BEAR'S-CLAW), with the hideous fellow called +Mentzel, Colonel of Pandours, they have broken through into Bavaria +itself, from the Tyrol; climbing by Berchtesgaden and the wild Salzburg +Mountains, regardless of Winter, and of poor Bavarian militia-folk;--and +have taken Munchen, one's very Capital, one's very House and Home!--Poor +Karl Albert,--and, what is again remarkable, it was the very day while +he was getting "crowned" at Frankfurt, "with Oriental pomp," that +Mentzel was about entering Munchen with his Pandours. [Coronation was +February 12th; Capitulation to Mentzel, "Munchen, February 13th," is in +_ Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 56-59.] And this poor Archduke of the Austrian, +King of Bohemia, Kaiser of the Holy Romish Reich Teutsch by Nation, is +becoming Titular merely, and owns next to nothing in these extensive +Sovereignties. Judge if there is not call for despatch on all +sides!--The Polish Majesty sent instant rather angry order to his +Saxons, "Forward, with you; what else! We would be King in Mahren!" + +The Saxons then have to march forward; but we can fancy with what a +will. Rutowsky flings up his command on this Order (let us hope, from +rheumatism partly), and goes home; leaving the Chevalier de Saxe +to preside in room of him. As for Polastron, he produces Order from +Broglio, "Iglau got, return straightway;" must and will cross over into +Bohemia again; and does. Nay, the Comte de Saxe had, privately in his +pocket, a Commission to supersede Polastron, and take command himself, +should Polastron make difficulties about turning back. Poor Polastron +made no difficulties: Maurice and he vanish accordingly from this +Adventure, and only the unwilling Saxons remain with Friedrich. Poor +Polastron ("a poor weak creature," says Friedrich, "fitter for +his breviary than anything else") fell sick, from the hardships of +campaigning; and soon died, in those Bohemian parts. Maurice is heard +of, some weeks hence, besieging Eger;--very handsomely capturing Eger: +[19th April, 1742 (_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 78-65).]--on which service +Broglio had ordered him after his return. The former Commandant of the +Siege, not very progressive, had just died; and Broglio, with reason +(all the more for his late Moravian procedures) was passionate to have +done there. One of the first auspicious exploits of Maurice, that of +Eger; which paved the way to his French fortunes, and more or less +sublime glories, in this War. Friedrich recognizes his ingenuities, +impetuosities, and superior talent in war; wrote high-flown Letters of +praises, now and then, in years coming; but, we may guess, would hardly +wish to meet Maurice in the way of joint-stock business again. + + + + +FRIEDRICH SUBMERGES THE MORAVIAN COUNTRIES; BUT CANNOT BRUNN, WHICH IS +THE INDISPENSABLE POINT. + +February 19th, these sad Iglau matters once settled, Friedrich, followed +by the Saxons, plunges forward into Moravia; spreads himself over +the country, levying heavy contributions, with strict discipline +nevertheless; intent to get hold of Brunn and its Spielberg, if he +could. Brunn is the strong place of Moravia; has a garrison of 6 or +7,000; still better, has the valiant Roth, whom we knew in Neisse once, +for Commandant: Brunn will not be had gratis. + +Schwerin, with a Detachment of 6,000 horse and foot, Posadowsky, +Ziethen, Schmettau Junior commanding under him, has dashed along far in +the van; towards Upper Austria, through the Town of Horn, towards Vienna +itself; levying, he also, heavy contributions,--with a hand of iron, +and not much of a glove on it, as we judge. There is a grim enough +Proclamation (in the name of a "frightfully injured Kaiser," as well as +Kaiser's Ally), still extant, bearing Schwerin's signature, and the date +"STEIN, 26th Feb. 1742." [In _Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 556.] Stein is +on the Donau, a mile or two from Krems, and twice as far from Mautern, +where the now Kaiser was in Autumn last. Forty and odd miles short of +Vienna: this proved the Pisgah of Schwerin in that direction, as it had +done of Karl Albert. Ziethen, with his Hussars coursed some 20 miles +farther, on the Vienna Highway; and got the length of Stockerau; a small +Town, notable slightly, ever since, as the Prussian NON-PLUS-ULTRA in +that line. + +Meanwhile, Prince Lobkowitz is rallying; has quitted Budweis and the +Bohemian Bogs, for some check of these insolences. Lobkowitz, rallying +to himself what Vienna force there is, comes, now in good strength, to +Waidhofen (rearward of Horn, far rearward of Stein and Stockerau), +so that Ziethen and Schwerin have to draw homeward again. Lobkowitz +fortifies himself in Waidhofen; gathers Magazines there, as if towards +weightier enterprises. For indeed much is rallying, in a dangerous +manner; and Moravia is now far other than when Friedrich planned this +Expedition. And at Vienna, 25th February last, there was held Secret +Council, and (much to Robinson's regret) a quite high Resolution come +to,--which Friedrich gets to know of, and does not forget again. + + + + +THE SAXONS HAVE NO CANNON FOR BRUNN, CANNOT AFFORD ANY; THERE IS A HIGH +RESOLUTION TAKEN AT VIENNA (February 25th): FRIEDRICH QUITS THE MORAVIAN +ENTERPRISE. + +Friedrich keeps his Head-quarter, all this while, closer and closer +upon Brunn. First, chiefly at a Town called Znaim, on the River Taya; +many-branched river, draining all those Northwestern parts; which sends +its widening waters down to Presburg,--latterly in junction with those +of the Morawa from North, which washes Olmutz, drains the Northern and +Eastern parts, and gives the Country its name of "Moravia." Brunn lies +northeast of Friedrich, while in Znaim, some fifty miles; the Saxon +head-quarter is at Kromau, midway towards that City. After Znaim, he +shifts inward, to Selowitz, still in the same Taya Valley, but much +nearer Brunn; and there continues. [At Znaim, 19th February-9th March; +at Selowitz, 13th March-5th April (Rodenbeck, i. 65).] + +Striving hard for Brunn; striving hard, under difficulties, for so +many things distant and near; we may fancy him busy enough;--and are +surprised at the fractions of light Jordan Correspondence which he still +finds time for. Pretty bits of Letters, in prose and doggerel, from and +to those Moravian Villages; Jordan, "twice a week," bearing the main +weight; Friedrich, oftener than one could hope, flinging some word of +answer,--very intent on Berlin gossip, we can notice. "Vattel is +still here, your Majesty," [_OEuvres,_ xvii. 163, &c.] insinuates +Jordan:--young Vattel, afterwards of the DROIT DES GENS, whom his +Majesty might have kept, but did not.--What more of your D'Argens, then; +anything in your D'Argens? Friedrich will ask. "For certain, D'Argens +is full of ESPRIT," answers Jordan, in a dexterous way; and How the +Effulgent of Wurtemberg" has quarrelled outright with her D'Argens, +and will not eat off silver (D'ARGENT), lest she have to name him by +accident!"--with other gossip, in a fine brief airy form, at which +Jordan excels. Cheering the rare leisure hour, in one's Tent at +Selowitz, Pohrlitz, Irrlitz, far away!--There are also orders about +CICERO and Books. Of Business for most part, or of private feelings, +nothing: Berlin gossip, and Books for one's reading, are the staple. But +to return. + +Out from Head-quarters, diligent operations shoot forth, far enough, +along those Taya-Morawa Valleys, where Hungarian "Insurgents" are +beginning to be dangerous. South of Brunn, all round Brunn, are +diligent operations, frequent skirmishings, constant strict levyings of +contributions. The saving operation, Friedrich well sees, would be +to get hold of Brunn: but, unluckily, How? Vigilant Roth scorns all +summoning; sallies continually in a dangerous manner; and at length, +when closer pressed, burns all the Villages round him: "we counted as +many as sixteen villages laid in ashes," says Friedrich. Here is small +comfort of outlook. + +And then the Saxons, at Kromau or wherever they may be: no end of +trouble and vexation with these Saxons. Their quarters are not fairly +allotted, they say; we make exchange of quarters, without improvement +noticeable. "One fine day, on some slight alarm, they came rushing +over to us, all in panic; ruined, merely by Pandour noises, had not we +marched them back, and reinstated them." Friedrich sends to Silesia for +reinforcements of his own, which he can depend upon. Sends to Silesia, to +Glatz and the Young Dessauer;--nay to Brandenburg and the Old Dessauer? +ultimately. Finding Roth would not yield, he has sent to Dresden for +Siege-Artillery: Polish Majesty there, titular "King of Moravia," +answers that he cannot meet the expense of carriage. "He had just +purchased a green diamond which would have carried them thither and back +again:" What can be done with such a man?--And by this time, early in +March, Hungarian "MORIAMUR PRO REGE" begins to show itself. Clouds of +Hungarian Insurgents, of the Tolpatch, Pandour sort, mount over the +Carpathians on us, all round the east, from south to north; and threaten +to penetrate Silesia itself. So that we have to sweep laboriously the +Morawa-Taya Valleys; and undertake first one and then another outroad, +or sharp swift sally, against those troublesome barbarians. + +And more serious still, Prince Karl and the regular Army, quickened +by such Khevenhuller-Barenklau successes in the Donau Countries, +are beginning to stir. Prince Karl, returning from Vienna and its +consultations, took command, 4th March; [_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 557.] +with whom has come old Graf von Konigseck, an experienced head to advise +with; Prince Karl is in motion, skirting us southward, about Waidhofen, +where Lobkowitz lay waiting him with Magazines ready. Rumor says, the +force in those parts is already 40,000, with more daily coming in. +Friedrich has of his own, apart from the Saxons, some 24,000. Prince +Karl, with so many heavy troops, and with unlimited supply of light, is +very capable of doing mischief: he has orders (and Friedrich now knows +of it) To go in upon us;--such their decision in Secret Council +at Vienna, on the 25th of February last, That he must go and fight +us:--"Better we met him with fewer thrums on our hands!" thinks +Friedrich; and beckons the Old Dessauer out of Brandenburg withal. +"Swift, your Serenity; hitherward with 20,000!" Which the Old Dessauer +(having 30,000 to pick from, late Camp-of-Gottin people) at once sets +about. Will be a security, in any event! [Orlich, i. 221: Date of the +Order, "13th March, 1742."] To finish with Brunn, Friedrich has sent for +Siege-Artillery of his own; he urges Chevalier de Saxe to close with him +round Brunn, and batter it energetically into swift surrender. Is it not +the one thing needful? Chevalier de Saxe admits, half promises; does +not perform. Being again urged, Why have not you performed? he answers, +"Alas, your Majesty, here are Orders for me to join Marshal Broglio at +Prag, and retire altogether out of this!" + +"Altogether out of it," thinks Friedrich to himself: "may all the Powers +be thanked! Then I too, without disgrace, can go altogether out of +it;--and it shall be a sharp eye that sees me in joint-stock with you +again, M. le Chevalier." Friedrich has written in his HISTORY, and +Valori used to hear him often say in words, Never were tidings welcomer +than these, that the Saxons were about to desert him in this manner. Go: +and may all the Devils--But we will not fall into profane swearing. It +is proper to get out of this Enterprise at one's best speed, and +never get into the like of it again! Friedrich (on this strange Saxon +revelation, 30th March) takes instant order for assembling at Wischau +again, for departing towards Olmutz; thence homewards, with deliberate +celerity, by the Landskron mountain-country, Tribau, Zwittau, +Leutomischl, and the way he came. He has countermanded his Silesian +reinforcements; these and the rest shall rendezvous at Chrudim in +Bohemia; whitherwards the two Dessauers are bound:--in Brunn, with its +wrecked environs, famed Spielberg looking down from its conical height, +and sixteen villages in ashes, Roth shall do his own way henceforth. + +The Saxons pushed straight homewards; did not "rejoin Broglio," rejoin +anybody,--had, in fact, done with this First Silesian War, as it proved; +and were ready for the OPPOSITE side, on a Second falling out! Their +march, this time, was long and harassing,--sad bloody passage in it, +from Pandours and hostile Village-people, almost at starting, "four +Companies of our Rear-guard cut down to nine men; Village burnt, and +Villagers exterminated (SIC), by the rescuing party." [Details in +_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 606; in &c. &c.] They arrived at Leitmeritz +and their own Border, "hardly above 8,000 effective." Naturally, in a +highly indignant humor; and much disposed to blame somebody. To the +poor Polish NON-Moravian Majesty, enlightened by his Bruhls and +Staff-Officers, it became a fixed truth that the blame was all +Friedrich's,--"starving us, marching us about!"--that Friedrich's +conduct to us was abominable, and deserved fixed resentment. Which +accordingly it got, from the simple Polish Majesty, otherwise a +good-natured creature;--got, and kept. To Friedrich's very great +astonishment, and to his considerable disadvantage, long after! + +Friedrich's look, when Valori met him again coming home from this +Moravian Futility, was "FAROUCHE," fierce and dark; his laugh bitter, +sardonic; harsh mockery, contempt and suppressed rage, looking through +all he said. A proud young King, getting instructed in several things, +by the stripes of experience. Look in that young Portrait by Pesne, the +full cheeks, and fine mouth capable of truculence withal, the brow +not unused to knit itself, and the eyes flashing out in sharp diligent +inspection, of a somewhat commanding nature. We can fancy the face +very impressive upon Valori in these circumstances. Poor Valori has +had dreadful work; running to and fro, with his equipages breaking, +his servants falling all sick, his invaluable D'Arget (Valori's chief +Secretary, whom mark) quite disabled; and Valori's troubles are not +done. He has been to Prag lately; is returning futile, as usual. Driving +through the Mountains to rejoin Friedrich, he meets the Prussians in +retreat; learns that the Pandours, extremely voracious, are ahead; that +he had better turn, and wait for his Majesty about Chrudim in the Elbe +region, upon highways, and within reach of Prag. + +Friedrich, on the 5th of April, is in full march out of the Moravian +Countries,--which are now getting submerged in deluges of Pandours; +towards the above-said Chrudim, whereabouts his Magazines lie, where +privately he intends to wait for Prince Karl, and that Vienna Order +of the 25th February, with hands clearer of thrums. The march goes in +proper columns, dislocations; Prince Dietrich, on the right, with +a separate Corps, bent else-whither than to Chrudim, keeps off the +Pandours. A march laborious, mountainous, on roads of such quality; but, +except baggage-difficulties and the like, nothing material going wrong. +"On the 13th [April], we marched to Zwittau, over the Mountain of +Schonhengst. The passage over this Mountain is very steep; but not so +impracticable as it had been represented; because the cannon and wagons +can be drawn round the sides of it." [Stille, p. 86.] Yes;--and readers +may (in fancy) look about them from the top; for we shall go this road +again, sixteen years hence; hardly in happier circumstances! + +Friedrich gets to Chrudim, April 17th; there meets the Young Dessauer +with his forces: by and by the Old Dessauer, too, comes to an Interview +there (of which shortly). The Old Dessauer--his 20,000 not with him, +at the moment, but resting some way behind, till he return--is to go +eastward with part of them; eastward, Troppau-Jablunka way, and drive +those Pandour Insurgencies to their own side of the Mountains: a job Old +Leopold likes better than that of the Gottin Camp of last year. Other +part of the 20,000 is to reinforce Young Leopold and the King, and +go into cantonments and "refreshment-quarters" here at Chrudim. Here, +living on Bohemia, with Silesia at their back, shall the Troops repose +a little; and be ready for Prince Karl, if he will come on. That is what +Friedrich looks to, as the main Consolation left. + +In Moravia, now overrun with Pandours, precursors of Prince Karl, he +has left Prince Dietrich of Anhalt, able still to maintain himself, with +Olmutz as Head-quarters, for a calculated term of days: Dietrich is, +with all diligence, to collect Magazines for that Jablunka-Troppau +Service, and march thither to his Father with the same (cutting his way +through those Pandour swarms); and leaving Mahren as bare as possible, +for Prince Karl's behoof. All which Prince Dietrich does, in a gallant, +soldier-like, prudent and valiant manner,--with details of danger well +fronted, of prompt dexterity, of difficulty overcome; which might +be interesting to soldier students, if there were among us any such +species; but cannot be dwelt upon here. It is a march of 60 or 70 miles +(northeast, not northwest as Friedrich's had been), through continual +Pandours, perils and difficulties:--met in the due way by Prince +Dietrich, whose toils and valors had been of distinguished quality in +this Moravian Business. Take one example, not of very serious nature (in +the present March to Troppau):-- + +"OLISCHAU, EVENING OF APRIL 21st. Just as we were getting into Olischau +[still only in the environs of Olmutz], the Vanguard of Prince Karl's +Army appeared on the Heights. It did not attack; but retired, Olmutz +way, for the night. Prince Dietrich, not doubting but it would return +next day, made the necessary preparations overnight. Nothing of it +returned next day; Prince Dietrich, therefore, in the night of April +22d, pushed forward his sick-wagons, meal-wagons, heavy baggage, +peaceably to Sternberg; and, at dawn on the morrow, followed with +his army, Cavalry ahead, Infantry to rear;" nothing whatever +happening,--unless this be a kind of thing:--"Our Infantry had scarcely +got the last bridge broken down after passing it, when the roofs of +Olischau seemed as it were to blow up; the Inhabitants simultaneously +seizing that moment, and firing, with violent diligence, a prodigious +number of shot at us,--no one of which, owing to their hurry and the +distance, took any effect;" [Stille, p. 50.] but only testified what +their valedictory humor was. + +Or again--(Place, this time, is UNGARISCH-BROD, near Goding on the +Moravian-Hungarian Frontier, date MARCH 13th; one of those swift +Outroads, against Insurgents or "Hungarian Militias" threatening to +gather):--... "Godinq on our Moravian side of the Border, and +then Skalitz on their Hungarian, being thus finished, we make for +Ungarisch-Brod," the next nucleus of Insurgency. And there is the +following minute phenomenon,--fit for a picturesque human memory: "As +this, from Skalitz to Ungarisch-Brod, is a long march, and the roads +were almost impassable, Prince Dietrich with his Corps did not arrive +till after dark. So that, having sufficiently blocked the place with +parties of horse and foot, he had, in spite of thick-falling snow, to +wait under the open sky for daylight. In which circumstances, all that +were not on sentry lay down on their arms;" slept heartily, we hope; +"and there was half an ell of snow on them, when day broke." [BERICHT +VON DER UNTERNEHMUNG DES &c. (in Seyfarth, _Beylage,_ i. p. 508).] +When day broke, and they shook themselves to their feet again,--to the +astonishment of Ungarisch-Brod!... + +There had been fine passages of arms, throughout, in this Business, +round Brunn, in the March home, and elsewhere; and Friedrich is +well contented with the conduct of his men and generals,--and dwells +afterwards with evident satisfaction on some of the feats they did. [For +instance, TRUCHSESS VON WALDBURG'S fine bit of Spartanism (14th +March, at Lesch, near Brunn, near AUSTERLITZ withal), which was +much celebrated; King himself, from Selowitz, heard the cannonading +(Seyfarth, _Beylage,_ i. 518-520). Selchow's feat (ib. 521). Fouquet's +(this is the CAPTAIN Fonquet, with "MY two candles, Sir," of the old +Custrin-Prison time; who is dear to Friedrich ever since, and to the +end): "Account of Fouquet's Grenadier Battalion, to and at Fulnek, +January-April, 1742 (is in _Feldzuge der Preussen,_ i. 176-184); +especially his March, from Fulnek, homewards, part of Prince Dietrich's +that way (in Seyfarth, _Beylage,_ i. 510-515). With various others (in +SEYFARTH and FELDZUGE): well worth reading till you understand them.] I +am sorry to say, General Schwerin has taken pique at this preference of +the Old Dessauer for the Troppau Anti-Pandour Operation; and is home +in a huff: not to reappear in active life for some years to come. "The +Little Marlborough,"--so they call him (for he was at Blenheim, and has +abrupt hot ways),--will not participate in Prince Karl's consolatory +Visit, then! Better so, thinks Friedrich perhaps (remembering Mollwitz): +"This is the freak of an imitation ANGLAIS!" sneers he, in mentioning +it to Jordan.--Friedrich's Synopsis of this Moravian Failure of an +Expedition, in answer to Jordan's curiosity about it,--curiosity +implied, not expressed by the modest Jordan, is characteristic:-- + +"Moravia, which is a very bad Country, could not be held, owing to want +of victual; and the Town of Brunn could not be taken, because the Saxons +had no cannon; and when you wish to enter a Town, you must first make +a hole to get in by. Besides, the Country has been reduced to such a +state: that the Enemy cannot subsist in it, and you will soon see him +leave it. There is your little military lesson; I would not have you +at a loss what to think of our Operations; or what to say, should other +people talk of them in your presence!" [Friedrich to Jordan (_OEuvres,_ +xvii. 196), Chrudim, 5th May, 1742.] + +"Winter Campaigns," says Friedrich elsewhere, much in earnest, and +looking back on this thing long afterwards, "Winter Campaigns are bad, +and should always be avoided, except in cases of necessity. The best +Army in the world is liable to be ruined by them. I myself have made +more Winter Campaigns than any General of this Age; but there were +reasons. Thus:-- + +"In 1740," Winter Campaign which we saw, "there were hardly above two +Austrian regiments in Silesia, at Karl VI.'s death. Being determined to +assert my right to that Duchy, I had to try it at once, in winter, and +carry the war, if possible, to the Banks of the Neisse. Had I waited +till spring, we must have begun the war between Crossen and Glogau; what +was now to be gained by one march would then have cost us three or four +campaigns. A sufficient reason, this, for campaigning in winter. + +"If I did not succeed in the Winter Campaign of 1742," Campaign which we +have just got out of, "which I made with a design to deliver the Elector +of Bavaria's Country, then overrun by Austria, it was because the French +acted like fools, and the Saxons like traitors." Mark that deliberate +opinion. + +"In 1745-46," Winter Campaign which we expect to see, "the Austrians +having got Silesia, it was necessary to drive them out. The Saxons and +they had formed a design to enter my Hereditary Dominions, to destroy +them with fire and sword. I was beforehand with them. I carried the +War into the heart of Saxony." [MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS WRITTEN BY &c. +"translated by an Officer" (London, 1762), pp. 171, 172. One of the +best, or altogether the best, of Friedrich's excellent little Books +written successively (thrice-PRIVATE, could they have been kept so) +for the instruction of his Officers. Is to be found now in _OEuvres +de Frederic,_ xxviii. (that is vol. i. of the _"OEuvres Militaires,"_ +which occupy 3 vols.) pp. 4 et seqq.] + +Digesting many bitter-enough thoughts, Friedrich has cantoned about +Chrudim; expecting, in grim composed humor, the one Consolation there +can now be. February 25th, as readers well know, the Majesty of Hungary +and her Aulic Council had decided, "One stroke more, O Excellency +Robinson; one Battle more for our Silesian jewel of the crown! If +beaten, we will then give it up; oh, not till then!" Robinson and +Hyndford,--imagination may faintly represent their feelings, on the +wilful downbreak of Klein-Schnellendorf; or what clamor and urgency the +Majesty of Britain and they have been making ever since. But they could +carry it no further: "One stroke more!" + +At Chrudim, and to the right and the left of it, sprinkled about in +long, very thin, elliptic shape (thirty or forty miles long, but capable +of coalescing "within eight-and-forty hours"), there lies Friedrich: the +Elbe River is behind him; beyond Elbe are his Magazines, at Konigsgratz, +Nimburg, Podiebrad, Pardubitz; the Giant Mountains, and world of +Bohemian Hills, closing-in the background, far off: that is his +position, if readers will consult their Map. The consolatory Visit, he +privately thinks, cannot be till the grass come; that is, not till June, +two months hence; but there also he was a little mistaken. + + + + +Chapter XI. --NUSSLER IN NEISSE, WITH THE OLD DESSAUER AND WALRAVE. + +The Old Dessauer with part of his 20,000,--aided by Boy Dietrich +(KNABE, "Knave Dietrich," as one might fondly call him) and the Moravian +Meal-wagons,--accomplished his Troppau-Jablunka Problem perfectly well; +cleaning the Mountains, and keeping them clean, of that Pandour rabble, +as he was the man to do. Nor would his Expedition require mentioning +farther,--were it not for some slight passages of a purely Biographical +character; first of all, for certain rubs which befell between his +Majesty and him. For example, once, before that Interview at Chrudim, +just on entering Bohemia thitherward, Old Leopold had seen good to alter +his march-route; and--on better information, as he thought it, which +proved to be worse--had taken a road not prescribed to him. Hearing +of which, Friedrich reins him up into the right course, in this sharp +manner:-- + +"CHRUDIM, 21st APRIL. I am greatly surprised that your Serenity, as an +old Officer, does not more accurately follow my orders which I give +you. If you were skilfuler than Caesar, and did not with strict accuracy +observe my orders, all else were of no help to me. I hope this notice, +once for all, will be enough; and that in time coming you will give +no farther causes to complain." [King to Furst Leopold (Orlich, i. +219-221).] + +Friedrich, on their meeting at Chrudim, was the same man as ever. But +the old Son of Gunpowder stood taciturn, rigorous, in military business +attitude, in the King's presence; had not forgotten the passage; and +indeed he kept it in mind for long months after. And during all this +Ober-Schlesien time, had the hidden grudge in his heart;--doing his +day's work with scrupulous punctuality; all the more scrupulous, they +say. Friedrich tried, privately through Leopold Junior, some slight +touches of assuagement; but without effect; and left the Senior to Time, +and to his own methods of cooling again. + +Besides that of keeping down Hungarian Enterprises in the Mountains, Old +Leopold had, as would appear, to take some general superintendence in +Ober-Schlesien; and especially looks after the new Fortification-work +going on in those parts. Which latter function brought him often to +Neisse, and into contact with the ugly Walrave, Engineer-in-Chief +there. A much older and much worthier acquaintance of ours, Herr +Boundary-Commissioner Nussler, happens also to be in Neisse;--waiting +for those Saxon Gentlemen; who are unpunctual to a degree, and never +come (nor in fact ever will, if Nussler knew it). Luckily Nussler kept +a Notebook; and Busching ultimately got it, condensed it, printed +it;--whereby (what is rare, in these Dryasdust labyrinths, inane +spectralities and cinder-mountains) there is sudden eyesight vouchsafed; +and we discern veritably, far off, brought face to face for an +instant, this and that! I must translate some passages,--still farther +condensed:-- + + + + +HOW NUSSLER HAPPENED TO BE IN NEISSE, MAY, 1742. + +Nussler had been in this Country, off and on, almost since Christmas +last; ready here, if the Saxons had been ready. As the Saxons were not +ready, and always broke their appointment, Nussler had gone into the +Mountains, to pass time usefully, and take preliminary view of the +ground. + +... "From Berlin, 20th December, 1741; by Breslau,"--where some pause +and correspondence;--"thence on, Neisse way, as far as Lowen [so well +known to Friedrich, that Mollwitz night!]. From Berlin to Lowen, Nussler +had come in a carriage: but as there was much snow falling, he here took +a couple of sledges; in which, along with his attendants, he proceeded +some fifty miles, to Jauernik, a stage beyond Neisse, to the southwest. +Jauernik is a little Town lying at the foot of a Hill, on the top of +which is the Schloss of Johannisberg. Here it began to rain; and the +getting up the Hill, on sledges, was a difficult matter. The DROST +[Steward] of this Castle was a Nobleman from Brunswick-Luneburg; who, +for the sake of a marriage and this Drostship for dowry, had changed +from Protestant to Roman Catholic,"--poor soul! "His wife and he were +very polite, and showed Nussler a great deal of kindness. Nussler +remarked on the left side of this Johannisberg," western side a good +few miles off, "the pass which leads from Glatz to Upper and Lower +Schlesien,"--where the reader too has been, in that BAUMGARTEN SKIRMISH, +if he could remember it,--"with a little Block-house in the bottom," and +no doubt Prussian soldiers in it at the moment. "Nussler, intent always +on the useful, did not institute picturesque reflections; but considered +that his King would wish to have this Pass and Block-house; and +determined privately, though it perhaps lay rather beyond the +boundary-mark, that his Master must have it when the bargaining should +come.... + +"On the homeward survey of these Borders, Nussler arrived at Steinau +[little Village with Schloss, which we saw once, on the march to +Mollwitz, and how accident of fire devoured it that night], and at sight +of the burnt Schloss standing black there, he remembered with great +emotion the Story of Grafin von Callenberg [dead since, with her pistols +and brandy-bottle] and of the Grafin's Daughter, in which he had been +concerned as a much-interested witness, in old times.... For the rest, +the journey, amid ice and snow, was not only troublesome in the extreme, +but he got a life-long gout by it [and no profit to speak of]; having +sunk, once, on thin ice, sledge and he, into a half-frozen stream, and +got wetted to the loins, splashing about in such cold manner,--happily +not quite drowned." The indefatigable Nussler; working still, like a +very artist, wherever bidden, on wages miraculously low. + +The Saxon Gentlemen never came;--privately the Saxons were quite off +from the Silesian bargain, and from Friedrich altogether;--so that this +border survey of Nussler's came to nothing, on the present occasion. But +it served him and Friedrich well, on a new boundary-settling, which +did take effect, and which holds to this day. Nussler, during +these operations, and vain waitings for the Saxons, had Neisse for +head-quarters; and, going and returning, was much about Neisse; Walrave, +Marwitz (Father of Wilhelmina's baggage Marwitz), Feldmarschall Schwerin +(in earlier stages), and other high figures, being prominent in his +circle there. + +"The old Prince of Dessau came thither: for some days. [Busching, +_Beitrage,_ i. 347 (beginning of May as we guess, but there is no date +given).] He was very gracious to Nussler, who had been at his Court, +and known him before this. The Old Dessauer made use of Walrave's Plate; +usually had Walrave, Nussler, and other principal figures to dinner. +Walrave's Plate, every piece of it, was carefully marked with a RAVEN on +the rim,--that being his crest ["Wall-raven" his name]: Old Dessauer, +at sight of so many images of that bird, threw out the observation, loud +enough, from the top of the table, 'Hah, Walrave, I see you are making +yourself acquainted with the RAVENS in time, that they may not be +strange to you at last,'"--when they come to eat you on the gibbet! (not +a soft tongue, the Old Dessauer's). "Another day, seeing Walrave seated +between two Jesuit Guests, the Prince said: 'Ah, there you are right, +Walrave; there you sit safe; the Devil can't get you there!' As the +Prince kept continually bantering him in this strain, Walrave determined +not to come; sulkily absented himself one day: but the Prince sent the +ORDINANZ (Soldier in waiting) to fetch him; no refuge in sulks. + +"They had Roman-Catholic victual for Walrave and others of that faith, +on the meagre-days; but Walrave eat right before him,--evidently nothing +but the name of Catholic. Indeed, he was a man hated by the Catholics, +for his special rapacity on them. 'He is of no religion at all,' said +the Catholic Prelate of Neisse, one day, to Nussler; (greedy to plunder +the Monasteries here; has wrung gold, silver aud jewels from them,--nay +from the Pope himself,--by threatening to turn Protestant, and use the +Monasteries still worse. And the Pope, hearing of this, had to send him +a valuable Gift, which you may see some day.' Nussler did, one day, see +this preciosity: a Crucifix, ebony bordered with gold, and the Body all +of that metal, on the smallest of altars,--in Walrave's bedroom. But it +was the bedroom itself which Nussler looked at with a shudder," Nussler +and we: "in the middle of it stood Walrave's own bed, on his right hand +that of his Wife, and on his left that of his Mistress:"--a brutish +polygamous Walrave! "This Mistress was a certain Quarter-Master's +Wife,"--Quarter-Master willing, it is probable, to get rid of such an +article gratis, much more on terms of profit. "Walrave had begged for +him the Title of Hofrath from King Friedrich,"--which, though it was +but a clipping of ribbon contemptible to Friedrich, and the brute of an +Engineer had excellent talents in his business, I rather wish Friedrich +had refused in this instance. But he did not; "he answered in gibing +tone, 'I grant you the Hofrath Title for your Quarter-Master; thinking +it but fit that a General's'--What shall we call her? (Friedrich uses +the direct word)--'should have some handle to her name.'" [Busching, +_Beitrage,_ i. 343-348.] + +It was this Mistress, one is happy to know, that ultimately betrayed the +unbeautiful Walrave, and brought him to Magdeburg for the rest of his +life.--And now let us over the Mountains, to Chrudim again; a hundred +and fifty miles at one step. + + + + +Chapter XII. -- PRINCE KARL DOES COME ON. + +It was before the middle of May, not of June as Friedrich had expected, +that serious news reached Chrudim. May 11th, from that place, there is +a Letter to Jordan, which for once has no verse, no bantering in it: +Prince Karl actually coming on; Hussar precursors, in quantity, stealing +across to attack our Magazines beyond Elbe;--and in consequence, Orders +are out this very day: "Cantonments, cease; immediate rendezvous, and +Encampment at Chrudim here!" Which takes effect two days hence, Monday, +13th May: one of the finest sights Stille ever saw. "His Majesty rode to +a height; you never beheld such a scene: bright columns, foot and +horse, streaming in from every point of the compass, their clear arms +glittering in the sun; lost now in some hollow, then emerging, winding +out with long-drawn glitter again; till at length their blue uniforms +and actual faces come home to you. Near upon 30,000 of all arms; trim +exact, of stout and silently good-humored aspect; well rested, by this +time;--likely fellows for their work, who will do it with a will. The +King seemed to be affected by so glorious a spectacle; and, what I +admired, his Majesty, though fatigued, would not rest satisfied with +reports or distant view, but personally made the tour of the whole Camp, +to see that everything was right, and posted the pickets himself before +retiring." [Stille, p. 57 (or Letter X.).] + +Prince Karl, since we last heard of him, had hung about in the Brunn and +other Moravian regions, rallying his forces, pushing out Croat parties +upon Prince Dietrich's home-march, and the like; very ill off for food, +for draught-cattle, in a wasted Country. So that he had soon quitted +Mahren; made for Budweis and neighborhood:--dangerous to Broglio's +outposts there? To a "Castle of Frauenberg," across the Moldau from +Budweis; which is Broglio's bulwark there, and has cost Broglio much +revictualling, reinforcing, and flurry for the last two months. Prince +Karl did not meddle with Brauenberg, or Broglio, on this occasion; +leaves Lobkowitz, with some Reserve-party, hovering about in those +parts;--and himself advances, by Teutschbrod (well known to the poor +retreating Saxons latcey!) towards Chrudim, on his grand Problem, that +of 25th February last. Cautiously, not too willingly, old Konigseck and +he. But they were inflexibly urged to it by the Heads at Vienna; who, +what with their Bavarian successes, what with their Moravian and other, +had got into a high key;--and scorned the notion of "Peace," when +Hyndford (getting Friedrich's permission, in the late Chrudim interval) +had urged it again. [Orlich, i. 226.] + +Broglio is in boundless flurry; nothing but spectres of attack looming +in from Karl, from Khevenhuller, from everybody; and Eger hardly yet +got. [19th April (_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 77-81.) Fine reinforcement, +25,000 under a Due d'Harcourt; this and other good outlooks there are; +but it is the terrible alone that occupy Broglio. And indeed the poor +man--especially ever since that Moravian Business would not thrive in +spite of him--is not to be called well off! Friedrich and he are in +correspondence, by no means mutually pleasant, on the Prince-Karl +phenomenon. "Evidently intending towards Prag, your Majesty perceives!" +thinks Broglio. "If not towards Chrudim, first of all, which is 80 miles +nearer him, on his rode to Prag!" urges Friedrich, at this stage: "Help +me with a few regiments in this Chrudim Circle, lest I prove too weak +here. Is not this the bulwark of your Prag just now?" In vain; Broglio +(who indeed has orders that way) cannot spare a man. "Very well," +thinks Friedrich; and has girded up his own strength for the Chrudim +phenomenon; but does not forget this new illustration of the Joint-Stock +Principle, and the advantages of Broglio Partnership. + +Friedrich's beautiful Encampment at Chrudim lasted only two days. +Precursor Tolpatcheries (and, in fact, Prince Karl's Vanguard, if we +knew it) come storming about, rifer and rifer; attempting the Bridge of +Kolin (road to our Magazines); attempting this and that; meaning to +get between us and Prag; and, what is worse, to seize the Magazines, +Podiebrad, Nimburg, which we have in that quarter! Tuesday, May 15th, +accordingly, Friedrich himself gets on march, with a strong +swift Vanguard, horse and foot (grenadiers, hussars, dragoons), +Prag-ward,--probably as far as Kuttenberg, a fine high-lying post, which +commands those Kodin parts;--will march with despatch, and see how that +matter is. The main Army is to follow under Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau +to-morrow, Wednesday," so soon as their loaves have come from +Konigsgratz,"--for "an Army goes on its belly," says Friedrich often. +Loaves do not come, owing to evil chance, on this occasion: Leopold's +people "take meal instead;" but will follow, next morning, all the same, +according to bidding. Readers may as well take their Map, and accompany +in these movements; which issue in a notable conclusive thing. + +Tuesday morning, 15th May, Friedrich marches from Chrudim; on which same +morning of the 15th, Prince Karl, steadily on the advance he too, is +starting,--and towards the same point,--from a place called Chotieborz, +only fifteen miles to southward of Chrudim. In this way, mutually +unaware, but Prince Karl getting soonest aware, the Vanguards of the +Two Armies (Prince Karl's Vanguard being in many branches, of Tolpatch +nature) are cast athwart each other; and make, both to Friedrich and +Prince Karl, an enigmatic business of it for the next two days. Tuesday, +15th, Friedrich marching along, vigilantly observant on both hands, some +fifteen miles space, came that evening to a Village called Podhorzan, +with Height near by; [Stille, pp. 60, 61.] Height which he +judged unattackable, and on the side of which he pitches his camp +accordingly,--himself mounting the Height to look for news. News sure +enough: there, south of us on the heights of Ronnow, three or four miles +off, are the Enemy, camped or pickeering about, 7 or 8,000 as we judge. +Lobkowitz, surely not Lobkowitz? He has been gliding about, on the +French outskirts, far in the southwest lately: can this be Lobkowitz, +about to join Prince Karl in these parts?--Truly, your Majesty, this is +not Lobkowitz at all; this is Prince Karl's Vanguard, and Prince Karl +himself actually in it for the moment,--anxiously taking view of your +Vanguard; recognizing, and admitting to himself, "Pooh, they will be +at Kuttenberg before us; no use in hastening. Head-quarters at Willimow +to-night; here at Ronnow to-morrow: that is all we can do!" [Orlich, i. +233.] + +To-morrow, 16th May, before sunrise at Podhorzan, the supposed Lobkowitz +is clean vanished: there is no Enemy visible to Friedrich, at Ronnow +or elsewhere. Leaving Friedrich in considerable uncertainty: clear only +that there are Enemies copiously about; that he himself will hold on for +Kuttenberg; that young Leopold must get hitherward, with steady +celerity at the top of his effort,--parts of the ground being difficult; +especially a muddy Stream, called Dobrowa, which has only one Bridge +on it fit for artillery, the Bridge of Sbislau, a mile or two ahead of +this. Instructions are sent Leopold to that effect; and farther that +Leopold must quarter in Czaslau (a substantial little Town, with bogs +about it, and military virtues); and, on the whole, keep close to heel +of us, the Enemy in force being near, Upon which, his Majesty pushes on +for Kuttenberg; Prince Leopold following with best diligence, according +to Program. His Majesty passed a little place called Neuhof that +afternoon (Wednesday, 16th May); and encamped a short way from +Kuttenberg, behind or north of that Town,--out of which, on his +approach, there fled a considerable cloud of Austrian Irregulars, and +"left a large baking of bread." Bread just about ready to their order, +and coming hot out of the ovens; which was very welcome to his Majesty +that night; and will yield refreshment, partial refreshment, next +morning, to Prince Leopold, not too comfortable on his meal-diet just +now. + +Poor Prince Leopold had his own difficulties this day; rough ground, +very difficult to pass; and coming on the Height of Podhorzan where +his Majesty was yesterday, Leopold sees crowds of Hussars, needing a +cannon-shot or two; sees evident symptoms, to southward, that the whole +Force of the Enemy is advancing upon him! "Speed, then, for Sbislau +Bridge yonder; across the Dobrowa, with our Artillery-wagons, or we are +lost!" Prince Karl, with Hussar-parties all about, is fully aware of +Prince Leopold and his movements, and is rolling on, Ronnow-ward all +day, to cut him off, in his detached state, if possible. Prince Karl +might, with ease, have broken this Dobrowa Bridge; and Leopold and +military men recognize it as a capital neglect that he did not. + +Leopold, overloaded with such intricacies and anxieties, sends off three +messengers, Officers of mark (Schmettau Junior one of them), to apprise +the King: the Officers return, unable to get across to his Majesty; +Leopold sends proper detachment of horse with them,--uncertain still +whether they will get through. And night is falling; we shall evidently +be too late for getting Czaslau: well if we can occupy Chotusitz and the +environs; a small clay Hamlet, three miles nearer us. It was 11 at night +before the rear-guard got into Chotusitz: Czaslau, three miles south of +us, we cannot attend to till to-morrow morning. [Orlich, pp. 236-239.] +And the three messengers, despatched with escort, send back no word. +Have they ever got to his Majesty? Leopold sends off a fourth. This +fourth one does get through; reports to his Majesty, That, by all +appearance, there will be Battle on the morrow early; that not Czaslau, +but only Chotusitz is ours; and that Instructions are wanted. Deep in +the night, this fourth messenger returns; a welcome awakening for Prince +Leopold; who studies his Majesty's Instructions, and will make his +dispositions accordingly. + +It is 2 or 3 in the morning, [Ib. p. 238.] in Leopold's Camp,--Bivouac +rather, with its face to the south, and Chotusitz ahead. Thursday, 17th +May, 1742; a furiously important Day about to dawn. High Problem of the +23th February last; Britannic Majesty and his Hyndfords and Robinsons +vainly protesting:--it had to be tried; Hungarian Majesty having got, +from Britannic, the sinews for trying it: and this is to be the Day. + + + + +Chapter XIII. --BATTLE OF CHOTUSITZ. + +Kuttenberg, Czaslau, Chotusitz and all these other places lie in what +is called the Valley of the Elbe, but what to the eye has not the least +appearance of a hollow, but of an extensive plain rather, dimpled here +and there; and, if anything, rather sloping FROM the Elbe,--were it +not that dull bushless brooks, one or two, sauntering to NORTHward, not +southward, warn you of the contrary. Conceive a flat tract of this kind, +some three or four miles square, with Czaslau on its southern border, +Chotusitz on its northern; flanked, on the west, by a straggle of +Lakelets, ponds and quagmires (which in our time are drained away, +all but a tenth part or so of remainder); flanked, on the east, by +a considerable puddle of a Stream called the Dobrowa; and cut in the +middle by a nameless poor Brook ("BRTLINKA" some write it, if anybody +could pronounce), running parallel and independent,--which latter, of +more concernment to us here, springs beyond Czaslau, and is got to be of +some size, and more intricate than usual, with "islands" and the like, +as it passes Chotusitz (a little to east of Chotusitz);--this is our +Field of Battle. Sixty or more miles to eastward of Prag, eight miles or +more to southward of Elbe River and the Ford of Elbe-Teinitz (which we +shall hear of, in years coming). A scene worth visiting by the curious, +though it is by no means of picturesque character. + +Uncomfortably bare, like most German plains; mean little hamlets, which +are full of litter when you enter them, lie sprinkled about; little +church-spires (like suffragans to Chotusitz spire, which is near you); a +ragged untrimmed country: beyond the Brook, towards the Dobrowa, two +or more miles from Chotusitz, is still noticeable: something like a +Deer-park, with umbrageous features, bushy clumps, and shadowy vestiges +of a Mansion, the one regular edifice within your horizon. Schuschitz is +the name of this Mansion and Deer-park; farther on lies Sbislau, where +Leopold happily found his Bridge unbroken yesterday. + +The general landscape is scrubby, littery; ill-tilled, scratched rather +than ploughed; physiognomic of Czech Populations, who are seldom trim at +elbows: any beauty it has is on the farther side of the Dobrowa, which +does not concern Prince Leopold, Prince Karl, or us at present. Prince +Leopold's camp lies east and west, short way to north of Chotusitz. +Schuschitz Hamlet (a good mile northward of Sbislau) covers his left, +the chain of Lakelets covers his right: and Chotusitz, one of his +outposts, lies centrally in front. Prince Karl is coming on, in four +columns, from the Hills and intricacies south of Czaslau,--has been on +march all night, intending a night-attack or camisado if he could; +but could not in the least, owing to the intricate roadways, and the +discrepancies of pace between his four columns. The sun was up before +anything of him appeared:--drawing out, visibly yonder, by the east +side of Czaslau; 30,000 strong, they say. Friedrich's united force, were +Friedrich himself on the ground, will be about 28,000. + +Friedrich's Orders, which Leopold is studying, were: "Hold by Chotusitz +for Centre; your left wing, see you lean it on something, towards +Dobrowa side,--on that intricate Brook (Brtlinka) or Park-wall of +Schuschitz, [SBISLAU, Friedrich hastily calls it (_OEuvres,_ ii. +121-126); Stille (p. 63) is more exact.] which I think is there; then +your right wing westwards, till you lean again on something: two lines, +leave room for me and my force, on the corner nearest here. I will +start at four; be with you between seven and eight,--and even bring a +proportion of Austrian bread (hot from these ovens of Kuttenberg) to +refresh part of you." Leopold of Anhalt, a much-comforted man, waits +only for the earliest gray of the morning, to be up and doing. +From Chotusitz he spreads out leftwards towards the Brtlinka +Brook,--difficult ground that, unfit for cavalry, with its bog-holes, +islands, gullies and broken surface; better have gone across the +Brtlinka with mere infantry, and leant on the wall of that Deer-park of +Schuschitz with perhaps only 1,000 horse to support, well rearward of +the infantry and this difficult ground? So men think,--after the action +is over. [Stille, pp. 63, 67.] And indeed there was certainly some +misarrangement there (done by Leopold's subordinates), which had its +effects shortly. + +Leopold was not there in person, arranging that left wing; Leopold is +looking after centre and right. He perceives, the right wing will be his +best chance; knows that, in general, cavalry must be on both wings. On +a little eminence in front of his right, he sees how the Enemy comes +on; Czaslau, lately on their left, is now getting to rear of them:--"And +you, stout old General Buddenbrock, spread yourself out to right a +little, hidden behind this rising ground; I think we may outflank their +left wing by a few squadrons, which will be an advantage." + +Buddenbrock spreads himself out, as bidden: had Buddenbrock been +reinforced by most of the horse that could do no good on our LEFT wing, +it is thought the Battle had gone better. Buddenbrock in this way, +secretly, outflanks the Austrians; to HIS right all forward, he has that +string of marshy pools (Lakes of Czirkwitz so called, outflowings from +the Brook of Neuhof), and cannot be taken in flank by any means. Brook +of Neuhof, which his Majesty crossed yesterday, farther north;--and +ought to have recrossed by this time?--said Brook, hereabouts a mere +fringe of quagmires and marshy pools, is our extreme boundary on the +west or right; Brook of Brtlinka (unluckily NOT wall of the Deer-park) +bounds us eastward, or on our left, Prince Karl, drawn up by this time, +is in two lines, cavalry on right and left, but rather in bent order; +bent towards us at both ends (being dainty of his ground, I suppose); +and comes on in hollow-crescent form;--which is not reckoned orthodox by +military men. What all these Villages, human individuals and terrified +deer, are thinking, I never can conjecture! Thick-soled peasants, +terrified nursing-mothers: Better to run and hide, I should say; mount +your garron plough-horses, hide your butter-pots, meal-barrels; run at +least ten miles or so!-- + +It is now past seven, a hot May morning, the Austrians very near;--and +yonder, of a surety, is his Majesty coming. Majesty has marched since +four; and is here at his time, loaves and all. His men rank at once in +the corner left for them; one of his horse-generals, Lehwald, is sent to +the left, to put straight what my be awry there (cannot quite do it, he +either);--and the attack by Buddenhrock, who secretly outflanks here on +the right, this shall at once take effect. No sooner has his Majesty +got upon the little eminence or rising ground, and scanned the Austrian +lines for an instant or two, than his cannon-batteries awaken here; +give the Austrian horse a good blast, by way of morning salutation and +overture to the concert of the day. And Buddenbrock, deploying under +cover of that, charges, "first at a trot, then at a gallop," to see what +can be done upon them with the white weapon. Old Uuddenbrock, surely, +did not himself RIDE in the charge? He is an old man of seventy; has +fought at Oudenarde, Malplaquet, nay at Steenkirk, and been run through +the body, under Dutch William; is an old acquaintance of Charles XII.s +even; and sat solemnly by Friedrich Wilhelm's coffin, after so much +attendance during life. The special leader of the charge was Bredow; +also a veteran gentleman, but still only in the fifties; he, I conclude, +made the charge; first at a trot, then at a gallop,--with swords +flashing hideous, and eyebrows knit. + +"The dust was prodigious," says Friedrich, weather being dry and ground +sandy; for a space of time you could see nothing but one huge whirlpool +of dust, with the gleam of steel flickering madly in it: however, +Buddenbrock, outflanking the Austrian first line of horse, did hurl +them from their place; by and by you see the dust-tempest running south, +faster and faster south,--that is to say, the Austrian horse in flight; +for Buddenbrock, outflanking them by three squadrons, has tumbled their +first line topsy-turvy, and they rush to rearward, he following away and +away. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ ii. 123.] Now were the time for a fresh +force of Prussian cavalry,--for example, those you have standing useless +behind the gullies and quagmires on your left wing (says Stille, after +the event);--due support to Buddenbrock, and all that Austrian cavalry +were gone, and their infantry left bare. + +But now again, see, do not the dust-clouds pause? They pause, mounting +higher and higher; they dance wildly, then roll back towards us; too +evidently back. Buddenbrock has come upon the secoud line of Austrian +horse; in too loose order Buddenbrock, by this time, and they have +broken him:--and it is a mutual defeat of horse on this wing, the +Prussian rather the worse of the two. And might have been serious,--had +not Rothenburg plunged furiously in, at this crisis, quite through to +the Austrian infantry, and restored matters, or more. Making a confused +result of it in this quarter. Austrian horse-regiments there now were +that fled quite away; as did even one or two foot-regiments, while the +Prussian infantry dashed forward on them, escorted by Rothenburg in this +manner,--who got badly wounded in the business; and was long an object +of solicitude to Friedrich. And contrariwise certain Prussian horse +also, it was too visible, did not compose themselves till fairly arear +of our foot. This is Shock First in the Battle; there are Three Shocks +in all. + +Partial charging, fencing and flourishing went on; but nothing very +effectual was done by the horse in this quarter farther. Nor did +the fire or effort of the Prussian Infantry in this their right wing +continue; Austrian fury and chief effort having, by this time, broken +out in an opposite quarter. So that the strain of the Fight lies now in +the other wing over about Chotusitz and the Brtlinka Brook; and thither +I perceive his Majesty has galloped, being "always in the thickest +of the danger" this day. Shock Second is now on. The Austrians have +attacked at Chotusitz; and are threatening to do wonders there. + +Prince Leopold's Left Wing, as we said, was entirely defective in the +eye of tacticians (after the event). Far from leaning on the wall of the +Deer-park, he did not even reach the Brook,--or had to weaken his force +in Chotusitz Village for that object. So that when the Austrian foot +comes storming upon Chotusitz, there is but "half a regiment" to defend +it. And as for cavalry, what is to become of cavalry, slowly threading, +under cannon-shot and musketry, these intricate quagmires and gullies, +and dangerously breaking into files and strings, before ever it can find +ground to charge? Accordingly, the Austrian foot took Chotusitz, after +obstinate resistance; and old Konigseck, very ill of gout, got seated +in one of the huts there; and the Prussian cavalry, embarrassed to get +through the gullies, could not charge except piecemeal, and then though +in some cases with desperate valor, yet in all without effectual result. +Konigseck sits in Chotusitz;--and yet withal the Russians are not out of +it, will not be driven out of it, but cling obstinately; whereupon the +Austrians set fire to the place; its dry thatch goes up in flame, and +poor old Konigseck, quite lame of gout, narrowly escaped burning, they +say. + +And, see, the Austrian horse have got across the Brtlinka, are spread +almost to the Deer-park, and strive hard to take us in flank,--did not +the Brook, the bad ground and the platoon-firing (fearfully swift, from +discipline and the iron ramrods) hold them back in some measure. They +make a violent attempt or two; but the problem is very rugged. Nor can +the Austrian infantry, behind or to the west of burning Chotusitz, make +an impression, though they try it, with levelled bayonets and deadly +energy, again and again: the Prussian ranks are as if built of rock, +and their fire is so sure and swift. Here is one Austrian regiment, came +rushing on like lions; would not let go, death or no-death:--and here it +lies, shot down in ranks; whole swaths of dead men, and their muskets by +them,--as if they had got the word to take that posture, and had done it +hurriedly! A small transitory gleam of proud rage is visible, deep down, +in the soul of Friedrich as he records this fact. Shock Second was very +violent. + +The Austrian horse, after such experimenting in the Brtlinka quarter, +gallop off to try to charge the Prussians in the rear;--"pleasanter by +far," judge many of them, "to plunder the Prussian Camp," which they +descry in those regions; whither accordingly they rush. Too many of +them; and the Hussars as one man. To the sorrowful indignation of Prince +Karl, whose right arm (or wing) is fallen paralytic in this manner. +After the Fight, they repented in dust and ashes; and went to say so, as +if with the rope about their neck; upon which he pardoned them. + +Nor is Prince Karl's left wing gaining garlands just at this moment. +Shock Third is awakening;--and will be decisive on Prince Karl. +Chotusitz, set on fire an hour since (about 9 A.M.), still burns; +cutting him in two, as it were, or disjoining his left wing from his +right: and it is on his right wing that Prince Karl is depending for +victory, at present; his left wing, ruffled by those first Prussian +charges of horse, with occasional Prussian swift musketry ever since, +being left to its own inferior luck, which is beginning to produce +impression on it. And, lo, on the sudden (what brought finis to the +business), Friedrich, seizing the moment, commands a united charge +on this left wing: Friedrich's right wing dashes forward on it, +double-quick, takes it furiously, on front and flank; fifteen +field-pieces preceding, and intolerable musketry behind them. So that +the Austrian left wing cannot stand it at all. + +The Austrian left wing, stormed in upon in this manner, swags and sways, +threatening to tumble pell-mell upon the right wing; which latter has +its own hands full. No Chotusitz or point of defence to hold by, Prince +Karl is eminently ill off, and will be hurled wholly into the Brtlinka, +and the islands and gullies, unless he mind! Prince Karl,--what a moment +for him!--noticing this undeniable phenomenon, rapidly gives the word +for retreat, to avoid worse. It is near upon Noon; four hours of battle; +very fierce on both the wings, together or alternately; in the centre +(westward of Chotusitz) mostly insignificant: "more than half the +Prussians" standing with arms shouldered. Prince Karl rolls rapidly +away, through Czaslau towards southwest again; loses guns in Czaslau; +goes, not quite broken, but at double-quick time for five miles; +cavalry, Prussian and Austrian, bickering in the rear of him; and +vanishes over the horizon towards Willimow and Haber that night, the way +he had come. + +This is the battle of Chotusitz, called also of Czaslau: Thursday, 17th +May, 1742. Vehemently fought on both sides;--calculated, one may hope, +to end this Silesian matter? The results, in killed and wounded, +were not very far from equal. Nay, in killed the Prussians suffered +considerably the worse; the exact Austrian cipher of killed being 1,052, +while that of the Prussians was 1,905,--owing chiefly to those fierce +ineffectual horse-charges and bickerings, on the right wing and left; +"above 1,200 Prussian cavalry were destroyed in these." But, in fine, +the general loss, including wounded and missing, amounted on the +Austrian side (prisoners being many, and deserters very many) to near +seven thousand, and on the Prussian to between four and five. [Orlich, +i. 255; _Feldzuge der Preussen,_ p. 113; Stille, pp. 62-71; Friedrich +himself, _OEuvres,_ ii. 121-126; and (ib. pp. 145-150) the Newspaper +"RELATION," written also by him.] Two Generals Friedrich had lost, who +are not specially of our acquaintance; and several younger friends +whom he loved. Rothenburg, who was in that first charge of horse with +Buddenbrock, or in rescue of Buddenbrock, and did exploits, got badly +hurt, as we saw,--badly, not fatally, as Friedrich's first terror +was,--and wore his arm in a sling for a long while afterwards. + +Buddenbrock's charge, I since hear, was ruined by the DUST; [_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ ii. 121.] the King's vanguard, under Rothenburg, a +"new-raised regiment of Hussars in green," coming to the rescue, were +mistaken for Austrians, and the cry rose, "Enemy to rear!" which brought +Rothenburg his disaster. Friedrich much loved and valued the man; +employed him afterwards as Ambassador to France and in places of trust. +Friedrich's Ambassadors are oftenest soldiers as well: bred soldiers, he +finds, if they chance to have natural intelligence, are fittest for all +kinds of work.--Some eighteen Austrian cannon were got; no standards, +because, said the Prussians, they took the precaution of bringing none +to the field, but had beforehand rolled them all up, out of harm's +way.--Let us close with this Fraction of topography old aud new:-- + +"King Friedrich purchased Nine Acres of Ground, near Chotusitz, to +bury the slain; rented it from the proprietor for twenty-five years. +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 634.] I asked, Where are those nine acres; +what crop is now upon them? but could learn nothing. A dim people, those +poor Czech natives; stupid, dirty-skinned, ill-given; not one in twenty +of them speaking any German;--and our dragoman a fortuitous Jew Pedler; +with the mournfulest of human faces, though a head worth twenty of those +Czech ones, poor oppressed soul! The Battle-plain bears rye, barley, +miscellaneous pulse, potatoes, mostly insignificant crops;--the nine +hero-acres in question, perhaps still of slightly richer quality, lie +indiscriminate among the others; their very fence, if they ever had one, +now torn away. + +"The Country, as you descend by dusty intricate lanes from Kuttenberg, +with your left hand to the Elbe, and at length with your back to it, +would be rather pretty, were it well cultivated, the scraggy litter +swept off, and replaced by verdure and reasonable umbrage here and +there. The Field of Chotusitz, where you emerge on it, is a wide wavy +plain; the steeple of Chotusitz, and, three or four miles farther, +that of Czaslau (pronounce 'KOTusitz,' 'CHASlau'), are the conspicuous +objects in it. The Lakes Friedrich speaks of, which covered his right, +and should cover ours, are not now there,--'all, or mostly all, drained +away, eighty years ago,' answered the Czechs; answered one wiser Czech, +when pressed upon, and guessed upon; thereby solving the enigma which +was distressful to us. Between those Lakes and the Brtlinka Brook may +be some two miles; Chotusitz is on the crown of the space, if it have a +crown. But there is no 'height' on it, worth calling a height except by +the military man; no tree or bush; no fence among the scrubby ryes and +pulses: no obstacle but that Brook, which, or the hollow of which, you +see sauntering steadily northward or Elbe-ward, a good distance on your +left, as you drive for Chotusitz and steeple. Schuschitz, a peaked brown +edifice, is visible everywhere, well ahead and leftwards, well beyond +said hollow; something of wood and 'deer-park' still noticeable or +imaginable yonder. + +"Chotusitz itself is a poor littery place; standing white-washed, +but much unswept: in two straggling rows, now wide enough apart (no +Konigseck need now get burnt there): utterly silent under the hot sun; +not a child looked out on us, and I think the very dogs lay wisely +asleep. Church and steeple are at the farther or south end of the +Village, and have an older date than 1742. High up on the steeple, +mending the clock-hands or I know not what, hung in mid-air one +Czech; the only living thing we saw. Population may be three or four +hundred,--all busy with their teams or otherwise, we will hope. Czaslau, +which you approach by something of avenues, of human roads (dust and +litter still abounding), is a much grander place; say of 2,000 or more: +shiny, white, but also somnolent; vast market-place, or central square, +sloping against you: two shiny Hotels on it, with Austrian uniforms +loitering about;--and otherwise great emptiness and silence. The shiny +Hotels (shine due to paint mainly) offer little of humanly edible; and, +in the interior, smells strike you as--as the OLDEST you have ever met +before. A people not given to washing, to ventilating! Many gospels have +been preached in those parts, aud abstruse Orthodoxies, sometimes with +fire and sword, and no end of emphasis; but that of Soap-and-Water +(which surely is as Catholic as any, and the plainest of all) has not +yet got introduced there!" [Tourist's Note (13th September, 1858).] + +Czaslau hangs upon the English mind (were not the ignorance so total) by +another tie: it is the resting-place of Zisca, whose drum, or the fable +of whose drum, we saw in the citadel of Glatz. Zisca was buried IN his +skin, at Czaslau finally: in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul there; +with due epitaph; and his big mace or battle-club, mostly iron, hung +honorable on the wall close by. Kaiser Ferdinand, Karl V.'s brother, on +a Progress to Prag, came to lodge at Czaslau, one afternoon: "What is +that?" said the Kaiser, strolling over this Peter-and-Paul's Church, and +noticing the mace. "Ugh! Faugh!" growled he angrily, on hearing what; +and would not lodge in the Town, but harnessed again, and drove farther +that same night. The club is now gone; but Zisca's dust lies there +irremovable till Doomsday, in the land where his limbs were made. A +great behemoth of a war-captain; one of the fiercest, inflexiblest, +ruggedest creatures ever made in the form of man. Devoured Priests, with +appetite, wherever discoverable: Dishonorers of his Sister; murderers of +the God's-witness John Huss; them may all the Devils help! Beat Kaiser +Sigismund SUPRA-GRAMMATICAM again and ever again, scattering the Kitter +hosts in an extraordinary manner;--a Zisca conquerable only by Death, +and the Pest-Fever passing that way. + +His birthplace, Troznow, is a village in the Budweis neighborhood, 100 +miles to south. There, for three centuries after him, stood "Zisca's +Oak" (under shade of which, his mother, taken suddenly on the +harvest-field, had borne Zisca): a weird object, gate of Heaven and +of Orcus to the superstitious populations about. At midnight on the +Hallow-Eve, dark smiths would repair thither, to cut a twig of the Zisca +Oak: twig of it put, at the right moment, under your stithy, insures +good luck, lends pith to arm and heart, which is already good luck. So +that a Bishop of those parts, being of some culture, had to cut it down, +above a hundred years ago,--and build some Chapel in its stead; no Oak +there now, but an orthodox Inscription, not dated that I could see. +[Hormayr, _OEsterreichischer Plutarch,_ iii. (3tes), 110-145.] + +Friedrich did not much pursue the Austrians after this Victory; having +cleared the Czaslau region of them, he continued there (at Kuttenberg +mainly); and directed all his industry to getting Peace made. His +experiences of Broglio, and of what help was likely to be had from +Broglio,--whom his Court, as Friedrich chanced to know, had ordered +"to keep well clear of the King of Prussia,"--had not been flattering. +Beaten in this Battle, Broglio's charity would have been a weak reed to +lean upon: he is happy to inform Broglio, that though kept well clear +of, he is not beaten. + +[MAP GOES HERE---Book xiii, page 164----missing] + +Blustering Broglio might have guessed that HE now would have to look to +himself. But he did not; his eyes naturally dim and bad, being dazzled +at this time, by "an ever-glorious victory" (so Broglio thinks it) +of his own achieving. Broglio, some couple of days after Czaslau, had +marched hastily out of Prag for Budweis quarter, where Lobkowitz and the +Austrians were unexpectedly bestirring themselves, and threatening +to capture that "Castle of Frauenberg" (mythic old Hill-castle among +woods), Broglio's chief post in those regions. Broglio, May 24th, has +fought a handsome skirmish (thanks partly to Belleisle, who chanced to +arrive from Frankfurt just in the nick of time, and joined Broglio): +Skirmish of Sahay; magnified in all the French gazettes into a Victory +of Sahay, victory little short of Pharsalia, says Friedrich;--the +complete account of which, forgotten now by all creatures, is to be read +in him they call Mauvillon; [_Guerre de Boheme,_ ii. 204.] and makes a +pretty enough piece of fence, on the small scale. Lobkowitz had to give +up the Frauenberg enterprise; and cross to Budweis again, till new force +should come. + +"Why not drive him out of Budweis," think the Two French Marshals, "him +and whatever force can come? If those lucky Prussians would co-operate, +and those unlucky Saxons, how easy were it!"--Belleisle sets off to +persuade Friedrich, to persuade Saxony (and we shall see him on the +route); Broglio waiting sublime, on the hither side of the Moldau, well +within wind of Budweis, till Belleisle prevail, and return with said +co-operation, What became of Broglio, waiting in this sublime manner, +we shall also have to see; but perhaps not for a great while yet (cannot +pause on such absurd phenomena yet),--though Broglio's catastrophe is +itself a thing imminent; and, within some ten days of that astonishing +Victory of Sahay, astonishes poor Broglio the reverse way. A man born +for surprises! + + + + +Chapter XIV. -- PEACE OF BRESLAU. + +In actual loss of men or of ground, the results of that Chotusitz Affair +were not of decisive nature. But it had been fought with obstinacy; with +great fury on the Austrian side (who, as it were, had a bet upon it ever +since February 25th), Britannic George, and all the world, looking on: +and, in dispiritment and discredit to the beaten party, its results +were considerable. The voice of all the world, declaring through its +Gazetteer Editors, "You cannot beat those Prussians!" voice confirmed by +one's own sad thoughts:--in such sounding of the rams horns round one's +Jericho, there is always a strange influence (what is called panic, as +if Pan or some god were in it), and one's Jericho is the apter to fall! + +Among the Austrian Prisoners, there was a General Pallandt, mortally +wounded too; whom Friedrich, according to custom, treated with his best +humanity, though all help was hopeless to poor Pallandt. Calling one +day at Pallandt's sick-couch, Friedrich was so sympathetic, humane and +noble, that Pallandt was touched by it; and said, "What a pity your +noble Majesty and my noble Queen should ruin one another, for a set +of French intruders, who play false even to your Majesty!" "False?" +Friedrich inquires farther: Pallandt, a man familiar at Court, has seen +a Letter from Fleury to the Queen of Hungary, conclusive as to Fleury's +good faith; will undertake, if permitted, to get his Majesty a sight +of it. Friedrich permits; the Fleury letter comes; to the effect: "Make +peace with us, O Queen; with your Prussian neighbor you shall make--what +suits you!" Friedrich read; learned conclusively, what perhaps he +had already as good as known otherwise; and drew the inference. +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 633; Hormayr, _Anemonen,_ ii. 186; Adelung, +iii. A, 149 n.] Actual copy of this letter the most ardent Gazetteer +curiosity could not attain to, at that epoch; but the Pallandt +story seems to have been true;--and as to the Fleury letter in such +circumstances, copies of various Fleury letters to the like purport are +still public enough; and Fleury's private intentions, already guessed +at by Friedrich, are in our time a secret to nobody that inquires about +them. + +Certain enough, Peace with Friedrich is now on the way; and cannot well +linger:--what prospect has Austria otherwise? Its very supplies from +England will be stopped. Hyndford redoubles his diligence; Britannic +Majesty reiterates at Vienna: "Did not I tell you, Madam; there is no +hope or possibility till these Prussians are off our hands!" To which +her Hungarian Majesty, as the bargain was, now sorrowfully assents; +sorrowfully, unwillingly,--and always lays the blame on his Britannic +Majesty afterwards, and brings it up again as a great favor she had done +HIM. "Did not I give up my invaluable Silesia, the jewel of my crown, +for you, cruel Britannic Majesty with the big purse, and no heart +to speak of?" This she urges always, on subsequent occasions; the +high-souled Lady; reproachful of the patient, big-pursed little +Gentleman, who never answers as he might, "For ME, Madam? Well--!" In +short, Hyndford, Podewils and the Vienna Excellencies are busy. + +Of these negotiations which go on at Breslau, and of the acres of +despatchcs, English, Austrian, and other, let us not say one word. +Enough that the Treaty is getting made, and rapidly,--though military +offences do not quite cease; clouds of Austrian Pandours hovering about +everywhere in Prince Karl's rear; pouncing down upon Prussian outposts, +convoys, mostly to little purpose; hoping (what proves quite futile) +they may even burn a Prussian magazine here or there. Contemptible to +the Prussian soldier, though very troublesome to him. Friedrich regards +the Pandour sort, with their jingling savagery, as a kind of military +vermin; not conceivable a Prussian formed corps should yield to any odds +of Pandour Tolpatch tagraggery. Nor does the Prussian soldier yield; +though sometimes, like the mastiff galled by inroad of distracted +weasels in too great quantity, he may have his own difficulties. Witness +Colonel Retzow and the Magazine at Pardubitz ("daybreak, May 24th") +VERSUS the infinitude of sudden Tolpatchery, bursting from the woods; +rabid enough for many hours, but ineffectual, upon Pardubitz and Retzow. +A distinguished Colonel this; of whom we shall hear again. Whose style +of Narrative (modest, clear, grave, brief), much more, whose vigilant +inexpugnable procedure on the occasion, is much to be commended to +the military man. [Given in Seyfarth, _Beylage,_ i. 548 et seqq.] +Friedrich, the better to cover his Magazines, and be out of such +annoyances, fell back a little; gradually to Kuttenberg again +(Tolpatchery vanishing, of its own accord); and lay encamped there, +head-quarters in the Schloss of Maleschau near by,--till the Breslau +Negotiations completed themselves. + +Prince Karl, fringed with Tolpatchery in this manner, but with much +desertion, much dispiritment, in his main body,--the HOOPS upon him +all loose, so to speak,--staggers zigzag back towards Budweis, and +the Lobkowitz Party there; intending nothing more upon the +Prussians;--capable now, think some NON-Prussians, of being well swept +out of Budweis, and over the horizon altogether. If only his Prussian +Majesty will co-operate! thinks Belleisle. "Your King of Prussia will +not, M. le Marechal!" answers Broglio:--No, indeed; he has tried that +trade already, M. le Marechal! think Broglio and we. The suspicions that +Friedrich, so quiescent after his Chotusitz, is making Peace, are +rife everywhere; especially in Broglio's head and old Fleury's; though +Belleisle persists with emphasis, officially and privately, in the +opposite opinion, "Husht, Messieurs!" Better go and see, however. + +Belleisle does go; starts for Kuttenberg, for Dresden; his beautiful +Budweis project now ready, French reinforcements streaming towards us, +heart high again,--if only Friedrich and the Saxons will co-operate. +Belleisle, the Two Belleisles, with Valori and Company, arrived June +2d at Kuttenberg, at the Schloss of Maleschau;--"spoke little of +Chotusitz," says Stille; "and were none of them at the pains to ride to +the ground." Marechal Belleisle, for the next three days, had otherwise +speech of Friedrich; especially, on June 5th, a remarkable Dialogue. +"Won't your Majesty co-operate?" "Alas, Monseigneur de Belleisle--" How +gladly would we give this last Dialogue of Friedrich's and Belleisle's, +one of the most ticklish conceivable: but there is not anywhere the +least record of it that can be called authentic;--and we learn only that +Friedrich, with considerable distinctness, gave him to know, "clearly" +(say all the Books, except Friedrich's own), that co-operation was +henceforth a thing of the preter-pluperfect tense. "All that I ever +wanted, more than I ever demanded, Austria now offers; can any one blame +me that I close such a business as ours has all along been, on such +terms as these now offered me are?" + +It is said, and is likely enough, the Pallandt-Fleury Letter came up; as +probably the MORAVIAN FORAY, and various Broglio passages, would, in +the train of said Letter. To all which, and to the inexorable painful +corollary, Belleisle, in his high lean way, would listen with a +stern grandiose composure. But the rumors add, On coming out into the +Anteroom, dialogue and sentence now done, Monseigneur de Belleisle +tore the peruke from his head; and stamping on it, was heard to say +volcanically, "That cursed parson,--CE MAUDIT CALOTTE [old Fleury],--has +ruined everything!" Perhaps it is not true? If true,--the prompt valets +would quickly replace Monseigneur's wig; chasing his long strides; and +silence, in so dignified a man, would cloak whatever emotions there +were. [Adelung, iii. A, 154; &c. &c. _Guerre de Boheme,_ (silent about +the wig) admits, as all Books do, the perfect clearness;--compare, +however, _OEuvres de Frederic;_ and also Broglio's strange darkness, +twelve days later, and Belleisle now beside him again (_Campagnes des +Trois Marechaux,_ v. 190, 191, of date 17th June);--darkness due perhaps +to the strange humor Broglio was then in?] He rolled off, he and his, +straightway to Dresden, there to invite co-operation in the Budweis +Project; there also in vain.--"CO-operation," M. le Marechal? Alas, +it has already come to operation, if you knew it! Aud your Broglio +is--Better hurry back to Prag, where you will find phenomena! + +June 15th, Friedrich has a grand dinner of Generals at Maleschau; and +says, in proposing the first bumper, "Gentlemen, I announce to you, +that, as I never wished to oppress the Queen of Hungary, I have formed +the resolution of agreeing with that Princess, and accepting the +Proposals she has made me in satisfaction of my rights,"--telling them +withal what the chief terms were, and praising my Lord Hyndford for his +great services. Upon which was congratulation, cordial, universal; and, +with full rummers, "Health to the Queen of Hungary!" followed by others +of the like type, "Grand-Duke of Lorraine!" and "The brave Prince Karl!" +especially. + +Brevity being incumbent on us, we shall say only that the +Hyndford-Podewils operations had been speeded, day and night; brought to +finis, in the form of Signed Preliminaries, as "Treaty of Breslau, +11th June, 1742;" and had gone to Friedrich's satisfaction in every +particular. Thanks to the useful Hyndford,--to the willing mind of his +Britannic Majesty, once so indignant, but made willing, nay passionately +eager, by his love of Human Liberty and the pressure of events! To +Hyndford, some weeks hence, [2d August (_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. +729).]--I conclude, on Friedrich's request,--there was Order of the +Thistle sent; and grandest investiture ever seen almost, done by +Friedrich upon Hyndford (Jordan, Keyserling, Schwerin, and the Sword of +State busy in it; Two Queens and all the Berlin firmament looking on); +and, perhaps better still, on Friedrich's part there was gift of a +Silver Dinner-Service; gift of the Royal Prussian Arms (which do enrich +ever since the Shield of those Scottish Carmichaels, as doubtless the +Dinner-Service does their Plate-chest); and abundant praise and honor to +the useful Hyndford, heavy of foot, but sure, who had reached the goal. + +This welcome Treaty, signed at Breslau, June 11th, and confirmed by +"Treaty of Berlin, July 28th," in more explicit solemn manner, to the +self-same effect, can be read by him that runs (if compelled to read +Treaties); [In _Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 1061-1064 (Treaty of Breslau), +ib. 1065-1070 (that of Berlin); to be found also in Wenck, Rousset, +Scholl, Adeluug, &c.] the terms, in compressed form, are:-- + +1. "Silesia, Lower and Upper, to beyond the watershed and the +Oppa-stream,--reserving only the Principality of Teschen, with +pertinents, which used to be reckoned Silesian, and the ulterior +Mountain-tops [Mountain-tops good for what? thought Friedrich, a year or +two afterwards!]--Silesia wholly, within those limits, and furthermore +the County Glatz and its dependencies, are and remain the property of +Friedrich and of his Heirs male or female; given up, and made his, to +all intents and purposes, forevermore. With which Friedrich, to the +like long date, engages to rest satisfied, and claim nothing farther +anywhere. + +2. "Silesian Dutch-English Debt [Loan of about Two Millions, better half +of it English, contracted by the late Kaiser, on Silesian security, +in that dreadful Polish-Election crisis, when the Sea-Powers would not +help, but left it to their Stockbrokers] is undertaken by Friedrich, who +will pay interest on the same till liquidated. + +3. "Religion to stand where it is. Prussian Majesty not to meddle in +this present or in other Wars of her Hungarian Majesty, except with his +ardent wishes that General Peace would ensue, and that all his friends, +Hungarian Majesty among others, were living in good agreement around +him." + +This is the Treaty of Breslau (June 11th, 1742), or, in second more +solemn edition, Treaty of Berlin (July 28th following); signed, +ratified, guaranteed by his Britannic Majesty for one, [Treaty of +Westminster, between Friedrich aud George, 29th (18th) November, 1842 +(Scholl, ii. 313).] and firmly planted on the Diplomatic adamant (at +least on the Diplomatic parchment) of this world. And now: Homewards, +then; march!-- + +Huge huzzaing, herald-trumpeting, bob-majoring, bursts forth from all +Prussian Towns, especially from all Silesian ones, in those June days, +as the drums beat homewards; elaborate Illuminations, in the short +nights; with bonfires, with transparencies,--Transparency inscribed +"FREDERICO MAGNO (To Friedrich THE GREAT)," in one small instance, still +of premature nature. [_Helden-Geschichte_ (ii. 702-729) is endless +on these Illuminations; the Jauer case, of FREDERICO MAGNO (Jauer in +Silesia), is of June 15th (ib. 712).] + +Omitting very many things, about Silesian Fortresses, Army-Cantons, +Silesian settlements, military and civil, which would but weary the +reader, we add only this from Bielfeld: dusty Transit of a victorious +Majesty, now on the threshold of home. Precise date (which Bielfeld +prudently avoids guessing at) is July 11th, 1742; "M. de Pollnitz and I +are in the suite of the King:-- + +"We never stopped on the road, except some hours at Frankfurt-on-Oder, +where the Fair was just going on. On approaching the Town, we found the +highway lined on both sides with crowds of traders, and other strangers +of all nations; who had come out, attracted by curiosity to see the +conqueror of Silesia, and had ranged themselves in two rows there. His +Majesty's entry into Frankfurt, although a very triumphant one, was far +from being ostentatious. We passed like lightning before the eyes of the +spectators, and we were so covered with dust, that it was difficult to +distinguish the color of our coats and the features of our faces. We +made some purchases at Frankfurt; and arrived safely in the Capital +[next day], where the King was received amidst the acclamations of his +People." [Bielfeld, ii. 51.] + +Here is a successful young King; is not he? Has plunged into the +Mahlstrom for his jewelled gold Cup, and comes up with it, alive, +unlamed. Will he, like that DIVER of Schiller's, have to try the feat a +second time? Perhaps a second time, and even a third!-- + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, +Vol. XIII. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + +***** This file should be named 2113.txt or 2113.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/2113/ + +Produced by D.R. 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