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diff --git a/old/13frd10.txt b/old/13frd10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a143f9e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13frd10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6557 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Etext History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 13 +#19 in our series by Thomas Carlyle +V13 of 21 + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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Thompson <drthom@ihug.co.nz> + + + + + +Carlyle's "History of Friedrich II of Prussia" +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 <italic> 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, +hut 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. [<italic> Helden- +Geschichte, <end italic> 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), +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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 comparisori 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: sigus 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!" [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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, <italic> Hist. de la Diplom. +Franc. <end italic> 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. [<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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 wantiug 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 mnch 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 nud 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 accompnnied 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, [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end +italic> 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 <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> +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 aud 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. [<italic> +Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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. [<italic> OEuvres, +<end italic> 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 quotity 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. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, +<end italic> 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; <italic> +Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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; +[<italic> Fastes de Louis XV., <end italic> 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 throngh 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, <italic> Histoire de Maurice Comte de Saxe <end italic> +(German Translation, Leipzig, 1774), i. 83:--an excellent military +compend. <italic> Campagnes des Trois Marechaux <end italic> +(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 pressiug +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: <italic> "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.--<end italic> 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 <italic> History of England, <end italic> 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." [<italic> Hyndford Papers, <end +italic> 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. [<italic> Hyndford +Papers, <end italic> 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." [<italic> Hyndford Papers, <end italic> +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." [<italic> Hyndford Papers, +<end italic> 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, +<italic> Histoire de la Derniere Guerre de Boheme <end italic> +(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!' [<italic> 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 2Sth, 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, <italic> Siecle de Louis XV., <end italic> c. 6 +(<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> xxviii. 78); Coxe, <italic> House +of Austria, <end italic> iii. 270; and innumerable others (who give +this Myth); <italic> Maria Theresiens Leben, <end italic> p. 44 n. +(who cites the Vienna Pamphleteers, without much believing them); +Mailath (a Hungarian), <italic> Geschichte des OEsterrichischen +Kaiser-Staats <end italic> (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 covenantad 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; <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +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 bsen +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 Bohewia, and carrying on sham- +hostilities [to the satisfaction of the French], shall pay his own +expenses, and do no mischief." [Given in <italic> Helden- +Geschichte, <end italic> 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 thraugh 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;" [<italic> Helden- +Geschichte, <end italic> 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. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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," Ottober 17th to October 3lst, +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. +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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:-- + +<italic> +"Wer mir wird den Konig in Preussen verachten, +Den will ich wie diesen Ochsen schlacten." +<end italic> +"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. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end +italic> 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 llth), 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 +ccncrete 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), <italic> Letters on +Silesia <end italic> (London, 1804). "The wooden spouts are now +gone" (<italic> Tourist's Note, of <end italic> 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 +[<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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-Nerciful 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 litlle +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!" [<italic> Helden- +Geschichte, <end italic> 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! [<italic> Campagnes <end italic> (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." [<italic> Derniere +Guerre de Boheme, <end italic> 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. [<italic> Guerre de Boheme, <end italic> 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. [<italic> Guerre de Boheme, <end italic> 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, <italic> History of Seven-Years War, <end italic> +&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, +<italic> Beitrage, <end italic> 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 (Jannary 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. [<italic> 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); +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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), <italic> +Campagnes du Roi de Prusse <end italic> (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." [<italic> Campagnes des Trois Marechaux, <end italic> 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. [<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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 Compauy, 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 be 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, <italic> Anemonen, +<end italic> 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, [<italic> Militair-Lexikon, <end italic> iii. 23; and +<italic> Preussische Adels-Lexikon, <end italic> 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,[<italic> Anemonen, <end italic> 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 witb 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, extremeIy 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, <italic> Campaigns of the King of Prussia, +<end italic> i. 1-55; <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> ii. +548-611; <italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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 <italic> The +Enchanted Island;" <end italic> [Stille, <italic> Campaigns, <end +italic> 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 <italic> +Guerre de Boheme, <end italic> 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 +(<italic> Guerre de Boheme, <end italic> 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 <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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," +[<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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 reinforcemmts 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; [<italic> Helden- +Geschichte, <end italic> 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 <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end +italic> 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, <italic> Beylage, <end italic> 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, <italic> Beylage, <end italic> +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 <italic> Feldzuge der Preussen, <end +italic> i. 176-184); especially his March, from Fulnek, homewards, +part of Prince Dietrich's that way (in Seyfarth, <italic> Beylage, +<end italic> 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 (<italic> OEuvres, <end +italic> 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 hy an Officer" +(London, 1762), pp. 171, 172. One of the best, or altogether tbe +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 <italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> xxviii. (that is vol. i. of the <italic> +"OEuvres Militaires," <end italic> 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, +<italic> Beitrage, <end italic> 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, <italic> Beitrage, <end italic> 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 (<italic> Guerre de Boheme, <end +italic> 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 +(<italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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. [<italic> OEuvres de +Frederic, <end italic> 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 1evelled 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; <italic> +Feldzuge der Preussen, <end italic> p. 113; Stille, pp. 62-71; +Friedrich himself, <italic> OEuvres, <end italic> 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; +[<italic> OEuvres de Frederic, <end italic> 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. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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, <italic> +OEsterreichischer Plutarch, <end italic> 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---- + +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; [<italic> Guerre de Boheme, <end +italic> 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. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> ii. 633; +Hormayr, <italic> Anemonen, <end italic> 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, <italic> +Beylage, <end italic> 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 owm 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. <italic> Guerre de Boheme, <end +italic> (silent about the wig) admits, as all Books do, the perfect +clearness;--compare, however, <italic> OEuvres de Frederic; <end +italic> and also Broglio's strange darkness, twelve days later, and +Belleisle now beside him again (<italic> Campagnes des Trois +Marechaux, <end italic> 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 +(<italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> 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 <italic> Helden-Geschichte, <end italic> +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-major-ing, 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. [<italic> Helden-Geschichte +<end italic> (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 Project Gutenberg's Etext History of Friedrich II of Prussia V 13 + diff --git a/old/13frd10.zip b/old/13frd10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0f6ced --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13frd10.zip |