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diff --git a/2118.txt b/2118.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..328ae62 --- /dev/null +++ b/2118.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12431 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. +XVIII. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XVIII. (of XXI.) + Frederick The Great--Seven-Years War Rises to a Height.--1757-1759. + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Posting Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2118] +Release Date: March, 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + + + + +Produced by D.R. Thompson + + + + + +HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. OF PRUSSIA + +FREDERICK THE GREAT + +By Thomas Carlyle + + + + +BOOK XVIII.--SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT.--1757-1759. + + + + +Chapter I.--THE CAMPAIGN OPENS. + +Seldom was there seen such a combination against any man as this against +Friedrich, after his Saxon performances in 1756. The extent of his sin, +which is now ascertained to have been what we saw, was at that time +considered to transcend all computation, and to mark him out for +partition, for suppression and enchainment, as the general enemy of +mankind. "Partition him, cut him down," said the Great Powers to one +another; and are busy, as never before, in raising forces, inciting new +alliances and calling out the general POSSE COMITATUS of mankind, for +that salutary object. What tempestuous fulminations in the Reichstag, +and over all Europe, England alone excepted, against this man! + +Latterly the Swedes, who at first had compunctions on the score of +Protestantism, have agreed to join in the Partitioning adventure: "It +brings us his Pommern, all Pommern ours!" cry the Swedish Parliamentary +Eloquences (with French gold in their pocket): "At any rate," whisper +they, "it spites the Queen his Sister!"--and drag the poor Swedish +Nation into a series of disgraces and disastrous platitudes it was +little anticipating. This precious French-Swedish Bargain ("Swedes to +invade with 25,000; France to give fair subsidy," and bribe largely) was +consummated in March; ["21st March, 1757" (Stenzel, v. 38; &c.).] but +did not become known to Friedrich for some months later; nor was it of +the importance he then thought it, in the first moment of surprise and +provocation. Not indeed of importance to anybody, except, in the reverse +way, to poor Sweden itself, and to the French, who had spent a great +deal of pains and money on it, and continued to spend, with as good as +no result at all. For there never was such a War, before or since, +not even by Sweden in the Captainless state! And the one profit the +copartners reaped from it, was some discountenance it gave to the rumor +which had risen, more extensively than we should now think, and even +some nucleus of fact in it as appears, That Austria, France and the +Catholic part of the Reich were combining to put down Protestantism. To +which they could now answer, "See, Protestant Sweden is with us!"--and +so weaken a little what was pretty much Friedrich's last hold on the +public sympathies at this time. + +As to France itself,--to France, Austria, Russia,--bound by such +earthly Treaties, and the call of very Heaven, shall they not, in united +puissance and indignation, rise to the rescue? France, touched to the +heart by such treatment of a Saxon Kurfurst, and bound by Treaty of +Westphalia to protect all members of the Reich (which it has sometimes, +to our own knowledge, so carefully done), is almost more ardent than +Austria itself. France, Austria, Russia; to these add Polish Majesty +himself; and latterly the very Swedes, by French bribery at Stockholm: +these are the Partitioning Powers;--and their shares (let us spare one +line for their shares) are as follows. + +The Swedes are to have Pommern in whole; Polish-Saxon Majesty gets +Magdeburg, Halle, and opulent slices thereabouts; Austria's share, +we need not say, is that jewel of a Silesia. Czarish Majesty, on the +extreme East, takes Preussen, Konigsberg-Memel Country in whole; adds +Preussen to her as yet too narrow Territories. Wesel-Cleve Country, from +the other or Western extremity, France will take that clipping, and make +much of it. These are quite serious business-engagements, engrossed on +careful parchment, that Spring, 1757, and I suppose not yet boiled down +into glue, but still to be found in dusty corners, with the tape much +faded. The high heads, making preparation on the due scale, think them +not only executable, but indubitable, and almost as good as done. Push +home upon him, as united Posse Comitatus of Mankind; in a sacred cause +of Polish Majesty and Public Justice, how can one malefactor resist?"AH, +MA TRES-CHERE" and "Oh, my dearest Princess and Cousin," what a chance +has turned up! + +It is computed that there are arrayed against this one King, under +their respective Kings, Empress-Queens, Swedish Senates, Catins and +Pompadours, populations to the amount of above 100 millions,--in after +stages, I remember to have seen "150 millions" loosely given as the +exaggerated cipher. Of armed soldiers actually in the field against him +(against Hanover and him), in 1757, there are, by strict count, 430,000. +Friedrich's own Dominions at this time contain about Five Millions of +Population; of Revenue somewhat less than Two Millions sterling. New +taxes he cannot legally, and will not, lay on his People. His SCHATZ +(ready-money Treasure, or Hoard yearly accumulating for such end) is, I +doubt not, well filled,--express amount not mentioned. Of drilled men he +has, this Year, 150,000 for the field; portioned out thriftily,--as well +beseems, against Four Invasions coming on him from different points. In +the field, 150,000 soldiers, probably the best that ever were; and +in garrison, up and down (his Country being, by nature, the least +defensible of all Countries), near 40,000, which he reckons of inferior +quality. So stands the account. [Stenzel, iv. 308, 306, v. 39; Ranke, +iii. 415; Preuss, ii, 389, 43, 124; &c. &c.;--substantially true, I +doubt not; but little or nothing of it so definite and conclusively +distinct as it ought, in all items, to have been by this time,--had poor +Dryasdust known what he was doing.] These are, arithmetically precise, +his resources,--PLUS only what may lie in his own head and heart, or +funded in the other heads and hearts, especially in those 150,000, +which he and his Fathers have been diligently disciplining, to good +perfection, for four centuries come the time. + +France, urged by Pompadour and the enthusiasms, was first in the field. +The French Army, in superb equipment, though privately in poorish state +of discipline, took the road early in March; "March 26th and 27th," +it crossed the German Border, Cleve Country and Koln Country; had been +rumored of since January and February last, as terrifically grand; +and here it now actually is, above 100,000 strong,--110,405, as +the Army-Lists, flaming through all the Newspapers, teach mankind. +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 391; iii. 1073.] Bent mainly upon Prussia, +it would seem; such the will of Pompadour. Mainly upon Prussia; Marechal +d'Estrees, crossing at Koln, made offers even to his Britannic Majesty +to be forgiven in comparison; "Yield us a road through your Hanover, +merely a road to those Halberstadt-Magdeburg parts, your Hanover shall +have neutrality!" "Neutrality to Hanover?" sighed Britannic Majesty: +"Alas, am not I pledged by Treaty? And, alas, withal, how is it +possible, with that America hanging over us?" and stood true. Nor is +this all, on the part of magnanimous France: there is a Soubise getting +under way withal, Soubise and 30,000, who will reinforce the Reich's +Armament, were it on foot, and be heard of by and by! So high runs +French enthusiasm at present. A new sting of provocation to Most +Christian Majesty, it seems, has been Friedrich's conduct in that +Damiens matter (miserable attempt, by a poor mad creature, to +assassinate; or at least draw blood upon the Most Christian Majesty +["Evening of 5th January, 1757" (exuberantly plentiful details of it, +and of the horrible Law-procedures which followed on it: In Adelung, +viii. 197-220; Barbier, &c. &c.).]); about which Friedrich, busy +and oblivious, had never, in common politeness, been at the pains to +condole, compliment, or take any notice whatever. And will now take the +consequences, as due!-- + +The Wesel-Cleve Countries these French find abandoned: Friedrich's +garrisons have had orders to bring off the artillery and stores, blow up +what of the works are suitable for blowing up; and join the "Britannic +Army of Observation" which is getting itself together in those regions. +Considerable Army, Britannic wholly in the money part: new Hanoverians +so many, Brunswickers, Buckeburgers, Sachsen-Gothaers so many; add those +precious Hanoverian-Hessian 20,000, whom we have had in England guarding +our liberties so long,--who are now shipped over in a lot; fair wind +and full sea to them. Army of 60,000 on paper; of effective more than +50,000; Head-quarters now at Bielefeld on the Weser;--where, "April +16th," or a few days later, Royal Highness of Cumberland comes to take +command; likely to make a fine figure against Marechal d'Estrees and his +100,000 French! But there was no helping it. Friedrich, through Winter, +has had Schmettau earnestly flagitating the Hanoverian Officialities: +"The Weser is wadable in many places, you cannot defend the Weser!" +and counselling and pleading to all lengths,--without the least effect. +"Wants to save his own Halberstadt lands, at our expense!" Which was the +idea in London, too: "Don't we, by Apocalyptic Newswriters and eyesight +of our own, understand the man?" Pitt is by this time in Office, +who perhaps might have judged a little otherwise. But Pitt's seat is +altogether temporary, insecure; the ruling deities Newcastle and +Royal Highness, who withal are in standing quarrel. So that Friedrich, +Schmettau, Mitchell pleaded to the deaf. Nothing but "Defend the Weser," +and ignorant Fatuity ready for the Impossible, is to be made out there. +"Cannot help it, then," thinks Friedrich, often enough, in bad moments; +"Army of Observation will have its fate. Happily there are only 5,000 +Prussians in it, Wesel and the other garrisons given up!" + +Only 5,000 Prussians: by original Engagement, there should have +been 25,000; and Friedrich's intention is even 45,000 if he prosper +otherwise. For in January, 1757 (Anniversary, or nearly so, of that +NEUTRALITY CONVENTION last year), there had been--encouraged by Pitt, +as I could surmise, who always likes Friedrich--a definite, much closer +TREATY OF ALLIANCE, with "Subsidy of a million sterling," Anti-Russian +"Squadron of Observation in the Baltic," "25,000 Prussians," and other +items, which I forget. Forget the more readily, as, owing to the strange +state of England (near suffocating in its Constitutional bedclothes), +the Treaty could not be kept at all, or serve as rule to poor England's +exertions for Friedrich this Year; exertions which were of the +willing-minded but futile kind, going forward pell-mell, not by plan, +and could reach Friedrich only in the lump,--had there been any "lump" +of them to sum together. But Pitt had gone out;--we shall see what, in +Pitt's absence, there was! So that this Treaty 1757 fell quite into +the waste-basket (not to say, far deeper, by way of "pavement" we know +where!),--and is not mentioned in any English Book; nor was known to +exist, till some Collector of such things printed it, in comparatively +recent times. ["M. Koch in 1802," not very perfectly (Scholl, iii. 30 +n.; who copies what Koch has given).] A Treaty 1757, which, except +as emblem of the then quasi-enchanted condition of England, and as +Foreshadow of Pitt's new Treaty in January, 1758, and of three others +that followed and were kept to the letter, is not of moment farther. + + + + +REICH'S THUNDER, SLIGHT SURVEY OF IT; WITH QUESTION, WHITHERWARD, IF +ANY-WHITHER. + +The thunderous fulminations in the Reich's-Diet--an injured Saxony +complaining, an insulted Kaiser, after vain DEHORTATORIUMS, reporting +and denouncing "Horrors such as these: What say you, O Reich?"--have +been going on since September last; and amount to boundless masses +of the liveliest Parliamentary Eloquence, now fallen extinct to all +creatures. [Given, to great lengths, in _Helden-Geschichte,_ iii. iv. +(and other easily avoidable Books).] The Kaiser, otherwise a solid +pacific gentleman, intent on commercial operations (furnishes a good +deal of our meal, says Friedrich), is Officially extremely violent in +behalf of injured Saxony,--that is to say, in fact, of injured Austria, +which is one's own. Kur-Mainz, Chairman of the Diet (we remember how he +was got, and a Battle of Dettingen fought in consequence, long since); +Kur-Mainz is admitted to have the most decided Austrian leanings: +Britannic George, Austria being now in the opposite scale, finds him +an unhandy Kur-Mainz, and what profit it was to introduce false weights +into the Reich's balance that time! Not for long generations before, had +the poor old semi-imaginary Reich's-Diet risen into such paroxysms; nor +did it ever again after. Never again, in its terrestrial History, was +there such agonistic parliamentary struggle, and terrific noise of +parliamentary palaver, witnessed in the poor Reich's-Diet. Noise and +struggle rising ever higher, peal after peal, from September, 1756, when +it started, till August, 1757, when it had reached its acme (as perhaps +we shall see), though it was far from ending then, or for years to come. + +Contemporary by-standers remark, on the Austrian part, extraordinary +rage and hatred against Prussia; which is now the one point memorable. +Austria is used to speak loud in the Diet, as we have ourselves seen: +and it is again (if you dive into those old AEolus'-Caves, at your +peril) unpleasantly notable to what pitch of fixed rage, and hot sullen +hatred Austria has now gone; and how the tone has in it a potency of +world-wide squealing and droning, such as you nowhere heard before. +Omnipotence of droning, edged with shrieky squealing, which fills the +Universe, not at all in a melodious way. From the depths of the gamut +to the shrieky top again,--a droning that has something of porcine or +wild-boar character. Figure assembled the wild boars of the world, all +or mostly all got together, and each with a knife just stuck into its +side, by a felonious individual too well known,--you will have some +notion of the sound of these things. Friedrich sometimes remonstrates: +"Cannot you spare such phraseology, unseemly to Kings? The quarrels of +Kings have to be decided by the sword; what profit in unseemly language, +Madam?"--but, for the first year and more, there was no abatement on the +Austrian part. + +Friedrich's own Delegate at Regensburg, a Baron von Plotho, come of +old Brandenburg kindred, is a resolute, ready-tongued, very undaunted +gentleman; learned in Diplomacies and Reich's Law; carries his head +high, and always has his story at hand. Argument, grounded on Reich's +Law and the nature of the case, Plotho never lacks, on spur of the hour: +and is indeed a very commendable parliamentary mastiff; and honorable +and melodious in the bark of him, compared with those infuriated +porcine specimens. He has Kur-Hanover for ally on common occasions, and +generally from most Protestant members individually, or from the CORPUS +EVANGELICORUM in mass, some feeble whimper of support. Finds difficulty +in getting his Reich's Pleadings printed;--dangerous, everywhere in +those Southern Parts, to print anything whatever that is not Austrian: +so that Plotho, at length, gets printers to himself, and sets up a +Printing-Press in his own house at Regensburg. He did a great deal of +sonorous pleading for Friedrich; proud, deep-voiced, ruggedly logical; +fairly beyond the Austrian quality in many cases,--and always far +briefer, which is another high merit. October coming, we purpose to +look in upon Plotho for one minute; "October 14th, 1757;" which may +be reckoned essentially the acme or turning-point of these unpleasant +thunderings. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 745-749.] + +What good he did to Friedrich, or could have done with the tongue of +angels in such an audience, we do not accurately know. Some good he +would do even in the Reich's-Diet there; and out of doors, over a German +public, still more; and is worth his frugal wages,--say 1,000 pounds a +year, printing and all other expense included! This is a mere guess of +mine, Dryasdust having been incurious: but, to English readers it is +incredible for what sums Friedrich got his work done, no work ever +better. Which is itself an appreciable advantage, computable in pounds +sterling; and is the parent of innumerable others which no Arithmetic +or Book-keeping by Double Entry will take hold of, and which are indeed +priceless for Nations and for persons. But this poor old bedridden +Reich, starting in agonistic spasm at such rate: is it not touching, in +a Corpus moribund for so many Centuries past! The Reich is something; +though it is not much, nothing like so much as even Kaiser Franz +supposes it. Much or not so much, Kaiser Franz wishes to secure it for +himself; Friedrich to hinder him,--and it must be a poor something, if +not worth Plotho's wages on Friedrich's part. + +It would insult the patience of every reader to go into these spasmodic +tossings of the poor paralytic Reich; or to mention the least item of +them beyond what had some result, or fraction of result, on the world's +real affairs. We shall say only, therefore, that after tempests not a +few of porcine squealing, answered always by counter-latration on the +vigilant Plotho's part;--squealing, chiefly, from the Reich's-Hofrath +at Vienna, the Head Tribunal of Imperial Majesty, which sits judging and +denouncing there, touched to the soul, as if by a knife driven into +its side, by those unheard-of treatments of Saxony and disregard to +our DEHORTATORIUMS, and which bursts out, peal after peal, filling the +Universe, Plotho not unvigilant;--the poor old Reich's-Diet did at +last get into an acting posture, and determine, by clear majority of 99 +against 60, that there should be a "Reich's Execution Army" got on foot. +Reich's Execution Army to coerce, by force of arms, this nefarious King +of Prussia into making instant restitution to Saxony, with ample damages +on the nail; that right be done to Kurfursts of this Reich. To such +height of vigor has the Reich's-Diet gone;--and was voting it at +Regensburg January 10th, 1757; [_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 252, 302, +330; Stenzel, v. 32.] that very day when nefarious Friedrich at Berlin, +case-hardened in iniquity to such a pitch, sat writing his INSTRUCTION +TO COUNT FINCK, which we read not long since. Simultaneous movements, +unknown to one another, in this big wrestle. + +Reich's-Diet perfected its Vote; had it quite through, and sanctioned +by the Kaiser's Majesty, January 29th: "Arming to be a TRIPLUM" (triple +contingent required of you this time); with Romish-months (ROMERMONATE) +of cash contributions from all and sundry (rigorously gathered, I should +hope, where Austria has power), so many as will cover the expense. Army +to be got on actual foot hastily, instantly if possible: an "EILENDE +REICHS-EXECUTIONS ARMEE;" so it ran, but the word EILENDE (speedy) had +a mischance in printing, and was struck off into ELENDE (contemptibly +wretched): so that on all Market-Squares and Public Places of poor +Teutschland, you read flaming Placards summoning out, not a speedy or +immediate, but "a MISERABLE Reich's Execution Army!" A word which, we +need not say, was laughed at by the unfeeling part of the public; and +was often called to mind by the Reich's Execution Army's performances, +when said SPEEDY Army did at last take the field. + +For the Reich performed its Vote; actually had a Reich's Execution Army; +the last it ever had in this world, not by any means the worst it ever +had, for they used generally to be bad. Commanders, managers are named, +Romermonate are gathered in, or the sure prospect of them; and, +through May-June, 1757, there is busy stir, of drumming, preparing and +enlisting, all over the Reich. End of July, we shall see the Reich's +Army in Camp; end of August, actually in the field; and later on, a +touch of its fighting withal. Many other things the Reich tried against +unfortunate Friedrich,--gradual advance, in fact, to Ban of the Reich +(or total anathema and cutting-off from fire and water): but in none of +these, in Ban as little as any, did it come to practical result at all, +or acquire the least title to be remembered at this day. Finis of Ban, +some eight months hence, has something of attractive as futility, +the curious Death of a Futility. Finis of Ban (October 14th, already +indicated) we may for one moment look in upon, if there be one moment +to spare; the rest--readers may fancy it; and read only of the actuality +and fighting part, which will itself be enough for them on such a +matter. + + + + +FRIEDRICH SUDDENLY MARCHES ON PRAG. + +Four Invasions, from their respective points of the compass, northeast, +northwest, southeast and southwest: here is a formidable outlook for +the one man against whom they are all advancing open-mouthed. The one +man--with nothing but a Duke of Cumberland and his Observation Army for +backing in such duel--had need to look to himself! Which, we well know, +he does; wrapt in profoundly silent vigilance, with his plans all laid. +Of the Four Invasions, three, the Russian, French, Austrian, are +very large; and the two latter, especially the last, are abundantly +formidable. The Swedish, of which there is rumoring, he hopes may come +to little, or not come at all. Nor is Russia, though talking big, and +actually getting ready above 100,000 men, so immediately alarming. +Friedrich always hopes the English, with their guineas and their +managements, will do something for him in that quarter; and he knows, +at worst, that the Russian Hundred Thousand will be a very slow-moving +entity. The Swedish Invasion Friedrich, for the present, leaves to +chance: and against Russia, he has sent old Marshal Lehwald into those +Baltic parts; far eastward, towards the utmost Memel Frontier, to put +the Country upon its own defence, and make what he can of it with 30,000 +men,--West-Prussian militias a good few of them. This is all he can +spare on the Swedish-Russian side: Austria and France are the perilous +pair of entities; not to be managed except by intense concentration of +stroke; and by going on them in succession, if one have luck!-- + +Friedrich's motions and procedures in canton-quarters, through Winter +and in late months, have led to the belief that he means to stand on the +defensive; that the scene of the Campaign will probably be Saxony; +and that Austria, for recovering injured Saxony, for recovering dear +Silesia, will have to take an invasive attitude. And Austria is busy +everywhere preparing with that view. Has Tolpatcheries, and advanced +Brigades, still harassing about in the Lausitz. A great Army assembling +at Prag,--Browne forward towards the Metal Mountains securing posts, +gathering magazines, for the crossing into Saxony there. There, it is +thought, the tug of war will probably be. Furious, and strenuous, it is +not doubted, on this Friedrich's part: but against such odds, what can +he do? With Austrians in front, with Russians to left, with French to +right and arear, not to mention Swedes and appendages: surely here, if +ever, is a lost King!-- + +It is by no means Friedrich's intention that Saxony itself shall need to +be invaded. Friedrich's habit is, as his enemies might by this time be +beginning to learn, not that of standing on the defensive, but that of +GOING on it, as the preferable method wherever possible. March 24th, +Friedrich had quitted Dresden City; and for a month after (head-quarters +Lockwitz, edge of the Pirna Country), he had been shifting, +redistributing, his cantoned Army,--privately into the due Divisions, +due readiness for march. Which done, on fixed days, about the end of +April, the whole Army, he himself from Lockwitz, April 20th,--to the +surprise of Austria and the world, Friedrich in three grand Columns, +Bevern out of the Lausitz, King himself over the Metal Mountains, +Schwerin out of Schlesien, is marching with extraordinary rapidity +direct for Prag; in the notion that a right plunge into the heart of +Bohemia will be the best defence for Saxony and the other places under +menace. + +This is a most unexpected movement; which greatly astonishes the +world-theatre, pit, boxes and gallery alike (as Friedrich's sudden +movements often do); and which is, above all, interesting on the stage +itself, where the actors had been counting on a quite opposite set of +entries and activities! Feldmarschall Browne and General Konigseck (not +our old friend Konigseck, who used to dry-nurse in the Netherlands, but +his nephew and heir) may cease gathering Magazines, in those Lausitz +and Metal-Mountain parts: happy could they give wings to those already +gathered! Magazines, for Austrian service, are clearly not the things +wanted there. One does not burn one's Magazines till the last extremity; +but wings they have none; and such is the enigmatic velocity of those +Prussian movements, one seldom has time even to burn them, in the last +crisis of catastrophe! Considerable portions of that provender fell into +the Prussian throat; as much as "three months' provision for the +whole Army," count they,--adding to those Frontier sundries the really +important Magazine which they seized at Jung-Bunzlau farther in. +[_Helden-Geschichte_, iv. 6-13; &c.] It is one among their many greater +advantages from this surprisal of the enemy, and sudden topsy-turvying +of his plans. Browne and Konigseck have to retire on Prag at their +swiftest; looking to more important results than Magazines. + +It is Friedrich's old plan. Long since, in 1744, we saw a march of this +kind, Three Columns rushing with simultaneous rapidity on Prag; and need +not repeat the particulars on this occasion. Here are some Notes on the +subject, which will sufficiently bring it home to readers:-- + +"The Three Columns were, for a part of the way, Four; the King's being, +at first, in two branches, till they united again, on the other side +of the Hills. For the King," what is to be noted, "had shot out, three +weeks before, a small preliminary branch, under Moritz of Dessau; who +marched, well westward, by Eger (starting from Chemnitz in Saxony); and +had some tussling with our poor old friend Duke d'Ahremberg, Browne's +subordinate in those parts. D'Ahremberg, having 20,000 under him, would +not quit Eger for Moritz; but pushed out Croats upon him, and sat still. +This, it was afterwards surmised, had been a feint on Friedrich's part; +to give the Austrians pleasant thoughts: 'Invading us, is he? Would fain +invade us, but cannot!' Moritz fell back from Eger; and was ready to +join the King's march, (at Linay, April 23d' (third day from Lockwitz, +on the King's part). Onwards from which point the Columns are +specifically Three; in strength, and on routes, somewhat as follows:-- + +1. "The FIRST Column, or King's,--which is 60,000 after this junction, +45,000 foot, 15,000 horse,--quitted Lockwitz (head-quarter for a month +past), WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20TH. They go by the Pascopol and other roads; +through Pirna, for one place: through Karbitz, Aussig, are at Linay on +the 23d; where Moritz joins: 24th, in the united state, forward again +(leave Lobositz two miles to left); to Trebnitz, 25th, and rest there +one day. + +"At Aussig an unfortunate thing befell. Zastrow, respectable old General +Zastrow, was to drive the Austrians out of Aussig: Zastrow does it, +April 22d-23d, drives them well over the heights; April 25th, however, +marching forward towards Lobositz, Zastrow is shot through both temples +(Pandour hid among the bushes and cliffs, OTHER side of Elbe), and falls +dead on the spot. Buried in GOTTLEUBE Kirk, 1st May." + +In these Aussig affairs, especially in recapturing the Castle of +Tetschen near by, Colonel Mayer, father of the new "Free-Corps," did +shining service;--and was approved of, he and they. And, a day or +two after, was detached with a Fifteen Hundred of that kind, on more +important business: First, to pick up one or two Bohemian Magazines +lying handy; after which, to pay a visit to the Reich and its bluster +about Execution-Army, and teach certain persons who it is they are +thundering against in that awkwardly truculent manner! Errand shiningly +done by Mayer, as perhaps we may hear,--and certainly as all the +Newspapers loudly heard,--in the course of the next two months. + +At crossing of the Eger, Friedrich's Column had some chasing of poor +D'Ahremberg; attempting to cut him off from his Bridges, Bridge of +Koschlitz, Bridge of Budin; but he made good despatch, Browne and he; +and, except a few prisoners of Ziethen's gathering, and most of his +Magazines unburnt, they did him no damage. The chase was close enough; +more than once, the Austrian head-quarter of to-night was that of the +Prussians to-morrow. Monday, May 2d, Friedrich's Column was on the +Weissenberg of Prag; Browne, D'Ahremberg, and Prince Karl, who is now +come up to take command, having hastily filed through the City, leaving +a fit garrison, the day before. Except his Magazines, nothing the least +essential went wrong with Browne; but Konigseck, who had not a Friedrich +on his heels,--Konigseck, trying more, as his opportunities were +more,--was not quite so lucky. + +2. "Column SECOND, to the King's left, comes from the Lausitz under +Brunswick-Bevern,--18,000 foot, 5,000 horse. This is the Bevern who so +distinguished himself at Lobositz last year; and he is now to culminate +into a still brighter exploit,--the last of his very bright ones, as it +proved. Bevern set out from about Zittau (from Grottau, few miles south +of Zittau), the same day with Friedrich, that is April 20th;--and had +not well started till he came upon formidable obstacles. Came upon +General Konigseck, namely: a Konigseck manoeuvring ahead, in superior +force; a Maguire, Irish subordinate of Konigseck's, coming from the +right to cut off our baggage (against whom Bevern has to detach); a +Lacy, coming from the left;--or indeed, Konigseck and Lacy in concert, +intending to offer battle. Battle of Reichenberg, which accordingly +ensued, April 21st,"--of which, though it was very famous for so small a +Battle, there can be no account given here. + +The short truth is, Konigseck falling back, Parthian-like, with a force +of 30,000 or more, has in front of him nothing but Bevern; who, as he +issues from the Lausitz, and till he can unite with Schwerin farther +southward, is but some 20,000 odd: cannot Konigseck call halt, and +bid Bevern return, or do worse? Konigseck, a diligent enough soldier, +determines to try; chooses an excellent position,--at or round +Reichenberg, which is the first Bohemian Town, one march from Zittau in +the Lausitz, and then one from Liebenau, which latter would be Bevern's +SECOND Bohemian stage on the Prag road, if he continued prosperous. +Reichenberg, standing nestled among hills in the Neisse Valley (one +of those Four Neisses known to us, the Neisse where Prince Karl got +exploded, in that signal manner, Winter, 1745, by a certain King), +offers fine capabilities; which Konigseck has laid hold of. There is +especially one excellent Hollow (on the left or western bank of Neisse +River, that is, ACROSS from Reichenberg), backed by woody hills, nothing +but hills, brooks, woods all round; Hollow scooped out as if for the +purpose; and altogether of inviting character to Konigseck. There, +"Wednesday, April 20th," Konigseck posts himself, plants batteries, +fells abatis; plenty of cannon, of horse and foot, and, say all +soldiers, one of the best positions possible. + +So that Bevern, approaching Reichenberg at evening, evening of his +first march, Wednesday, April 20th, finds his way barred; and that the +difficulties may be considerable. "Nothing to be made of it to-night," +thinks Bevern; "but we must try to-morrow!" and has to take camp, +"with a marshy brook in front of him," some way on the hither side of +Reichenberg; and study overnight what method of unbarring there may be. +Thursday morning early, Bevern, having well reconnoitred and studied, +was at work unbarring. Bevern crossed his own marshy brook; courageously +assaulted Konigseck's position, left wing of Konigseck; stormed the +abatis, the batteries, plunged in upon Konigseck, man to man, horse to +horse, and after some fierce enough but brief dispute, tumbled Konigseck +out of the ground. Konigseck made some attempt to rally; attempted +twice, but in vain; had fairly to roll away, and at length to run, +leaving 1,000 dead upon the field, about 500 prisoners; one or two guns, +and I forget how many standards, or whether any kettle-drums. This +was thought to be a decidedly bright feat on Bevern's part +(rather mismanaged latterly on Konigseck's); [Tempelhof, i. 100; +_Helden-Geschichte,_ iii. 1077 (Friedrich's own Account, "Linay in +Bohmen, 24th April, 1757"); &c. &c. There is, in Busching's _Magazin_ +(xvi. 139 et seq.), an intelligible sketch of this Action of +Reichenherg, with satirical criticisms, which have some basis, on Lacy, +Maguire and others, by an Anonymous Military Cynic,--who gives many +such in BUSCHING (that of Fontenoy, for example), not without force of +judgment, and signs of wide study and experience in his trade.]--much +approved by Friedrich, as he hears of it, at Linay, on his own +prosperous march Prag-ward. A comfortable omen, were there nothing more. + +Konigseck and Company, torn out of Reichenberg, and set running, could +not fairly halt again and face about till at Liebenau, twenty miles off, +where they found some defile or difficult bit of ground fit for them; +and this too proved capable of yielding pause for a few hours only. For +Schwerin, with his Silesian Column, was coming up from the northeast, +threatening Konigseck on flank and rear: Konigseck could only tighten +his straps a little at this Liebenau, and again get under way; and +making vain attempts to hinder the junction of Schwerin and Bevern, to +defend the Jung-Bunzlau Magazine, or do any good in those parts, except +to detain the Schwerin-Bevern people certain hours (I think, one day in +all), had nothing for it but to gird himself together, and retreat on +Prag and the Ziscaberg, where his friends now were. + +The Austrian force at Reichenberg was 20,000; would have been 30 and +odd thousands, had Maguire come up (as he might have done, had not the +appearances alarmed him too much); Bevern, minus the Detachment sent +against Maguire, was but 15,000 in fight; and he has quite burst the +Austrians away, who had plugged his road for him in such force: is it +not a comfortable little victory, glorious in its sort; and a good omen +for the bigger things that are coming? Bevern marched composedly on, +after this inspiriting tussle, through Liebenau and what defiles +there were; April 24th, at Turnau, he falls into the Schwerin Column; +incorporates himself therewith, and, as subordinate constituent part, +accompanies Schwerin thenceforth. + +3. "Column THIRD was Schwerin's, out of Schlesien; counted to be 32,000 +foot, 12,000 horse. Schwerin, gathering himself, from Glatz and the +northerly country, at Landshut,--very careless, he, of the pleasant +Hills, and fine scattered peaks of the Giant Mountains thereabouts,--was +completely gathered foremost of all the Columns, having farthest to go. +And on Monday, 18th April, started from Landshut, Winterfeld leading one +division. In our days, it is the finest of roads; high level Pass, of +good width, across the Giant Range; pleasant painted hamlets sprinkling +it, fine mountain ridges and distant peaks looking on; Schneekoppe +(SNOWfell, its head bright-white till July come) attends you, far to +the right, all the way:--probably Sprite Rubezahl inhabits there; and no +doubt River Elbe begins his long journey there, trickling down in little +threads over yonder, intending to float navies by and by: considerations +infinitely indifferent to Schwerin. 'The road,' says my Tourist, (is not +Alpine; it reminds you of Derbyshire-Peak country; more like the road +from Castletown to Sheffield than any I could name;'--we have been in +it before, my reader and I, about Schatzlar and other places. Trautenau, +well down the Hills, with swift streams, more like torrents, bound +Elbe-wards, watering it, is a considerable Austrian Town, and the +Bohemian end of the Pass,--Sohr only a few miles from it: heartily +indifferent to Schwerin at this moment; who was home from the Army, in +a kind of disfavor, or mutual pet, at the time Sohr was done. Schwerin's +March we shall not give; his junction with Bevern (at Turnau, on the +Iser, April 24th), then their capture of Jung-Bunzlau Magazine, and +crossing of the Elbe at Melnick, these were the important points; and, +in spite of Konigseck's tusslings, these all went well, and nothing was +lost except one day of time." + +The Austrians, some days ago, as we observed, filed THROUGH +Prag,--Sunday, May 1st, not a pleasant holiday-spectacle to the +populations;--and are all encamped on the Ziscaberg high ground, on the +other side of the City. Had they been alert, now was the time to attack +Friedrich, who is weaker than they, while nobody has yet joined him. +They did not think of it, under Prince Karl; and Browne and the Prince +are said to be in bad agreement. + + + + +Chapter II.--BATTLE OF PRAG. + +Monday morning, 2d May, 1757, the Vanguard, or advanced troops of +Friedrich's Column, had appeared upon the Weissenberg, northwest corner +of Prag (ground known to them in 1744, and to the poor Winter-King in +1620): Vanguard in the morning; followed shortly by Friedrich himself; +and, hour after hour, by all the others, marching in. So that, before +sunset, the whole force lay posted there; and had the romantic City +of Prag full in view at their feet. A most romantic, high-piled, +many-towered, most unlevel old City; its skylights and gilt +steeple-cocks glittering in the western sun,--Austrian Camp very visible +close beyond it, spread out miles in extent on the Ziscaberg Heights, or +eastern side;--Prag, no doubt, and the Austrian Garrison of Prag, taking +intense survey of this Prussian phenomenon, with commentaries, with +emotions, hidden now in eternal silence, as is fit enough. One thing we +know, "Head-quarter was in Welleslawin:" there, in that small Hamlet, +nearly to north, lodged Friedrich, the then busiest man of Europe; whom +Posterity is still striving for a view of, as something memorable. + +Prince Karl, our old friend, is now in chief command yonder; Browne also +is there, who was in chief command; their scheme of Campaign gone all +awry. And to Friedrich, last night, at his quarters "in the Monastery of +Tuchomirsitz," where these two Gentlemen had lodged the night before, +it was reported that they had been heard in violent altercation; +[_Helden-Geschichte, _ iv. 11 (exact "Diary of the march" given +there).]--both of them, naturally, in ill-humor at the surprising turn +things had taken; and Feldmarschall Browne firing up, belike, at +some platitude past or coming, at some advice of his rejected, some +imputation cast on him, or we know not what. Prince Karl is now chief; +and indignant Browne, as may well be the case, dissents a good deal,--as +he has often had to do. Patience, my friend, it is near ending now! +Prince Karl means to lie quiet on the Ziscaberg, and hold Prag; does not +think of molesting Friedrich in his solitary state; and will undertake +nothing, "till Konigseck, from Jung-Bunzlau, come in," victorious or +not; or till perhaps even Daun arrive (who is, rather slowly, gathering +reinforcement in Maren): "What can the enemy attempt on us, in a Post of +this strength?" thinks Prince Karl. And Browne, whatever his insight or +convictions be, has to keep silence. + +"Weissenberg," let readers be reminded, "is on the hither or western +side of Prag: the Hradschin [pronounce RadSHEEN, with accent on the last +syllable, as in "SchwerIN" and other such cases], the Hradschin, which +is the topmost summit of the City and of the Fashionable Quarter,--old +Bohemian Palace, still occasionally habitable as such, and in constant +use as a DOWNING STREET,--lies on the slope or shoulder of the +Weissenberg, a good way from the top; and has a web of streets rushing +down from it, steepest streets in the world; till they reach the Bridge, +and broad-flowing Moldau (broad as Thames at half-flood, but nothing +like so deep); after which the streets become level, and spread out in +intricate plenty to right and to left, and ahead eastward, across the +River, till the Ziscaberg, with frowning precipitous brow, suddenly +puts a stop to them in that particular direction. From Ziscaberg top to +Weissenberg top may be about five English miles; from the Hradschin +to the foot of Ziscaberg, northwest to southeast, will be half that +distance, the greatest length of Prag City. Which is rather rhomboidal +in shape, its longer diagonal this that we mention. The shorter +diagonal, from northmost base of Ziscaberg to southmost of Hradschin, is +perhaps a couple of miles. Prag stands nestled in the lap of mountains; +and is not in itself a strong place in war: but the country round +it, Moldau ploughing his rugged chasm of a passage through the piled +table-land, is difficult to manoeuvre in. + +"Moldau Valley comes straight from the south, crosses Prag; and--making, +on its outgate at the northern end of Prag (end of 'shortest diagonal' +just spoken of), one big loop, or bend and counter-bend, of horse-shoe +shape," which will be notable to us anon--"again proceeds straight +northward and Elbe-ward. It is narrow everywhere, especially when once +got fairly north of Prag; and runs along like a Quasi-Highland Strath, +amid rocks and hills. Big Hill-ranges, not to be called barren, yet with +rock enough on each hand, and fine side valleys opening here and there: +the bottom of your Strath, which is green and fertile, with pleasant +busy Villages (much intent on water-power and cotton-spinning in our +time), is generally of few furlongs in breadth. And so it lasts, this +pleasant Moldau Valley, mile after mile, on the northern or Lower +Moldau, generally straight north, though with one big bend eastward just +before ending; and not till near Melnick, or the mouth of Moldau, do +we emerge on that grand Elbe Valley,--glanced at once already, from +Pascopol or other Height, in the Lobositz times." + +Friedrich's first problem is the junction with Schwerin: junction not +to be accomplished south of Ziscaberg in the present circumstances; and +which Friedrich knows to be a ticklish operation, with those Austrians +looking on from the high grounds there. Tuesday, 3d May, in the way +of reconnoitring, and decisively on Wednesday, 4th, Friedrich is off +northward, along the western heights of Lower Moldau, proper force +following him, to seek a fit place for the pontoons, and get across in +that northern quarter. "How dangerous that Schwerin is a day too late!" +murmurs he; but hopes the Austrians will undertake nothing. Keith, +with 30,000, he has left on the Weissenberg, to straiten Prag and the +Austrian Garrison on that side: our wagon-trains arrive from Leitmeritz +on that side, Elbe-boats bring them up to Leitmeritz; very indispensable +to guard that side of Prag. Friedrich's fixed purpose also is to beat +the Austrians, on the other side of it, and send them packing; but for +that, there are steps needful! + +Up so far as Lissoley, the first day, Friedrich has found no fit place; +but on the morrow, Thursday, 5th, farther up, at a place called Seltz, +Friedrich finds his side of the Strath to be "a little higher than the +other,"--proper, therefore, for cannonading the other, if need be;--and +orders his pontoons to be built together there. He knows accurately of +the Schwerin Column, of the comfortable Bevern Victory at Reichenberg, +and how they have got the Jung-Bunzlau Magazine, and are across the +Elbe, their bridges all secured, though with delay of one day; and do +now wait only for the word,--for the three cannon-shot, in fact, which +are to signify that Friedrich is actually crossing to their side of +Lower Moldau. + +Friedrich's Bridge is speedily built (trained human hands can be no +speedier), his batteries planted, his precautions taken: the three +cannon-shot go off, audible to Schwerin; and Friedrich's troops stream +speedily across, hardly a Pandour to meddle with them. Nay, before the +passage was complete--what light-horse squadrons are these? Hussars, +seen to be Seidlitz's (missioned by Schwerin), appear on the outskirts: +a meeting worthy of three cheers, surely, after such a march on both +sides! Friedrich lies on the eastern Hill-tops that night (Hamlet of +Czimitz his Head-quarter, discoverable if you wish it, scarcely three +miles north of Prag); and accurate appointment is made with Schwerin +as to the meeting-place to-morrow morning. Meeting-place is to be the +environs of Prossik Village, southeastward over yonder, short way north +of the Prag-Konigsgratz Highway; and rather nearer Prag than we now +are, in Czimitz here: time at Prossik to be 6 A.M. by the clock; and +Winterfeld and Schwerin to come in person and speak with his Majesty. +This is the program for Friday, May 6th, which proves to be so memorable +a day. + +Schwerin is on foot by the stroke of midnight; comes along, "over the +heights of Chaber," by half a dozen, or I know not how many roads; +visible in due time to Friedrich's people, who are likewise punctually +on the advance: in a word, the junction is accomplished with all +correctness. And, while the Columns are marching up, Schwerin and +Winterfeld ride about in personal conference with his Majesty; taking +survey, through spy-glasses, of those Austrians encamped yonder on the +broad back of their Zisca Hill, a couple of miles to southward. "What a +set of Austrians," exclaim military critics, "to permit such junction, +without effort to devour the one half or the other, in good time!" +Friedrich himself, it is probable, might partly be of the same opinion; +but he knew his Austrians, and had made bold to venture. Friedrich, we +can observe, always got to know his man, after fighting him a month or +two; and took liberties with him, or did not take, accordingly. And, +for most part,--not quite always, as one signal exception will Show,--he +does it with perfect accuracy; and often with vital profit to his +measures. "If the Austrian cooking-tents are a-smoke before eight in the +morning," notes he, "you may calculate, in such case, the Austrians will +march that day." [MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS.] With a surprising vividness of +eye and mind (beautiful to rival, if one could), he watches the signs of +the times, of the hours and the days and the places; and prophesies from +them; reads men and their procedures, as if they were mere handwriting, +not too cramp for him.--The Austrians have, by this time, got their +Konigseck home, very unvictorious, but still on foot, all but a thousand +or two: they are already stronger than the Prussians by count of +heads; and till even Daun come up, what hurry in a Post like this? The +Austrians are viewing Friedrich, too, this morning; but in the blankest +manner: their outposts fire a cannon-shot or two on his group of +adjutants and him, without effect; and the Head people send their +cavalry out to forage, so little prophecy have they from signs seen. + +Zisca Hill, where the Austrians now are, rises sheer up, of well-nigh +precipitous steepness, though there are trees and grass on it, from +the eastern side of Prag, say five or six hundred feet. A steep, +picturesque, massive green Hill; Moldau River, turning suddenly to +right, strikes the northwest corner of it (has flowed well to west of +it, till then), and winds eastward round its northern base. As will +be noticed presently. The ascent of Ziscaberg, by roads, is steep and +tedious: but once at the top, you find that it is precipitous on two +sides only, the City or westward side, and the Moldau or northward. +Atop it spreads out, far and wide, into a waving upland level; bare +of hedges; ploughable all of it, studded with littery hamlets and +farmsteadings; far and wide, a kind of Plain, sloping with extreme +gentleness, five or six miles to eastward, and as far to southward, +before the level perceptibly rise again. + +Another feature of the Ziscaberg, already hinted at, is very notable: +that of the Moldau skirting its northern base, and scarping the Hill, +on that side too, into a precipitous, or very steep condition. Moldau +having arrived from southward, fairly past the end of Ziscaberg, had, +so to speak, made up his mind to go right eastward, quarrying his way +through the lower uplands there, And he proceeds accordingly, hugging +the northern base of Ziscaberg, and making it steep enough; but finds, +in the course of a mile or so, that he can no more; upland being still +rock-built, not underminable farther; and so is obliged to wind round +again, to northward, and finally straight westward, the way he came, +or parallel to the way he came; and has effected that great Horse-shoe +Hollow we heard of lately. An extremely pretty Hollow, and curious to +look upon; pretty villas, gardens, and a "Belvedere Park," laid out in +the bottom part; with green mountain-walls rising all round it, and a +silver ring of river at the base of them: length of Horse-shoe, from +heel to toe, or from west to east, is perhaps a mile; breadth, from heel +to heel, perhaps half as much. Having arrived at his old distance +to west, Moldau, like a repentant prodigal, and as if ashamed of his +frolic, just over against the old point he swerved from, takes straight +to northward again. Straight northward; and quarries out that fine +narrow valley, or Quasi-Highland Strath, with its pleasant busy +villages, where he turns the overshot machinery, and where Friedrich and +his men had their pontoons swimming yesterday. + +It is here, on this broad back of the Ziscaberg, that the Austrians now +lie; looking northward over to the King, and trying cannon-shots +upon him. There they have been encamping, and diligently intrenching +themselves for four days past; diligent especially since yesterday, when +they heard of Friedrich's crossing the River. Their groups of tents, +and batteries at all the good points, stretch from near the crown of +Ziscaberg, eastward to the Villages of Hlaupetin, Kyge, and their +Lakes, near four miles; and rearward into the interior one knows not how +far;--Prince Karl, hardly awake yet, lies at Nussel, near the Moldau, +near the Wischerad or southeastmost point of Prag; six good miles +west-by-south of Kyge, at the other end of the diagonal line. About the +same distance, right east from Nussel, and a mile or more to south of +Kyge, over yonder, is a littery Farmstead named Sterbohol, which is +not yet occupied by the Austrians, but will become very famous in their +War-Annals, this day!-- + +Where the Austrian Camp or various Tent-groups were, at the time +Friedrich first cast eye on them, is no great concern of his or ours; +inasmuch as, in two or three hours hence, the Austrians were obliged, +rather suddenly, to take Order of Battle; and that, and not their +camping, is the thing we are curious upon. Let us step across, and take +some survey of that Austrian ground, which Friedrich is now surveying +from the distance, fully intending that it shall be a battle-ground in +few hours; and try to explain how the Austrians drew up on it, when they +noticed the Prussian symptoms to become serious more and more. By nine +in the morning,--some two hours after Friedrich began his scanning, and +the Austrian outposts their firing of stray cannon-shots on him,--it is +Battle-lines, not empty Tents (which there was not time to strike), that +salute the eye over yonder. + +From behind that verdant Horse-shoe Chasm we spoke of, buttressed by +the inaccessible steeps, and the Moldau, double-folded in the form of +Horse-shoe, all along the brow of that sloping expanse, stands (by 9 +A.M. "foragers all suddenly called in") the Austrian front; the second +line and the reserve, parallel to it, at good distances behind. Ranked +there; say 65,000 regulars (Prussian force little short of the same), +on the brow of Ziscaberg slope, some four miles long. Their right wing +ends, in strong batteries, in intricate marshes, knolls, lakelets, +between Hlaupetin and Kyge: the extreme of their left wing looks over on +that Horse-shoe Hollow, where Moldau tried to dig his way, but could not +and had to turn back. They have numerous redoubts, in front and in all +the good places; and are busy with more, some of them just now getting +finished, treble-quick, while the Prussians are seen under way. As many +as sixty heavy cannon in battery up and down: of field-pieces they +have a hundred and fifty. Excellent always with their Artillery, these +Austrians; plenty of it, well-placed and well-served: thanks to Prince +Lichtenstein's fine labors within these ten years past. [_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ (in several places); see Hormayr,? Lichtenstein.] The +villages, the farmsteads, are occupied; every rising ground especially +has its battery,--Homoly Berg, Tabor Berg, "Mount of Tabor;" say +KNOLL of Tabor (nothing like so high as Battersea Rise, hardly even +as Constitution Hill), though scriptural Zisca would make a Mount of +it;--these, and other BERGS of the like type. + +That is the Austrian Battle Order (as it stood about 9, though it had +still to change a little, as we shall see): their first line, straight +or nearly so, looking northward, stands on the brow of the Zisca Slope; +their second and their third, singularly like it, at the due distances +behind;--in the intervals, their tents, which stand scattered, in groups +wide apart, in the ample interior to southward. The cavalry is on +both wings; left wing, behind that Moldau Chasm, cannot attack nor be +attacked,--except it were on hippogriffs, and its enemy on the +like, capable of fighting in the air, overhead of these Belvedere +Pleasure-grounds: perhaps Prince Karl will remedy this oversight; fruit +of close following of the orthodox practice? Prince Karl, supreme Chief, +commands on the left wing; Browne on the right, where he can attack or +be attacked, NOT on hippogriffs. As we shall see, and others will! Light +horse, in any quantity, hang scattered on all outskirts. With foot, with +cannon batteries, with horse, light or heavy, they cover in long broad +flood the whole of that Zisca Slope, to near where it ceases, and the +ground to eastward begins perceptibly to rise again. + +In this latter quarter, Zisca Slope, now nearly ended, begins to get +very swampy in parts; on the eastern border of the Austrian Camp, at +Kyge, Hostawitz, and beyond it southward, about Sterbohol and Michelup, +there are many little lakelets; artificial fish-ponds, several of them, +with their sluices, dams and apparatus: a ragged broadish lacing of +ponds and lakelets (all well dried in our day) straggles and zigzags +along there, connected by the miserablest Brook in nature, which takes +to oozing and serpentizing forward thereabouts, and does finally get +emptied, now in a rather livelier condition, into the Moldau, about the +TOE-part of that Horse-shoe or Belvedere region. It runs in sight of the +King, I think, where he now is; this lower livelier part of it: little +does the King know how important the upper oozing portion of it will +be to him this day. Near Michelup are lakelets worth noticing; a little +under Sterbohol, in the course of this miserable Brook, is a string of +fish-ponds, with their sluices open at this time, the water out, and +the mud bottom sown with herb-provender for the intended carps, which +is coming on beautifully, green as leeks, and nearly ready for the fish +getting to it again. + +Friedrich surveys diligently what he can of all this, from the northern +verge. We will now return to Friedrich; and will stay on his side +through the terrible Action that is coming. Battle of Prag, one of the +furious Battles of the World; loud as Doomsday;--the very Emblem of +which, done on the Piano by females of energy, scatters mankind to +flight who love their ears! Of this great Action the Narratives old and +modern are innumerable; false some of them, unintelligible well-nigh +all. There are three in Lloyd, known probably to some of my readers. +Tempelhof, with criticisms of these three, gives a fourth,--perhaps the +one Narrative which human nature, after much study, can in some sort +understand. Human readers, especially military, I refer to that as their +finale. [In Lloyd, i. 38 et seq. (the Three): in Tempelhof, i. 123 +(the Fourth); ib. i. 144 (strength of each Army), 105-149 (remarks of +Tempelhof).--The "HISTORY," or Series of Lectures on the Battles &c. of +this War, "BY THE ROYAL STAFF-OFFICERS"--which, for the last thirty or +forty years, is used as Text-Book, or Military EUCLID, in the Prussian +Cadet-Schools,--appears to possess the fit professorial lucidity and +amplitude; and, in regard to all Official details, enumerations and the +like, is received as of CANONICAL authority: it is not accessible to +the general Public,--though liberally enough conceded in special cases; +whereby, in effect, the main results of it are now become current in +modern Prussian Books. By favor in high quarters, I had once possession +of a copy, for some months; but not, at that time, the possibility +of thoroughly reading any part of it.] Other interest than +military-scientific the Action now has not much. The stormy fire of soul +that blazed that day (higher in no ancient or modern Fight of men) is +extinct, hopeless of resuscitation for English readers. Approximately +what the thing to human eyes might be like; what Friedrich's procedure, +humor and physiognomy of soul was in it: this, especially the latter +head, is what we search for,--had lazy Dryasdust given us almost +anything on this latter head! What little can be gleaned from him +on both heads let us faithfully give, and finish our sad part of the +combat. + +Friedrich, with his Schwerin and Winterfeld, surveying these things +from the northern edge, admits that the Austrian position is extremely +strong; but he has no doubt that it must be, by some good method, +attacked straightway, and the Austrians got beaten. Indisputably the +enterprise is difficult. Unattackable clearly, the Austrians, on that +left wing of theirs; not in the centre well attackable, nor in the +front at all, with that stiff ground, and such redoubts and points of +strength: but round on their right yonder; take them in flank,--cannot +we? On as far as Kyge, the Three have ridden reconnoitring; and found +no possibility upon the front; nor at Kyge, where the front ends in +batteries, pools and quagmires, is there any. "Difficult, not undoable," +persists the King: "and it must be straightway set about and got done." +Winterfeld, always for action, is of that opinion, too: and, examining +farther down along their right flank, reports that there the thing is +feasible. + +Feasible perhaps: "but straightway?" objects Schwerin. His men have been +on foot since midnight, and on forced marches for days past: were it not +better to rest for this one day? "Rest:--and Daun, coming on with 30,000 +of reinforcement to them, might arrive this night? Never, my good +Feldmarschall;"--and as the Feldmarschall was a man of stiff notions, +and had a tongue of some emphasis, the Dialogue went on, probably with +increasing emphasis on Friedrich's side too, till old Schwerin, with +a quite emphatic flash of countenance, crushing the hat firm over his +brow, exclaims: "Well, your Majesty: the fresher fish the better fish +(FRISCHE FISCHE, GUTE FISCHE): straightway, then!" and springs off on +the gallop southward, he too, seeking some likely point of attack. +He too,--conjointly or not with Winterfeld, I do not know: Winterfeld +himself does not say; whose own modest words on the subject readers +shall see before we finish. But both are mentioned in the Books as +searching, at hand-gallop, in this way: and both, once well round to +south, by the Podschernitz ["Podschernitz" is pronounced PotSHERnitz +(should we happen to mentionn it again); "Kyge," KEEGA.] quarter, with +the Austrian right flank full in view, were agreed that here the thing +was possible. "Infantry to push from this quarter towards Sterbohol +yonder, and then plunge into their redoubts and them! Cavalry may sweep +still farther southward, if found convenient, and even take them in +rear." Both agree that it will do in this way: ground tolerably good, +slightly downwards for us, then slightly upwards again; tolerable for +horse even:--the intermediate lacing of dirty lakelets, the fish-ponds +with their sluices drawn, Schwerin and Winterfeld either did not notice +at all, or thought them insiginificant, interspersed with such beautiful +"pasture-ground,"--of unusual verdure at this early season of the year. + +The deployment, or "marching up (AUFMARSCHIREN)" of the Prussians +was wonderful; in their squadrons, in their battalions, horse, +foot, artillery, wheeling, closing, opening; strangely checkering a +country-side,--in movements intricate, chaotic to all but the scientific +eye. Conceive them, flowing along, from the Heights of Chaber, behind +Prossik Hamlet (right wing of infantry plants itself at Prossik, horse +westward of them); and ever onwards in broad many-checkered tide-stream, +eastward, eastward, then southward ("our artillery went through +Podschernitz, the foot and horse a little on this westward side of it"): +intricate, many-glancing tide of coming battle; which, swift, correct +as clock-work, becomes two lines, from Prossik to near Chwala ("baggage +well behind at Gbell"); thence round by Podschernitz quarter; and +descends, steady, swift, tornado-storm so beautifully hidden in it, +towards Sterbohol, there to grip to. Gradually, in stirring up those old +dead pedantic record-books, the fact rises on us: silent whirlwinds +of old Platt-Deutsch fire, beautifully held down, dwell in those mute +masses; better human stuff there is not than that old Teutsch (Dutch, +English, Platt-Deutsch and other varieties); and so disciplined as here +it never was before or since. "In an hour and half," what military men +may count almost incredible, they are fairly on their ground, motionless +the most of them by 9 A.M.; the rest wheeling rightward, as they +successively arrive in the Chwala-Podschernitz localities; and, +descending diligently, Sterbohol way; and will be at their harvest-work +anon. + +Meanwhile the Austrians, seeing, to their astonishment, these phenomena +to the north, and that it is a quite serious thing, do also rapidly +bestir themselves; swarming like bees;--bringing in their foraging +Cavalry, "No time to change your jacket for a coat:" rank, double-quick! +Browne is on that right wing of theirs: "Bring the left wing over +hither," suggests Browne; "cavalry is useless yonder, unless they had +hippogriffs!"--and (again Browne suggesting) the Austrians make a change +in the position of their right wing, both horse and foot: change which +is of vital importance, though unnoted in many Narratives of this +Battle. Seeing, namely, what the Prussians intend, they wheel their +right wing (say the last furlong or two of their long Line of Battle) +half round to right; so that the last furlong or two stands at right +angles ("EN POTENCE," gallows-wise, or joiner's-square-wise to the +rest); and, in this way, make front to the Prussian onslaught,--front +now, not flank, as the Prussians are anticipating. This is an important +wheel to right, and formation in joiner's-square manner; and involves no +end of interior wheeling, marching and deploying; which Austrians cannot +manage with Prussian velocity. "Swift with it, here about Sterbohol +at least, my men! For here are the Prussians within wind of us!" urges +Browne. And here straightway the hurricane does break loose. + +Winterfeld, the van of Schwerin's infantry (Schwerin's own regiment, +and some others, with him), is striding rapidly on Sterbohol; Winterfeld +catches it before Browne can. But near by, behind that important +post, on the Homely Hill (BERG or "Mountain," nothing like so high as +Constitution Mountain), are cannon-batteries of devouring quality; which +awaken on Winterfeld, as he rushes out double-quick on the advancing +Austrians; and are fatal to Winterfeld's attempt, and nearly to +Winterfeld himself. Winterfeld, heavily wounded, sank in swoon from his +horse; and awakening again in a pool of blood, found his men all off, +rushing back upon the main Schwerin body; "Austrian grenadiers gazing on +the thing, about eighty paces off, not venturing to follow." Winterfeld, +half dead, scrambled across to Schwerin, who has now come up with the +main body, his front line fronting the Austrians here. And there +ensued, about Sterbohol and neighborhood, led on by Schwerin, such a +death-wrestle as was seldom seen in the Annals of War. Winterfeld's miss +of Sterbohol was the beginning of it: the exact course of sequel none +can describe, though the end is well known. + +The Austrians now hold Sterbohol with firm grip, backed by those +batteries from Homoly Hill. Redoubts, cannon-batteries, as we said, +stud all the field; the Austrian stock of artillery is very great; +arrangement of it cunning, practice excellent; does honor to Prince +Lichtenstein, and indeed is the real force of the Austrians on this +occasion. Schwerin must have Sterbohol, in spite of batteries and ranked +Austrians, and Winterfeld's recoil tumbling round him:--and rarely had +the oldest veteran such a problem. Old Schwerin (fiery as ever, at the +age of 73) has been in many battles, from Blenheim onwards; and now has +got to his hottest and his last. "Vanguard could not do it; main body, +we hope, kindling all the hotter, perhaps may!" A most willing mind is +in these Prussians of Schwerin's: fatigue of over-marching has tired +the muscles of them; but their hearts,--all witnesses say, these (and +through these, their very muscles, "always fresh again, after a few +minutes of breathing-time") were beyond comparison, this day! + +Schwerin's Prussians, as they "march up" (that is, as they front and +advance upon the Austrians), are everywhere saluted by case-shot, from +Homoly Hill and the batteries northward of Homoly; but march on, this +main line of them, finely regardless of it or of Winterfeld's disaster +by it. The general Prussian Order this day is: "By push of bayonet; +no firing, none, at any rate, till you see the whites of their eyes!" +Swift, steady as on the parade-ground, swiftly making up their gaps +again, the Prussians advance, on these terms; and are now near those +"fine sleek pasture-grounds, unusually green for the season." Figure the +actual stepping upon these "fine pasture-grounds:"--mud-tanks, verdant +with mere "bearding oat-crop" sown there as carp-provender! Figure the +sinking of whole regiments to the knee; to the middle, some of them; the +steady march become a wild sprawl through viscous mud, mere case-shot +singing round you, tearing you away at its ease! Even on those terrible +terms, the Prussians, by dams, by footpaths, sometimes one man abreast, +sprawl steadily forward, trailing their cannon with them; only a few +regiments, in the footpath parts, cannot bring their cannon. Forward; +rank again, when the ground will carry; ever forward, the case-shot +getting ever more murderous! No human pen can describe the deadly chaos +which ensued in that quarter. Which lasted, in desperate fury, issue +dubious, for above three hours; and was the crisis, or essential agony, +of the Battle. Foot-chargings, (once the mud-transit was accomplished), +under storms of grape-shot from Homoly Hill; by and by, Horse-chargings, +Prussian against Austrian, southward of Homoly and Sterbohol, +still farther to the Prussian left; huge whirlpool of tumultuous +death-wrestle, every species of spasmodic effort, on the one side +and the other;--King himself present there, as I dimly discover; +Feldmarschall Browne eminent, in the last of his fields; and, as the old +NIEBELUNGEN has it, "a murder grim and great" going on. + +Schwerin's Prussians, in that preliminary struggle through the mud-tanks +(which Winterfeld, I think, had happened to skirt, and avoid), were hard +bested. This, so far as I can learn, was the worst of the chaos, this +preliminary part. Intolerable to human nature, this, or nearly so; even +to human nature of the Platt-Teutsch type, improved by Prussian drill. +Winterfeld's repulse we saw; Schwerin's own Regiment in it. Various +repulses, I perceive, there were,--"fresh regiments from our Second +Line" storming in thereupon; till the poor repulsed people "took +breath," repented, "and themselves stormed in again," say the Books. +Fearful tugging, swagging and swaying is conceivable, in this Sterbohol +problem! And after long scanning, I rather judge it was in the wake of +that first repulse, and not of some other farther on, that the veteran +Schwerin himself got his death. No one times it for us; but the fact is +unforgettable; and in the dim whirl of sequences, dimly places itself +there. Very certain it is, "at sight of his own regiment in retreat," +Feldmarschall Schwerin seized the colors,--as did other Generals, who +are not named, that day. Seizes the colors, fiery old man: "HERAN, MEINE +KINDER (This way, my sons)!" and rides ahead, along the straight dam +again; his "sons" all turning, and with hot repentance following. "On, +my children, HERAN!" Five bits of grape-shot, deadly each of them, at +once hit the old man; dead he sinks there on his flag; and will never +fight more. "HERAN!" storm the others with hot tears; Adjutant von +Platen takes the flag; Platen, too, is instantly shot; but another +takes it. "HERAN, On!" in wild storm of rage and grief:--in a word, +they manage to do the work at Sterbohol, they and the rest. First line, +Second line, Infantry, Cavalry (and even the very Horses, I suppose), +fighting inexpressibly; conquering one of the worst problems ever seen +in War. For the Austrians too, especially their grenadiers there, stood +to it toughly, and fought like men;--and "every grenadier that survived +of them," as I read afterwards, "got double pay for life." + +Done, that Sterbohol work;--those Foot-chargings, Horse-chargings; that +battery of Homoly Hill; and, hanging upon that, all manner of redoubts +and batteries to the rightward and rearward:--but how it was done no +pen can describe, nor any intellect in clear sequence understand. An +enormous MELEE there: new Prussian battalions charging, and ever new, +irrepressible by case-shot, as they successively get up; Marshal Browne +too sending for new battalions at double-quick from his left, disputing +stiffly every inch of his ground. Till at length (hour not given), a +cannon-shot tore away his foot; and he had to be carried into Prag, +mortally wounded. Which probably was a most important circumstance, or +the most important of all. + +Important too, I gradually see, was that of the Prussian Horse of the +Left Wing. Prussian Horse of the extreme left, as already noticed, had, +in the mean while, fallen in, well southward, round by certain lakelets +about Michelup, on Browne's extreme right; furiously charging the +Austrian Horse, which stood ranked there in many lines; breaking it, +then again half broken by it; but again rallying, charging it a second +time, then a third time, "both to front and flank, amid whirlwinds +of dust" (Ziethen busy there, not to mention indignant Warnery and +others);--and at length, driving it wholly to the winds: "beyond Nussel, +towards the Sazawa Country;" never seen again that day. Prince Karl +(after Browne's death-wound, or before, I never know) came galloping +to rally that important Right Wing of horse. Prince Karl did his very +utmost there; obtesting, praying, raging, threatening:--but to no +purpose; the Zietheners and others so heavy on the rear of them:--and at +last there came a cramp, or intolerable twinge of spasm, through Prince +Karl's own person (breast or heart), like to take the life of him: so +that he too had to be carried into Prag to the doctors. And his Cavalry +fled at discretion; chased by Ziethen, on Friedrich's express order, and +sent quite over the horizon. Enough, "by about half-past one," Sterbohol +work is thoroughly done: and the Austrian Battle, both its Commanders +gone, has heeled fairly downwards, and is in an ominous way. + +The whole of this Austrian Right Wing, horse and foot, batteries and +redoubts, which was put EN POTENCE, or square-wise, to the main battle, +is become a ruin; gone to confusion; hovers in distracted clouds, +seeking roads to run away by, which it ultimately found. Done all this +surely was; and poor Browne, mortally wounded, is being carried off +the ground; but in what sequence done, under what exact vicissitudes +of aspect, special steps of cause and effect, no man can say; and only +imagination, guided by these few data, can paint to itself. Such a +chaotic whirlwind of blood, dust, mud, artillery-thunder, sulphurous +rage, and human death and victory,--who shall pretend to describe it, or +draw, except in the gross, the scientific plan of it? + +For, in the mean time,--I think while the dispute at Sterbohol, on the +extreme of the Austrian right wing "in joiner's-square form," was past +the hottest (but nobody will give the hour),--there has occurred +another thing, much calculated to settle that. And, indeed, to settle +everything;--as it did. This was a volunteer exploit, upon the very +elbow or angle of said "joiner's-square;" in the wet grounds between +Hlaupetin and Kyge, a good way north of Sterbohol. Volunteer exploit; on +the part of General Mannstein, our old Russian friend; which Friedrich, +a long way off from it, blames as a rash fault of Mannstein's, made good +by Prince Henri and Ferdinand of Brunswick running up to mend it; but +which Winterfeld, and subsequent good judges, admit to have been highly +salutary, and to have finished everything. It went, if I read right, +somewhat as follows. + +In the Kyge-Hlaupetin quarter, at the corner of that Austrian right +wing EN POTENCE, there had, much contrary to Browne's intention, a +perceptible gap occurred; the corner is open there; nothing in it but +batteries and swamps. The Austrian right wing, wheeling southward, there +to form POTENCE; and scrambling and marching, then and subsequently, +through such ground at double-quick, had gone too far (had thinned and +lengthened itself, as is common, in such scrambling, and double-quick +movement, thinks Tempelhof), and left a little gap at elbow; which +always rather widened as the stress at Sterbohol went on. Certain +enough, a gap there is, covered only by some half-moon battery in +advance: into this, General Mannstein has been looking wistfully a long +time: "Austrian Line fallen out at elbow yonder; clouted by some battery +in advance?"--and at length cannot help dashing loose on it with +his Division. A man liable to be rash, and always too impetuous in +battle-time. + +He would have fared ill, thinks Friedrich, had not Henri and Ferdinand, +in pain for Mannstein (some think, privately in preconcert with +him), hastened in to help; and done it altogether in a shining way; +surmounting perilous difficulties not a few. Hard fighting in that +corner, partly on the Sterbohol terms; batteries, mud-tanks; chargings, +rechargings: "Comrades, you have got honor enough, KAMERADEN, IHR HABT +EHRE GENUG [the second man of you lying dead]; let us now try!" said a +certain Regiment to a certain other, in this business. [Archenholtz, i. +75; Tempelhof, &c.] Prince Henri shone especially, the gallant little +gentleman: coming upon one of those mud-tanks with battery beyond, his +men were spreading file-wise, to cross it on the dams; "BURSCHE, this +way!" cried the Prince, and plunged in middle-deep, right upon the +battery; and over it, and victoriously took possession of it. In a word, +they all plunge forward, in a shining manner; rush on those half-moon +batteries, regardless of results; rush over them, seize and secure them. +Rush, in a word, fairly into that Austrian hole-at-elbow, torrents more +following them,--and irretrievably ruin both fore-arm and shoulder-arm +of the Austrians thereby. + +Fore-arm (Austrian right wing, if still struggling and wriggling about +Sterbohol) is taken in flank; shoulder-arm, or main line, the like; +we have them both in flank; with their own batteries to scour them to +destruction here:--the Austrian Line, throughout, is become a ruin. +Has to hurl itself rapidly to rightwards, to rearwards, says Tempelhof, +behind what redoubts and strong points it may have in those parts; and +then, by sure stages (Tempelhof guesses three, or perhaps four), as one +redoubt after another is torn from the loose grasp of it, and the stand +made becomes ever weaker, and the confusion worse,--to roll pell-mell +into Prag, and hastily close the door behind it. The Prussians, +Sterbohol people, Mannstein-Henri people, left wing and right, are quite +across the Zisca Back, on by Nussel (Prince Earl's head-quarter that +was), and at the Moldau Brink again, when the thing ends. Ziethen's +Hussars have been at Nussel, very busy plundering there, ever since that +final charge and chase from Sterbohol. Plundering; and, I am ashamed +to say, mostly drunk: "Your Majesty, I cannot rank a hundred sober," +answered Ziethen (doubtless with a kind of blush), when the King applied +for them. The King himself has got to Branik, farther up stream. Part +of the Austrian foot fled, leftwards, southwards, as their right wing +of horse had all done, up the Moldau. About 16,000 Austrians are +distractedly on flight that way. Towards, the Sazawa Country; to unite +with Daun, as the now advisable thing. Near 40,000 of them are getting +crammed into Prag; in spite of Prince Karl, now recovered of his cramp, +and risen to the frantic pitch; who vainly struggles at the Gate +against such inrush, and had even got through the Gate, conjuring and +commanding, but was himself swum in again by those panic torrents of +ebb-tide. + +Rallying within, he again attempted, twice over, at two different +points, to get out, and up the Moldau, with his broken people; but the +Prussians, Nussel-Branik way, were awake to him: "No retreat up the +Moldau for you, Austrian gentlemen!" They tried by another Gate, on the +other side of the River; but Keith was awake too: "In again, ye Austrian +gentlemen! Closed gates here too. What else?" Browne, from his bed of +pain (death-bed, as it proved), was for a much more determined outrush: +"In the dead of night, rank, deliberately adjust yourselves; storm out, +one and all, and cut your way, night favoring!" That was Browne's last +counsel; but that also was not taken. A really noble Browne, say all +judges; died here in about six weeks,--and got away from Kriegs-Hofraths +and Prince Karls, and the stupidity of neighbors, and the other ills +that flesh is heir to, altogether. + +At Branik the victorious King had one great disappointment: Prince +Moritz of Dessau, who should have been here long hours ago, with Keith's +right wing, a fresh 15,000, to fall upon the enemy's rear;--no Moritz +visible; not even now, when the business is to chase! "How is this?" "Ill +luck, your Majesty!" Moritz's Pontoon Bridge would not reach across, +when he tried it. That is certain: "just three poor pontoons wanting," +Rumor says:--three or more; spoiled, I am told, in some narrow road, +some short-cut which Moritz had commanded for them: and now they are +not; and it is as if three hundred had been spoiled. Moritz, would +he die for it, cannot get his Bridge to reach: his fresh 15,000 stand +futile there; not even Seidlitz with his light horse could really swim +across, though he tried hard, and is fabled to have done so. Beware of +short-cuts, my Prince: your Father that is gone, what would he say of +you here! It was the worst mistake Prince Moritz ever made. The Austrian +Army might have been annihilated, say judges (of a sanguine temper), had +Moritz been ready, at his hour, to fall on from rearward;--and where had +their retreat been? As it is, the Austrian Army is not annihilated; only +bottled into Prag, and will need sieging. The brightest triumph has +a bar of black in it, and might always have been brighter. Here is a +flying Note, which I will subjoin:-- + +Friedrich's dispositions for the Battle, this day, are allowed to have +been masterly; but there was one signal fault, thinks Retzow: That +he did not, as Schwerin counselled, wait till the morrow. Fault which +brought many in the train of it; that of his "tired soldiers," says +Retzow, being only a first item, and small in comparison. "Had he waited +till the morrow, those fish-ponds of Sterbohol, examined in the interim, +need not have been mistaken for green meadows; Prince Moritz, with his +15,000, would have been a fact, instead of a false hope; the King might +have done his marching down upon Sterbohol in the night-time, and been +ready for the Austrians, flank, or even rear, at daybreak: the King +might"--In reality, this fault seems to have been considerable; to have +made the victory far more costly to him, and far less complete. No doubt +he had his reasons for making haste: Daun, advancing Prag-ward with +30,000, was within three marches of him; General Beck, Daun's vanguard, +with a 10,000 of irregulars, did a kind of feat at Brandeis, on the +Prussian post there (our Saxons deserting to him, in the heat of +action), this very day, May 6th; and might, if lucky, have taken part at +Ziscaberg next day. And besides these solid reasons, there was perhaps +another. Retzow, who is secretly of the Opposition-party, and well worth +hearing, knows personally a curious thing. He says:-- + +"Being then [in March or April, weeks before we left Saxony] employed to +translate the PLAN OF OPERATIONS into French, for Marshal Keith's +use, who did not understand German, I well know that it contained the +following three main objects: 1. 'All Regiments cantoning in Silesia as +well as Saxony march for Bohemia on one and the same day. 2. Whole Army +arrives at Prag May 4th [Schwerin was a day later, and got scolded in +consequence]; if the Enemy stand, he is attacked May 6th, and beaten. +3. So soon as Prag is got, Schwerin, with the gross of the Army, pushes +into Mahren,' and the heart of Austria itself; 'King hastens with 40,000 +to help of the Allied Army,'"--Royal Highness of Cumberland's; who will +much need it by that time! [Retzow, i. 84 n.] + +Here is a very curious fact and consideration. That the King had so +prophesied and preordained: "May 4th, Four Columns arrive at Prag; May +6th, attack the Austrians, beat them,"--and now wished to keep his word! +This is an aerial reason, which I can suspect to have had its weight +among others. There were twirls of that kind in Friedrich; intricate +weak places; knots in the sound straight-fibred mind he had (as in +whose mind are they not?),--which now and then cost him dear! The +Anecdote-Books say he was very ill of body, that day, May 6th; and +called for something of drug nature, and swallowed it (drug not named), +after getting on horseback. The Evening Anecdote is prettier: How, in +the rushing about, Austrians now flying, he got eye on Brother Henri +(clayey to a degree); and sat down with him, in the blessed sunset, for +a minute or two, and bewailed his sad losses of Schwerin and others. + +Certain it is, the victory was bought by hard fighting; and but for +the quality of his troops, had not been there. But the bravery of the +Prussians was exemplary, and covered all mistakes that were made. Nobler +fire, when did it burn in any Army? More perfect soldiers I have +not read of. Platt-Teutsch fire--which I liken to anthracite, in +contradistinction to Gaelic blaze of kindled straw--is thrice noble, +when, by strict stern discipline, you are above it withal; and wield +your fire-element, as Jove his thunder, by rule! Otherwise it is but +half-admirable: Turk-Janissaries have it otherwise; and it comes to +comparatively little. + +This is the famed Battle of Prag; fought May 6th, 1757; which sounded +through all the world,--and used to deafen us in drawing-rooms within +man's memory. Results of it were: On the Prussian side, killed, wounded +and missing, 12,500 men; on the Austrian, 13,000 (prisoners included), +with many flags, cannon, tents, much war-gear gone the wrong road;--and +a very great humiliation and dispiritment; though they had fought well: +"No longer the old Austrians, by any means," as Friedrich sees; but have +iron ramrods, all manner of Prussian improvements, and are "learning to +march," as he once says, with surprise not quite pleasant. + +Friedrich gives the cipher of loss, on both sides, much higher: "This +Battle," says he, "which began towards nine in the morning, and lasted, +chase included, till eight at night, was one of the bloodiest of the +age. The Enemy lost 24,000 men, of whom were 5,000 prisoners; the +Prussian loss amounted to 18,000 fighting men,--without counting Marshal +Schwerin, who alone was worth above 10,000." "This day saw the pillars +of the Prussian Infantry cut down," says he mournfully, seeming almost +to think the "laurels of victory" were purchased too dear. His account +of the Battle, as if it had been a painful object, rather avoided in +his after-thoughts, is unusually indistinct;--and helps us little in the +extreme confusion that reigns otherwise, both in the thing itself and in +the reporters of the thing. Here is a word from Winterfeld, some private +Letter, two days after; which is well worth reading for those who would +understand this Battle. + +"The enemy had his Left Wing leaning on the City, close by the Moldau," +at Nussel; "and stretched with his Right Wing across the high Hill [of +Zisca] to the village of Lieben [so he HAD stood, looking into Prag; +but faced about, on hearing that Friedrich was across the River]; having +before him those terrible Defiles [DIE TERRIBLEN DEFILEES, "Horse-shoe +of the Moldau," as we call it], and the village of Prossik, which was +crammed with Pandours. It was about half-past six in the morning, when +our Schwerin Army [myself part of it, at this time] joined with the +twenty battalions and twenty squadrons, which the King had brought +across to unite with us, and which formed our right wing of battle that +day [our left wing were Schweriners, Sterbohol and the fighting done by +Schweriners after their long march]. The King was at once determined to +attack the Enemy; as also were Schwerin [say nothing of the arguing] and +your humble servant (MEINE WENIGKEIT): but the first thing was, to find +a hole whereby to get at him. + +"This too was selected, and decided on, my proposal being found good; +and took effect in manner following: We [Schweriners] had marched off +left-wise, foremost; and we now, without halt, continued marching so +with the Left Wing" of horse, "which had the van (TETE); and moved on, +keeping the road for Hlaupetin, and ever thence onwards along for Kyge, +round the Ponds of Unter-Podschernitz, without needing to pass these, +and so as to get them in our rear. + +"The Enemy, who at first had expected nothing bad, and never supposed +that we would attack him at once, FLAGRANTE DELICTO, and least of all in +this point; and did not believe it possible, as we should have to wade, +breast-deep in part, through the ditches, and drag our cannon,--was at +first quite tranquil. But as he began to perceive our real design (in +which, they say, Prince Karl was the first to open Marshal Browne's +eyes), he drew his whole Cavalry over towards us, as fast as it could +be done, and stretched them out as Right Wing; to complete which, his +Grenadiers and Hungarian Regulars of Foot ranked themselves as they +got up [makes his POTENCE, HAKEN, or joiner's-square, outmost end of it +Horse.] + +"The Enemy's intention was to hold with the Right Wing of his infantry +on the Farmstead which they call Sterbaholy [Sterbohol, a very dirty +Farmstead at this day]; I, however, had the good luck, plunging on, head +foremost, with six battalions of our Left Wing and two of the Flank, to +get to it before him. Although our Second Line was not yet come forward, +yet, as the battalions of the First were tolerably well together, I +decided, with General Fouquet, who had charge of the Flank, to begin +at once; and, that the Enemy might not have time to post himself still +better, I pushed forward, quick step, out of the Farmstead" of Sterbohol +"to meet him,--so fast, that even our cannon had not time to follow. He +did, accordingly, begin to waver; and I could observe that his people +here, on this Wing, were making right-about. + +"Meanwhile, his fire of case-shot opened [from Homoly Hill, on our +left], and we were still pushing on,--might now be about two hundred +steps from the Enemy's Line, when I had the misfortune, at the head of +Regiment Schwerin, to get wounded, and, swooning away (VOR TOD), fell +from my horse to the ground. Awakening after some minutes, and raising +my head to look about, I found nobody of our people now here beside or +round me; but all were already behind, in full flood of retreat (HOCH +ANSCHLAGEN). The Enemy's Grenadiers were perhaps eighty paces from me; +but had halted, and had not the confidence to follow us. I struggled to +my feet, as fast as, for weakness, I possibly could; and got up to our +confused mass [CONFUSEN KLUMPEN,--exact place, where?]: but could not, +by entreaties or by threats, persuade a single man of them to turn his +face on the Enemy, much less to halt and try again. + +"In this embarrassment the deceased Feldmarschall found me, and noticed +that the blood was flowing stream-wise from my neck. As I was on foot, +and none of my people now near, he bade give me his led horse which he +still had [and sent me home for surgery? Winterfeld, handsomely effacing +himself when no longer good for anything, hurries on to the Catastrophe, +leaving us to guess that he was NOT an eye-witness farther]--bade +give me the led horse which he still had; AND [as if that had happened +directly after, which surely it did not? AND] snatched the flag from +Captain Rohr, who had taken it up to make the Bursche turn, and rode +forward with it himself.' But before he could succeed in the attempt, +this excellent man, almost in a minute, was hit with five case-shot +balls, and fell dead on the ground; as also his brave Adjutant von +Platen was so wounded that he died next day. + +"During this confusion and repulse, by which, as already mentioned, the +Enemy had not the heart to profit, not only was our Second Line come on, +but those of the First, who had not suffered, went vigorously (FRISCH) +at the Enemy,"--and in course of time (perhaps two hours yet), and by +dint of effort, we did manage Sterbohol and its batteries:--"Like as +[still in one sentence, and without the least punctuation; Winterfeld +being little of a grammarian, and in haste for the close], Like as +Prince Henri's Royal Highness with our Right Wing," Mannstein and he, +"without waiting for order, attacked so PROMPT and with such FERMOTE," +in that elbow-hole far north of US, "that everywhere the Enemy's Line +began to give way; and instead of continuing as Line, sought corps-wise +to gain the Heights, and there post itself. And as, without winning +said Heights, we could not win the Battle, we had to storm them all, one +after the other; and this it was that cost us the best, most and bravest +people. + +"The late Colonel von Goltz [if we glance back to Sterbohol itself], +who, with the regiment Fouquet, was advancing, right-hand of Schwerin +regiment" and your servant, "had likewise got quite close to the Enemy; +and had he not, at the very instant when he was levelling bayonets, been +shot down, I think that he, with myself and the Schwerin regiment, would +have got in,"--and perhaps have there done the job, special and general, +with much less expense, and sooner! [Preuss, ii. 45-47 (in Winterfeld's +hand; dated "Camp at Prag, 8th May, 1757:" addressed to one knows not +whom; first printed by Preuss).] + +This is what we get from Winterfeld; a rugged, not much grammatical man, +but (as I can perceive) with excellent eyes in his head, and interior +talent for twenty grammatical people, had that been his line. These, +faithfully rendered here, without change but of pointing, are the +only words I ever saw of his: to my regret,--which surely the Prussian +Dryasdust might still amend a little?--in respect of so distinguished +a person, and chosen Peer of Friedrich's. This his brief theory of Prag +Battle, if intensely read, I find to be of a piece with his practice +there. + +Schwerin was much lamented in the Army; and has been duly honored ever +since. His body lies in Schwerinsburg, at home, far away; his Monument, +finale of a series of Monuments, stands, now under special guardianship, +near Sterbohol on the spot where he fell. A late Tourist says:-- + +"At first there was a monument of wood [TREE planted, I will hope], +which is now all gone; round this Kaiser Joseph II. once, in the year +1776, holding some review there, made his grenadier battalions and +artilleries form circle, fronting the sky all round, and give three +volleys of great arms and small, Kaiser in the centre doffing hat at +each volley, in honor of the hero. Which was thought a very pretty thing +on the Kaiser's part. In 1824, the tree, I suppose, being gone to a +stump, certain subscribing Prussian Officers had it rooted out, and a +modest Pyramid of red-veined marble built in its room. Which latter +the then King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III., determined to improve +upon; and so, in 1839, built a second Pyramid close by, bigger, finer, +and of Prussian iron, this one;--purchasing also, from the Austrian +Government, a rood or two of ground for site; and appointing some +perpetual Peculium, or increase of Pension to an Austrian Veteran of +merit for taking charge there. All which, perfectly in order, is in +its place at this day. The actual Austrian Pensioner of merit is a +loud-voiced, hard-faced, very limited, but honest little fellow; who +has worked a little polygon ditch and miniature hedge round the two +Monuments; keeps his own cottage, little garden, and self, respectably +clean; and leads stoically a lone life,--no company, I should think, but +the Sterbohol hinds, who probably are Czechs and cannot speak to him. He +was once 'of the regiment Hohenlohe;' suffers somewhat from cold, in +the winter-time, in those upland parts (the 'cords of wood' allowed him +being limited); but complains of nothing else. Two English names were +in his Album, a military two, and no more. 'EHRET DEN HELD (Honor the +Hero)!' we said to him, at parting. 'Don't I?' answered he; glancing at +his muddy bare legs and little spade, with which he had been working +in the Polygon Ditch when we arrived. I could wish him an additional +'KLAFTER HOLZ' (cord more of firewood) now and then, in the cold +months!-- + +"Sterbohol Farmstead has been new built, in man's memory, but is dirty +as ever. Agriculture, all over this table-land of the Ziscaberg, +I should judge to be bad. Not so the prospect; which is cheerfully +extensive, picturesque in parts, and to the student of Friedrich offers +good commentary. Roads, mansions, villages: Prossik, Kyge, Podschernitz, +from the Heights of Chaber round to Nussel and beyond: from any +knoll, all Friedrich's Villages, and many more, lie round you as on a +map,--their dirt all hidden, nothing wanting to the landscape, were it +better carpeted with green (green instead of russet), and shaded here +and there with wood. A small wild pink, bright-red, and of the size of +a star, grows extensively about; of which you are tempted to pluck +specimens, as memorial of a Field so famous in War." [Tourist's Note +(September, 1858).] + + + + +Chapter III.--PRAG CANNOT BE GOT AT ONCE. + +What Friedrich's emotions after the Battle of Prag were, we do not much +know. They are not inconceivable, if we read his situation well; but +in the way of speech, there is, as usual, next to nothing. Here are two +stray utterances, worth gathering from a man so uncommunicative in that +form. + +FRIEDRICH A MONTH BEFORE PRAG (From Lockwitz, 25th March, to Princess +Amelia, at Berlin).--"My dearest Sister, I give you a thousand thanks +for the hints you have got me from Dr. Eller on the illness of our dear +Mother. Thrice-welcome this; and reassures me [alas, not on good basis!] +against a misfortune which I should have considered very great for me. + +"As to us and our posture of affairs, political and military,--place +yourself, I conjure you, above every event. Think of our Country and +remember that one's first duty is to defend it. If you learn that a +misfortune happens to one of us, ask, 'Did he die fighting?' and if Yes, +give thanks to God. Victory or else death, there is nothing else for +us; one or the other we must have. All the world here is of that temper. +What! you would everybody sacrifice his life for the State, and you +would not have your Brothers give the example? Ah, my dear Sister, at +this crisis, there is no room for bargaining. Either at the summit of +glorious success, or else abolished altogether. This Campaign now +coming is like that of Pharsalia for Rome, or that of Leuctra for the +Greeks,"--a Campaign we verily shall have to win, or go to wreck upon! +[_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvii. i. 391.] + +FRIEDERICH SHORTLY AFTER PRAG (To his Mother, Letter still extant in +Autograph, without date).--"My Brothers and I are still well. The whole +Campaign runs risk of being lost to the Austrians; and I find myself +free, with 150,000 men. Add to this, that we are masters of a Kingdom +[Bohemia here], which is obliged to furnish us with troops and money. +The Austrians are dispersed like straw before the wind. I will send a +part of my troops to compliment Messieurs the French; and am going [if I +once had Prag!] to pursue the Austrians with the rest of my Army." [Ib. +xxvi. 75.] + +Friedrich, who keeps his emotions generally to himself, does not, as +will be seen, remain quite silent to us throughout this great Year; +but, by accident, has left us some rather impressive gleanings in that +kind;--and certainly in no year could such accident have been luckier to +us; this of 1757 being, in several respects, the greatest of his Life. +From nearly the topmost heights down to the lowest deeps, his fortunes +oscillated this year; and probably, of all the sons of Adam, nobody's +outlooks and reflections had in them, successive and simultaneous, more +gigantic forms of fear and of hope. He is on a very high peak at this +moment; suddenly emerging from his thick cloud, into thunderous victory +of that kind; and warning all Pythons what they get by meddling with +the Sun-god! Loud enough, far-clanging, is the sound of the silver bow; +gazetteers and men all on pause at such new Phoebus Apollo risen in his +wrath;--the Victory at Prag considered to be much more annihilative +than it really was. At London, Lord Holderness had his Tower-guns in +readiness, waiting for something of the kind; and "the joy of the +people was frantic." [_Mitchell Papers and Memoirs_ (i. e the PRINTED +Selection, 2 vols. London, 1850;--which will be the oftenest cited by +us, "Papers AND MEMOIRS"), i. 249: "Holderness to Mitchell, 20th May, +1757." Mitchell is now attending Friedrich; his Letter from Keith's +Camp, during the thunder of "Friday, May 6th," is given, ib. i. 248.] + +Very dominant, our "Protestant Champion" yonder, on his Ziscaberg; +bidding the enormous Pompadour-Theresa combinations, the French, +Austrian, Swedish, Russian populations and dread sovereigns, check their +proud waves, and hold at mid-flood. It is thought, had he in effect, +"annihilated" the Austrian force at Prag, that day (Friday, 6th May, as +he might have done by waiting till Saturday, 7th), he could then, with +the due rapidity, rapidity being indispensable in the affair, have +become master of Prag, which meant of Bohemia altogether; and have +stormed forward, as his program bore, into the heart, of an Austria +still terror-stricken, unrallied;--in which case, it is calculated, the +French, the Russians, Swedes, much more the Reich and such like, would +all have drawn bridle; and Austria itself have condescended to make +Peace with a Neighbor of such quality, and consent to his really modest +desire of being let alone! Possible, all this,--think Retzow and +others. [See RETZOW, i. 100-108; &c. ] But the King had not waited till +to-morrow; no persuasion could make him wait: and it is idle speculating +on the small turns which here, as everywhere, can produce such +deflections of course. + +Beyond question, Prag is not captured, and may, as now garrisoned, +require a great deal of capturing:--and perhaps it is but a PEAK, this +high dominancy of Friedrich's, not a solid table-land, till much more +have been done! Friedrich has nothing of the Gascon: but there may well +be conceivable at this time a certain glow of internal pride, like +that of Phoebus amid the piled tempests,--like that of the One Man +prevailing, if but for a short season, against the Devil and All Men: +"I have made good my bit, of resolution so far: here are the Austrians +beaten at the set day, and Prag summoned to surrender, as per +program!"-- + +Intrinsically, Prag is not a strong City: we have seen it, taken in few +days; in one night;--and again, as in Belleisle's time, we have seen it +making tough defence for a series of weeks. It depends on the garrison, +what extent of garrison (the circuit of it being so immense), and what +height of humor. There are now 46,000 men caged in it, known to have +considerable magazines; and Friedrich, aware that it will cost trouble, +bends all his strength upon it, and from his two camps, Ziscaberg, +Weissenberg, due Bridges uniting, Keith and he batter it, violently, +aiming chiefly at the Magazines (which are not all bomb-proof); and hope +they may succeed before it is too late. + +The Vienna people are in the depths of amazement and discouragement; +almost of terror, had it not been for a few, or especially for one high +heart among them. Feldmarschall Daun, on the news of May 6th, hastily +fell back, joined by the wrecks of the right wing, which fled Sazawa +way. Brunswick-Bevern, with a 20,000, is detached to look after Daun; +finds Daun still on the retreat; greedily collecting reinforcements +from the homeward quarter; and hanging back, though now double or so of +Bevern's strength. Amazement and discouragement are the general feeling +among Friedrich's enemies. Notable to see how the whole hostile world +marching in upon him,--French, Russians, much more the Reich, poor +faltering entity,--pauses, as with its breath taken away, at news of +Prag; and, arrested on the sudden, with lifted foot, ceases to stride +forward; and merely tramp-tramps on the same place (nay in part, in the +Reich part, visibly tramps backward), for above a month ensuing! +Who knows whether, practically, any of them will come on; [See +CORRESPONDANCE DU COMTE DE SAINT-GERMAIN, an Eye-witness, i. 108 (cited +in Preuss, ii. 50); &c. &c.] and not leave Austria by itself to do the +duel with Friedrich? If Prag were but got, and the 46,000 well locked +away, it would be very salutary for Friedrich's affairs!--Week after +week, the City holds out; and there seems no hope of it, except by +hunger, and burning their Magazines by red-hot balls. + + + + +COLONEL MAYER WITH HIS "FREE-CORPS" PARTY MAKES A VISIT, OF DIDACTIC +NATURE, TO THE REICH. + +Friedrich, as we saw, on entering Bohmen, had shot off a Light +Detachment under Colonel Mayer, southward, to seize any Austrian +Magazines there were, especially one big Magazine at Pilsen:--which +Mayer has handsomely done, May 2d (Pilsen "a bigger Magazine than +Jung-Bunzlau, even"); after which Mayer is now off westward, into the +Ober-Pfalz, into the Nurnberg Countries; to teach the Reich a small +lesson, since they will not listen to Plotho. Prag Battle, as happens, +had already much chilled the ardor of the Reich! Mayer has two +Free-Corps, his own and another; about 1,300 of foot; to which are +added a 200 of hussars. They have 5 cannon, carry otherwise a minimum of +baggage; are swift wild fellows, sharp of stroke; and do, for the time, +prove didactic to the Reich; bringing home to its very bosom the late +great lesson of the Ziscaberg, in an applied form. Mayer made a pretty +course of it, into the Ober-Pfalz Countries; scattering the poor +Execution Drill-Sergeants and incipiencies of preparation, the +deliberative County Meetings, KREIS-Convents: ransoming Cities, Nurnberg +for one city, whose cries went to Friedrich on the Ziscaberg, and wide +over the world. [In _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 360-367, the Nurnberg +Letter and Response (31st May-5th June, 1757): in Pauli, _Leben grosser +Helden_ (iii. 159 et seq.), Account of the Mayer Expedition; also in +_Militair-Lexikon, _ iii. 29 (quoting from Pauli).] Nurnberg would have +been but too happy to "refuse its contingent to the Reich's Army," as +many others would have been (poor Kur-Baiern hurrying off a kind +of Embassy to Friedrich, great terror reigning among the wigs of +Regensburg, and everybody drawing back that could),--had not Imperial +menaces, and an Event that fell out by and by in Prag Country, forced +compliance. + +Mayer's Expedition made a loud noise in the Newspapers; and was truly +of a shining nature in its kind; very perfectly managed on Mayer's part, +and has traits in it which are amusing to read, had one time. Take one +small glance from Pauli:-- + +"At Furth in Anspach, 1st June [after six days' screwing of Nurnberg +from without, which we had no cannon to take], a Gratuity for the +Prussian troops [amount not stated] was demanded and given: at +Schwabach, farther up the Regnitz River, they took quarters; no +exemption made, clergy and laity alike getting soldiers billeted. Meat +and drink had to be given them: as also 100 carolines [guineas and +better], and twenty new uniforms. Upon which, next day, they marched +to Zirndorf, and the Reichsgraf Puckler's Mansion, the Schloss of +Farrenbach there. Mayer took quarter in the Schloss itself. Here the +noble owners got up a ball for Mayer's entertainment; and did all they +could contrive to induce a light treatment from him." Figure it, the +neighboring nobility and gentry in gala; Mayer too in his best uniform, +and smiling politely, with those "bright little black eyes" of his! For +he was a brilliant airy kind of fellow, and had much of the chevalier, +as well as of the partisan, when requisite! + +"Out of Farrenbach, the Mayer people circulated upon all the neighboring +Lordships; at Wilhelmsdorf, the Reichs-Furst von Hohenlohe [a too busy +Anti-Prussian] had the worst brunt to bear. The adjacent Baireuth lands +[dear Wilhelmina, fancy her too in such neighborhood!] were to the +utmost spared all billeting, and even all transit,"--though wandering +sergeants of the Reich's Force, "one sergeant with the Wurzburg Herr +Commissarius and eight common men, did get picked up on Baireuth ground: +and this or the other Anspach Official (Anspach being disaffected), too +busy on the wrong side, found himself suddenly Prisoner of War; but was +given up, at Wilhelmina's gracious request. On Bamberg he was sharp +as flint; and had to be; the Bambergers, reinforced at last by +'Circle-Militias (KREIS-TRUPPEN)' in quantity, being called out in mass +against him; and at Vach an actual Passage of Fight had occurred." + +Of the "Affair at Vach," pretty little Drawn-Battle (mostly an affair +of art), Mayer VERSUS "Kreis-troops to the amount of 6,000, with twelve +cannon, or some say twenty-four" (which they couldn't handle); and how +Mayer cunningly took a position unassailable, "burnt Bridges of the +Regnitz River," and, plying his five cannon against these ardent awkward +people, stood cheerful on the other side; and then at last, in good +time, whisked himself off to the Hill of Culmbach, with all his baggage, +inexpugnable there for three days:--of all this, though it is set down +at full length, we can say nothing. [Pauli, iii. 159, &c. (who gives +Mayer's own LETTER, and others, upon Vach).] And will add only, that, +having girt himself and made his packages, Mayer left the Hill of +Culmbach; and deliberately wended home, by Coburg and other Countries +where he had business, eating his way; and early in July was safe in +the Metal Mountains again; having fluttered the Volscians in their +Frankenland Corioli to an unexpected extent. It is one of five or six +such sallies Friedrich made upon the Reich, sometimes upon the Austrians +and Reich together, to tumble up their magazines and preparations. Rapid +unexpected inroads, year after year; done chiefly by the Free-Corps; and +famous enough to the then Gazetteers. Of which, or of their doers, as +we can in time coming afford little or no notice, let us add this small +Note on the Free-Corps topic, which is a large one in the Books, but +must not interrupt us again:-- + +"Before this War was done," say my Authorities, "there came gradually +to be twenty-one Prussian Free-Corps,"--foot almost all; there being +already Hussars in quantity, ever since the first Silesian experiences. +"Notable Aggregates they were of loose wandering fellows, broken Saxons, +Prussians, French; 'Hungarian-Protestant' some of them, 'Deserters from +all the Armies' not a few; attracted by the fame of Friedrich,--as the +Colonels enlisting them had been; Mayer himself, for instance, was by +birth a Vienna man; and had been in many services and wars, from +his fifteenth year and onwards. Most miscellaneous, these Prussian +Free-Corps; a swift faculty the indispensable thing, by no means +a particular character: but well-disciplined, well-captained; who +generally managed their work well. + +"They were, by origin, of Anti-Tolpatch nature, got up on the +diamond-cut-diamond principle; they stole a good deal, with order +sometimes, and oftener without; but there was nothing of the old +Mentzel-Trenck atrocity permitted them, or ever imputed to them; and +they did, usually with good military talent, sometimes conspicuously +good, what was required of them. Regular Generals, of a high merit, one +or two of their Captains came to be: Wunsch, for example; Werner, in +some sort; and, but for his sudden death, this Mayer himself. Others of +them, as Von Hordt (Hard is his Swedish name); and 'Quintus Icilius' +(by nature GUICHARD, of whom we shall hear a great deal in the Friedrich +circle by and by), are distinguished as honorably intellectual and +cultivated persons. [Count de Hordt's _Memoirs_ (autobiographical, or +in the first person: English Translation, London, 1806; TWO French +Originals, a worse in 1789, and a better now at last), Preface, +i-xii. In _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 102-104, 93, a detailed "List of the +Free-Corps in 1758" (twelve of foot, two of horse, at that time): see +Preuss, ii. 372 n.; Pauli (ubi supra), _Life of Mayer._] + +"Poor Mayer died within two years hence (5th January, 1759); of fever, +caught by unheard-of exertions and over fatigues; after many exploits, +and with the highest prospect, opening on him. A man of many adventures, +of many qualities; a wild dash of chivalry in him all along, and much +military and other talent crossed in the growing. In the dull old Books +I read one other fact which is vivid to me, That Wilhelmina, as sequel +of those first Franconian exploits and procedures, 'had given him her +Order of Knighthood, ORDER OF SINCERITY AND FIDELITY,'"--poor dear +Princess, what an interest to Wilhelmina, this flash of her Brother's +thunder thrown into those Franconian parts, and across her own pungent +anxieties and sorrowfully affectionate thoughts, in these weeks!-- + +Shortly after Mayer, about the time when Mayer was wending homeward, +General von Oldenburg, a very valiant punctual old General, was pushed +out westward upon Erfurt, a City of Kur-Mainz's, to give Kur-Mainz a +similar monition. And did it handsomely, impressively upon the Gazetteer +world at least and the Erfurt populations,--though we can afford it no +room in this place. Oldenburg's force was but some 2,000; Pirna Saxons +most of them:--such a winter Oldenburg has had with these Saxons; +bursting out into actual musketry upon him once; Oldenburg, +volcanically steady, summoning the Prussian part, "To me, true Prussian +Bursche!"--and hanging nine of the mutinous Saxons. And has coerced +and compesced them (all that did not contrive to desert) into soldierly +obedience; and, 20th June, appears at the Gate of Erfurt with them, +to do his delicate errand there. Sharply conclusive, though polite and +punctual. "Send to Kur-Mainz say you? Well, as to your Citadel, and +those 1,400 soldiers all moving peaceably off thither,--Yes. As to +your City: within one hour, Gate open to us, or we open it!" [In +_Helden-Geschichte_ (v. 371-384) copious Account, with the Missives +to and from, the Reichs-Pleadings that followed, the &c. &c. +_Militair-Lexikon,_? Oldenburg.] And Oldenburg marches in, as +vice-sovereign for the time:--but, indeed, has soon to leave again; +owing to what Event in the distance will be seen! + +If Prag Siege go well, these Mayer-Oldenburg expeditions will have an +effect on the Reich: but if it go ill, what are they, against Austria +with its force of steady pressure? All turns on the issue of Prag +Siege:--a fact extremely evident to Friedrich too! But these are what +in the interim can be done. One neglects no opportunity, tries by every +method. + + + + +OF THE SINGULAR QUASI-BEWITCHED CONDITION OF ENGLAND; AND WHAT IS TO BE +HOPED FROM IT FOR THE COMMON CAUSE, IF PRAG GO AMISS. + +On the Britannic side, too, the outlooks are not good;--much need +Friedrich were through his Prag affair, and "hastening with forty +thousand to help his Allies,"--that is, Royal Highness of Cumberland and +Britannic Purse, his only allies at this moment. Royal Highness and +Army of Observation (should have been 67,000, are 50 to 60,000, hired +Germans; troops good enough, were they tolerably led) finds the Hanover +Program as bad as Schmettau and Friedrich ever represented it; and, +already,--unless Prag go well,--wears, to the understanding eye, a +very contingent aspect. D'Estrees outnumbers him; D'Estrees, too, is +something of a soldier,--a very considerable advantage in affairs of +war. + +D'Estrees, since April, is in Wesel; gathering in the revenues, +changing the Officialities: much out of discipline, they say;--"hanging" +gradually "1,000 marauders;" in round numbers 1,000 this Year. [Stenzel, +v. 65; Retzow, i. 173.] D'Estrees does not yet push forward, owing to +Prag. If he do--It is well known how Royal Highness fared when he did, +and what a Campaign Royal Highness made of it this Year 1757! How the +Weser did prove wadable, as Schmettau had said to no purpose; wadable, +bridgable; and Royal Highness had to wriggle back, ever back; no stand +to be made, or far worse than none: back, ever back, till he got into +the Sea, for that matter, and to the END of more than one thing! Poor +man, friends say he has an incurable Hanover Ministry, a Program that is +inexecutable. As yet he has not lost head, any head he ever had: but he +is wonderful, he;--and his England is! We shall have to look at him once +again; and happily once only. Here, from my Constitutional Historian, +are some Passages which we may as well read in the present interim of +expectation. I label, and try to arrange:-- + +1. ENGLAND IN CRISIS. "England is indignant with its Hero of Culloden +and his Campaign 1757; but really has no business to complain. Royal +Highness of Cumberland, wriggling helplessly in that manner, is a fair +representative of the England that now is. For years back, there has +been, in regard to all things Foreign or Domestic, in that Country, by +way of National action, the miserablest haggling as to which of +various little-competent persons shall act for the Nation. A melancholy +condition indeed!-- + +"But the fact is, his Grace of Newcastle, ever since his poor Brother +Pelham died (who was always a solid, loyal kind of man, though a dull; +and had always, with patient affection, furnished his Grace, much +UNsupplied otherwise, with Common sense hitherto), is quite insecure in +Parliament, and knows not what hand to turn to. Fox is contemptuous of +him; Pitt entirely impatient of him; Duke of Cumberland (great in the +glory of Culloden) is aiming to oust him, and bear rule with his Young +Nephew, the new Rising Sun, as the poor Papa and Grandfather gets old. +Even Carteret (Earl Granville as they now call him, a Carteret much +changed since those high-soaring Worms-Hanau times!) was applied to. +But the answer was--what could the answer be? High-soaring Carteret, +scandalously overset and hurled out in that Hanau time, had already +tried once (long ago, and with such result!) to spring in again, and +'deliver his Majesty from factions;' and actually had made a 'Granville +Ministry;' Ministry which fell again in one day. ["11th February, 1746" +(Thackeray, _Life of Chatham,_ i. 146).] To the complete disgust of +Carteret-Granville;--who, ever since, sits ponderously dormant (kind of +Fixture in the Privy Council, this long while back); and is resigned, +in a big contemptuous way, to have had his really considerable career +closed upon him by the smallest of mankind; and, except occasional +blurts of strong rugged speech which come from him, and a good deal of +wine taken into him, disdains making farther debate with the world and +its elect Newcastles. Carteret, at this crisis, was again applied to, +'Cannot you? In behalf of an afflicted old King?' But Carteret answered, +No. [Ib. i. 464.] + +"In short, it is admitted and bewailed by everybody, seldom was there +seen such a Government of England (and England has seen some strange +Governments), as in these last Three Years. Chaotic Imbecility reigning +pretty supreme. Ruler's Work,--policy, administration, governance, +guidance, performance in any kind,--where is it to be found? For if +even a Walpole, when his Talking-Apparatus gets out of gear upon him, is +reduced to extremities, though the stoutest of men,--fancy what it will +be, in like case, and how the Acting-Apparatuses and Affairs generally +will go, with a poor hysterical Newcastle, now when his Common Sense is +fatally withdrawn! The poor man has no resource but to shuffle about in +aimless perpetual fidget; endeavoring vainly to say Yes and No to all +questions, Foreign and Domestic, that may rise. Whereby, in the +Affairs of England, there has, as it were, universal St.-Vitus's dance +supervened, at an important crisis: and the Preparations for America, +and for a downright Life-and-Death Wrestle with France on the +JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION, are quite in a bad way. In an ominously bad. Why +cannot we draw a veil over these things!"-- + +2. PITT, AND THE HOUR OF TIDE. "The fidgetings and shufflings, the +subtleties, inane trickeries, and futile hitherings and thitherings of +Newcastle may be imagined: a man not incapable of trick; but anxious +to be well with everybody; and to answer Yes and No to almost +everything,--and not a little puzzled, poor soul, to get through, in +that impossible way! Such a paralysis of wriggling imbecility fallen +over England, in this great crisis of its fortunes, as is still painful +to contemplate: and indeed it has been mostly shaken out of mind by +the modern Englishman; who tries to laugh at it, instead of weeping +and considering, which would better beseem. Pitt speaks with a tragical +vivacity, in all ingenious dialects, lively though serious; and with +a depth of sad conviction, which is apt to be slurred over and missed +altogether by a modern reader. Speaks as if this brave English Nation +were about ended; little or no hope left for it; here a gleam of +possibility, and there a gleam, which soon vanishes again in the fatal +murk of impotencies, do-nothingisms. Very sad to the heart of Pitt. A +once brave Nation arrived at its critical point, and doomed to higgle +and puddle there till it drown in the gutters: considerably tragical +to Pitt; who is lively, ingenious, and, though not quitting the +Parliamentary tone for the Hebrew-Prophetic, far more serious than the +modern reader thinks. + +"In Walpole's Book [_Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of George II._] there +is the liveliest Picture of this dismal Parliamentary Hellbroth,--such +a Mother of Dead Dogs as one has seldom looked into! For the Hour is +great; and the Honorable Gentlemen, I must say, are small. The hour, +little as you dream of it, my Honorable Friends, is pregnant with +questions that are immense. Wide Continents, long Epochs and AEons hang +on this poor jargoning of yours; the Eternal Destinies are asking +their much-favored Nation, 'Will you, can you?'--much-favored Nation is +answering in that manner. Astonished at its own stupidity, and taking +refuge in laughter. The Eternal Destinies are very patient with some +Nations; and can disregard their follies, for a long while; and have +their Cromwell, have their Pitt, or what else is essential, ready for +the poor Nation, in a grandly silent way! + +"Certain it is,--though how could poor Newcastle know it at all!--here +is again the hour of tide for England. Tide is full again; has been +flowing long hundreds of years, and is full: certain, too, that time and +tide wait on no man or nation. In a dialect different from Cromwell's or +Pitt's, but with a sense true to theirs, I call it the Eternal Destinies +knocking at England's door again: 'Are you ready for the crisis, +birth-point of long Ages to you, which is now come?' Greater question +had not been, for centuries past. None to be named with it since that +high Spiritual Question (truly a much higher, and which was in fact +the PARENT of this and of all of high and great that lay ahead), which +England and Oliver Cromwell were there to answer: 'Will you hold by +Consecrated Formulas, then, you English, and expect salvation from +traditions of the elders; or are you for Divine Realities, as the one +sacred and indispensable thing?' Which they did answer, in what way we +know. Truly the Highest Question; which if a Nation can answer WELL, it +will grow in this world, and may come to be considerable, and to have +many high Questions to answer,--this of Pitt's, for example. And the +Answers given do always extend through coming ages; and do always bear +harvests, accursed or else blessed, according as the Answers were. A +thing awfully true, if you have eye for it;--a thing to make Honorable +Gentlemen serious, even in the age of percussion-caps! No, my friend, +Newcastleisms, impious Poltrooneries, in a Nation, do not die:--neither +(thank God) do Cromwellisms and pious Heroisms; but are alive for the +poor Nation, even in its somnambulancies, in its stupidest dreams. For +Nations have their somnambulancies; and, at any rate, the questions +put to Nations, in different ages, vary much. Not in any age, or +turning-point in History, had England answered the Destinies in such a +dialect as now under its Newcastle and National Palaver." + +3. OF WALPOLE, AS RECORDING ANGEL. "Walpole's _George the Second_ is a +Book of far more worth than is commonly ascribed to it; almost the +one original English Book yet written on those times,--which, by the +accident of Pitt, are still memorable to us. But for Walpole,--burning +like a small steady light there, shining faithfully, if stingily, on the +evil and the good,--that sordid muddle of the Pelham Parliaments, which +chanced to be the element of things now recognizable enough as great, +would be forever unintelligible. He is unusually accurate, punctual, +lucid; an irrefragable authority on English points. And if, in regard to +Foreign, he cannot be called an understanding witness, he has read +the best Documents accessible, has conversed with select Ambassadors +(Mitchell and the like, as we can guess); and has informed himself to +a degree far beyond most of his contemporaries. In regard to Pitt's +Speeches, in particular, his brief jottings, done rapidly while the +matter was still shining to him, are the only Reports that have the +least human resemblance. We may thank Walpole that Pitt is not dumb to +us, as well as dark. Very curious little scratchings and etchings, those +of Walpole; frugal, swift, but punctual and exact; hasty pen-and-ink +outlines; at first view, all barren; bald as an invoice, seemingly; but +which yield you, after long study there and elsewhere, a conceivable +notion of what and how excellent these Pitt Speeches may have been. +Airy, winged, like arrow-flights of Phoebus Apollo; very superlative +Speeches indeed. Walpole's Book is carefully printed,--few errors in +it like that 'Chapeau' for CHASOT," which readers remember:--"but, in +respect to editing, may be characterized as still wanting an Editor. A +Book UNedited; little but lazy ignorance of a very hopeless type, +thick contented darkness, traceable throughout in the marginal part. No +attempt at an Index, or at any of the natural helps to a reader now at +such distance from it. Nay, till you have at least marked, on the top of +each page, what Month and Year it actually is, the Book cannot be read +at all,--except by an idle creature, doing worse than nothing under the +name of reading!" + +4. PITT'S SPEECHES, FORESHADOWING WHAT. "It is a kind of epoch in your +studies of modern English History when you get to understand of Pitt's +Speeches, that they are not Parliamentary Eloquences, but things which +with his whole soul he means, and is intent to DO. This surprising +circumstance, when at last become undeniable, makes, on the sudden, an +immense difference for the Speeches and you! Speeches are not a thing +of high moment to this Editor; it is the Thing spoken, and how far the +speaker means to do it, that this Editor inquires for. Too many Speeches +there are, which he hears admired all round, and has privately to +entertain a very horrid notion of! Speeches, the finest in quality +(were quality really 'fine' conceivable in such case), which WANT a +corresponding fineness of source and intention, corresponding nobleness +of purport, conviction, tendency; these, if we will reflect, are +frightful instead of beautiful. Yes;--and always the frightfuler, the +'finer' they are; and the faster and farther they go, sowing themselves +in the dim vacancy of men's minds. For Speeches, like all human things, +though the fact is now little remembered, do always rank themselves as +forever blessed, or as forever unblessed. Sheep or goats; on the right +hand of the Final Judge, or else on the left. There are Speeches which +can be called true; and, again, Speeches which are not true:--Heavens, +only think what these latter are! Sacked wind, which you are intended +to SOW,--that you may reap the whirlwind! After long reading, I find +Chatham's Speeches to be what he pretends they are: true, and worth +speaking then and there. Noble indeed, I can call them with you: the +highly noble Foreshadow, necessary preface and accompaniment of Actions +which are still nobler. A very singular phenomenon within those walls, +or without! + +"Pitt, though nobly eloquent, is a Man of Action, not of Speech; an +authentically Royal kind of Man. And if there were a Plutarch in these +times, with a good deal of leisure on his hands, he might run a Parallel +between Friedrich and Chatham. Two radiant Kings: very shining Men of +Action both; both of them hard bested, as the case often is. For your +born King will generally have, if not "all Europe against him," at +least pretty much all the Universe. Chatham's course to Kingship was +not straight or smooth,--as Friedrich, too, had his well-nigh fatal +difficulties on the road. Again, says the Plutarch, they are very +brave men both; and of a clearness and veracity peculiar among their +contemporaries. In Chatham, too, there is something of the flash of +steel; a very sharp-cutting, penetrative, rapid individual, he too; and +shaped for action, first of all, though he has to talk so much in the +world. Fastidious, proud, no King could be prouder, though his element +is that of Free-Senate and Democracy. And he has a beautiful poetic +delicacy, withal; great tenderness in him, playfulness, grace; in +all ways, an airy as well as a solid loftiness of mind. Not born a +King,--alas, no, not officially so, only naturally so; has his kingdom +to seek. The Conquering of Silesia, the Conquering of the Pelham +Parliaments--But we will shut up the Plutarch with time on his hands. + +"Pitt's Speeches, as I spell them from Walpole and the other faint +tracings left, are full of genius in the vocal kind, far beyond any +Speeches delivered in Parliament: serious always, and the very truth, +such as he has it; but going in many dialects and modes; full of airy +flashings, twinkles and coruscations. Sport, as of sheet-lightning +glancing about, the bolt lying under the horizon; bolt HIDDEN, as is +fit, under such a horizon as he had. A singularly radiant man. Could +have been a Poet, too, in some small measure, had he gone on that line. +There are many touches of genius, comic, tragic, lyric, something of +humor even, to be read in those Shadows of Speeches taken down for us by +Walpole.... + +"In one word, Pitt, shining like a gleam of sharp steel in that murk of +contemptibilities, is carefully steering his way towards Kingship over +it. Tragical it is (especially in Pitt's case, first and last) to see a +Royal Man, or Born King, wading towards his throne in such an element. +But, alas, the Born King (even when he tries, which I take to be the +rarer case) so seldom can arrive there at all;--sinful Epochs there are, +when Heaven's curse has been spoken, and it is that awful Being, the +Born Sham-King, that arrives! Pitt, however, does it. Yes; and the more +we study Pitt, the more we shall find he does it in a peculiarly high, +manful and honorable as well as dexterous manner; and that English +History has a right to call him 'the acme and highest man of +Constitutional Parliaments; the like of whom was not in any Parliament +called Constitutional, nor will again be.'" + +Well, probably enough; too probably! But what it more concerns us to +remember here, is the fact, That in these dismal shufflings which have +been, Pitt--in spite of Royal dislikes and Newcastle peddlings and +chicaneries--has been actually in Office, in the due topmost place, the +poor English Nation ardently demanding him, in what ways it could. +Been in Office;--and is actually out again, in spite of the Nation. Was +without real power in the Royal Councils; though of noble promise, and +planting himself down, hero-like, evidently bent on work, and on ending +that unutterable "St.-Vitus's-dance" that had gone so high all round +him. Without real power, we say; and has had no permanency. Came in +11th-19th November, 1756; thrown out 5th April, 1757. After six months' +trial, the St. Vitus finds that it cannot do with him; and will prefer +going on again. The last act his Royal Highness of Cumberland did in +England was to displace Pitt: "Down you, I am the man!" said Royal +Highness; and went to the Weser Countries on those terms. + +Would the reader wish to see, in summary, what Pitt's Offices have been, +since he entered on this career about thirty years ago? Here, from +our Historian, is the List of them in order of time; STAGES OF PITT'S +COURSE, he calls it:-- + +1. "DECEMBER, 1734, Comes into Parliament, age now twenty-six; Cornet in +the Blues as well; being poor, and in absolute need of some career that +will suit. APRIL, 1736, makes his First Speech:--Prince Frederick the +subject,--who was much used as battering-ram by the Opposition; whom +perhaps Pitt admired for his madrigals, for his Literary patronizings, +and favor to the West-Wickham set. Speech, full of airy lightning, was +much admired. Followed by many, with the lightning getting denser +and denser; always on the Opposition side [once on the JENKINS'S-EAR +QUESTION, as we saw, when the Gazetteer Editor spelt him Mr. Pitts]: so +that Majesty was very angry, sulky Public much applausive; and Walpole +was heard to say, 'We must muzzle, in some way, that terrible Cornet +of Horse!'--but could not, on trial; this man's 'price,' as would seem, +being awfully high! AUGUST-OCTOBER, 1744, Sarah Duchess of Marlborough +bequeathed him 10,000 pounds as Commissariat equipment in this his +Campaign against the Mud-gods, [Thackeray, i. 138.]--glory to the +old Heroine for so doing! Which lifted Pitt out of the Cornetcy +or Horse-guards element, I fancy; and was as the nailing of his +Parliamentary colors to the mast. + +2. "FEBRUARY 14th, 1746, Vice-Treasurer for Ireland: on occasion of that +Pelham-Granville 'As-you-were!' (Carteret Ministry, which lasted One +Day), and the slight shufflings that were necessary. Now first in +Office,--after such Ten Years of colliding and conflicting, and fine +steering in difficult waters. Vice-Treasurer for Ireland: and 'soon +after, on Lord Wilmington's death,' PAYMASTER OF THE FORCES. Continued +Paymaster about nine years. Rejects, quietly and totally, the big +income derivable from Interest of Government Moneys lying delayed in the +Paymaster's hand ('Dishonest, I tell you!')--and will none of it, though +poor. Not yet high, still low over the horizon, but shining brighter +and brighter. Greatly contemptuous of Newcastle and the Platitudes and +Poltrooneries; and still a good deal in the Opposition strain, and NOT +always tempering the wind to the shorn lamb. For example, Pitt (still +Paymaster) to Newcastle on King of the Romans Question (1752 or so): +'You engage for Subsidies, not knowing their extent; for Treaties, +not knowing the terms!'--'What a bashaw!' moan Newcastle and the top +Officials. 'Best way is, don't mind it,' said Mr. Stone [one of their +terriers,--a hard-headed fellow, whose brother became Primate of Ireland +by and by]. + +3. "NOVEMBER 20th, 1755, Thrown out:--on Pelham's death, and the general +hurly-burly in Official regions, and change of partners with no little +difficulty, which had then ensued! Sir Thomas Robinson," our old friend, +"made Secretary,--not found to answer. Pitt sulkily looking on America, +on Minorca; on things German, on things in general; warily set +on returning, as is thought; but How? FOX to Pitt: 'Will you join +ME?'--PITT: 'No,'--with such politeness, but in an unmistakable way! Ten +months of consummate steering on the part of Pitt; Chancellor Hardwicke +coming as messenger, he among others; Pitt's answer to him dexterous, +modestly royal. Pitt's bearing, in this grand juncture and crisis, is +royal, his speakings and also his silences notably fine. OCTOBER 20th, +1756: to Newcastle face to face, 'I will accept no situation under your +Grace!'--and, about that day month, comes IN, on his own footing. That +is to say, + +"NOVEMBER 19th, 1756, to England's great comfort, Sees himself Secretary +of State (age now just forty-eight). Has pretty much all England at his +back; but has, in face of him, Fox, Newcastle and Company, offering +mere impediment and discouragement; Royal Highness of Cumberland looking +deadly sour. Till finally, + +"APRIL 5th, 1757, King bids him resign; Royal Highness setting off for +Germany the second day after. Pitt had been IN rather more than Four +months. England, at that time a silent Country in comparison, knew not +well what to do; took to offering him Freedoms of Corporations in +very great quantity. Town after Town, from all the four winds, +sympathetically firing off, upon a misguided Sacred Majesty, its little +Box, in this oblique way, with extraordinary diligence. Whereby, +after six months bombardment by Boxes, and also by Events, JUNE 29th, +1757"--We will expect June 29th. [Thackeray, i. 231, 264; Almon, +_Anecdotes of Pitt_ (London, 1810), i. 151, 182, 218.] + +In these sad circumstances, Preparations so called have been making for +Hanover, for America;--such preparations as were never seen before. Take +only one instance; let one be enough:-- + +"By the London Gazette, well on in February, 1756, we learn that Lord +Loudon, a military gentleman of small faculty, but of good connections, +has been nominated to command the Forces in America; and then, more +obscurely, some days after, that another has been nominated:--one of +them ought certainly to make haste out, if he could; the French, by +account, have 25,000 men in those countries, with real officers to lead +them! Haste out, however, is not what this Lord Loudon or his rival can +make. In March, we learn that Lord Loudon has been again nominated; +in an improved manner, this time;--and still does not look like going. +'Again nominated, why again?' Alas, reader, there have been hysterical +fidgetings in a high quarter; internal shiftings and shufflings, +contradictions, new proposals, one knows not what. [_Gentleman's +Magazine _ for 1756, pp. 92, 150, 359, 450.] One asks only: How is the +business ever to be done, if you cannot even settle what imbecile is to +go and try it? + +"Seldom had Country more need of a Commander than America now. America +itself is of willing mind; and surely has resources, in such a Cause; +but is full of anarchies as well: the different States and sections of +it, with their discrepant Legislatures, their half-drilled Militias, +pulling each a different way, there is, as in the poor Mother Country, +little result except of the St.-Vitus kind. In some Legislatures +are anarchic Quakers, who think it unpermissible to fight with those +hectoring French, and their tail of scalping Indians; and that the +'method of love' ought to be tried with them. What is to become of those +poor people, if not even a Lord Loudon can get out?" + +The result was, Lord Loudon had not in his own poor person come to hand +in America till August, 1756, Season now done; and could only write +home, "All is St. Vitus out here! Must have reinforcement of 10,000 +men!" "Yes," answers Pitt, who is now in Office: "you shall have them; +and we will take Cape Breton, please Heaven!"--but was thrown out; and +by the wrigglings that ensued, nothing of the 10,000 reached Lord Loudon +till Season 1757 too was done. Nor did they then stead his Lordship +much, then or afterwards; who never took Cape Breton, nor was like doing +it;--but wriggled to and fro a good deal, and revolved on his axis, +according to pattern given. And set (what chiefly induces us to name +him here) his not reverent enough Subordinate, Lord Charles Hay, our old +Fontenoy friend, into angry impatient quizzing of him;--and by and +by into Court-Martial for such quizzing. [Peerage Books,? Tweeddale.] +Court-Martial, which was much puzzled by the case; and could decide +nothing, but only adjourn and adjourn;--as we will now do, not +mentioning Lord Loudon farther, or the numerous other instances at all. +["1st May, 1760, Major-General Lord Charles Hay died" (_Gentleman's +Magazine_ of Year); and his particular Court-Martial could adjourn for +the last time.--"I wrote something for Lord Charles," said the great +Johnson once, many years afterwards; "and I thought he had nothing to +fear from a Court-Martial. I suffered a great loss when he died: he was +a mighty pleasing man in conversation, and a reading man" (Boswell's +_Life of Johnson:_ under date, "3d April, 1776").] + +Pitt, we just saw, far from being confirmed and furthered, has been +thrown out by Royal Highness of Cumberland, the last thing before +crossing to that exquisite Weser Problem. "Nothing now left at home to +hinder us and our Hanover and Weser Problem!" thinks Royal Highness. +No, indeed: a comfortable pacific No-government, or Battle of the Four +Elements, left yonder; the Anarch Old waggling his addle head over it; +ready to help everybody, and bring fire and water, and Yes and No, into +holy matrimony, if he could!--Let us return to Prag. Only one remark +more; upon "April 5th." That was the Day of Pitt's Dismissal at +St. James's: and I find, at Schonbrunn it is likewise the day when +REICHS-HOFRATH (Kaiser in Privy Council) decides, in respect to +Friedrich, that Ban of the Reich must be proceeded with, and recommends +Reich's Diet to get through with the same. [_Helden-Geschichte_ +(Reichs-Procedures, UBI SUPRA).] Official England ordering its Pitt into +private life, and Official Teutschland its Friedrich into outlawry ("Be +quiet henceforth, both of YOU!")--are, by chance, synchronous phenomena. + + + + +PHENOMENA OF PRAG SIEGE:--PRAG SIEGE IS INTERRUPTED. + +Friedrich's Siege of Prag proved tedious beyond expectation. In +four days he had done that exploit in 1744; but now, to the world's +disappointment, in as many weeks he cannot. Nothing was omitted on his +part: he seized all egresses from Prag, rapidly enough; had beset them +with batteries, on the very night or morrow of the Battle; every egress +beset, cannon and ruin forbidding any issue there. On the 9th of May, +cannonading began; proper siege-cannon and ammunition, coming up +from Dresden, were completely come May 19th; after which the place is +industriously battered, bombarded with red-hot balls; but except by +hunger, it will not do. Prag as a fortress is weak, but as a breastwork +for 50,000 men it is strong. The Austrians tried sallies; but these +availed nothing,--very ill-conducted, say some. The Prussians, more than +once, had nearly got into the place by surprisal; but, owing to mere +luck of the Austrians, never could,--say the same parties. [Archenholtz, +i. 85, 87.] + +A DIARIUM of Prag Siege is still extant, Two DIARIUMS; punctual diurnal +account, both Austrian and Prussian: [In _ Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. +42-56, Prussian DIARIUM; ib. 73-86, Austrian.] which it is far from our +intention to inflict on readers, in this haste. Siege lasted six weeks; +four weeks extremely hot,--from May 19th, when the proper artilleries, +in complete state, got up from Dresden. Line of siege-works, or +intermittent series of batteries, is some twelve miles long; from +Branik southward to beyond the Belvedere northward, on both sides of +the Moldau. King's Camp is on the Ziscaberg; Keith's on the Lorenz +Berg, embracing and commanding the Weissenberg; there are two Bridges +of communication, Branik and Podoli: King lodges in the Parsonage of +Michel,--the busiest of all the sons of Adam; what a set of meditations +in that Parsonage! The Besieged, 46,000 by count, offer to surrender +Prag on condition of "Free withdrawal:" "No; you shall engage, such of +you as won't enlist with us, not to serve against me for six years." +Here are some select Specimens; Prussian chiefly, in an abridged +state:-- + +"MAY 19th, No sooner was our artillery come (all the grounds and beds +for it had been ready beforehand), than as evening fell, it began to +play in terrific fashion." + +"NIGHT OF THE 23d-24th MAY, There broke out a furious sally; their +first, and much their hottest, say the Prussians: a very serious +affair;--which fell upon Keith's quarter, west side of the Moldau. +Sally, say something like 10,000 strong; picked men all, and +strengthened with half a pound of horse-flesh each" (unluckily without +salt): judge what the common diet must have been, when that was +generous! "No salt to it; but a fair supplement of brandy. Browne, from +his bed of pain (died 26th June), had been strongly urgent. Aim is, To +force the Prussian lines, by determination and the help of darkness, +in some weak point: the whole Army, standing ranked on the walls, shall +follow, if things go well; and storm itself through,--away Daun-wards, +across the River by Podoli Bridge. + +"Sally broke out between 1 and 2 A.M.; but we had wind of it, and were +on the alert. Sally tried on this place and on that; very furious in +places, but could not anywhere prevail. The tussling lasted for near +six hours (Prince Ferdinand" of Preussen, King's youngest Brother, "and +others of us, getting hurts and doing exploits),--till, about 7 A.M., +it was wholly swept in, with loss of 1,000 dead. Upon which, their +whole Army retired to its quarters, in a hopeless condition. Escape +impossible. Near 50,000 of them; but in such a posture. Provision of +bread, the spies say, is not scarce, unless the Prussians can burn +it, which they are industriously trying (diligent to learn where the +Magazines are, and to fire incessantly upon the same): plenty of meal +hitherto; but for butcher's-meat, only what we saw. Forage nearly done, +and 12,000 horses standing in the squares and market-places,--not even +stabling for them, not to speak of food or work,--slaughtering and +salting [if one but had salt!] the one method. Horse-flesh two kreutzers +a pound; rises gradually to double that value. + +"MAY 29th, About sunset there came a furious burst of weather: +rain-torrents mixed with battering hail;--some flaw of water-spout among +the Hills; for it lasted hour on hour, and Moldau came down roaring +double-deep, above a hundred yards too wide each way; with cargoes of +ruin, torn-up trees, drowned horses; which sorely tried our Bridge at +Branik. Bridge, half of it, did break away (Friedrich's half, forty-four +pontoons; Keith's people got their end of the Bridge doubled in and +saved): the Austrians, in Prag, fished out twenty-four of Friedrich's +pontoons; the other twenty we caught at our Bridge of Podoli, farther +down. A most wild night for the Prussian Army in tents; and indeed for +Prag itself, the low parts of which were all under water; unfortunate +individuals getting drowned in the cellars; and, still more important, a +great deal of Austrian meal, which had been carried thither, to be safe +from the red-hot balls. + +"It was thought the Austrians, our Bridge being down, might try a sally +again. To prevent which, hardly was the rain done, when, on our part, a +rocket flew aloft; and there began on the City, from all sides, a deluge +of bombs and red hot balls. So that the still-dripping City was set +fire to, in various parts: and we could hear [what this Editor never can +forget] the WEH-KLAGEN (wail) of the Townsfolk as they tried to quench +it, and it always burst out again. The fire-deluge lasted for six +hours."--Human WEH-KLAGEN, through the hollow of Night, audible to the +Prussians and us: "Woe's me! water-deluges, then fire-deluges; death +on every hand!" According to the Austrian accounts, there perished, by +bursting of bomb-shells, falling of walls, by hunger and other misery +and hurts, "above 9,000 Townsfolk in this Siege." Yes, my Imperial +friends; War is not a thing of streamering and ornamental trumpeting +alone; War is an inexorable, dangerously incalculable thing. Is it not a +terrible question, at whose door lies the beginning of a War! + +"JUNE 5th, 12,000 poor people of Prag were pushed out: 'Useless mouths, +will you contrive to disappear some way!' But, after haggling about all +day, they had to be admitted in again, under penalty of being shot. + +"JUNE 8th, City looking black and ruinous, whole of the Neustadt in +ashes; few houses left in the Jew Town; in the Altstadt the fire raged +on (WUTHETE FORT). Nothing but ruin and confusion over there; population +hiding in cellars, getting killed by falling buildings. Burgermeister +and Townsfolk besiege Prince Karl, 'For the Virgin's sake, have pity +on us, Your Serenity!' Poor Prince Karl has to be deaf, whatever his +feelings. + +"He was diligent in attending mass, they say: he alone of the Princes, +of whom there were several; two Saxon Princes among others, Prince +Xavier the elder of them, who will be heard of again. A profane set, +these, lodging in the CLEMENTINUM [vast Jesuit Edifice, which had +been cleared out for them, and "the windows filled with dung outside," +against balls]: there, with wines of fine vintage, and cookeries +plentiful and exquisite, that know nothing of famine outside, they led +an idle disorderly life,--ran races in the long corridors [not so bad a +course], dressed themselves in Priests' vestures [which are abundant in +such locality], and made travesties and mummeries of Holy Religion; the +wretched creatures, defying despair, as buccaneers might when their ship +is sinking. To surrender, everything forbids; of escape, there is no +possibility. [Archenholtz i. 86; _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 73-84.] + +"JUNE 9th, The bombardment abates; a LABORATORIUM of our own flew aloft +by some spark or accident; and killed thirteen men. + +"JUNE 15th, From the King's Camp a few bombs [King himself now gone] +kindled the City in three places:"--but there is, by this time, new game +afield; Prag Siege awaiting its decision not at Prag, but some way off. + +Friedrich has been doing his utmost; diligent, by all methods, to learn +where the Austrian Magazines were, that is, on what special edifices +and localities shot might be expended with advantage; and has fired into +these "about 12,000 bombs." Here is a small thing still remembered:-- + +"Spies being, above all, essential in this business, Friedrich had +bethought him of one Kasebier, a supreme of House-breakers, whom he +has, safe with a ball at his ankle, doing forced labor at Spandau +[in Stettin, if it mattered]. Kasebier was actually sent for, pardon +promised him if he could do the State a service. Kasebier smuggled +himself twice, perhaps three times, into Prag; but the fourth time he +did not come back." [Retzow, i. 108. n.] Another Note says: "Kasebier +was a Tailor, and Son of a Tailor, in Halle; and the expertest of +Thieves. Had been doing forced labor, in Stettin, since 1748; twice did +get into Prag; third time, vanished. A highly celebrated Prussian thief; +still a myth among the People, like Dick Turpin or Cartouche, except +that his was always theft without violence." [Preuss, ii. 57 n.] + +We learn vaguely that the price of horse-flesh in Prag has risen to +double; famine very sore: but still one hears nothing of surrender. And +again there is vague rumor that the City may be as it will; but that +the Garrison has meal, after all we have ruined, which will last till +October. Such a Problem has this King: soluble within the time; or not +soluble? Such a question for the whole world, and for himself more than +any. + +MAP GOES IN HERE--fACING PAGE 446, BOOK xviii + + + + +Chapter IV.--BATTLE OF KOLIN. + +On and after June 9th, the bombardment at Prag abated, and never rose +to briskness again; the place of trial for decision of that Siege having +flitted else-whither, as we said. About that time, rumors came in, not +so favorable, from the Duke of Bevern; which Friedrich, strong in hope, +strove visibly to disbelieve, but at last could not. Bevern reports that +Daun is actually coming on, far too strong for his resisting;--in other +terms, that the Siege of Prag will not decide itself by bombardment, but +otherwise and elsewhere. Of which we must now give some account; brief +as may be, especially in regard to the preliminary or marching part. + +Daun, whose light troops plundered Brandeis (almost within wind of the +Prussian Rear) on the day while Prag Battle was fighting, had, on that +fatal event, gradually drawn back to Czaslau, a place we used to know +fifteen years ago; and there, or in those neighborhoods, defensively +manoeuvring, and hanging upon Kuttenberg, Kolin, especially upon +his Magazine of Suchdol, Daun, always rather drawing back, with +Brunswick-Bevern vigilantly waiting on him, has continued ever since; +diligently recruiting himself; ranking the remains of the right wing +defeated at Prag; drawing regiments out of Mahren, or whencesoever to +be had. Till, by these methods, he is grown 60,000 strong; nearly thrice +superior to Bevern; though being a "Fabius Cunctator" (so called by and +by), he as yet attempts nothing. Forty thousand in Prag, with Sixty here +in the Czaslau Quarter, [Tempelhof, i. 196; Retzow (i. 107, 109) +counts 46,000+66,000.] that makes 100,000; say his Prussian Majesty +has two-thirds of the number: can the Fabius Cunctator attempt nothing, +before Prag utterly famish? + +Order comes to him from Vienna: "Rescue Prag; straightway go upon it, +cost what it like!" Daun does go upon it; advances visibly towards Prag, +Bevern obliged to fall back in front of him. Sunday, 12th June, Daun +despatches several Officers to Prince Karl at Prag, with notice that, +"On the 20th, Monday come a week, he will be in the neighborhood of Prag +with this view:--they, of course, to sally out, and help from rearward." +"Several Officers, under various disguises," go with that message, June +12th; but none of them could get into the City; and some of them, I +judge, must have fallen into the Prussian Hussar Parties:--at any rate, +the news they carried did get into the Prussian circuit, and produced +an instant resolution there. Early next morning, Monday 13th, King +Friedrich, with what disposable force is on the spot,--10,000 capable +of being spared from siege-work, and 4,000 more that will be capable of +following, under Prince Moritz, in two days,--sets forth in all speed. +Joins Bevern that same night; at Kaurzim, thirty-five miles off, which +is about midway from Prag to Czaslau, and only three miles or so from +Daun's quarters that night,--had the King known it, which he did not. + +Daun must be instantly gone into; and shall,--if he is there at all, and +not fallen back at the first rumor of us, as Friedrich rather supposes. +In any case, there are preliminaries indispensable: the 4,000 of Prince +Moritz still to come up; secondly, bread to be had for us, which is +baking at Nimburg, across the Elbe, twenty miles off; lastly (or rather +firstly, and most indispensable of all), Daun to be reconnoitred. +Friedrich reconnoitres Daun with all diligence; pushes on everything +according to his wont; much obstructed in the reconnoitring by Pandour +clouds, under which Daun has veiled himself, which far outnumber our +small Hussar force. Daun, as usual,--showing always great skill in +regard to camps and positions,--has planted himself in difficult +country: a little river with its boggy pools in front; behind and +around, an intricate broken country of knolls and swamps, one ridge in +it which they even call a BERG or Hill, Kamhayek Berg; not much of a +Hill after all, but forming a long backbone to the locality, west end +of it straight behind Daun's centre, at present. Friedrich's position is +from north to south; like Daun's, taking advantage of what heights and +brooks there are; and edging northward to be near his bread-ovens: right +wing still holds by Kaurzim, left wing looking down on Planian, a little +Town on the High Road (KAISER-STRASSE) from Prag to Vienna. Little Town +destined to get up its name in a day or two,--next little Town to which, +twelve miles farther on, is Kolin, secretly destined to become and +continue still more famous among mankind. Kolin is close to the Elbe, +left or south bank; Elbe hereabouts strikes into his long northwestern +course (to Wittenberg all the way; Pirna, say 150 miles off, is his +half-way house in that direction);--strikes off northward hereabouts, +making for Nimburg, among other places: Planian, right south of Nimburg, +is already fifteen good miles from Elbe. + +This is Friedrich's position, Wednesday, June 15th and the day +following; somewhat nearer his ovens than yesterday. Daun is yet +parallel to him, has his centre behind Swoyschitz, an insignificant +Village at the foot of those Kamhayek Heights, which is, ever since, +to be found in Maps. Friday, 17th, Friedrich's bread-wagons and 4,000 +having come in, as doubtless the Pandours report in the proper place, +Daun does not quite like his strong position any more, but would prefer +a stronger. Friday about sunset, "great clouds of dust" rise from Daun: +changing his position, the Prussians see, if for Pandours and gathering +darkness they can at present see little else. Daun, truly, observing the +King to have in that manner edged up, towards Planian, is afraid of his +right wing from such a neighbor. So that the reader must take his Map +again. Or, if he care not for such things, let him skip, and leave me +solitary to my sad function; till we can meet on easier ground, and +report the battle which ensued. Daun hustles his right wing back out of +that dangerous proximity; wheels his whole right wing and centre ninety +degrees round, so as to reach out now towards Kolin, and lie on the +north slope of the Kamhayek ridge; places his left wing EN POTENCE +(gibbet-wise), hanging round the western end of said Kamhayek, its +southern extremity at Swoyschitz, its northern at Hradenin, where (not +a mile from Planian) his right wing had formerly been;--with other +intricate movements not worth following, under my questionable guidance, +on a Map with unpronounceable names. Enough to say that Daun's right +wing is now far east at Krzeczhorz, well beyond Chotzemitz, whereabouts +his centre now comes to stand (and most of his horse THERE, both the +wings being hilly and rough, unfit for horse);--and that, this being +nearly the last of Daun's shiftings and hustlings for the present, or +indeed in essential respects the very last, readers may as well note the +above main points in it. + +Hustled into this still stronger place, with wheeling and shoving, which +lasted to a late hour, Daun composes himself for the night. He lies now, +with centre and right looking northward, pretty much parallel to the +Planian-Kolin or Prag-Vienna Highway, and about a mile south of the +same; extreme posts extending almost to Kolin on that side; left wing +well planted EN POTENCE; Kamhayek ridge, north face and west end of it, +completely his on both the exposed or Anti-Prussian faces. Friedrich +feels uncertain whether he has not gone his ways altogether; but +proposes to ascertain by break of day. + +By break of day Friedrich starts, having cleared off certain Pandour +swarms visible in places of difficulty, who go on first notice, and +without shot fired. [Lloyd, i. 61 et seq. (or Tempelhof's Translation, +i. 151-164); Tempelhof's own Account is, i. 179-196; Retzow's, i. +120-149 (fewer errors of detail than usual); Kutzen, _Der Tag von Kolin_ +(Breslau, 1857), a useful little compilation from many sources. Very +incorrect most of the common accounts are; Kausler's _ Schlachten,_ +Jomini, and the like.] Marches through Planian in two columns, along +the Kolin Highway and to north of it; marches on, four or five miles +farther, nothing visible but the skirts of retiring Pandours,--"Daun's +rear-guard probably?"--Friedrich himself is with Ziethen, who has the +vanguard, as Friedrich's wont is, eagerly enough looking out; reaches +a certain Inn on the wayside (WIRTHSHAUS "of Slatislunz or GOLDEN-SUN," +say the Modern Books,--though I am driven to think it Novomiesto, nearer +Planian; but will not quarrel on the subject); Inn of good height for +one thing; and there, mounting to the top-story or perhaps the leads, +descries Daun, stretching far and wide, leant against the Kamhayek, +in the summer morning. What a sight for Friedrich: "Big game SHALL be +played, then; death sure, this day, to thousands of men: and to me--? +Well!" + +Friedrich calls halt: rest here a little; to consider, examine, settle +how. A hot close morning; rest for an hour or two, till our rear from +Kaurzim come up: horses and men will be the better for it,--horses can +have a mouthful of grass, mouthful of water; some of them "had no drink +last night, so late in getting home." Poor quadrupeds, they also have to +get into a blaze of battle-rage this day, and be blown to pieces a great +many of them,--in a quarrel not of their seeking! Horse and rider are +alike satisfied on that latter point; silently ready for the task THEY +have; and deaf on questions that are bottomless. + +At this Hostelry of Novomiesto (not of Slatislunz or "GOLDEN-SUN" at +all, which is a "Sun" fallen dismally eclipsed in other ways ["The Inn +of Slati-Slunz was burnt, about twenty years ago; nothing of it but +the stone walls now dates from Friedrich's time. It is a biggish +solid-looking House of two stories (whether ever of three, I could not +learn); stands pleasantly, at the crown of a long rise from Kolin;--and +inwardly, alas, in our day, offers little but bad smells and negative +quantities! Only the ground-floor is now inhabited. From the front, +your view northward, Nimburg way, across the Elbe Valley, is fertile, +wide-waving, pretty: but rearward, upstairs,--having with difficulty +got permission,--you find bare balks, tattered feathers, several +hundredweight of pigeon's dung, and no outlook at all, except into walls +of office-houses and the overhanging brow of Heights,--fatal, clearly, +to any view of Daun, even from a third story!" (TOURIST'S NOTE, +1858.)--Tempelhof (UBI SUPRA) seems to have known the right, place; not, +Retzow, or almost anybody since: and indeed the question, except for +expressly Military people, is of no moment.]), Friedrich halted for +three hours and more; saw Daun developing himself into new Order of +Battle, "every part of his position visible;" considered with his whole +might what was to be tried upon him;--and about noon, having made up his +mind, called his Generals, in sight of the phenomenon itself there, to +give them their various orders and injunctions in regard to the same. +The Plan of Fight, which was thought then, and is still thought by +everybody, an excellent one,--resting on the "oblique order of attack," +Friedrich's favorite mode,--was, if the reader will take his Map, +conceivable as follows. + +Daun has by this time deployed himself; in three lines, or two lines and +a reserve; on the high-lying Champaign south of the Planian-Kolin Great +Road; south, say a mile, and over the crests of the rising ground, or +Kamhayek ridge, so that from the Great Road you can see nothing of him. +His line, swaying here and there a little, to take advantage of its +ground, extends nearly five miles, from east to west; pointing towards +Planian side, the left wing of it; from Planian, eastward, the way +Friedrich has marched, Daun's left wing may be four miles distant. On +the other side, Daun's right wing--main line always pretty parallel +to the Highway, and pointing rather southward of Kolin--reaches to the +small Hamlet of Krzeczhorz, which is two miles off Kolin. In front of +his centre is a Village called Chotzemitz (from which for a while, +in those months, the Battle gets its name, "Battle of Chotzemitz," by +Daun's christening): in front of him, to right or to left of Chotzemitz, +are some four or even six other Villages (dim rustic Hamlets, invisible +from the High Road), every Village of which Daun has well beset with +batteries, with good infantry, not to speak of Croat parties hovering +about, or dismounted Pandours squatted in the corn. That easternmost +Village of his is spelt "Krzeczhorz" (unpronounceable to mankind), +a dirty little place; in and round which the Battle had its hinge or +cardinal point: the others, as abstruse of spelling, all but equally +impossible to the human organs, we will forbear to name, except in case +of necessity. Half a mile behind Krzeczhorz (let us write it Kreczor, +for the future: what can we do?), is a thin little Oak-wood, bushes +mainly, but with sparse trees too, which is now quite stubbed out, +though it was then important enough, and played a great part in the +result of this day's work. Radowesnitz, a pronounceable little Village, +half a mile farther or southward of the Oak-bush, is beyond the +extremity of Daun's position; low down on a marshy little Brook, +which oozes through lakes and swamps towards Kolin, in the northerly +direction. + +Most or all of these Villages are on little Brooks (natural thirst so +leading them): always some little runlet of water, not so swampy when +there is any fall for it; in general lively when it gets over the ridge, +and becomes visible from this Highway. And it is curious to see what +a considerable dell, or green ascending chasm, this little thread of +water, working at all moments for thousands of years, has hollowed out +for itself in the sloping ground; making a great military obstacle, if +you are mounting to attack there. Poor Czech Hamlets all of them, dirty, +dark, mal-odorous, ignorant, abhorrent of German speech;--in what nook +those inarticulate inhabitants, diving underground at a great rate this +morning, have hidden themselves to-day, I know not. The country consists +of knolls and slopes, with swamps intermediate; rises higher on the +Planian side; but except the top of that Kamhayek ridge on the Planian +side, and "Friedrich's-Berg" on the Kolin side, there is nothing +that you could think of calling a Hill, though many Books (and even +Friedrich's Book) rashly say otherwise. Friedrich's-Berg, now so called, +is on the north side of the Highway: half a mile northeastward of +Slatislunz, the mal-odorous Inn. A conical height of perhaps a hundred +and fifty feet; rises rather suddenly from the still-sloping ground, +checking the slope there; on which the Austrian populations have built +some memorial lately, notable to Tourists. Here Friedrich "stood during +the Battle," say they; and the Prussians "had a battery there." Which +remains uncertain to me, at least the battery part of it: that Friedrich +himself was there, now and then, can be believed; but not that he kept +"standing there" for long together. Friedrich's-Berg does command some +view of the Kreczor scene, which at times was cardinal, at others not: +but Friedrich did not stand anywhere: "oftenest in the thick of the +fire," say those who saw. + +Friedrich, from his Inn near Planian, seeing how Daun deploys himself, +considers him impregnable on the left wing; impregnable, too, in front: +not so on the Kreczor side, right flank and rear; but capable of being +rolled together, if well struck at there. Thither therefore; that is his +vulnerable point. March along his front: quietly parallel in due Order +of Battle, till we can bend round, and plunge in upon that. The Van, +which consists of Ziethen's Horse and Hulsen's Infantry; Van, having +faced to right at the proper moment and so become Left Wing, will attack +Kreczor; probably carry it; each Division following will in like manner +face to right when it arrives there, and fall on in regular succession +in support of Hulsen (at Hulsen's right flank, if Hulsen be found +prospering): our Right Wing is to refuse itself, and be as a +Reserve,--no fighting on the road, you others, but steady towards +Hulsen, in continual succession, all you; no facing round, no fighting +anywhere, till we get thither:--"March!" + +The word is given about 2 P.M.; and all, on the instant, is in motion; +rolls steadily eastward, in two columns, which will become First Line +and Second. One along the Highway, the second at due distance leftward +on the green ground, no hedge or other obstacle obstructing in that part +of the world. Daun's batteries, on the right, spit at them in passing, +to no purpose; sputters of Pandour musketry, from coverts, there may +be: Prussians finely disregarding, pass along; flowing tide-like towards +THEIR goal and place of choice. An impressive phenomenon in the sunny +afternoon; with Daun expectant of them, and the Czech populations well +hidden underground!-- + +Ziethen, vanmost of all, finds Nadasti and his Austrian squadrons drawn +across the Highway, hitherward of the Kreczor latitude: Ziethen dashes +on Nadasti; tumbles his squadrons and him away; clears the Road, and +Kreczor neighborhood, of Nadasti: drives him quite into the hollow of +Radowesnitz, where he stood inactive for the rest of the day. Hulsen now +at the level of Kreczor (in the latitude of Kreczor, as we phrased it), +halts, faces to right; stiffly presses up, opens his cannon-thunders, +his bayonet-charges and platoon-fires upon Kreczor. Stiffly pressing +up, in spite of the violent counter-thunders, Hulsen does manage Kreczor +without very much delay, completely enough, and like a workman; takes +the battery, two batteries; overturns the Infantry;--in a word, has +seized Kreczor, and, as new tenant, swept the old, and their litter, +quite out. Of all which Ziethen has now the chase, and by no means will +neglect that duty. Ziethen, driving the rout before him, has driven it +in some minutes past the little Oak-wood above mentioned; and, or +rather BUT,--what is much to be noted,--is there taken in flank with +cannon-shot and musketry, Daun having put batteries and Croat parties in +the Oak-wood; and is forced to draw bridle, and get out of range again. + +Hulsen, advancing towards this little Oak-wood, is surprised to +discover, not the wood alone, but a strong Austrian force, foot and +horse, to rear of it;--such had been Daun's and Nadasti's precaution, on +view of those Friedrich phenomena, flowing on from Planian, guessed to +be hitherward. At sight of which Wood and foot-party, Hulsen, no new +Battalion having yet arrived to second him, pauses, merely cannonading +from the distance, till new Battalions shall arrive. Unhappily they did +not arrive, or not in due quantity at the set time,--for what reason, +by what strange mistake? men still ask themselves. Probably by more +mistakes than one. Enough, Hulsen struggling here all day, with +reinforcements never adequate, did take the Wood, and then lose it; did +take and lose this and that;--but was unable to make more of it than +keep his ground thereabouts. A resolute man, says Retzow, but without +invention of his own, or head to mend the mistakes of others. In and +about Kreczor, Hulsen did maintain himself with more and more tenacity, +till the general avalanche, fruit of sad mistakes swept HIM, quite +spasmodically struggling at that period, off to the edge of it, and all +the others clean away! Mistakes have been to rightwards, one or even +two, the fruit of which, small at first, suffices to turn the balance, +and ends in an avalanche, or precipitous descent of ruin on the Prussian +side + +One mistake there was, miles westward on the right wing; due to +Mannstein, our too impetuous Russian friend, Mannstein well to right, +while marching forward according to order, has Croat musketry spitting +upon him from amid the high corn, to an inconvenient extent: such was +the common lot, which others had borne and disregarded: perhaps it +was beyond the average on Mannstein, or Mannstein's patience was less +infinite; any way it provoked Mannstein to boil over; and in an evil +moment he said, "Extinguish me that Croat canaille, then!" Regiment +Bornstedt faced to right, accordingly; took to extinguishing the Croat +canaille, which of course fled at once, or squatted closer, but came +back with reinforcements; drew Mannstein deeper in, fatally delayed +Bornstedt, and proved widely ruinous. For now he stopped the way to +those following him: regiments marching on to rear of Mannstein see +Mannstein halted, volleying with the Austrians; ask themselves "How? Is +there new order come? Attack to be in this point?" And successively fall +on to support Mannstein, as the one clear point in such dubiety. So that +the whole right wing from Regiment Bornstedt westward is storming up +the difficult steeps, in hot conflict with the Austrians there, where +success against them had been judged impracticable;--and there is now +no reserve force anywhere to be applied to in emergency, for Hulsen's +behoof or another's; and the Plan of Battle from Mannstein westward has +been fatally overturned. Poor Mannstein, there is no doubt, committed +this error, being too fiery a man. Surely to him it was no luxury, +and he paid the smart for it in skin and soul: "badly wounded in this +business;" nay, in direct sequel, not many weeks after, killed by it, as +we shall see!-- + +To Mannstein's mistake, Friedrich himself, in his account of Kolin, +mainly imputes the disaster that followed; and such, then and +afterwards, was the universal judgment in military circles; loading the +memory of too impetuous Mannstein with the whole. [See Retzow, i. +135; Templehof, i. 214, 220.] Much talk there was in Prussian military +circles; but there must also have been an admirable silence on the part +of some. To Three Persons it was known that another strange incident +had happened far ahead, far eastward, of Mannstein's position: +incident which did not by any means tend to alleviate, which could only +strengthen and widen, the evil results of Mannstein; and which might +have lifted part of the load from Mannstein's memory! Not till the +present Century, after the lapse of almost fifty years, was this secret +slowly dug out of silence, and submitted to modern curiosity. + +The incident is this;--never whispered of for near fifty years (so +silent were the three); and endlessly tossed about since that; the sense +of it not understood till almost now. [See Retzow, i. 126; Berenhorst; +&c. &c.;--then FINALLY Kutzen, pp. 99, 217.] The three parties were: +King Friedrich; Moritz of Dessau, leading on the centre here; Moritz's +young Nephew Franz, Heir of Dessau, a brisk lad of seventeen, learning +War here as Aide-de-camp to Moritz: the exact spot is not known to +me,--probably the ground near that Inn of Slatislunz, or Golden-Sun; +between the foot of Friedrich's-Berg and that:--fact indubitable, though +kept dark so long. Moritz is marching with the centre, or main battle, +that way, intending to wheel and turn hillwards, Kreczor-wise, as per +order, certain furlongs ahead; when Friedrich (having, so I can conceive +it, seen from his Hill-top, how Hulsen had done Kreczor, altogether +prosperous there; and what endless capability there was of prospering to +all lengths and speeding the general winning, were Hulsen but supported +soon enough, were there any safe short-cut to Hulsen) dashed from his +Hill-top in hot haste towards Prince Moritz, General of the centre, +intending to direct him upon such short-cut; and hastily said, with +Olympian brevity and fire, "Face to right HERE!" With Jove-like brevity, +and in such blaze of Olympian fire as we may imagine. Moritz himself +is of brief, crabbed, fiery mind, brief in temper; and answers to the +effect, "Impossible to attack the enemy here, your Majesty; postured as +they are; and we with such orders gone abroad!"--"Face to right, I +tell you!" said the King, still more Olympian, and too emphatic for +explaining. Moritz, I hope, paused, but rather think he did not, before +remonstrating the second time; neither perhaps was his voice so low as +it should have been: it is certain Friedrich dashed quite up to Moritz +at this second remonstrance, flashed out his sword (the only time he +ever drew his sword in battle); and now, gone all to mere Olympian +lightning and thundertone, asks in THIS attitude, "WILL ER (Will He) +obey orders, then?"--Moritz, fallen silent of remonstrance, with gloomy +rapidity obeys. + +Prince Franz, the young Nephew of Moritz, alone witnessed this scene; +scene to be locked in threefold silence. In his old age, Franz had +whispered it to Berenhorst, his bastard Half-Uncle, a famed military +Critic,--who is still in the highest repute that way (Berenhorst's +KRIEGSKUNST, and other deep Books), and is recognizable, to LAY readers, +for an abstruse strong judgment; with equal strength of abstruse temper +hidden behind it, and very privately a deep grudge towards Friedrich, +scarcely repressible on opportunity. From Berenhorst it irrepressibly +oozed out; ["Heinrich van Berenhorst [a natural son of the Old +Dessauer's], in his _Betrachtungen uber die Kriegskunst,_ is the first +that alludes to it in print. (Leipzig, 1797,--page in SECOND edition, +1798, is i. 219)."] much more to Friedrich's disadvantage than it now +looks when wholly seen into. Not change of plan, not ruinous caprice on +Friedrich's part, as Berenhorst, Retzow and others would have it; only +excess of brevity towards Moritz, and accident of the Olympian fire +breaking out. Friedrich is chargeable with nothing, except perhaps +(what Moritz knows the evil of) trying for a short-cut! Such is now the +received interpretation. Prince Franz, to his last day, refused to speak +again on the subject; judiciously repentant, we can fancy, of having +spoken at all, and brought such a matter into the streets and their +pie-powder adjudications. [In KUTZEN, pp. 217-237, a long dissertation +on it.] For the present, he is Adjutant to Moritz, busy obeying to the +letter. + +Friedrich, withdrawing to his Height again, and looking back on Moritz, +finds that he is making right in upon the Austrian line; which was by +no means Friedrich's meaning, had not he been so brief. Friedrich, +doubtless with pain, remembers now that he had said only, "Face to +right!" and had then got into Olympian tempest, which left things dark +to Moritz. "HALB-LINKS, Half to left withal!" he despatches that new +order to Moritz, with the utmost speed: "Face to right; THEN, forward +half to left." Had Moritz, at the first, got that commentary to his +order, there had probably been no remonstrance on Moritz's part, +no Olympian scene to keep silent; and Moritz, taking that diagonal +direction from the first, had hit in at or below Kreczor, at the very +point where he was needed. Alas for overhaste; short-cuts, if they are +to be good, ought at least to be made clear! Moritz, on the new order +reaching him, does instantly steer half-left: but he arrives now above +Kreczor, strikes the Austrian line on this side of Kreczor; disjoined +from Hulsen, where he can do no good to Hulsen: in brief, Moritz, and +now the whole line with him, have to do as Mannstein and sequel are +doing, attack in face, not in flank; and try what, in the proportion of +one to two, uphill, and against batteries, they can make of it in that +fashion! + +And so, from right wing to left, miles long, there is now universal +storm of volleying, bayonet-charging, thunder of artillery, case-shot, +cartridge-shot, and sulphurous devouring whirlwind; the wrestle very +tough and furious, especially on the assaulting side. Here, as at Prag, +the Prussian troops were one and all in the fire; each doing strenuously +his utmost, no complaint to be made of their performance. More perfect +soldiers, I believe, were rarely or never seen on any field of war. But +there is no reserve left: Mannstein and the rest, who should have been +reserve, and at a General's disposal, we see what they are doing! In +vain, or nearly so, is Friedrich's tactic or manoeuvring talent; what +now is there to manoeuvre? All is now gone up into one combustion. To +fan the fire, to be here, there, fanning the fire where need shows: this +is now Friedrich's function; "everywhere in the hottest of the fight," +that is all we at present know of him, invisible to us otherwise. This +death-wrestle lasted perhaps four hours; till seven or towards eight +o'clock in the June evening; the sun verging downwards; issue still +uncertain. + +And, in fact, at last the issue turned upon a hair;--such the empire of +Chance in War matters. Cautious Daun, it is well known, did not like the +aspect of the thing; cautious Daun thinks to himself, "If we get pushed +back into that Camp of yesternight, down the Kamhayek Heights, and right +into the impassable swamps; the reverse way, Heights now HIS, not +ours, and impassable swamps waiting to swallow us? Wreck complete, and +surrender at discretion--!" Daun writes in pencil: "The retreat is to +Suchdol" (Kuttenberg way, southward, where we have heights again and +magazines); Daun's Aide-de-camp is galloping every-whither with +that important Document; and Generals are preparing for retreat +accordingly,--one General on the right wing has, visibly to Hulsen and +us, his cannon out of battery, and under way rearwards; a welcome sight +to Hulsen, who, with imperfect reinforcement, is toughly maintaining +himself there all day. + +And now the Daun Aide-de-camp, so Chance would have it, cannot find +Nostitz the Saxon Commandant of Horse in that quarter; finds a "Saxon +Lieutenant-Colonel B---" ("Benkendorf" all Books now write him plainly), +who, by another little chance, had been still left there: "Can the Herr +Lieutenant-Colonel tell me where General Nostitz is?" Benkendorf can +tell;--will himself take the message: but Benkendorf looks into the +important Pencil Document; thinks it premature, wasteful, and that the +contrary is feasible! persuades Nostitz so to think; persuades this +regiment and that (Saxon, Austrian, horse and foot); though the cannon +in retreat go trundling past them: "Merely shifting their battery, don't +you see:--Steady!" And, in fine, organizes, of Saxon and Austrian horse +and foot in promising quantity (Saxons in great fury on the Pirna score, +not to say the Striegau, and other old grudges), a new unanimous assault +on Hulsen. + +The assault was furious, and became ever more so; at length irresistible +to Hulsen. Hulsen's horse, pressing on as to victory, are at last hurled +back; could not be rallied; [That of "RUCKER, WOLLT IHR EWIG LEBEN, +Rascals, would you live forever?" with the "Fritz, for eight groschen, +this day there has been enough!"--is to be counted pure myth; not +unsuccessful, in its withered kind.] fairly fled (some of them); +confusing Hulsen's foot,--foot is broken, instantly ranks itself, as the +manner of Prussians is; ranks itself in impromptu squares, and stands +fiercely defensive again, amid the slashing and careering: wrestle of +extreme fury, say the witnesses. "This for Striegau!" cried the Saxon +dragoons, furiously sabring. [Archenholtz, i. 100.] Yes; and is there +nothing to account of Pirna, and the later scores? Scores unliquidated, +very many still; but the end is, Hulsen is driven away; retreats, +Parthian-like, down-hill, some space; whose sad example has to spread +rightwards like a powder-train, till all are in retreat,--northward, +towards Nimburg, is the road;--and the Battle of Kolin is finished. + +Friedrich made vehement effort to rally the Horse, to rally this and +that; but to no purpose: one account says he did collect some small +body, and marched forth at the head of it against a certain battery; +but, in his rear, man after man fell away, till Lieutenant-Colonel Grant +(not "Le Grand," as some call him, and indeed there is an ACCENT of +Scotch in him, still audible to us here) had to remark, "Your Majesty +and I cannot take the battery ourselves!" Upon which Friedrich turned +round; and, finding nobody, looked at the Enemy through his glass, and +slowly rode away [Retzow, i. 139.]--on a different errand. + +Seeing the Battle irretrievably lost, he now called Bevern and Moritz +to him; gave them charge of the retreat--"To Nimburg; cross Elbe there +[fifteen good miles away]; and in the defiles of Planian have especial +care!" and himself rode off thitherward, his Garde-du-Corps escorting. +Retzow says, "a swarm of fugitive horse-soldiers, baggage-people, +grooms and led horses gathered in the train of him: these latter, at one +point," Retzow has heard in Opposition circles, "rushed up, galloping: +'Enemy's hussars upon us!' and set the whole party to the gallop for +some time, till they found the alarm was false." [Ib. i. 140.] Of +Friedrich we see nothing, except as if by cloudy moonlight in an +uncertain manner, through this and the other small Anecdote, perhaps +semi-mythical, and true only in the essence of it. + +Daun gave no chase anywhere; on his extreme left he had, perhaps as +preparative for chasing, ordered out the cavalry; "General Stampach and +cavalry from the centre," with cannon, with infantry and appliances, to +clear away the wrecks of Mannstein, and what still stands, to right of +him, on the Planian Highway yonder. But Stampach found "obstacles +of ground," wet obstacles and also dry,--Prussian posts, smaller and +greater, who would not stir a hand-breadth: in fact, an altogether +deadly storm of Negative, spontaneous on their part, from the indignant +regiments thereabouts, King's First Battalion, and two others; who +blazed out on Stampach in an extraordinary manner, tearing to shreds +every attempt of his, themselves stiff as steel: "Die, all of us, rather +than stir!" And, in fact, the second man of these poor fellows did +die there? [Kutzen, p. 138 (from the canonical, or "STAFF-OFFICER'S" +enumeration: see SUPRA, p. 403 n.).] So that Bevern, Commander in that +part, who was absent speaking with the King, found on his return a new +battle broken out; which he did not forbid but encourage; till Stampach +had enough, and withdrew in rather torn condition. This, if this were +some preparative for chasing, was what Daun did of it, in the cavalry +way; and this was all. The infantry he strictly prohibited to stir from +their position,--"No saying, if we come into the level ground, with such +an enemy!"--and passed the night under arms. Far on our left, or what +was once our left, Ziethen with all his squadrons, nay Hulsen with most +of his battalions, continued steady on the ground; and marched away at +their leisure, as rear-guard. + +"It seemed," says Tempelhof, in splenetic tone, "as if Feldmarschall +Daun, like a good Christian, would not suffer the sun to go down on his +wrath. This day, nearly the longest in the year, he allowed the Prussian +cavalry, which had beaten Nadasti, to stand quiet on the field till ten +at night [till nine]; he did not send a single hussar in chase of the +infantry. He stood all night under arms; and next day returned to his +old Camp, as if he had been afraid the King would come back. Arriving +there himself, he could see, about ten in the morning, behind Kaurzim +and Planian, the whole Prussian Baggage fallen into such a coil that the +wagons were with difficulty got on way again; nevertheless he let +it, under cover of the grenadier battalion Manteuffel, go in peace." +[Tempelhof, i. 195.] A man that for caution and slowness could make no +use of his victory! + +The Austrian force in the Field this day is counted to have been 60,000; +their losses in killed, wounded and missing, 8,114. The Prussians, who +began 34,000 in strength, lost 13,773; of whom prisoners (including all +the wounded), 5,380. Their baggage, we have seen, was not meddled with: +they lost 45 cannon, 22 flags,--a loss not worth adding, in comparison +to this sore havoc, for the second time, in the flower of the Prussian +Infantry. [Retzow, i. 141 (whose numbers are apt to be inaccurate); +Kutzen, p. 144 (who depends on the Canonical STAFF-OFFICER Account).] + +The news reached Prag Camp at two in the morning (Sunday, 19th): to the +sorrowful amazement of the Generals there; who "stood all silent; +only the Prince of Prussia breaking out into loud lamentations and +accusations," which even Retzow thinks unseemly. Friedrich arrived that +Sunday evening: and the Siege was raised, next day; with next to no +hindrance or injury. With none at all on the part of Daun; who was still +standing among the heights and swamps of Planian,--busy singing, or +shooting, universal TE-DEUM, with very great rolling fire and other +pomp, that day while Friedrich gathered his Siege-goods and got on +march. + + + + +THE MARIA-THERESA ORDER, NEW KNIGHTHOOD FOR AUSTRIA. + +No tongue can express the joy of the Austrians over this +victory,--vouchsafed them, in this manner, by Lieutenant-Colonel +Benkendorf and the Powers above. Miraculously, behold, they are not upon +the retreat to Suchdol, at double-quick, and in ragged ever-lengthening +line; but stand here, keeping rank all night, on the Planian-Kolin +upland of the Kamhayek:--behold, they have actually beaten Friedrich; +for the first time, not been beaten by him. Clearly beaten that +Friedrich, by some means or other. With such a result, too; consider +it,--drawn sword was at our throat; and marvellously now it is turned +round upon his (if Daun be alert), and we--let us rejoice to all +lengths, and sing TE-DEUM and TE-DAUNUM with one throat, till the +Heavens echo again. + + There was quite a hurricane, or lengthened storm, of jubilation +and tripudiation raised at Vienna on this victory: New ORDER OF MARIA +THERESA, in suitable Olympian fashion, with no end of regulating and +inaugurating,--with Daun the first Chief of it; and "Pensions to Merit" +a conspicuous part of the plan, we are glad to see. It subsists to this +day: the grandest Military Order the Austrians yet have. Which +then deafened the world, with its infinite solemnities, patentings, +discoursings, trumpetings, for a good while. As was natural, surely, to +that high Imperial Lady with the magnanimous heart; to that loyal solid +Austrian People with its pudding-head. Daun is at the top of the Theresa +Order, and of military renown in Vienna circles;--of Lieutenant-Colonel +Benkendorf I never heard that he got the least pension or +recognition;--continued quietly a military lion to discerning men, for +the rest of his days. ["Died at Dresden, General of Cavalry," 5th May, +1801 (Rodenbeck, i. 338, 339).] + +Nay once, on Dauu's TE-DEUM day, he had a kind of recognition;--and +even, by good accident, can tell us of it in his own words: [Kutzen +(citing some BIOGRAPHY of Benkendorf), p. 143.]-- + +"I was sent for to head-quarters by a trumpeter,"--Benkendorf +was,--"when all was ready for the TE-DEUM. Feldmarschall Daun was +pleased to say at sight of me, 'That as I had had so much to do with the +victory, it was but right I should thank our Herr Gott along with him.' +Having no change of clothes,--as the servant, who was to have a uniform +and some linens ready for me, had galloped off during the Fight, and our +baggage was all gone to rearward,--I tried to hustle out of sight among +the crowd of Imperial Officers all in gala: but the reigning Duke of +Wurtemberg [Wilhelmina's Son-in-law, a perverse obstinate Herr, growing +ever more perverse; one of Wilhelmina's sad afflictions in these days] +called me to him, and said, 'He would give his whole wardrobe, could he +wear that dusty coat with such honor as I!'"--yes; and tried hard, in +his perverse way, for some such thing; but never could, as we shall see. + +How lucky that Polish Majesty had some remains of Cavalry still at +Warsaw in the Pirna time; that they were made into a Saxon Brigade, and +taken into the Austrian service; Brigade of three Regiments, Nostitz for +Chief, and this Benkendorf a Lieutenant-Colonel, among them;--and that +Polish Majesty, though himself lost, has been the saving of Austria +twice within one year! + + + + +Chapter V.--FRIEDRICH AT LEITMERITZ, HIS WORLD OF ENEMIES COMING ON. + +Of Friedrich's night-thoughts at Nimburg; how he slept, and what his +dreams were, we have no account. Seldom did a wearied heart sink down +into oblivion on such terms. By narrow miss, the game gone; and with +such results ahead. It was a right valiant plunge this that he made, +with all his strength and all his skill, home upon the heart of his +chief enemy. To quench his chief enemy before another came up: it was +a valiant plan, and valiantly executed; and it has failed. To dictate +peace from the walls of Vienna: that lay on the cards for him this +morning; and at night--? Kolin is lost, the fruit of Prag Victory too is +lost; and Schwerin and new tens of thousands, unreplaceable for worth +in this world, are lost; much is lost! Courage, your Majesty, all is not +lost, you not, and honor not. + +To the young Graf von Anhalt, on the road to Nimburg, he is recorded to +have said, "Don't you know, then, that every man must have his reverses +(MAIS NE SAVEZ-VOUS DONC PAS QUE CHAQUE HOMME DOIT AVOIR SES REVERS)? +It appears I am to have mine." [Rodenbeck, i. 309.] And more vaguely, +in the Anecdote-Books, is mention of some stanch ruggedly pious old +Dragoon, who brought, in his steel cap, from some fine-flowing well he +had discovered, a draught of pure water to the King; old Mother Earth's +own gift, through her rugged Dragoon, exquisite refection to the thirsty +wearied soul; and spoke, in his Dragoon dialect,--"Never mind, your +Majesty! DER ALLMACHTIGE and we; It shall be mended yet. 'The Kaiserin +may get a victory for once; but does that send us to the Devil (DAVON +HOLT UNS DER TEUFEL-NICHT)!'"--words of rough comfort, which were well +taken. + +Next morning, several Books, and many Drawings and Sculptures of a dim +unsuccessful nature, give us view of him, at Kimburg; sitting silent +"on a BRUNNEN-ROHR" (Fountain Apparatus, waste-pipe or feeding-pipe, +too high for convenient sitting): he is stooping forward there, his +eyes fixed on the ground, and is scratching figures in the sand with his +stick, as the broken troops reassemble round him. Archenholtz says: "He +surveyed with speechless feeling the small remnant of his Life-guard of +Foot, favorite First Battalion; 1,000 strong yesterday morning, hardly +400 now;"--gone the others, in that furious Anti-Stampach outburst +which ended the day's work! "All soldiers of this chosen Battalion were +personally known to him; their names, their age, native place, their +history [the pick of his Ruppin regiment was the basis of it]: in one +day, Death had mowed them down; they had fought like heroes, and it was +for him that they had died. His eyes were visibly wet, down his face +rolled silent tears." [Archenholtz, i. 104, 101; Kutzen, pp. 259, 138; +Retzow, i. 142.] + +In public I never saw other tears from this King,--though in private +I do not warrant him; his sensibilities, little as you would think it, +being very lively and intense. "To work, however!" This King can shake +away such things; and is not given overmuch to retrospection on +the unalterable Past. "Like dewdrops from the lion's mane" (as is +figuratively said); the lion swiftly rampant again! There was manifold +swift ordering, considering and determining, at Nimburg, that day; and +towards night Friedrich shot rapidly into Head-quarters at Prag, where, +by order, there is, as the first thing of all, a very rapid business +going on, well forward by the time he arrives. + +To fold one's Siege-gear and Army neatly together from those Two +Hill-tops, and march away with them safe, in sight of so many enemies: +this has to be the first and rapidest thing; if this be found possible, +as one calculates it may. After which, the world of enemies, held in +the slip so long, will rush in from all the four winds,--unknown +whitherward; one must wait to see whitherward and how. + +Friedrich's History for the remaining six months of this Year falls, +accordingly, into three Sections. Section FIRST: Waiting how and +towards what objects his enemies, the Austrians first of all, will +advance;--this lasts for about a month; Friedrich waiting mainly at +Leitmeritz, on guard there both of Saxony and of Silesia, till this +slowly declare itself. Slowly, perhaps almost stupidly, but by no means +satisfactorily to Friedrich, as will be seen! After which, Section +SECOND of his History lasts above two months; Friedrich's enemies being +all got to the ground, and united in hope and resolution to overwhelm +and abolish him; but their plans, positions, operations so extremely +various that, for a long time (end of August to beginning of November), +Friedrich cannot tell what to do with them; and has to scatter himself +into thin threads, and roam about, chiefly in Thuringen and the West of +Saxony, seeking something to fight with, and finding nothing; getting +more and more impatient of such paltry misery; at times nigh desperate; +and habitually drifting on desperation as on a lee shore in the night, +despite all his efforts. Till, in Section THIRD, which goes from +November 5th, through December 5th, and into the New Year, he does find +what to do; and does it,--in a forever memorable way. + +Three Sections; of which the reader shall successively have some idea, +if he exert himself; though it is only in snatches, suggestive to an +active fancy, that we can promise to dwell on them, especially on the +First Two, which lie pretty much unsurveyable in those chaotic records, +like a world-wide coil of thrums. Let us be swift, in Friedrich's own +manner; and try to disimprison the small portions of essential! Here, +partly from Eye-witnesses, are some Notes in regard to Section First: +[Westphalen, _Geschichte der Feldzuge des Herzogs Ferdinand _ (and a +Private Journal of W.'s there), ii. 13-19; Retzow; &c.]-- + +"SUNDAY, 19th JUNE, At 2 A.M., Major Grant arrives at Prag [must have +started instantly after that of "We two cannot take the battery, your +Majesty!"]--goes to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, interim Commander on +the Ziscaberg, with order To raise Siege. Consternation on the part of +some; worse, on the Prince of Prussia's part; the others kept silence +at least,--and set instantly to work. On both Hills, the cannons are +removed (across Moldau the Zisca-Hill ones), batteries destroyed, +Siege-gear neatly gathered up, to go in wagons to Leitmeritz, thence +by boat to Dresden; all this lies ready done, the dangerous part of it +done, when Friedrich arrives. + +"MONDAY, 20th, before sunrise, Siege raised. At three in the morning +Friedrich marches from the Ziscaberg; to eastward he, to Alt-Bunzlau, +thence to Ah-Lissa,"--Nimburg way, with what objects we shall see. +"Marshal Keith's fine performance. Keith, from the Weissenberg, does not +march, such packing and loading still; all the baggages and artilleries +being with Keith. Not till four in the afternoon did Keith march; but +beautifully then; and folded himself away,--rear-guard under Schmettau +'retreating checkerwise,' nothing but Tolpatcheries attempting on +him,--westward, Budin-ward, without loss of a linstock, not to speak of +guns. Very prettily done on the part of Keith. By Budin, to Leitmeritz, +he; where the King will join him shortly." + +Friedrich's errand in Alt-Lissa, eastward, while Keith went westward, +was, To be within due arm's-length of the Moritz-Bevern, or beaten Kolin +Army, which is coming up that way; intending to take post, and do its +best, in those parts, with Zittau Magazine and the Lausitz to rear +of it. One of our Eye-witnesses, a Herr Westphalen, Ferdinand of +Brunswick's Secretary,--who, with his Chief, got into wider fields +before long,--yields these additional particulars face to face:-- + +"TUESDAY, 21st JUNE, 1757. King's Head-quarters in Lissa or neighborhood +till Friday next; which is central for both these movements,--Thursday, +orders seven regiments of horse to reinforce Keith. No symptom yet of +pursuit anywhere. + +"FRIDAY, 24th. Prince Moritz with the Kolin Army made appearance, all +safe, and is to command here; King intending for Keith. After dinner, +and the due interchange of battalions to that end, King sets off, with +Prince Henri, towards Keith; Head-quarter in Alt-Bunzlau again. SATURDAY +NIGHT, at Melnick; SUNDAY, Gastorf: MONDAY NIGHT, 27th JUNE, Leitmeritz; +King lodges in the Cathedral Close, in sight of Keith, who is on the +opposite side of Elbe,--but the town has a Bridge for to-morrow. 'Never +was a quieter march; not the shadow of a Pandour visible. The Duke +[Ferdinand, my Chief, Chatham's jewel that is to be, and precious to +England] has suffered much from a'--in fact, from a COURS DE VENTRE, +temporary bowel-derangement, which was very troublesome, owing to the +excessive heats by day, and coldness of the nights. + +"TUESDAY, 28th. Junction with Keith,--Bridge rightly secured, due party +of dragoons and foot left on the right bank, to occupy a height which +covers Leitmeritz. 'Clearing of the Pascopol' (that is, sweeping the +Pandours out of it) is the first business; Colonel Loudon with his +Pandours, a most swift sharpcutting man, being now here in those parts; +doing a deal of mischief. Three days ago, Saturday, 25th, Keith had sent +seven battalions, with the proper steel-besoms, on that Pascopol affair; +Tuesday, on junction, Majesty sends three more: job done on Wednesday; +reported 'done,'--though I should not be surprised," says Westphalen, +"if some little highway robbery still went on among the Mountains up +there." + +No;--and before quitting hold, what is this that Loudon (on the very +day of the King's arrival, June 27th), on the old Field of Lobositz +over yonder, has managed to do! General Mannstein, wounded at Kolin, +happened, with others in like case, to be passing that way, towards +Dresden and better surgery,--when Loudon's Croats set upon them, +scattering their slight escort: "Quarter, on surrender! Prisoners?" +"Never!" answered Mannstein; "Never!" that too impetuous man, starting +out from his carriage, and snatching a musket: and was instantly cut +down there. And so ends;--a man of strong head, and of heart only too +strong. [Preuss, ii. 58; _Militair-Lexikon,_ iii. 10.] + +From Prag onwards, here has been a delicate set of operations; perfectly +executed,--thanks to Friedrich's rapidity of shift, and also to the +cautious slowly puzzling mind of Daun. Had Daun used any diligence, +had Daun and Prince Karl been broad awake, together or even singly! But +Friedrich guessed they seldom or never were; that they would spend +some days in puzzling; and that, with despatch, he would have time for +everything. Daun, we could observe, stood singing TE-DEUM, greatly at +leisure, in his old Camp, 20th June, while Friedrich, from the first +gray of morning, and diligently all day long, was withdrawing from the +trenches of Prag,--Friedrich's people, self and goods getting folded +out in the finest gradation, and with perfect success; no Daun to hinder +him,--Daun leisurely doing TE-DEUM, forty miles off, helping on the +WRONG side by that exertion! [Cogniazzo, ii. 367.]--"Poor Browne, he +is dead of his wounds, in Prag yonder," writes Westphalen, in his +Leitmeritz Journal, "news came to us July 1st: men said, 'Ah, that was +why they lay asleep.'" + +Till June 26th, Daun and Karl had not united; nor, except sending out +Loudon and Croats, done anything, either of them. Sunday, June 26th, +at Podschernitz on the old Field of Prag, a week and a day after Kolin, +they did get together; still seemingly a little puzzled, "Shall we +follow the King? Shall we follow Moritz and Bevern?"--nothing clear for +some time, except to send out Pandour parties upon both. Moritz, since +parting with the King in Alt-Bunzlau neighborhood, has gone northward +some marches, thirty miles or so, to JUNG-Bunzlau,--meeting of Iser +and Elbe, surely a good position:--Moritz, on receipt of these Pandour +allowances of his, writes to the King, "Shall we retreat on Zittau, +then, your Majesty? Straight upon Zittau?" Fancy Friedrich's +astonishment;--who well intends to eat the Country first, perhaps to +fight if there be chance, and at least to lie OUTSIDE the doors of +Silesia and the Lausitz, as well as of Saxony here!--and answers, with +his own hand, on the instant: "Your Dilection will not be so mad!" +[In Preuss, ii. 58, the pungent little Autograph in full.] And at +once recalls Moritz, and appoints the Prince of Prussia to go and +take command. Who directly went;--a most important step for the King's +interests and his own. Whose fortunes in that business we shall see +before long!-- + +At Leitmeritz the King continues four weeks, with his Army parted in +this way; waiting how the endless hostile element, which begirdles his +horizon all round, will shape itself into combinations, that he may +set upon the likeliest or the needfulest of these, when once it has +disclosed itself. Horizon all round is black enough: Austrians, French, +Swedes, Russians, Reichs Army; closer upon him or not so close, all are +rolling in: Saxony, the Lausitz and Silesia, Brandenburg itself, it is +uncertain which of these may soonest require his active presence. + +The very day after his arrival in Leitmeritz,--Tuesday, 28th June, while +that junction with Keith was going on, and the troops were defiling +along the Bridge for junction with Keith,--a heavy sorrow had befallen +him, which he yet knew not of. An irreparable Domestic loss; sad +complement to these Military and other Public disasters. Queen Sophie +Dorothee, about whose health he had been anxious, but had again been +set quiet, died at Berlin that day. [Monbijou, 28th June, 1757; born at +Hanover, 27th March, 1687.] In her seventy-first year: of no definite +violent disease; worn down with chagrins and apprehensions, in this +black whirlpool of Public troubles. So far as appears, the news came on +Friedrich by surprise:--"bad cough," we hear of, and of his anxieties +about it, in the Spring time; then again of "improvement, recovery, in +the fine weather;"--no thought, just now, of such an event: and he took +it with a depth of affliction, which my less informed readers are far +from expecting of him. + +July 2d, the news came: King withdrew into privacy; to weep and bewail +under this new pungency of grief, superadded to so many others. Mitchell +says: "For two days he had no levee; only the Princes dined with him +[Princes Henri and Ferdinand; Prince of Prussia is gone to Jung-Bunzlau, +would get the sad message there, among his other troubles]: yesterday, +July 3d, King sent for me in the afternoon,--the first time he has seen +anybody since the news came:--I had the honor to remain with him some +hours in his closet. I must own to your Lordship I was most sensibly +afflicted to see him indulging his grief, and giving way to the warmest +filial affections; recalling to mind the many obligations he had to her +late Majesty; all she had suffered, and how nobly she bore it; the good +she did to everybody; the one comfort he now had, to think of having +tried to make her last years more agreeable." [_Papers and Memoirs,_ i. +253; Despatch to Holderness, 4th July (slightly abridged);--see ib. +i. 357-359 (Private Journal). Westphalen, ii. 14. See _OEuvres de +Frederic,_ iv. 182.] In the thick of public business, this kind of mood +to Mitchell seems to have lasted all the time of Leitmeritz, which is +about three weeks yet: Mitchell's Note-books and Despatches, in that +part, have a fine Biographic interest; the wholly human Friedrich +wholly visible to us there as he seldom is. Going over his past Life to +Mitchell; brief, candid, pious to both his Parents;--inexpressibly sad; +like moonlight on the grave of one's Mother, silent that, while so much +else is too noisy! + +This Friedrich, upon whom the whole world has risen like a mad +Sorcerer's-Sabbath, how safe he once lay in his cradle, like the rest of +us, mother's love wrapping him soft:--and now! These thoughts commingle +in a very tragic way with the avalanche of public disasters which is +thundering down on all sides. Warm tears the meed of this new sorrow; +small in compass, but greater in poignancy than all the rest together. +"My poor old Mother, oh, my Mother, that so loved me always, and would +have given her own life to shelter mine!"--It was at Leitmeritz, as +I guess, that Mitchell first made decisive acquaintance, what we +may almost call intimacy, with the King: we already defined him as a +sagacious, long-headed, loyal-hearted diplomatic gentleman, Scotch by +birth and by turn of character; abundantly polite, vigilant, discreet, +and with a fund of general sense and rugged veracity of mind; whom +Friedrich at once recognized for what he was, and much took to, finding +a hearty return withal; so that they were soon well with one another, +and continued so. Mitchell, as orders were, "attended the King's person" +all through this War, sometimes in the blaze of battle itself and +nothing but cannon-shot going, if it so chanced; and has preserved, in +his multifarious Papers, a great many traits of Friedrich not to be met +with elsewhere. + +Mitchell's occasional society, conversation with a man of sense and +manly character, which Friedrich always much loved, was, no doubt, a +resource to Friedrich in his lonely roamings and vicissitudes in those +dark years. No other British Ambassador ever had the luck to please him +or be pleased by him,--most of them, as Ex-Exchequer Legge and the like +Ex-Parliamentary people, he seems to have considered dull, obstinate, +wooden fellows, of fantastic, abrupt rather abstruse kind of character, +not worth deciphering;--some of them, as Hanbury Williams, with the +mischievous tic (more like galvanism or St.-Vitus'-dance) which he +called "wit," and the inconvenient turn for plotting and intriguing, +Friedrich could not endure at all, but had them as soon as possible +recalled,--of course, not without detestation on their part. + +At Leitmeritz, it appears, he kept withdrawn to his closet a good deal; +gave himself up to his sorrows and his thoughts; would sit many hours +drowned in tears, weeping bitterly like a child or a woman. This is +strange to some readers; but it is true,--and ought to alter certain +current notions. Friedrich, flashing like clear steel upon evildoers and +mendacious unjust persons and their works, is not by nature a cruel +man, then, or an unfeeling, as Rumor reports? Reader, no, far the +reverse;--and public Rumor, as you may have remarked, is apt to be an +extreme blockhead, full of fury and stupidity on such points, and +had much better hold its tongue till it know in some measure. Extreme +sensibility is not sure to be a merit; though it is sure to be reckoned +one, by the greedy dim fellows looking idly on: but, in any case, the +degree of it that dwelt (privately, for most part) in Friedrich was +great; and to himself it seemed a sad rather than joyful fact. Speaking +of this matter, long afterwards, to Garve, a Silesian Philosopher, with +whom he used to converse at Breslau, he says;--or let dull Garve himself +report it, in the literal third-person:-- + +"And herein, I," the Herr Garve (venturing to dispute, or qualify, on +one of his Majesty's favorite topics), "believe, lies the real ground +of 'happiness:' it is the capacity and opportunity to accomplish +great things. This the King would not allow; but said, That I did +not sufficiently take into account the natural feelings, different +in different people, which, when painful, imbittered the life of the +highest as of the lowest. That, in his own life, he had experienced the +deepest sufferings of this kind: 'And,' added he, with a touching +tone of kindness and familiarity, which never occurred again in his +interviews with me, 'if you (ER) knew, for instance, what I underwent on +the death of my Mother, you would see that I have been as unhappy as any +other, and unhappier than others, because of the greater sensibility +I had (WEIL ICH MEHR EMPFINDLICHKEIT GEHABT HABE).'" [_Fragmente zur +Schilderung des Geistes, des Charakters und der Regierung Friedrichs +des Zweiten,_ von Christian Garve (Breslau, 1798), i. 314-316. An +unexpectedly dull Book (Garve having talent and reputation); kind of +monotonous Preachment upon Friedrich's character: almost nothing but the +above fraction now derivable from it.] + +There needed not this new calamity in Friedrich's lot just now! From all +points of the compass, his enemies, held in check so long, are floating +on: the confluence of disasters and ill-tidings, at this time, very +great. From Jung-Bunzlau, close by, his Brother's accounts are bad; and +grow ever worse,--as will be seen! On the extreme West, "July 3d," while +Friedrich at Leitmeritz sat weeping for his Mother, the French take +Embden from him; "July 5th," the Russians, Memel, on the utmost East. +June 30th, six days before, the Russians, after as many months of +haggling, did cross the Border; 37,000 of them on this point; and set +to bombarding Memel from land and sea. Poor Memel (garrison only 700) +answered very fiercely, "sank two of their gunboats" and the like; but +the end was as we see,--Feldmarschall Lehwald able to give no relief. +For there were above 70,000 other Russians (Feldmarschall Apraxin with +these latter, and Cossacks and Calmucks more than enough) +crossing elsewhere, south in Tilsit Country, upon old Lehwald. +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 407-413.] Lehwald, with 30,000, in such +circumstances--what is to become of Preussen and him! Nearer hand, +the Austrians, the French, the very Reichs Army, do now seem intent on +business. + +The Reichs Execution Army, we saw how Mayer and the Battle of Prag had +checked it in the birth-pangs; and given rise to pangs of another sort; +the poor Reichs Circles generally exclaiming, "What! Bring the war into +our own borders? Bring the King of Prussia on our own throats!"--and +stopping short in their enlistments and preparations; in vain for +Austrian Officials to urge them. Watching there, with awe-struck eye, +while the 12,000 bombs flew into Prag. + +The Battle of Kolin has reversed all that; and the poor old Reich is +again bent on business in the Execution way. Drumming, committeeing, +projecting, and endeavoring, with all her might, in all quarters; and, +from and after the event of Kolin, holding visible Encampment, in the +Nurnberg Country; fractions of actual troops assembling there. "On +the Plains of Furth, between Furth and Farrenbach, east side the River +Regnitz, there was the Camp pitched," says my Anonymous Friend; who +gives me a cheerful Copperplate of the thing: red pennons, blue, and +bright mixed colors; generals, tents; order-of-battle, and respective +rallying points: with Bamberg Country in front, and the peaks of the +Pine Mountains lying pleasantly behind: a sight for the curious. [J.F.S. +(whom I named ANONYMOUS OF HAMBURG long since; who has boiled down, +with great diligence, the old Newspapers, and gives a great many dates, +notes, &c., without Index), i. 211, 224 (the Copperplate).] It is the +same ground where Mayer was careering lately; neighboring nobility and +gentry glad to come in gala, and dance with Mayer. Hither, all through +July, come contingents straggling in, thicker and thicker; "August 8th," +things now about complete, the Bishop of Bamberg came to take survey +of the Reichs-Heer (Bishop's remarks not given); August 10th, came +the young reigning Duke of Hildburghausen (Duke's grand-uncle is to be +Commander), on like errand; August 11th) the Reichs-Heer got on march. +Westward ho!--readers will see towards what. + +A truly ELENDE, or miserable, Reichs Execution Army (as the MISprinter +had made it); but giving loud voice in the Gazettes; and urged by every +consideration to do something for itself. Prince of Hildburghausen--a +general of small merit, though he has risen in the Austrian service, +and we have seen him with Seckendorf in old Turk times--has, for his +Kaiser's sake, taken the command; sensible perhaps that glory is not +likely to be rife here; but willing to make himself useful. Kaiser +and Austria urge, everywhere, with all their might: Prince of +Hessen-Darmstadt, who lay on the Weissenberg lately, one of Keith's +distinguished seconds there and a Prussian Officer of long standing, +has, on Kaiser's order, quitted all that, and become Hildburghausen's +second here, in the Camp of Furth; thinking the path of duty lay that +way,--though his Wife, one of the noble women of her age, thought very +differently. [Her Letter to Friedrich, "Berlin, 30th October, 1757," +_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvii. ii. 135.] A similar Kaiser's order, backed +by what Law-thunder lay in the Reich, had gone out against Friedrich's +own Brothers, and against every Reichs Prince who was in Friedrich's +service; but, except him of Hessen-Darmstadt, none of them had much +minded. [In Orlich, _Furst Moritz von Anhalt Dessau_ (Berlin, 1842), +pp. 74, 75, Prince Moritz's rather mournful Letter on the subject, with +Friedrich's sharp Answer.] I did not hear that his strategic talent was +momentous: but Prussia had taught him the routine of right soldiering, +surely to small purpose; and Friedrich, no doubt, glanced indignantly at +this small thing, among the many big ones. + +From about the end of June, the Reichs Army kept dribbling in: the most +inferior Army in the world; no part of it well drilled, most of it +not drilled at all; and for variety in color, condition, method, +and military and pecuniary and other outfit, beggaring description. +Hildburghausen does his utmost; Kaiser the like. The number should +have far exceeded 50,000; but was not, on the field, of above half that +number: 25,000; add at least 8,000 Austrian troops, two regiments of +them cavalry; good these 8,000, the rest bad,--that was the Reichs +Execution Army; most inferior among Armies; and considerable part of it, +all the Protestant part, privately wishing well to Friedrich, they say. +Drills itself multifariously in that Camp between Furth and Farrenbach, +on the east side of Regnitz River. Fancy what a sight to Wilhelmina, if +she ever drove that way; which I think she hardly would. The Baireuth +contingent itself is there; the Margraf would have held out stiff +on that point; but Friedrich himself advised compliance. Margraf of +Anspach--perverse tippling creature, ill with his Wife, I doubt--has +joyfully sent his legal hundreds; will vote for the Reichs Ban against +this worst of Germans, whom he has for Brother-in-law. Dark days in the +heart of Wilhelmina, those of the Camp at Furth. Days which grow ever +darker, with strange flashings out of empyrean lightning from that +shrill true heart; no peace more, till the noble heroine die!-- + +This ELENDE Reichs-Heer, miserable "Army of the Circles," is mockingly +called "the Hoopers, Coopers (TONNELIERS)," and gets quizzing enough, +under that and other titles, from an Opposition Public. Far other from +the French and Austrians; who are bent that it should do feats in the +world, and prove impressive on a robber King. Thus too, "for Deliverance +of Saxony," to co-operate with Reichs-Heer in that sacred object, thanks +to the zeal of Pompadour, Prince de Soubise has got together, in Elsass, +a supplementary 30,000 (40,330 said Theory, but Fact never quite so +many): and is passing them across the Rhine, in Frankfurt Country, all +through July, while the drilling at Furth goes on. With these, Soubise, +simultaneously getting under way, will steer northeastward; join the +Reichs-Heer about Erfurt, before August end; and--and we shall see what +becomes of the combined Soubise and Reichs Army after that! + +It must be owned, the French, Pompadour and love of glory urging, are +diligent since the event of Kolin. In select Parisian circles, the +Soubise Army, or even that of D'Estrees altogether,--produced by +the tears of a filial Dauphiness,--is regarded as a quasi-sacred, +or uncommonly noble thing; and is called by her name, "L'ARMEE DE LA +DAUPHINE;" or for shortness "LA DAUPHINE" without adjunct. Thus, like a +kind of chivalrous Bellona, vengeance in her right hand, tears and +fire in her eyes, the DAUPHINESS advances; and will join Reichs-Heer +at Erfurt before August end. Such the will of Pompadour; Richelieu +encouraging, for reasons of his own. Soubise, I understand, is privately +in pique against poor D'Estrees; ["Reappeared unexpectedly in Paris +[from D'Estree's Army], 22d June" (four days after Kolin): got up this +DAUPHINESS ARMY, by aid of Pompadour, with Richelieu, &c.: BARBIER, iv. +227, 231. Richelieu "busy at Strasburg lately" (29th July: Collini's +VOLTAIRE, p. 191).] and intends to eclipse him by a higher style of +diligence; though D'Estrees too is doing his best. + +July 3d, we saw the D'Estrees people taking Embden; D'Estrees, quiet +so long in his Camp at Bielefeld, had at once bestirred himself, Kolin +being done;--shot out a detachment leftwards, and Embden had capitulated +that day. Adieu to the Shipping Interests there, and to other pleasant +things! "July 9th, after sunset," D'Estrees himself got on march from +Bielefeld; set forth, in the cool of night, 60,000 strong, and +10,000 more to join him by the road (the rest are left as garrisons, +reserves,--1,000 marauders of them swing as monitory pendulums, on their +various trees, for one item),--direct towards Hanover and Royal Highness +of Cumberland; who retreats, and has retreated, behind the Ems, the +Weser, back, ever back; and, to appearance, will make a bad finish +yonder. + +To Friedrich, waiting at Leitmeritz, all these things are gloomily +known; but the most pressing of them is that of the Austrians and +Jung-Bunzlau close by. Let us give some utterances of his to Wilhelmina, +nearly all we have of direct from him in that time; and then hasten to +the Prince of Prussia there:-- + + +FRIEDRICH TO WILHELMINA (at Baireuth). + +LEITMERITZ, 1st JULY, 1757.... "Sensible as heart can be to the tender +interest you deign to take in what concerns me. Dear Sister, fear +nothing on my score: men are always in the hand of what we call Fate" +("Predestination, GNADENWAHL,"--Pardon us, Papa!--"CE QU'ON NOMME LE +DESTIN); accidents will befall people, walking on the streets, sitting +in their room, lying in their bed; and there are many who escape the +perils of war.... I think, through Hessen will be the safest route for +your Letters, till we see; and not to write just now except on occasions +of importance. Here is a piece in cipher; anonymous,"--intended for the +Newspapers, or some such road. + +JULY 5th. "By a Courier of Plotho's, returning to Regensburg [who passes +near you], I write to apprise my dear Sister of the new misery which +overwhelms us. We have no longer a Mother. This loss puts the crown on +my sorrows. I am obliged to act; and have not time to give free course +to my tears. Judge, I pray you, of the situation of a feeling heart +put to so cruel a trial. All losses in the world are capable of being +remedied; but those which Death causes are beyond the reach of hope." + +JULY 7th. "You are too good; I am ashamed to abuse your indulgence. But +do, since you will, try to sound the French, what conditions of Peace +they would demand; one might judge as to their intentions. Send that +Mirabeau (CE M. DE MIRABEAU) to France. Willingly will I pay the +expense. He may offer as much as five million thalers [750,000 pounds] +to the Favorite [yes, even to the Pompadour] for Peace alone. Of course, +his utmost discretion will be needed;"--should the English get the least +wind of it! But if they are gone to St. Vitus, and fail in every point, +what can one do? CE M. DE MIRABEAU, readers will be surprised to learn, +is an Uncle of the great Mirabeau's; who has fallen into roving courses, +gone abroad insolvent; and "directs the Opera at Baireuth," in these +years!--One Letter we will give in full:-- + + +"LEITMERITZ, 13th July, 1757. + +"MY DEAREST SISTER,--Your Letter has arrived: I see in it your regrets +for the irreparable loss we have had of the best and worthiest Mother +in this world. I am so struck down with all these blows from within and +without, that I feel myself in a sort of Stupefaction. + +"The French have just laid hold of Friesland [seized Embden, July 3d]; +are about to pass the Weser: they have instigated the Swedes to declare +War against me; the Swedes are sending 17,000 men [rather more if +anything; but they proved beautifully ineffectual] into Pommern,"--will +be burdensome to Stralsund and the poor country people mainly; having +no Captain over them but a hydra-headed National Palaver at home, and +a Long-pole with Cocked-hat on it here at hand. "The Russians are +besieging Memel [have taken it, ten days ago]: Lehwald has them on his +front and in his rear. The Troops of the Reich," from your Plains +of Furth yonder, "are also about to march. All this will force me to +evacuate Bohemia, so soon as that crowd of Enemies gets into motion. + +"I am firmly resolved on the extremest efforts to save my Country. We +shall see (QUITTE A VOIR) if Fortune will take a new thought, or if she +will entirely turn her back upon me. Happy the moment when I took to +training myself in philosophy! There is nothing else that can sustain +the soul in a situation like mine. I spread out to you, dear Sister, +the detail of my sorrows: if these things regarded only myself, I could +stand it with composure; but I am bound Guardian of the safety and +happiness of a People which has been put under my charge. There lies the +sting of it: and I shall have to reproach myself with every fault, if, +by delay or by over-haste, I occasion the smallest accident; all the +more as, at present, any fault may be capital. + +"What a business! Here is the liberty of Germany, and that Protestant +Cause for which so much blood has been shed; here are those Two great +Interests again at stake; and the pinch of this huge game is such, that +an unlucky quarter of an hour may establish over Germany the tyrannous +domination of the House of Austria forever! I am in the case of a +traveller who sees himself surrounded and ready to be assassinated by a +troop of cut-throats, who intend to share his spoils. Since the League +of Cambrai [1508-1510, with a Pope in it and a Kaiser and Most Christian +King, iniquitously sworn against poor Venice;--to no purpose, as happily +appears], there is no example of such a Conspiracy as that infamous +Triumvirate [Austria, France, Russia] now forms against me. Was it ever +seen before, that three great Princes laid plot in concert to destroy +a Fourth, who had done nothing against them? I have not had the least +quarrel either with France or with Russia, still less with Sweden. If, +in common life, three citizens took it into their heads to fall upon +their neighbor, and burn his house about him, they very certainly, +by sentence of tribunal, would be broken on the wheel. What! and will +Sovereigns, who maintain these tribunals and these laws in their States, +give such example to their subjects?... Happy, my dear Sister, is the +obscure man, whose good sense from youth upwards, has renounced all +sorts of glory; who, in his safe low place, has none to envy him, and +whose fortune does not excite the cupidity of scoundrels! + +"But these reflections are vain. We have to be what our birth, which +decides, has made us in entering upon this world. I reckoned that, being +King, it beseemed me to think as a Sovereign; and I took for principle, +that the reputation of a Prince ought to be dearer to him than life. +They have plotted against me; the Court of Vienna has given itself the +liberty of trying to maltreat me; my honor commanded me not to suffer +it. We have come to War; a gang of robbers falls on me, pistol in hand: +that is the adventure which has happened to me. The remedy is difficult: +in desperate diseases there are no methods but desperate ones. + +"I beg a thousand pardons, dear Sister: in these three long pages I talk +to you of nothing but my troubles and affairs. A strange abuse it would +be of any other person's friendship. But yours, my dear Sister, yours +is known to me; and I am persuaded you are not impatient when I open +my heart to you:--a heart which is yours altogether; being filled with +sentiments of the tenderest esteem, with which I am, my dearest Sister, +your [in truth, affectionate Brother at all times] F." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xxvii. i. 294, 295, 296-298.] + + + + +PRINCE AUGUST WILHELM FINDS A BAD PROBLEM AT JUNG-BUNZLAU; AND DOES IT +BADLY: FRIEDRICH THEREUPON HAS TO RISE FROM LEITMERITZ, AND TAKE THE +FIELD ELSEWHERE, IN BITTER HASTE AND IMPATIENCE, WITH OUTLOOKS WORSE +THAN EVER. + +The Prince of Prussia's Enterprise had its intricacies; but, by +good management, was capable of being done. At least, so Friedrich +thought;--though, in truth, it would have been better had Friedrich gone +himself, since the chief pressure happened to fall there! The Prince has +to retire, Parthian-like, as slowly as possible, with the late Kolin or +Moritz-Bevern Army, towards the Lausitz, keeping his eye upon Silesia +the while; of course securing the passes and strong places in his +passage, for defence of his own rear at lowest; especially securing +Zittau, a fine opulent Town, where his chief Magazine is, fed from +Silesia now. The Army is in good strength (guess 30,000), with every +equipment complete, in discipline, in health and in heart, such as +beseems a Prussian Army,--probably longing rather, if it venture to +long or wish for anything not yet commanded, to have a stroke at those +Austrians again, and pay them something towards that late Kolin score. + +The Prince arrived at Jung-Bunzlau, June 30th; Winterfeld with him, and, +at his own request, Schmettau. The Austrians have not yet stirred: if +they do, it may be upon the King, it may be upon the Prince: in three or +even in two marches, Prince and King can be together,--the King only too +happy, in the present oppressive coil of doubts, to find the Austrians +ready for a new passage of battle, and an immediate decision. The +Austrians did, in fact, break out,--seemingly, at first, upon the King; +but in reality upon the Prince, whom they judge safer game; and the +matter became much more critical upon him than had been expected. + +The Prince was thought to have a good judgment (too much talk in it, we +sometimes feared), and fair knowledge in military matters. The King, +not quite by the Prince's choice, has given him Winterfeld for Mentor; +Winterfeld, who has an excellent military head in such matters, and +a heart firm as steel,--almost like a second self in the King's +estimation. Excellent Winterfeld;--but then there are also Schmettau, +Bevern and others, possibly in private not too well affected to this +Winterfeld. In fact, there is rather a multitude of Counsellers;--and an +ingenuous fine-spirited Prince, perhaps more capable of eloquence on +the Opposition side, than of condensing into real wisdom a multitude +of counsels, when the crisis rises, and the affair becomes really +difficult. Crisis did rise: the victorious Austrians, after such delay, +had finally made up their minds to press this one a little, this one +rather than the King, and hang upon his skirts; Daun and Prince Karl set +out after him, just about the time of his arrival,--"70,000 strong," +the Prince hears; including plenty of Pandours. Certain it is, the poor +Prince's mind did flounder a good deal; and his procedures succeeded +extremely ill on this occasion. Certain, too, that they were extremely +ill-taken at head-quarters: and that he even died soon after,--chiefly +of broken heart, said the censorious world. It is well known how Europe +rang with the matter for a long while; and Books were printed, and +Documents, and COLLECTIONS BY A MASTER'S HAND. [_Lettres Secretes +touchant la Deniere Guerre; de Main de Maitre; divisees en deux parties_ +(Francfort et Amsterdam, 1772): this is the Prince's own Statement, +Proof in hand. By far the clearest Account is in _Schmettau's Leben_ (by +his Son), pp. 353-384. See also Preuss, ii. 57-61, and especially ii. +407.] We, who can spend but a page or two on it, must carefully stand by +the essential part. + +"JUNE 30th-JULY 3d, Prince at Jung-Bunzlau, in chief command. Besides +Winterfeld, the Generals under him are Ziethen, Schmettau, Fouquet, +Retzow, Goltz, and two others who need not be of our acquaintance. +Impossible to stay there, thinks the Prince, thinks everybody; and they +shift to Neuschloss, westward thirty miles. July 1st, Daun had crossed +the Elbe (Daun let us say for brevity, though it is Daun and Karl, or +even Karl and Daun, Karl being chief, and capable of saying so at times, +though Daun is very splendent since Kolin),--crossed the Elbe above +Brandeis; Nadasti, with precursor Pandours, now within an hour's march +of Jung-Bunzlau;--and it was time to go. + +"JULY 3d-6th, At Neuschloss, which is thought a strong position, key of +the localities there, and nearer Friedrich too, the Prince stayed not +quite four days; shifted to Bohm (BohmISCH) Leipa, JULY 7th,--rather off +from Leitmeritz, but a march towards Zittau, where the provisions are. +'A bad change,' said the Prince's friends afterwards; (change advised by +Winterfeld,--who never mentioned that circumstance to his Majesty, many +as he did mention, not in the best way!'--Prince gets to Bohm Leipa July +7th; stays there, in questionable circumstances, nine days. + +"Bohm Leipa is still not above thirty miles northeastward of the King; +and it is about the same distance southwestward from Zittau, out of +which fine Town, partly by cross-roads, the Prince gets his provisions +on this march. From Zittau hitherward, as far as the little Town of +Gabel, which lies about half way, there is broad High Road, the great +Southern KAISER-STRASSE: from Gabel, for Bohm Leipa, you have to cross +southwestward by country roads; the keys to which, especially Gabel, the +Prince has not failed to secure by proper garrison parties. And so, +for about a week, not quite uncomfortably, he continues at Bohm Leipa; +getting in his convoys from Zittau. Diligently scanning the Pandour +stragglings and sputterings round him, which are clearly on the +increasing hand. Diligently corresponding with the King, meanwhile; who +much discourages undue apprehension, or retreat movement till the last +pinch. 'Edging backward, and again backward, you come bounce upon Berlin +one day, and will then have to halt!'--which is not pleasant to the +Prince. But, indisputably, the Pandour spurts on him do become Pandour +gushings, with regulars also noticeable: it is certain the Austrians +are out,--pretending first to mean the King and Leitmeritz; but knowing +better, and meaning the Prince and Bohm Leipa all the while."--By way of +supplement, take Daun's positions in the interim:-- + +Daun and Karl were at Podschernitz 26th June; 1st July, cross the Elbe, +above Brandeis (Nadasti now within an hour's march of Jung-Bunzlau); 7th +July (day while the Prince is flitting to Bohm Leipa), Daun is through +Jung-Bunzlau to Munchengratz; thence to Liebenau; 14th, to Niemes, +not above four miles from the Prince's rightmost outpost (rightmost or +eastmost, which looks away from his Brother); while a couple of advanced +parties, Beck and Maguire, hover on his flank Zittau-ward, and Nadasti +(if he knew it) is pushing on to rear. + +"THURSDAY, 14th JULY, About six in the evening, at Bohm Leipa, distinct +cannon-thunder is heard from northeast: 'Evidently Gabel getting +cannonaded, and our wagon convoy [empty, going to Zittau for meal, +General Puttkammer escorting] is in a dangerous state!' And by and by +hussar parties of ours come in, with articulate news to that bad +effect: 'Gabel under hot attack of regulars; Puttkammer with his 3,000 +vigorously defending, will expect to be relieved within not many hours!' +Here has the crisis come. Crisis sure enough;--and the Prince, to meet +it, summons that refuge of the irresolute, a Council of War. + +"Winterfeld, who is just come home in these moments, did not +attend;--not, till three next morning. Winterfeld had gone to bed; +fairly 'tired dead,' with long marching and hurrying about. To the poor +Prince there are three courses visible. Course FIRST, That of joining +the King at Leitmeritz. Gabel, Zittau lost in that case; game given +up;--reception likely to be bad at Leitmeritz! Course SECOND,--the +course Friedrich himself would at once have gone upon, and been already +well ahead with,--That of instantly taking measures for the relief +of Puttkammer. Dispute Gabel to the last; retreat, on loss of it, +Parthian-like, to Zittau, by that broad Highway, short and broad, whole +distance hence only thirty miles. 'Thirty miles,' say the multitude +of Counsellors: 'Yes, but the first fifteen, TO Gabel, is cross-road, +hilly, difficult; they have us in flank!' 'We are 25,000,' urges the +Prince; 'fifteen miles is not much!' The thing had its difficulties: +the Prince himself, it appears, faintly thought it feasible: '25,000 +we; 20,000 they; only fifteen miles,' said he. But the variety of +Counsellors: 'Cross-roads, defiles, flank-march, dangerous,' said they. +And so the third course, which was incomparably the worst, found favor +in Council of War: That of leaving Gabel and Puttkammer to their fate; +and of pushing off for Zittau leftwards through the safe Hills, +by Kamnitz, Kreywitz, Rumburg;--which, if the reader look, is by a +circuitous, nay quite parabolic course, twice or thrice as far:--'In +that manner let us save Zittau and our Main Body!' said the Council of +War. Yes, my friends: a cannon-ball, endeavoring to get into Zittau +from the town-ditch, would have to take a parabolic course;--and the +cannon-ball would be speedy upon it, and not have Hill roads to go +by! This notable parabolic circuit of narrow steep roads may have its +difficulties for an Army and its baggages!" Enough, the poor Prince +adopted that worst third course; and even made no despatch in getting +into it; and it proved ruinous to Zittau, and to much else, his own life +partly included. + +"JULY 16th-22d. Thursday night, or Friday 3 A.M., that third and +incomparably worst course was adopted: Gabel, Puttkammer with his +wagons, ensigns, kettledrums, all this has to surrender in a day: High +Road to Zittau, for the Austrians, is a smooth march, when they like to +gather fully there, and start. And in the Hills, with their jolts and +precipitous windings, infested too by Pandours, the poor Prussian +Main Body, on its wide parabolic circuit, has a time of it! Loses its +pontoons, loses most of its baggage; obliged to set fire, not to the +Pandours, but to your own wagons, and necessaries of army life; encamps +on bleak heights; no food, not even water; road quite lost, road to be +rediscovered or invented; Pandours sputtering on you out of every +bush and hollow, your peasant wagoners cutting traces and galloping +off:--such are the phenomena of that march by circuit leftward, on the +poor Prince's part. March began, soon after midnight, SATURDAY, 16th, +Schmettau as vanguard; and"-- + +And, in fine, by FRIDAY, 22d, after not quite a week of it, the Prince, +curving from northward (in parabolic course, LESS speedy than the +cannon-ball's would have been) into sight of Zittau,--behold, there are +the Austrians far and wide to left of us, encamped impregnable behind +the Neisse River there! They have got the Eckart's Hill, which commands +Zittau:--and how to get into Zittau and our magazines, and how to +subsist if we were in? The poor Prince takes post on what Heights there +are, on his own side of the Neisse; looks wistfully down upon Zittau, +asking How? + +About stroke of noon the Austrians, from their Eckartsberg, do a thing +which was much talked of. They open battery of red-hot balls upon +Zittau; kindle the roofs of it, shingle-roofs in dry July; set Zittau +all on blaze, the 10,000 innocent souls shrieking in vain to Heaven and +Earth; and before sunset, Zittau is ashes and red-hot walls, not Zittau +but a cinder-heap,--Prussian Garrison not hurt, nor Magazine as yet; +Garrison busy with buckets, I should guess, but beginning to find +the air grow very hot. On the morrow morning, Zittau is a smouldering +cinder-heap, hotter and hotter to the Prussian Garrison; and does not +exist as a City. + +One of the most inhuman actions ever heard of in War, shrieks universal +Germany; asks itself what could have set a chivalrous Karl upon this +devil-like procedure? "Protestants these poor Zittauers were; shone in +commerce; no such weaving, industrying, in all Teutschland elsewhere: +Hah! An eye-sorrow, they, with their commerce, their weavings and +industryings, to Austrian Papists, who cannot weave or trade?" that was +finally the guess of some persons;--wide of the mark, we may well judge. +Prince Xavier of Saxony, present in the Camp too, made no remonstrance, +said others. Alas, my friends, what could Xavier probably avail, +the foolish fellow, with only three regiments? Prince Karl, it was +afterwards evident, could have got Zittau unburnt; and could even have +kept the Prussians out of Zittau altogether. Zittau surely would have +been very useful to Prince Karl. But overnight (let us try to fancy it +so), not knowing the Prussian possibilities, Prince Karl, screwed to the +devilish point, had got his furnaces lighted, his red-hot balls ready; +and so, hurried on by his Pride and by his other Devils, had,--There are +devilish things sometimes done in War. And whole cities are made +ashes by them. For certain, here is a strange way of commencing your +"Deliverance of Saxony"! And Prince Karl carries, truly, a brand-mark +from this conflagration, and will till all memory of him cease. As to +Zittau, it rebuilt itself. Zittau is alive again; a strong stone city, +in our day. On its new-built Town-house stands again "BENE FACERE ET +MALE AUDIRE REGIUM EST, To do well, and be ill spoken of, is the part +of kings" [A saying of Alexander the Great's (Plutarch, in ALEXANDRE).] +(amazingly true of them,--when they are not shams). What times for +Herrnhuth; preparing for its Christian Sabbath, under these omens near +by! + +The Prince of Prussia tells us, he "early next morning (Saturday, 23d +July) had his tents pitched;" which was but an unavailing procedure, +with poor Zittau gone such a road. "Bring us bread out of that ruined +Zittau," ordered the Prince: his Detachment returns ineffectual, "So +hot, we cannot march in." And the Garrison Colonel (one Dierecke and +five battalions are garrison) sends out word: "So hot, we cannot stand +it." "Stand it yet a very little; and--!" answers the Prince: but +Dierecke and battalions cannot, or at least cannot long enough; and set +to marching out. In firm order, I have no doubt, and with some modicum +of bread: but the tumbling of certain burnt walls parted Colonel and +men, in a sad way. Colonel himself, with the colors, with the honors +(none of his people, it seems, though they were scattered loose), was +picked up by an Austrian party, and made prisoner. A miserable business, +this of Zittau! + +Next, evening, Sunday, after dark, Prince of Prussia strikes his tents +again; rolls off in a very unsuccinct condition; happily unchased, for +he admits that chase would have been ruinous. Off towards Lobau (what +nights for Zinzendorf and Herrnhuth, as such things tumble past +them!); thence towards Bautzen; and arrives in the most lugubrious torn +condition any Prussian General ever stood in. Reaches Bautzen on those +terms;--and is warned that his Brother will be there in a day or two. + +One may fancy Friedrich's indignation, astonishment and grief, when +he heard of that march towards Zittau through the Hills by a parabolic +course; the issue of which is too guessable by Friedrich. He himself +instantly rises from Leitmeritz; starts, in fit divisions, by the +Pascopol, by the Elbe passes, for Pirna; and, leaving Moritz of Dessau +with a 10,000 to secure the Passes about Pirna, and Keith to come on +with the Magazines, hastens across for Bautzen, to look into these +advancing triumphant Austrians, these strange Prussian proceedings. +On first hearing of that side-march, his auguries had been bad enough; +[Letter to Wilhelmina "Linay, 22d July" (second day of the march from +Leitmeritz); _OEuvres,_ xxvii. i. 298.] but the event has far surpassed +them. Zittau gone; the Army hurrying home, as if in flight, in that +wrecked condition; the door of Saxony, door of Silesia left wide +open,--Daun has only to choose! Day by day, as Friedrich advanced to +repair that mischief, the news of it have grown worse on him. Days rife +otherwise in mere bad news. The Russians in Memel, Preussen at their +feet; Soubise's French and the Reich's Army pushing on for Erfurt, to +"deliver Saxony," on that western side: and from the French-English +scene of operations--In those same bad days Royal Highness of Cumberland +has been doing a feat worth notice in the above connection! Read this, +from an authentic source:-- + +"HASTENBECK, 22d-26th JULY, 1757. Royal Highness, hitching back and +back, had got to Hameln, a strong place of his on the safe side of the +Weser; and did at last, Hanover itself being now nigh, call halt; and +resolve to make a stand. July 22d [very day while the Prince of Prussia +came in sight of Zittau, with the Austrians hanging over it], Royal +Highness took post in that favorable vicinity of Hameln; at perfect +leisure to select his ground: and there sat waiting D'Estrees,--swamps +for our right wing, and the Weser not far off; small Hamlet of +Hastenbeck in front, and a woody knoll for our left;--totally inactive +for four days long; attempting nothing upon D'Estrees and his intricate +shufflings, but looking idly noonward to the courses of the sun, till +D'Estrees should come up. Royal Highness is much swollen into obesity, +into flabby torpor; a changed man since Fontenoy times; shockingly +inactive, they say, in this post at Hastenbeck. D'Estrees, too, is +ridiculously cautious, 'has manoeuvred fifteen days in advancing about +as many British miles.' D'Estrees did at last come up (July 25th), +nearly two to one of Royal Highness,--72,000 some count him, but +considerably anarchic in parts, overwhelmed with Court Generals and +Princes of the Blood, for one item;--and decides on attacking, next +morning. D'Estrees duly went to reconnoitre, but unluckily 'had mist +suddenly falling.' 'Well; we must attack, all the same!' + +"And so, 26th JULY, Tuesday, there ensued a BATTLE OF HASTENBECK: the +absurdest Battle in the world; and which ought, in fairness, to have +been lost by BOTH, though Royal Highness alone had the ill luck. Both +Captains behaved very poorly; and each of them had a subaltern who +behaved well. D'Estrees, with his 70,000 VERSUS 40,000 posted there, +knows nothing of Royal Highness's position; sees only Royal Highness's +left wing on that woody Height; and after hours of preliminary +cannonading, sends out General Chevert upon that. Chevert, his subaltern +[a bit of right soldier-stuff, the Chevert whom we knew at Prag, in old +Belleisle times], goes upon it like fury; whom the Brunswick Grenadiers +resist in like humor, hotter and hotter. Some hard fighting there, on +Royal Highness's left; Chevert very fiery, Grenadiers very obstinate; +till, on the centre, westward, in Royal Highness's chief battery there, +some spark went the wrong way, and a powder-wagon shot itself aloft with +hideous blaze and roar; and in the confusion, the French rushed in, and +the battery was lost. Which discouraged the Grenadiers; so that Chevert +made some progress upon them, on their woody Height, and began to have +confident hope. + +"Had Chevert known, or had D'Estrees known, there was, close behind said +Height, a Hollow, through which these Grenadiers might have been taken +in rear. Dangerous Hollow, much neglected by Royal Highness, who has +only General Breitenbach with a weak party there. This Breitenbach, +happening to have a head of his own, and finding nothing to do in that +Hollow or to rightward, bursts out, of his own accord, on Chevert's +left flank; cannonading, volleying, horse-charging;--the sound of which +('Hah, French there too!') struck a damp through Royal Highness, who +instantly ordered retreat, and took the road. What singular ill-luck +that sound of Breitenbach to Royal Highness! For observe, the EFFECT +of Breitenbach,--which was, to recover the lost battery (gallant +young Prince of Brunswick, 'Hereditary Prince,' or Duke that is to +be, striking in upon it with bayonet-charge at the right moment), made +D'Estrees to order retreat! 'Battle lost,' thinks D'Estrees;--and with +good cause, had Breitenbach been supported at all. But no subaltern +durst; and Royal Highness himself was not overtakable, so far on the +road. Royal Highness wept on hearing; the Brunswick Grenadiers too +are said to have wept (for rage); and probably Breitenbach and the +Hereditary Prince." [Mauvillon, i. 228; Anonymous of Hamburg, i. 206 +(who gives a Plan and all manner of details, if needed by anybody); +Kausler; &c. &c.] + +This is the last of Royal Highness's exploits in War. The retreat had +been ordered "To Hanover;" but the baggage by mistake took the road for +Minden; and Royal Highness followed thither,--much the same what road he +or it takes. Friedrich might still hope he would retreat on Magdeburg; +40,000 good soldiers might find a Captain there, and be valuable against +a D'Estrees and Soubise in those parts. But no; it was through Bremen +Country, to Stade, into the Sea, that Royal Highness, by ill luck, +retreated! He has still one great vexation to give Friedrich,--to us +almost a comfort, knowing what followed out of it;--and will have to be +mentioned one other time in this History, and then go over our horizon +altogether. + +Whether Friedrich had heard of Hastenbeck the day his Brother and he met +(July 29th, at Bautzen), I do not know: but it is likely enough he +may have got the news that very morning; which was not calculated to +increase one's good humor! His meeting with the Prince is royal, +not fraternal, as all men have heard. Let us give with brevity, from +Schmettau Junior, the exact features of it; and leave the candid reader, +who has formed to himself some notion of kingship and its sorrows and +stern conditions (having perhaps himself some thing of kingly, in a +small potential way), to interpret the matter, and make what he can of +it:-- + +"BAUTZEN, 29th JULY, 1757. The King with reinforcement is coming hither, +from the Dresden side; to take up the reins of this dishevelled Zittau +Army; to speed with it against the Austrians, and, if humanly possible, +lock the doors of Silesia and Saxony again, and chase the intruders +away. Prince of Prussia and the other Generals have notice, the night +before: 'At 4 A.M. to-morrow (29th), wait his Majesty.' Prince and +Generals wait accordingly, all there but Goltz and Winterfeld; they not, +which is noted. + +"For above an hour, no King; Prince and Generals ride forward:--there is +the King coming; Prince Henri, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick and others +in his train. King, noticing them, at about 300 paces distance, drew +bridle; Prince of Prussia did the like, train and he saluting with their +hats, as did the King's train in return. King did not salute;--on the +contrary, he turned his horse round and dismounted, as did everybody +else on such signal. King lay down on the ground, as if waiting the +arrival of his Vanguard; and bade Winterfeld and Goltz sit by him." Poor +Prince of Prussia, and battered heavy-laden Generals!"After a minute or +two, Goltz came over and whispered to the Prince. 'Hither, MEINE HERREN, +all of you; a message from his Majesty!' cried the Prince. Whereupon, +to Generals and Prince, Goltz delivered, in equable official tone, these +affecting words: 'His Majesty commands me to inform your Royal Highness, +That he has cause to be greatly discontented with you; that you deserve +to have a Court-martial held over you, which would sentence you and all +your Generals to death; but that his Majesty will not carry the matter +so far, being unable to forget that in the Chief General he has a +Brother!'" [Schmettau, pp. 384, 385.] + +The Prince answered, He wanted only a Court-martial, and the like, in +stiff tone. Here is the Letter he writes next day to his Brother, with +the Answer:-- + + +PRINCE OF PRUSSIA TO THE KING. + +"BAUTERN, 30th July, 1757. + +"MY DEAR BROTHER,--The Letters you have written me, and the reception I +yesterday met with, are sufficient proof that, in your opinion, I have +ruined my honor and reputation. This grieves, but it does not crush +me, as in my own mind I am not conscious of the least reproach. I am +perfectly convinced that I did not act by caprice: I did not follow the +counsels of people incapable of giving good ones; I have done what I +thought to be suitablest for the Army. All your Generals will do me that +justice. + +"I reckon it useless to beg of you to have my conduct investigated: this +would be a favor you would do me; so I cannot expect it. My health has +been weakened by these fatigues, still more by these chagrins. I have +gone to lodge in the Town, to recruit myself. + +"I have requested the Duke of Bevern to present the Army Reports; he can +give you explanation of everything. Be assured, my dear Brother, that +in spite of the misfortunes which overwhelm me, and which I have not +deserved, I shall never cease to be attached to the State; and as a +faithful member of the same, my joy will be perfect when I learn the +happy issue of your Enterprises. I have the honor to be" + +AUGUST WILHELM. _Main de Maitre,_ p. 21.] + + +KING'S ANSWER, THE SAME DAY. + +"CAMP NEAR BAUTZEN, 30th July, 1757. "MY DEAR BROTHER,--Your bad +guidance has greatly deranged my affairs. It is not the Enemy, it +is your ill-judged measures that have done me all this mischief. +My Generals are inexcusable; either for advising you so ill, or in +permitting you to follow resolutions so unwise. Your ears are accustomed +to listen to the talk of flatterers only. Daun has not flattered +you;--behold the consequences. In this sad situation, nothing is left +for me but trying the last extremity. I must go and give battle; and if +we cannot conquer, we must all of us have ourselves killed. + +"I do not complain of your heart; but I do of your incapacity, of your +want of judgment in not choosing better methods. A man who [like me; +mark the phrase, from such a quarter!] has but a few days to live need +not dissemble. I wish you better fortune than mine has been: and that +all the miseries and bad adventures you have had may teach you to +treat important things with more of care, more of sense, and more of +resolution. The greater part of the misfortunes which I now see to be +near comes only from you. You and your Children will be more overwhelmed +by them than I. Be persuaded nevertheless that I have always loved you, +and that with these sentiments I shall die. FRIEDRICH." [MAIN DE MAITRE, +p. 22.] + +As the King went off to the Heights of Weissenberg, Zittau way, to +encamp there against the Austrians, that same evening, the Prince +did not answer this Letter,--except by asking verbally through +Lieutenant-Colonel Lentulus (a mute Swiss figure, much about the King, +who often turns up in these Histories), "for leave to return to Dresden +by the first escort."--"Depends on himself;--an escort is going this +night! answered Friedrich. And the Prince went accordingly; and, by two +stages, got into Dresden with his escort on the morrow. And had, not yet +conscious of it, quitted the Field of War altogether; and was soon about +to quit the world, and die, poor Prince. Died within a year, 12th June, +1758, at Oranienburg, beside his Family, where he had latterly been. +[Preuss, ii. 60 (ib. 78).]--Winterfeld was already gone, six months +before him; Goltz went, not long after him; the other Zittau Generals +all survived this War. + +The poor Prince's fate, as natural, was much pitied; and Friedrich, to +this day, is growled at for "inhuman treatment" and so on. Into which +question we do not enter, except to say that Friedrich too had his +sorrows; and that probably his concluding words, "with these sentiments +I shall die," were perfectly true. MAIN DE MAITRE went widely abroad +over the world. The poor Prince's words and procedures were eagerly +caught up by a scrutinizing public,--and some of the former were not too +guarded. At Dresden, he said, one morning, calling on a General Finck +whom we shall hear of again: "Four such disagreeing, thin-skinned, +high-pacing (UNEINIGE, PIQUIRTE) Generals as Fouquet, Schmettau, +Winterfeld and Goltz, about you, what was to be done!" said the Prince +to Finck. [Preuss, ii. 79 n.: see ib. 60, 78.] + +His Wife, when at last he came to Oranienburg, nursed him fondly; that +is one comfortable fact. Prince Henri, to the last, had privately a +grudge of peculiar intensity, on this score, against all the peccant +parties, King not excepted. As indeed he was apt to have, on various +scores, the jealous, too vehement little man. + +Friedrich's humor at this time I can guess to have been well-nigh +desperate. He talks once of "a horse, on too much provocation, getting +the bit between its teeth; regardless thenceforth of chasms and +precipices:" [Letter to Wilhelmina, "Linay, 22d July" (cited +above).]--though he himself never carries it to that length; and always +has a watchful eye, when at his swiftest! From Weissenberg, that +night, he drives in the Pandours on Zittau and the Eckartsberg--but the +Austrians don't come out. And, for three weeks in this fierce necessity +of being speedy, he cannot get one right stroke at the Austrians; who +sit inexpugnable upon their Eckart's Hill, bristling with cannon; and +can in no way be manoeuvred down, or forced or enticed into Battle. A +baffling, bitterly impatient three weeks;--two of them the worst two, +he spends at Weissenberg itself, chasing Pandours, and scuffling on the +surface, till Keith and the Magazine-train come up;--even writing Verses +now and then, when the hours get unendurable otherwise! + +The instant Keith and the Magazines are come he starts for Bernstadt; +56,000 strong after this junction:--and a Prussian Officer, dating +"Bernstadtel [Bernstadt on the now Maps], 21st August, 1757," sends us +this account; which also is but of preliminary nature:-- + +"AUGUST 15th, Majesty left Weissenberg, and marched hither, much to the +enemy's astonishment, who had lain perfectly quiet for a fortnight +past, fancying they were a mastiff on the door-sill of Silesia: little +thinking to be trampled on in this unceremonious way! General Beck, when +our hussars of the vanguard made appearance, had to saddle and ride +as for life, leaving every rag of baggage, and forty of his Pandours +captive. Our hussars stuck to him, chasing him into Ostritz, where they +surprised General Nadasti at dinner; and did a still better stroke of +business: Nadasti himself could scarcely leap on horseback and get off; +left all his field equipage, coaches, horses, kitchen-utensils, flunkies +seventy-two in number,--and, what was worst of all, a secret box, in +which were found certain Dresden Correspondences of a highly treasonous +character, which now the writers there may quake to think of;"--if +Friedrich, or we, could take much notice of them, in this press of +hurries! [_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 595-599.] + +Next day, August 16th, Friedrich detached five battalions to +Gorlitz;--Prince Karl (he calls it DAUN) still camping on the +Eckartsberg;--and himself, about 4 P.M., with the main Army, marched up +to those Austrians on their Hill, to see if they would fight. [_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ iv. 137.] No, they would n't: they merely hustled +themselves round so as to face him; face him, and even flank him with +cannon-batteries if he came too near. Steep ground, "precipitous front +of rocks," in some places. "A hollow before their front; Village of +Wittgenau there, and three roads through it, ONE of them with width for +wheels;" Daun sitting inaccessible, in short. Next day, Winterfeld, with +a detached Division, crossed the Neisse, tried Nadasti: "Attack Nadasti, +on his woody knoll at Hirschfeld yonder; they will have to rise and save +him!" In vain, that too; they let Nadasti take his own luck: for four +days (16th-20th August) everything was tried, in vain. + +No Battle to be had from these Austrians. And it would have been so +infinitely convenient to us: Reich's Army and Soubise's French are now +in the actual precincts of Erfurt (August 25th, Soubise took quarter +there); Royal Highness of Cumberland is staggering back into the Sea; +Richelieu's French (not D'Estrees any more, D'Estrees being superseded +in this strange way) are aiming, it is thought, towards Magdeburg, had +they once done with Royal Highness; Swedes are getting hold of Pommern; +Russians, in huge force, of Preussen: how comfortable to have had our +Austrians finished before going upon the others! For four days more +(August 20th-24th), Friedrich arranges his Army for watching the +Austrians, and guarding Silesia;--Bevern and Winterfeld to take command +in his absence:--and, August 25th, has to march; with a small Division, +which, at Dresden, he will increase by Moritz's, now needless in the +Pirna Country; towards Thuringen; to look into Soubise and the Reich's +Army, as a thing that absolutely cannot wait. Arrives in Dresden, +Monday, August 29th; and--Or let the old Newspaper report it, with the +features of life:-- + +"DRESDEN, 29th AUGUST, 1757, This day, about noon, his Majesty, with a +part of his Army from the Upper Lausitz, arrived at the Neustadt here. +Though the kitchen had been appointed to be set up at what they call The +Barns (DIE SCHEUNEN), his Majesty was pleased to alight in Konigsbruck +Street, at the new House of Bruhl's Chamberlain, Haller; and there +passed the night. Tuesday evening, 30th, his Majesty the King, with his +Lifeguards of Horse and of Foot, also with the Gens-d'Armes and other +Battalions, marched through the City, about a mile out on the Freiberg +road, and took quarter in Klein Hamberg. The 31st, all the Army +followed,"--a poor 23,000, Moritz and he, that was all! ["22,360" +(Templehof, i. 228).]--"the King's field-equipage, which had been taken +from the Bruhl Palace and packed in twelve wagons, went with them." +[Rodenbeck, p. 316; Preuss, ii. 84 n; Mitchell's Interview (_Memoirs and +Papers,_ i. 270).] + + + + +Chapter VI.--DEATH OF WINTERFELD. + +Before going upon this forlorn march of Friedrich's, one of the +forlornest a son of Adam ever had, we must speak of a thing which befell +to rearward, while the march was only half done, and which greatly +influenced it and all that followed. It was the seventh day of +Friedrich's march, not above eighty miles of it yet done, when +Winterfeld perished in fight. No Winterfeld now to occupy the Austrians +in his absence; to stand between Silesia and them, or assist him farther +in his lonesome struggle against the world. Let us spend a moment on the +exit of that brave man: Bernstadt, Gorlitz Country, September 7th, 1757. + +The Bevern Army, 36,000 strong, is still there in its place in the +Lausitz, near Gorlitz; Prince Karl lies quiet in his near Zittau, ever +since he burnt that Town, and stood four days in arms unattackable +by Friedrich with prospect of advantage. The Court of Vienna cannot +comprehend this state of inactivity: "Two to one, and a mere Bevern +against you, the King far away in Saxony upon his desperate Anti-French +mission there: why not go in upon this Bevern? The French, whom we are +by every courier passionately importuning to sweep Saxony clear, what +will they say of this strange mode of sweeping Silesia clear?" Maria +Theresa and her Kriegs-Hofrath are much exercised with these thoughts, +and with French and other remonstrances that come. Maria Theresa and her +Kriegs-Hofrath at length despatch their supreme Kaunitz, Graf Kaunitz +in person, to stir up Prince Karl, and look into the matter with his +own wise eyes and great heart: Prince Karl, by way of treat to this high +gentleman, determines on doing something striking upon Bevern. + +Bevern lies with his main body about Gorlitz, in and to westward of +Gorlitz, a pleasant Town on the left bank of the Neisse (readers know +there are four Neisses, and which of them this is), with fine hilly +country all round, bulky solitary Heights and Mountains rising out of +fruitful plains,--two Hochkirchs (HIGH-KIRKS), for example, are in this +region, one of which will become extremely notable next year:--Bevern +has a strong camp leaning on the due Heights here, with Gorlitz in its +lap; and beyond Gorlitz, on the right bank of the Neisse, united to him +by a Bridge, he has placed Winterfeld with 10,000, who lies with his +back to Gorlitz, proper brooks and fencible places flanking him, has +a Dorf (THORP) called Moys in HIS lap; and, some short furlong beyond +Moys, a 2,000 of his grenadiers planted on the top of a Hill called the +Moysberg, called also the Holzberg (WOODHILL) and Jakelsberg, of which +the reader is to take notice. Fine outpost, with proper batteries atop, +with hussar squadrons and hussar pickets sprinkled about; which commands +a far outlook towards Silesia, and in marching thither, or in continuing +here, is useful to have in hand,--were it not a little too distant from +the main body. It is this Jakelsberg, capable of being snatched if one +is sudden enough, that Prince Karl decides on: it may be good for much +or for little to Prince Karl; and, if even for nothing, it will be a +brilliant affront upon Winterfeld and Bevern, and more or less charming +to Kaunitz. + +Winterfeld, the ardent enterprising man, King's other self, is thought +to be the mainspring of affairs here (small thanks to him privately +from Bevern, add some): and is stationed in the extreme van, as we see; +Winterfeld is engaged in many things besides the care of this post; and +indeed where a critical thing is to be done, we can imagine Winterfeld +goes upon it. "We must try to stay here till the King has finished in +Saxony!" says Winterfeld always. To which Bevern replies, "Excellent, +truly; but how?" Bevern has his provender at Dresden, sadly far off; +has to hold Bautzen garrisoned, and gets much trouble with his convoys. +Better in Silesia, with our magazines at hand, thinks Bevern, less +mindful of other considerations. + +Tuesday, September 6th, Prince Karl sends Nadasti to the right bank of +the River, forward upon Moys, to do the Jakelsberg before day to-morrow: +only some 2,000 grenadiers on it; Nadasti has with him 15,000, some +count 20,000 of all arms, artillery in plenty; surely sufficient for the +Jakelsberg; and Daun advances, with the main body, on the other side +of the River, to be within reach, should Moys lead to more serious +consequences. Nadasti diligently marches all day; posts himself at night +within few miles of Moys; gets his cannon to the proper Hills (GALLOWS +Hill and others), his Croats to the proper Woods; and, before daylight +on the morrow, means to begin upon the Moys Hill and its 2,000 +grenadiers. + +Wednesday morning, at the set hour, Nadasti, with artillery bursting +out and quivering battle-lines, is at work accordingly; hurls up 1,000 +Croats for one item, and regulars to the amount of "forty companies in +three lines." The grenadiers, somewhat astonished, for the morning +was misty and their hussar-posts had come hastily in, stood upon their +guard, like Prussian men; hurled back the 1,000 Croats fast enough; +stubbornly repulsed the regulars too, and tumbled them down hill with +bullet-storm for accompaniment; gallantly foiling this first attempt of +Nadasti's. Of course Nadasti will make another, will make ever others; +capture of the Jakelsberg can hardly be doubtful to Nadasti. + +Winterfeld was not at Moys, he was at Gorlitz, just got in from +escorting an important meal-convoy hither out of Bautzen; and was in +conference with Bevern, when rumor of these Croat attacks came in at the +gallop from Moys. Winterfeld made little of the rumors: he had heard +of some attack intended, but it was to have been overnight, and has +not been. "Mere foraging of Croat rabble, like yesterday's!" said +Winterfeld, and continued his present business. In few minutes the sound +of heavy cannonading convinced him. "Haha, there are my guests," +said he; "we must see if we cannot entertain them right!" sprang to +horseback, ordered on, double-quick, the three regiments nearest him, +and was off at the gallop,--too late; or, alas, too EARLY we might +rather say! Arriving at the gallop, Winterfeld found his grenadiers +and their insufficient reinforcements rolling back, the Hill lost; +Winterfeld "sprang to a fresh horse," shot his lightning glances and +energies, to his hand and that; stormfully rallied the matter, recovered +the Hill; and stormfully defended it, for, I should guess, an hour or +more; and might still have done one knows not what, had not a bullet +struck him through the breast, and suddenly ended all his doings in this +world. + +Three other reasons the Prussians give for loss of their Hill, which are +of no consequence to them or to us in comparison. First, that Bevern; on +message after message, sent no reinforcement; that Winterfeld was left +to his own 10,000, and what he and they could make of it. Bevern is +jealous of Winterfeld, hint they, and willing to see his impetuous +audacity checked. Perhaps only cautious of getting into a general +action for what was intrinsically nothing? Second, that two regiments +of Infantry, whom Winterfeld detached double-quick to seize a couple of +villages (Leopoldshayn, Hermsdorf) on his right, and therefrom fusillade +Nadasti on flank, found the villages already occupied by thousands of +Croats, with regular foot and cannon-batteries, and could in nowise +seize them. This was a great reverse of advantage. Third, that an +Aide-de-Camp made a small misnomer, misreport of one word, which was +terribly important: "Bring me hither Regiment Manteuffel!" Winterfeld +had ordered. The Aide-de-Camp reported it "Grenadiers Manteuffel:" upon +which, the grenadiers, who were posted in a walled garden, an important +point to Winterfeld's right, came instantly to order; and Austrians +instantly rushed in to the vacant post, and galled Winterfeld's other +flank by their fire. [Abundant Accounts in Seyfarth, ii. (_Beylagen_), +162-163; _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 615-633; Retzow, i. 216-221.] + +Enough, Winterfeld lay bleeding to death, the Hill was lost, Prussians +drawing off slowly and back-foremost, about two in the afternoon; upon +which the Austrians also drew off, leaving only a small party on the +Hill, who voluntarily quitted it next morning. Next morning, likewise, +Winterfeld had died. The Hill was, except as bravado, and by way +of comfort to Kaunitz, nothing for the Austrians; but the death of +Winterfeld, which had come by chance to them in the business, was +probably a great thing. Better than two pitched battles gained: who +shall say? He was a shining figure, this Winterfeld; dangerous to the +Austrians. The most shining figure in the Prussian Army, except its +Chief; and had great thoughts in his head. Prussia is not skilful to +celebrate her Heroes,--the Prussian Muse of History, choked with dry +military pipe-clay, or with husky cobwebbery and academic pedantry, how +can she?--but if Prussia can produce heroes worth celebrating, that +is the one important point. Apart from soldiership, and the outward +features which are widely different, there is traceable in Winterfeld +some kinship in soul to English Chatham his contemporary; though he has +not had the fame of Chatham. + +Winterfeld was by no means universally liked; as what brave man is or +can be? Too susceptible to flattery; too this, too that. He is, one +feels always, except Friedrich only, the most shining figure in the +Prussian Army: and it was not unnatural he should be Friedrich's +one friend,--as seems to have been the case. Friedrich, when this +Job's-message reached him (in Erfurt Country, eight days hence), was +deeply affected by it. To tears, or beyond tears, as we can fancy. +"Against my multitude of enemies I may contrive resources," he was heard +to say; "but I shall find no Winterfeld again!" Adieu, my one friend, +real Peer, sole companion to my lonely pilgrimage in these perilous high +regions. + +"The Prince of Prussia, contrariwise," says a miserable little Note, +which must not be withheld, "brightened up at the news: 'I shall now die +much more content, knowing that there is one so bad and dangerous man +fewer in the Army!' And, six months after, in his actual death-moments, +he exclaimed: 'I end my life, the last period of which has cost me so +much sorrow; but Winterfeld is he who shortened my days!'" [Preuss, ii. +75; citing Retzow.]--Very bitter Opposition humors circulating, in their +fashion, there as elsewhere in this world! + +Bevern, the millstone of Winterfeld being off his neck, has become a +more responsible, though he feels himself a much-delivered man. Had +not liked Winterfeld, they say; or had even hated him, since those +bad Zittau times. Can now, at any rate, make for Schlesien and the +meal-magazines, when he sees good. He will find meal readier there; may +he find other things corresponding! Nobody now to keep him painfully +manoeuvring in these parts; with the King's Army nearer to him, but meal +not. + +On the third day after (September 10th), Bevern, having finished +packing, took the road for Schlesien; Daun and Karl attending him; +nothing left of Daun and Karl in those Saxon Countries,--except, at +Stolpen, out Dresden-wards, some Reserve-Post or Rear-guard of 15,000, +should we chance to hear of that again. And from the end of September +onwards, Bevern's star, once somewhat bright at Reichenberg, shot +rapidly downwards, under the horizon altogether; and there came, post +after post, such news out of Schlesien,--to say nothing of that Stolpen +Party,--as Friedrich had never heard before. + + + + +Chapter VII.--FRIEDRICH IN THURINGEN, HIS WORLD OF ENEMIES ALL COME. + +The Soubise-Hildburghausen people had got rendezvoused at Erfurt about +August 25th; 50,000 by account, and no enemy within 200 miles of them; +and in the Versailles circles it had been expected they would proceed to +the "Deliverance of Saxony" straightway. What is to hinder?--Friedrich, +haggling with the Austrians at Bernstadt, could muster but a poor +23,000, when he did march towards Erfurt. In those same neighborhoods, +within reach of Soubise, is the Richelieu, late D'Estrees, Army; elated +with Hastenbeck, comfortably pushing Royal Highness of Cumberland, +who makes no resistance, step by step, into the sea; victoriously +plundering, far and wide in those countries, Hanover itself the +Head-quarter. In the Versailles circles, it is farther expected that +Richelieu, "Conqueror of Minorca," will shortly besiege and conquer +Magdeburg, and so crown his glories. Why not; were the "Deliverance of +Saxony" complete? + +The whole of which turned out greatly otherwise, and to the sad +disappointment of Versailles. The Conqueror of Minorca is probably aware +that the conquering of Magdeburg, against one whose platforms are not +rotten, and who does not "lie always in his bed," as poor old Blakeney +did, will be a very different matter. And the private truth is, Marrchal +de Richelieu never turned his thoughts upon Magdeburg at all, nor upon +any point of war that had difficulties, but solely upon collecting +plunder for himself in those Countries. One of the most magnificent +marauders on record; in no danger, he, of becoming monitory and a +pendulum, like the 1,000 that already swing in that capacity to rear +of him! And he did manage, in this Campaign, which was the last of his +military services, so as to pay off at Paris "above 50,000 pounds of +debts; and to build for himself a beautiful Garden Mansion there, which +the mocking populations called 'Hanover Pavilion (PAVILION D'HANOVRE);'" +a name still sticking to it, I believe. [Barbier, iii. 256, 271.] Of the +Richelieu Campaign we are happily delivered from saying almost anything: +and the main interest for us turns now on that Soubise-Hildburghausen +wing of it,--which also is a sufficiently contemptible affair; not to be +spoken of beyond the strictly unavoidable. + +Friedrich, with his 23,000 setting out from Dresden, August 30th, has a +march of about 170 miles towards Erfurt. He may expect to find--counting +Richelieu, if Royal Highness of Cumberland persist in acting ZERO as +hitherto--a confused mass of about 150,000 Enemies, of one sort and +other, waiting him ahead; not to think of those he has just left +behind;--and he cannot well be in a triumphant humor! Behind, before, +around, it is one gathering of Enemies: one point only certain, that +he must beat them, or else die. Readers would fain follow him in this +forlorn march; him, the one point of interest now in it: and readers +shall, if we can manage, though it is extremely difficult. For, on +getting to Erfurt, he finds his Soubise-Hildburghausen Army off on +retreat among the inaccessible Hills still farther westward; and has +to linger painfully there, and to detach, and even to march personally +against other Enemies; and then, these finished, to march back towards +his Erfurt ones, who are taking heart in the interim:--and, in short, +from September 1st to November 5th, there are two months of confused +manoeuvring and marching to and fro in that West-Saxon region, which +are very intricate to readers. November 5th is a day unforgettable: +but anterior to that, what can we do? Here, dated, are the Three +grand Epochs of the thing; which readers had better fix in mind as a +preliminary:-- + +1. SEPTEMBER 13th, Friedrich has got to Erfurt neighborhood; but Soubise +and Company are off westward to the Hills of Eisenach, won't come down; +Friedrich obliged to linger thereabouts, painfully waiting almost a +month, till + +2. OCTOBER 11th, hearing that "15,000 Austrians" (that Stolpen Party, +left as rear-guard at Stolpen; Croats mainly, under a General Haddick) +are on march for Berlin, he rises in haste thitherward, through Leipzig, +Torgau, say 100 miles; hears that Haddick HAS been in Berlin (16th-17th +October) for one day, and that he is off again full speed with a ransom +of 30,000 pounds, which they have had to pay him: upon which Friedrich +calls halt in the Torgau country;--and would have been uncertain what to +do, had not + +3. Soubise and Company, extremely elated with this Haddick Feat, come +out from their Hills, intent to deliver Saxony after all. So that +Friedrich has to turn back (October 26th-30th) through Leipzig again; +towards,--in fact towards ROSSBACH and NOVEMBER 5th, in his old Saale +Country, which does not prove so wearisome as formerly! + +These are the cardinal dates; these let the reader recur to, if +necessary, and keep steadily in mind: it will then perhaps be possible +to intercalate, in a manner intelligible to him, what other lucent +phenomena there are; and these dismal wanderings, and miserablest two +months of Friedrich's life, will not be wholly a provoking blotch +of enigmatic darkness, but in some sort a thing with features in the +twilight of the Past. + + + + +I. FRIEDRICH'S MARCH TO ERFURT FROM DRESDEN--(31st August-13th +September, 1757). + +The march to Erfurt was of twelve days, and without adventure to speak +of. Mayer and Free-Battalion had the vanguard, Friedrich there as usual; +main body, under Keith with Ferdinand and Moritz, following in several +columns: straight towards their goal; with steady despatch; for twelve +days;--weather often very wet. [Tempelhof, i. 229; Rodenbeck, i. 317 +(not very correct): in Westphalen (ii. 20 &c.) a personal Diary of this +March, and of what followed on Duke Ferdinand's part.] Seidlitz, with +cavalry, had gone ahead, in search of one Turpin, a mighty hunter and +Hussar among the French, who was threatening Leipzig, threatening Halle: +but Turpin made off at sound of him, without trying fight; so that +Seidlitz had only to halt, and rejoin, hoping better luck another time. + +A march altogether of the common type,--the stages of it not worth +marking except for special readers;--and of memorable to us offers only +this, if even this: at Rotha, in Leipzig Country, the eighth stage from +Dresden, Friedrich writes, willing to try for Peace if it be possible, + + +TO THE MARECHAL DUC DE RICHELIEU. + +"ROTHA, 7th September, 1757. + +"I feel, M. le Duc, that you have not been put in the post where you are +for the purpose of Negotiating. I am persuaded, however, that the Nephew +of the great Cardinal Richelieu is made for signing treaties no less +than for gaining battles. I address myself to you from an effect of the +esteem with which you inspire even those who do not intimately know you. + +"'T is a small matter, Monsieur (IL S'AGIT D'UNE BAGATELLE): only to +make Peace, if people are pleased to wish it! I know not what your +Instructions are: but, in the supposition that the King your Master, zow +assured by your Successes, will have put it in your power to labor in +the pacification of Germany, I address to you the Sieur d'Elcheset" +(Sieur Balbi is the real name of him, an Italian Engineer of mine, +who once served with you in the Fontenoy times,--and some say he has +privately a 15,000 pounds for your Grace's acceptance,--"the Sieur +d'Elcheset), in whom you may place complete confidence. + +"Though the events of this Year afford no hope that your Court still +entertains a favorable disposition for my interests, I cannot persuade +myself that a union which has lasted between us for sixteen years may +not have left some trace in the mind. Perhaps I judge others by myself. +But, however that may be, I, in short, prefer putting my interests into +the King your Master's hands rather than into any other's. If you have +not, Monsieur, any Instructions as to the Proposal hereby made, I beg of +you to ask such, and to inform me what the tenor of them is. + +"He who has merited statues at Genoa [ten years ago, in those +ANTI-Austrian times, when Genoa burst up in revolt, and the French +and Richelieu beautifully intervened against the oppressors]; he who +conquered Minorca in spite of immense obstacles; he who is on the point +of subjugating Lower Saxony,--can do nothing more glorious than to +restore Peace to Europe. Of all your laurels, that will be the fairest. +Work in this Cause, with the activity which has secured you such rapid +progress otherwise; and be persuaded that nobody will feel more grateful +to you than, Monsieur le Duc,--Your faithful Friend,-- FREDERIC." [Given +in RODENBECK, i. 313 (doubtless from _Memoires de Richelieu,_ Paris, +1793, ix. 175, the one fountain-head in regard to this small affair): +for "the 15,000 pounds" and other rumored particulars, sea Retzow, i. +197; Preuss, ii. 84; _ OEuvres de Frederic,_ iv. 145.] + +Richelieu, it appears by any evidence there is, went willingly into +this scheme; and applied at Versailles, as desired; with a peremptory +negative for result. Nothing came of the Richelieu attempt there; nor of +"CE M. DE MIRABEAU," if he ever went; nor of any other on that errand. +Needless to apply for Peace at Versailles (and a mere waste of your "sum +of 15,000 pounds," which one hopes is fabulous in the present scarcity +of money):--or should we perhaps have mentioned the thing at all, except +for the sake of Wilhelmina, whose fond scheme it is in this extremity of +fate; scheme which she tries in still other directions, as we shall see; +her Brother willing too, but probably with much less hope. If a civil +Letter and a bribe of Money will do it, these need not be spared. + +This at Rotha is the day while Winterfeld, on Moys Hill, is meeting his +death. To-day at Pegau, in this neighborhood, Seidlitz, who could not +fall in with Turpin, has given the Hussars of Loudon a beautiful slap; +the first enemy we have seen on this march; and the last,--nothing +but Loudon and Hussars visibly about, the rest of those Soubise-Reichs +people dormant, as would seem. "D'Elcheset," Balbi, or whoever he +was, would not find Richelieu at Hanover; but at a place called +Kloster-Zeven, in Bremen Country, fifty or sixty miles farther on. +There, this day, are Richelieu with one Sporcken a Hanoverian, and +one Lynar a Dane, rapidly finishing a thing they were pleased to call +"Convention of Kloster-Zeven;" which Friedrich regarded as another huge +misfortune fallen on him,--though it proved to have been far the reverse +a while after. Concerning which take this brief Note; cannot be too +brief on such a topic:-- + +"Never was there a more futile Convention than that of Kloster-Zeven; +which filled all Europe with lamentable noises, indignations and +anxieties, during the remainder of that Year; and is now reduced, for +Europe and the Universe, to a silent mathematical point, or mere mark +of position, requiring still to be attended to in that character, +though itself zero in any other. Here are the main particulars, in their +sequence. + +"August 3d, towards midnight, '11 P.M.' say the Books, Marechal de +Richelieu arrives in the D'Estrees Camp ('Camp of Oldendorf,' still only +one march west of Hastenbeck); to whom D'Estrees on the instant loftily +delivers up his Army; explains with loyalty, for a few days more, all +things needful to the new Commander; declines to be himself Second; and +loftily withdraws to the Baths of Aachen 'for his health.' + +"Royal Highness of Cumberland is, by this time, well on Elbe-ward, +Ocean-ward. Till August 1st; for one week, Royal Highness of Cumberland +lay at Minden, some thirty odd miles from Hastenbeck; deploring that +sad mistake; but unpersuadable to stand, and try amendment of it: August +1st, the French advancing on him again, he moved off northward, seaward. +By Nienburg, Verden, Rothenburg, Zeven, Bremenvorde, Stade;--arrived at +Stade, on the tidal Waters of the Elbe, August 5th; and by necessity did +halt there. From Minden onwards, Richelieu, not D'Estrees, has had the +chasing of Royal Highness: one of the simplest functions; only that +the country is getting muddy, difficult for artillery-carriage (thinks +Richelieu), with an Army so dilapidated, hungry, short of pay; and that +Royal Highness, a very furious person to our former knowledge, might +turn on us like a boar at bay, endangering everything; and finally, that +one's desire is not for battle, but for a fair chance of plunder to pay +one's debts. + +"Britannic Majesty, in this awful state of his Hanover Armaments, +has been applying at the Danish Court; Richelieu too sends off an +application thither: 'Mediate between us, spare useless bloodshed!' +[Valfons, p. 291.]--Whereupon Danish Majesty (Britannic's son-in-law) +cheerfully undertakes it; bids one Lynar bestir himself upon it. Count +Lynar, an esteemed Official of his, who lives in those neighborhoods; +Danish Viceroy in Oldenburg,--much concerned with the Scriptures, the +Sacred Languages and other seraphic studies,--and a changed man since we +saw him last in the Petersburg regions, making love to Mrs. Anton Ulrich +long ago! Lynar, feeling the axis of the world laid on his shoulder in +this manner, loses not a moment; invokes the Heavenly Powers; goes on +it with an alacrity and a despatch beyond praise. Runs to the Duke of +Cumberland at Stade; thence to Richelieu at Zeven; back to the Duke, +back to Zeven: 'Won't you; and won't YOU?' and in four short days +has the once world-famed 'Convention of Kloster-Zeven' standing on +parchment,--signed, ready for ratifying: 'Royal Highness's Army to go +home to their countries again [routes, methods, times: when, how, and +what next, all left unsettled], and noise of War to cease in those +parts.' Signed cheerfully on both sides 9th September, 1757; and Lynar +striking the stars with his sublime head. [Busching (who alone is exact +in the matter), _ Beitrage,_ iv. 167, 168,? Lynar: see Scholl, iii. 49; +Valfons, pp. 202, 203; _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iv. 143 (with correction +of Preuss's Note there).] + +"Unaccountable how Lynar had managed such a difficulty. He says +seraphically, in a Letter to a friend, which the Prussian hussars got +hold of, 'The idea of it was inspired by the Holy Ghost:' at which the +whole world haha'd again. For it was a Convention vague, absurd, not +capable of being executed; ratification of it refused by both Courts, by +the French Court first, if that was any matter:--and the only thing now +memorable of it is, that IT was a total Futility; but, that there ensued +from it a Fact still of importance; namely:-- + +"That on the 5th of October following, Royal Highness quitted Stade, +and his wrecked Army hanging sorrowful there, like a flight of plucked +cranes in mid-air;--arrived at Kensington, October 12th; heard the +paternal Majesty say, that evening, 'Here is my son who has ruined +me, and disgraced himself!'--and thereupon indignantly laid down his +military offices, all and sundry; and ceased altogether to command +Armies, English or other, in this world. [In WALPOLE (iii. 59-64) the +amplest minuteness of detail.] Whereby, in the then and now diagram of +things, Kloster-Zeven, as a mathematical point, continues memorable in +History, though shrunk otherwise to zero! + +"Pitt's magnanimity to Royal Highness was conspicuous. Royal Highness, +it is said, had been very badly used in this matter by his poor peddling +Father and the Hanover Ministers; the matter being one puddle of +imbecilities from beginning to end. He was the soul of honor; brave as +a Welf lion; but, of dim poor head; and had not the faintest vestige +[ALLERGERINGSTE says Mauvillon] of military skill: awful in the extreme +to see in command of British Armies! Adieu to him, forever and a day." + +Ever since July 29th, three days after Hastenbeck, Pitt had been in +Office again; such the bombardment by Corporation-Boxes and Events +impinging on Britannic Majesty: but not till now, as I fancy, had Pitt's +way, in regard to those German matters, been clear to him. The question +of a German Army, if you must, have a No-General at the top of it, might +well be problematical to Pitt. To equip your strong fighting man, +and send him on your errand, regardless of expense; and, by way of +preliminary, cut the head off him, before saying "Good-speed to you, +strong man!" But with a General, Pitt sees that it can be different; +that perhaps "America can be conquered in Germany," and that, with a +Britannic Majesty so disposed, there is no other way of trying it. To +this course Pitt stands henceforth, heedless of the gazetteer cackle, +"Hah, our Pitt too become German, after all his talking!"--like a +seventy-four under full sail, with sea, wind, pilot all of one mind, and +only certain water-fowl objecting. And is King of England for the next +Four Years; the one King poor England has had this long while;--his hand +felt shortly at the ends of the Earth. And proves such a blessing to +Friedrich, among others, as nothing else in this War; pretty much his +one blessing, little as he expected it. Before long, Excellency Mitchell +begins consulting about a General,--and Friedrich dimly sees better +things in the distance, and that Kloster-Zeven had not been the +misfortune he imagined, but only "The darkest hour," which, it is said, +lies "nearest to the dawn." + + + + +II. THE SOUBISE HILDBURGHAUSEN PEOPLE TAKE INTO THE HILLS; FRIEDRICH +IN ERFURT NEIGHBORHOOD, HANGING ON, WEEK AFTER WEEK, IN AN AGONY OF +INACTION (13th September-10th October). + +Friedrich's march has gone by Dobeln, Grimma, to Pegau and Rotha, +Leipzig way, but, with Leipzig well to right: it just brushes +Weissenfels to rightward, next day after Rotha; crosses Saale River near +Naumburg, whence straight through Weimar Country, Weimar City on your +left, to Erfurt on the northern side;--and, + +"ERFURT, TUESDAY 13th SEPTEMBER, 1757, About 10 in the morning [listen +to a faithful Witness], there appeared Hussars on the heights to +northward:--'Vanguard of his Prussian Majesty!' said Erfurt with alarm, +and our French guests with alarm. And scarcely were the words uttered, +when said Vanguard, and gradually the whole Prussian Army [only some +9,000, though we all thought it the whole], came to sight; posting +itself in half-moon shape round us there; French and Reichs folk +hurrying off what they could from the Cyriaksberg and Petersberg, by the +opposite gates,"--towards Gotha, and the Hills of Eisenach. + +"Think what a dilemma for Erfurt, jammed between two horns in this +way, should one horn enter before the other got out! Much parleying and +supplicating on the part of Erfurt: Till at last, about 4 P.M., French +being all off, Erfurt flung its gates open; and the new Power did enter, +with some due state: Prussian Majesty in Person (who could have hoped +it!) and Prince Henri beside him; Cavalry with drawn swords; Infantry +with field-pieces, and the band playing"--Prussian grenadier march, I +should hope, or something equally cheering. "The rest of the Vanguard, +and, in succession, the Army altogether, had taken Camp outside, looking +down on the Northern Gate, over at Ilgertshofen, a village in the +neighborhood, about two miles off." [_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 636, 637.] + +That is the first sight Friedrich has of "LA DAUPHINE," as the +Versailles people call this Bellona, come to "deliver Saxony;" and she +is considerably coyer than had been expected. Many sad days, and ardent +vain vows of Friedrich, before he could see the skirt of her again! From +Ilgertshofen, northwestward to Dittelstadt, Gamstadt, and other poor +specks of villages in Gotha Territory, is ten or fifteen miles; from +Dittelstadt eastward to Buttstadt and Buttelstadt, in Weimar Country, +may be twenty-five: in this area, Friedrich, shifting about, chiefly +for convenience of quarters,--head-quarter Kirschleben for a while, +Buttelstadt finally and longest,--had to wander impatiently to and +fro for four weeks and more; no work procurable, or none worth +mentioning:--in the humor of a man whose House is on fire, flaming +out of every window, front and rear; who has run up with quenching +apparatus; and cannot, being spell-bound, get the least bucket of +it applied. And is by nature the rapidest soul now alive. Figure his +situation there, as it gradually becomes manifest to him! + +For the present, DAUPHINESS Bellona, hurrying to the Hills, has left +some tagrag of remnant in Gotha. Whereupon, the second day, here is an +"Own Correspondent" again,--not coming by electric telegraph, but (what +is a sensible advantage) credible in every point, when he does come:-- + +"GOTHA, THURSDAY, 15th SEPTEMBER. Grand-Duke and Duchess, like everybody +else, have been much occupied all morning with the fact, that the +Prussian Army [Seidlitz and a regiment or two, nothing more] is +actually here; took possession of the Town-Gates and Main Guard this +morning,--certain Hungarian-French hussar rabble, hateful to every one +in Gotha, having made off in time, rapidly towards Eisenach and the +Hills. + +"Towards noon, his Royal Majesty in highest person, with his Lord +Brother the Prince Henri's Royal Highness, arrived in Gotha; sent +straightway, by one of his Officers, a compliment to the Grand-Duke; +and 'would have the pleasure to come and dine, if his Serene Highness +permitted.' Serene Highness, self and Household always cordially +Friedrich's, was just about sitting down to dinner; and answered with +exuberantly glad surprise,--or was answering, when Royal Majesty himself +stept in with smiling face; and embracing the Duke, said: 'I timed +myself to arrive at this moment, thinking your Durchlaucht would be +at dinner, that I might be received without ceremony, and dine like a +neighbor among you.' Unexpected as this visit was, the joy of Duke +and Duchess," always fast friends to Friedrich, and the latter ever +afterwards his correspondent, "may be conceived, but not adequately +expressed; as both the Serenities were touched, in the most affecting +manner, by the honor of so great a King's sudden presence among them. + +"His Majesty requested that the Frau von Buchwald, our Most Gracious +Duchess's Hof-Dame, whose qualities he much valued, might dine with +them,"--being always fond of sensible people, especially sensible women. +"The whole Highest and High company [Royal, that is, and Ducal] was, +during table, uncommonly merry. The King showed himself altogether +content; and his bright clever talk and sprightly sallies, awakening +everybody to the like, left not the least trace visible of the weighty +toils he was then engaged in;--as if the weightier these were, the less +should they fetter the noble openness (FREYMUTHIGKEIT) of this high +soul, which is not to be cast down by the heaviest burden. + +"His Majesty having taken leave of Duke and Duchess, and graciously +permitted the chiefest persons of the Gotha Court to pay their respects, +withdrew to his Army." [Letter in _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 638, 639.] +Slept, I find elsewhere, "at Gamstadt, on the floor of a little Inn;" +meaning to examine Posts in that part, next morning. + +Here has been a cheerful little scene for Friedrich; the last he has +in these black weeks. A laborious Predecessor, striving to elucidate, +leaves me this Note:-- + +"What a pity one knows nothing, nor can know, about this Duke and +Duchess, though their names, especially the latter's name, are much +tossed to and fro in the Books! We heard of them, favorably, in +Voltaire's time; and may again, at least of the Lady, who is henceforth +a Correspondent of Friedrich's. The above is a dim direct view of them, +probably our last as well as first. Duke's name is Friedrich III.; I do +believe, a man of solidity, honor and polite dignified sense, a highly +respectable Duke of Sachsen-Gotha, contented to be obscure, and quietly +do what was still do-able in that enigmatic situation. He is Uncle to +our George III.;--his Sister is the now Princess-Dowager of Wales, with +a Lord Bute, and I know not what questionable figures and intrigues, or +suspicions of intrigue, much about her. His Duchess, Louisa Dorothee, +is a Princess of distinguished qualities, literary tastes,--Voltaire's +Hostess, Friedrich's Correspondent: a bright and quietly shining +illumination to the circle she inhabits. Duke is now fifty-eight, +Duchess forty-seven; and they lost their eldest Son last year. There has +been lately a considerable private brabble as to Tutorage of the Duke +of Weimar (Wilhelmina's maddish Duke, who is dead lately; and a Prince +left, who soon died also, but left a Son, who grew to be Goethe's +friend); Tutorage claimed by various Cousins, has been adjudged to this +one, King Friedrich co-operating in such result. + +"As to the famed Grand-Duchess, she is a Sachsen-Meiningen Princess, +come of Ernst the Pious, of Johann the Magnanimous, as her Husband +and all these Sachsens are: when Voltaire went precipitant, with such +velocity, from the Potsdam Heaven, she received him at Gotha; set him on +writing his HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE, and endeavored to break his fall. She +was noble to Voltaire, and well honored by that uncertain Spirit. There +is a fine Library at Gotha; and the Lady bright loves Books, and those +that can write them;--a friend of the Light, a Daughter of the Sun and +the Empyrean, not of Darkness and the Stygian Fens." [Michaelis, i. 517; +&c. &c.] + +Friedrich's first Letter to her Highness was one of thanks, above a year +ago, for an act of kindness, act of justice withal, which she did to +one of his Official people. Here, on the morrow of that dinner, is the +second Letter, much more aerial and cordial, in which style they all +continue, now that he has seen the admired Princess. + + +TO THE MOST SERENE GRAND-DUCHESS OF SACHSEN-GOTHA. + +DITTELSTADT, "16th September, 1757. + +"MADAM,--Yesterday was a Day I shall never forget; which satisfied a +just desire I have had, this long while, to see and hear a Princess whom +all Europe admires. I am not surprised, Madam, that you subdue people's +hearts; you are made to attract the esteem and the homage of all who +have the happiness to know you. But it is incomprehensible to me how you +can have enemies; and how men representing Countries that by no means +wish to pass for barbarous, can have been so basely (INDIGNEMENT) +wanting in the respect they owe you, and in the consideration which is +due to all sovereigns [French not famous for their refined demeanor in +Saxony this time]. Why could not I fly to prevent such disorders, such +indecency! I can only offer you a great deal of good-will; but I feel +well that, in present circumstances, the thing wanted is effective +results and reality. May I, Madam, be so happy as to render you some +service! May your fortune be equal to your virtues! I am with the +highest consideration, Madam, your Highness's faithful Cousin,--F." +[_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xvii. 166.] + +To Wilhelmina he says of it, next day, still gratified, though sad news +have come in the interim;--death of Winterfeld, for one black item:-- + +... "The day before yesterday I was in Gotha. It was a touching scene +to see the partners of one's misfortunes, with like griefs and like +complaints. The Duchess is a woman of real merit, whose firmness puts +many a man to shame. Madam de Buchwald appears to me a very estimable +person, and one who would suit you much: intelligent, accomplished, +without pretensions, and good-humored. My Brother Henri is gone to see +them to-day. I am so oppressed with grief, that I would rather keep my +sadness to myself. I have reason to congratulate myself much on account +of my Brother Henri; he has behaved like an angel, as a soldier, and +well towards me as a Brother. I cannot, unfortunately, say the same +of the elder. He sulks at me (IL ME BODE), and has sulkily retired to +Torgau, from whence, I hear, he is gone to Wittenberg. I shall leave him +to his caprices and to his bad conduct; and I prophesy nothing good for +the future, unless the younger guide him." ["Kirschleben, near Erfurt, +17th September, 1757" (_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvii. i. 306).]... + +This is part of a long sad Letter to Wilhelmina; parts of which we may +recur to, as otherwise illustrative. But before going into that tragic +budget of bad news, let us give the finale of Gotha, which occurred the +next day,--tragi-comic in part,--and is the last bit of action in those +dreary four weeks. + +GOTHA, 18th SEPTEMBER. "Since Thursday 15th, Major-General Seidlitz," +youngest Major-General of the Army, but a rapidly rising man, "has +been Commandant in Gotha, under flourishing circumstances; popular and +supreme, though only with a force of 1,500, dragoons and hussars. +Monday morning early, Seidlitz's scouts bring word that the +Soubise-Hildburghausen people are in motion hitherward; French +hussars and Austrian, Turpin's, Loudon's, all that are; grenadiers +in mass;--total, say, 8,000 horse and foot, with abundance of +artillery;--have been on march all night, to retake Gotha; with all the +Chief Generals and Dignitaries of the Army following in their carriages, +for some hours past, to see it done. Seidlitz, ascertaining these +things, has but one course left,--that of clearing himself out, which +he does with orderly velocity: and at 9 A.M. the Dignitaries and their +8,000 find open gates, Seidlitz clean off; occupy the posts, with due +emphasis and flourish; and proceed to the Schloss in a grand triumphant +way,--where privately they are not very welcome, though one puts +the best face on it, and a dinner of importance is the first thing +imperative to be set in progress. A flurried Court, that of Gotha, +and much swashing of French plumes through it, all this morning, since +Seidlitz had to flit. + +"Seidlitz has not flitted very far. Seidlitz has ranked his small +dragoon-hussar force in a hollow, two miles off; has got warning sent to +a third regiment within reach of him, 'Come towards me, and in a certain +defile, visible from Gotha eastward, spread yourselves so and so!'--and +judges by the swashing he hears of up yonder, that perhaps something may +still be done. Dinner, up in the Schloss, is just being taken from the +spit, and the swashing at its height, when--'Hah what is that, though?' +and all plumes pause. For it is Seidlitz, artistically spread into +single files, on the prominent points of vision; advancing again, more +like 15,000 than 1,500: 'And in the Defile yonder, that regiment, do you +mark it; the King's vanguard, I should say?--To horse!' + +"That is Seidlitz's fine Bit of Painting, hung out yonder, hooked on +the sky itself, as temporary background to Gotha, to be judged of by the +connoisseurs. For pictorial effect, breadth of touch, truth to Nature +and real power on the connoisseur, I have heard of nothing equal by any +artist. The high Generalcy, Soubise, Hildburghausen, Darmstadt, mount in +the highest haste; everybody mounts, happy he who has anything to mount; +the grenadiers tumble out of the Schloss; dragoons, artillery tumble +out; Dauphiness takes wholly to her heels, at an extraordinary pace: so +that Seidlitz's hussars could hardly get a stroke at her; caught sixty +and odd, nine of them Officers not of mark; did kill thirty; and had +such a haul of equipages and valuable effects, cosmetic a good few of +them, habilatory, artistic, as caused the hussar heart to sing for joy. +Among other plunder, was Loudon's Commission of Major-General, just on +its road from Vienna [poor Mannstein's death the suggesting cause, +say some];--undoubtedly a shining Loudon; to whom Friedrich, next day, +forwarded the Document with a polite Note." [_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. +640; Westphalen, ii. 37; _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iv, 147.]' + +The day after this bright feat of Seidlitz's, which was a slight +consolation to Friedrich, there came a Letter from the Duchess, not of +compliment only; the Letter itself had to be burnt on the spot, being, +as would seem, dangerous for the High Lady, who was much a friend of +Friedrich's. Their Correspondence, very polite and graceful, but for +most part gone to the unintelligible state, and become vacant and +spectral, figures considerably in the Books, and was, no doubt, a +considerable fact to Friedrich. His Answer on this occasion may be +given, since we have it,--lest there should not elsewhere be opportunity +for a second specimen. + +FRIEDRICH TO THE GRAND-DUCHESS OF SACHSEN-GOTHA. + +"KIRSCHLEBEN, NEAB ERFURT, 20th September, 1757. + +"MADAM,--Nothing could happen more glorious to my troops than that of +fighting, Madam, under your eyes and for your defence. I wish their help +could be useful to you; but I foresee the reverse. If I were obstinately +to insist on maintaining the post of Gotha with Infantry, I should ruin +your City for you, Madam, by attracting thither and fixing there the +theatre of the War; whereas, by the present course, you will only have +to suffer little rubs (PASSADES), which will not last long. + +"A thousand thanks that you could, in a day like yesterday, find the +moment to think of your Friends, and to employ yourself for them. +[Seidlitz's attack was brisk, quite sudden, with an effect like +Harlequin's sword in Pantomimes; and Gotha in every corner, especially +in the Schloss below and above stairs,--dinner cooked for A, and eaten +by B, in that manner,--must have been the most agitated of little +Cities.] I will neglect nothing of what you have the goodness to tell +me; I shall profit by these notices. Heaven grant it might be for the +deliverance and the security of Germany! + +"The most signal mark of obedience I can give you consists +unquestionably in doing your bidding with this Letter. [Burn it, so soon +as read.] I should have kept it as a monument of your generosity and +courage: but, Madam, since you dispose of it otherwise, your orders +shall be executed; persuaded that if one cannot serve one's friends, one +must at least avoid hurting them; that one may be less circumspect for +one's own interest, but that one must be prudent and even timid +for theirs. I am, with the highest esteem and the most perfect +consideration, Madam, your Highness's most faithful and affectionate +Cousin,--F." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xvii. 167.] + +From Erfurt, on the night of his arrival, finding the Dauphiness in such +humor, Friedrich had ordered Ferdinand of Brunswick with his Division +and Prince Moritz with his, both of whom were still at Naumburg, to go +on different errands,--Ferdinand out Halberstadt-Magdeburg way, whither +Richelieu, vulture-like, if not eagle-like, is on wing; Moritz to +Torgau, to secure our magazine and be on the outlook there. Both of them +marched on the morrow (November 14th): and are sending him news,--seldom +comfortable news; mainly that, in spite of all one can do (and it is +not little on Ferdinand's part, the Richelieu vultures, 80,000 of them, +floating onward, leagues broad, are not to be kept out of Halberstadt, +well if out of Magdeburg itself;--and that, in short, the general +conflagration, in those parts too, is progressive. [In Orlich's _First +Moritz,_ pp. 71-89; and in _Westphalen,_ ii. 23-143 (about Ferdinand): +interesting Documentary details, Autographs of Friedrich, &c., in regard +to both these Expeditions.] Moritz, peaceable for some weeks in Torgau +Country, was to have an eye on Brandenburg withal, on Berlin itself; and +before long Moritz will see something noticeable there! + +From Preussen, Friedrich hears of mere ravagings and horrid cruelties, +Cossack-Calmuck atrocities, which make human nature shudder: [In +_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 427-437, the hideous details.] "Fight +those monsters; go into them at all hazards!" he writes to Lehwald +peremptorily. Lehwald, 25,000 against 80,000, does so; draws up, in +front of Wehlau, not far east of Konigsberg, among woody swamps, AUGUST +30th, at a Hamlet called GROSS-JAGERSDORF, with his best skill; fights +well, though not without mistakes; and is beaten by cannon and numbers. +[Tempelhof, i. 299; Retzow, i. 212; &c. &c. ("Russians lost about +9,000," by their own tale 5,000; "the Prussians 3,000" and the Field).] +Preussen now lies at Apraxin's discretion. This bit of news too is on +the road for Erfurt Country. Such a six weeks for the swift man, obliged +to stand spell-bound,--idle posterity never will conceive it; and +description is useless. + +Let us add here, that Apraxin did not advance on Konigsberg, or farther +into Preussen at all; but, after some loitering, turned, to everybody's +surprise, and wended slowly home. "Could get no provision," said Apraxin +for himself. "Thought the Czarina was dying," said the world; "and +that Peter her successor would take it well!" Plodded slowly home, for +certain; Lehwald following him, not too close, till over the border. +Nothing left of Apraxin, and his huge Expedition, but Memel alone; +Memel, and a great many graves and ruins. So that Lehwald could be +recalled, to attend on the Swedes, before Winter came. And Friedrich's +worst forebodings did not take effect in this case;--nor in some others, +as we shall see! + + + + +LAMENTATION-PSALMS OF FRIEDRICH. + +Meanwhile, is it not remarkable that Friedrich wrote more Verses, this +Autumn, than almost in any other three months of his life? Singular, +yes; though perhaps not inexplicable. And if readers could fairly +understand that fact, instead of running away with the shell of it, and +leaving the essence, it would throw a great light on Friedrich. He +is not a brooding inarticulate man, then; but a bright-glancing, +articulate; not to be struck dumb by the face of Death itself. Flashes +clear-eyed into the physiognomy of Death, and Ruin, and the Abysmal +Horrors opening; and has a sharp word to say to them. The explanation of +his large cargo of Verses this Autumn is, That always, alternating with +such fiery velocity, he had intolerable periods of waiting till +things were ready. And took to verses, by way of expectorating +himself, and keeping down his devils. Not a bad plan, in the +circumstances,--especially if you have so wonderful a turn for +expectoration by speech. "All bad as Poetry, those Verses?" asks the +reader. Well, some of them are not of first-rate goodness. Should have +been burnt; or the time marked which they took up, and whether it was +good time wasted (which I suppose it almost never was), or bad time +skilfully got over. Time, that is the great point; and the heart-truth +of them, or mere lip-truth, another. We must give some specimens, at any +rate. + +Especially that notable Specimen from the Zittau Countries: the "Epistle +to Wilhelmina (EPITRE A MA SOEUR [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xii. 36-42.];" +which is the key-note, as it were; the fountain-head of much other +verse, and of much prose withal, and Correspondencing not with +Wilhelmina alone, of which also some taste must be given. Primary +EPITRE; written, I perceive, in that interval of waiting for Keith +and the magazines,--though the final date is "Bernstadt, August 24th." +Concerning which, Smelfungus takes, over-hastily, the liberty to say: +"Strange, is it not, to be on the point of fighting for one's existence; +overwhelmed with so many businesses; and disposed to go into verse in +addition! CONCEIVE that form of mind; it would illuminate something of +Friedrich's character: I cannot yet rightly understand such an aspect of +structure, and know not what to say of it, except 'Strange!'"-- + +Understand it or not, we do gather by means of it some indisputable +glimpses, nearly all the direct insight allowed us out of any source, +into Friedrich's inner man; what his thoughts were, what his humor was +in that unique crisis; and to readers in quest of that, these Pieces, +fallen obsolete and frosty to all other kinds of readers, are well worth +perusing, and again perusing. Most veracious Documents, we can observe; +nothing could be truer; Confessions they are, in the most emphatic +sense; no truer ever made to a Priest in the name of the Most High. +Like a soliloquy of Night-Thoughts, accidentally becoming audible to us. +Mahomet, I find, wrote the Koran in this manner. From these poor +Poems, which are voices DE PROFUNDIS, there might, by proper care and +selection, be constructed a Friedrich's Koran; and, with commentary and +elucidation, it would be pleasant to read. The Koran of Friedrich, or +the Lamentation-Psalms of Friedrich! But it would need an Editor,--other +than Dryasdust! Mahomet's Koran, treated by the Arab Dryasdust (merely +turning up the bottom of that Box of Shoulder-blades, and printing +them), has become dreadfully tough reading, on this side of the +Globe; and has given rise to the impossiblest notions about Mahomet! +Indisputable it is, Heroes, in their affliction, Mahomet and David, have +solaced themselves by snatches of Psalms, by Suras, bursts of Utterance +rising into Song;--and if Friedrich, on far other conditions, did the +like, what has History to say of blame to him? + +Wilhelmina comes out very strong, in this season of trouble; almost the +last we see of our excellent Wilhelmina. Like a lioness; like a shrill +mother when her children are in peril. A noble sisterly affection is +in Wilhelmina; shrill Pythian vehemence trying the impossible. That a +Brother, and such a Brother, the most heroic now breathing, brave and +true, and the soul of honor in all things, should have the whole world +rise round him, like a delirious Sorcerer's-Sabbath, intent to hurl the +mountains on him,--seems such a horror and a madness to Wilhelmina. Like +the brood-hen flying in the face of wild dogs, and packs of hounds in +full trail! Most Christian Pompadour Kings, enraged Czarinas, implacable +Empress-Queens; a whole world in armed delirium rushes on, regardless of +Wilhelmina. Never mind, my noble one; your Brother will perhaps manage +to come up with this leviathan or that among the heap of them, at a good +time, and smite into the fifth rib of him. Your Brother does not the +least shape towards giving in; thank the Heavens, he will stand to +himself at least; his own poor strength will all be on his own side. + +Wilhelmina's hopes of a Peace with France; mission of her Mirabeau, +missions and schemes not a few, we have heard of on Wilhelmina's part +with this view; but the notablest is still to mention: that of stirring +up, by Voltaire's means, an important-looking Cardinal de Tencin to +labor in the business. Eminency Tencin lives in Lyon, known to the +Princess on her Italian Tour;--shy of asking Voltaire to dinner on +that fine occasion,--but, except Officially, is not otherwise than +well-affected to Voltaire. Was once Chief Minister of France, and +would fain again be; does not like these Bernis novelties and Austrian +Alliances, had he now any power to overset them. Let him correspond +with Most Christian Majesty, at least; plead for a Peace with Prussia, +Prussia being so ready that way. Eminency Tencin, on Voltaire's +suggestion, did so, perhaps is even now doing so; till ordered to hold +HIS peace on such subjects. This is certain and well known; but nothing +else is known, or to us knowable, about it; Voltaire, in vague form, +being our one authority, through whom it is vain to hunt, and again +hunt. [_OEuvres (Memoires),_ ii. 92, 93; IB. i. 143; Preuss, ii. 84.] +The Dates, much more the features and circumstances, all lie buried +from us, and--till perhaps the Lamentation-Psalms are well edited--must +continue lying. As a fact certain, but undeniably vague. + +Voltaire's procedure, one can gather, is polite, but two-faced; not +sublime on this occasion. In fact, is intended to serve himself. To the +high Princess he writes devotionally, ready to obey in all things; and +then to his Eminency Cardinal Tencin, it rather seems as if the tone +were: "Pooh! yes, your Eminency; such are the poor Lady's notions. But +does your Eminency take notice how high my connections are; what service +a poor obscure creature might perhaps do the State some day?" Friedrich +himself is, in these ways, brought into correspondence with Voltaire +again; and occasionally writes to him in this War, and ever afterwards: +Voltaire responds with fine sympathy, always prettily, in the enthusiasm +of the moment;--and at other times he writes a good deal about +Friedrich, oftenest in rather a mischievous dialect. "The traitor!" +exclaim some Prussian writers, not many or important, in our time. In +fact, there is a considerable touch of grinning malice (as of Monkey +VERSUS Cat, who had once burnt HIS paw, instead of getting his own +burnt), in those utterances of Voltaire; some of which the reader will +grin over too, without much tragic feeling,--the rather as they did +our Felis Leo no manner of ill, and show our incomparable SINGE with a +sparkle of the TIGRE in him; theoretic sparkle merely and for moments, +which makes him all the more entertaining and interesting at the +domestic hearth. + +Of Friedrich's Lamentation-Psalms we propose to give the First and the +Last: these, with certain Prose Pieces, intermediate and connecting, may +perhaps be made intelligible to readers, and throw some light on these +tragic weeks of the King's History:-- + +1. EPITRE A MA SOEUR (First of the Lamentation-Psalms).--This is +the famed "Epistle to Wilhelmina," already spoken of; which the King +despatched from Bernstadt "August 24th," just while quitting those +parts, on the Erfurt Errand;--though written before, in the tedium of +waiting for Keith. The Piece is long, vehement, altogether sincere; +lyrically sings aloud, or declaims in rhyme, what one's indignant +thought really is on the surrounding woes and atrocities. We faithfully +abridge, and condense into our briefest Prose;--readers can add water +and the jingle of French rhymes AD LIBITUM. It starts thus:-- + +"O sweet and dear hope of my remaining days; O Sister, whose friendship, +so fertile in resources, shares all my sorrows, and with a helpful +arm assists me in the gulf! It is in vain that the Destinies have +overwhelmed me with disasters: if the crowd of Kings have sworn my ruin; +if the Earth have opened to swallow me,--you still love me, noble +and affectionate Sister: loved by you, what is there of misfortune? +[Branches off into some survey of it, nevertheless.] + +"Huge continents of thunder-cloud, plots thickening against me [in those +Menzel Documents], I watched with terror; the sky getting blacker, no +covert for me visible: on a sudden, from the deeps of Hell, starts forth +Discord [with capital letter], and the tempest broke. + + Ce fut dans ton Senat, O fouqueuse Angleterre! + Ou ce monstre inhumain fit eclater la guerre: + +It was from thy Senate, stormful England, that she first launched out +War. In remote climates first; in America, far away;--between France and +thee. Old Ocean shook with it; Neptune, in the depths of his caves (SES +GROTTES PROFONDES), saw the English subjecting his waves (SES ONDES): +the wild Iroquois, prize of these crimes (FORFAITS), bursts out; +detesting the tyrants who disturb his Forests,"--and scalping Braddock's +people, and the like. + +"Discord, charmed to see such an America, and feeble mortals crossing +the Ocean to exterminate one another, addresses the European Kings: 'How +long will you be slaves to what are called laws? Is it for you to bend +under worn-out notions of justice, right? Mars is the one God: Might is +Right. A King's business is to do something famous in this world.' + +"O daughter of the Caesars," Maria Theresa, "how, at these words, +ambition, burning in thy soul, breaks out uncontrollable! Probity, +honor, treaties, duty: feeble considerations these, to a heart letting +loose its flamy passions; determining to rob the generous Germans of +their liberties; to degrade thy equals; to extinguish 'Schism' (so +called), and set up despotism on the wrecks of all." + +"Huge project"--"FIER TRIUMVIRAT,"--what not: "From Roussillon and the +sunny Pyrenees to frozen Russia, all arm for Austria, and march at her +bidding. They concert my downfall, trample on my rights. + +"The Daughter of the Caesars, proudly certain of victory,--'t is the +way of the Great, whose commonplace virtue, pusillanimous in reverses, +overbearing in success, cannot bridle their cupidity,--designates to the +Triumvirate what Kings are to be proscribed [Britannic George and me, +Reich busy on us both even now], and those ungrateful tyrants, by united +crime, immolate to each other, without remorse, their dearest allies." +For instance:-- + + "O jour digne d'oubli! Quelle atroce imprudence! + Therese, c'est l'Anglais que tu vends a la France: + +Theresa! it is England thou art selling to France;"--Yes, a thing worth +noting. "Thy generous support in thy first adversities; thy one friend +then, when a world had risen to devour thee. Thou reignest now:--but it +was England alone that saved thee anything to reign over! + + Tu regnes, mats lui seul a sauve tes etats: + Les bienfaits chez les rois ne font que des ingrats. + +"And thou, lazy Monarch,"--stupid Louis, let us omit him:--"Pompadour, +selling her lover to the highest bidder, makes France, in our day, +Austria's slave!" We omit Kolin Battle, too, spoken of with a proud +modesty (Prag is not spoken of at all); and how the neighboring ravenous +Powers, on-lookers hitherto, have opened their throats with one accord +to swallow Prussia, thinking its downfall certain: "Poor mercenary +Sweden, once so famous under its soldier Kings, now debased by a venal +Senate;"--Sweden, "what say I? my own kindred [foolish Anspach and +others], driven by perverse motives, join in the plot of horrors, and +become satellites of the prospering Triumvirs. + +"And thou, loved People [my own Prussians], whose happiness is my charge +[notable how often he repeats this] it is thy lamentable destiny, it is +the danger which hangs over thee, that pierces my soul. The pomps of my +rank I could resign without regret. But to rescue thee, in this black +crisis, I will spend my heart's blood. Whose IS that blood but thine? +With joy will I rally my warriors to avenge thy affront; defy death at +the foot of the ramparts [of Daun and his Eckartsberg, ahead yonder], +and either conquer, or be buried under thy ruins." Very well; but ah,-- + +"Preparing with such purpose, ye Heavens, what mournful cries are those +that reach us: 'Death haa laid low thy Mother!'--Hah, that was the last +stroke, then, which angry Fate had reserved for me.--O Mother, Death +flies my misfortunes, and spreads his livid horrors over thee! [Very +tender, very sad, what he says of his Mother; but must be omitted and +imagined. General finale is:] + +"Thus Destiny with a deluge of torments fills the poisoned remnant of my +days. The present is hideous to me, the future unknown: what, you say I +am the creature of a BENEficent Being?-- + + Quoi serais-fe forme par un Dieu bienfaisati? + Ah! s'il etait si bon, tendre pour son ouvrage"-- + --Husht, my little Titan! + +"And now, ye promoters of sacred lies, go on leading cowards by the +nose, in the dark windings of your labyrinth:--to me the enchantment +is ended, the charm disappears. I see that all men are but the sport of +Destiny. And that, if there do exist some Gloomy and Inexorable Being, +who allows a despised herd of creatures to go on multiplying here, he +values them as nothing; looks down on a Phalaris crowned, on a Socrates +in chains; on our virtues, our misdeeds, on the horrors of war, and all +the cruel plagues which ravage Earth, as a thing indifferent to him. +Wherefore, my sole refuge and only haven, loved Sister, is in the arms +of Death:-- + + Ainsi mon seul asile et mon unique port + Se trouve, chere soeur, dans les bras de la mort." + [OEuvres, xii. 36-42; is sent off to Wilhelmina 24th August.] + +2. WILHELMINA TO VOLTAIRE, WITH SOMETHING OF ANSWER (First of certain +intercalary Prose Pieces).--Wilhelmina has been writing to Voltaire +before, and getting consolations since Kolin; but her Letters are lost, +till this the earliest that is left us:-- + +BAIREUTH, 19th AUGUST, 1757 (TO VOLTAIRE).--"One first knows one's +friends when misfortunes arrive. The Letter you have written does honor +to your way of thinking. I cannot tell you how much I am sensible to +what you have done [set Cardinal Tencin astir, with result we will +hope]. The King, my Brother, is as much so as I. You will find a Note +here, which he bids me transmit to you [Note lost]. That great man +is still the same. He supports his misfortunes with a courage and a +firmness worthy of him. He could not get the Note transcribed. It began +by verses. Instead of throwing sand on it, he took the ink-bottle; that +is the reason why it is cut in two." --This Note, we say, is lost to +us;--all but accidentally thus: Voltaire, 12th September, writes twice +to friends. Writing to his D'Argentals, he says: "The affairs of this +King [Friedrich] go from bad to worse. I know not if I told you of the +Letter he wrote to me about three weeks ago [say August 17th-18th: this +same Note through Wilhelmina, evidently]: 'I have learned,' says he, +'that you had interested yourself in my successes and misfortunes. There +remains to me nothing but to sell my life dear,' &c. His Sister writes +me one much more lamentable;" the one we are now reading:-- + +"I am in a frightful state; and will not survive the destruction of my +House and Family. That is the one consolation that remains to me. You +will have fine subjects for making Tragedies of. O times! O manners! +You will, by the illusory representation, perhaps draw tears; while all +contemplate with dry eyes the reality of these miseries: the downfall of +a whole House, against which, if the truth were known, there is no solid +complaint. I cannot write farther of it: my soul is so troubled that I +know not what I am doing. But whatever happen, be persuaded that I am +more than ever your friend,--WILHELMINA." [In _OEuvres de Frederic,_ +lxxvii. 30.] + +Friedrich, while Wilhelmina writes so, is at the foot of the +Eckartsberg, eagerly manoeuvring with the Austrians, in hopes of getting +battle out of them,--which he cannot. Friedrich, while he wrote that +Note to Voltaire, and instead of sand-box shook the ink-bottle over it, +was just going out on that errand. + +VOLTAIRE, 12th SEPTEMBER (to a Lady whose Son is in the D'Estrees wars). +[Ib. lxxii. 55. 56.]--"Here are mighty revolutions, Madame; and we are +not at the end yet. They say there have 18,000 Hanoverians been disposed +of at Stade [Convention of Kloster-Zeven]. That is no small matter. I +can hope M. Richelieu [who is "MON HEROS," when I write to himself] will +adorn his head with the laurels they have stuck in his pocket. I wish +Monsieur your Son abundance of honor and glory without wounds, and to +you, Madame, unalterable health. The King of Prussia has written me a +very touching Letter [one line of which we have read]; but I have always +Madame Denis's adventure on my heart," at Frankfurt yonder. "If I were +well, I would take a run to Frankfurt myself on the business,"--now +that Soubise's reserves are in those parts, and could give Freytag and +Schmidt such a dusting for me, if they liked! Shall I write to Collini +on it? Does write, and again write, the second year hence, as still +better chances rise. [Collini, pp. 208-211 ("January-May, 1759").] + +3. WILHELMINA TO VOLTAIRE AGAIN, WITH ANSWER (Second of the Prose +Pieces).--Not a very zealous friend of Friedrich's, after all, this +Voltaire! Poor Wilhelmina, terrified by that EPITRE of her Brother's, +and his fixed purpose of seeking Death, has, in her despair (though +her Letter is lost), been urging Voltaire to write dissuading him;--as +Voltaire does. Of which presently. Her Letter to Voltaire on this +thrice-important subject is lost. But in the very hours while Voltaire +sat writing what we have just read, "always with Madame Denis's +adventure on my heart," Wilhelmina, at Baireuth, is again writing to him +as follows:-- + +BAIREUTH, 12th SEPTEMBER, 1757 (TO VOLTAIRE).--"Your Letter has sensibly +touched me; that which you addressed to me for the King [both Letters +lost to us] has produced the same effect on him. I hope you will be +satisfied with his Answer as to what concerns yourself; but you will be +as little so as I am with the resolutions he has formed. I had flattered +myself that your reflections would make some impression on his mind. +You will see the contrary by the Letter adjoined. "To me there remains +nothing but to follow his destiny if it is unfortunate. I have never +piqued myself on being a philosopher; though I have made my efforts to +become so. The small progress I made did teach me to despise grandeurs +and riches: but I could never find in philosophy any cure for the wounds +of the heart, except that of getting done with our miseries by ceasing +to live. The state I am in is worse than death. I see the greatest +man of his age, my Brother, my friend, reduced to the frightfulest +extremity. I see my whole Family exposed to dangers and perhaps +destruction; my native Country torn by pitiless enemies; the Country +where I am [Reichs Army, Anspach, what not] menaced by perhaps similar +misfortune. Would to Heaven I were alone loaded with all the miseries I +have described to you! I would suffer them, and with firmness. + +"Pardon these details. You invite me, by the part you take in what +regards me, to open my heart to you. Alas, hope is well-nigh banished +from it. Fortune, when she changes, is as constant in her persecutions +as in her favors. History is full of those examples:--but I have found +none equal to the one we now see; nor any War as inhuman and as cruel +among civilized nations. You would sigh if you knew the sad situation +of Germany and Preussen. The cruelties which the Russians commit in that +latter Country make nature shudder. [Details, horrible but authentic, in +_Helden-Geschichte, _ already cited.] How happy you in your Hermitage; +where you repose on your laurels, and can philosophize with a calm mind +on the deliriums of men! I wish you all the happiness imaginable. If +Fortune ever favor us again, count on all my gratitude. I will never +forget the marks of attachment which you have given; my sensibility is +your warrant; I am never half-and-half a friend, and I shall always be +wholly so of Brother Voltaire.--WILHELMINA. + +"Many compliments to Madame Denis. Continue, I pray you, to write to the +King." [In _Voltaire,_ ii. 197-199; lxxvii. 57.] + +VOLTAIRE TO WILHELMINA (Day uncertain: THE DELICES, SEPTEMBER, +1757).--"Madam, my heart is touched more than ever by the goodness and +the confidence your Royal Highness deigns to show me. How can I be but +melted by emotion! I see that it is solely your nobleness of soul that +renders you unhappy. I feel myself born to be attached with idolatry to +superior and sympathetic minds, who think like you. "You know how much +I have always, essentially and at heart, been attached to the King +your Brother. The more my old age is tranquil, and come to renounce +everything, and make my retreat here a home and country, the more am +I devoted to that Philosopher-King. I write nothing to him but what +I think from the bottom of my heart, nothing that I do not think most +true; and if my Letter [dissuasive of seeking Death; wait, reader] +appears to your Royal Highness to be suitable, I beg you to protect it +with him, as you have done the foregoing." [In _Voltaire,_ lxxvii. 37, +39.] + +4. FRIEDRICH TO WILHELMINA, AND, BY ANTICIPATION, HER ANSWER (Third of +the Prose Pieces).--"KIRSCHLEBEN, NEAR ERFURT, 17th SEPTEMBER, 1757.--My +dearest Sister, I find no other consolation but in your precious +Letters. May Heaven reward so much virtue and such heroic sentiments! + +"Since I wrote last to you, my misfortunes have but gone on +accumulating. It seems as though Destiny would discharge all its wrath +and fury upon the poor Country which I had to rule over. The Swedes +have entered Pommern. The French, after having concluded a Neutrality +humiliating to the King of England and themselves [Kloster-Zeven, +which we know], are in full march upon Halberstadt and Magdeburg. From +Preussen I am in daily expectation of hearing of a battle having been +fought: the proportion of combatants being 25,000 against 80,000 [was +fought, Gross-Jagersdorf, 30th August, and lost accordingly]. The +Austrians have marched into Silesia, whither the Prince of Bevern +follows them. I have advanced this way to fall upon the corps of the +allied Army; which has run off, and intrenched itself, behind Eisenach, +amongst hills, whither to follow, still more to attack them, all rules +of war forbid. The moment I retire towards Saxony, this whole swarm will +be upon my heels. Happen what may, I am determined, at all risks, to +fall upon whatever corps of the enemy approaches me nearest. I shall +even bless Heaven for its mercy, if it grant me the favor to die sword +in hand. + +"Should this hope fail me, you will allow that it would be too hard to +crawl at the feet of a company of traitors, to whom successful crimes +have given the advantage to prescribe the law to me. How, my dear, my +incomparable Sister, how could I repress feelings of vengeance and of +resentment against all my neighbors, of whom there is not one who did +not accelerate my downfall, and will not, share in our spoils? How can a +Prince survive his State, the glory of his Country, his own reputation? +A Bavarian Elector, in his nonage [Son of the late poor Kaiser, and +left, shipwrecked in his seventeenth year], or rather in a sort of +subjection to his Ministers, and dull to the biddings of honor, may +give himself up as a slave to the imperious domination of the House of +Austria, and kiss the hand which oppressed his Father: I pardon it to +his youth and his ineptitude. But is that the example for me to follow? +No, dear Sister, you think too nobly to give me such mean (LACHE) +advice. Is Liberty, that precious prerogative, to be less dear to a +Sovereign in the eighteenth century than it was to Roman Patricians of +old? And where is it said, that Brutus and Cato should carry magnanimity +farther than Princes and Kings? Firmness consists in resisting +misfortune: but only cowards submit to the yoke, bear patiently their +chains, and support oppression tranquilly. Never, my dear Sister, could +I resolve upon such ignominy.... + +"If I had followed only my own inclinations, I should have ended it (JE +ME SERAIS DEPECHE) at once, after that unfortunate Battle which I lost. +But I felt that this would be weakness, and that it behooved me to +repair the evil which had happened. My attachment to the State awoke; +I said to myself, It is not in seasons of prosperity that it is rare to +find defenders, but in adversity. I made it a point of honor with +myself to redress all that had got out of square; in which I was not +unsuccessful; not even in the Lausitz [after those Zittau disasters] +last of all. But no sooner had I hastened this way to face new enemies, +than Winterfeld was beaten and killed near Gorlitz, than the French +entered the heart, of my States, than the Swedes blockaded Stettin. +Now there is nothing effective left for me to do: there are too many +enemies. Were I even to succeed in beating two armies, the third would +crush me. The enclosed Note [in cipher] will show you what I am still +about to try: it is the last attempt. + +"The gratitude, the tender affection, which I feel towards you, that +friendship, true as the hills, constrains me to deal openly with you. +No, my divine Sister, I shall conceal nothing from you that I intend to +do; all my thoughts, all my resolutions shall be open and known to you +in time. I will precipitate nothing: but also it will be impossible for +me to change my sentiments.... + +"As for you, my incomparable Sister, I have not the heart to turn you +from your resolves. We think alike, and I cannot condemn in you the +sentiments which I daily entertain (EPROUVE). Life has been given to us +as a benefit: when it ceases to be such"--! "I have nobody left in this +world, to attach me to it, but you. My friends, the relations I loved +most, are in the grave; in short, I have lost, everything. If you take +the resolution which I have taken, we end together our misfortunes and +our unhappiness; and it will be the turn of them who remain in this +world, to provide for the concerns falling to their charge, and to bear +the weight, which has lain on us so long. These, my adorable Sister, are +sad reflections, but suitable to my present condition. + +"The day before yesterday I was at Gotha [yes, see above;--and +to-morrow, if I knew it, Seidlitz with pictorial effects will be +there].... + +"But, it is time to end this long, dreary Letter; which treats almost of +nothing but my own affairs. I have had some leisure, and have used it +to open on you a heart filled with admiration and gratitude towards +you. Yes, my adorable Sister, if Providence troubled itself about human +affairs, you ought to be the happiest person in the Universe. Your not +being such, confirms me in the sentiments expressed at the end of my +EPITRE. In conclusion, believe that I adore you, and that I would give +my life a thousand times to serve you. These are the sentiments which +will animate me to the last breath of my life; being, my beloved Sister, +ever"--Your--F. [_OEuvres,_ xxvii. i, 303-307.] + +WILHELMINA'S ANSWER,--by anticipation, as we said: written "15th +September," while Friedrich was dining at Gotha, in quest of Soubise. + +"BAIREUTH, 15th SEPTEMBER, 1757. My dearest Brother, your Letter and the +one you wrote to Voltaire, my dear Brother, have almost killed me. What +fatal resolutions, great God! Ah, my dear Brother, you say you love me; +and you drive a dagger into my heart. Your EPITRE, which I did receive, +made me shed rivers of tears. I am now ashamed of such weakness. My +misfortune would be so great" in the issue there alluded to, "that I +should find worthier resources than tears. Your lot shall be mine: I +will not survive either your misfortunes or those of the House I belong +to. You may calculate that such is my firm resolution. + +"But, after this avowal, allow me to entreat you to look back at what +was the pitiable state of your Enemy when you lay before Prag! It is + occur again, when one is least expecting it, Caesar was the slave of +Pirates; and he became the master of the world. A great genius like +yours finds resources even when all is lost; and it is impossible this +frenzy can continue. My heart bleeds to think of the poor souls in +Preussen [Apraxin and his Christian Cossacks there,--who, it is noted, +far excel the Calmuck worshippers of the Dalai-Lama]. What horrid +barbarity, the detail of cruelties that go on there! I feel all that you +feel on it, my dear Brother. I know your heart, and your sensibility for +your subjects. + +"I suffer a thousand times more than I can tell you; nevertheless hope +does not abandon me. I received your Letter of the 14th by W. [who W. +is, no mortal knows]. What kindness to think of me, who have nothing to +give you but a useless affection, which is so richly repaid by yours! +I am obliged to finish; but I shall never cease to be, with the most +profound respect (TRES-PROFOND RESPECT,"--that, and something still +better, if my poor pen were not embarrassed), + +"your"--WILHELMINA. + +5. FRIEDRICH'S RESPONSE TO THE DISSUASIVES OF VOLTAIRE (Last of the +Lamentation-Psalms: "Buttstadt, October 9th").--Voltaire's Dissuasive +Letter is a poor Piece; [_OEuvres de Voltaire, _ lxxvii. 80-85 (LES +DELICES, early in September, 1757: no date given).] not worth giving +here. Remarkable only by Friedrich's quiet reception of it; which +readers shall now see, as Finis to those Lamentation-Psalms. There +is another of them, widely known, which we will omit: the EPITRE +TO D'ARGENS; [In _ OEuvres de Frederic,_ xii. 50-56 ("Erfurt, 23d +September, 1757 ").] passionate enough, wandering wildly over human +life, and sincere almost to shrillness, in parts; which Voltaire has +also got hold of. Omissible here; the fixity of purpose being plain +otherwise to Voltaire and us. Voltaire's counter-arguments are weak, or +worse: "That Roman death is not now expected of the Philosopher; that +your Majesty will, in the worst event, still have considerable Dominions +left, all that your Great-Grandfather had; still plenty of resources; +that, in Paris Society, an estimable minority even now thinks highly +of you; that in Paris itself your Majesty [does not say expressly, as +dethroned and going on your travels] would have resources!" To which +beautiful considerations Friedrich answers, not with fire and brimstone, +as one might have dreaded, but in this quiet manner (REPONSE AU SIEUR +VOLTAIRE):-- + + "Je suis homme, il suffit, et ne pour la souffrance; + Aux rigueurs du destin j'oppose ma constance. + +["I am a man, and therefore born to suffer; to destiny's rigors my +steadfastness must correspond."--Quotation from I know not whom.] + +But with these sentiments, I am far from condemning Cato and Otho. The +latter had no fine moment in his life, except that of his death. [Breaks +off into Verse:] + + "Croyez que si j'etais Voltaire, + Et particulier comme lui, + Me contentant du necessaire, + Je verrais voltiger la fortune legere," + +--Or,to wring the water and the jingle out of it, and give the substance +in Prose:-- + +"Yes, if I were Voltaire and a private man, I could with much composure +leave Fortune to her whirlings and her plungings; to me, contented +with the needful, her mad caprices and sudden topsy-turvyings would be +amusing rather than tremendous. + +"I know the ennui attending on honors, the burdensome duties, the jargon +of grinning flatterers, those pitiabilities of every kind, those details +of littleness, with which you have to occupy yourself if set on high on +the stage of things. Foolish glory has no charm for me, though a +Poet and King: when once Atropos has ended me forever, what will the +uncertain honor of living in the Temple of Memory avail? One moment +of practical happiness is worth a thousand years of imaginary in such +Temple.--Is the lot of high people so very sweet, then? Pleasure, gentle +ease, true and hearty mirth, have always fled from the great and their +peculiar pomps and labors. + +"No, it is not fickle Fortune that has ever caused my sorrows; let her +smile her blandest, let her frown her fiercest on me, I should sleep +every night, refusing her the least worship. But our respective +conditions are our law; we are bound and commanded to shape our temper +to the employment we have undertaken. Voltaire in his hermitage, in a +Country where is honesty and safety, can devote himself in peace to +the life of the Philosopher, as Plato has described it. But as to me, +threatened with shipwreck, I must consider how, looking the tempest in +the face, I can think, can live and can die as a King:-- + + Pour moi, menace du naufrage, + Je dois, en affrontant l'orage, + Penser, vivre et mourir en roi." + [_OEuvres,_ xxiii. 14.] + +This is of October 9th; this ends, worthily, the Lamentation-Psalms; +work having now turned up, which is a favorable change. Friedrich's +notion of suicide, we perceive, is by no means that of puking up one's +existence, in the weak sick way of FELO DE SE; but, far different, that +of dying, if he needs must, as seems too likely, in uttermost spasm of +battle for self and rights to the last. From which latter notion nobody +can turn him. A valiantly definite, lucid and shiningly practical +soul,--with such a power of always expectorating himself into clearness +again. If he do frankly wager his life in that manner, beware, ye +Soubises, Karls and flaccid trivial persons, of the stroke that may +chance to lie in him!-- + + + + +III. RUMOR OF AN INROAD ON BERLIN SUDDENLY SETS FRIEDRICH ON MARCH +THITHER: INROAD TAKES EFFECT,--WITH IMPORTANT RESULTS, CHIEFLY IN A +LEFT-HAND FORM. + +October 11th, express arrived, important express from General Finck (who +is in Dresden, convalescent from Kolin, and is even Commandant there, of +anything there is to command), "That the considerable Austrian Brigade +or Outpost, which was left at Stolpen when the others went for Silesia, +is all on march for Berlin." Here is news! "The whole 15,000 of +them," report adds;--though it proved to be only a Detachment, picked +Tolpatches mostly, and of nothing like that strength; shot off, under a +swift General Haddick, on this errand. Between them and Berlin is not +a vestige of force; and Berlin itself has nothing but palisades, and +perhaps a poor 4,000 of garrison. "March instantly, you Moritz, who lie +nearest; cross Elbe at Torgau; I follow instantly!" orders Friedrich; +[His Message to Moritz, ORLICH, p. 73; Rodenbeck, p. 322 (dubious, or +wrong).]--and that same night is on march, or has cavalry pushed ahead +for reinforcement of Moritz. + +Friedrich, not doubting but there would be captaincy and scheme among +his Enemies, considered that the Swedes, and perhaps the Richelieu +French, were in concert with this Austrian movement,--from east, +from north, from west, three Invasions coming on the core of his +Dominions;--and that here at last was work ahead, and plenty of it! +That was Friedrich's opinion, and most other people's, when the Austrian +inroad was first heard of: "mere triple ruin coming to this King," as +the Gazetteers judged;--great alarm prevailing among the King's friends; +in Berlin, very great. Friedrich, glad, at any rate, to have done with +that dismal lingering at Buttelstadt, hastens to arrange himself for +the new contingencies; to post his Keiths, his Ferdinands, with their +handfuls of force, to best advantage; and push ahead after Moritz, by +Leipzig, Torgau, Berlin-wards, with all his might. At Leipzig, in such +press of business and interest,--judge by the following phenomenon, what +a clear-going soul this is, and how completely on a level with whatever +it may be that he is marching towards:-- + +"LEIPZIG, 15th OCTOBER, 1757 (Interview with Gottsched).--At 11 this +morning, Majesty came marching into Leipzig; multitudes of things to +settle there; things ready, things not yet ready, in view of the great +events ahead. Seeing that he would have time after dinner, he at once +sent for Professor Gottsched, a gigantic gentleman, Reigning King of +German Literature for the time being, to come to him at 3 P.M. Reigning +King at that time; since gone wholly to the Dustbins,--'Popular +Delusion,' as old Samuel defines it, having since awakened to itself, +with scornful ha-ha's upon its poor Gottsched, and rushed into other +roads worse and better; its poor Gottsched become a name now signifying +Pedantry, Stupidity, learned Inanity and the Worship of Colored Water, +to every German mind. + +"At 3 precise, the portly old gentleman (towards sixty now, huge of +stature, with a shrieky voice, and speaks uncommonly fast) bowed himself +in; and a Colloquy ensued, on Literature and so forth, of the kind we +may conceive. Colloquy which had great fame in the world; Gottsched +himself having--such the inaccuracy of rumor and Dutch Newspapers, on +the matter--published authentic Report of it; [Next Year, in a principal +Leipzig Magazine, with name signed: given in _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. +728-739 (with multifarious commentaries and flourishings, denoting an +attentive world). Nicolai, _Anekdoten,_ iii. 286-290.] now one of the +dullest bits of reading, and worth no man's bit of time. Colloquy which +lasted three hours, with the greatest vivacity on both sides; King +impugning, for one principal thing, the roughness of German speech; +Gottsched, in swift torrents (far too copious in such company), ready to +defend. 'Those consonants of ours,' said the King, 'they afflict one's +ear: what Names we have; all in mere K's and P's: KNAP-, KNIP-, KLOP-, +KROTZ-, KROK--;--your own Name, for example!'"--Yes, his own Name, +unmusical GottSCHED, and signifying God's-Damage (God's-SKAITH) withal. +"Husht, don't take a Holy Name in vain; call the man SCHED ('Damage' +by itself), can't we!" said a wit once. [Nicolai, _Anekdoten,_ iii. +287.]--"'Five consonants together, TTSCH, TTSCH, what a tone!' continued +the King. 'Hear, in contrast, the music of this Stanza of Rousseau's +[Repeats a stanza]. Who could express that in German with such melody?' +And so on; branching through a great many provinces; King's knowledge +of all Literature, new and ancient, 'perfectly astonishing to me;' and +I myself, the swift-speaking Gottsched, rather copious than otherwise. +Catastrophe, and summary of the whole, was: Gottsched undertook to +translate the Rousseau Stanza into German of moderate softness; and +by the aid of water did so, that very night; [Copied duly in +_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 726.] sent it next day, and had 'within an +hour' a gracious Royal Answer in verse; calling one, incidentally, +'Saxon Swan, CYGNE SAXON,' though one is such a Goose! 'Majesty to march +at 7 to-morrow morning,' said a Postscript,--no Interviewing more, at +present. + +"About ten days after [not to let this thing interrupt us again], +Friedrich, on his return to Leipzig, had another Interview with +Gottsched; of only one hour, this time;--but with many topics: Reading +of some Gottsched Ode (ODE, very tedious, frothy, watery, of THANKS to +Majesty for such goodness to the Saxon Swan; reading, too, of 'some of +Madam Gottsched's Pieces'). Majesty confessed afterwards, Every hour +from the very first had lowered his opinion of the Saxon Swan, till at +length Goosehood became too apparent. Friedrich sent him a gold snuffbox +by and by, but had no farther dialoguing. + +"A saying of Excellency Mitchell's to Gottsched--for Gottsched, on that +second Leipzig opportunity, went swashing about among the King's Suite +as well--is still remembered. They were talking of Shakspeare: 'Genial, +if you will,' said Gottsched, 'but the Laws of Aristotle; Five Acts, +unities strict!'--'Aristotle? What is to hinder a man from making +his Tragedy in Ten acts, if it suit him better?' 'Impossible, your +Excellency!'--'Pooh,' said his Excellency; 'suppose Aristotle, and +general Fashion too, had ordered that the clothes of every man were to +be cut from five ells of cloth: how would the Herr Professor like [with +these huge limbs of his] if he found there were no breeches for him, on +Aristotle's account?' Adieu to Gottsched; most voluminous of men;--who +wrote a Grammar of the German Language, which, they say, did good. +I remember always his poor Wife with some pathos; who was a fine, +graceful, loyal creature, of ten times his intelligence; and did no +end of writing and translating and compiling (Addison's CATO, Addison's +SPECTATOR, thousands of things from all languages), on order of her +Gottsched, till life itself sank in such enterprises; never doubting, +tragically faithful soul, but her Gottsched was an authentic Seneschal +of Phoebus and the Nine." [Her LETTERS, collected by a surviving +Lady-Friend, "BRIEFE DER FRAU LUISE ADELGUNDE VIKTORIE GOTTSCHED, born +KULMUS (Dresden, 1771-1772, 3 vols. 8vo)," are, I should suppose, the +only Gottsched Piece which anybody would now think of reading.]-- + +Monday, 17th, at seven, his Majesty pushed off accordingly; cheery he +in the prospect of work, whatever his friends in the distance be. Here, +from Eilenburg, his first stage Torgau-way, are a Pair of Letters in +notable contrast. + +WILHELMINA TO THE KING (on rumor of Haddick, swoln into a Triple +Invasion, Austrian, Swedish, French). + +BAIREUTH, "15th October, 1757. + +"MY DEAREST BROTHER,--Death and a thousand torments could not equal the +frightful state I am in. There run reports that make me shudder. Some +say you are wounded; others, dangerously ill. In vain have I tormented +myself to have news of you; I can get none. Oh, my dear Brother, come +what may, I will not survive you. If I am to continue in this frightful +uncertainty, I cannot stand it; I shall sink under it, and then I +shall be happy. I have been on the point of sending you a courier; but +[environed as we are] I durst not. In the name of God, bid somebody +write me one word. + +"I know not what I have written; my heart is torn in pieces; I feel +that by dint of disquietude and alarms I am losing my wits. Oh, my dear, +adorable Brother, have pity on me. Heaven grant I be mistaken, and that +you may scold me; but the least thing that concerns you pierces me to +the heart, and alarms my affection too much. Might I die a thousand +times, provided you lived and were happy! + +"I can say no more. Grief chokes me; and I can only repeat that your +fate shall be mine; being, my dear Brother, your + +"WILHELMINA." + +What a shrill penetrating tone, like the wildly weeping voice of Rachel; +tragical, painful, gone quite to falsetto and above pitch; but with a +melody in its dissonance like the singing of the stars. My poor shrill +Wilhelmina!-- + + +KING TO WILHELMINA (has not yet received the Above). + +"EILENBURG, 17th October, 1757. + +"MY DEAREST SISTER,--What is the good of philosophy unless one employ +it in the disagreeable moments of life? It is then, my dear Sister, that +courage and firmness avail us. + +"I am now in motion; and having once got into that, you may calculate I +shall not think of sitting down again, except under improved omens. +If outrage irritates even cowards, what will it do to hearts that have +courage? + +"I foresee I shall not be able to write again for perhaps six weeks: +which fails not to be a sorrow to me: but I entreat you to be calm +during these turbulent affairs, and to wait with patience the month of +December; paying no regard to the Nurnberg Newspapers nor to those of +the Reich, which are totally Austrian. + +"I am tired as a dog (COMME UN CHIEN). I embrace you with my whole +heart; being with the most perfect affection (TENDRESSE), my dearest +Sister, your"-- FRIEDRICH. + +... (AT SOME OTHER HOUR, SAME PLACE AND DAY.) "'No possibility of +Peace,' say your accounts [Letter lost]; 'the French won't hear my name +mentioned.' Well; from me they shall not farther. The way will be, to +speak to them by action, so that they may repent their impertinences and +pride." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvii. i. 308, 309, 310.]' + +The Haddick affair, after all the rumor about it, proved to be a very +small matter. No Swede or Richelieu had dreamt of co-operating; +Haddick, in the end, was scarce 4,000 with four cannon; General Rochow, +Commandant of Berlin, with his small garrison, had not Haddick skilfully +slidden through woods, and been so magnified by rumor, might have +marched out, and beaten a couple of Haddicks. As it was, Haddick +skilfully emerging, at the Silesian Gate of Berlin, 16th October, +about eleven in the morning, demanded ransom of 300,000 thalers (45,000 +pounds); was refused; began shooting on the poor palisades, on the +poor drawbridge there; "at the third shot brought down the drawbridge;" +rushed into the suburb; and was not to be pushed out again by the +weak party Rochow sent to try it. Rochow, ignorant of Haddick's force, +marched off thereupon for Spandau with the Royal Family and effects; +leaving Haddick master of the suburb, and Berlin to make its own bargain +with him. Haddick, his Croats not to be quite kept from mischief, +remained master of the suburb, minatory upon Berlin, for twelve hours or +more: and after a good deal of bargaining,--ransom of 45,000 pounds, of +90,000 pounds, finally of 27,000 pounds and "two dozen pair of gloves +to the Empress Queen,"--made off about five in the morning; wind +of Moritz's advance adding wings to the speed of Haddick. +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 715-723 (Haddick's own Account, and the Berlin +one).] + +Moritz did arrive next evening (18th); but with his tired troops there +was no catching of Haddick, now three marches ahead. Royal Family and +effects returned from Spandau the day following; but in a day or +two more, removed to Magdeburg till the Capital were safe from such +affronts. Much grumbling against Rochow. "What could I do? How could I +know?" answered Rochow, whose eyesight indeed had been none of the best. +Berlin smarts to the length of 27,000 pounds and an alarm; but asserts +(not quite mythically, thinks Retzow), that "the two dozen pair of +gloves were all gloves for the left hand,"--Berlin having wit, and a +touch of ABSINTHE in it, capable of such things! Friedrich heard +the news at Annaburg, a march beyond Torgau; and there paused, again +uncertain, for about a week coming; after which, he discovered that +Leipzig would be the place; and returned thither, appointing a general +rendezvous and concentration there. + + + + +SCENE AT REGENSBURG IN THE INTERIM. + +Just while Haddick was sliding swiftly through the woods, Berlin now +nigh, there occurred a thing at Regensburg; tragic thing, but ending in +farce,--Finale of REICHS-ACHT, in short;--about which all Regensburg was +loud, wailing or haha-ing according to humor; while Berlin was paying +its ransom and left-hand gloves. One moment's pause upon this, though +our haste is great. + +"Reichs Diet had got its Ban of the Reich ready for Friedrich; CITATIO +(solemn Summons) and all else complete; nothing now wanted but to serve +Citatio on him, or 'insinuate' it into him, as their phrase is;--which +latter essential point occasions some shaking of wigs. Dangerous, +serving Citatio in that quarter: and by what art try to smuggle it into +the hands of such a one? 'Insinuate it here into his, Plotho's, hand; +that is the method, and that will suffice!' say the wigs, and choose +an unfortunate Reichs Notary, Dr. Aprill, to do it; who, in ponderous +Chancery-style, gives the following affecting report,--wonderful, but +intelligible (when abridged):-- + +"Citatio" to come and receive your Ban,--a very solemn-sounding +Document, commencing (or perhaps it is Aprill himself that so commences, +no matter which), "'In the Name of the Most High God, the Father, Son +and Holy Ghost, Amen,'--was given, Wednesday, 12th October, in the +Year after Christ our dear Lord and Saviour's Birth, 1757 Years, To me +Georgius Mathias Josephus Aprill, sworn Kaiserlich Notarius Publicus; +In my Lodging, first-floor fronting south, in Jacob Virnrohr the +Innkeeper's House here at Regensburg, called the Red-Star," for +insinuation into Plotho: + +With which solemn Piece, Aprill proceeded next day, Thursday, +half-past 2 P.M., to Plotho's dwelling-place, described with equal +irrefragability; and, continues Aprill, "did there, by a servant of +the Herr Ambassador von Plotho's, announce myself; adding that I had +something to say to his Excellency, if he would please to admit me. To +which the Herr Ambassador by the same servant sent answer, that he was +ill with a cold, and that I might speak to his Secretarius what I had to +say. But, as I replied that my message was to his Excellenz in person, +the same servant came back with intimation that I might call again +to-morrow at noon." + +To-morrow, at the stroke of noon, Friday, 14th October, Aprill +punctually appears again, with recapitulation of the pledge given him +yesterday; and is informed that he can walk up-stairs. "I proceeded +thereupon, the servant going before, up one pair of stairs, or with +the appurtenances (GEZEUGEN) rather more than one pair, into the +Herr Ambassador Freiherr von Plotho's Anteroom; who, just as we were +entering, stept in himself, through a side-door; in his dressing-gown, +and with the words, 'Speak now what you have to say.' + +"I thereupon slipt into his hand CITATIO FISCALIS, and said"--said +at first nothing, Plotho avers; merely mumbled, looked like some poor +caitiff, come with Law-papers on a trifling Suit we happen to have +in the Courts here;--and only by degrees said (let us abridge; SCENE, +Aprill and Plotho, Anteroom in Regensburg, first-floor and rather +higher):-- + +APRILL. "'I have to give your Excellenz this Writing,--[which privately, +could your Excellenz guess it, is] CITATIO FISCALIS from the Reichstag, +summoning his Majesty to show cause why Ban of the Reich should not pass +upon him!' His Excellenz at first took the CITATIO and adjuncts from me; +and looking into them to see what they were, his Excellenz's face began +to color, and soon after to color a little more; and on his looking +attentively at CITATIO FISCALIS, he broke into violent anger and rage, +so that he could not stand still any longer; but with burning face, and +both arms held aloft, rushed close to me, CITATIO and adjuncts in his +right hand, and broke out in this form:-- + +PLOTHO. "'What; insinuate (INSINUIEREN), you scoundrel!' + +APRILL. "'It is my Notarial Office; I must do it.' In spite of which the +Freiherr von Plotho fell on me with all rage; grasped me by the front of +the cloak, and said:-- + +PLOTHO. "'Take it back, wilt thou!' And as I resisted doing so, he stuck +it in upon me, and shoved it down with all violence between my coat +and waistcoat; and, still holding me by the cloak, called to the two +servants who had been there, 'Fling him down stairs!'--which they, being +discreet fellows, and in no flurry, did not quite, nor needed quite to +do ('Must, sir, you see, unless!'), and so forced me out of the house; +Excellenz Plotho retiring through his Anteroom, and his Body-servant, +who at first had been on the stairs, likewise disappearing as I got +under way,"--and have to report, in such manner, to the Universe +and Reichs Diet, with tears in my eyes. [Preuss, ii. 397-401; in +_Helden-Geschichte, _ iv. 745-749, Plotho's Account.] + +What became of Reichs Ban after this, ask not. It fell dead by +Friedrich's victories now at hand; rose again into life on Friedrich's +misfortunes (August, 1758), threatening to include George Second in it; +upon which the CORPUS EVANGELICORUM made some counter-mumblement;--and, +I have heard, the French privately advised: "Better drop it; these two +Kings are capable of walking out of you, and dangerously kicking the +table over as they go!"--Whereby it again fell dead, positively for the +last time, and, in short, is worth no mention or remembrance more. + +CORPUS EVANGELICORUM had always been against Reichs Ban: a few +Dissentients, or Half-Dissentients excepted,--as Mecklenburg wholly +and with a will; foolish Anspach wholly; and the Anhalts haggling some +dissent, and retracting it (why, I never knew);--for which Mecklenburg +and the Anhalts, lying within clutch of one, had to repent bitterly in +the years coming! Enough of all that. + +The Haddick invasion, which had got its gloves, left-hand or not, +and part of its road-expenses, brought another consequence much more +important on the PER-CONTRA side. The triumphing, TE-DEUM-ing and +jubilation over it,--"His Metropolis captured; Royal Family in +flight!"--raised the Dauphiness Army, and especially Versailles, +into such enthusiasm, that Dauphiness came bodily out (on order from +Versailles); spread over the Country, plundering and insulting beyond +example; got herself reinforced by a 15,000 from the Richelieu Army; +crossed the Saale; determined on taking Leipzig, beating Friedrich, and +I know not what. Keith, in Leipzig with a small Party, had summons from +Soubise's vanguard (October 24th): Keith answered, He would burn the +suburbs;--upon which, said vanguard, hearing of Friedrich's advent +withal, took itself rapidly away. And Soubise and it would fain have +recrossed Saale, I have understood, had not Versailles been peremptory. + +In a word, Friedrioh arrived at Leipzig October 26th; Ferdinand, Moritz +and all the others coming or already come: and there is something great +just at hand. Friedrich's stay in Leipzig was only four days. Cheering +prospect of work now ahead here;--add to this, assurance from Preussen +that Apraxin is fairly going home, and Lehwald coming to look after +the Swedes. Were it not that there is bad news from Silesia, things +generally are beginning to look up. Of the hour spent on Gottsched, +in these four days, we expressly take no notice farther; but there was +another visit much less conspicuous, and infinitely more important: that +of a certain Hanoverian Graf von Schulenburg, not in red or with plumes, +like a Major-General as he was, but "in the black suit of a Country +Parson,"--coming, in that unnoticeable guise, to inform Friedrich +officially, "That the Hanoverians and Majesty of England have resolved +to renounce the Convention of Kloster-Zeven; to bring their poor Stade +Army into the field again; and do now request him, King Friedrich, +to grant them Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick to be General of the same." +[Mauvillon, i. 256; Westphalen, i. 315: indistinct both, and with slight +variations. Mitchell Papers (in British Museum), likewise indistinct: +Additional MSS. 6815, pp. 96 and 108 ("Lord Holderness to Mitchell," +doubtless on Pitt's instigation, "10th October, 1757," is the beginning +of it,--two days before Royal Highness got home from Stade); see ib. +6806, pp. 241-252.] + +Here is an unnoticeable message, of very high moment indeed. To which +Friedrich, already prepared, gives his cheerful consent; nominations and +practicalities to follow, the instant these present hurries are over. +Who it was that had prepared all this, whose suggestion it first was, +Friedrich's, Mitchell's, George's, Pitt's, I do not know,--I cannot +help suspecting Pitt; Pitt and Friedrich together. And certainly of all +living men, Ferdinand--related to the English and Prussian royalties, +a soldier of approved excellence, and likewise a noble-minded, +prudent, patient and invincibly valiant and steadfast man--was, beyond +comparison, the fittest for this office. Pitt is now fairly in power; +and perceives,--such Pitt's originality of view,--that an Army with a +Captain to it may differ beautifully from one without. And in fact we +may take this as the first twitch at the reins, on Pitt's part; whose +delicate strong hand, all England running to it with one heart, will be +felt at the ends of the earth before many months go. To the great and +unexpected joy of Friedrich, for one. "England has taken long to produce +a great man," he said to Mitchell; "but here is one at last!" + + + + + +BOOK XVIII (CONTINUED)--SEVEN-YEARS WAR RISES TO A HEIGHT. 1757-1759. + + + + +Chapter VIII.--BATTLE OF ROSSBACH. + +Friedrich left Leipzig Sunday, October 30th; encamped, that night, on +the famous Field of Lutzen, with the vanguard, he (as usual, and Mayer +with him, who did some brisk smiting home of what French there were); +Keith and Duke Ferdinand following, with main body and rear. + +Movements on the Soubise-Hildburghausen part are all retrograde +again;--can Dauphiness Bellona do nothing, then, except shuttle forwards +and then backwards according to Friedrich's absence or presence? The +Soubise-Hildburghausen Army does immediately withdraw on this occasion, +as on the former; and makes for the safe side of the Saale again, +rapidly retreating before Friedrich, who is not above one to two of +them,--more like one to three, now that Broglio's Detachment is come +to hand. Broglio got to Merseburg October 26th,--guess 15,000 +strong;--considerably out of repair, and glad to have done with such a +march, and be within reach of Soubise. This is the Second Son of our old +Blusterous Friend; a man who came to some mark, and to a great deal of +trouble, in this War; and ended, readers know how, at the Siege of the +Bastille thirty-two years afterwards! + +So soon as rested, Broglio, by order, moves leftwards to Halle, to guard +Saale Bridge there; Soubise himself edging after him to Merseburg, on a +similar errand; and leaving Hildburghausen to take charge of Weissenfels +and the Third Saale Bridge. That is Dauphiness's posture while Friedrich +encamps at Lutzen:--let impatient human nature fix these three places +for itself, and hasten to the catastrophe of wretched Dauphiness. +Soubise, it ought to be remembered, is not in the highest spirits; but +his Officers in over-high, "Doing this PETIT MARQUIS DE BRANDEBOURG +the honor to have a kind of War with him (DE LUI FAIRE UNE ESPECE DE +GUERRE)," as they term it. Being puffed up with general vanity, and the +newspaper rumor about Haddick's feat,--which, like the gloves it got, +is going all to left-hand in this way. Hildburghausen and the others +overrule Soubise; and indeed there is no remedy; "Provision almost +out;--how retreat to our magazines and our fastnesses, with Friedrich +once across Saale, and sticking to the skirts of us?" Here, from +eye-witnesses where possible, are the successive steps of Dauphiness +towards her doom, which is famous in the world ever since. + +"Monday, 31st October, 1757," as the Town-Syndic of Weissenfels +records, "about eight in the morning, [Muller, SCHLACHT BEI ROSSBACH ("a +Centenary Piece," Berlin, 1857,--containing several curious Extracts), +p. 44, _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 643, 651-668.] the King of Prussia, with +his whole Army" (or what seemed to us the whole, though it was but +a half; Keith with the other half being within reach to northward, +marching Merseburg way), "came before this Town." Has been here before; +as Keith has, as Soubise and others have: a town much agitated lately by +transit of troops. It was from the eastern, or high landward side, where +the so-called Castle is, that Friedrich came: Castle built originally on +some "White Crag (WEISSE FELS" not now conspicuous), from which the town +and whilom Duchy take their name. + +"We have often heard of Weissenfels, while the poor old drunken Duke +lived, who used to be a Suitor of Wilhelmina's, liable to hard usage; +and have marched through it, with the Salzburgers, in peaceable times. +A solid pleasant-enough little place (6,000 souls or so); lies leant +against high ground (White Crags, or whatever it once was) on the +eastern or right bank of the Saale; a Town in part flat, in part very +steep; the streets of it, or main street and secondaries, running off +level enough from the River and Bridge; rising by slow degrees, but at +last rapidly against the high ground or cliffs, just mentioned; a +stiff acclivity of streets, till crowned by the so-called Castle, the +'Augustus Burg' in those days, the 'Friedrich-Wilhelm Barrack' in ours. +It was on this crown of the cliffs that his Prussian Majesty appeared. + +"Saale is of good breadth here; has done perhaps two hundred miles, +since he started, in the Fichtelgebirge (PINE MOUNTAINS), on his long +course Elbe-ward; received, only ten miles ago, his last big branch, the +wide-wandering Unstrut, coming in with much drainage from the northern +parts:--in breadth, Saale may be compared to Thames, to Tay or Beauley; +his depth not fordable, though nothing like so deep as Thames's; main +cargo visible is rafts of timber: banks green, definite, scant of +wood; river of rather dark complexion, mainly noiseless, but of useful +pleasant qualities otherwise." + +From this Castle or landward side come Friedrich and his Prussians, on +Monday morning about eight. "The garrison, some 4,000 Reichs folk and +a French Battalion or two, shut the Gates, and assembled in the +Market-place,"--a big square, close at the foot of the Heights; "on the +other hand, from the top of the Heights [KLAMMERK the particular spot], +the Prussians cannonaded Town and Gates; to speedy bursting open of the +same; and rushed in over the walls of the Castle-court, and by other +openings into the Town: so that the garrison above said had to quit, and +roll with all speed across the Saale Bridge, and set the same on fire +behind them." This was their remedy for all the Three Bridges, when +attacked; but it succeeded nowhere so well as here. + +"The fire was of extreme rapidity; prepared beforehand:" Bridge all +of dry wood coated with pitch;--"fire reinforced too, in view of such +event, by all the suet, lard and oleaginous matter the Garrison could +find in Weissenfels; some hundredweights of tallow-dips, for one +item, going up on this occasion." Bridge, "worth 100,000 thalers," +is instantly ablaze: some 400 finding the bridge so flamy, and the +Prussians at their skirts, were obliged to surrender;--Feldmarschall +Hildburghausen, sleeping about two miles off, gets himself awakened in +this unpleasant manner. Flying garrison halt on the other side of the +River, where the rest of their Army is; plant cannon there against +quenching of the Bridge; and so keep firing, answered by the Prussians, +with much noise and no great mischief, till 3 P.M., when the Bridge is +quite gone (Toll-keeper's Lodge and all), and the enterprise of crossing +there had plainly become impossible. + +Friedrich quickly, about a mile farther down the River, has picked out +another crossing-place, in the interim, and founded some new adequate +plank or raft bridge there; which, by diligence all night, will +be crossable to-morrow. So that, except for amusing the enemy, the +cannonading may cease at Weissenfels. A certain Duc de Crillon, +in command at this Weissenfels Bridge-burning and cannonade, has a +chivalrous Anecdote (amounting nearly to zero when well examined) about +saving or sparing Friedrich's life on this interesting occasion: How, +being now on the safe side of the River, he Crillon with his staff +taking some refection of breakfast after the furious flurry there had +been; there came to him one of his Artillery Captains, stationed in +an Island in the River, asking, "Shall I shoot the King of Prussia, +Monseigneur? He is down reconnoitring his end of the Bridge: sha'n't I, +then?" To whom Crillon gives a glass of wine and smilingly magnanimous +answer to a negative effect. [_"Memoires militaires de Louis &c. Duc +de Crillon _ (Paris, 1791), p. 166;"--as cited by Preuss, ii. 88.] +Concerning which, one has to remark, Not only, FIRST, that the Artillery +Captain's power of seeing Friedrich (which is itself uncertain) would +indeed mean the power of aiming at him, but differs immensely from that +of hitting him with shot; so that this "Shall I kill the King?" was +mainly thrasonic wind from Captain Bertin. But SECONDLY, that there is +no "Island" in the River thereabouts, for Captain Bertin to fire from! +So that probably the whole story is wind or little more: dreamlike, or +at best some idle thrasonic-theoretic question, on the part of Bertin; +proper answer thereto (consisting mainly in a glass of wine) from +Monseigneur:--all which, on retrospection, Monseigneur feels, or would +fain feel, to have been not theoretic-thrasonic but practical, and of a +rather godlike nature. Zero mainly, as we said; Friedrich thanks you for +zero, Monseigneur. + +"The Prussians were billeted in the Town that night," says our Syndic; +"and in many a house there came to be twenty men, and even thirty and +above it, lodged. All was quiet through the night; the French and the +Reichs folk were drawn back upon the higher grounds, about Burgwerben +and on to Tagwerben; and we saw their watch-fires burning." Friedrich's +Bridge meanwhile, unmolested by the enemy, is getting ready. + +Keith, looking across to Merseburg on the morrow morning (Tuesday, Nov. +1st), whither he had marched direct with the other Half of the Army, +finds Merseburg Bridge destroyed, or broken; and Soubise with batteries +on the farther side, intending to dispute the passage. Keith despatches +Duke Ferdinand to Halle, another twelve miles down, who finds Halle +Bridge destroyed in like manner, and Broglio intending to dispute; +which, however, on second thoughts, neither of them I did. Friedrich's +new Bridge at Herren-Muhle (LORDSHIPS' MILL) is of course an important +point to them; Friedrich's passage now past dispute! "Let us fall back," +say they, "and rank ourselves a little; we are 50 or 60,000 strong; ill +off for provisions; but well able to retreat; and have permission to +fight on this side of the River." + +The combined Army, "Dauphiness," or whatever we are to call it, does on +Wednesday morning (November 2d) gather in its cannon and outskirts, and +give up the Saale question; retire landwards to the higher grounds some +miles; and diligently get itself united, and into order of battle better +or worse, near the Village of Mucheln (which means Kirk MICHAEL, and is +still written "SANCT MICHEL" by some on this occasion). There Dauphiness +takes post, leaning on the heights, not in a very scientific way; +leaving Keith and Ferdinand to rebuild their Bridges unmolested, and all +Prussians to come across at discretion. Which they have diligently done +(2d-3d November), by their respective Bridges; and on Thursday afternoon +are all across, encamped at Bedra, in close neighborhood to Mucheln; +which Friedrich has been out reconnoitring and finds that he can attack +next morning very early. + +Next morning, accordingly, "by 2 o'clock, with a bright moon shining," +Friedrich is on horseback, his Army following. But on examining by +moonlight, the enemy have shifted their position; turned on their axis, +more or less, into new wood-patches, new batteries and bogs; which +has greatly mended their affair. No good attacking them so, thinks +Friedrich; and returns to his Camp; slightly cannonaded, one wing of +him, from some battery of the enemy; and immoderately crowed over by +them: "Dare not, you see! Tried, and was defeated!" cry their newspapers +and they,--for one day. Friedrich lodges again in Bedra this night, +others say in Rossbach; shifts his own Camp a little; left wing of it +now at Rossbach (HOME-BROOK, or BECK, soon to be a world-famous Hamlet): +the effects of hunger on the Dauphiness, so far from her supplies, will, +he calculates, be stronger than on him, and will bring her to better +terms shortly. Dauphiness needs bread; one may have fine clipping at the +skirts of her, if she try retreat. That Dauphiness would play the prank +she did next morning, Friedrich had not ventured to calculate. + + + + +CATASTROPHE OF DAUPHINESS (Saturday, 5th November, 1757). + +Meandering Saale is on one of his big turns, as he passes Weissenfels; +turning, pretty rapidly here, from southeastward, which he was a dozen +miles ago, round to northeastward again or northward altogether, which +he gets to be at Merseburg, a dozen farther down. Right across from +Weissenfels, lapped in this crook of the Saale, or washed by it on south +side and on east, rises, with extreme laziness, a dull circular lump of +country, six or eight miles in diameter; with Rossbach and half a dozen +other scraggy sleepy Hamlets scattered on it;--which, till the morning +of Saturday, 5th November, 1757, had not been notable to any visitor. +The topmost point or points, for there are two (not discoverable except +by tradition and guess), the country people do call Hills, JANUS-HUGEL, +POLZEN-HUGEL--Hill sensible to wagon-horses in those bad loose tracks of +sandy mud, but unimpressive on the Tourist, who has to admit that there +seldom was so flat a Hill. Rising, let us guess, forty yards in +the three or four miles it has had. Might be called a perceptibly +pot-bellied plain, with more propriety; flat country, slightly puffed +up;--in shape not steeper than the mould of an immense tea-saucer would +be. Tea-saucer 6 miles in diameter, 100 feet in depth, and of irregular +contour, which indeed will sufficiently represent it to the reader's +mind. + +Saale, at four or five miles distance, bounds this scraggy lump on the +east and on the south. Westward and northward, springing about Mucheln +on each hand, and setting off to right and to left Saale-ward, are what +we take to be two brooks; at least are two hollows: and behind these, +the country rises higher; undulating still on lazy terms, but now +painted azure by the distance, not unpleasant to behold, with its litter +all lapped out of sight, and its poor brooks tinkling forward (as we +judge) into the Saale, Merseburg way, or reverse-wise into the Unstrut, +the last big branch of Saale. Southward from our Janus Height, eight or +nine miles off, may be seen some vestige of Freiburg; steeple or gilt +weathercock faintly visible, on the Unstrut yonder;--which I take to +be Soubise's bread-basket at present. And farther off, and opposite the +MOUTH of the Unstrut, well across the Saale, lies another namable Town +(visible in clear weather, as a smoke-cloud at certain hours, about +meal-time, when the kettles are on boil), the Town of Naumburg,--one of +several German Naumburgs,--the Naumburg of Gustaf Adolf; where his slain +body lay, on the night of Lutzen Battle, with his poor Queen and +others weeping over it. Naumburg is on the other side of Saale, not of +importance to Soubise in such posture. + +This is the circular block or lump of country, on the north or northwest +side of which Friedrich now lies, and which will become, he little +thinks how memorable on the morrow. Over the heights, immediately +eastward of Friedrich, there is a kind of hollow, or scooped-out place; +shallow valley of some extent, which deserves notice against to-morrow: +but in general the ground is lazily spherical, and without noticeable +hollows or valleys when fairly away from the River. A dull blunt lump of +country; made of sand and mud,--may have been grassy once, with broom on +it, in the pastoral times; is now under poor plough-husbandry, arable or +scratchable in all parts, and looks rather miserable in winter-time. No +vestige of hedge on it, of shrub or bush; one tree, ugly but big, which +may have been alive in Friedrich's time, stands not far from Rossbach +Hamlet; one, and no more, discoverable in these areas. + +Various Hamlets lie sprinkled about: very sleepy, rusty, irregular +little places; huts and cattle-stalls huddled down, as if shaken from +a bag; much straw, thick thatch and crumbly mud-brick; but looking warm +and peaceable, for the Four-footed and the Two-footed; which latter, if +you speak to them, are solid reasonable people, with energetic German +eyes and hearts, though so ill-lodged. These Hamlets, needing shelter +and spring-water, stand generally in some slight hollow, if well up the +Height, as Rorschach is; sometimes, if near the bottom, they are nestled +in a sudden dell or gash,--work of the primeval rains, accumulating from +above, and ploughing out their way. The rains, we can see, have been +busy; but there is seldom the least stream visible, bottom being too +sandy and porous. On the western slope, there is in our time a kind of +coal, or coal-dust, dug up; in the way of quarrying, not of mining; and +one or two big chasms of this sort are confusedly busy: the natives mix +this valuable coal-dust with water, mould it into bricks, and so use as +fuel: one of the features of these hamlets is the strange black bricks, +standing on edge about the cottage-doors, to drip, and dry in the sun. +For this or for other reasons, the westward slope appears to be the +best; and has a major share of hamlets on it: Rossbach is high up, and +looks over upon Mucheln, and its dim belfry and appurtenances, which lie +safe across the hollow, perhaps two miles off,--safe from Friedrich, if +there were eatables and lodging to be had in such a place. Friedrich's +left wing is in Rossbach. Bedra where Friedrich's right wing is; +Branderode where the Soubise right is; then Grost; Schevenroda, +Zeuchfeld, Pettstadt, Lunstadt,--especially Reichartswerben, where +Soubise's right will come to be: these the reader may take note of in +his Map. Several of them lie in ashes just then; plundered, replundered, +and at last set fire to; so busy have Soubise's hungry people been, +of late, in the Country they came to "deliver." The Freiburg road, the +Naumburg road, both towards Merseburg, cross this Height; straight like +the string, Saale by Weissenfels being the bow. + +The HERRENHAUS (Squire's Mansion) still stands in Rossbach, with +the littery Hamlet at its flank: a high, pavilion-roofed, and though +dilapidated, pretentious kind of House; some kind of court round it, +some kind of hedge or screen of brushwood and brick-wall: terribly in +need of the besom, it and its environment throughout. King, I suppose, +did lodge there overnight: certain it is the Squire was absent; and +the Squire's Man, three days afterwards, reported to him as follows:... +"Saturday, the 5th, about 8 A.M., his Majesty mounted to the roof of +the Herrenhaus here, some tiles having been removed [for that end, or +by accident, is not said], and saw how the French and Reichs Army were +getting in movement"--wriggling out of their Camp leftwards, evidently +aiming towards Grost. "In about an hour, near half their Army was +through Grost, and had turned southward, rather southeastward, from +Grost, out in the Rossbach and Almsdorf region, and proceeding still +towards Pettstadt,"--towards Schevenroda more precisely, not towards +Pettstadt yet. "His Majesty looked always through the perspective: and +to me was the grace done to be ever at his side, and to name for him +the roads the French and Reichs Army was marching." [Muller, p. 50; +Rodenbeck, p. 326.] + +The King had heard of this phenomenon hours before, and had sent out +Hussars and scouts upon it; but now sees it with his eyes:--"Going for +Freiburg, and their bread-cupboard," thinks the King; who does not as +yet make much of the movement; but will watch it well, and calculates to +have a stroke at the rear end of it, in due season. With which view, the +cavalry, Seidlitz and Mayer, are ordered to saddle; foot regiments, and +all else, to be in readiness. This French-Reichs Dauphiness is not rapid +in her field-exercise; and has a great deal of wriggling and unwinding +before she can fairly pick herself out, and get forward towards +Schevenroda on the Freiburg road. In three or in two parallel columns, +artillery between them, horse ahead, horse arear; haggling along +there;--making for their bread-baskets, thinks the King. A body +of French, horse chiefly, under St. Germain, come out, in the +Schortau-Almsdorf part, with some salvoing and prancing, as if intending +to attack about Rossbach, where our left wing is: but his Majesty sees +it to be a pretence merely; and St. Germain, motionless, and doing +nothing but cannonade a little, seems to agree that it is so. Dauphiness +continues her slow movements; King, in this Squire's Mansion of +Rossbach, sits down to dinner, dinner with Officers at the usual hour of +noon,--little dreaming what the Dauphiness has in her head. + +Truth is, the Dauphiness is in exultant spirits, this morning; intending +great things against a certain "little Marquis of Brandenburg," to whom +one does so much honor. Generals looking down yesterday on the King of +Prussia's Camp, able to count every man in it (and half the men being +invisible, owing to bends of the ground), counted him to 10,000 or so; +and had said, "Pshaw, are not we above 50,000; let us end it! Take him +on his left. Round yonder, till we get upon his left, and even upon his +rear withal, St. Germain co-operating on the other side of him: on left, +on rear, on front, at the same moment, is not that a sure game?" A very +ticklish game, answers surly sagacious Lloyd: "No general will permit +himself to be taken in flank with his eyes open; and the King of Prussia +is the unlikeliest you could try it with!" + +Trying it meanwhile they are; marching along by the low grounds here, +intending to sweep gradually leftwards towards Janus-Hill quarter; there +to sweep home upon him, coil him up, left and rear and front, in their +boa-constrictor folds, and end his trifle of an Army and him. "Why not, +if we do our duty at all, annihilate his trifle of an Army; take himself +prisoner, and so end it?" Report says, Soubise had really, in some +moment of enthusiasm lately, warned the Versailles populations to expect +such a thing; and that the Duchess of Orleans, forgetful of poor King +Louis's presence, had in HER enthusiasm, exclaimed: "TANT MIEUX, I shall +at last see a King, then!" But perhaps it is a mere French epigram, such +as the winds often generate there, and put down for fact.--Friedrich's +retreat to Weissenfels is cut off for Friedrich: an Austrian party has +been at the Herren-Muhle Bridge this morning, has torn it up and pitched +it into the river; planks far on to Merseburg by this time. And, in +fact, unless Friedrich be nimble--But that he usually is. + +Friedrich's dinner had gone on with deliberation for about two hours, +Friedrich's intentions not yet known to any, but everybody, great and +small, waiting eagerly for them, like greyhounds on the slip,--when +Adjutant Gaudi, who had been on the House-top the while, rushes into the +Dining-room faster than he ought, and, with some tremor in his voice and +eyes, reports hastily: "At Schevenroda, at Pettstadt yonder! Enemy has +turned to left. Clearly for the left."--"Well, and if he do? No flurry +needed, Captain!" answered Friedrich,--(NOT in these precise words; but +rebuking Gaudi, with a look not of laughter wholly, and with a certain +question, as to the state of Gaudi's stomachic part, which is still +known in traditionary circles, but is not mentionable here);--and went, +with due gravity, himself to the roof, with his Officers. "To the +left, sure enough; meaning to attack us there:" the thing Friedrich had +despaired of is voluntarily coming, then;--and it is a thing of stern +qualities withal; a wager of life, with glorious possibilities behind. + +Friedrich earnestly surveys the phenomenon for some minutes; in some +minutes, Friedrich sees his way through it, at least into it, and how +he will do it. Off, eastward; march! Swift are his orders; almost still +swifter the fulfillment of them. Prussian Army is a nimble article in +comparison with Dauphiness! In half an hour's time, all is packed and +to the road; and, except Mayer and certain Free-Corps or Light-Horse, +to amuse St. Germain and his Almsdorf people, there is not a Prussian +visible in these localities to French eyes. "At half-past two," says the +Squire's Man,--or let us take him a sentence earlier, to lose nothing +of such a Document: "At noon his Majesty took dinner; sat till about +two o'clock; then again went to the roof; and perceived that the +Enemy's Army at Pettstadt were turning about the little Wood there +northeastward, as if for Lunstadt [into the Lunstadt road];--such +cannonading too," from those Almsdorf people, "that the balls flew over +our heads,"--or I tremulously thought so. "At half-past two, the word +was given, March! And good speed they made about it, in this Herrenhaus, +and out of doors too, striking their tents, and cording up and trimly +shouldering everything with incredible brevity," as if machinery were +doing it; "and at three, on the Prussian part, all was packed and out +into the court for being carried off; and, in fact, the Prussian Army +was on march at three." Seidlitz, with all his Horse, vanishing round +the corner of the Height; speeding along, invisible on his northern +slope there, straight for the Janus-Polzen Hill part; the Infantry +following, double-quick;--well knowing, each, what he has got to do. + +But at this interesting point, the Editors--small thanks to them, +authentic but thrice-stupid mortals--cut short our Eye-witness, not +so much as telling us his name, some of them not even his date or +whereabouts; and so the curtain tumbles down (as if its string had +been cut, or suddenly eaten by unwise animals), and we are left to gray +hubbub, and our own resources at second-hand. Except only that a French +Officer--one of those cannonading from Almsdorf, no doubt--declares +that "it was like a change of scene in the Opera (DECORATION D'OPERA)," +[Letter in MULLER: p. 60. In WESTPHALEN (ii. 128-133) is a much superior +French Letter, intercepted somewhere, and fallen to Duke Ferdinand; well +worth reading, on Rossbach and the previous Affairs.] so very rapid; and +that "they all rolled off eastward at quick time." At extremely quick +time;--and soon, in the slight hollow behind Janus Hugel, vanished from +sight of these Almsdorf French, and of the Soubise-Hildburghausen Army +in general. Which latter is agreeably surprised at the phenomenon; +and draws a highly flattering conclusion from it. "Gone, then; off +at double-quick for Merseburg; aha!" think the Soubise-Hildburghausen +people: "Double-quick you too, my pretty men, lest they do whisk away, +and we never get a stroke at them,!"-- + +Seidlitz meanwhile, with his cavalry (thirty-eight squadrons, about +4,000 horse), is rapidly doing the order he has had. Seidlitz at a sharp +military trot, and the infantry at doublequick to keep up near him, +which they cannot quite do, are, as we have said, making right across +for the Polzen-Hill and Janus-Hill quarter; their route the string, +French route the bow; and are invisible to the French, owing to the +heights between. Seidlitz, when he gets to the proper point eastward, +will wheel about, front to southward, and be our left wing; infantry, as +centre and right, will appear in like manner; and--we shall see! + +The exultant Dauphiness, or Soubise-Hildburghausen Army (let us call it, +for brevity's sake, Dauphiness or French, which it mainly was), on that +rapid disappearance of the Prussians, never doubted but the Prussians +were off on flight for Merseburg, to get across by the Bridge there. +Whereat Dauphiness, doubly exultant, mended her own pace, cavalry at +a sharp trot, infantry double-quick, but unable to keep up,--for the +purpose of capturing or intercepting the runaway Prussians. Speed, +my friends,--if you would do a stroke upon Friedrich, and show the +Versailles people a King at last! Thus they, hurrying on, in two +parallel columns,--infantry, long floods of it, coming double-quick but +somewhat fallen behind; cavalry 7,000 or so, as vanguard,--faster and +faster; sweeping forward on their southern side of the Janus-and-Polzen +slope, and now rather climbing the same. + +Seidlitz has his hussar pickets on the top, to keep him informed as +to their motions, and how far they are got. Seidlitz, invisible on the +south slope of the Polzen Hugel, finds about half-past three P.M. that +he is now fairly ahead of Dauphiness; Seidlitz halts, wheels, comes +to the top, "Got the flank of them, sure enough!"--and without waiting +signal or farther orders, every instant being precious, rapidly forms +himself; and plunges down on these poor people. "Compact as a wall, and +with an incredible velocity (D'UNE VITESSE INCROYABLE)," says one +of them. Figure the astonishment of Dauphiness; of poor Broglio, who +commands the horse here. Taken in flank, instead of taking other people; +intercepted, not in the least needing to intercept! Has no time to +form, though he tried what he could. Only the two Austrian regiments +got completely formed; the rest very incompletely; and Seidlitz, in the +blaze of rapid steel, is in upon them. The two Austrian regiments, +and two French that are named, made what debate was feasible;--courage +nowise wanting, in such sad want of captaincy; nay Soubise in person +galloped into it, if that could have helped. But from the first, the +matter was hopeless; Seidlitz slashing it at such a rate, and plunging +through it and again through it, thrice, some say four times: so that, +in the space of half an hour, this luckless cavalry was all tumbling off +the ground; plunging down-hill, in full flight, across its own infantry +or whatever obstacle, Seidlitz on the hips of it; and galloping madly +over the horizon, towards Freiburg as it proved; and was not again heard +of that day. + +In about half an hour that bit of work was over; and Seidlitz, with +his ranks trimmed again, had drawn himself southward a little, into the +Hollow of Tageswerben, there to wait impending phenomena. For Friedrich +with the Infantry is now emerging over Janus Hill, in a highly +thunderous manner,--eighteen pieces of artillery going, and "four big +guns taken from the walls of Leipzig;" and there will be events anon. +It is said, Hildburghausen, at the first glimpse of Friedrich over +the hill-top, whispered to Soubise, "We are lost, Royal +Highness!"--"Courage!" Soubise would answer; and both, let us hope, did +their utmost in this extremely bad predicament they had got into. + +Friedrich's artillery goes at a murderous rate; had come in view, over +the hill-top, before Seidlitz ended,--"nothing but, the muzzles of +it visible" (and the fire-torrents from it) to us poor French below. +Friedrich's lines; or rather his one line, mere tip of his left +wing,--only seven battalions in it, five of them under Keith from the +second or reserve line; whole centre and right wing standing "refused" +in oblique rank, invisible, BEHIND the Hill,--Friedrich's line, we say, +the artillery to its right, shoots out in mysterious Prussian rhythm, +in echelons, in potences, obliquely down the Janus-Hill side; straight, +rigid, regular as iron clock-work; and strides towards us, silent, +with the lightning sleeping in it:--Friedrich has got the flank of +Dauphiness, and means to keep it. Once and again and a third time, poor +Soubise, with his poor regiments much in an imbroglio, here heaped on +one another, there with wide gaps, halt being so sudden,--attempts +to recover the flank, and pushes out this regiment and the other, +rightward, to be even with Friedrich. But sees with despair that it +cannot be; that Friedrich with his echelons, potences and mysterious +Prussian resources, pulls himself out like the pieces of a +prospect-glass, piece after piece, hopelessly fast and seemingly no +end to them; and that the flank is lost, and that--Unhappy Generals of +Dauphiness, what a phenomenon for them! A terrible Friedrich, not fled +to Merseburg at all; but mounted there on the Janus Hill, as on his +saddle-horse, with face quite the other way;--and for holster-pistol, +has plucked out twenty-two cannon. Clad verily in fire; Chimera-like, +RIDING the Janus Hill, in that manner; left leg (or wing) of him +spurning us into the abysses, right one ready to help at discretion! + +Hildburghausen, I will hope, does his utmost; Soubise, Broglio, for +certain do. The French line is in front, next the Prussians: poor +Generals of Dauphiness are panting to retrieve themselves. But with +regiments jammed in this astonishing way, and got collectively into the +lion's throat, what can be done? Steady, rigid as iron clock-work, the +Prussian line strides forward; at forty paces' distance delivers its +first shock of lightning, bursts into platoon fire; and so continues, +steady at the rate of five shots a minute,--hard to endure by poor +masses all in a coil. "The artillery tore down whole ranks of us," says +the Wutenberg Dragoon; [His Letter in MULLER, p. 83.] "the Prussian +musketry did terrible execution." + +Things began %o waver very soon, French reeling back from the Prussian +fire, Reichs troops rocking very uneasy, torn by such artillery; when, +to crown the matter, Seidlitz, seeing all things rock to the due extent, +bursts out of Tageswerben Hollow, terribly compact and furious, upon the +rear of them. Which sets all things into inextricable tumble; and the +Battle is become a rout and a riding into ruin, no Battle ever more. +Lasted twenty-five minutes, this second act of it, or till half-past +four: after which, the curtains rapidly descending (Night's curtain, +were there no other) cover the remainder; the only stage-direction, +EXEUNT OMNES. Which for a 50 or 60,000, ridden over by Seidlitz Horse, +was not quite an easy matter! They left, of killed and wounded, near +3,000; of prisoners, 5,000 (Generals among them 8, Officers 300): in +sum, about 8,000; not to mention cannon, 67 or 72; with standards, +flags, kettle-drums and meaner baggages AD LIBITUM in a manner. The +Prussian loss was, 165 killed, 376 wounded;--between a sixteenth and a +fifteenth part of theirs: in number the Prussians had been little more +than one to three; 22,000 of all arms,--not above half of whom ever came +into the fire; Seidlitz and seven battalions doing all the fighting that +was needed, St. Germain tried to cover the retreat; but "got broken," +he says,--Mayer bursting in on him,--and soon went to slush like the +others. + +Seldom, almost never, not even at Crecy or Poictiers, was any Army +better beaten. And truly, we must say, seldom did any better deserve +it, so far as the Chief Parties went. Yes, Messieurs, this is the PETIT +MARQUIS DE BRANDEBOURG; you will know this one, when you meet him again! +The flight, the French part of it, was towards Freiburg Bridge; in full +gallop, long after the chase had ceased; crossing of the Unstrut there, +hoarse, many-voiced, all night; burning of the Bridge; found burnt, when +Friedrich arrived next morning. He had encamped at Obschutz, short way +from the field itself. French Army, Reichs Army, all was gone to staves, +to utter chaotic wreck. Hildburghausen went by Naumburg; crossed the +Saale there; bent homewards through the Weimar Country; one wild flood +of ruin, swift as it could go; at Erfurt "only one regiment was in +rank, and marched through with drums beating." His Army, which had been +disgustingly unhappy from the first, and was now fallen fluid on these +mad terms, flowed all away in different rills, each by the course +straightest home; and Hildburghausen arriving at Bamberg, with +hardly the ghost or mutilated skeleton of an Army, flung down +his truncheon,--"A murrain on your Reichs Armies and regimental +chaoses!"--and went indignantly home. Reichs Army had to begin at the +beginning again; and did not reappear on the scene till late next Year, +under a new Commander, and with slightly improved conditions. + +Dauphiness Proper was in no better case; and would have flowed home +in like manner, had not home been so far, and the way unknown. Twelve +thousand of them rushed straggling through the Eichsfeld; plundering and +harrying, like Cossacks or Calmucks: "Army blown asunder, over a circle +of forty miles' radius," writes St. Germain: "had the Enemy pursued us, +after I got broken [burst in upon by Mayer and his Free-Corps people] +we had been annihilated. Never did Army behave worse; the first +cannon-salvo decided our rout and our shame." [St. Germain to Verney: +different Excerpts of Letters in the two weeks after Rossbach and before +(given in Preuss, ii. 97).] + +In two days' time (November 7th), the French had got to Langensalza, +fifty-five miles from the Battle-field of Rossbach; plundering, running, +SACRE-DIEU-ing; a wild deluge of molten wreck, filling the Eichsfeld +with its waste noises, making night hideous and day too;--in the +villages Placards were stuck up, appointing Nordhausen and Heiligenstadt +for rallying place. [Muller, p. 73.] + +Soubise rode, with few attendants, all night towards Nordhausen,--eighty +miles off, foot of the Bracken Country, where the Richelieu resources +are;--Soubise with few attendants, face set towards the Brocken; +himself, it is like, in a somewhat hag-ridden condition. + +"The joy of poor Teutschland at large," says one of my Notes, "and how +all Germans, Prussian and Anti-Prussian alike, flung up their caps, with +unanimous LEBE-HOCH, at the news of Rossbach, has often been remarked; +and indeed is still almost touching to see. The perhaps bravest Nation +in the world, though the least braggart, very certainly EIN TAPFERES +VOLK (as their Goethe calls them); so long insulted, snubbed and +trampled on, by a luckier, not a braver:--has not your exultant +Dauphiness got a beautiful little dose administered her; and is gone off +in foul shrieks, and pangs of the interior,--let no man ask whitherward! +'SI UN ALLEMAND PEUT AVOIR DE L'ESPRIT (Can a German possibly have +sharpness of wits)?' Well, yes, it would seem: here is one German +graduate who understands his medicine-chest, and the quality of +patients!--Dauphiness got no pity anywhere; plenty of epigrams, and +mostly nothing but laughter even in Paris itself. Napoleon long after, +who much admires Friedrich, finds that this Victory of Rossbach was +inevitable; 'but what fills me with astonishment and shame,' adds he, +'is that it was gained by six battalions and thirty squadrons [seven +properly, and thirty-eight] over such a multitude!' [Montholon, MEMOIRES +&C. DE NAPOLEON (Napoleon's _Precis des Guerres de Frederic II.,_ vii. +210).]--It is well known, Napoleon, after Jena, as if Jena had not been +enough for him, tore down the first Monument of Rossbach, some poor +ashlar Pyramid or Pillar, raised by the neighborhood, with nothing more +afflictive inscribed on it than a date; and sent it off in carts for +Paris (where no stone of it ever arrived, the Thuringen carmen slinking +off, and leaving it scattered in different places over the face of +Thuringen in general); so that they had the trouble of a new one +lately." [Rodenbeck, _Beitrage,_ i. 299; ib. p. 385, Lithograph of the +poor extinct Monument itself.] + +From Friedrich the "Army of the Circles," that is, Dauphiness and +Company,--called HOOPERS or "Coopers" (TONNELIERS), with a desperate +attempt at wit by pun,--get their Adieu in words withal. This is the +famed CONGE DE L'ARMEE DES CERCLES ET DES TONNELIERS; a short metrical +Piece; called by Editors the most profane, most indecent, most &c.; and +printed with asterisk veils thrown over the worst passages. Who +shall dare, searching and rummaging for insight into Friedrich, and +complaining that there is none, to lift any portion of the veil; and +say, "See--Faugh!" The cynicism, truly, but also the irrepressible +honest exultation, has a kind of epic completeness, and fulness of +sincerity; and, at bottom, the thing is nothing like so wicked as +careless commentators have given out. Dare to look a little:-- + +"ADIEU, GRANDS ERASEURS DE ROIS," so it starts: "Adieu, grand crushers +of Kings; arrogant wind-bags, Turpin, Broglio, Soubise,--Hildburghausen +with the gray beard, foolish still as when your beard was black in the +Turk-War time:--brisk journey to you all!" That is the first stanza; +unexceptionable, had we room. The second stanza is,--with the veils +partially lifted; with probably "MOISE" put into the first blank, and +into the third something of or belonging to "CESAR,"-- + + "Je vows ai vu comme... + Dans des ronces en certain lieu + Eut l'honneur de voir... + Ou comme au gre de sa luxure + Le bon Nicomede a l'ecart + Aiguillonnait sa flamme impure + Des..." + +Enough to say, the Author, with a wild burst of spiritual enthusiasm, +sings the charms of the rearward part of certain men; and what a royal +ecstatic felicity there sometimes is in indisputable survey of the same. +He rises to the heights of Anti-Biblical profanity, quoting Moses on +the Hill of Vision; sinks to the bottomless of human or ultra-human +depravity, quoting King Nicomedes's experiences on Caesar (happily +known only to the learned); and, in brief, recognizes that there is, on +occasion, considerable beauty in that quarter of the human figure, when +it turns on you opportunely. A most cynical profane affair: yet, we must +say by way of parenthesis, one which gives no countenance to Voltaire's +atrocities of rumor about Friedrich himself in this matter; the reverse +rather, if well read; being altogether theoretic, scientific; sings with +gusto the glow of beauty you find in that unexpected quarter,--while +KICKING it deservedly and with enthusiasm. "To see the"--what shall +we call it: seat of honor, in fact, "of your enemy:" has it not an +undeniable charm? "I own to you in confidence, O Soubise and Company, +this fine laurel I have got, and was so in need of, is nothing more +or other than the sight of your"--FOUR ASTERISKS. "Oblige me, whenever +clandestine Fate brings us together, by showing me that"--always that, +if you would give me pleasure when we meet. "And oh," next stanza says, +"to think what our glory is founded on,"--on view of that unmentionable +object, I declare to you!--And through other stanzas, getting smutty +enough (though in theory only), which we need not prosecute farther. +[_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xii. 70-73 (WRITTEN at Freiburg, 6th November, +when his Majesty got thither, and found the Bridge burnt).] A certain +heartiness and epic greatness of cynicism, life's nakedness grown almost +as if innocent again; an immense suppressed insuppressible Haha, on the +part of this King. Strange TE-DEUM indeed. Coming from the very heart, +truly, as few of them do; but not, in other points, recommendable at +all!--Here, of the night before, is something better:-- + + +TO WILHELMINA. + +"NEAR WEISSENFELS [OBSCHUTZ, in fact; does not know yet what the Battle +will be CALLED], 5th November, 1757. + +"At last, my dear Sister, I can announce you a bit of good news. You +were doubtless aware that the Coopers with their circles had a mind to +take Leipzig. I ran up, and hove them beyond Saale. The Duc de Richelieu +sent them a reinforcement of twenty battalions and fourteen squadrons +[say 15,000 horse and foot]; they then called themselves 63,000 strong. +Yesterday I went to reconnoitre them; could not attack them in the post +they held. This had rendered them rash. Today they came out with +the intention of attacking me; but I took the start of them (LES AI +PREVENU). It was a Battle EN DOUCEUR (soft to one's wish). Thanks to +God I have not a hundred men killed; the only General ill wounded +is Meinecke. My Brother Henri and General Seidlitz have slight hurts +[gun-shots, not so slight, that of Seidlitz] in the arm. We have all +the Enemy's cannon, all the... I am in full march to drive them over the +Unstrut [already driven, your Majesty; bridge burning]. + +"You, my dear Sister, my good, my divine and affectionate Sister +[faithful to the bone, in good truth, poor Wilhelmina], who deign to +interest yourself in the fate of a Brother who adores you, deign also +to share in my joy. The instant I have time, I will tell you more. I +embrace you with my whole heart; Adieu. F." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ +xxvii. i. 310.] + + +ULTERIOR FATE OF DAUPHINESS; FLIES OVER THE RHINE IN BAD FASHION: +DAUPHINESS'S WAYS WITH THE SAXON POPULATION IN HER DELIVERANCE-WORK. + +Friedrich had no more fighting with the French. November 9th, +at Merseburg, in all stillness, Duke Ferdinand got his Britannic +Commission, his full Powers, from Friedrich and the parties interested; +in all stillness made his arrangements, as if for Magdeburg and his +Governorship there,--Friedrich hastening off for Silesia the while. Duke +Ferdinand did stay six days in Magdeburg, inspecting or pretending to +inspect; very pleasant with his Sister and the Royalties that, are now +there; but, at midnight of day sixth shot off silently on wider errand. +And, in sum, on Thursday, 24th November, 1757, appeared in Stade, on +horseback at morning parade there; intimating, to what joy of the poor +Brunswick Grenadiers and others, That he was come to take command; +that Kloster-Zeven is abolished; that we are not an "Observation Army," +rotting here in the parish pound, any longer, but an "Allied Army" (such +now our title), intending to strike for ourselves, and get out of pound +straightway!-- + +"THURSDAY, 24th NOVEMBER-TUESDAY, 29th. Duke Ferdinand did accordingly +pick up the reins of this distracted Affair; and, in a way wonderful +to see, shot sanity into every fibre of it; and kept it sane and +road-worthy for the Five Years coming. With a silent velocity, an +energy, an imperturbable steadfastness and clear insight into cause and +effect; which were creditable to the school he came from; and were +a very joyful sight to Pitt and others concerned. So that from next +Tuesday, 'November 29th, before daylight,' when Ferdinand's batteries +began playing upon Harburg (French Fortress nearest to Stade), the reign +of the French ceased in those Countries; and an astonished Richelieu and +his French, lying scattered over all the West of Germany, in readiness +for nothing but plunder, had to fall more or less distracted in their +turn; and do a number of astonishing things. To try this and that, of +futile, more or less frantic nature; be driven from post after post; be +driven across the Aller first of all;--Richelieu to go home thereupon, +and be succeeded by one still more incompetent. + +"DECEMBER 13th, a fortnight after Ferdinand's appearance, Richelieu had +got to the safe side of the Aller (burning of Zelle Bridge and Zelle +Town there, his last act in Germany); Ferdinand's quarters now wide +enough; and vigorous speed of preparation going on for farther chase, +were the weather mended. FEBRUARY 17th, 1758, Ferdinand was on foot +again; Prince de Clermont, the still more incompetent successor of +Richelieu, gazing wide-eyed upon him, but doing nothing else: and for +the next six weeks there was seen a once triumphant Richelieu-D'Estrees +French Army, much in rags, much in disorder, in terror, and here and +there almost in despair,--winging their way; like clouds of draggled +poultry caught by a mastiff in the corn. Across Weser, across Ems, +finally across the Rhine itself, every feather of them,--their +long-drawn cackle, of a shrieky type, filling all Nature in those +months; the mastiff steadily following. [Mauvillon, i. 252-284 ("9th +November, 1757-1st April, 1758"); Westphalen, i. 316-503 (abundantly +explicit, authentic and even entertaining,--with the ample +Correspondences, ib. ii. 147-350); Schaper, _Vie militaire du Marechal +Prince Ferdinand_ (2 tomes, 8vo, Magdebourg, 1796, 1799), i. 7-100 (a +careful Book; of an official exactitude, like Westphalen's,--and appears +to be left incomplete like his).] To the astonishment of Pitt and +mankind. Can this be the same Army that Royal Highness led to the Sea +and the Parish Pound? The same identically, wasted to about two-thirds +by Royal Highness; not a drum in it changed otherwise, only One Man +different,--and he is the important one! + +"Pitt, when the news of Rossbach came, awakening the bonfires and +steeple-bells of England to such a pitch, had resolved on an emphatic +measure: that of sending English Troops to reinforce our Allied Army, +and its new General;--such an Ally as that Rossbach one being rare in +the eyes of Pitt. 'Postpone the meeting of Parliament, yet a few days, +your Majesty,' said Pitt, 'till I get the estimates ready!' [Thackeray, +i. 310.] To which Majesty assented, and all England with him: 'England's +own Cause,' thinks Pitt, with confidence: 'our way of Conquering +America,--and, in the circumstances, our one way!' English did land, +accordingly; first instalment of them, a 12,000 (in August next), +increased gradually to 20,000; with no end of furnishings to them and +everybody; with results again satisfactory to Pitt; and very famous in +the England that then was, dim as they are now grown." + +The effect of all which was, that Pitt, with his Ferdinands and +reinforcements, found work for the French ever onwards from Rossbach; +French also turning as if exclusively upon perfidious Albion: and the +thing became, in Teutschland, as elsewhere, a duel of life and +death between these natural enemies,--Teutschland the centre of +it,--Teutschland and the accessible French Sea-Towns,--but the +circumference of it going round from Manilla and Madras to Havana and +Quebec again. Wide-spread furious duel; prize, America and life. By land +and sea; handsomely done by Pitt on both elements. Land part, we say, +was always mainly in Germany, under Ferdinand,--in Hessen and +the Westphalian Countries, as far west as Minden, as far east as +Frankfurt-on-Mayn, generally well north of Rhine, well south of Elbe: +that was, for five years coming, the cockpit or place of deadly fence +between France and England. Friedrich's arena lies eastward of that, +occasionally playing into it a little, and played into by it, and always +in lively sympathy and consultation with it: but, except the French +subsidizings, diplomatizings. and great diligenae against him in foreign +Courts, Friedrich is, in practical respects, free of the French; +and ever after Rossbach, Ferdinand and the English keep them in full +work,--growing yearly too full. A heavy Business for England and +Ferdinand; which is happily kept extraneous to Friedrich thenceforth; to +him and us; which is not on the stage of his affairs and ours, but is +to be conceived always as vigorously proceeding alongside of it, close +beyond the scenes, and liable at any time to make tragic entry on him +again:--of which we shall have to notice the louder occurrences and +cardinal phases, but, for the future, nothing more. + +Soubise, who had crept into the skirts of the Richelieu Army in Hanover +or Hessen Country, had of course to take wing in that general fright +before the mastiff. Soubise did not cross the Rhine with it; Soubise +made off eastward; [Westphalen, i. 501 ("end of March, 1758").]--found +new roost in Hanau-Frankfurt Country; and had thoughts of joining the +Austrians in Bohemia next Campaign; but got new order,--such the pinches +of a winged Clermont with a mastiff Ferdinand at his poor draggled +tail;--and came back to the Ferdinand scene, to help there; and never +saw Friedrich again. Both Broglio and he had a good deal of fighting +(mostly beating) from Ferdinand; and a great deal of trouble and sorrow +in the course of this War; but after Rossbach it is not Friedrich or +we, it is Ferdinand and the Destinies that have to do with them. Poor +Soubise, except that he was the creature of Generalissima Pompadour, +which had something radically absurd in it, did not deserve all the +laughter he got: a man of some chivalry, some qualities. As for Broglio, +I remember always, not without human emotion, the two extreme points of +his career as a soldier: Rossbach and the Fall of the Bastille. He was +towards forty, when Friedrich bestrode the Janus Hill in that fiery +manner; he was turned of seventy when, from the pavements of Paris, +the Chimera of Democracy rose on him, in fire of a still more horrible +description. + +Dauphiness-Bellona, in her special and in her widest sense, has made +exit, then. Gone, like clouds of draggled poultry home across the Rhine. +She was the most marauding Army lately seen, also the most gasconading, +and had the least capacity for fighting: three worse qualities no army +could have. How she fought, we have seen sufficiently. Before taking +leave of her forever, readers, as she is a paragon in her kind, would +perhaps take a glance or two at her marauding qualities,--by a good +opportunity that offers. Plotho at Regensburg, that a supreme Reichs +Diet may know what a "deliverance of Saxony" this has been, submits one +day the following irrefragable Documents, "which have happened," not +without good industry of my own, "to fall into my [Plotho's] hands." +They are Documents partly of epistolary, partly of a Petitionary form, +presented to Polish Majesty, out of that Saxon Country; and have an +AFFIDAVIT quality about them, one and all. + +1. BIG DAUPHINESS (that is, D'Estrees) IN THE WESEL COUNTRIES, AT AN +EARLY STAGE,--WHILE STILL ENDEAVORING WHAT SHE COULD TO BEHAVE WELL, +HANGING 1,000 MARAUDERS AND THE LIKE (A private Letter):-- + +"COUNTY MARK, 20th JUNE, 1757. The French troops are going on here in a +way to utterly ruin us. Schmidt, their President of Justice, whom they +set up in Cleve, has got orders to change all the Magistracies of the +Country [Protestant by nature], so as that half the members shall be +Catholic. Bielefeld was openly plundered by the French for three hours +long. You cannot by possibility represent to yourself what the actual +state of misery in these Countries is. A SCHEFFEL of rye costs three +thalers sixteen groschen [who knows how many times its natural price!]. +And now we are to be forced to eat the spoiled meal those French troops +brought with them; which is gone to such a state no animal would have +it. This poisoned meal we are to buy from them, ready money, at the +price they fix; and that famine may induce us, they are about to stop +the mills, and forcibly take away what little bread-corn we have left. +God have pity on us, and deliver us soon! Next week we are to have +a transit of 6,000 Pfalzers [Kur-Pfalz, foolish idle fellow, and +Kur-Baiern too, are both in subsidy of France, as usual; 6,000 +Pfalzers just due here]; these, I suppose, will sweep us clean bare." +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 399.]: + +Wesel Fortress, Gate of the Rhine, could not be defended by Friedrich: +and the Hanover Incapables, and England still all in St. Vitus, would +not hear of undertaking it; left it wide open for the French; never +could recover it, or get the Rhine-Gate barred again, during the whole +War. One hopes they repented;--but perhaps it was only Pitt and Duke +Ferdinand that did so, instead! The Wesel Countries were at once +occupied by the French; "a conquest of her Imperial Majesty's;" +continued to be administered in Imperial Majesty's name,--and are +thriving as above. + +2. DAUPHINESS PROPER (that is, Soubise) IN THURINGEN, AT A LATE STAGE:-- + +"LETTER FROM FREIBURG, SHORTLY AFTER ROSSBACH.--It was on the 23d +October, a Sunday, that we of Freiburg had our first billeting of +French; a body of Cavalry from different regiments [going to take +Leipzig, take Torgau, what not]: and from that day Freiburg never +emptied of French, who kept marching through it in extraordinary +quantities. The marching lasted fourteen days, namely, till the 6th +November [day AFTER Rossbach; when they burnt our poor Bridge, and +marched for the last time]; and often the billeting was so heavy, that +in a single house there were forty or fifty men. Who at all times had to +be lodged and dieted gratis; nay many householders, over and above +the ordinary meal, were obliged to give them money too; and many poor +people, who can scarcely get their own bit of bread, had to run and +bring at once their sixteen or eighteen groschen [pence] worth of wine, +not to speak of coffee and sugar. And a great increase of the mischief +it was always, that the soldiers and common people did not understand +one another's language."--Heavy billeting; but what was that?... "Vast, +nearly impossible, quantities of forage and provision," were wrung from +us, as from all the other Towns and Villages about, "under continual +threatening to burn and raze us from the earth. Often did our French +Colonel threaten, 'He would have the cannon opened on Freiburg +straightway.' Nay, had it stood by foraging, we might have reckoned +ourselves lucky. But our straits increased day by day; and sheer +plundering became more and more excessive. + +"The robbing and torturing of travellers, the plundering and burning of +Saxon Villages... Almost all the Towns and Villages hereabouts are so +plundered out, that many a one now has nothing but what he carries on +his body. Plundering was universal: and no sooner was one party away, +than another came, and still another; and often the same house was three +or four times plundered. Branderode, a Village two leagues from this +[stands on the Field of Rossbach, if we look], is so ruined out, that +nobody almost has anything left: Chief Inspector Baron von Bose's +Schloss there, with its splendid appointments, they ruined utterly; took +all money, victuals, valuables, furniture, clothes, linen and beds, all +they could carry; what could not be carried away, they cut, hewed and +smashed to pieces; broke the wine-casks; and even tore up the documents +and letters they found lying in the place. Branderode Dorf was twice +set fire to by them; and was, at last, with Zeuchfeld, which is an +Amtsdorf,--after both had been plundered,--reduced to ashes. The +Churches of Branderode and Zeuchfeld, with several other Churches, were +plundered; the altars broken, the altar-cloths and other vestures cut +to pieces, and the sacred vessels and cups carried away,--except [for we +have a notarial exactness, and will exaggerate nothing] that in the case +of Branderode they sent the cup back. Of the pollution of the altars, +and of the blasphemous songs these people sang in the churches, one +cannot think without horror. + +"And it was merely our pretended Allies and Protectors that have +desecrated our divine service, utterly wasted our Country, reduced the +inhabitants to want and desperation, and, in short, have so behaved that +you would not know this region again. Truly these troops have realized +for us most of the infamies we heard reported of the Cossacks, and their +ravagings in Preussen lately. + +"It is one of their smallest doings that they robbed a Saxon Clergyman +(name and circumstances can be given if required), three times over, on +the public Highway; shot at him, tied him to a horse's tail and dragged +him along with them; so that he is now lying ill, in danger of his life. +On the whole, it is our beloved Pastors, Clergymen most of all, that +have been plundered of everything they had. + +"Balgart and Zschieplitz, both Villages half a league from this, have +likewise been heavily plundered; they have even left the Parson nothing +but what he wore on his back. Grost," another Rossbach place, "which +belongs to the Kammerjunker Heldorf, has likewise"... OHE, SATIS!--"All +this happened between the 23d and 31st October; consequently before the +Battle.... In many Villages you see the trees and fields sprinkled with +feathers from the beds that have been slit up. + +"In several Villages belonging to the Royal Electoral privy Councillor +von Bruhl [who is properly the fountain of all this and of much other +misery to us, if we knew it!] the plundering likewise had begun; and a +quantity of about a hundred swine [so ho!] had been cut in pieces: +but in the midst of their work, the Allies heard that these were Bruhl +estates, and ceased their havoc of them. These accordingly are the only +lands in all this region whose fate has been tolerable. + +"The appellation, every moment renewed, of 'Heretic!' was the courteous +address from these people to our fellow-Christians; 'heretic dogs +(KETZERISCHE HUNDE)' was a PRADICAT always in their mouth. + +"In Weischutz," a mile or two from us, up the Unstrut, "a French Colonel +who wanted to ride out upon the works, made the there Pastor, Magister +Schren, stoop down by way of horse-block, and mounted into the saddle +from his back. [Messieurs, you will kindle the wrath of mankind some +day, and get a terrible plucking, with those high ways of yours!] + +"Churches are all smashed; obscene songs were sung, in form of litany, +from the pulpits and altars; what was done with the communion-vessels, +when they were not worth stealing,"--is hideous to the religious sense, +and shall not be mentioned in human speech. + + +3. THE BROGLIO REINFORCEMENT COMING ACROSS TO JOIN SOUBISE, AND PERFORM +AT ROSSBACH (Humble Petition from the Magistrates of Sangerhausen, To +the King of Poland's Majesty):-- + +SANGERHAUSEN, 23d OCTOBER, 1757.--"Scarcely had we, with profound +submission (ALLERUNTERTHANIGST), under date of the 13th current, +represented to your Royal Majesty and Electoral Translucency how heavily +we were pressed down by the forage requisitions and transits of troops, +and the consequent, expenditure in food, drinking, in oats and hay, +which no one pays,--when directly thereafter, on the 14th of October, +a new French party, of the Fischer Corps,"--Fischer is a mighty Hussar, +scarcely inferior to Turpin; and stands in astonishing authority +with Richelieu, and an Army whose object is plunder, [Ferdinand's +Correspondente, SOEPIUS (_Westphalen,_ i. 40-127); &c. &c.]--"new party +of the Fischer Corps, of some sixty men and horse, arrived in the Town; +demanded meat, drink, oats and hay, and all things necessary; which they +received from us;--and not only paid not one farthing for all this, but +furthermore some of them, instead of thanks to their Landlord, Rossold, +forcibly broke up his press, drank his brandy, and carried off a TOUTE +(gather-all) with money in it. From a Tanner, Lindauer by name, they +bargained for a buckskin; and having taken, would not pay it. In the +RATHSKELLER (Town Public-house) they drank much wine, and gave nothing +for it: nay on marching off,--because no mounted guide (REITENDER BOTE) +was at hand, and though they had before expressly said none such would +be needed,--they rushed about like distracted persons (WIE RASENDE +LEUTE) in the market-place and in the streets; beat the people, tumbled +them about, and lugged them along, in a violent manner; using abusive +language to a frightful extent, and threatening every misfortune. + +"Hardly were we rid of this confusion and astonishment when, on October +21st, a whole swarm of horses, men, women, children and wagons, which +likewise all belonged to the Fischer Corps, and were commanded by +First-Lieutenant Schmidt, came into our Town. This troop consisted of +80 men, part infantry, part cavalry; with some 80 work-horses, 10 +baggage-wagons, and about 100 persons, women, sick people and the +like. They stayed the whole night here; made meat, drink, corn, hay +and whatever they needed be brought them; and went off next day without +paying anything. + +"Our Inns were now almost quite exhausted of forage in corn or hay; and +we knew not how we were to pay what had been spent,--when the thirty +French Light Cavalry, of whom we, with profound submission, on the +13th HUJUS gave your Royal Majesty and Electoral Translucency account, +renewed their visit upon us; came, under the command of Rittmeister +de Mocu, on the 22d of October [while the baggage-wagons, work-horses, +women, sick, and so forth, were hardly gone], towards evening, into the +Town; consumed in meat and drink, oats and hay, and the like, what they +could lay hold of; and next morning early marched away, paying, as their +custom is, nothing. + +"Not enough that,--besides the great forage-contribution (LIEFERUNG), +which we already, with profound submission, notified to your Royal +Majesty and Electoral Translucency as having been laid upon us; and +that, by order of the Duc de Broglio, a new requisition is now laid on +us, and we have had to engage for sixty-four more sacks of wheat, +and thirty-two of rye (as is noted under head A, in the enclosed +copy),--there has farther come on us, on the part of the Reichs Army, +from Kreis-Commissarius Heldorf [whose Schloss of Grost, we perceive, +they have since burnt, by way of thanks to him [Supra, No. 2.]], the +simultaneous Order for instant delivery of Forage (as under head B, here +enclosed)! Thus are we, at the appointed places, all at once to furnish +such quantities, more than we can raise; and know not when or where we +shall, either for what has been already furnished, or for what is +still to be, receive one penny of money: nay, over and above, we are to +sustain the many marchings of troops, and provide to the same what meat, +drink, oats, hay and so on, they require, without the least return of +payment! + +"So unendurable, and, taken all together, so hard (SIC) begins the +conduct of these troops, that profess being come as friends and helpers, +to appear to us. And Heaven alone knows how long, under a continuance of +such things, the subjects (whom the Hail-storm of last year had at any +rate impoverished) shall be able to support the same. We would, were a +reasonable delivery of forage laid upon us even at a low price, and the +board and billet of the marching troops paid to us even in part, lay out +our whole strength in helping to bear the burdens of the Fatherland; but +if such things go on, which will soon leave us only bare life and empty +huts, we can look forward to nothing but our ruin and destruction. But, +as it is not your Royal Majesty's and Electoral Translucency's most +gracious will that we, your Most Supreme Self's most faithful subjects, +should entirely perish, therefore we repeat our former most submissive +prayer once again with hot (SIC) sorrow of mind to Highest-the-Same; +and sob most submissively for that help which your Most Supreme Self, +through most gracious mediation with the Duc de Richelieu, with the +Reichs Army or wherever else, might perhaps most graciously procure +for us. Who, in deepest longing thitherwards, with the most deepest +devotion, remain--" [_ Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 688-691.] (NAMES, +unfortunately, not given). + +How many Saxons and Germans generally--alas, how many men +universally--cry towards celestial luminaries of the governing kind +with the most deepest devotion, in their extreme need, under their +unsufferable injuries; and are truly like dogs in the backyard barking +at the Moon. The Moon won't come down to them, and be eaten as green +cheese; the Moon can't! + + +4. DAUPHINESS AFTER ROSSBACH. "Excise-Inspector Neitsche, at Bebra, near +Weissenfels [Bebra is well ahead from Freiburg and the burnt Bridge, +and a good twenty-five miles west of Weissenfels], writes To the King of +Poland's Majesty, 9th NOVEMBER, 1757:-- + +"May it please your Royal Majesty and Electoral Translucency, out of +your highest grace, to take knowledge, from the accompanying Registers +SUB SIGNO MARTIS [sign unknown to readers here], of the things which, in +the name of this Township of Bebra, the Burgermeister Johann Adam, with +the Raths and others concerned, have laid before the Excise-Inspection +here. As follows:-- + +"It will be already well known to the Excise-Inspection that on the +7th of November (A. C.) of the current year [day before yesterday, in +fact!], the French Army so handled this place as to have not only taken +from the inhabitants, by open force, all bread and articles of food, but +likewise all clothes, beds, linens (WASCHE), and other portable goods; +that it has broken, split to pieces, and emptied out, all chests, +boxes, presses, drawers; has shot dead, in the backyards and on the +thatch-roofs, all manner of feathered-stock, as hens, geese, pigeons; +also carried forth with it all swine, cow, sheep and horse cattle; laid +violent hands on the inhabitants, clapped guns, swords, pistols to their +breast, and threatened to kill them unless they showed and brought out +whatever goods they had; or else has hunted them wholly out of their +houses, shooting at them, cutting, sticking and at last driving them +away, thereby to have the freer room to rob and plunder: flung out hay +and other harvest-stock from the barns into the mud and dung, and had +it trampled to ruin under the horses, feet; nay, in fact, has dealt with +this place in so unpermitted a way as even to the most hard-hearted man +must seem compassionable."--Poor fellows: CETERA DESUNT; but that is +enough! What can a Polish Majesty and Electoral Translucency do? Here +too is a sorrowful howling to the Moon. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 692.] + +... "For a hundred miles round," writes St. Germain, "the Country is +plundered and harried as if fire from Heaven had fallen on it; scarcely +have our plunderers and marauders left the houses standing.... I lead a +band of robbers, of assassins, fit for breaking on the wheel; they would +turn tail at the first gunshot, and are always ready to mutiny. If the +Government (LA COUR," with its Pompadour presiding, very unlikely for +such an enterprise!) "cannot lay the knife to the root of all this, we +may give up the notion of War." [St. Germain, after Rossbach and before +(in Preuss, UBI SUPRA).]... + +Such a pitch have French Armies sunk to. When was there seen such +a Bellona as Dauphiness before? Nay, in fact, she is the same +devil-serving Army that Marechal de Saxe commanded with such +triumph,--Marechal de Saxe in better luck for opponents; Army then in +a younger stage of its development. Foaming then as sweet must, as new +wine, in the hands of a skilful vintner, poisonous but brisk; not run, +as now, to the vinegar state, intolerable to all mortals. She can now +announce from her camp-theatres the reverse of the Roucoux +program, "To-morrow, Messieurs, you are going to fight; our Manager +foresees"--you will be beaten; and we cannot say what or where the next +Piece will be! Impious, licentious, high-flaring efflorescence of all +the Vices is not to be redeemed by the one Quasi-Virtue of readiness to +be shot;--sweet of that kind, and sour of this, are the same substance, +if you only wait. How kind was the Devil to his Saxe; and flew away with +him in rose-pink, while it was still time! + + + + +Chapter IX.--FRIEDRICH MARCHES FOR SILESIA. + +The fame of Friedrich is high enough again in the Gazetteer world; +all people, and the French themselves, laughing at their grandiloquent +Dauphiness-Bellona, and writing epigrams on Soubise. But Friedrich's +difficulties are still enormous. One enemy coming with open mouth, you +plunge in upon, and ruin, on this hand; and it only gives you room +to attempt upon another bigger one on that. Soubise he has finished +handsomely, for this season; but now he must try conclusions with Prince +Karl. Quick, towards Silesia, after this glorious Victory which the +Gazetteers are celebrating. + +The news out of Silesia are ominously doubtful, bad at the best. Duke +Bevern, once Winterfeld was gone, had, as we observed, felt himself free +to act; unchecked, but also unsupported, by counsel of the due heroism; +and had acted unwisely. Made direct for Silesia, namely, where are +meal-magazines and strong places. Prince Karl, they say, was also +unwise; took no thought beforehand, or he might have gained marches, +disputed rivers, Bober, Queiss, with Bevern, and as good as hindered him +from ever getting to Silesia. So say critics, Retzow and others; perhaps +looking too fixedly on one side of the question. Certain it is, Bevern +marched in peace to Silesia; found it by no means the better place it +had promised to be. + +Prince Karl--Daun there as second, but Karl now the dominant hand--was +on the heels of Bevern, march after march. Prince Karl cut athwart him +by one cunning march, in Liegnitz Country; barring him from Schweidnitz, +the chief stronghold of Silesia, and to appearance from Breslau, the +chief city, too. Bevern, who did not want for soldiership, when reduced +to his shifts, now made a beautiful manoeuvre, say the critics; struck +out leftwards, namely, and crossed the Oder, as if making for Glogau, +quite beyond Prince Karl's sphere of possibility,--but turned to right, +not to left, when across, and got in upon Breslau from the other or +east side of the River. Cunning manoeuvre, if you will, and followed by +cunning manoeuvres: but the result is, Prince Karl has got Schweidnitz +to rear, stands between Breslau and it; can besiege Schweidnitz when +he likes, and no relief to it possible that will not cost a battle. A +battle, thinks Friedrich, is what Bevern ought to have tried at first; a +well-fought battle might have settled everything, and there was no +other good likelihood in such an expedition: but now, by detaching +reinforcements to this garrison and that, he has weakened himself +beyond right power of fighting. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ iv. 141, +159.] Schweidnitz is liable to siege; Breslau, with its poor walls +and multitudinous population, can stand no siege worth mentioning; the +Silesian strong places, not to speak of meal-magazines, are like to go +a bad road. Quite dominant, this Prince Karl; placarding and +proclaiming in all places, according to the new "Imperial Patent," [In _ +Helden-Geschichte,_ (iv. 832, 833), Copy of it: "Absolved from all prior +Treaties by Prussian Majesty's attack on us, We" &c. &c. ("21st Sept. +1757").] That Silesia is her Imperial Majesty's again! Which seems to be +fast becoming the fact;--unless contradicted better. Quick! + +Bevern has now, October 1st, no manoeuvre left but to draw out of +Breslau; post himself on the southern side of it, in a safe angle there, +marshy Lohe in front, broad Oder to rear, Breslau at his right-hand with +bread; and there intrenching himself by the best methods, wait slowly, +in a sitting posture, events which are extensively on the gallop at +present. One fancies, Had Winterfeld been still there! It is as brave an +Army, 30,000, or more, as ever wore steel. Surely something could have +been done with it;--something better than sit watching the events on +full gallop all round! Bevern was a loyal, considerably skilful and +valiant man; in the Battle of Lobositz, and elsewhere, we have seen him +brave as a lion: but perhaps in the other kind of bravery wanted here, +he--Well, his case was horribly difficult; full of intricacy. And he +sat, no doubt in a very wretched state, consulting the oracles, with +events (which are themselves oracular) going at such a pace. + +Schweidnitz was besieged October 26th. Nadasti, with 20,000, was set +to do it; Prince Karl, with 60,000, ready to protect him; Prince Bevern +asking the oracles:--what a bit of news for Friedrich; breaking suddenly +the effulgency of Rossbach with a bar of ominous black! Friedrich, +still in the thick of pure Saxon business, makes instant arrangement for +Silesia as well: Prince Henri, with such and such corps, to maintain the +Saale, and guard Saxony; Marshal Keith, with such and such, to step over +into Bohemia, and raise contributions at least, and tread on the tail of +the big Silesian snake: all this Friedrich settles within a week; takes +certain corps of his own, effective about 13,000; and on November 13th +marches from Leipzig. Round by Torgau, by Muhlberg, Grossenhayn; by +Bautzen, Weissenberg, across the Queiss, across the Bober; and so, with +long marches, strides continually forward, all hearts willing, and all +limbs, though in this sad winter weather, towards relief of Schweidnitz. + +At Grossenhayn, fifth day of the march, Friedrich learns that +Schweidnitz is gone. November 12th-14th, Schweidnitz went by +capitulation; contrary to everybody's hope or fear; certainly a +very short defence for such a fortress. Fault of the Commandant, was +everybody's first thought. Not probably the best of Commandants, said +others gradually; but his garrison had Saxons in it;--one day "180 of +them in a lump threw down their arms, in the trenches, and went over to +the Enemy." Owing to whatsoever, the place is gone. Such towers, such +curtains, star-ramparts; such an opulence of cannons, stores, munitions, +a 30,000 pounds of hard cash, one item. All is gone, after a fortnight's +siege. What a piece of news, as heard by Friedrich, coming at his utmost +towards the scene itself! As seen by Bevern, too, in his questioning +mood, it was an event of very oracular nature. + +On Monday, 14th, Schweidnitz fell; Karl, with Nadasti reunited to him, +was now 80,000 odd; and lost no time. On Tuesday next, NOVEMBER 22d, +1757, "at three in the morning," long hours before daybreak, Karl, with +his 60,000, all learnedly arranged, comes rolling over upon hapless +Bevern: with no end of cannonading and storm of war: BATTLE OF +BRESLAU, they call it; ruinous to Bevern. Of which we shall attempt no +description: except to say, that Karl had five bridges on the Lohe, +came across the Lohe by five Bridges; and that Bevern stood to his arms, +steady as the rocks, to prevent his getting over, and to entertain +him when over; that there were five principal attacks, renewed and +re-renewed as long as needful, with torrents of shot, of death and +tumult; over six or eight miles of country, for the space of fifteen +hours. Battle comparable only to Malplaquet, said the Austrians; such a +hurricane of artillery, strongly intrenched enemy and loud doomsday of +war. Did not end till nine at night; Austrians victorious, more or +less, in four of their attacks or separate enterprises: that is to say, +masters of the Lohe, and of the outmost Prussian villages and posts in +front of the Prussian centre and right wing; victorious in that northern +part;--but plainly unvictorious in the southeast or Prussian left +wing,--farthest off from Breslau, and under Ziethen's command,--where +they were driven across the Lohe again, and lost prisoners and cannons, +or a cannon. [In Seyfarth, Three Accounts; _ Beylagan,_ ii. 198, 221, +234 et seq.] + +Some of Bevern's people, grounding on this latter circumstance, and that +they still held the Battle-field, or most part of it, wrote themselves +victorious;--though in a dim brief manner, as if conscious of the +contrary. Which indeed was the fact. At the council of war, which he +summoned that evening, there were proposals of night-attack, and other +fierce measures; but Bevern, rejecting the plan for a night attack on +the Austrian camp as too dubious, did, in the dark hours, through the +silent streets of Breslau, withdraw himself across the Oder, instead; +leaving 80 cannon, and 5,000 killed and wounded; an evidently beaten man +and Army. And indeed did straightway disappear personally altogether, as +no longer equal to events. Rode out, namely, to reconnoitre in the gray +of his second sad morning, on this new Bank of the Oder; saw little +except gray mist; but rode into a Croat outpost, only one poor groom +attending him; and was there made prisoner:--intentionally, thought +mankind; intentionally, thinks Friedrich, who was very angry with the +poor man. [Preuss, ii. 102. More exact in Kutzen, DER TAG VON LEUTHEN +(Breslau, 1857,--an excellent exact little Compilation, from manifold +sources well studied), pp. 166-169, date "24th November."] + +The poor man was carried to Vienna, if readers care to know; but being a +near Cousin there (second-cousin, no less, to the late Empress-Mother), +was by the high now-reigning Empress-Queen received in a charmingly +gracious manner, and sent home again without ransom. "To Stettin!" +beckoned Friedrich sternly from the distance, and would not see him at +all: "To Stettin, I say, your official post in time of peace! Command me +the invalid Garrison there; you are fit for nothing better!"--I will +add one other thing, which unhappily will seem strange to readers: that +there came no whisper of complaint from Bevern; mere silence, and loyal +industry with his poor means, from Bevern; and that he proved heroically +useful in Stettin two years hence, against the Swedes, against the +Russians in the Siege-of-Colberg time; and gained Friedrich's favor +again, with other good results. Which I observe was a common method with +Prussian Generals and soldiers, when, unjustly or justly, they fell into +trouble of this kind; and a much better one than that of complaining in +the Newspapers, and demanding Commissions of Inquiry, presided over by +Chaos and the Fourth-Estate, now is. + +Bevern being with the Croats, the Prussian Army falls to General Kyau, +as next in rank; who (directly in the teeth of fierce orders that are +speeding hither for Bevern and him) marches away, leaving Breslau to its +fate; and making towards Glogau, as the one sure point in this wreck of +things. And Prince Karl, that same day, goes upon Breslau; which is in +no case to resist and be bombarded: so that poor old General Lestwitz, +the Prussian Commandant,--always thought to be a valiant old gentleman, +but who had been wounded in the late Action, and was blamably +discouraged,--took the terms offered, and surrendered without firing a +gun. Garrison and he to march out, in "Free Withdrawal;" these are the +terms: Garrison was 4,000 and odd, mostly Silesian recruits; but +there marched hardly 500 out with poor Lestwitz; the Silesian +recruits--persuaded by conceivable methods, that they were to be +prisoners of war, and that, in short, Austria was now come to be King +again, and might make inquiry into men's conduct--found it safer to +take service with Austria, to vanish into holes in Breslau or where they +could; and, for instance, one regiment (or battalion, let us hide the +name of it), on marching through the Gate, consisted only of nine +chief officers and four men. [Muller, SCHLACHT BEI LEUTHEN (Berlin, +1857,--professedly a mere abridgment and shadow of Kutzen: unindexed +like it), p. 12 (with name and particulars).] + +There were lost 98 pieces of cannon; endless magazines and stores of +war. A Breslau scandalously gone;--a Breslau preaching day after +next (27th, which was Sunday), in certain of its churches, especially +Cardinal Schaffgotsch in the Dom Insel doing it, Thanksgiving Sermons, +as per order, with unction real or official, "That our ancient +sovereigns are restored to us:" which Sermons--except in the +Schaffgotsch case, Prince Karl and the high Catholic world all there in +gala--were "sparsely attended," say my authors. The Austrians are at +the top of their pride; and consider full surely that Silesia is theirs, +though Friedrich were here twice over. "What is Friedrich? We beat +him at Kolin. His Prussians at Zittau, at Moys, at Breslau in the new +Malplaquet, were we beaten by them? Hnh!"--and snort (in the Austrian +mess-rooms), and snap their fingers at Friedrich and his coming. + +It was at Gorlitz (scene of poor Winterfeld's death) that Friedrich, +"on November 23d, the tenth day of his march," first got rumor of +the Breslau Malplaquet: "endless cannonading heard thereabouts all +yesterday!" said rumor from the east,--more and more steadily, as +Friedrich hastened forward;--and that it was "a victory for Bevern." +Till, at Naumburg on the Queiss, he gets the actual tidings: Bevern +gone to the Croats, Breslau going, Kyau marching vague; and what kind of +victory it was. + +Ever from Grossenhayn onwards there had been message on message, more +and more rigorous, precise and indignant, "Do this, do that; your +Dilection shall answer it with your head!"--not one message of which +reached his Dilection, till Dilection and Fate (such the gallop of +events) had done the contrary: and now Dilection and his head have made +a finish of it. "No," answers Friedrich to himself; "not till we are all +finished!"--and pushes on, he too, like a kind of Fate. "What does or +can he mean, then?" say the Austrians, with scornful astonishment, and +think his head must be turning: "Will he beat us out of Silesia with +his Potsdam Guard-Parade then?" "POTSDAMSCHE WACHT-PARADE:"--so they +denominate his small Army; and are very mirthful in their mess-rooms. "I +will attack them, if they stood on the Zobtenberg, if they stood on the +steeples of Breslau!" said Friedrich; and tramped diligently forward. +Day after day, as the real tidings arrive, his outlook in Silesia is +becoming darker and darker: a sternly dark march this altogether. Prince +Karl has thrown a garrison into Liegnitz on Friedrich's road; Prince +Karl lies encamped with Breslau at his back; has above 80,000 when fully +gathered; and reigns supreme in those parts. Darker march there seldom +was: all black save a light that burns in one heart, refusing to be +quenched till death. + +Friedrich sends orders that Kyau shall be put in arrest; that Ziethen +shall be general of the Bevern wreck, shall bring it round by Glogau, +and rendezvous with Friedrich at a place and day,--Parchwitz, 2d of +December coming;--and be steady, my old Ziethen. Friedrich brushes past +the Liegnitz Garrison, leaves Liegnitz and it a trifle to the right; +arrives at Parchwitz November 28th; and there rests, or at least his +weary troops do, till Ziethen come up; the King not very restful, with +so many things to prearrange; a life or death crisis now nigh. Well, it +is but death; and death has been fronted before now! We who are after +the event, on the safe sunny side of it, can form small image of the +horrors and the inward dubieties to him who is passing through it;--and +how Hope is needed to shine heroically eternal in some hearts. Fire of +Hope, that does not issue in mere blazings, mad audacities and chaotic +despair, but advances with its eyes open, measuredly, counting its +steps, to the wrestling-place,--this is a godlike thing; much available +to mankind in all the battles they have; battles with steel, or of +whatever sort. + +Friedrich, at Parchwitz, assembled his Captains, and spoke to them; it +was the night after Ziethen came in, night of December 3d, 1757; and +Ziethen, no doubt, was there: for it is an authentic meeting, this at +Parchwitz, and the words were taken down. + + +FRIEDRICH'S SPEECH TO HIS GENERALS (Parchwitz, 3d December, 1757). [From +RETZOW, i. 240-242 (slightly abridged).] + +"It is not unknown to you, MEINE HERREN, what disasters have befallen +here, while we were busy with the French and Reichs Army. Schweidnitz is +gone; Duke of Bevern beaten; Breslau gone, and all our war-stores there; +good part of Silesia gone: and, in fact, my embarrassments would be +at the insuperable pitch, had not I boundless trust in you, and your +qualities, which have been so often manifested, as soldiers and sons of +your Country. Hardly one among you but has distinguished himself by some +nobly memorable action: all these services to the State and me I know +well, and will never forget. + +"I flatter myself, therefore, that in this case too nothing will be +wanting which the State has a right to expect of your valor. The hour is +at hand. I should think I had done nothing, if I left the Austrians in +possession of Silesia. Let me apprise you, then: I intend, in spite of +the Rules of Art, to attack Prince Karl's Army, which is nearly thrice +our strength, wherever I find it. The question is not of his numbers, or +the strength of his position: all this, by courage, by the skill of our +methods, we will try to make good. This step I must risk, or everything +is lost. We must beat the enemy, or perish all of us before his +batteries. So I read the case; so I will act in it. + +"Make this my determination known to all Officers of the Army; prepare +the men for what work is now to ensue, and say that I hold myself +entitled to demand exact fulfilment of orders. For you, when I reflect +that you are Prussians, can I think that you will act unworthily? But if +there should be one or another who dreads to share all dangers with +me, he,"--continued his Majesty, with an interrogative look, and then +pausing for answer,--"can have his Discharge this evening, and shall not +suffer the least reproach from me."--Modest strong bass murmur; meaning +"No, by the Eternal!" if you looked into the eyes and faces of the +group. Never will Retzow Junior forget that scene, and how effulgently +eloquent the veteran physiognomies were. + +"Hah, I knew it," said the King, with his most radiant smile, "none +of you would desert me! I depend on your help, then; and on victory +as sure."--The speech winds up with a specific passage: "The Cavalry +regiment that does not on the instant, on order given, dash full plunge +into the enemy, I will, directly after the Battle, unhorse, and make +it a Garrison regiment. The Infantry battalion which, meet with what +it may, shows the least sign of hesitating, loses its colors and its +sabres, and I cut the trimmings from its uniform! Now good-night, +Gentlemen: shortly we have either beaten the Enemy, or we never see one +another again." + +An excellent temper in this Army; a rough vein of heroism in it, steady +to the death;--and plenty of hope in it too, hope in Vater Fritz. "Never +mind," the soldiers used to say, in John Duke of Marlborough's time, +"Corporal John will get us through it!"--That same evening Friedrich +rode into the Camp, where the regiments he had were now all gathered, +out of their cantonments, to march on the morrow. First regiment he came +upon was the Life-Guard Cuirassiers: the men, in their accustomed way, +gave him good-evening, which he cheerily returned. Some of the more +veteran sort asked, ruggedly confidential, as well as loyal: "What is +thy news, then, so late?" "Good news, children (KINDER): to-morrow +you will beat the Austrians tightly!" "That we will, by--!" answered +they.--"But think only where they stand yonder, and how they have +intrenched themselves?" said Friedrich. "And if they had the Devil in +front and all round them, we will knock them out; only thou lead us +on!"--"Well, I will see what you can do: now lay you down, and sleep +sound; and good sleep to you!" "Good-night, Fritz!" answer all; [Muller, +p. 21 (from Kaltenhorn, of whom INFRA); Preuss, &c. &c.] as Fritz ambles +on to the next regiment, to which, as to every one, he will have some +word. + +Was it the famous Pommern regiment, this that he next spoke to,--who +answered Loudon's summons to them once (as shall be noticed by and by) +in a way ineffable, though unforgettable? Manteuffel of Foot; yes, no +other! [Archenholtz, ii. 61; and Kutzen, p. 35.] They have their own +opinion of their capacities against an enemy, and do not want for a +good conceit of themselves. "Well, children, how think you it will be +to-morrow? They are twice as strong as we." "Never thou mind that; +there are no Pommerners among them; thou knowest what the Pommerners can +do!"--FRIEDRICH: "Yea, truly, that do I; otherwise I durst not risk the +battle. Now good sleep to you! to-morrow, then, we shall either have +beaten the Enemy or else be all dead." "Yea," answered the whole +regiment; "dead, or else the Enemy beaten:" and so went to deep sleep, +preface to a deeper for many of them,--as beseems brave men. In this +world it much beseems the brave man, uncertain about so many things, to +be certain of himself for one thing. + +These snatches of Camp Dialogue, much more the Speech preserved to us +by Retzow Junior, appear to be true; though as to the dates, the +circumstances, there has been debating. [Kutzen, pp. 175-181.] Other +Anecdotes, dubious or more, still float about in quantity;--of which +let us give only one; that of the Deserter (which has merit as a myth). +"What made thee desert, then?" "Hm, alas, your Majesty, we were got so +down in the world, and had such a time of it!"--"Well, try it one day +more; and if we cannot mend matters, thou and I will both desert." + +A learned Doctor, one of the most recent on these matters, is astonished +why the Histories of Friedrich should be such dreary reading, and +Friedrich himself so prosaic, barren an object; and lays the blame +upon the Age, insensible to real greatness; led away by clap-trap +Napoleonisms, regardless of expense. Upon which Smelfungus takes him up, +with a twitch:-- + +"To my sad mind, Herr Doctor, it seems ascribable rather to the +Dryasdust of these Ages, especially to the Prussian Dryasdust, sitting +comfortable in his Academies, waving sublimely his long ears as he +tramples human Heroisms into unintelligible pipe-clay and dreary +continents of sand and cinders, with the Doctors all applauding. + +"Had the sacred Poet, or man of real Human Genius, been at his work, for +the thousand years last past, instead of idly fiddling far away from +his work,--which surely is definable as being very mainly, That of +INTERPRETING human Heroisms; of painfully extricating, and extorting +from the circumambient chaos of muddy babble, rumor and mendacity, some +not inconceivable human and divine Image of them, more and more clear, +complete and credible for mankind (poor mankind dumbly looking up to him +for guidance, as to what it shall think of God and of Men in this Scene +of Things),--I calculate, we should by this time have had a different +Friedrich of it; O Heavens, a different world of it, in so many +respects! + +"My esteemed Herr Doctor, it is too painful a subject. Godlike fabulous +Achilles, and the old Greek Kings of men, one perceives, after study, +to be dim enough Grazier Sovereigns, 'living among infinite dung,' till +their sacred Poet extricated them. And our UNsacred all-desecrating +Dryasdust,--Herr Doctor, I must say, it fills me with despair! Authentic +human Heroisms, not fabulous a whit, but true to the bone, and by all +appearance very much nobler than those of godlike Achilles and pious +AEneas ever could have been,--left in this manner, trodden under foot of +man and beast; man and beast alike insensible that there is anything +but common mud under foot, and grateful to anybody that will assure them +there is nothing. Oh, Doctor, oh, Doctor! And the results of it--You +need not go exclusively 'to France' to look at them. They are too +visible in the so-called 'Social Hierarchies,' and sublime gilt +Doggeries, sltcred and secular, of all Modern Countries! Let us be +silent, my friend."-- + +"Prussian Dryasdust," he says elsewhere, "does make a terrible job of +it; especially when he attempts to weep through his pipe-clay, or rise +with his long ears into the moral sublime. As to the German People, +I find that they dimly have not wanted sensibility to Friedrich; that +their multitudes of Anecdotes, still circulating among them in print and +VIVA VOCE, are proof of this. Thereby they have at least made a MYTH of +Friedrich's History, and given some rhythmus, life and cheerful human +substantiality to his work and him. Accept these Anecdotes as the Epic +THEY could not write of him, but were longing to hear from somebody who +could. Who has not yet appeared among mankind, nor will for some time. +Alas, my friend, on piercing through the bewildering nimbus of babble, +malignity, mendacity, which veils seven-fold the Face of Friedrich +from us, and getting to see some glimpses of the Face itself, one is +sorrowfully struck dumb once more. What a suicidal set of creatures; +commanding as with one voice, That there shall be no Heroism more among +them; that all shall be Doggery and Common-place henceforth. 'ACH, +MEIN LIEBER SULZER, you don't know that damned brood!'--Well, well. +'Solomon's Temple,' the Moslems say, 'had to be built under the chirping +of ten thousand Sparrows.' Ten thousand of them; committee of the whole +house, unanimously of the opposite view;--and could not quite hinder it. +That too is something!"-- + +More to our immediate purpose is this other thing: That the Austrians +have been in Council of War; and, on deliberation, have decided to +come out of their defences; to quit their strong Camp, which lies so +eligibly, ahead of Breslau and arear of Lissa and of Schweidnitz Water +yonder; to cross Schweidnitz Water, leave Lissa behind them; and meet +this offensively aggressive Friedrich in pitched fight. Several had +voted, No, why stir?--Daun especially, and others with emphasis. "No +need of fighting at all," said Daun: "we can defend Schweidnitz Water; +ruin him before he ever get across." "Defend? Be assaulted by an Army +like his?" urges Lucchesi, the other Chief General: "It is totally +unworthy of us! We have gained the game; all the honors ours; let us +have done with it. Give him battle, since he fortunately wishes it; we +finish him, and gloriously finish the War too!" So argued Lucchesi, with +vivacity, persistency,--to his own ill luck, but evidently with approval +from Prince Karl. Everybody sees, this is the way to Prince Karl's favor +at present. "Have not I reconquered Silesia?" thinks Prince Karl to +himself; and beams applause on the high course, not the low prudent one. +[Kutzen, pp. 45-48.] In a word, the Austrians decide on stepping out to +meet Friedrich in open battle: it was the first time they ever did so; +and it was likewise the last. + +Sunday, December 4th, at four in the morning, Friedrich has marched +from Parchwitz, straight towards the Austrian Camp; [Muller, p. 26.] +he hears, one can fancy with what pleasure, that the Austrians are +advancing towards him, and will not need to be forced in their strong +position. His march is in four columns, Friedrich in the vanguard; +quarters to be Neumarkt, a little Town about fourteen miles off. Within +some miles of Neumarkt, early in the afternoon, he learns that there are +a thousand Croats in the place, the Austrian Bakery at work there, and +engineer people marking out an Austrian Camp. "On the Height beyond +Neumarkt, that will be?" thinks Friedrich; for he knows this ground, +having often done reviews here; to Breslau all the way on both hands, +not a rood of it but is familiar to him. Which was a singular advantage, +say the critics; and a point the Austrian Council of War should have +taken more thought of. + +Friedrich, before entering Neumarkt, sends a regiment to ride quietly +round it on both sides, and to seize that Height he knows of. Height +once seized, or ready for seizing, he bursts the barrier of Neumarkt; +dashes in upon the thousand Croats; flings out the Croats in extreme +hurry, musketry and sabre acting on them; they find their Height beset, +their retreat cut off, and that they must vanish. Of the 1,000 Croats, +"569 were taken prisoners, and 120 slain," in this unexpected sweeping +out of Neumarkt. Better still, in Neumarkt is found the Austrian Bakery, +set up and in full work;--delivers you 80,000 bread-rations hot-and-hot, +which little expected to go such a road. On the Height, the Austrian +stakes and engineer-tools were found sticking in the ground; so hasty +had the flight been. + +How Prince Karl came to expose his Bakery, his staff of life so far +ahead of him? Prince Karl, it is clear, was a little puffed up with high +thoughts at this time. The capture of Schweidnitz, the late "Malplaquet" +(poorish Anti-Bevern Malplaquet), capture of Breslau, and the low and +lost condition of Friedrich's Silesian affairs, had more or less turned +everybody's head,--everybody's except Feldmarschall Daun's alone:--and +witty mess-tables, we already said, were in the daily habit of mocking +at Friedrich's march towards them with aggressive views, and called his +insignificant little Army the "Potsdam Guard-Parade." [Cogniazzo, ii. +417-422.] That was the common triumphant humor; naturally shared in by +Prince Karl; the ready way to flatter him being to sing in that tune. +Nobody otherwise can explain, and nobody in any wise can justify, Prince +Karl's ignorance of Friedrich's advance, his almost voluntary losing of +his staff-of-life in that manner. + +MAP TO GO HERE--FACING PAGE 48, BOOK 18 continuation---- + +Prince Karl's soldiers have each (in the cold form) three days, +provision in their haversacks: they have come across the Weistritz River +(more commonly called Schweidnitz Water), which was also the height of +contemptuous imprudence; and lie encamped, this night,--in long line, +not ill-chosen (once the River IS behind),--perpendicular to Friedrich's +march, some ten miles ahead of him. Since crossing, they had learned +with surprise, How their Bakery and Croats had been snapt up; that +Friedrich was not at a distance, but near;--and that arrangements could +not be made too soon! Their position intersects the Great Road at right +angles, as we hint; and has villages, swamps, woody knolls; especially, +on each wing, good defences. Their right wing leans on Nypern and its +impassable peat-bogs, a Village two or three miles north from the Great +Road; their centre is close behind another Village called Leuthen, about +as far south from it: length of their bivouac is about five miles; which +will become six or so, had Nadasti once taken post, who is to form the +left wing, and go down as far as Sagschutz, southward of Leuthen. Seven +battalions are in this Village of Leuthen, eight in Nypern, all the +Villages secured; woods, scraggy abatis, redoubts, not forgotten: their +cannon are numerous, though of light calibre. Friedrich has at least +71 heavy pieces; and 10 of them are formidably heavy,--brought from +the walls of Glogau, with terrible labor to Ziethen; but with excellent +effect, on this occasion and henceforth. They got the name of "Boomers, +Bellowers (DIE BRUMMER)," those Ten. Friedrich was in great straits +about artillery; and Retzow Senior recommended this hauling up of the +Ten Bellowers, which became celebrated in the years coming. And now we +are on the Battle-ground, and must look into the Battle itself, if we +can. + + + + +Chapter X.--BATTLE OF LEUTHEN. + +From Neumarkt, on Monday, long before day, the Prussians, all but a +small party left there to guard the Bakery and Army Properties, are out +again; in four columns; towards what may lie ahead. Friedrich, as usual +in such cases, for obvious reasons, rides with the vanguard. To Borne, +the first Village on the Highway, is some seven or eight miles. The air +is damp, the dim incipiences of dawn struggling among haze; a little +way on this side Borne, we come on ranks of cavalry drawn across the +Highway, stretching right and left into the dim void: Austrian Army +this, then? Push up to it; see what it is, at least. + +It proves to be poor General Nostitz, with his three Saxon regiments +of dragoons, famous since Kolin-day, and a couple of Hussar regiments, +standing here as outpost;--who ought to have been more alert; but they +could not see through the dark, and so, instead of catching, are +caught. The Prussians fall upon them, front and flank, tumble them into +immediate wreck; drive the whole outpost at full gallop home, through +Borne, upon Nypern and the right wing,--without news except of this +symbolical sort. Saxon regiments are quite ruined, "540 of them +prisoners" (poor Nostitz himself not prisoner, but wounded to death +[Died in Breslau, the twelfth day after (Seyfarth, ii. 362).]); and the +ground clear in this quarter. + +Friedrich, on the farther side of Borne, calls halt, till the main body +arrive; rides forward, himself and staff, to the highest of a range or +suite of knolls, some furlongs ahead; sees there in full view, far +and wide, the Austrians drawn up before him. From Nypern to Sagschuitz +yonder; miles in length; and so distinct, while the light mended and the +hazes faded, "that you could have counted them [through your glasses], +man by man." A highly interesting sight to Friedrich; who continues +there in the profoundest study, and calls up some horse regiments of the +vanguard to maintain this Height and the range of Heights running south +from it. And there, I think, the King is mainly to be found, looking now +at the Austrians, now at his own people, for some three hours to come. +His plan of Battle is soon clear to him: Nypern, with its bogs and +scrags, on the Austrian right wing, is tortuous impossible ground, as he +well remembers, no good prospect for us there: better ground for us on +their left yonder, at Leuthen, even at Sagschutz farther south, whither +they are stretching themselves. Attempt their left wing; try our +"Oblique Order" upon that, with all the skill that is in us; perhaps +we can do it rightly this time, and prosper accordingly! That is +Friedrich's plan of action. The four columns once got to Borne +shall fall into two; turn to the right, and go southward, ever +southward:--they are to become our two Lines of Battle, were they once +got to the right point southward. Well opposite Sagschutz, that will be +the point for facing to left, and marching up,--in "Oblique Order," with +the utmost faculty they have! + +"The Oblique Order, SCHRAGE STELLUNG," let the hasty reader pause to +understand, "is an old plan practised by Epaminondas, and revived by +Friedrich,--who has tried it in almost all his Battles more or less, +from Hohenfriedberg forward to Prag, Kolin, Rossbach; but never could, +in all points, get it rightly done till now, at Leuthen, in the highest +time of need. "It is a particular manoeuvre," says Archenholtz, rather +sergeant-wise, "which indeed other troops are now [1793] in the habit of +imitating; but which, up to this present time, none but Prussian troops +can execute with the precision and velocity indispensable to it. You +divide your line into many pieces; you can push these forward stairwise, +so that they shall halt close to one another," obliquely, to either +hand; and so, on a minimum of ground, bring your mass of men to the +required point at the required angle. Friedrich invented this mode +of getting into position; by its close ranking, by its depth, and the +manner of movement used, it had some resemblance to the "Macedonian +Phalanx,"--chiefly in the latter point, I should guess; for when arrived +at its place, it is no deeper than common. "Forming itself in this way, +a mass of troops takes up in proportion very little ground; and it +shows in the distance, by reason of the mixed uniforms and standards, a +totally chaotic mass of men heaped on one another," going in rapid +mazes this way and that. "But it needs only that the Commander lift +his finger; instantly this living coil of knotted intricacies develops +itself in perfect order, and with a speed like that of mountain rivers +when the ice breaks,"--is upon its Enemy. [Archenholtz, i. 209.] + +"Your Enemy is ranked as here, in long line, three or two to one. You +march towards him, but keep him uncertain as to how you will attack; +then do on a sudden march up, not parallel to him, but oblique, at an +angle of 45 degrees,--swift, vehement, in overpowering numbers, on the +wing you have chosen. Roll that wing together, ruined, in upon its own +line, you may roll the whole five miles of line into disorder and ruin, +and always be in overpowering number at the point of dispute. Provided, +only, you are swift enough about it, sharp enough! But extraordinary +swiftness, sharpness, precision is the indispensable condition;--by no +means try it otherwise; none but Prussians, drilled by an Old Dessauer, +capable of doing it. This is the SCHRAGE ORDNUNG, about which there has +been such commentating and controversying among military people: whether +Friedrich invented it, whether Caesar did it, how Epaminondas, how +Alexander at Arbela; how"--Which shall not in the least concern us on +this occasion. + +The four columns rustled themselves into two, and turned southward on +the two sides of Borne;--southward henceforth, for about two hours; as +if straight towards the Magic Mountain, the Zobtenberg, far off, which +is conspicuous over all that region. Their steadiness, their swiftness +and exactitude were unsurpassable. "It was a beautiful sight," says +Tempelhof, an eye-witness: "The heads of the columns were constantly on +the same level, and at the distance necessary for forming; all flowed +on exact, as if in a review. And you could read in the eyes of our brave +troops the noble temper they were in." [Tempelhof, i. 288, 287.] I know +not at what point of their course, or for how long, but it was from +the column nearest him, which is to be first line, that the King heard, +borne on the winds amid their field-music, as they marched there, the +sound of Psalms,--many-voiced melody of a Church Hymn, well known to +him; which had broken out, band accompanying, among those otherwise +silent men. The fact is very certain, very strange to me: details not +very precise, except that here, as specimen, is a verse of their Hymn:-- + + "Grant that with zeal and skill, this day, I do + What me to do behooves, what thou command'st me to; + Grant that I do it sharp, at point of moment fit, + And when I do it, grant me good success in it." + + "Gieb dass ich thu' mit Fleiss was mir zu thun gebuhret, + Wozu mich dein Befehl in meinem Stande fuhret, + Gieb dass ich's thue bald, zu der Zeit da ich's soll; + Und wenn ich's thu', so gieb dass es gerathe wohl." + +["HYMN-BOOK of Porst" (Prussian Sternhold-and-Hopkins), "p. 689:" cited +in Preuss, ii. 107.] + +One has heard the voice of waters, one has paused in the mountains at +the voice of far-off Covenanter psalms; but a voice like this, breaking +the commanded silences, one has not heard. "Shall we order that to +cease, your Majesty?" "By no means," said the King; whose hard heart +seems to have been touched by it, as might well be. Indeed there is in +him, in those grim days, a tone as of trust in the Eternal, as of real +religious piety and faith, scarcely noticeable elsewhere in his History. +His religion, and he had in withered forms a good deal of it, if we +will look well, being almost always in a strictly voiceless state,--nay, +ultra-voiceless, or voiced the wrong way, as is too well known. "By +no means!" answered he: and a moment after, said to some one, Ziethen +probably: "With men like these, don't you think I shall have victory +this day!" + +The loss of their Saxon Forepost proved more important to the Austrians +than it seemed;--not computable in prisoners, or killed and wounded. The +Height named Scheuberg,--"Borne Rise" (so we might call it, which has +got its Pillar of memorial since, with gilt Victory atop [Not till +1854 (Kutzen, pp. 194, 195).];--where Friedrich now is and where +the Austrians are not, is at once a screen and a point of vision to +Friedrich. By loss of their Nostitz Forepost, they had lost view of +Friedrich, and never could recover view of him; could not for hours +learn distinctly what he was about; and when he did come in sight again, +it was in a most unexpected place! On the farther side of Borne, edge of +the big expanse of open country there, Friedrich has halted; ridden with +his adjutants to the top of "the Scheuberg (Shy-HILL)," as the Books +call it, though it is more properly a blunt Knoll or "Rise,"--the +nearest of a Chain of Knolls, or swells in the ground, which runs from +north to south on that part. + +Except the Zobtenberg, rising blue and massive, on the southern horizon +(famous mythologic Mountain, reminding you of an ARTHUR'S SEAT in shape +too, only bigger and solitary), this Country, for many miles round, +has nothing that could be called a Hill; it is definable as a bare +wide-waving champaign, with slight bumps on it, or slow heavings and +sinkings. Country mostly under culture, though it is of sandy quality; +one or two sluggish brooks in it; and reedy meres or mires, drained in +our day. It is dotted with Hamlets of the usual kind; and has patches +of scraggy fir. Your horizon, even where bare, is limited, owing to the +wavy heavings of the ground; windmills and church-belfries are your only +resource, and even these, from about Leuthen and the Austrian position, +leave the Borne quarter mostly invisible to you. Leuthen Belfry, the +same which may have stood a hundred years before this Battle, ends in +a small tile-roof, open only at the gables:--"Leuthen Belfry," says a +recent Tourist, "is of small resource for a view. To south you can see +some distance, Sagschutz, Lobetintz and other Hamlets, amid scraggy +fir-patches, and meadows, once miry pools; but to north you are soon +shut in by a swell or slow rise, with two windmills upon it [important +to readers at present]; and to eastward [Breslau side and Lissa side], +or to westward [Friedrich's side], one has no view, except of the old +warped rafters and their old mouldy tiles within few inches; or, if +by audacious efforts at each end, to the risk of your neck, you get a +transient peep, it is stopt, far short of Borne, by the slow irregular +heavings, with or without fir about them." [Tourist's Note, PENES ME.] + +In short, Friedrich keeps possession of that Borne ridge of Knolls, +escorted by Cavalry in good numbers; twinkling about in an enigmatic +way:--"Prussian right wing yonder," think the Austrians--"whitherward, +or what can they mean?"--and keeps his own columns and the Austrian +lines in view; himself and his movements invisible, or worse, to the +Austrian Generals from any spy-glass or conjecture they can employ. + +The Austrian Generals are in windmills, on church-belfries, here, there; +diligently scanning the abstruse phenomenon, of which so little can +be seen. Daun, who had always been against this adventure, thinks it +probable the vanished Prussians are retiring southward: for Bohemia and +our Magazines probably. "These good people are smuggling off (DIE GUTEN +LEUTE PASCHEN AB)," said he: "let them go in peace." [Muller, p. 36.] +Daun, that morning, in his reconnoitrings, had asked of a peasant, "What +is that, then?" (meaning the top of a Village-steeple in the distance, +but thought by the peasant to be meaning something nearer hand). "That +is the Hill our King chases the Austrians over, when he is reviewing +here!" Which Daun reported at head-quarters with a grin. [Nicolai, +_Anekdoten,_ iv. 34.] + +Lucchesi, on the other hand, scanning those Borne Hills, and the cavalry +of Friedrich's escort twinkling hither and thither on them, becomes +convinced to a moral certainty, That yonder is the Prussian Vanguard, +probable extremity of left wing; and that he, Lucchesi, here at Nypern, +is to be attacked. "Attacked, you?" said one Montazet, French Agent or +Emissary here: "unless they were snipes, it is impossible!" But Lucchesi +saw it too well. + +He sends to say that such is the evident fact, and that he, Lucchesi, is +not equal to it, but must have large reinforcement of Horse to his right +wing. "Tush!" answer Prince Karl and Daun; and return only argument, +verbal consolation, to distressed Lucchesi. Lucchesi sends a second +message, more passionately pressing, to the like effect; also with the +like return. Upon which he sends a third message, quite passionate: "If +Cavalry do not come, I will not be responsible for the issue!" And now +Daun does collect the required reinforcement; "all the reserve of Horse, +and a great many from the left wing;"--and, Daun himself heading them, +goes off at a swift trot; to look into Lucchesi and his distresses, +three or four miles to right, five or six from where the danger lies. +Now is Friedrich's golden moment. + +Wending always south, on their western or invisible side of those +Knolls, Friedrich's people have got to about the level, or LATITUDE as +we might call it, of Nadasti's left. To Radaxdorf, namely, to Lobetintz, +or still farther south, and perhaps a mile to west of Nadasti. Friedrich +has mounted to Lobetintz Windmill; and judges that the time is come. +Daun and Cavalry once got to support their right wing, and our south +latitude being now sufficient, Friedrich, swift as Prussian manoeuvring +can do it, falls with all his strength upon their left wing. Forms in +oblique order,--horse, foot, artillery, all perfect in their paces; +and comes streaming over the Knolls at Sagschutz, suddenly like a +fire-deluge on Nadasti, who had charge there, and was expecting no such +adventure! How Friedrich did the forming in oblique order was at that +time a mystery known only to Friedrich and his Prussians: but soldiers +of all countries, gathering the secret from him, now understand it, and +can learnedly explain it to such as are curious. Will readers take a +touch more of the DRILL-SERGEANT? + +"You go stairwise (EN ECHELON)," says he: "first battalion starts, +second stands immovable till the first have done fifty steps; at the +fifty-first, second battalion also steps along; third waiting for ITS +fifty-first step. First battalion [rightmost battalion or leftmost, +as the case may be; rightmost in this Leuthen case] doing fifty steps +before the next stirs, and each battalion in succession punctually doing +the same:" march along on these terms,--or halt at either end, while you +advance at the other,--it is evident you will swing yourself out of the +parallel position into any degree of obliquity. And furthermore, +merely by halting and facing half round at the due intervals, you +shove yourself to right or to left as required (always to right in this +Leuthen case): and so--provided you CAN march as a pair of compasses +would--you will, in the given number of minutes, impinge upon your +Enemy's extremity at the required angle, and overlap him to the required +length: whereupon, At him, in flank, in front, and rear, and see if he +can stand it! "A beautiful manoeuvre" says Captain Archenholtz; "devised +by Friedrich," by Friedrich inheriting Epaminondas and the Old Dessauer; +"and which perhaps only Friedrich's men, to this day, could do with the +requisite perfection." + +Nadasti, a skilful War-Captain, especially with Horse, was beautifully +posted about Sagschutz; his extreme left folded up EN POTENCE there +(elbow of it at Sagschutz, forearm of it running to Gohlau eastward); +POTENCE ending in firwood Knolls with Croat musketeers, in ditches, +ponds, difficult ground, especially towards Gohlau. He has a strong +battery, 14 pieces, on the Height to rear of him, at the angle or elbow +of his POTENCE; strong abatis, well manned in front to rightwards: upon +this, and upon the Croats in the firwood, the Prussians intend their +attack. General Wedell is there, Prince Moritz as chief, with six +battalions, and their batteries, battery of 10 Brummers and another; +Ziethen also and Horse: coming on, in swift fire-flood, and at an +angle of forty-five degrees. Most unexpected, strange to behold! From +southwest yonder; about one o'clock of the day. + +Nadasti, though astonished at the Prussian fire-deluge, stands to his +arms; makes, in front, vigorous defence; and even takes, in some sort, +the initiative,--that is, dashes out his Cavalry on Ziethen, before +Ziethen has charged. Ziethen's Horse, who are rightmost of the +Prussians: and are bare to the right,--ground offering no bush, no brook +there (though Ziethen, foreseeing such defect, has a clump of infantry +near by to mend it),--reel back under this first shock, coming downhill +upon them; and would have fared badly, had not the clump of infantry +instantly opened fire on the Nadasti visitors, and poured it in such +floods upon them, that they, in their turn, had to reel back. Back they, +well out of range;--and leave Ziethen free for a counter-attack shortly, +on easier terms, which was successful to him. For, during that first +tussle of his, the Prussian Infantry, to left of Ziethen, has attacked +the Sagschutz Firwood; clears that of Croats; attacks Nadasti's line, +breaks it, their Brummer battery potently assisting, and the rage +of Wedell and everybody being extreme. So that, in spite of the fine +ground, Nadasti is in a bad way, on the extreme left or outmost point +of his POTENCE, or tactical KNEE. Round the knee-pan or angle of his +POTENCE, where is the abatis, he fares still worse. Abatis, beswept by +those ten Brummers and other Batteries, till bullet and bayonet can act +on it, speedily gives way. "They were mere Wurtembergers, these; and +could not stand!" cried the Austrians apologetically, at a great rate, +afterwards; as if anybody could well have stood. + +Indisputably the Wurtembergers and the abatis are gone; and the +Brandenburgers, storming after them, storm Nadasti's interior battery of +14 pieces; and Nadasti's affairs are rapidly getting desperate in this +quarter. Figure Prince Karl's scouts, galloping madly to recall that +Daun Cavalry! Austrian Battalions, plenty of them, rush down to help +Nadasti; but they are met by the crowding fugitives, the chasing +Prussians; are themselves thrown into disorder, and can do no good +whatever. They arrive on the ground flurried, blown; have not the +least time to take breath and order: the fewest of them ever got fairly +ranked, none of them ever stood above one push: all goes rolling wildly +back upon the centre about Leuthen. Chaos come on us;--and all for mere +lack of time: could Nadasti but once stretch out one minute into twenty! +But he cannot. Nadasti does not himself lose head; skilfully covers the +retreat, trying to rally once and again. Not for the first few furlongs, +till the ditches, till the firwood, quagmires are all done, could +Ziethen, now on the open ground, fairly hew in; "take whole battalions +prisoners;" drive the crowd in an altogether stormy manner; and wholly +confound the matter in this part. + +Prince Karl, his messengers flying madly, has struggled as man seldom +did to put himself in some posture about Leuthen, to get up some +defences there. Leuthen itself, the churchyard of it especially, is on +the defensive. Men are bringing cannon to the windmills, to the +swelling ground on the north side of Leuthen; they dig ditches, build +batteries,--could they but make Time halt, and Friedrich with him, for +one quarter of an hour. But they cannot. By the extreme of diligence, +the Austrians have in some measure swung themselves into a new position, +or imperfect Line round Leuthen as a centre,--Lucchesi, voluntarily +or by order, swinging southwards on the one hand; Nadasti swinging +northwards by compulsion;--new Line at an angle say of 75 degrees to +the old one. And here, for an hour more, there was stiff fighting, +the stiffest of the day;--of which, take one direct glimpse, from the +Austrian side, furnished by a Young Gentleman famous afterwards:-- + +Leuthen, let us premise, is a long Hamlet of the usual littery +sort; with two rows, in some parts three, of farm-houses, barns, +cattle-stalls; with Church, or even with two Churches, a Protestant +and a Catholic; goes from east to west above a mile in length. With the +wrecks of Nadasti tumbling into it pell-mell from the southeast, and +Lucchesi desperately endeavoring to swing round from the northwest, +not quite incoherently, and the Prussian fire-storm for accompaniment, +Leuthen is probably the most chaotic place in the Planet Earth during +that hour or so (from half-past two to half-past three) while the agony +lasted. At one o'clock Nadasti was attacked; at two he is tumbling +in mid-career towards Leuthen: I guess the date of this Excerpt, or +testimony by a Notable Eye-witness, may be half-past two; crisis of the +agony just about to begin: and before four it was all finished again. +Eye-witness is the young Prince de Ligne, now Captain in an Austrian +Regiment of Foot; and standing here in this perilous posture, having +been called in as part of the Reserve. He says:-- + +"Cry had risen for the Reserve," in which was my regiment, "and that it +must come on as fast as possible,"--to Leuthen, west of us yonder. "We +ran what we could run. Our Lieutenant-Colonel fell killed almost at the +first; beyond this we lost our Major, and indeed all the Officers but +three,--three only, and about eleven or twelve of the Voluuteer or Cadet +kind. We had crossed two successive ditches, which lay in an orchard to +left of the first houses in Leuthen; and were beginning to form in +front of the Village. But there was no standing of it. Besides a general +cannonade such as can hardly be imagined, there was a rain of case-shot +upon this Battalion, of which I, as there was no Colonel left, had to +take command; and a third Battalion of the Royal Prussian Foot-guards, +which had already made several of our regiments pass that kind of +muster, gave, at a distance of eighty paces, the liveliest fire on us. +It stood as if on the parade-ground, that third Battalion, and waited +for us, without stirring. + +"The Austrian regiment Andlau, at our right hand, could not get itself +formed properly by reason of the houses; it was standing thirty deep, +and sometimes its shot hit us on the back. On my left the Austrian +regiment Merci ran its ways; and I was glad of that, in comparison. +By no method or effort could I get the dragoons of Bathyani, who stood +fifty yards in rear of me, to cut in a little, and help me out,"--no +good cutting hereabouts, think the dragoons of Bathyani. "My soldiers, +who were still tired with running, and had no cannon (these either from +necessity or choice they had left behind), were got scattered, fewer in +number, and were fighting mainly out of sullenness. More our honor, than +the notion of doing good in the affair, prevented us from running off. +An Ensign of the regiment Arberg helped me awhile to form, from his and +my own fragments, a kind of line; but he was shot down. Two Officers +of the Grenadiers brought me what they still had. Some Hungarians, +too, were luckily got together. But at last, as, with all helps and the +remnants of my own brave Battalion, I had come down to at most 200, I +drew back to the Height where the Windmill is," [Kutzen p. 103 (from +"Prince de Ligne's DIARY, i. 63, German Translation").]--where many have +drawn back, and are standing in sheltered places, a hundred deep, say +our Books. + +Stiff fighting at Leuthen; especially furious till Leuthen Churchyard, +a place with high stone walls, was got. Leuthen Village, we observe, was +crammed with Austrians spitting fire from every coign of vantage; Church +and Churchyard especially are a citadel of death. Cannon playing from +the Windmill Heights, too;--moments are inestimable. The Prussian +Commander (name charitably hidden) at Leuthen Churchyard seems to +hesitate in the murderous fire-deluge: Major Mollendorf, namable +from that day forward, growling, "No time this for study," dashes out +himself, "EIN ANDRER MANN (Follow me, whoever is a man)!"--smashes in +the Church-Gate of the place, nine muskets blazing on him through it; +smashes, after a desperate struggle, the Austrians clean out of it, and +conquers the citadel. [Muller, p. 42.] + +The Austrians, on confused terms, made stiff dispute in this second +position for about an hour. The Prussian Reserve was ordered up by +Friedrich; the Prussian left wing, which had stood "refused," about +Radaxdorf, till now: at one time nearly all the Prussians were in fire. +Friedrich is here, is there, wherever the press was greatest; "Prince +Ferdinand," whom we now and then find named, as a diligent little +fellow, and ascertain to be here in this and other Battles of +Friedrich's,--"Prince Ferdinand at one time pointed his cannon on +the Bush or Fir-Clump of Radaxdorf;--an aide-de-camp came to him with +message: "You are firing on the King; the King is yonder!" At which +Ferdinand [his dear little Brother] ERSCHRACK," or almost fainted with +terror. [Kutzen, p. 110.] + +Stiff dispute; and had the Austrians possessed the Prussian dexterity in +manoeuvring, and a Friedrich been among them,--perhaps? But on their own +terms, there was from the first little hope in it. "Behind the Windmills +they are a hundred men deep;" by and by, your Windmills, riddled to +pieces, have to be abandoned; the Prussian left wing rushing on with +bayonets, will not all of you have to go? Lucchesi, with his abundant +Cavalry, seeing this latter movement and the Prussian flank bare in that +part, will do a stroke upon them;--and this proved properly the finale +of the matter, finale to both Lucchesi and it. + +The Prussian flank was to appearance bare in that leftward quarter; but +only to appearance: Driesen with the left wing of Horse is in a Hollow +hard by; strictly charged by Friedrich to protect said flank, and take +nothing else in hand. Driesen lets Lucchesi gallop by, in this career +of his; then emerges, ranked, and comes storming in upon Lucchesi's +back,--entirely confounding his astonished Cavalry and their career. +Astonished Cavalry, bullet-storm on this side of them, edge of sword +on that, take wing in all directions (or all except to west and south) +quite over the horizon; Lucchesi himself gets killed,--crosses a still +wider horizon, poor man. He began the ruin, and he ends it. For now +Driesen takes the bared Austrians in flank, in rear; and all goes +tumbling here too, and in few minutes is a general deluge rearward +towards Saara and Lissa side. + +At Saara the Austrians, sun just sinking, made a third attempt to stand; +but it was hopelessly faint this time; went all asunder at the first +push; and flowed then, torrent-wise, towards all its Bridges over the +Schweidnitz Water, towards Breslau by every method. There are four +Bridges, Stabelwitz below Lissa; Goldschmieden, Hermannsdorf, above; and +the main one at Lissa itself, a standing Bridge on the Highroad (also +of wood); and by this the chief torrent flows; Prussian horse pursuing +vigorously; Prussian Infantry drawn up at Saara, resting some minutes, +after such a day's work. [Archenholtz, i. 209; Seyfarth, _ Beylagen,_ +ii. 243-252 (by an eye-witness, intelligent succinct Account of the +Battle and previous March; ib. 252-272, of the Sieges &c. following); +Preuss, ii. 112, &c.; Tempelhof, i. 276.] + +Truly a memorable bit of work; no finer done for a hundred years, or for +hundreds of years; and the results of it manifold, immediate and remote. +About 10,000 Austrians are left on the field, 3,000 of them slain; +prisoners already 12,000, in a short time 21,000; flags 51, cannon +116;--"Conquest of Silesia" gone to water; Prince Karl and Austria +fallen from their high hopes in one day. The Prussians lost in killed +1,141, in wounded 5,118; 85 had been taken prisoners about Sagschutz and +Gohlau, in the first struggle there. [Kutzen, pp. 118, 125.] There and +at Leuthen Village had been the two tough passages; about an hour each; +in three hours the Battle was done. "MEINE HERREN," said Friedrich that +night at parole, "after such a spell of work, you deserve rest. This day +will bring the renown of your name, and of the Nation's, to the latest +posterity." + +High and low had shone this day; especially these four: Ziethen, +Driesen, Retzow,--and above all Moritz of Dessau. Riding up the line, as +night fell, Friedrich, in passing Moritz and the right wing, drew bridle +for an instant: "I congratulate you on the Victory, Herr Feldmarschall!" +cried he cheerily, and with emphasis on the last word. Moritz, still +very busy, answered slightly; and Friedrich repeated louder, "Don't +you hear that I congratulate you, Herr FELDMARSCHALL!"--a glad sound to +Moritz, who ever since Kolin had stood rather in the shadow. "You have +helped me, and performed every order, as none ever did before in any +battle," added the grateful King. + +Riding up the line, all now grown dusky, Friedrich asks, "Any battalion +a mind to follow me to Lissa?" Three battalions volunteering, follow +him; three are plenty. At Saara, on the Great Road, things are fallen +utterly dark. "Landlord, bring a lantern, and escort." Landlord of the +poor Tavern at Saara escorts obediently; lantern in his right hand, +left hand holding by the King's stirrup-leather,--King (Excellency or +General, as the Landlord thinks him) wishing to speak with the man. Will +the reader consent to their Dialogue, which is dullish, but singular to +have in an authentic form, with Nicolai as voucher? [_Anekdoten_, iii. +231-235.] Like some poor old horse-shoe, ploughed up on the field. Two +farthings worth of rusty old iron; now little other than a curve +of brown rust: but it galloped at the Battle of Leuthen; that is +something!-- + +KING. "Come near; catch me by the stirrup-leather [Landlord with lantern +does so]. We are on the Breslau Great Road, that goes through Lissa, are +n't we?" + +LANDLORD. "Yea, Excellenz." + +KING. "Who are you?" + +LANDLORD. "Your Excellenz, I am the KRATSCHMER [Silesian for Landlord] +at Saara." + +KING. "You have had a great deal to suffer, I suppose." + +LANDLORD. "ACH, your Excellenz, had not I! For the last eight-and-forty +hours, since the Austrians came across Schweidnitz Water, my poor house +has been crammed to the door with them, so many servants they have; and +such a bullying and tumbling:--they have driven me half mad; and I am +clean plundered out." + +KING. "I am sorry indeed to hear that!--Were there Generals too in your +house? What said they? Tell me, then." + +LANDLORD. "With pleasure, your Excellenz. Well; yesterday noon, I had +Prince Karl in my parlor, and his Adjutants and people all crowding +about. Such a questioning and bothering! Hundreds came dashing in, and +other hundreds were sent out: in and out they went all night; no sooner +was one gone, than ten came. I had to keep a roaring fire in the kitchen +all night; so many Officers crowding to it to warm themselves. And +they talked and babbled this and that. One would say, That our King +was coming on, then, 'with his Potsdam Guard-Parade.' Another answers, +'OACH, he dare n't come! He will run for it; we will let him run.' But +now my delight is, our King has paid them their fooleries so prettily +this afternoon!" + +KING. "When got you rid of your high guests?" + +LANDLORD. "About nine this morning the Prince got to horse; and not long +after three, he came past again, with a swarm of Officers; all going +full speed for Lissa. So full of bragging when they came; and now they +were off, wrong side foremost! I saw how it was. And ever after him, the +flood of them ran, Highroad not broad enough,--an hour and more before +it ended. Such a pell-mell, such a welter, cavalry and musketeers all +jumbled: our King must have given them a dreadful lathering. That +is what they have got by their bragging and their lying,--for, your +Excellenz, these people said too, 'Our King was forsaken by his own +Generals, all his first people had gone and left him:' what I never in +this world will believe." + +KING (not liking even rumor of that kind). "There you are right; never +can such a thing be believed of my Army." + +LANDLORD (whom this "MY" has transfixed). "MEIN GOTT, you are our +GNADIGSTER KONIG (most gracious King) yourself! Pardon, pardon, if, in +my stupidity, I have--" + +KING. "No, you are an honest man:--probably a Protestant?" + +LANDLORD. "JOA, JOA, IHR MAJESTAT, I am of your Majesty's creed!" + +Crack-crack! At this point the Dialogue is cut short by sudden +musket-shots from the woody fields to right; crackle of about twelve +shots in all; which hurt nothing but some horse's feet,--had been aimed +at the light, and too low. Instantly the light is blown out, and there +is a hunting out of Croats; Lissa or environs not evacuated yet, +it seems; and the King's Entrance takes place under volleyings and +cannonadings. + +King rides directly to the Schloss, which is still a fine handsome +house, off the one street of that poor Village,--north side of street; +well railed off, and its old ditches and defences now trimmed into +flower-plots. The Schloss is full of Austrian Officers, bustling about, +intending to quarter, when the King enters. They, and the force they +still had in Lissa, could easily have taken him: but how could they +know? Friedrich was surprised; but had to put the best face on it. [In +Kutzen (pp. 121, 209 et seq.) explanation of the true circumstances, and +source of the mistake.] "BON SOIR, MESSIEURS!" said he, with a gay +tone, stepping in: "Is there still room left, think you?" The Austrians, +bowing to the dust, make way reverently to the divinity that hedges a +King of this sort; mutely escort him to the best room (such the popular +account); and for certain make off, they and theirs, towards the Bridge, +which lies a little farther east, at the end of the Village. + +Weistritz or Schweidnitz Water is a biggish muddy stream in that part; +gushing and eddying; not voiceless, vexed by mills and their weirs. Some +firing there was from Croats in the lower houses of the Village, and +they had a cannon at the farther bridge-end; but they were glad to get +away, and vanish in the night; muddy Weistritz singing hoarse adieu to +their cannon and them. Prussian grenadiers plunged indignant into the +houses; made short work of the musketries there. In few minutes every +Croat and Austrian was across, or silenced otherwise too well; Prussian +cannon now going in the rear of them, and continuing to go,--such had +been the order, "till the powder you have is done." Fire of musketry and +occasional cannon lasts all night, from the Lissa or Prussian side of +the River,--"lest they burn this Bridge, or attempt some mischief." A +thing far from their thoughts, in present circumstances. + +The Prussian host at Saara, hearing these noises, took to its arms +again; and marched after the King. Thick darkness; silence; tramp, +tramp:--a Prussian grenadier broke out, with solemn tenor voice again, +into Church-Music; a known Church-Hymn, of the homely TE-DEUM kind; +in which five-and-twenty thousand other voices, and all the regimental +bands, soon join:-- + + "Nun dunket alle Gott + Mit Herzen, Mund und Handen, + Der grosse Dinge thut + An uns und allen Enden." [Muller, p. 48.] + + "Now thank God, one and all, + With heart, with voice, with hands-a, + Who wonders great hath done + To us and to all lands-a." + +And thus they advance; melodious, far-sounding, through the hollow +Night, once more in a highly remarkable manner. A pious people, of +right Teutsch stuff, tender though stout; and, except perhaps Oliver +Cromwell's handful of Ironsides, probably the most perfect soldiers ever +seen hitherto. Arriving at the end of Lissa, and finding all safe as +it should be there, they make their bivouac, their parallelogram of two +lines, miles long across the fields, left wing resting on Lissa, right +on Guckerwitz; and--having, I should think, at least tobacco to depend +on, with abundant stick-fires, and healthy joyful hearts--pass the night +in a thankful, comfortable manner. + +Leuthen was the most complete of all Friedrich's victories; two hours +more of daylight, as Friedrich himself says, and it would have been the +most decisive of this century. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ iv. 167.] As it +was, the ruin of this big Army, 80,000 against 30,000, ["89,200 was +the Austrian strength before the Battle" (deduct the Garrisons of +Schweidnitz and Liegnitz): Preuss, ii. 109 (from the STAFF-OFFICERS).] +was as good as total; and a world of Austrian hopes suddenly collapsed; +and all their Silesian Apparatus, making sure of Silesia beyond an IF, +was tumbled into wreck,--by this one stroke it had got, smiting the +corner-stone of it as if with unexpected lightning. On the morrow after +Leuthen, Friedrich laid siege to Breslau; Karl had left a garrison of +17,000 in it, and a stout Captain, one Sprecher, determined on defence: +such interests hung on Breslau, such immensities of stores were in it, +had there been nothing else. Friedrich, pushing with all his strength, +in spite of bad weather and of Sprecher's industrious defence, got it +in twelve days. [7th-19th December: DIARIUM, &c. of it in +_Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 955-961.] Sprecher had posted placards on the +gallows and up and down, terrifically proclaiming that any man convicted +of mentioning surrender should be instantly hanged: but Friedrich's +bombardment was strong, his assaults continual; and the ditches were +threatening to freeze. On the seventh day of the siege, a Laboratorium +blew up; on the ninth, a Powder-Magazine, carrying a lump of the rampart +away with it. Sprecher had to capitulate: Prisoners of War, we 17,000; +our cannons, ammunitions (most opulent, including what we took from +Bevern lately); these, we and Breslau altogether, alas, it is all yours +again. Liegnitz Garrison, seeing no hope, consented to withdraw on +leave. [26th December: _Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 1016.] Schweidnitz +cannot be besieged till Spring come: except Schweidnitz, Maria Theresa, +the high Kaiserinn, has no foot of ground in Silesia, which she thought +to be hers again. Gone utterly, Patents and all; Schweidnitz alone +waiting till spring. To the lively joy of Silesia in general; to the +thrice-lively sorrow and alarm of certain individuals, leading Catholic +Ecclesiastics mainly, who had misread the signs of the times in late +months! There is one Schaffgotsch, Archbishop or head-man of them, +especially, who is now in a bad way. Never was such royal favor; never +such ingratitude, say the Books at wearisome length. Schaffgotsch was +a showy man of quality, nephew of the quondam Austrian Governor, whom +Friedrich, across a good deal of Papal and other opposition, got pushed +into the Catholic Primacy, and took some pains to make comfortable +there,--Order of the Black Eagle, guest at Potsdam, and the +like;--having a kind of fancy for the airy Schaffgotsch, as well +as judging him suitable for this Silesian High-Priesthood, with his +moderate ideas and quality ways,--which I have heard were a little +dissolute withal. To the whole of which Schaffgotsch proved signally +traitorous and ingrate; and had plucked off the Black Eagle (say the +Books, nearly breathless over such a sacrilege) on some public occasion, +prior to Leuthen, and trampled it under his feet, the unworthy fellow. +Schaffgotsch's pathetic Letter to Friedrich, in the new days posterior +to Leuthen, and Friedrich's contemptuous inexorable answer, we could +give, but do not: why should we? O King, I know your difficulties, and +what epoch it is. But, of a truth, your airy dissolute Schaffgotsch, as +a grateful "Archbishop and Grand-Vicar," is almost uglier to me than as +a Traitor ungrateful for it; and shall go to the Devil in his own way! +They would not have him in Austria; he was not well received at Rome; +happily died before long. [Preuss, ii. 113, 114; Kutzen, pp. 12, +155-160, for the real particculars.] Friedrich was not cruel to +Schaffgotsch or the others, contemptuously mild rather; but he knew +henceforth what to expect of them, and slightly changed this and that in +his Silesian methods in consequence. + +Of Prince Karl let us add a word. On the morrow after Leuthen, Captain +Prince de Ligne and old Papa D'Ahremberg could find little or no Army; +they stept across to Grabschen, a village on the safe side of the +Lohe, and there found Karl and Daun: "rather silent, both; one of +them looking, 'Who would have thought it!' the other, 'Did n't I tell +you?'"--and knowing nothing, they either, where the Army was. Army was, +in fact, as yet nowhere. "Croat fellows, in this Farmstead of ours," +says De Ligne, "had fallen to shooting pigeons." The night had been +unusually dark; the Austrian Army had squatted into woods, into +office-houses, farm-villages, over a wide space of country; and only as +the day rose, began to dribble in. By count, they are still 50,000; but +heart-broken, beaten as men seldom were. "What sound is that?" men asked +yesterday at Brieg, forty miles off; and nobody could say, except that +it was some huge Battle, fateful of Silesia and the world. Breslau had +it louder; Breslau was still more anxious. "What IS all that?" asked +somebody (might be Deblin the Shoemaker, for anything I know) of an +Austrian sentry there: "That? That is the Prussians giving us such a +beating as we never had." What news for Deblin the Shoemaker, if he is +still above ground!-- + +"Prince Karl, gathering his distracted fragments, put 17,000 into +Breslau by way of ample garrison there; and with the rest made off +circuitously for Schweidnitz; thence for Landshut, and down the +Mountains, home to Konigsgratz,--self and Army in the most wrecked +condition. Chased by Ziethen; Ziethen (sticking always to the hocks of +them,' as Friedrich eagerly enjoins on him; or sometimes it is, 'sitting +on the breeches of them:' for about a fortnight to come. [Eleven Royal +Autographs: in Blumenthal, _Life of De Ziethen_ (ii. 94-111), a feeble +incorrect Translation of them.] Ziethen took 2,000 prisoners; no end of +baggages, of wagons left in the difficult places: wild weather even for +Ziethen, still more for Karl, among the Silesian-Bohemian Hill-roads: +heavy rains, deep muds, then sudden glass, with cutting snow-blasts: 'An +Army not a little dilapidated,' writes Prince Karl, almost with tears in +his eyes; (Army without linens, without clothes; in condition truly sad +and pitiable; and has always, so close are the enemy, to encamp, though +without tents.' [Kutzen, p. 134 ("Prince Karl to the Kaiser, December +14th").]. Did not get to Konigsgratz, and safe shelter, for ten days +more. Counted, at Konigsgratz in the Christmas time, 37,000 rank and +file,--'22,000 of whom are gone to hospital,' by the Doctor's report. + +"Universal astonishment, indignation, even incredulity, is the humor +at Vienna: the high Kaiserinn herself, kept in the dark for some time, +becomes dimly aware; and by Kaiser Franz's own advice she relieves +Prince Karl from his military employments, and appoints Daun instead. +Prince Karl withdrew to his Government of the Netherlands; and with the +aid of generous liquors, and what natural magnanimity he had, spent +a noiseless life thenceforth; Sword laid entirely on the shelf; and +immortal Glory, as of Alexander and the like, quite making its exit from +the scene, convivial or other. 'The first General in the world,' so +he used to be ten years ago, in Austria, in England, Holland, the +thrice-greatest of Generals: but now he has tried Friedrich in Five +pitched Battles (Czaslau, Hohenfriedberg, Sohr, then Prag, then +Leuthen);--been beaten every time, under every form of circumstance; and +now, at Leuthen, the fifth beating is such, no public, however ignorant, +can stand it farther. The ignorant public changes its long-eared +eulogies into contumeliously horrid shrieks of condemnation; in which +one is still farther from joining. 'That crossing of the Rhine,' says +Friedrich, 'was a BELLE CHOSE; but flatterers blew him into dangerous +self-conceit; besides, he was ill-obeyed, as others of us have been.' +["Prince de Ligne, _Memoires sur Frederic_ (Berlin, 1789), p. 38" +(Preuss, ii. 112).] Adieu to him, poor red-faced soul;--and good liquor +to him,--at least if he can take it in moderation!" + +The astonishment of all men, wise and simple, at this sudden oversetting +of the scene of things, and turning of the gazetteer-diplomatic theatre +bottom uppermost, was naturally extreme, especially in gazetteer +and diplomatic circles; and the admiration, willing or unwilling, of +Friedrich, in some most essential points of him, rose to a high pitch. +Better soldier, it is clear, has not been heard of in the modern ages. +Heroic constancy, courage superior to fate: several clear features of a +hero;--pity he were such a liar withal, and ignorant of common honesty; +thought the simple sort, in a bewildered manner, endeavoring to forget +the latter features, or think them not irreconcilable. Military judges +of most various quality, down to this day, pronounce Leuthen to be +essentially the finest Battle of the century; and indeed one of the +prettiest feats ever done by man in his Fighting Capacity. Napoleon, +for instance, who had run over these Battles of Friedrich (apparently +somewhat in haste, but always with a word upon them which is worth +gathering from such a source), speaks thus of Leuthen: "This Battle is +a masterpiece of movements, of manoeuvres, and of resolution; enough +to immortalize Friedrich, and rank him among the greatest Generals. +Manifests, in the highest degree, both his moral qualities and his +military." [Montholon, _ Memoires &c., de Napoleon,_ vii. 211. This +Napoleon SUMMARY OF FRIEDRICH'S CAMPAIGNS, and these brief Bits of +Criticism, are pleasant reading, though the fruit evidently of slight +study, and do credit to Napoleon perhaps still more than to Friedrich.] + +How the English Walpoles, in Parliament and out of it; how the Prussian +Sulzers, D'Argenses, the Gazetteer and vague public, may have spoken +and written at that time, when the matter was fresh and on everybody's +tongue,--judge still by two small symptoms which we have to show:-- + +1. A LETTER OF FRIEDRICH'S TO D'ARGENS (Durgoy, near Breslau, 19th +December, 1757).--"Your friendship seduces you, MON CHER; I am but a +paltry knave (POLISSON) in comparison with 'Alexander,' and not worthy +to tie the shoe-latchets of 'Caesar'! Necessity, who is the mother of +industry, has made me act, and have recourse to desperate remedies in +evils of a like nature. + +"We have got here [this day, by capitulation of Breslau] from +fourteen to fifteen thousand prisoners: so that, in all, I have above +twenty-three thousand of the Queen's troops in my hands, fifteen +Generals, and above seven hundred Officers. 'T is a plaster on my +wounds, but it is far enough from healing them. + +"I am now about marching to the Mountain region, to settle the chain of +quarters there; and if you will come, you will find the roads free and +safe. I was sorry at the Abbe's treason,"--paltry De Prades, of whom we +heard enough already. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 47.] + +2. A POTTERY-APOTHEOSIS OF FRIEDRICH.--"There stands on this +mantel-piece," says one of my Correspondents, the amiable Smelfungus, in +short, whom readers are acquainted with, "a small China Mug, not of bad +shape; declaring itself, in one obscure corner, to be made at Worcester, +'R. I., Worcester, 1757' (late in the season, I presume, demand being +brisk); which exhibits, all round it, a diligent Potter's-Apotheosis +of Friedrich, hastily got up to meet the general enthusiasm of English +mankind. Worth, while it lasts unbroken, a moment's inspection from you +in hurrying along. + +"Front side, when you take our Mug by the handle for drinking from it, +offers a poor well-meant China Portrait, labelled KING OF PRUSSIA: Copy +of Friedrich's Portrait by Pesne, twenty years too young for the time, +smiling out nobly upon you; upon whom there descends with rapidity a +small Genius (more like a Cupid who had hastily forgotten his bow, and +goes headforemost on another errand) to drop a wreath on this deserving +head;--wreath far too small for ever getting on (owing to distance, +let us hope), though the artless Painter makes no sign; and indeed both +Genius and wreath, as he gives them, look almost like a big insect, +which the King will be apt to treat harshly if he notice it. On the +opposite side, again, separated from Friedrich's back by the handle, +is an enormous image of Fame, with wings filling half the Mug, with two +trumpets going at once (a bass, probably, and a treble), who flies +with great ease; and between her eager face end the unexpectant one of +Friedrich (who is 180 degrees off, and knows nothing of it) stands +a circular Trophy, or Imbroglio of drums, pikes, muskets, cannons, +field-flags and the like; very slightly tied together,--the knot, +if there is one, being hidden by some fantastic bit of scroll or +escutcheon, with a Fame and ONE trumpet scratched on it;--and high out +of the Imbroglio rise three standards inscribed with Names, which we +perceive are intended to be names of Friedrich's Victories; standards +notable at this day, with Names which I will punctually give you. + +"Standard first, which flies to the westward or leftward, has +'Reisberg' (no such place on this distracted globe, but meaning Bevern's +REICHENBERG, perhaps),--'Reisberg,' 'Prague,' 'Collin.' Middle standard +curves beautifully round its staff, and gives us to read, 'Welham' +(non-extant, too; may mean WELMINA or Lobositz), 'Rossbach' (very good), +'Breslau' (poor Bevern's, thought a VICTORY in Worcester at this time!). +Standard third, which flies to eastward or right hand, has 'Neumark' +(that is, NEUMARKT and the Austrian Bread-ovens, 4th December); 'Lissa' +(not yet LEUTHEN in English nomenclature); and 'Breslau' again, which +means the capture of Breslau CITY this time, and is a real success, +7th-19th December;--giving us the approximate date, Christmas, 1757, to +this hasty Mug. A Mug got up for temporary English enthusiasm, and the +accidental instruction of posterity. It is of tolerable China; holds a +good pint, 'To the Protestant Hero, with all the honors;'--and offers, +in little, a curious eyehole into the then England, with its then lights +and notions, which is now so deep-hidden from us, under volcanic ashes, +French Revolutions, and the wrecks of a Hundred very decadent Years." + + + + +Chapter XI.--WINTER IN BRESLAU: THIRD CAMPAIGN OPENS. + +Friedrich, during those grand victories, is suffering sadly in health, +"COLIQUE DEPUIS HUIT JOURS, neither sleep nor appetite;" "eight months +of mere anguishes and agitations do wear one down." He is tired too, he +says, of the mere business-talk, coarse and rugged, which has been his +allotment lately; longs for some humanly roofed kind of lodging, and +a little talk that shall have flavor in it. [Letters of his to Prince +Henri (December 26th, &c.: _ OEuvres,_ xxvi. 167, 169; Stenzel, v: +123).] The troops once all in their Winter-quarters, he sits down in +Breslau as his own wintering-place: place of relaxation,--of rest, or +at least of changed labor,--no man needing it more. There for some +three months he had a tolerable time; perhaps, by contrast, almost a +delightful. Readers must imagine it; we have no details allowed us, nor +any time for them even if we had. + +There come various visitors, various gayeties,--King's Birthday (January +24th); quality Balls, "at which Royal Majesty sometimes deigned to +show himself." A lively Breslau, in comparison. Sister Amelia paid a +beautiful visit of a fortnight or more: Sister Amelia, and along with +her, two married Cousins (once Margravines of Schwedt), whose Husbands, +little Brother Ferdinand, and Eugen of Wurtemberg, are wintering +here. The Marquis d'Argens, how exquisitely treated we shall see, is a +principal figure; Excellency Mitchell, deep in very important +business just now, is another. Reader de Catt (he who once, in a Dutch +River-Boat, got into conversation with the snuffy gentleman in black +wig) made his new appearance, this Winter,--needed now, since De Prades +is off. "Should you have known me again?" asked Friedrich. "Hardly, in +that dress; besides, your Majesty looks thinner." "That I can believe, +with the cursed life I have been leading!" [Rodenbeck, i. 285.] There +came also, day not given, a Captain Guichard ("Major Quintus Icilius" +that is to be) with his new Book on the Art Military of the Ancients, +MEMOIRES MILITAIRES SUR LES GRECS ET LES ROMAINS; [a La Haye, 2 tomes, +4to, 1757 (Nicolai, _Anekdoten,_ vi. 134)] which cannot but be welcome +to Friedrich. A solid account of that matter, by the first man who ever +understood both War and Greek. Far preferable to Folard's, a man without +Greek at all, and with military ideas not a little fantastic here and +there. Of Captain Guichard, were his Book once read, and himself a +little known, there will be more to say. For the present, fancy +him retained as supernumerary:--and in regard to Friedrich's Winter +generally, accept the following small hints, small but direct:-- + + +FRIEDRICH TO D'ARGENS (three different times). + +1. ON THE ROAD TO LEUTHEN "(Torgau, 15th November 1757).... I have +been obliged to have the Abbe arrested [De Prades, of whom enough, long +since]; he has been playing the spy, and I have many evident proofs of +it. That is very infamous and very ungrateful.--I have made a prodigious +quantity of verses (PRODIGIEUSEMENT DE VERS). If I live, I will show +them you in Winter-quarters: if I perish, they are bequeathed to you, +and I have ordered that they be put into your hand.... + +"Adieu, my dear Marquis. I fancy you to be in bed: don't rot there;--and +remember you have promised to join me in Winter-quarters;"--on this +latter point Friedrich is very urgent, amiably eager; prepared to wrap +the poor Marquis in cotton, and carry him and lodge him, like glass with +care. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_] xix, 43.] For example:-- + +2. WHILE SETTLING THE WINTER-QUARTERS ("Striegau, 26th December, 1757:" +Siege of Breslau done ten days ago).... "What a pleasure to hear you +are coming! Your travelling you can do in your own way. I have chosen a +party of Light Horse (JAGER), who will appear at Berlin to conduct +you. You can make short journeys: the first to Frankfurt, the second to +Crossen, the third to Grunberg, fourth to Glogau, fifth to Parchwitz, +sixth to Breslau. I have directed that horses be ordered for you, that +your rooms be warmed everywhere, and good fowls ready on all roads. +Your apartment in this House [Royal House in Breslau, which the King has +built for himself years ago] is carpeted, hermetically shut. You shall +suffer nothing from draughts or from noise." [Ib. xix. 48.]--Lucky +Marquis; what a Landlord! Came accordingly; stayed till deep in +April,--waiting latterly for weather, I perceive; long after the King +himself was off. Thus:-- + +3. FRIEDRICH ON THE FIELD AGAIN FOR FIVE WEEKS PAST ("Munsterberg, +23d April, 1758"). "Adieu, dear Marquis; I fancy you are now in Berlin +again. Go to Charlottenburg whenever and how you like; take care of +yourself; and be ready for the beginning of October next!--As to me, MON +CHER, I am off to fight windmills and ostriches (AUTRUCHES), that is, +Russians and Austrians (AUTRICHIENS). Adieu, MON CHER." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xix. 49.] + +There circulated in the Newspapers, this Winter, something of what was +called a LETTER from Friedrich to Maria Theresa, formally proposing +Peace, after these magnificent successes. And certainly, of all things +in the Earth, Friedrich would have best liked Peace, this year, last +year, and for the next five years: "Go home, then, good neighbors; don't +break into my house, don't cut my poor throat, and we will be friends +again!" Friedrich, it appears, had actually, finding or making +opportunity, sent some polite Letter, of pacific tenor, in his light +clever way, to that address;--not without momentary hopes of perhaps +getting good from it. [In PREUSS, ii. 130 (Friedrich's Letter mostly +given;--bearer a Prince van Lobkowitz, prisoner at Leuthen, now going +home on handsome terms) Stenzel, v. 124 (for the PER-CONTRA feeling).] +And the Kaiserinn herself, Austria's high Mother, did, they say, after +such a Leuthen coming on the back of such a Rossbach, feel discouraged; +but the Pompadour (not France's Mother, whatever she might be to France) +was of far other mind: "Do not speak of it, MA REINE! Double or quits, +that is our game: can we yield for a little ill-luck? Never!" + +France dismisses its D'Argenson, "What Armies are these of his; flying +home on us, like draggled poultry, across the Rhine!"--summons the famed +Belleisle to be War-Minister, and give things an eagle-quality: ["26th +February, 1758" (BARBIER, iv. 258).] France engages to pay its subsidies +better (France now the general paying party, Austria, Sweden, Russia +itself, all looking to France,--would she were as punctual as England +used to be!),--in a word, engages to be magnanimous extremely, and will +hear of nothing but persistence. "Shall not we reap, then, where there +is such a harvest standing white to us?" Kaunitz admits that there never +will again be such a chance.--Peace, it is clear enough, will not be got +of these people by any Letter, or human device whatever, except simply +by uttermost, more or less miraculous fighting for it. Friedrich is +profoundly aware of this fact;--is busy completing his Army: 145,000 +for the field, this Year, 53,000 the Silesian part, "a good many of +them Austrian deserters;" [Stenzel, v. 155.] and is closing an important +Subsidy Treaty with England,--of which more anon. + +And if this is the mood in France and Austria, think what Russia's will +be! The Czarina is not dead of dropsy, as some had expected, but, on +the contrary, alive, and fiercer than ever; furious against Apraxin, and +determined that Fermor, his successor, shall defy Winter, and begin +work at once. She has indignantly dismissed Apraxin (to be tried by +Court-Martial, he); dismisses Bestuchef the Chancellor; appoints a new +General, Fermor by name; orders Fermor to go and lose not a moment, now +in the depth of Winter since it was not done in the crown of Summer, and +take possession of East Preussen in her name. + +Which Fermor does; 16th January, crosses the border again, 31,000 in +all, without opposition except from the frost; plants himself up and +down,--only two poor Prussian battalions there; who retire, with their +effects, especially "with seven wagons of money." January 22d, Fermor +enters Konigsberg; publishes no end of proclamations, manifestoes, +rescripts, to inform the poor people, trembling at the Cossack +atrocities of last Year, "That his august Sovereign Elizabeth of All +the Russias has now become Proprietress of East Preussen, which shall be +perfectly protected and exquisitely well-governed henceforth; and that +all men of official or social position have, accordingly, to come and +take the oath to her, with the due alacrity and punctuality, at their +peril." + +No man is willing for the operation, most men shudder at it; but who can +help them? Surely it was an unblessed operation. Poor souls, one pities +them; for at heart they were, and continued, loyal to their own King; +thoroughly abhorrent of becoming Russian, as Czarish Majesty has +thoroughly resolved they shall. Some few absconded, leaving their +property as spoil; the rest swore, with mental reservation, with shifts, +such as they could devise:--for example, some were observed to swear +with gloves on; the right hand, which they held up, was a mere right +FIST with a stuffed glove at the end of it,--SO help me Beelzebub (or +whoever is the recording Angel here)! [_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 141-149: +Preuss, ii. 145, iii. 578, iv. 477, &c.] And thus does Preussen, with +astonishment, as by the spell of a Czarina Circe, find itself changed +suddenly to Russian: and does not recover the old human form till four +years hence,--when, again suddenly, as we shall see, the Circe and her +wand chance to get broken. + +Friedrich could not mend or prevent this bad Business; but was so +disgusted with it, he never set foot in East Preussen again,--never +could bear to behold it, after such a transformation into temporary +Russian shape. I cannot say he abhorred this constrained Oath as I +should have done: on the contrary, in the first spurt of indignation, he +not only protested aloud, but made reprisals,--"Swear ME those Saxons, +then!" said he; and some poor magistrates of towns, and official +people, had to make a figure of swearing (if not allegiance altogether, +allegiance for the time being), in the same sad fashion, till one's +humor cooled again. [Preuss, ii. 163: Oath given in _Helden-Geschichte,_ +v. 631.] East Preussen, lost in this way, held by its King as before, or +more passionately now than ever; still loved Friedrich, say the Books; +but it is Russia's for the present, and the mischief is done. East +Preussen itself, Circe Czarina cherishing it as her own, had a much +peaceabler time: in secret it even sent moneys, recruits, numerous young +volunteers to Friedrich; much more, hopes and prayers. But his disgust +with the late transformation by enchantment was inexpiable. + +It was May or June, as had been anticipated, before the Russian main +Army made its practical appearance in those parts. Fermor had, in the +interim, seized Thorn, seized Elbing ("No offence, magnanimous Polacks, +it is only for a time!"),--and would fain have had Dantzig too, but +Dantzig would n't. Not till June 16th did the unwieldy mass (on paper +104,000, and in effect, and exclusive of Cossack rabble, about 75,000) +get on way; and begin slowly staggering westward. Very slowly, and amid +incendiary fire and horrid cruelty, as heretofore;--and in August coming +we shall be sure to hear of it. + +Lehwald was just finishing with the Swedes,--had got them all bottled up +in Stralsund again, about New-Year's time, when these Russians crossed +into Preussen. We said nothing of the Swedish so-called Campaign of last +Year;--and indeed are bound to be nearly silent of that and of all +the others. Five Campaigns of them, or at least Four and a half; such +Campaigns as were never made before or since. Of Campaign 1757, the +memorable feature is, that of the whole "Swedish Division," as the +laughing Newspapers called it, which was "put to flight by five Berlin +Postilions;"--substantially a truth, as follows:-- + +"Night of September 12th-13th, 1757, the Swedes, 22,000 strong, did at +last begin business; crossed Peene River, the boundary between their +Pommern and ours; and, having nothing but some fractions of Militia +to oppose them, soon captured the Redoubts there; spread over Prussian +Pommern, and on into the Uckermark; diligently raising contributions, +to a heavy amount. No less than 90,000 pounds in all for this poor +Province; though, by a strange accident, 60,000 pounds proved to be the +actual sum. + +"Towards the end of October they had got as much as 60,000 pounds from +the northern parts of Uckermark, Prentzlow being their head-quarter +during that operation; and they now sent out a Detachment of 200 +grenadiers and 100 dragoons towards Zehdenick, another little Town, some +forty miles farther south, there to wring out the remaining sum. The +Detachment marched by night, not courting notice; but people had heard +of its coming; and five Prussian Postilions,--shifty fellows, old +hussars it may be, at any rate skilful on the trumpet, and furnished +with hussar jackets and an old pistol each, determined to do something +for their Country. The Swedish Detachment had not marched many miles, +when,--after or before some flourishes of martial trumpeting,--there +verily fell on the Swedish flank, out of a clump of dark wood, five +shots, and wounded one man. To the astonishment and panic of the other +two hundred and ninety-nine; who made instant retreat, under new shots +and trumpet-tones, as if it were from five whole hussar regiments; +retreat double-quick, to Prentzlow; alarm waxing by the speed; alarm +spreading at Prentzlow itself: so that the whole Division got to its +feet, recrossed the Peene; and Uckermark had nothing more to pay, for +that bout! This is not a fable, such as go in the Newspapers," adds my +Authority, "but an accurate fact:" [_ Helden-Geschichte,_ iv. 764, 807; +Archenholtz, i. 160.]--probably, in our day, the alone memorable one of +that "Swedish War." + +"The French," says another of my Notes, "who did the subsidying all +round (who paid even the Russian Subsidy, though in Austria's name), had +always an idea that the Swedes--22,000 stout men, this year, 4,000 of +them cavalry--might be made to co-operate with the Russians; with them +or with somebody; and do something effective in the way of destroying +Friedrich. And besides their subsidies and bribings, the French +took incredible pains with this view; incessantly contriving, +correspondencing, and running to and fro between the parties: [For +example: M. le Marquis de Montalembert, CORRESPONDANCE AVEC &c., ETANT +EMPLOYE PAR LE ROI DE FRANCE A L'ARMEE SUEDOISE, 1757-1761 ("with the +Swedish Army," yes, and sometimes with the Russian,--and sometimes on +the French Coasts, ardently fortifying against Pitt and his Descents +there:--a very intelligent, industrious, observant man; still amusing +to read, if one were idler), A LONDRES (evidently Paris), 1777, 3 vols. +small 8vo. Then, likewise very intelligent, there is a Montazet, a +Mortaigne, a Caulaiucourt; a CAMPAGNE DES RUSSES EN 1757; &c. &c.,--in +short, a great deal of fine faculty employed there in spinning ropes +from sand.] but had not, even from the Russians and Czarish Majesty, +much of a result, and from the Swedes had absolutely none at all. By +French industry and flagitation, the Swedish Army was generally kept +up to about 20,000: the soldiers were expert with their fighting-tools, +knew their field-exercise well; had fine artillery, and were stout +hardy fellows: but the guidance of them was wonderful. 'They had no +field-commissariat,' says one Observer, 'no field-bakery, no magazines, +no pontoons, no light troops; and,' among the Higher Officers, 'no +subordination.' [Archenholtz, i. 158.] Were, in short, commanded by +nobody in particular. Commanded by Senator Committee-men in Stockholm; +and, on the field, by Generals anxious to avoid responsibility; who, +instead of acting, held continual Councils of War. The history of their +Campaigns, year after year, is, in summary, this:-- + +"Late in the season (always late, War-Offices at home, and Captaincies +here, being in such a state), they emerged from Stralsund, an +impregnable place of their own,--where the men, I observe, have had +to live on dried fishy substances, instead of natural boiled oatmeal; +[Montalembert, i. 32-37, 335. 394, &c. (that of the demand for Neise +PORRIDGE, which interested me, I cannot find again).] and have died +extensively in consequence:--they march from Stralsund, a forty or +thirty miles, till they reach the Swedish-Pommern boundary, Peene River; +a muddy sullen stream, flowing through quagmire meadows, which are miles +broad, on each shore. River unfordable everywhere; only to be crossed +in four or five places, where paved causeways are. The Swedes, with +deliberation, cross Peene; after some time, capture the bits of +Redoubts, and the one or two poor Prussian Towns upon it; Anklam +Redoubt, PEENE-MUNDE (Peene-mouth) Redoubt; and rove forward into +Prussian Pommern, or over into the Uckermark, for fifty, for a hundred +miles; exacting contributions; foraging what they can; making the poor +country-people very miserable, and themselves not happy,--their soldiers +'growing yearly more plunderous,' says Archenholtz, 'till at length they +got, though much shyer of murder, to resemble Cossacks,' in regard to +other pleas of the crown. + +"There is generally some fractional regiment or two of Prussian force, +left under some select General Manteuffel, Colonel Belling; who hangs +diligently on the skirts of them, exploding by all opportunities. There +have been Country Militias voluntarily got on foot, for the occasion; +five or six small regiments of them; officered by Prussian Veterans of +the Squirearchy in those parts; who do excellent service. The Governor +of Stettin, Bevern, our old Silesian friend, strikes out now and then, +always vigilant, prompt and effective, on a chance offering. This, +through Summer, is what opposition can be made: and the Swedes, without +magazines, scout-service, or the like military appliances, but willing +enough to fight [when they can see], and living on their shifts, will +rove inward, perhaps 100 miles; say southwestward, say southeastward +[towards Ruppin, which we used to know],--they love to keep Mecklenburg +usually on their flank, which is a friendly Country. Small fights befall +them, usually beatings; never anything considerable. That is their +success through Summer. + +"Then, in Autumn, some remnant more of Prussian regulars arrive, +disposable now for that service; upon which the Swedes are driven over +Peene again (quite sure to be driven, when the River with its quagmires +freezes); lose Anklam Redoubt, Peene-munde Redoubt; lose Demmin, Wollin; +are followed into Swedish Pommern, oftenest to the gates of Stralsund, +and are locked up there, there and in Rugen adjoining, till a new +season arrive."--This year (1757-1758), Lehwald, on turning the key of +Stralsund, might have done a fine feat; frost having come suddenly, and +welded Rugen to mainland. "What is to hinder you from starving them into +surrender?" signifies Friedrich, hastily: "Besiege me Stralsund!" Which +Lehwald did; but should have been quicker about it; or the thaw came +too soon, and admitted ships with provision again. Upon which Lehwald +resigned, to a General Graf von Dohna; and went home, as grown too old: +and Dohna kept them bottled there till the usual Russian Advent (deep in +June); by which time, what with limited stockfish diet, what with +sore labor (breaking of the ice, whenever frost reappeared) and other +hardship, more than half of them had died.--"Every new season there +was a new General tried; but without the least improvement. There +was mockery enough, complaint enough; indignant laughter in Stockholm +itself; and the Dalecarlians thought of revolting: but the Senator +Committee-men held firm, ballasted by French gold, for four years. + +"The Prussian Militias are a fine trait of the matter; about fifteen +regiments in different parts;--about five in Pommern, which set +the example; which were suddenly raised last Autumn by the STANDE +themselves, drilled in Stettin continually, while the Swedes were +under way, and which stood ready for some action, under veterans of the +squirearchy, when the Swedes arrived. They were kept up through the +War. The STANDE even raised a little fleet, [Archenholtz, i. 110.] river +fleet and coast fleet, twelve gunboats, with a powerful carronade in +each, and effective men and captain; a great check on plundering and +coast mischief, till the Swedes, who are naval, at last made an effort +and destroyed them all." + +Friedrich was very sensible of these procedures on the part of his +STANDE; and perhaps readers are not prepared for such, or for others +of the like, which we could produce elsewhere, in a Country without +Constitution to speak of. Friedrich raises no new taxes,--except upon +himself exclusively, and these to the very blood:--Friedrich gets no +Life-and-Fortune Addresses of the vocal or printed sort, but only of +the acted. Very much the preferable kind, where possible, to all parties +concerned. These poor militias and flotillas one cheerfully puts on +record; cheerfully nothing else, in regard to such a Swedish War;--nor +shall we henceforth insult the human memory by another word upon it that +is not indispensable. + + + + +OF THE ENGLISH SUBSIDY. + +One of Friedrich's most important affairs, at present,--vitally +connected with his Army and its furnishings, which is the +all-important,--was his Subsidy Treaty with England. It is the third +treaty he has signed with England in regard to this War; the second in +regard to subsidy for it; and it is the first that takes real practical +effect. It had cost difficulty in adjusting, not a little correspondence +and management from Mitchell; for the King is very shy about subsidy, +though grim necessity prescribes it as inevitable; and his pride, and +his reflections on the last Subsidy Treaty, "One Million sterling, Army +of Observation, and Fleet in the Baltic," instead of which came Zero and +Kloster-Zeven, have made him very sensitive. However, all difficulties +are got over; Plenipotentiary Knyphausen, Pitt, Britannic Majesty and +everybody striving to be rational and practical; and at London, 11th +April, 1758, Subsidy Treaty, admirably brief and to the point, is +finished: [In four short Articles; given in _ Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 16, +17.] "That Friedrich shall have Four Million Thalers, that is, 670,000 +pounds; payable in London to his order, in October, this Year; which +sum Friedrich engages to spend wholly in maintenance and increase of his +Army for behoof of the common object;--neither party to dream of making +the least shadow of peace or truce without the other." Of Baltic Fleet, +there is nothing said; nor, in regard to that, was anything done, this +year or afterwards; highly important as it would have been to Friedrich, +with the Navies so called of both Sweden and Russia doing their worst +upon him. "Why not spare me a small English squadron, and blow these +away?" Nor was the why ever made clear to him; the private why being, +that Czarish Majesty had, last year, intimated to Britannic, "Any such +step on your part will annihilate the now old friendship of Russia and +England, and be taken as a direct declaration of War!"--which Britannic +Majesty, for commercial and miscellaneous reasons, hoped always might be +avoided. Be silent, therefore, on that of Baltic Fleet. + +In all the spoken or covenanted points the Treaty was accurately kept: +670,000 pounds, two-thirds of a million very nearly, will, in punctual +promptitude, come to Friedrich's hand, were October here. And in regard +to Ferdinand (a point left silent, this too), Friedrich's expectations +were exceeded, not the contrary, so long as Pitt endured. This is the +Third English-Prussian Treaty of the Seven-Years War, as we said above; +and it is the First that took practical effect: this was followed by +three others, year after year, of precisely the same tenor, which +were likewise practical and punctually kept,--the last of them, "12th +December, 1760," had reference to Subsidy for 1761:--and before another +came, Pitt was out. So that, in all, Friedrich had Four Subsidies; +670,000 pounds x4=2,680,000 pounds of English money altogether:--and it +is computed by some, there was never as much good fighting otherwise had +out of all the 800,000,000 pounds we have funded in that peculiar +line of enterprise. [First Treaty, 16th January, 1756 (is in +_Helden-Geschichte,_ iii. 681), "We will oppose by arms any foreign +Armament entering Germany;" Second Treaty, 11th January, 1757 (never +published till 1802), is in Scholl, iii. 30-32: "one million subsidy, +a Fleet &c." (not KEPT at all); after which, Third Treaty (the FIRST +really issuing in subsidy and performance) is 11th April, 1758 (given in +_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 17); Fourth (really SECOND), 7th December, 1758 +(Ib. v. 752); Fifth (THIRD), 9th November, 1759; Sixth (FOURTH), 12th +December, 1760. See PREUSS, ii. 124 n.] + +Pitt had no difficulty with his Parliament, or with his Public, in +regard to this Subsidy; the contrary rather. Seldom, if ever, was +England in such a heat of enthusiasm about any Foreign Man as about +Friedrich in these months since Rossbach and what had followed. +Celebrating this "Protestant Hero," authentic new Champion of +Christendom; toasting him, with all the honors, out of its Worcester and +other Mugs, very high indeed. Take these Three Clippings from the old +Newspapers, omitting all else; and rekindle these, by good inspection +and consideration, into feeble symbolic lamps of an old illumination, +now fallen so extinct. + +No. 1. REVEREND MR. WHITFIELD AND THE PROTESTANT HERO. "Monday, January +2d," 1758, "was observed as a Day of Thanksgiving, at the Chapel in +Tottenham-Court Road [brand-new Chapel, still standing and acting, +though now in a dingier manner], by Mr. Whitfield's people, for the +signal Victories gained by the King of Prussia over his Enemies. +[_Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxviii. (for 1758), p. 41.]--'Why rage the +Heathen; why do the people imagine a vain thing? Sinful beings we, +perilously sunk in sin against the Most High:--but they, do they think +that, by earthly propping and hoisting, their unblessed Chimera, with +his Three Hats, can sweep away the Eternal Stars!'"--In this strain, +I suppose: Protestant Hero and Heaven's long-suffering Patiences and +Mercies in raising up such a one for a backsliding generation; doubtless +with much unction by Mr. Whitfield. + +No. 2. KING OF PRUSSIA'S BIRTHDAY (Tuesday, January 24th). "This +being the Birthday of the King of Prussia, who then entered into the +forty-seventh year of his age, the same was observed with illuminations +and other demonstrations of joy;"--throughout the Cities of London +and Westminster, "great rejoicings and illuminations," it appears, +[_Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxviii. (for 1758), p. 43; and vol. xxix. +p. 42, for next year's birthday, and p. 81 for another kind of +celebration.]--now shining so feebly at a century's distance!--No. 3 is +still more curious; and has deserved from us a little special inquiring +into. + +No. 3. MISS BARBARA WYNDHAM'S SUBSIDY. "March 13th, 1758,"--while Pitt +and Knyphausen are busy on the Subsidy Treaty, still not out with it, +the Newspapers suddenly announce,-- + +"Miss Bab. Wyndham, of Salisbury, sister of Henry Wyndham, Esq., of that +City, a maiden lady of ample fortune, has ordered her banker to prepare +the sum of 1,000 pounds to be immediately remitted, in her own name, +as a present to the King of Prussia." [_ London Chronicle,_ March +14th-16th, 1758; _ Lloyd's Evening Post;_ &c. &c.] Doubtless to the King +of Prussia's surprise, and that of London Society, which would not want +for commentaries on such a thing! + +Before long, the Subsidy Treaty being now out, and the Wyndham topic new +again, London Society reads, in the same Newspaper, a Documentary Piece, +calculated to help in its commentaries. There is good likelihood of +guess, though no certainty now attainable, that the "English Lady" +referred to may be Miss Bab. herself;--of whose long-vanished biography, +and brisk, airy, nomadic ways, we catch hereby a faint shadow, +momentary, but conceivable, and sufficient for us:-- + + +"TO THE AUTHORS OF THE LONDON CHRONICLE. _London Chronicle,_ of +13th-15th April, 1758. + +"The following Account, which is a real fact, will serve to show with +what punctuality and exactness the King of Prussia attends to the most +minute affairs, and how open he is to applications from all persons. + +"An English Lady being possessed of actions [shares] in the Embden +Company, and having occasion to raise money on them, repaired to Antwerp +[some two years ago, as will be seen], and made application for that +purpose to a Director of the Company, established there by the King of +Prussia for the managing all affairs relative thereto. This person," Van +Erthorn the name of him, "very willingly entered into treaty with her; +but the sum he offered to lend being far short of what the actions would +bring, and he also insisting on forfeiture of her right in them, if not +redeemed in twelve months,--she broke off with him, and had recourse to +some merchants at Antwerp, who were inclinable to treat with her on much +more equitable terms. The proceeding necessarily brought the parties +before this Director for receiving his sanction, which was essential to +the solidity of the agreement; and he, finding he was like to lose the +advantage he had flattered himself with, disputed the authenticity of +the actions, and thereby threw her into such discredit, as to render all +attempts to raise money on them ineffectual. Upon this the Lady wrote a +Letter by the common post to his Majesty of Prussia, accompanied with +a Memorial complaining of the treatment she had received from the +Director; and she likewise enclosed the actions themselves in another +letter to a friend at Berlin. By the return of the post, his Majesty +condescended to answer her Letter; and the actions were returned +authenticated; which so restored her credit, that in a few hours all +difficulties were removed relating to the transaction she had in +hand; and it is more than probable the Director has felt his Majesty's +resentment for his ill-behavior.--The Lady's Letter was as follows:-- + +"'ANTWERP, 19th February, 1756. + +"'SIR,--Having had the happiness to pay my court to your Majesty +during a pretty long residence at Berlin [say in Voltaire's time; Miss +Barbara's "Embden Company," I observe, was the first of the two, date +1750; that of 1753 is not hers], and to receive such marks of favor from +their Majesties the Queens [a Barbara capable of shining in the Royal +soirees at Monbijou, of talking to, or of, your Voltaires and lions, +and investing moneys in the new Embden Company] as I shall ever retain +a grateful sense of,--I presume to flatter myself that your Majesty will +not be offended at the respectful liberty I have taken in laying before +you my complaints against one Van Erthorn, a Director of the Embden +China Company, whose bad behavior to me, as set forth in my Memorial, +hath forced me to make a very long and expensive stay at this place; +and, as the considerable interest I have in that Company may farther +subject me to his caprices, I cannot forbear laying my grievances at +the foot of your Majesty's throne; most respectfully supplicating your +Majesty that you would be graciously pleased to give orders that +this Director shall not act towards me for the future as he hath done +hitherto. + +"'I hope for this favor from your Majesty's sovereign equity; and I +shall never cease offering up my ardent prayers for the prosperity of +your glorious reign; having the honor to be, with the most respectful +zeal, Sir, your Majesty's most humble, most obedient, and most devoted +servant, * * *' + + +"THE KING OF PRUSSIA'S ANSWER. + +"'POTSDAM, 26th February, 1756. + +"'MADAM,--I received the Letter of the 19th instant, which you thought +proper to write to me; and was not a little displeased to hear of the +bad behavior of one of the Directors of the Asiatic Company of Embden +towards you, of which you were forced to complain. I shall direct your +grievances to be examined, and have just now despatched my orders for +that purpose to Lenz, my President of the Chamber of East Friesland,' +Chief Judge in those parts. [Seyfarth, ii. 139.] 'You may assure +yourself the strictest justice shall be done you that the case will +admit. God keep you in his holy protection. FRIEDRICH.'" + +Whether this refers to Miss Barbara or not, there is no affirming. +But the interesting point is, Friedrich did receive and accept Miss +Barbara's 1,000 pounds. The Prussian account, which calls her "an +English JUNGFRAU, LADY SALISBURY, who actually sent a sum of money," +[Preuss, ii. 124, whose reference is merely _ "Gentleman's Magazine_ +for 1758." Both in the ANNUAL REGISTER of that Year (i. 86),and in the +_Gentleman's Magazine,_ pp. 142, 177, the above Paragraph and Letters +are copied from the Newspapers, but without the smallest commentary +(there or elsewhere), or any mention of a "Lady Salisbury."] would not +itself be satisfactory: but, by good chance, there is still living, in +Salisbury City, a very aged Gentleman, well known for his worth, and +intelligence on such matters, who, being inquired of, makes reply at +once: That the First Earl of Malmesbury (who was of his acquaintance, +and had many anecdotes and reminiscences of Friedrich, all noted down, +it was understood, with diplomatic exactitude, but never yet published +or become accessible) did, as "I well remember, among other things, +mention the King's telling him that he," the King, "had received a +Thousand Pounds from Miss Wyndham; with a part of which he had bought +the Flute then in his hand." [Letter from John Fowler, Esq., "Salisbury, +2d April, 1860," to a Friend of mine (PENES ME): of Barbara's identity, +or otherwise, with the Antwerp Embden Lady, Mr. F. can say nothing.] +Which latter circumstance, too, is curious. For, at all times, however +straitened Friedrich's Exchequer might be, it was his known habit, +during this War, to have always, before the current year ended, the ways +and means completely settled and provided for the year coming; so that +everything could be at once paid in money (good money or bad,--good +still up to this date);--And nothing was observed to fall short, so much +as the customary liberality of his gifts to those about him. I infer, +therefore: Friedrich had decided to lay out this 1,000 pounds in what he +would call luxuries, chiefly gifts,--and, among other things, had said +to himself, "I will have a new flute, too!" Probably one of his last; +for I understand he had, by this time (Malmesbury's time, 1772), +ceased much playing, and ceased altogether not long after. [Preuss, i. +371-373.] + +James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury, was Resident at Berlin, 1772: +that is all the date we have for the King's saying, "And with part of +it I bought this Flute!" Date of Lord Malmesbury's mention of it at +Salisbury, we have none,--likeliest there might be various dates; +a thing mentioned more than once, and not improvable by dating. +The Wyndhams still live in the Close of Salisbury; a respected and +well-known Family; record of them (none of Barbara there, or elsewhere +except here) to be found in the County Histories. [Britton's _Beauties +of England and Wales,_ _xv. part ii. p. 118; Hoare's _Salisbury_ +_(mistaken, p. 815); &c.] I only know farther, Barbara died May, 1765, +"aged and wealthy," and "with the bulk of her fortune endowed a Charity, +to be called 'Wyndham College,'" [ANNUAL REGISTER (for 1765), viii. +86.]--which I hope still flourishes. Enough on this small Wyndham +matter; which is nearly altogether English, but in which Friedrich too +has his indefeasible property. + + + + +FRIEDRICH, AS INDEED PITT'S PEOPLE AND OTHERS HAVE DONE, TAKES THE FIELD +UNCOMMONLY EARLY: FRIEDRICH GOES UPON SCHWEIDNITZ, SCHWEIDNITZ, AS THE +PREFACE TO WHATEVER HIS CAMPAIGN MAY BE. + +While this Subsidy Treaty is getting settled in England, Duke Ferdinand +has his French in full cackle of universal flight; and before the +signing of it (April 11th), every feather of them is over the Rhine; +Duke Ferdinand busy preparing to follow. Glorious news, day after day, +coming in, for Pitt, for Miss Barbara and for all English souls, Royal +Highness of Cumberland hardly excepted! The "Descent on Rochefort," last +Autumn, had a good deal disappointed Pitt and England;--an expensively +elaborate Expedition, military and naval; which could not "descend" at +all, when it got to the point; but merely went groping about, on +the muddy shores of the Charente, holding councils of war yonder; +"cannonaded the Isle of Aix for two hours;" and returned home without +result of any kind, Courts-martial following on it, as too usual. This +was an unsuccessful first-stroke for Pitt. Indeed, he never did much +succeed in those Descents on the French Coast, though never again so ill +as this time. Those are a kind of things that require an exactitude +as of clockwork, in all their parts: and Pitt's Generalcies and +War-Offices,--we know whether they were of the Prussian type or of the +Swedish! A very grievous hindrance to Pitt;--which he will not believe +to be quite incurable. Against which he, for his part, stands up, in +grim earnest, and with his whole strength; and is now, and at all times, +doing what in him lies to abate or remedy it:--successfully, to an +unexpected degree, within the next four years. From America, he has +decided to recall Lord Loudon, as a cunctatory haggling mortal, the +reverse of a General; how very different from his Austrian Cousin! +[Cousins certainly enough; their Progenitors were Brothers, of that +House, about 1568,--when Matthew, the cadet, went "into Livonia," +into foreign Soldiering (Papa having fallen Prisoner "at the Battle of +Langside," 1568, and the Family prospects being low); from this Matthew +comes, through a scrips of Livonian Soldiers, the famed Austrian +Loudon. Douglas, _Peerage of Scotland,_ p. 425; &c. &c. VIE DE LOUDON +(ill-informed on that point and some others) says, the first Livonian +Loudon came from Ayrshire, "in the fourteenth century".] "Abercrombie +may be better," hopes he;--was better, still not good. But already in +the gloomy imbroglio over yonder, Pitt discerns that one Amherst (the +son of people unimportant at the hustings) has military talent: and +in this puddle of a Rochefort Futility, he has got his eye on a young +Officer named Wolfe, who was Quartermaster of the Expedition; a young +man likewise destitute of Parliamentary connection, but who may be worth +something. Both of whom will be heard of! In a four years' determined +effort of this kind, things do improve: and it was wonderful, to +what amount,--out of these chaotic War-Offices little better than the +Swedish, and ignorant Generalcies fully worse than the Swedish,--Pitt +got heroic successes and work really done. + +On Pitt, amid confused clouds, there is bright dawn rising; and +Friedrich too, for the last month, in Breslau, has a cheerful prospect +on that Western side of his horizon. Here is one of his Postscripts, +thrown off in Autograph, which Duke Ferdinand will read with pleasure: +"I congratulate you, MON CHER, with my whole heart! May you FLEUR-DE-LYS +every French skin of them; cutting out on their"--what shall we say +(LEUR IMPRIMANT SUR LE CUE)!--"the Initials of the Peace of Westphalia, +and packing them across the Rhine," tattooed in that latest extremity of +fashion! [Friedrich to Duke Ferdinand, "Grussau, 19th March, 1758:" in +Knesebeck, _ Herzog Ferdinand,_ i. 64. _Herzog Ferdinand wahrend des +7-jahrigen Krieges_ ("from the English and Prussian Archives") is +the full Title of Knesebeck's Book: LETTERS altogether; not very +intelligently edited, but well worth reading by every student, military +and civil: 2 vols. 8vo. Hannover, 1857.] + +Friedrich, grounding partly on those Rhine aspects, has his own scheme +laid for Campaign 1758. It is the old scheme tried twice already: to go +home upon your Enemy swiftly, with your utmost collective strength, and +try to strike into the heart of him before he is aware. Friedrich has +twice tried this; the second time with success, respectable though far +short of complete. Weakened as now, but with Ferdinand likely to +find the French in employment, he means to try it again; and is busy +preparing at Neisse and elsewhere, though keeping it a dead secret for +the time. There is, in fact, no other hopeful plan for him, if this +prove feasible at all. Double your velocity, you double your momentum. +One's weight is given,--weight growing less and less;--but not, or not +in the same way and degree, one's velocity, one's rightness of aim. +Weight given: it is only by doubling or trebling his velocity that a man +can make his momentum double or treble, as needed! Friedrich means to +try it, readers will see how,--were the Fort of Schweidnitz once had; +for which object Friedrich watches the weather like a very D'Argens, +eager that the frost would go. Recapture of Schweidnitz, the last +speck of Austrianism wiped away there; that is evidently the preface to +whatsoever day's-work may be ahead. + +March 15th, frost being now off, Friedrich quits Breslau and +D'Argens,--his Head-quarter thenceforth Kloster-Grussau, near Landshut, +troops all getting cantoned thereabout, to keep Bohemia quiet,--and +goes at once upon Schweidnitz. With the top of the morning, so to speak; +means to have Schweidnitz before campaigning usually can begin, or +common laborers take their tools in this trade. The Austrian Commandant +has been greatly strengthening the works; he had, at first, some 8,000 +of garrison; but the three months' blockade has been tight upon him and +them; and it is hoped the thing can be done. + +APRIL 1st-2d,--Siege-material being got to the ground, and Siege +Division and Covering Army all in their places,--in spite of the heavy +rains, we open our first parallel, Austrian Commandant not noticing till +it is nearly done. April 8th, we have our batteries built; and burst +out, at our best rate, into cannonade; aiming a good deal at "Fort No. +1," called also "GALGEN or Gallows Fort," which we esteem the principal. +Cannonade continues day after day, prospers tolerably on Gallows +Fort,"--though the wet weather, and hardship to the troops, are grievous +circumstances, and make Friedrich doubly urgent. "Try it by storm!" +counsels Balbi, who is Engineer. Night of APRIL 15th-16th storm takes +place; with such vigor and such cunning, that the Gallows Fort is got +for almost nothing (loss of ten men);-and few hours after, Austria beat +the chamade. [Tempelhof, ii. 21-25; _Helden-Geschichte,_ _v. 109-123: +above all, Tielcke, _Beytrage zur Kriegs-Kunst und zur Geschichte des +Krieges von 1756 bis 1763_ _(6 vols. 4to, Freyberg, 1775-1786), iv. +43-76. Volume iv. is wholly devoted to Schweidnitz and its successive +Sieges.] Fifty-one new Austrian guns, for one item, and about 7,000 +pounds of money. Prisoners of War the Garrison, 8,000 gone to 4,900; +with such stores as we can guess, of ours and theirs added: Balbi +was Prussian Engineer-in-Chief, Treskau Captain of the Siege;--other +particulars I spare the reader. + +Unfortunate Schweidnitz underwent four Sieges, four captures or +recaptures, in this War;--upon all of which we must be quite summary, +only the results of them important to us. For the curious in sieges, +especially for the scientifically curious, there is, by a Captain +Tielcke, excellent account of all these Schweidnitz Sieges, and of +others;--Artillery-Captain Tielcke, in the Saxon or Saxon-Russian +service; whom perhaps we shall transiently fall in with, on a different +field, in the course of this Year. + + + + +Chapter XII.--SIEGE OF OLMUTZ. + +Fouquet, on the first movement towards Schweidnitz, had been detached +from Landshut to sweep certain Croat Parties out of Glatz; Ziethen, with +a similar view, into Troppau Country; both which errands were at once +perfectly done. Daun lies behind the Bohemian Frontier (betimes in the +field he too, "arrived at Konigsgratz, March 13th"); and is, with all +diligence, perfecting his new levies; intrenching himself on all points, +as man seldom did; "felling whole forests," they say, building abatis +within abatis;--not doubting, especially on these Ziethen-Fouquet +symptoms, but Friedrich's Campaign is to be an Invasion of Bohemia +again. "Which he shall not do gratis!" hopes Daun; and, indeed, judges +say the entrance would hardly have been possible on that side, had +Friedrich tried it; which he did not. + +Schweidnitz being done, and Daun deep in the Bohemian +problem,--Friedrich, in an unintelligible manner, breaks out from +Grussau and the Landshut region (April 19th-25th), not straight +southward, as Daun had been expecting, but straight southeastward +through Neisse, Jagerndorf: all gone, or all but Ziethen and Fouquet +gone, that way;--meaning who shall say what, when news of it comes to +Daun? In two divisions, from 30 to 40,000 strong; through Jagerndorf, +ever onward through Troppau, and not till THEN turning southward: +indubitable march of that cunning Enemy; rapidly proceeding, his 40,000 +and he, along those elevated upland countries, watershed of the Black +Sea and the Baltic, bleakly illumined by the April sun; a march into the +mists of the future tense, which do not yet clear themselves to Daun. +Seeing the march turn southward at Troppau, a light breaks on Daun: "Ha! +coming round upon Bohemia from the east, then?" That is Daun's opinion, +for some time yet; and he immediately starts that way, to save a fine +magazine he has at Leutomischl over there. Daun, from Skalitz near +Konigsgratz where he is, has but some eighty miles to march, for the +King's hundred and fifty; and arrives in those parts few days after +the King; posts himself at Leutomischl, veiled in Pandours. Not for two +weeks more does he ascertain it to have been a march upon the Olmutz +Country, and the intricate forks of the Morawa River; with a view to +besieging Olmutz, by this wily Enemy! Upon which Daun did strive +to bestir himself thitherward, at last; and, though very slow and +hesitative, his measures otherwise were unexceptionable, and turned out +luckier than had been expected by some people. + +Olmutz is an ancient pleasant little City, in the Plains of Mahren, +romantic, indistinct to the English mind; with Domes, with Steeples +eminent beyond its size,--population little above 10,000 souls;--has its +Prince-Archbishop and ecclesiastic outfittings, with whom Friedrich +has lodged in his time. City which trades in leather, and Russian and +Moldavian droves of oxen. Memorable to the Slavic populations for its +grand Czech Library, which was carried away by the Swedes, happily into +thick night; [To Stralsund (1645), "and has not since been heard of."] +also for that poor little Wenzel of theirs (last heir of the Bohemian +Czech royalties, whom no reader has the least memory of) being killed +on the streets here;--uncertain, to this day, by whom, though for whose +benefit that dagger-stroke ended is certain enough; [Supra, vol. v. p. +118.]--poor little Wenzel's dust lies under that highest Dome, of +the old Cathedral yonder, if anybody thought of such a thing in hot +practical times. Poor Lafayette, too, lodged here in prison, when the +Austrians seized him. City trades in leather and live stock, we said; +has much to do with artillery, much with ecclesiastry;--and Friedrich +besieged it, for seven weeks, in the hot summer days of 1758, to no +purpose. Friedrich has been in Olmiitz more than once before; his +Schwerin once took it in a single day, and it was his for months, in the +old Moravian-Foray time: but the place is changed now; become an arsenal +or military storehouse of Austria; strongly fortified, and with a +Captain in it, who distinguishes himself by valiant skill and activity +on this occasion. + +Friedrich's Olmutz Enterprise, the rather as it was unsuccessful, has +not wanted critics. And certainly, according to the ordinary rules of +cautious prudence, could these have been Friedrich's in his present +situation, it was not to be called a prudent Enterprise. But had +Friedrich's arrangements been punctually fulfilled, and Olmutz been got +in fair time, as was possible or probable, the thing might have been +done very well. Duke Ferdinand, in these early May days, is practically +making preparations to follow the French across the Rhine; no fear of +French Armies interfering with us this year. Dohna has the Swedes locked +in Stralsund (capable of being starved, had not the thaw come); and +in Hinter-Pommern he has General Platen, with a tolerable Detachment, +watching Fermor and his Russians; Dohna, with Platen, may entertain the +Russians for a little, when they get on way,--which we know will be at a +slow pace, and late in the season. Prince Henri commands in Saxony, say +with 30,000;--King's vicegerent and other self there, "Do YOUR wisest +and promptest; hold no councils of war!" Prince Henri, altogether on +the aggressive as yet, is waiting what Reichs Army there may be;--has +already had Mayer and Free Corps careering about in Franken Country once +and again, tearing up the incipiencies and preparations, with the usual +emphasis; and is himself intending to follow thither, in a still more +impressive manner. Friedrich's calculation is, Prince Henri will have +his hands free for a good few weeks yet. Which proved true enough, so +far as that went. + +And now, supposing Olmutz ours, and Vienna itself open to our insults, +does not, by rapid suction, every armed Austrian flow thitherward; +Germany all drained of them: in which case, what is to hinder Prince +Henri from stepping into Bohmen, by the Metal Mountains; capturing Prag; +getting into junction with us here, and tumbling Austria at a rate +that will astonish her! Her, and her miscellaneous tagraggery of +Confederates, one and all. Konigsberg, Stralsund, Bamberg; Russians, +Swedes, Reichsfolk,--here, in Mahren, will be the crown of the game for +all these. Prosper in Mahren, all these are lamed; one right stroke at +the heart, the limbs become manageable quantities! This was Friedrich's +program; and had not imperfections of execution, beyond what was looked +for, and also a good deal of plain ill-luck, intervened, this bold +stroke for Mahren might have turned out far otherwise than it did. + +The march thither (started from Neisse April 27th) was beautiful: +Friedrich with vanguard and first division; Keith with rear-guard and +second, always at a day's distance; split into proper columns, for +convenience of road and quarter in the hungry countries; threading +those silent mountain villages, and upper streamlets of Oder and Morawa: +Ziethen waving intrusive Croateries far off; Fouquet, in thousands +of wagons, shoving on from Neisse, "in four sections," with the +due intervals, under the due escorts, the immensity of stores and +siege-furniture, through Jagerndorf, through Troppau, and onwards; +[Table of his routes and stages in TEMPELHOF, ii. 46.]--punctual +everybody; besiegers and siege materials ready on their ground by the +set day. Daun too had made speed to save his Magazine. Daun was at +Leutomischl, May 5th,--a forty miles to west of the Morawa,--few days +after Friedrich had arrived in those countries by the eastern or left +bank, by Troppau, Gibau, Littau, Aschmeritz, Prossnitz; and a week +before Friedrich had finished his reconnoitrings, campings, and taken +position to his mind. Camps, four or more (shrank in the end to three), +on both banks of the River; a matter of abstruse study; so that it was +May 12th before Friedrich first took view of Olmutz itself, and could +fairly begin his Problem,--Daun, with his best Tolpatcheries, still +unable to guess what it was. + +Of the Siege I propose to say little, though the accounts of it are +ample, useful to the Artillerist and Engineer. If the reader can be +made to conceive it as a blazing loud-sounding fact, on which, and on +Friedrich in it, the eyes of all Europe were fixed for some weeks, it +may rest now in impressive indistinctness to us. Keith is Captain of the +Siege, whom all praise for his punctual firmness of progress; Balbi as +before, is Engineer, against whom goes the criticism, Keith's first of +all, that he "opened his first parallel 800 yards too far off,"--which +much increased the labor, and the expenditure of useless gunpowder, shot +having no effect at such a distance. There were various criticisms: some +real, as this; some imaginary, as that Friedrich grudged gunpowder, the +fact being that he had it not, except after carriage from Neisse, say a +hundred and twenty miles off,--Troppau, his last Silesian Town, or safe +place (his for the moment), is eighty miles;--and was obliged to waste +none of it. + +Friedrich is not thought to shine in the sieging line as he does in +the fighting; which has some truth in it, though not very much. When +Friedrich laid himself to engineering, I observe, he did it well: see +Neisse, Graudenz, Magdeburg. His Balbi went wrong with the parallels, on +this occasion; many things went wrong: but the truly grievous thing was +his distance from Silesia and the supplies. A hundred and twenty +miles of hill-carriage, eighty of them disputable, for every shot of +ammunition and for every loaf of bread; this was hard to stand:--and +perhaps no War-apparatus but a Prussian, with a Friedrich for sole +chief-manager, could have stood it so long. Friedrich did stand it, in +a wonderfully tolerable manner; and was continuing to stand it, and make +fair progress; and it is not doubted he would have got Olmutz, had +not there another fact come on him, which proved to be of unmanageable +nature. The actual loss, namely, of one Convoy, after so many had +come safe, and when, as appears, there was now only one wanted and no +more!--Let us attend to this a little. + +Had Daun, at Olmutz, been as a Duke of Cumberland relieving Tournay, +rushing into fight at Fontenoy, like a Hanover White-Horse, neck clothed +with thunder, and head destitute of knowledge,--how lucky had it been +for Friedrich! But Daun knows his trade better. Daun, though superior +in strength, sits on his Magazine, clear not to fight. By no art of +manoeuvring, had Friedrich much tried it, or hoped it, this time, could +Daun have been brought to give battle. As Fabins Cunctator he is here in +his right place; taking impregnable positions, no man with better skill +in that branch of business; pushing out parties on the Troppau road; and +patiently waiting till this dangerous Enemy, with such endless shifts in +him, come in sight perhaps of his last cartridge, or perhaps make +some stumble on the way towards that consummation. Daun is aware of +Friedrich's surprising qualities. Bos against Leo, Daun feels these +procedures to be altogether feline (FELIS-LEONINE); such stealthy +glidings about, deceptive motions, appearances; then such a rapidity of +spring upon you, and with such a set of claws,--destructive to bovine +or rhinoceros nature: in regard to all which, Bos, if he will prosper, +surely cannot be too cautious. It was remarked of Daun, that he was +scrupulously careful; never, in the most impregnable situations, +neglecting the least precaution, but punctiliously fortifying himself to +the last item, even to a ridiculous extent, say Retzow and the critics. +It was the one resource of Daun: truly a solid stubborn patience is in +the man; stubborn courage too, of bovine-rhinoceros type;--stupid, +if you will, but doing at all times honestly his best and his wisest +without flurry; which character is often of surprising value in War; +capable of much mischief, now and then, to quicker people. Rhinoceros +Daun did play his Leo a bad prank more than once; and this of barring +him out from Olmutz was one of them, perhaps the worst after Kolin. + +Daun's management of this Olmutz business is by no means reckoned +brilliant, even in the Fabius line; but, on the contrary, inert, +dim-minded, inconclusive; and in reality, till almost the very last, he +had been of little help to the besieged. For near three weeks (till May +23d) Daun sat at Leutomischl, immovable on his bread-basket there, forty +or more miles from Olmutz; and did not see that a Siege was meant. May +27th-28th, Balbi opened his first parallel, in that mistaken way; four +days before which, Daun does move inwards a march or so, to Zwittau, +to Gewitsch (still thirty miles to west of Olmutz); still thinking +of Bohemia, not of any siege; still hanging by the mountains and the +bread-basket. And there,--about Gewitsch, siege or no siege, Daun +sits down again; pretty much immovable, through the five weeks of +bombardment; and,--except that Loudon and the Light Horse are very +diligent to do a mischief, "attempting our convoys, more than once, to +no purpose, and alarming some of our outposts almost every night, but +every night beaten off,"--does, in a manner, nothing; sits quiet, behind +his impenetrable veil of Pandours, and lets the bombardment take its +course. Had not express Order come from Vienna on him, it is thought +Daun would have sat till Olmutz was taken; and would then have gone back +to Leutomischl and impregnable posts in the Hills. On express order, +he--But gather, first, these poor sparks in elucidation:-- + +"The 'destructive sallies' and the like, at Olmutz, were principally an +affair of the gazetteers and the imagination: but it is certain, Olmutz +this time was excellently well defended; the Commandant, a vigorous +skilful man, prompt to seize advantages; and Garrison and Townsfolk +zealously helping: so that Friedrich's progress was unusually slow. +Friedrich's feelings, all this while, and Balbi's (who 'spent his first +1,220 shots entirely in vain,' beginning so far off), may be judged +of,--the sound of him to Balbi sometimes stern enough! As when (June +9th) he personally visits Balbi's parallels (top of the Tafelberg +yonder); and inquires, 'When do you calculate to get done, then?' West +side of Olmutz and of the River (east side lies mostly under water), +there is the bombarding; seventy-one heavy guns; Keith, in his expertest +manner, doing all the captaincies: Keith has about 8,000 of foot and +horse, busy and vigilant, with their faces to the east. In a ring of +four camps, or principally three (Prossnitz, Littau, and Neustadt, which +is across the River), all looking westward or northwestward, some, ten +or twenty miles from Keith, Friedrich (head-quarters oftenest Prossnitz, +the chief camp) stands facing Daun; who lies concentric to him, at the +distance of another ten or twenty miles, in good part still thirty or +forty miles from Olmutz, veiled mostly under a cloud of Pandours. + +"Of Friedrich's impatiences we hear little, though they must have been +great. Prince Henri is ready for Prag; many things are ready, were +Olmutz but done! May 22d, Prince Henri had followed Mayer in person, +with a stronger corps, to root out the Reichsfolk,--and is now in +Bamberg City and Country. And is even in Baireuth itself, where was +lately the Camp of the new Reichs General, Serene Highness of Zweibruck, +and his nascent Reichs Army; who are off bodily to Bohemia, 'to Eger and +the Circle of Saatz,' a week before. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 206-209. +Wilhelmina's pretty Letter to Friedrich ("Baireuth, 10th May"); +Friedrich's Answer ("Olmutz, June, 1758"); in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ +xxvii. i. 313-315.] Fancy that visit of Henri's to a poor Wilhelmina; +the last sight she ever had of a Brother, or of the old Prussian +uniforms, clearing her of Zweibrucks and sorrowful guests! Our poor +Wilhelmina, alas she is sunk in sickness this year more than ever; +journeying towards death, in fact; and is probably the most pungent, +sacredly tragic, of Friedrich's sorrows, now and onwards. June 12th, +Friedrich's pouting Brother, the Prince of Prussia, died; this also he +had to hear in Camp at Olmutz. 'What did he die of?' said Friedrich to +the Messenger, a Major Something. 'Of chagrin,' said the Major, 'AUS +GRAM.' Friedrich made no answer.-- + +"On the last night of May, by beautiful management, military and other, +Duke Ferdinand is across the Rhine; again chasing the French before him; +who, as they are far more numerous, cannot surely but make some stand: +so that a Battle there may be expected soon,--let us hope, a Victory; +as indeed it beautifully proved to be, three weeks after. [Battle of +Crefeld, 23d June.] On the other hand, Fermor and his Russians are +astir; continually wending towards Brandenburg, in their voluminous +manner, since June 16th, though at a slow rate. How desirable the Siege +of Olmutz were done!" + +On express from Vienna, Daun did bestir himself; cautiously got on foot +again; detached, across the River, an expert Hussar General ("Be busy +all ye Loudons, St. Ignons, Ziskowitzes, doubly now!"),--expert Hussar +General, one item of whose force is 1,100 chosen grenadiers;--and +himself cautiously stept southward and eastward, nearer the Siege Lines. +The Hussar General's meaning seemed to be some mischief on our Camp +of Neustadt and the outposts there; but in reality it was to throw +his 1,100 into Olmutz (useful to the Commandant); which--by ingenious +manoeuvring, and guidance from the peasants "through bushy woods and +by-paths" on that east side of the River--the expert Hussar General, +though Ziethen was sent over to handle him, did perfectly manage, and +would not quit for Ziethen till he saw it finished. Which done, Daun +keeps stepping still farther southward, nearer the Siege Lines; and, at +Prossnitz, morning of June 22d, Friedrich, with his own eyes, sees Daun +taking post on the opposite heights; says to somebody near him, "VOILA +LES AUTRICHIENS, ILS APPRENNENT A MARCHER, There are the Austrians; they +are learning to march, though!"--getting on their feet, like infants in +a certain stage ("MARCHER" having that meaning too, though I know not +that the King intended it);--they have learned a great many things, +since your Majesty first met them. Friedrich took Daun to be, now at +last, meaning Battle for Olmutz, and made some slight arrangements +accordingly; but that is not Daun's intention at all; as Friedrich will +find to his cost, in few days. That very day, Daun has vanished again, +still in the southerly direction, again under veil of Pandours. + +Meanwhile, in spite of all things, the Siege makes progress; "June +22d, Balbi's sap had got to their glacis, and was pushing forward +there,"--June 22d, day when Daun made momentary appearance, and the +reinforcement stole in:--within a fortnight more, Balbi promises the +thing shall be done. But supplies are indispensable: one other convoy +from Troppau, and let it be a big one, "between 3 and 4,000 wagons," +meal, money, iron, powder; Friedrich hopes this one, if he can get it +home, will suffice. Colonel Mosel is to bring this Convoy; a resolute +expert Officer, with perhaps 7,000 foot and horse: surely sufficient +escort: but, as Daun is astir, and his Loudons, Ziskowitzes and +light people are gliding about, Friedrich orders Ziethen to meet this +important Convoy, with some thousands of new force, and take charge of +bringing it in. Mosel was to leave Troppau June 26th; Ziethen pushes +out to meet him from the Olmutz end, on the second day after; and, one +hopes, all is now safe on that head. + +The driving of 3,000 four-horse wagons, under escort, ninety miles of +road, is such an enterprise as cannot readily be conceived by sedentary +pacific readers;--much more the attack of such! Military science, +constraining chaos into the cosmic state, has nowhere such a problem. +There are twelve thousand horses, for one thing, to be shod, geared, +kept roadworthy and regular; say six thousand country wagoners, +thick-soled peasants: then, hanging to the skirts of these, in +miscellaneous crazy vehicles and weak teams, equine and asinine, are one +or two thousand sutler people, male and female, not of select quality, +though on them, too, we keep a sharp eye. The series covers many miles, +as many as twenty English miles (says Tempelhof), unless in favorable +points you compress them into five, going four wagons abreast for +defence's sake. Defence, or escort, goes in three bulks or brigades; +vanguard, middle, rear-guard, with sparse pickets intervening;--wider +than five miles, you cannot get the parts to support one another. An +enemy breaking in upon you, at some difficult point of road, woody +hollow or the like, and opening cannon, musketry and hussar exercise on +such an object, must make a confused transaction of it! Some commanders, +for the road has hitherto been mainly pacific, divide their train +into parts, say four parts; moving with their partial escorts, with an +interval of one day between each two: this has its obvious advantages, +but depends, of course, on the road being little infested, so that your +partial escort will suffice to repel attacks. Toiling forward, at their +diligent slow rate, I find these trains from Troppau take about six +days (from Neisse to Olmutz they take eleven, but the first five are +peaceable [Tempelhof, ii. 48.]);--can't be hurried beyond that pace, if +you would save your laggards, your irregulars, and prevent what we may +call RAGGERY in your rearward parts; the skirts of your procession get +torn by the bushes if you go faster. This time Colonel Mosel will have +to mend his pace, however, and to go in the lump withal; the case being +critical, as Mosel knows, and MORE than he yet knows. + +Daun, who has friends everywhere, and no lack of spies in this country, +generally hears of the convoys. He has heard, in particular, of this +important one, in good time. Hitherto Daun had not attempted much +upon convoys, nor anything with success: King's posted corps and other +precautions are of such a kind, not even Loudon, when he tried his best, +could do any good; and common wandering hussar parties are as likely +to get a mischief as to do one, on such service. Cautious Daun had been +busy enough keeping his own Camp safe, and flinging a word of news or +encouragement, at the most a trifle of reinforcement, into Olmutz. when +possible. But now it becomes evident there must be one of two things: +this convoy seized, or else a battle risked;--and that in defect of both +these, the inevitable third thing is, Olmutz will straightway go. + +Major-General Loudon, the best partisan soldier extant, and ripening +for better things, has usually a force of perhaps 10,000 under him, +four regiments of them regular grenadiers; and has been active on +the convoys, though hitherto unsuccessful. Let an active Loudon, with +increased force, try this, their vitally important convoy, from the west +side of the River; an active Ziskowitz co-operating on the east side, +where the road itself is; and do their uttermost! That is Daun's +plan,--now in course of execution. Daun, instead of meaning battle, that +day when Friedrich saw him, was cautiously stealing past, intending to +cross the River farther down; and himself support the operation. Daun +has crossed accordingly, and has doubled up northward again to the fit +point; Ziskowitz is in the fit point, in the due force, on this east +side too. Loudon, on the west side, goes by Muglitz, Hof; making a long +deep bend far to westward and hillward of all the Prussian posted corps +and precautions, and altogether hidden from them; Loudon aims to be in +Troppau neighborhood, "Guntersdorf, near Bautsch," by the proper day, +and pay Mosel an unexpected visit in the passage there. + +Colonel Mosel, marshalling his endless Trains with every excellent +precaution, and the cleverest dispositions (say the Books), against +the known and the unknown, had got upon the road, and creaked forward, +many-wheeled, out of Troppau, Monday, 26th June. [Tempelhof, ii. 89-94.] +The roads, worn by the much travelling and wet weather, were utterly +bad; the pace was perhaps quicker than usual; the much-jolting Train got +greatly into a jumble:--Mosel, to bring up the laggards, made the morrow +a rest-day; did get about two-thirds of his laggards marshalled again; +ordered the others to return, as impossible. They say, had it not been +for this rest-day, which seemed of no consequence, Loudon would not have +been at Guntersdorf in time, nor have attempted as he did at Guntersdorf +and afterwards. At break of day (Wednesday, 28th), Mosel is again on the +road; heavily jumbling forward from his quarters in Bautsch. Few +miles on, towards Guntersdorf, he discovers Loudon posted ahead in the +defiles. What a sight for Mosel, in his character of Wagoner up with +the dawn! But Mosel managed the defiles and Loudon this time; halted his +train, dashed up into the woody heights and difficult grounds; stormed +Loudon's cannon from him, smote Loudon in a valiant tempestuous manner; +and sent him travelling again for the present. + +Loudon, I conjecture, would have struggled farther, had not he known +that there would be a better chance again not very many miles ahead. +London has studied this Convoy; knows of Ziethen coming to it with so +many; of Ziskowitz coming to him, Loudon, with so many; that Ziethen +cannot send for more (roads being all beset by our industry yesterday), +that Ziskowitz can, should it be needful;--and that at Domstadtl there +is a defile, or confused woody hollow, of unequalled quality! Mosel +jumbles on all day with his Train, none molesting; at night gets to his +appointed quarters, Village of Neudorff; [The L, or EL, is a +diminutive in these Names: (NEUDORFL) "New-ThorpLET," (DOMSTADTL) +"Cathedral-TownLET," and the like.] and there finds Ziethen: a glad +meeting, we may fancy, but an anxious one, with Domstadtl ahead on +the morrow. Loudon concerts with Ziskowitz this day; calls in all +reinforcements possible, and takes his measures. Thursday morning, +Ziethen finds the Train in such a state, hardly half of it come up, +he has to spend the whole day, Mosel and he, in rearranging it: Friday +morning, June 30th, they get under way again;--Friday, the catastrophe +is waiting them. + +The Pass of Domstadtl, lapped in the dim Moravian distance, is not known +to me or to my readers; nor indeed could the human pen or intellect, +aided by ocular inspection or whatever helps, give the least image of +what now took place there, rendering Domstadtl a memorable locality ever +since. Understand that Ziethen and Mosel, with their waste +slow deluge of wagons, come jumbling in, with anxiety, with +precautions,--precautions doubled, now that the woody intricacies about +Domstadtl rise in sight. "Pooh, it is as we thought: there go Austrian +cannon-salvos, horse-charges, volleying musketries, as our first wagons +enter the Pass;--and there will be a job!" Indecipherable to mankind far +off, or even near. Of which only this feature and that can be laid hold +of, as discernible, by the most industrious man. Escort, in three main +bodies, vanguard, middle, rear-guard, marches on each side; infantry on +the left, cavalry on the right, as the ground is leveller there. Length +of the Train in statute miles, as it jumbles along at this point, is not +given; but we know it was many miles; that horses and wagoners were in +panic hardly restrainable; and we dimly descry, here especially, human +drill-sergeantcy doing the impossible to keep chaos plugged down. The +poor wagoner, cannon playing ahead, whirls homeward with his vehicle, if +your eye quit him,--still better, and handier, cuts his traces, mounts +in a good moment, and is off at heavy-footed gallop, leaving his wagon. +Seldom had human drill-sergeantcy such a problem. + +The Prussian Vanguard, one Krockow its commander, repulsed that first +Austrian attack; swept the Bass clear for some minutes; got their +section of the carriages, or some part of it, 250 in all, hurried +through; then halted on the safe side, to wait what Ziethen would do +with the remainder. Ziethen does his best and bravest, as everybody +does; keeps his wagon-chaos plugged down; ranks it in square mass, as a +wagon fortress (WAGENBURG); ranks himself and everybody, his cannon, his +platoon musketry, to the best advantage round it; furiously shoots out +in all manner of ways, against the furious Loudon on this flank, and +the furious Ziskowitz on that; takes hills, loses them; repels and is +repelled (wagon-chaos ever harder to keep plugged); finally perceives +himself to be beaten; that the wagon-chaos has got unplugged (fancy +it!)--and that he, Ziethen, must retreat; back foremost if possible. He +did retreat, fighting all the way to Troppau; and the Convoy is a ruin +and a prey. + +Krockow, with the 250, has got under way again; hearing the +powder-wagons start into the air (fired by the enemy), and hearing +the cannon and musketry take a northerly course, and die away in +that ominous direction. These 250 were all the carriages that came +in:--happily, by Ziethen's prudence, the money, a large sum, had been +lodged in the vanmost of these. The rest of the Convoy, ball, powder, +bread, was of little value to Loudon, but beyond value to Friedrich at +this moment; and it has gone to annihilation and the belly of Chaos and +the Croats. Among the tragic wrecks of this Convoy there is one that +still goes to our heart. A longish, almost straight row of young +Prussian recruits stretched among the slain, what are these? These were +700 recruits coming up from their cantons to the Wars; hardly yet six +months in training: see how they have fought to the death, poor lads, +and have honorably, on the sudden, got manumitted from the toils of +life. Seven hundred of them stood to arms, this morning; some sixty-five +will get back to Troppau; that is the invoice account. They lie there, +with their blond young cheeks and light hair; beautiful in death;--could +not have done better, though the sacred poet has said nothing of them +hitherto,--nor need, till times mend with us and him. Adieu, my noble +young Brothers; so brave, so modest, no Spartan nor no Roman more; may +the silence be blessed to you! + +Contrary to some current notions, it is comfortably evident that there +was a considerable fire of loyalty in the Prussians towards their King, +during this War; loyalty kept well under cover, not wasting itself in +harangues or noisy froth; but coming out, among all ranks of men, in +practical attempts to be of help in this high struggle, which was their +own as well as his. The STANDE, landed Gentry, of Pommern and other +places, we heard of their poor little Navy of twelve gunboats, which +were all taken by the Swedes. Militia Regiments too, which did good +service at Colberg, as may transiently appear by and by:--in the gentry +or upper classes, a respectable zeal for their King. Then, among the +peasantry or lower class--Here are Seven Hundred who stood well where +he planted them. And their Mothers--Be Spartan also, ye Mothers! In +peaceable times, Tempelhof tells us the Prussian Mother is usually proud +of having her son in this King's service: a country wife will say +to you: "I have three of them, all in the regiment," Billerbeck, +Itzenplitz, or whatever be the Canton regiment; "the eldest is ten +inches [stands five feet ten], the second is eleven, the third eight, +for indeed he is yet young." + +Daun, on the day of this Domstadtl business, and by way of masking it, +feeling how vital it was, made various extensive movements, across the +River by several Bridges; then hither, thither, on the farther side +of Olmutz, mazing up and down: Friedrich observing him, till he should +ripen to something definite, followed his bombarding the while; perhaps +having hopes of wager of battle ensuing. Of the disaster at Domstadtl +Friedrich could know nothing, Loudon having closed the roads. Daun by +no means ripens into battle: news of the disaster reached Friedrich next +day (Saturday, July 1st),--who "immediately assembled his Generals, and +spoke a few inspiring words to them," such as we may fancy. Friedrich +perceives that Olmutz is over; that his Third Campaign, third lunge upon +the Enemy's heart, has prospered worse, thus far, than either of the +others; that he must straightway end this of Olmutz, without any success +whatever, and try the remaining methods and resources. No word of +complaint, they say, is heard from Friedrich in such cases; face always +hopeful, tone cheery. A man in Friedrich's position needs a good deal of +Stoicism, Greek or other. + +That Saturday night the Prussian bombardment is quite uncommonly +furious, long continuing; no night yet like it:--the Prussians are +shooting off their superfluous ammunition this night; do not quite +end till Sunday is in. On Sunday itself, packings, preparations, all +completed; and, "Keith, with above 4,000 wagons, safe on the road since +2 A.M."--the Prussians softly vanish in long smooth streams, with music +playing, unmolested by Daun; and leaving nothing, it is boasted, but +five or three mortars, which kept playing to the last, and one cannon, +to which something had happened. + +Of the retreat there could be much said, instructive to military men +who were studious; extremely fine retreat, say all judges;--of which +my readers crave only the outlines, the results. Daun, it was thought, +should have ruined Friedrich in this retreat; but he did nothing of harm +to him. In fact, for a week he could not comprehend the phenomenon at +all, and did not stir from his place,--which was on the other, or wrong, +side of the River. Daun had never doubted but the retreat would be to +Silesia; and he had made his detachments, and laid himself out for doing +something upon it, in that direction: but, lo, what roads are these, +what motions whitherward? In about a week it becomes manifest that +the retreat, which goes on various roads, sometimes three at once, has +converged on Leutomischl; straight for Bohemia instead of Silesia; and +that Daun is fallen seven days behind it; incapable now to do anything. +Not even the Magazine at Leutomischl could be got away, nor could even +the whole of it be burnt. + +Keith and the baggage once safe in Leutomischl (July 8th), all goes in +deliberate long column; Friedrich ahead to open the passages. July 14th, +after five more marches, Friedrioh bursts up Konigsgratz; scattering any +opposition there is; and sits down there, in a position considered, he +knows well how inexpugnable; to live on the Country, and survey events. +The 4,000 baggage-wagons came in about entire. Fouquet had the first +division of them, and a secondary charge of the whole; an extremely +strict, almost pedantic man, and of very fiery temper: "HE, D'OU +VENEZ-VOUS?" asked he sharply of Retzow senior, who had broken through +his order, one day, to avert great mischief: "How come you here, MON +GENERAL?" "By the Highway, your Excellency!" answered Retzow in a grave +stiff tone. [Retzow, i. 302.] + +Keith himself takes the rear-guard, the most ticklish post of all, and +manages it well, and with success, as his wont is. Under sickness at the +time, but with his usual vigilance, prudence, energy; qualities apt to +be successful in War. Some brushes of Croat fighting he had from Loudon; +but they did not amount to anything. It was at Holitz, within a march +of Konigsgratz, that Loudon made his chief attempt; a vehement, +well-intended thing; which looked well at one time. But Keith heard the +cannonading ahead; hurried up with new cavalry, new sagacity and fire of +energy; dashed out horse-charges, seized hill-tops, of a vital nature; +and quickly ended the affair. A man fiery enough, and prompt with his +stroke when wanted, though commonly so quiet. "Tell Monsieur,"--some +General who seemed too stupid or too languid on this occasion,--"Tell +Monsieur from me," said Keith to his Aide-de-camp, "he may be a very +pretty thing, but he is not a man (QU'IL PEUT ETRE UNE BONNE CHOSE, MAIS +QU'IL N'EST PAS UN HOMME)!" [Varnhagen, _Leben des &c. Jakob von Keith,_ +p. 227.] The excellent vernacular Keith;--still a fine breadth of accent +in him, one perceives! He is now past sixty; troubled with asthma; and +I doubt not may be, occasionally, thinking it near time to end his +campaigns. And in fact, he is about ending them; sooner than he or +anybody had expected. + +Daun, picking his steps and positions, latterly with threefold +precaution, got into Konigsgratz neighborhood, a week after Friedrich; +and looked down with enigmatic wonder upon Friedrich's new settlement +there. Forage abundant all round, and the corn-harvest growing +white;--here, strange to say, has Friedrich got planted in the inside of +those innumerable Daun redoubts, and "woods of abatis;" and might make +a very pretty "Bohemian Campaign" of it, after all, were Daun the +only adversary he had! Judges are of opinion, that Daun, with all his +superiority of number, could not have disrooted Friedrich this season. +[Tempelhof, ii. 170-176, 185;--who, unluckily, in soldier fashion, here +as too often elsewhere, does not give us the Arithmetical Numbers of +each, but counts by "Battalions" and "Squadrons," which, except in +time of Peace, are a totally uncertain quantity:--guess vaguely, 75,000 +against 30,000.] Daun did try him by the Pandour methods, "1,000 Croats +stealing in upon Konigsgratz at one in the morning," and the like; but +these availed nothing. By the one effectual method, that of beating +him in battle, Daun never would have tried. What did disroot Friedrich, +then?--Take the following dates, and small hints of phenomena in other +parts of the big Theatre of War. "Konitz" is a little Polish Town, +midway between Dantzig and Friedrich's Dominions:-- + +"KONITZ, 16th JUNE, 1758. This day Feldmarschall Fermor arrives in his +principal Camp here. For many weeks past he has been dribbling across +the Weichsel hitherward, into various small camps, with Cossack Parties +flying about, under check of General Platen. But now, being all across, +and reunited, Fermor shoots out Cossack Parties of quite other weight +and atrocity; and is ready to begin business,--still a little uncertain +how. His Cossacks, under their Demikows, Romanzows; capable of no good +fighting, but of endless incendiary mischief in the neighborhood;--shoot +far ahead into Prussian territory: Platen, Hordt with his Free-Corps, +are beautifully sharp upon them; but many beatings avail little. 'They +burn the town of Driesen [Hordt having been hard upon them there]; town +of Ratzebuhr, and nineteen villages around;'--burn poor old women and +men, one poor old clergyman especially, wind him well in straw-roping, +then set fire, and leave him;--and are worse than fiends or hyenas. Not +to be checked by Platen's best diligence; not, in the end, by Platen and +Dohna together. Dohna (18th June) has risen from Stralsund in check +of them,--leaving the unfortunate Swedes to come out [shrunk to about +7,000, so unsalutary their stockfish diet there],--these hyena-Cossacks +being the far more pressing thing. Dohna is diligent, gives them many +slaps and checks; Dohna cannot cut the tap-root of them in two; that is +to say, fight Fermor and beat him: other effectual check there can be +none. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 149 et seq.; Tempelhof, ii. 135 &c.] + +"TSCHOPAU (in Saxony), 21st JUNE. Prince Henri has quitted Bamberg +Country; and is home again, carefully posted, at Tschopau and up and +down, on the southern side of Saxony; with his eye well on the Passes +of the Metal Mountains,--where now, in the turn things at Olmutz have +taken, his clear fate is to be invaded, NOT to invade. The Reichs Army, +fairly afoot in the Circle of Saatz, counts itself 35,000; add 15,000 +Austrians of a solid quality, there is a Reichs Army of 50,000 in all, +this Year. And will certainly invade Saxony,--though it is in no hurry; +does not stir till August come, and will find Prince Henri elaborately +on his guard, and little to be made of him, though he is as one to two. + +"CREFELD (Rhine Country), 23d JUNE. Duke Ferdinand, after skilful +shoving and advancing, some forty or fifty miles, on his new or French +side of the Rhine, finds the French drawn up at Crefeld (June +23d); 47,000 of them VERSUS 33,000: in altogether intricate ground; +canal-ditches, osier-thickets, farm-villages, peat-bogs. Ground +defensible against the world, had the 47,000 had a Captain; but +reasonably safe to attack, with nothing but a Clermont acting that +character. Ferdinand, I can perceive, knew his Clermont; and took +liberties with him. Divided himself into three attacks: one in front; +one on Clermont's right flank, both of which cannonaded, as if in +earnest, but did not prevent Clermont going to dinner. One attack on +front, one on right flank; then there was a third, seemingly on left +flank, but which winded itself round (perilously imprudent, had there +been a Captain, instead of a Clermont deepish in wine by this time), and +burst in upon Clermont's rear; jingling his wine-glasses and decanters, +think at what a rate;--scattering his 47,000 and him to the road again, +with a loss of men, which was counted to 4,000 (4,000 against 1,700), +and of honor--whatever was still to lose!" [Mauvillon, i. 297-309; +Westphalen, i. 588-604; Tempelhof; &c. &c.] + +Ferdinand, it was hoped, would now be able to maintain himself, and push +forward, on this French side of the Rhine: and had Wesel been his (as +some of us know it is not!), perhaps he might. At any rate, veteran +Belleisle took his measures:--dismissal of Clermont Prince of the Blood, +and appointment of Contades, a man of some skill; recall of Soubise and +his 24,000 from their Austrian intentions; these and other strenuous +measures,--and prevented such consummation. A gallant young Comte +de Gisors, only son of Belleisle, perished in that disgraceful +Crefeld:--unfortunate old man, what a business that of "cutting Germany +in four" has been to you, first and last! + +"LOUISBURG (North America), JULY 8th. Landing of General Amherst's +people at Louisburg in Cape Breton; with a view of besieging that +important place. Which has now become extremely difficult; the garrison, +and their defences, military, naval, being in full readiness for such an +event. Landing was done by Brigadier Wolfe; under the eye of Amherst and +Admiral Boscawen from rearward, and under abundant fire of batteries and +musketries playing on it ahead: in one of the surfiest seas (but we have +waited four days, and it hardly mends), tossing us about like corks;--so +that 'many of the boats were broken;' and Wolfe and people 'had to leap +out, breast-deep,' and make fight for themselves, the faster the better, +under very intricate circumstances! Which was victoriously done, by +Wolfe and his people; really in a rather handsome manner, that morning. +As were all the subsequent Siege-operations, on land and on water, by +them and the others:--till (August 8th) the Siege ended: in complete +surrender,--positively for the last time (Pitt fully intends); no +Austrian Netherlands now to put one on revoking it! [General Amherst's +DIARY OF THE SIEGE (in _Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxviii. 384-389).] + +"These are pretty victories, cheering to Pitt and Friedrich; but the +difficult point still is that of Fermor. Whose Cossacks, and their +devil-like ravagings, are hideous to think of:--unrestrainable by Dohna, +unless he could cut the root of them; which he cannot. JUNE 27th [while +Colonel Mosel, with his 3,000 wagons, still only one stage from Troppau, +was so busy], slow Fermor rose from Konitz; began hitching southward, +southward gradually to Posen,--a considerably stronger Polish Town; +on the edge both of Brandenburg and of Silesia;--and has been sitting +there, almost ever since our entrance into Bohemia; his Cossacks burning +and wasting to great distances in both Countries; no deciding which of +them he meant to invade with his main Army. Sits there almost a month, +enigmatic to Dohna, enigmatic to Friedrich: till Friedrich decides at +last that he cannot be suffered longer, whichever of them he mean; and +rises for Silesia (August 2d). Precisely about which day Fermor had +decided for Brandenburg, and rolled over thither, towards Custrin and +the Frankfurt-on-Oder Country, heralded by fire and murder, as usual." + +Friedrich's march to Landshut is, again, much admired. Daun had beset +the three great roads, the two likeliest especially, with abundant +Pandours, and his best Loudons and St. Ignons: Friedrich, making himself +enigmatic to Daun, struck into the third road by Skalitz, Nachod; +circuitous, steep, but lying Glatz-ward, handy for support of various +kinds. He was attempted, once or more, by Pandours, but used them badly; +fell in with Daun's old abatis (well wind-dried now), in different +places, and burnt them in passing. And in five days was in +Kloster-Grussau, safe on his own side of the Mountains again. One point +only we will note, in these Pandour turmoilings. From Skalitz, the first +stage of his march, he answers a Letter of Brother Henri's:-- + +TO PRINCE HENRI (at Tachopau in Saxony). "What you write to me of my +Sister of Baireuth [that she has been in extremity, cannot yet write, +and must not be told of the Prince of Prussia's death lest it kill +her] makes me tremble! Next to our Mother, she is what I have the most +tenderly loved in this world. She is a Sister who has my heart and all +my confidence; and whose character is of price beyond all the crowns in +this universe. From my tenderest years, I was brought up with her: +you can conceive how there reigns between us that indissoluble bond of +mutual affection and attachment for life, which in all other cases, were +it only from disparity of ages, is impossible. Would to Heaven I might +die before her;--and that this terror itself don't take away my life +without my actually losing her!" [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxvi. 179, +"Klenny, near Skalitz, 3d August, 1758;" Henri's Letter is dated "Camp +of Tschopau, 28th July" (ib. 277).]... + +At Grussau (August 9th) he writes to his dear Wilhelmina herself: "O +you, the dearest of my family, you whom I have most at heart of all in +this world,--for the sake of whatever is most precious to you, preserve +yourself, and let me have at least the consolation of shedding my tears +in your bosom! Fear nothing for US, and"--O King, she is dying, and I +believe knows it, though you will hope to the last! There is something +piercingly tragical in those final Letters of Friedrich to his +Wilhelmina, written from such scenes of wreck and storm, and in +Wilhelmina's beautiful ever-loving quiet Answers, dictated when she +could no longer write. ["July 18th" is the last by her hand, and "almost +illegible;"--still extant, it seems, though withheld from us. Was +received at Grussau here, and answered at some length (_OEuvres,_ xxvii. +i. 316), according to the specimen just given. Two more of hers follow, +and four of the King's (ib. 317-322). Nearly meaningless, as printed +there, without commentary for the unprepared reader.] + +Friedrich had last left Grussau April 18th; he has returned to it August +8th: after sixteen weeks of a very eventful absence. In Grussau he +stayed two whole days;--busy enough he, probably, though his people were +resting! August 10th he draws up, for Prince Henri, "under seal of the +most absolute secrecy," and with admirable business-like strictness, +brevity and clearness, forgetting nothing useful, remembering nothing +useless, a Paper of Directions in case of a certain event: "I march +to-morrow against the Russians: as the events of War may lead to all +sorts of accidents, and it may easily happen to me to be killed, I have +thought it my duty to let you know what my plans were," and what you +are to do in that event,--"the rather as you are Guardian of our Nephew +[late Prince of Prussia's Son] with an unlimited authority." Oath from +all the armies the instant I am killed: rapid, active, as ever; the +enemy not to notice that there is any change in the command. I intend +to "beat the Russians utterly [A PLATE COUTURE, splay-seam], if it be +possible;" then to &c.:--gives you his "itinerary," too, or probable +address, till "the 25th" (notably enough); in short, forgets nothing +useful, nor remembers anything that is not, in spite of his hurry. +["DISPOSITION TESTAMENTAIRE" (so they have labelled it); given in +_OEuvres,_ iv. (APPENDICE) 261, 262. Friedrich's TESTAMENT proper is +already made, and all in order, years ago ("11th January 1752"): of +this there followed Two new Redactions (new EDITIONS with slight +improvements, "7th November, 1768," and "8th January, 1769" the FINALLY +valid one); and various Supplements, or summary Enforcements (as here), +at different times of crisis. see PREUSS, iv. 277, 401, and _OEuvres +de Frederic,_ vi. p. 13 (of Preface), for some confused account of that +matter.] For Mlnlster Finck also there went a Paper; seal lzot needing +to be opened for the moment. + +With Margraf Karl, and Fouquet under him, who are to guard Silesia, he +leaves in two Divisions about Half the late Olmutz Army:--added to the +other force, this will make about 40,000 for that service. [Stenzel, v. +163.] Keith has the chief command here; but is ordered to Breslau, in +the mean time, for a little rest and recovery of health. Friday, 11th +August, Friedrich himself, with the other Half, pushes off towards +Fermor and the Cossack demons; through Liegnitz, through Hohenfriedberg +Country, straight for Frankfurt, with his best speed. + + + + + +Chapter XIII.--BATTLE OF ZORNDORF. + +Sunday, 20th August, Friedrich, with his small Army, hardly above 15,000 +I should guess, arrived at Frankfurt-on-Oder: "his Majesty," it seems, +"lodged in the Lebus Suburb, in the house of a Clergyman's Widow; and +was observed to go often out of doors, and listen to the cannonading, +which was going on at Custrin." [Rodenbeck, i. 347.] From Landshut +hither, he has come in nine days; the swiftest marching; a fiery spur +of indignation being upon all his men and him, for the last two days +fierier than ever,--longing all to have a blow at those incendiary +Russian gentlemen. Five days ago, the Russians, attempting blindly +on the Garrison of Custrin, had burnt,--nothing of the Garrison at +all,--but the poor little Town altogether. Which has filled everybody +with lamentation and horror. And, listen yonder, they are still busy on +the solitary Garrison of Custrin;--audible enough to Friedrich from his +northern or Lebus Suburb, which lies nearest the place, at a distance of +some twenty miles. + +Of Fermor's red-hot savagery on Custrin, it is lamentably necessary we +should say something: to say much would he a waste of record; as the +thing itself was a waste of powder. A thing hideous to think of; without +the least profit to Fermor, but with total ruin to all the inhabitants, +and to the many strangers who had sought refuge there. One interior +circumstance is memorable and lucky to us. Artillery-Captain Tielcke +happened to be with these people; had come in the train of "two Saxon +Princes, serving as volunteers;" and, with a singular lucidity, and +faithful good sense, not scientific alone, he illuminates these black +Russian matters for such as have to do with them. + +Tielcke's Book of _Contributions to the Art of War_ [_Beytrage zur +Kriege-Kunst und (ZUR) Geschichte des Krieges von 1756 bis 1763_ (six +thin vols. 4to, with many Plates); cited above.] is still in repute with +Soldiers, especially in the Artillery line; and indeed shows a sound +geometrical head, and contains bits of excellent Historical reading +interspersed among the scientific parts. This Tielcke, it appears, was +a common foot-soldier, one of those Pirna 14,000 made Prussian against +their will; but Tielcke had a milkmaid for sweetheart in those regions, +who, good soul, gave him her generous farewell, a suit of her clothes, +perhaps a pair of her pails; and in that guise he walked out of bondage. +Clear away; to Warsaw, to favor with the King and others (being of +real merit, an excellent, studious, modest little man); and here he +now reappears, in a higher capacity; as articulate Eye-witness of the +Custrin Business and the Zorndorf, among much other Russian darkness, +which shall remain comfortably blank to us. + +Up to Custrin, the Journal of the Operations of the Russian Army, which +I could give from day to day, ["TAGEBUCH BEYDER &c. (Diary of both +Armies from the beginning of the Campaign till Zorndorf"), in Tielcke, +ii. 1-75; Tempelhof, ii. 136, 216-224; _Helden-Geschichte,_ v.; &c. +&c.] is of no interest except to the Nether Powers of this Universe; the +Russian Operations hitherto having consisted in slow marches, sluttish +cookeries, cantonings, bivouackings, with destruction of a poor innocent +Country, and arson, theft and murder done on the great scale by inhuman +vagabonds, Cossacks so called, not tempered on this occasion by the +mercy of Calmucks. The regular Russian Army, it appears, participates +in the common horror of mankind against such a method of making war; but +neither Feldmarschall Fermor, nor General Demikof (properly THEMICOUD, a +Swiss, deserving little thanks from us, who has taken in hand to command +these Missionaries of the Pit), can help the results above described. +Which are justly characterized as abominable, to gods and men; and +not fit to be recorded in human Annals; execration, and, if it were +possible, oblivion, being the human resource with them., The Russian +Officers, it seems, despise this Cossack rabble incredibly; for their +fighting qualities withal are close on zero, though their talent for +arson and murder is so considerable. And contrariwise, the Cossacks, for +their part, have no objection to plunder, or even, if obstreperous, +to kill, any regular Officer they may meet unescorted in a good place. +Their talent for arson is great. They do uncountable damage to the Army +itself; provoking all the Country people to destroy by fire what could +be eaten or used, the foraging, food and equipments of horse and man; +so that horse and man have to be fed by victual carted hundreds of miles +out of Poland; and the Russian Army sticks, as it were, tethered with a +welter of broken porridge-pots and rent meal-bags hung to every foot it +has. + +East Preussen is quiet from the storms of War; holds its tongue well, +and hopes better days: but the Russians themselves are little the better +for it, a country so lately burned bare; they are merely flung so many +scores of miles forward, farther from home and their real resources, +before they can begin work, They have no port on the Baltic: poor +blockheads, they are aware how desirable, for instance, Dantzig would +be; to help feeding them out of ships; but the Dantzigers won't. +Colberg, a poor little place, with only 700 militia people in it, would +be of immense service to them as a sea-haven: but even this they have +not yet tried to get; and after trying, they will find it a job. "Why +not unite with the Swedes and take Stettin (the finest harbor in the +Baltic), which would bring Russia, by ships, to your very hand?" This +is what Montalembert is urgent upon, year after year, to the point +of wearying everybody; but he can get no official soul to pay heed to +him,--the difficulties are so considerable. "Swedes, what are they?" say +the Russians: "Russians what?" say the Swedes. "Sweden would be so handy +for the Artilleries," urges Montalembert; "Russians for the Soldiery, +or covering and fighting part."--"Can't be done!" Officiality shakes its +head: and Montalembert is obliged to be silent. + +The Russians have got into the Neumark of Brandenburg, on those bad +terms; and are clearly aware that, without some Fortress as a Place of +Arms, they are an overgrown Incompetency and Monstrosity in the field +of War; doing much destruction, most of which proves self-destructive +before long. But how help it? If the carrying of meal so far be +difficult what will the carrying of siege-furniture be? A flat +impossibility. Fermor, aware of these facts, remembers what happened at +Oczakow,--long ago, in our presence, and Keith's and Munnich's, if the +reader have not quite forgot. Munnich, on that occasion, took Oczakow +without any siege-furniture whatever, by boldly marching up to it; +nothing but audacity and good luck on his side. Fermor determines to +try Custrin in the like way,--if peradventure Prussian soldiery be like +Turk?-- + +Fermor rose from Posen August 2d, almost three weeks ago; making daily +for the Neumark and those unfortunate Oder Countries; nobody but Dohna +to oppose him,--Dohna in the ratio of perhaps one against four. Dohna +naturally laid hold of Frankfurt and the Oder Bridge, so that Fermor +could not cross there; whereupon Fermor, as the next best thing, struck +northward for the Warta (black Polish stream, last big branch of Oder); +crossed this, at his ease, by Landsberg Bridge, August 10th [Tempelhof, +ii. 216.] and after a day or two of readjustment in Landsberg, made for +Custrin Country (his next head-quarter is at Gross Kamin); hoping in +some accidental or miraculous way to cross Oder thereabouts, or even get +hold of Custrin as a Place of Arms. If peradventure he can take Custrin +without proper siege-artillery, in the Oczakow or Anti-Turk way? Fermor +has been busy upon Custrin since August 15th;--in what fashion we partly +heard, and will now, from authentic sources, see a little for ourselves. + +The Castle of Custrin, built by good Johann of Custrin, and "roofed +with copper," in the Reformation times,--we know it from of old, and +Friedrich has since had some knowledge of it. Custrin itself is a rugged +little Town, with some moorland traffic, and is still a place of great +military strength, the garrison of those parts. Its rough pavements, +its heavy stone battlements and barriers, give it a guarled obstinate +aspect,--stern enough place of exile for a Crown-Prince fallen into such +disfavor with Papa! A rugged, compact, by no means handsome little Town, +at the meeting of the Warta and the Oder; stands naturally among sedges, +willows and drained mire, except that human industry is pleasantly busy +upon it, and has long been. So that the neighborhood is populous beyond +expectation; studded with rough cottages in white-wash; hamlets in a +paved condition; and comfortable signs of labor victoriously wrestling +with the wilderness. Custrin, an arsenal and garrison, begirt with two +rivers, and with awful bulwarks, and bastions cased in stone,--"perhaps +too high," say the learned,--is likely to be impregnable to Russian +engineering on those terms. Here, with brevity, is the catastrophe of +Custrin. + +TUESDAY, 15th AUGUST, 1758. At two in the morning, several thousand +Russians, grenadiers, under Quartermaster General Stoffeln, whom the +readers of Mannstein know from old Oczakow times, are astir; pushing +along from Gross Kamin, through the scraggy firwoods, and flat peat +countries; intending a stroke on Custrin, if perhaps they can get it: +[Tempelhof, ii. 217; but Tielcke, ii. 69 et seq., the real source.]--not +the slightest chance to get Custrin; Prussian soldiership and Turkish +being two quite different things! The pickeering and manoeuvring of +Stoffeln shall not detain us. Stoffeln came along by the Landsberg +road (course of the now Konigsberg-Custrin Railway); and drove in the +Prussian out-parties, who at first took him for Cossacks. Stoffeln set +himself down on the north side of the place; planted cannon in certain +clay-pits thereabouts, and about nine o'clock began firing shells and +incendiary grenadoes at a great rate. Tielcke saw everything,--and had +the honor to take luncheon, that evening, with certain chief Officers, +sitting on the ground, after all was over, and only a few shots from the +Garrison still dropping. [Tielcke, ii. 75 n.] + +At the third grenade, which, it seems, fell into a straw magazine, +Custrin took fire; could not be quenched again, so much dry wood in it, +so much disorder too, the very soldiers some of them disorderly (a bad +deserter set); so that it soon flamed aloft,--from side to side one sea +of flame: and man, woman and child, every soul (except the Garrison, +which sat enclosed in strong stone), had to fly across the River, under +penalty of death by fire. Of Custrin, by five in the evening, there was +nothing left but the black ashes; the Garrison standing unharmed, and +the Church, School-house and some stone edifices in a charred skeleton +condition. "No life was lost, except that of one child in arms." All +Neumark had lodged its valuables in this place of strength; all are fled +now in horror and terror across the Oder, by the Bridge, before it also +unquenchably takes fire, at the western or non-Russian end of the place. +Such a day as was seldom seen in human experience;--Fermor responsible +for it, happily not we. + +Fermor, in the evening, said to his Artillery People: "Why have you +ceased to fire grenadoes?" "Excellency, the Town is out; nothing now but +ashes and stone." "Never mind; give them the rest, one every quarter +of an hour. We shall not need the grenadoes again. The cannon-balls we +shall; them, therefore, do not waste." On the morrow morning, after +this performance on the Town, Fermor sends a Trumpeter: "Surrender +or else--!" rather in the tremendous style. "Or else?" answers the +Commandant, pointing to the ashes, to the black inconsumable stones; and +is deaf to this EX-POST-FACTO Trumpeter. The Russians say they sent +one yesterday morning, not EX-POST-FACTO, but he was killed in the +pickeerings, and never heard of again. A mile or so to rear of Custrin, +on the westward or Berlin side of the River, lies Dohna for the last +four days; expecting that the Laws of Nature will hold good, and Custrin +prove tenable against such sieging. So stands it on Friedrich's arrival. + +We left Friedrich in the Lebus Suburb of Frankfurt, Sunday, August 20th, +listening to the distant cannonade. Next morning, he is here himself; +at Dohna's Camp of Gorgast, taking survey of affairs; came early, under +rapid small escort, leaving his Army to follow; scorn and contemptuous +indignation the humor of him, they say; resolution to be swiftly home +upon that surprising Russian armament, and teach it new manners. The +black skeleton of Custrin stares hideously across the River; "Custrin +Siege" so called still going on;--had better make despatch now, and take +itself away! He greatly despises Russian soldiership: "Pooh, pooh," he +would answer, if Keith from experience said, "Your Majesty does not do +it justice;"--and Keith has been known to hint, "If the trial ever come, +your Majesty will alter that opinion." A day or two hence, amid these +hideous Russian fire-traceries, the Hussars bring him a dozen of +Cossacks they have made prisoners: Friedrich looks at the dirty green +vagabonds; says to one of his Staff: "And this is the kind of Doggery I +have to bother with!"--The sight of the poor country-people, and their +tears of joy and of sorrow on his reappearance among them, much affected +him. Taking inspection of Dohna, he finds Dohna wonderfully clean, +pipe-clayed, complete: "You are very fine indeed, you;--I bring you +a set of fellows, rough as GRASTEUFELN ["grass-devils," I never know +whether insects or birds]; but they can bite,"--hope you can! + +Tuesday, August 32d, at five in the morning our Army has all arrived, +the Frankfurt people just come in; 30,000 of us now in Camp at Gorgast. +Friedrich orders straightway that a certain Russian Redoubt on the other +side of the River, at Schaumburg, a mile or two down stream, be well +cannonaded into ruin,--as if he took it for some incipiency of a Russian +Bridge, or were himself minded to cross here, under cover of Custrin. +Friedrich's intention very certainly is to cross,--here or not just +here;--and that same night, after some hours of rest to the Frankfurt +people,--night of Tuesday-Wednesday, Friedrich, having persuaded the +Russians that his crossing-place will be their Redoubt at Schaumburg, +marches ten or twelve miles down the River, silently his 30,000 and +he, till opposite the Village of Gustebiese; rapidly makes his Bridges +there, unmolested: Fermor, with his eye on the cannonaded Redoubt only, +has expected no such matter; and is much astonished when he hears of +it, twenty hours after. Friedrich, across with the vanguard, at an early +hour of Wednesday, gets upon the knoll at Gustebiese for a view; and +all Gustebiese, hearing of him, hurries out, with low-voiced tremulous +blessings, irrepressible tears: "God reward your Majesty, that have +come to us!"--and there is a hustling and a struggling, among the women +especially, to kiss the skirts of his coat. Poor souls: one could have +stood tremendous cheers; but this is a thing I forgive Friedrich for +being visibly affected with. + +Friedrich leaves his baggage on the other side of the Oder, and the +Bridge guarded; our friend Hordt, with his Free-Corps, doing it, +Friedrich marches forward some ten miles that night; eastward, straight +for Gross Kamin, as if to take the Russians in rear; encamps at a place +called Klossow, spreading himself obliquely towards the Mutzel (black +sluggish tributary of the Oder in those parts), meaning to reach Neu +Damm on the Mutzel to-morrow, there almost within wind of the Russians, +and be ready for crossing on them. It was at Klossow (23d August, +evening), that the Hussars brought in their dozen or two of Cossacks, +and he had his first sight of Russian soldiery; by no means a favorable +one, "Ugh, only look!"--As we are now approaching Zorndorf, and the +monstrous tug of Battle which fell out there, readers will be glad of +the following:-- + +"From Damm on the Mutzel, where Friedrich intends crossing it to-morrow +night, south to Gross Kamin, not far from the Warta, where Fermor's +head-quarter lately was, may be about five miles. From Custrin, Kamin +lies northeast about eight or ten miles: Zorndorf, the most considerable +Village in this tract, lies--little dreaming of the sad glory coming to +it--pretty much in the centre between big Warta and smaller Mutzel. The +Country is by nature a peat wilderness, far and wide; but it has been +tamed extensively; grows crops, green pastures; is elsewhere covered +with wood (Scotch fir, scraggy in size, but evidently under forest +management); perhaps half the country is in Fir tracts, what they call +HEIDEN (Heaths); the cultivated spaces lying like light-green islands +with black-green channels and expanses of circumambient Fir. The Drewitz +Heath, the Massin or Zither Heath, and others about Zorndorf, will +become notable to us. The Country is now much drier than in Friedrich's +time; the human spade doing its duty everywhere: so that much of the +Battle-ground has become irrecognizable, when compared with the old +marshy descriptions given of it. Zorndorf, a rough substantial Hamlet, +has nothing of boggy now visible near by; lies east to west, a firm +broad highway leading through: a sea of forest before it, to south; to +north, good dry barley-grounds or rye-grounds, sensibly rising for +half a mile, then waving about in various slow slight changes of level +towards Quartschen, Zicher, &c.: forming an irregular cleared +'island,' altogether of perhaps four miles by three, with unlimited +circumambiencies of wood. It was here, on this island as we call it, +that the Battle, which has made Zorndorf famous, was fought. + +"Zorndorf (or even the open ground half a mile to north of it, which +will be more important to us) is probably not 50 feet above the level of +the Mutzel, nor 100 above Warta and Oder, six miles off; but it is the +crown of the Country;--the ground dropping therefrom every way, in +lazy dull waves or swells; towards Tamsel and Gross Kamin on southeast; +towards Birken-Busch, Quartschen, Darmutzel [DAR of the Mutzel, whatever +"DAR" may be.] on northwest; as well as towards Damm and its Bridge +northeast, where Friedrich will soon be, and towards Custrin southwest, +where he lately was, each a five or six miles from Zorndorf. + +"Such is the poor moorland tract of Country; Zorndorf the centre of +it,--where the battle is likely to be:--Zorndorf and environs a bare +quasi-island among these woods; extensive bald crown of the landscape, +girt with a frizzle of firwoods all round. Boggy pools there are, +especially on the western side (all drained in our time). Mutzel, or +north side, is of course the lowest in level: and accordingly," what is +much to be marked by readers here, "from the south, or Zorndorf side, +at wide intervals, there saunter along, in a slow obscure manner, Three +miserable continuous Leakages, or oozy Threads of Water, all making for +Quartschen, to north or northwest, there to disembogue into the Mutzel. +Each of these has its little Hollow; of which the westernmost, called +Zabern Hollow (ZABERNGRUND), is the most considerable, and the most +important to us here: GALGENGRUND (Gallows-Hollow) is also worth naming +in this Battle; the third Leakage, though without importance, invites us +to name it, HOSEBRUCH, quasi STOCKING-quagmire,--because you can use no +stockings there, except with manifest disadvantage."--Take this other +concluding trait:-- + +... "Inexpressible fringe of marsh, two or three miles broad, mostly +bottomless, woven with sluggish creeks and stagnant pools, borders the +Warta for many miles towards Landsberg; Custrin-Landsberg Causeway the +alone sure footing in it; after which, the country rises insensibly, but +most beneficially, and is mainly drier till you get to the Mutzel again, +and find the same fringe of mud lace-work again, Zorndorf we called the +crown of it. Tamsel, Wilkersdorf, Klein Kamin, Gross Kamin, and other +places known to us, lie on the dry turf-fuel country, but looking over +close upon the hem of that marsh-fringe, and no doubt getting peats, +wild ducks, pike-fishes, eels, and snatches of summer pasture and +cow-hay out of it." + +Thursday, August 24th, Friedrich is again speeding on; occupying +Darmutzel and other crossing-places of the Mutzel; [Mitchell to +Holderness, "DErmItzel, 24th August, 1758" (MEMOIRS AND PAPERS, i. +425; Ib. ii. 40-47, Mitchell's Private Journal).]--by no means himself +crossing there; on the contrary, carefully breaking all the Bridges +before he go ("No retreat for those Russian vagabonds, only death or +surrender for them!")--himself not intending to cross till he be up at +Damm, Neu Damm, well eastward of his Russians, and have got them all +pinfolded between Mutzel and Oder in that way. In the evening, he +reaches Damm and the Mill of Damm, some three or four miles higher up +the Mutzel;--and there pushes partly across at once. That is to say, +his vanguard at once, and takes a defensive position; his Artillery +and other Divisions by degrees, in the silent night hours; and, before +daybreak to-morrow, every soul will be across, and the Bridge broken +again;--and Fermor had better have his accounts settled. + +Fermor's roving Cossack clouds seldom bring him in intelligence; but +only return stained with charcoal grime and red murder: up to late last +night, he had not known where Friedrich was at all; had idly thought him +busy with the Schaumburg Redoubt, on the other side of Oder, fencing +and precautioning: but now (night of the 23d), these Cossacks do come in +with news, "Indisputable to our poor minds, the Prussians are at Klossow +yonder,--captured a dozen green vagabonds of us, and have sent +us galloping!"--which news, with the night closing in on him, was +astonishing, thrice and four times important to Fermor. + +Instantly he raises the siege of Custrin, any siege there was; gets his +immense baggage-train shoved off that night to Klein Kamin, Landsberg +way; summons the force from Landsberg to join him without loss of a +moment;--and in the meanwhile pitches himself in long bivouac in the +Drewitz Wood or Fir-Heath, with the quaggy Zaberngrund in front. Quaggy +Zaberngrund,--do readers remember it; one of those "Three continuous +Leakages," very important, to Fermor and us at present? This is the +safest place Fermor can find for himself; scraggy firs around, good +quagmires and Zabern Hollow in front; looking to the east, waiting what +a new day will bring. That was Fermor's posture, while Friedrich quitted +Klossow in the dawn of the 24th. Be busy, ye Cossack doggeries; return +with news, not with mere grime and marks of blood on your mouths! + +Evening of the 24th, Cossacks report that Friedrich has got to Damm +Mill; has hold of the Bridge there; and may be looked for, sure as the +daylight, to-morrow. Fermor is 50,000 odd, his Landsberg forces all +coming in; one Detachment out Stettin way, which cannot come in; Fermor +finds that his baggage-train is fairly on the road to Klein Kamin;--and +that he will have to quit this bosky bivouac, and fight for himself in +the open ground, or do worse. + + + + +THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR OVER AGAIN,--THAT IS TO SAY, FRIEDRICH AT +HAND-GRIPS WITH FERMOR AND HIS RUSSIANS (25TH AUGUST, 1758). + +Artless Fermor draws out to the open ground, north of Zorndorf, south +of Quartschen; arranges himself in huge quadrilateral mass, with his +"staff-baggage" (lighter baggage) in the centre, and his front, so +to speak, everywhere. [Excellent Plan of him, or rather Plans, in his +successive shapes, in Tielcke, ii. (PLATES 4, 5, 6, 7, 8).] Mass, say +two miles long by one mile broad; but it is by no means regular, and has +many zigzags according to the ground, and narrows and droops southward +on the eastern end: one of the most artless arrangements; but known to +Fermor, and the readiest on this pinch of time. Munnich devised this +quadrilateral mode; and found it good against the Turks, and their +deluges of raging horse and foot: Fermor could perhaps do better; but +there is such a press of hurry. Fermor's western flank, or biggest +breadth of quadrilateral, leans on that Zabern Hollow, with its fine +quagmires; his eastern, narrowest part, droops down on certain mud-pools +and conveniences towards Zicher. Gallows Hollow, a slighter than the +Zabern, runs through the centre of him; and with his best people he +fronts towards the Mutzel Bridges, especially towards Damm-Mill Bridge +whence Friedrich will emerge, sure as the sunrise, one knows not with +what issue. Artless Fermor is nothing daunted; nor are his people; +but stand patiently under arms, regardless of future and present, to a +degree not common in soldiering. + +Friday, August 25th, by half-past three in the morning, Friedrich is +across the Mutzel; self and Infantry by Damm-Mutzel Bridge, cavalry by +another Bridge (KERSTEN-BRUGGE, means "Christian Bridge," in the dialect +of Charlemagne's time, a very old arrangement of Successive Logs up +there!) some furlongs higher up. The Bridge at Damm is perhaps some +three miles from the nearest Russians about Zicher; but Friedrich has +no thought of attacking Fermor there; he has a quite other program +laid, and will attack Fermor precisely on the side opposite to there. +Friedrich's intention is to sweep quite round this monstrous Russian +quadrilateral; to break in upon it on the western flank, and hurl it +back upon Mutzel and its quagmires. He has broken his two bridges after +passing, all bridges are gone there, and the country is bottomless: +surrender at discretion if once you are driven thither! And Friedrich's +own retreat, if he fail, is short and open to Custrin. "Admirable," say +the Critics, "and altogether in Friedrich's style!"--Friedrich, adds +one Critic, was not aware that the Russian Heavy-Baggage Train, which +is their powder-flask and bread-basket and staff of life, lies at Klein +Kamin, within few miles on his left just now, Russians themselves on his +right; that the Russians could have been abolished from those countries +without fighting at all! [Retzow, i. 305-329.] This is very true. +Friedrich's haste is great, his humor hot; and he has not heard of this +Klein-Kamin fact, which in common times he would have done, and of which +in a calmer mood he would, with a fine scientific gusto, have taken his +advantage. + +Friedrich pours incessant southward; cavalry parallel to infantry and +a certain distance beyond it, eastward of it; and they have burnt the +Bridges; which is a curious fact! Continually southward, as if for +Tamsel:--poor old Tamsel, do readers recollect it at all, does Friedrich +at all? No pleasant dinner, or lily-and-rose complexions, there for +one to-day!--Some distance short of Tamsel, Friedrich, emerging, turns +westward;--intending what on earth? thinks Fermor. Friedrich has been +mostly hidden by the woods all this while, and enigmatic to Fermor. +Fermor does now at last see the color of the facts;--and that one's +chief front must change itself to southward, one's best leg and arm +be foremost, or towards Zorndorf, not towards the Mutzel as hitherto. +Fermor stirs up his Quadrilateral, makes the required change, "You, best +or northern line, step across, and front southward; across to southward, +I say; second-best go northward in their stead:" and so, with some other +slight polishings, suggested by the ground and phenomena, we anew await +this Prussian Enigma with our best leg foremost. The march or circular +sweep of these Prussian lines, from Damm Bridge through the woods and +champaign to their appointed place of action, is seven or eight miles; +lines when halted in battle-order will be two miles long or more. + +Friedrich pours steadily along, horse and foot, by the rear cf +Wilkersdorf, of Zorndorf,--Russian Minotaur scrutinizing him in that +manner with dull bloodshot eyes, uncertain what he will do. It is eight +in the morning, hot August; wind a mere lull, but southernly if any. +Small Hussar pickets ride to right of the main Army March; to keep the +Cossacks in check: who are roving about, all on wing; and pert enough, +in spite of the Hussar pickets, Desperado individuals of them gallop up +to the Infantry ranks, and fire off their pistols there,--without reply; +reply or firing, till the word come, is strictly forbidden. Infantry +pours along, like a ploughman drawing his furrow, heedless of the +circling crows. Crows or Cossacks, finding they are not regarded, set +fire to Zorndorf, and gallop off. Zorndorf goes up readily, mainly +wood and straw; rolls in big clouds of smoke far northward in upon the +Russian Minotaur, making him still blinder in the important moments now +coming. + +Friedrich rides up to view the Zabern Hollow: "Beyond expectation deep; +very boggy too, with its foul leakage or brook: no attacking of their +western flank through this Zaberngrund;--attack the corner of them, +then; here on the southwest!" That is Friedrich's rapid resource. The +lines halt, accordingly; make ready. Behind flaming Zorndorf stands his +extreme left, which is to make the attack; infantry in front; horse to +rear and farther leftwards,--and under the command of Seidlitz in this +quarter, which is an important circumstance. Right wing, reaching to +behind Wilkersdorf, is to refuse itself; whole force of centre is +to push upon that Russian corner, to support the left in doing +it;--according to the Leuthen or LEUCTRA principle, once more. May no +mistakes occur in executing it this day!-- + +The first division of the Prussian Infantry, or extreme Left, marches +forward by the west end of flaming Zorndorf; next division, which should +stand close to right of it, or even behind it in action, and follow it +close into the Russian fire, has to march by the east end of Zorndorf; +this is a farther road, owing to the flames; and not a lucky one. Second +division could never get into fair contact with that first division +again: that was the mistake: and it might have been fatal, but was not, +as we shall see. First division has got clear of Zorndorf, in advancing +towards its Russian business;--is striding forward, its left flank safe +against the Zaberngrund; steadily by fixed stages, against the fated +Russian Corner, which is its point of attack. First division, second +division, are clear of Zorndorf, though with a wide gap between them; +are steadily striding forward towards the Russian Corner. Two strong +batteries, wide apart, have planted themselves ahead; and are playing +upon the Russian Quadrilateral, their fires crossing at the due Corner +yonder, with terrible effect; Russian artillery, which are multitudinous +and all gathered down to this southwestern corner, are responding, +though with their fire spread, and far less effectual. The Prussian line +steps on, extreme left perhaps in too animated a manner; their cannon +batteries enfilade the thick mass of Russians at a frightful rate +("forty-two men of a certain regiment blown away by a single ball," in +one instance [Tielcke.]), drive the interior baggage-horses to despair: +a very agitated Quadrilateral, under its grim canopy of cannon +smoke, and of straw smoke, heaped on it from the Zorndorf side here. +Manteuffel, leader of that first or leftmost division, sees the internal +simmering; steps forward still more briskly, to firing distance; begins +his platoon thunder, with the due steady fury,--had the second division +but got up to support Manteuffel! The second division is in fire too; +but not close to Manteuffel, where it should be. + +Fermor notices the gap, the wavering of Manteuffel unsupported; plunges +out in immense torrent, horse and foot, into the gap, into Manteuffel's +flank and front; hurls Manteuffel back, who has no support at hand: +"ARAH, ARAH (Hurrah, Hurrah)! Victory, Victory!" shout the Russians, +plunging wildly forward, sweeping all before them, capturing twenty-six +pieces of cannon, for one item. What a moment for Friedrich; looking on +it from some knoll somewhere near Zorndorf, I suppose; hastily bidding +Seidlitz strike in: "Seidlitz, now!" The hurrahing Russians cannot keep +rank at that rate of going, like a buffalo stampede; but fall into heaps +and gaps: Seidlitz, with a swiftness, with a dexterity beyond praise, +has picked his way across that quaggy Zabern Hollow; falls, with say +5,000 horse, on the flank of this big buffalo stampede; tumbles it into +instant ruin;--which proves irretrievable, as the Prussian Infantry come +on again, and back Seidlitz. + +In fifteen minutes more (I guess it now to be ten o'clock), the Russian +Minotaur, this end of it, on to the Gallows Ground, is one wild mass. +Seldom was there seen such a charge; issuing in such deluges of wreck, +of chaotic flight, or chaotic refusal to fly. The Seidlitz cavalry went +sabring till, for very fatigue, they gave it up, and could no more. The +Russian horse fled to Kutzdorf,--Fermor with them, who saw no more of +this Fight, and did not get back till dark;--had not the Bridges been +burnt, and no crossing of the Mutzel possible, Fermor never would have +come back, and here had been the end of Zorndorf. Luckier if it had! +But there is no crossing of the Mutzel, there is only drowning in the +quagmires there:--death any way; what can be done but die? + +The Russian infantry stand to be sabred, in the above manner, as if +they had been dead oxen. More remote from Seidlitz, they break open +the sutlers' brandy-casks, and in few minutes get roaring drunk. Their +officers, desperate, split the brandy-casks; soldiers flap down to drink +it from the puddles; furiously remonstrate with their officers, and +"kill a good many of them" (VIELE, says Tielcke), especially the +foreign sort. "A frightful blood-bath," by all the Accounts: blood-bath, +brandy-bath, and chief Nucleus of Chaos then extant aboveground. Fermor +is swept away: this chaos, the very Prussians drawing back from it, +wearied with massacring, lasts till about one o'clock. Up to the +Gallows-ground the Minotaur is mere wreck and delirium: but beyond the +Gallows-ground, the other half forms a new front to itself; becomes a +new Minotaur, though in reduced shape. This is Part First of the Battle +of Zorndorf; Friedrich--on the edge of great disaster at one moment, but +miraculously saved--has still the other half to do (unlucky that he left +no Bridges on the Mutzel), and must again change his program. + +Half of the Minotaur is gone to shreds in this manner; but the attack +upon it, too, is spent: what is to be done with the other half of the +monster, which is again alive; which still stands, and polypus-like +has arranged a new life for itself, a new front against the Galgengrund +yonder? Friedrich brings his right wing into action. Rapidly arranges +right wing, centre, all of the left that is disposable, with batteries, +with cavalry; for an attack on the opposite or southeastern end of +his monster. If your monster, polypus-like, come alive again in the +tail-part, you must fell that other head of him. Batteries, well in +advance, begin work upon the new head of the monster, which was once +his tail; fresh troops, long lines of them, pushing forward to begin +platoon-volleying:--time now, I should guess, about half-past two. Our +infantry has not yet got within musket-range,--when torrents of Russian +Horse, Foot too following, plunge out; wide-flowing, stormfully swift; +and dash against the coming attack. Dash against it; stagger it; +actually tumble it back, in the centre part; take one of the batteries, +and a whole battalion prisoners. Here again is a moment! Friedrich, +they say, rushed personally into this vortex; rallied these broken +battalions, again rallied and led them up; but it was to no purpose: +they could not be made to stand, these centre battalions;--"some sudden +panic in them, a thing unaccountable," says Tempelhof; "they are Dohna's +people, who fought perfectly at Jagersdorf, and often elsewhere" (they +were all in such a finely burnished state the other day; but have not +biting talent, like the grass-devils): enough, they fairly scour away, +certain disgraceful battalions, and are not got ranked again till below +Wilkersdorf, above a mile off; though the grass-devils, on both hands of +them, stand grimly steady, left in this ominous manner. + +What would have become of the affair one knows not, if it had not been +that Seidlitz once more made his appearance. On Friedrich's order, or +on his own, I do not know; but sure it is, Seidlitz, with sixty-one +squadrons, arriving from some distance, breaks in like a DEUS EX +MACHINA, swift as the storm-wind, upon this Russian Horse-torrent; +drives it again before him like a mere torrent of chaff, back, ever +back, to the shore of Acheron and the Stygian quagmires (of the Mutzel, +namely); so that it did not return again; and the Prussian infantry had +free field for their platoon exercise. Their rage against the Russians +was extreme; and that of the Russians corresponded. Three of these +grass-devil battalions, who stood nearest to Dohna's runaways, were +natives of this same burnt-out Zorndorf Country; we may fancy the +Platt-Teutsch hearts of them, and the sacred lightning, with a +moisture to it, that was in their eyes. Platt-Teutsch platooning, +bayonet-charging,--on such terms no Russian or mortal Quadrilateral can +stand it. The Russian Minotaur goes all to shreds a second time; but +will not run. "No quarter!"--"Well, then, none!" + +"Shortly after four o'clock," say my Accounts, "the firing," regular +firing, "altogether ceased; ammunition nearly spent, on both sides; +Prussians snatching cartridge-boxes of Russian dead;" and then began a +tug of deadly massacring and wrestling man to man, "with bayonets, +with butts of muskets, with hands, even with teeth [in some Russian +instances], such as was never seen before." The Russians, beaten to +fragments, would not run: whither run? Behind is Mutzel and the bog of +Acheron;--on Mutzel is no bridge left; "the shore of Mutzel is thick +with men and horses, who have tried to cross, and lie there swallowed +in the ooze"--"like a pavement," says Tielcke. The Russians,--never was +such VIS INERTIAE as theirs now. They stood like sacks of clay, like +oxen already dead; not even if you shot a bullet through them, would +they fall at once, says Archenholtz, but seem to be deliberate about it. + +Complete disorder reigned on both sides; except that the Prussians +could always form again when bidden, the Russians not. This lasted till +nightfall,--Russians getting themselves shoved away on these horrid +terms, and obstinate to take no other. Towards dark, there appeared, on +a distant knoll, something like a ranked body of them again,--some 2,000 +foot and half as many horse; whom Themicoud (superlative Swiss Cossack, +usually written Demikof or Demikow) had picked up, and persuaded from +the shore of Acheron, back to this knoll of vantage, and some cannon +with them. Friedrich orders these to be dispersed again: General +Forcade, with two battalions, taking the front of them, shall attack +there; you, General Rauter, bring up those Dohna fellows again, and take +them in flank. Forcade pushes on, Rauter too,--but at the first taste of +cannon-shot, these poor Dohna-people (such their now flurried, disgraced +state of mind) take to flight again, worse than before; rush quite +through Wilkersdorf this time, into the woods, and can hardly be got +together at all. Scandalous to think of. No wonder Friedrich "looked +always askance on those regiments that had been beaten at Gross +Jagersdorf, and to the end of his life gave them proofs of it:" +[Retzow;--and still more emphatically, _Briefe eines alten Preussischen +Officiers_ (Hohenzollern, 1790), i. 34, ii. 52, &c.] very natural, if +the rest were like these! + +Of poor General Rauter, Tempelhof and the others, that can help it, are +politely silent; only Saxon Tielcke tells us, that Friedrich dismissed +him, "Go, you, to some other trade!"--which, on Prussian evidence too, +expressed in veiled terms, I find to be the fact: _Militair-Lexikon,_ +obliged to have an article on Rauter, is very brief about it; hints +nothing unkind; records his personal intrepidity; and says, "in 1758 he, +on his request, had leave to withdraw,"--poor soul, leave and more! + +Forcade, left to himself, kept cannonading Themicoud; Themicoud +responding, would not go; stood on his knoll of vantage, but gathered +no strength: "Let him stand," said Friedrich, after some time; and +Themicoud melted in the shades of night, gradually towards the hither +shore of Acheron,--that is, of Acheron-Mutzel, none now attempting +to PAVE it farther, but simmering about at their sad leisure there. +Feldmarschall Fermor is now got to his people again, or his people to +him; reunited in place and luck: such a chaos as Fermor never saw before +or after. No regiment or battalion now is; mere simmering monads, this +fine Army; officers doing their utmost to cobble it into something of +rank, without regard to regiments or qualities. Darkness seldom sank on +such a scene. + +Wild Cossack parties are scouring over all parts of the field; robbing +the dead, murdering the wounded; doing arson, too, wherever possible; +and even snatching at the Prussian cannon left rearwards, so that the +Hussars have to go upon them again. One large mass of them plundering in +the Hamlet of Zicher, the Hussars surrounded: the Cossacks took to the +outhouses; squatted, ran, called in the aid of fire, their constant +friend: above 400 of them were in some big barn, or range of straw +houses; and set fire to it,--but could not get out for Hussars; the +Hussars were at the outgate: Not a devil of you! said the Hussars; and +the whole four hundred perished there, choked, burnt, or slain by +the Hussars,--and this poor Planet was at length rid of them. +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 166.] + +Friedrich sends for his tent-equipages; and the Army pitches its camp in +two big lines, running north and south, looking towards the Russian side +of things; Friedrich's tent in front of the first line; a warrior King +among his people, who have had a day's work of it. The Russian loss +turns out, when counted, to have been 21,529 killed, wounded and +missing, 7,990 of them killed; the Prussian sum-total is 11,390 (above +the Prussian third man), of whom 3,680 slain. And on the shores of +Acheron northward yonder, there still is a simmering. And far and wide +the country is alight with incendiary fires,--many devils still abroad. +Excellency Mitchell, about eight in the evening, is sent for by the +King; finds various chief Generals, Seidlitz among them, on their +various businesses there; congratulates "on the noble victory [not so +conclusive hitherto] which Heaven has granted your Majesty." "Had it not +been for him," said Friedrich,--"Had it not been for him, things +would have had a bad look by this time!" and turned his sun-eyes upon +Seidlitz, with a fine expression in them. [Preuss, ii. 153. Mitchell +(ii. 432) mentions the Interview, nothing of Seidlitz.] To which +Seidlitz's reply, I find, was an embarrassed blush and of articulate +only, "Hm, no, ha, it was your Majesty's Cavalry that did their +duty,--but Wakenitz [my second] does deserve promotion!"--which +Wakenitz, not in a too overflowing measure, got. + +Fermor, during the night-watches, having cobbled himself into some kind +of ranks or rows, moves down well westward of Zabern Hollow; to the +Drewitz Heath, where he once before lay, and there makes his bivouac in +the wood, safe under the fir-trees, with the Zabern ground to front of +him. By the above reckoning, 28 or 29,000 still hang to Fermor, or +float vaporously round him; with Friedrich, in his two lines, are some +18,000:--in whole, 46,000 tired mortals sleeping thereabouts; near +12,000 others have fallen into a deeper sleep, not liable to be +disturbed;--and of the wounded on the field, one shudders to imagine. + +Next day, Saturday, 26th, Fermor, again brought into some kind of rank, +and safe beyond the quaggy Zabern ground, sent out a proposal, "That +there be Truce of Three Days for burying the dead!"--Dohna, who happened +to be General in command there, answers, "That it is customary for +the Victor to take charge of burying the slain; that such proposal is +surprising, and quite inadmissible, in present circumstances." Fermor, +in the mean while, had drawn himself out, fronting his late battle-field +and the morning sun; and began cannonading across the Zabern ground; +too far off for hitting, but as if still intending fight: to which +the Prussians replied with cannon, and drew out before their tents in +fighting order. In both armies there was question, or talk, of +attacking anew; but in both "there was want of ammunition," want of real +likelihood. On Fermor's side, that of "attacking" could be talk only, +and on Friedrich's, besides the scarcity of ammunition, all creatures, +foot and especially horse, were so worn out with yesterday's work, it +was not judged practically expedient. A while before noon, the Prussians +retired to their Camp again; leaving only the artillery to respond, so +far as needful, and bow-wow across the Zabern ground, till the Russians +lay down again. + +Friedrich's Hussars knew of the Russian WAGENBURG, or general baggage +reservoirs, at Klein Kamin, by this time. The Hussars had been in it, +last night; rummaging extensively, at discretion for some time; and had +brought away much money and portable plunder. Why Friedrich, who lay +direct between Fermor and his Wagenburg, did not, this day, extinguish +said Wagenburg, I do not know; but guess it may have been a fault of +omission, in the great welter this was now grown to be to the weary +mind. Beyond question, if one had blown up Fermor's remaining gunpowder, +and carried off or burnt his meal-sacks, he must have cowered away all +the faster towards Landsberg to seek more. Or perhaps Friedrich now +judged it immaterial, and a question only of hours? + +About midnight of Saturday-Sunday, there again rose bow-wowing, +bellowing of Russian cannon; not from beyond the Zabern ground this +time, nor stationary anywhere, but from the south some transient part of +it, and not far off;--one ball struck a carriage near the King's tent, +and shattered it. Thick mist mantles everything, and it is difficult to +know what the Russians have on hand in their sylvan seclusions. After +a time, it becomes manifest the Russians are on retreat; winding round, +through the southern woods, behind Zorndorf and the charred Villages, +to Klein Kamin, Landsberg way. Friedrich, following now on the heel +of them, finds all got to Klein Kamin, to breakfast there in +their Wagenburg refectory,--sharply vigilant, many FLECHES (little +arrow-shaped redoubts, so named) and much artillery round them. Nothing +considerable to be done upon them, now or afterwards, except pick up +stragglers, and distress their rear a little. The King himself, in the +first movement, was thought to be in alarming peril, such a blaze of +case-shot rose upon him, as he went reconnoitring foremost of all. +[Tempelhof, ii. 216-238; Tielcke, ii. 79-154; Archenholtz, i. 253-264; +_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 156-179 (with many LISTS, private LETTERS and +the like details); &c. &c.] + +And this was, at last, the end of Zorndorf Battle; on the third day +this. Was there ever seen such a fight of Theseus and the Minotaur! +Theseus, rapid, dexterous, with Heaven's lightning in his eyes, seizing +the Minotaur; lassoing him by the hinder foot, then by the right horn; +pouring steel and destruction into him, the very dust darkening all the +air. Minotaur refusing to die when killed; tumbling to and fro upon its +Theseus; the two lugging and tugging, flinging one another about, and +describing figures of 8 round each other for three days before it ended. +Minotaur walking off on his own feet, after all. It was the bloodiest +battle of the Seven-Years War; one of the most furious ever fought; such +rage possessing the individual elements; rage unusual in modern wars. +Must have altered Friedrich's notion of the Russians, when he next comes +to speak with Keith. It was not till the fourth day hence (August +31st), so unattackably strong was this position at Klein Kamin, that the +Russian Minotaur would fairly get to its feet a second time, and +slowly stagger off, in real earnest, Landsberg way and Konigsberg +way;--Friedrich right glad to leave Dohna in attendance on it; and +hasten off (September 2d) towards Saxony and Prince Henri, where his +presence is now become very needful. + +MAP GOES HERE FACING PAGE 138, BOOK XVIII---- + +Fermor, walking off in this manner,--not till the third day, nay not +conclusively till the seventh day, after Zorndorf,--strove at first to +consider himself victorious. "I passed the night on the field of battle +[or NOT far from it, for good reasons, Mutzel being bridgeless]: may not +I, in the language of enthusiasm, be considered conqueror? Here are 26 +of their cannon, got when I cried 'Arah' prematurely. (Where the 103 +pieces of my own are, and my 27 flags, and my Army-chest and sundries? +Dropped somewhere; they will probably turn up again!)" thinks +Fermor,--or strives to think, and says. So that, at Petersburg, at Paris +and Vienna, in the next three weeks, there were TE-DEUMS, Ambrosian +chantings, fires-of-joy; and considerable arguing among the Gazetteers +on both parts,--till the dust settled, and facts appeared as they were. +To the effect: "TE DEUM non LAUDAMUS; alas no, we must retract; and it +was good gunpowder thrown after bad!" + +On always homewards, but at its own pace, waited on by Dohna, goes the +Russian Monster: violently case-shotting if you prick into its rearward +parts. One Palmbach,--under Romanzow, I think, who had not taken part +in the Battle, being out Stettin way, and unable to join till +now,--Palmbach, with a Detachment of 15,000, which was thought +sufficient for the object, did try to make a dash on Colberg,--how happy +had we any port on the Baltic, to feed us in this Country! But though +Colberg is the paltriest crow's-nest (BICOQUE), according to all +engineers, and is defended only by 700 militia (the Colonel of them, one +Heyde, a gray old Half-pay, not yet renowned in the soldier world, as he +here came to be), Palmbach, with his best diligence, could make nothing +of it; but, after battering, bombarding, even scalading, and in all +ways blurting and blazing at a mighty rate for four weeks, and wasting +a great deal of gunpowder and 2,000 Russian lives, withdrew on those +remarkable terms. [In _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 349-365 ("3d-31st October, +1758"), a complete and minute JOURNAL of this First Siege of Colberg, +which is interesting to read of, as all the Three of them are.] And +did then, as tail of Fermor, what Fermor and the Russian Monster was +universally doing, make off at a good pace,--having nothing to live upon +farther,--and vanish from those Countries, to the relief of Dohna and +mankind. + +September 2d, Friedrich, leaving all that, had marched for Saxony; +his presence urgently required there. Daun ought to be far on with the +conquest of that Country? Might have had it, say judges, if he had been +as swift as some.--At Zorndorf, among the Russian Prisoners were certain +Generals, Soltikof, Czernichef, Sulkowski the Pole, proud people in +their own eyes: no lodging for them but the cellars of Custrin. Russian +Generals complained, "Is this a lodging for Field-Officers of rank!" +Friedrich was not used to profane swearing, or vituperative outbursts; +but he answered to the effect: "Silence, ye incendiary individuals. Is +there a choice left of lodgings, and for you above others!" Upon +which they lay silent for some days, till better suited; in fact, till +exchanged,--and perhaps will soon turn up on us again. + + + + +Chapter XIV.--BATTLE OF HOCHKIRCH. + +So soon as Friedrich quitted Bohemia and Silesia for his Russian +Enterprise, there rose high question at Vienna, "To what shall our Daun +now turn himself?" A Daun, a Reichs Army, free for new employment; in +Saxony not much to oppose them, in Silesia almost nothing in comparison. +"Recapture of Silesia?" Yes truly; that is the steady pole-star at +Vienna. But they have no Magazines in Silesia, no Siege-furnitures; and +the season is far spent. They decide that there shall be a stroke upon +Dresden, and recovery of Saxony, in Friedrich's absence. Nothing there +at present but a Prince Henri, weak in numbers, say one to two of the +Reichs Army by itself. Let the Reichs Army rise now, and advance through +the Metal Mountains from southeast on Prince Henri; let Daun circle +round on him, through the Lausitz from northeast: cannot they extinguish +Henri between them; snatch Dresden, a weak ill-fortified place, by +sudden onslaught, and recapture Saxony? That will be magnanimous to our +august Allies;--and that will be an excellent scaffolding for recapture +of Silesia next year. And cannot Daun leave a Force in the Silesian +vicinities,--Deville with so many thousands, Harsch with so +many,--to besiege one of their Frontier Places; Neisse, for example? +Siege-furnitures to come from Mahren: Neisse is not farther from Olmutz +than Olmutz was from it. + +That was the scheme fallen upon; now getting executed while Friedrich +is at Zorndorf well away. And that, if readers fix it intelligently in +their memory, will suffice to introduce to them the few words more that +can be allowed us here upon it. A very few words, compressed to the +utmost,--merely as preface to Hochkirch, whither we must hasten; +Hochkirch being the one incident which, except to studious soldiers, has +now and here any interest, out of the very many incidents which, then +and there, were so intensely interesting to all mankind. To readers who +are curious, and will take with them any poorest authentic Outline +of the Localities concerned, the following condensed Note will not be +unintelligible. + + + + +DAUN AND THE REICHS ARMY INVADE SAXONY, IN FRIEDRICH'S ABSENCE. + +"Daun, pushing out with his best speed, along the Bohemian-Silesian +border, had got to Zittau AUGUST 17th; which poor City is to be his +basis and storehouse; the greatest activity and wagoning now visible +there,"--among the burnt walls getting rebuilt. And in the same days, +Zweibruck and his Reichs Army are vigorously afoot; Zweibruck pushing +across the Metal Mountains, the fastest he can; intending to plant +himself in Pirna Country. Not to mention General Dombale, Zweibruck's +Austrian Second; who has the Austrian 15,000 with him; and, by way +of preface, has emerged to westward, in Zwickau-Tschopau Country; +calculating that Prince Henri will not be able to attend to him just +now. And in effect Prince Henri, intent upon Zweibruck and the Pirna +Country, takes position in the old Prussian ground there ('head-quarter +Gross Seidlitz,' as in 1756); and can only leave a Detachment in +Tschopau Country to wait upon Dombale; who does at least shoot out Croat +parties, 'quite across Saxony, to Halle all the way,' and entertain the +Gazetteers, if he can do little real mischief. + +"AUGUST 19th, from Zittau, Daun, after short pause, again pushes +forward,--nothing but Ziethen attending him in the distance, till we see +whitherward;--Margraf Karl waiting impatient, at Grussau, till Ziethen +see. [Tempelhof, ii. 258, 260 et seq.] Daun, soon after Zittau, shoots +out Loudon, Brandenburg way, as if magnanimously intending 'co-operation +with the Russians;' which would give Daun pleasure, could it be done +without cost. Loudon does despatch a 500 hussars to Frankfurt [Friedrich +now gone for Custrin], who, I think, carry a Letter for Fermor there; +but lose it by the way,"--for the benefit of readers, if they will wait. +"Loudon captures a poor little place in Brandenburg itself; bullies it +into surrender, after a day (the very day of Zorndorf Battle, 'August +25th'):--place called Peitz, garrisoned by forty-five invalids; who go +on 'free withdrawal,' poor old souls, and leave their exiguous stock of +salt-victual and military furnitures to Loudon. [In _Helden-Geschichte,_ +v. 229-232, the "Capitulation" IN EXTENSO.] Upon which Loudon +whirls back out of those Countries; finding his skirts trodden on by +Ziethen,--who now sees what Daun and he are at; and warns Margraf Karl +[properly Keith, who has now joined again, as real president or chief] +That HITHER is the way. Margraf Karl, on the slip for some time past, +starts from Grussau instantly (I should guess, not above 25,000 of +all arms); leaving Fouquet with perhaps 10,000 to do his utmost, when +Generals Harsch and Deville with their 20 or 30,000 come upon Silesia +and him,--as indeed they are already doing; already blockading Neisse, +more or less, with an eye to besieging it so soon as possible. + +"Meanwhile, Serene Highness of Zweibruck, the Reichsfolk and some +Austrians with him, prefaced by Dombale more to westward, is wending +into Pirna Country; and, in spite of what Prince Henri can do (Mayor +and the Free Corps shining diligent, and Henri one of the watchfulest of +men), Zweibruck does get in; sets Maguire with Austrians upon besieging +Pirna, that is to say, the Sonnenstein of Pirna; 3d-5th SEPTEMBER, +gets the Sonnenstein, a thought sooner than was counted on; [In +_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 223-228, account of this poor Siege, and of the +movements before and after.] and roots himself there,--'head-quarters in +Struppen' again, 'bridge at Ober-Raden' again, all as in 1756; which, if +nothing else can well do it, may give his Highness a momentary interest +with some readers here. Prince Henri is at Gross Seidlitz, alive every +fibre of him: but with Daun circling round to northward on his left, +intending evidently to take him in flank or rear; with Dombale already +to rear, in the above circumstances, on his right; and Zweibruck himself +lying here in front free to act, and impregnable if acted upon: what +is Prince Henri to do? It is for Henri's rear, not his flank, that Daun +aims: AUGUST 26th, Daun, who had got to Gorlitz, a march or two from +Zittau, started again at his best step by the Bautzen Highway towards +Meissen Bridge, a 70 or 80 miles down the Elbe: there Daun intends to +cross, and to double back upon Dresden and Prince Henri; who will thus +find himself enclosed between THREE fires,--if two were not enough, or +even if one (the Daun one itself, or the Zweibruck itself, not to count +the Dombale), in such strength as Prince Henri has! + +"A lost Prince Henri,--if there be not shift in him, if there be not +help coming to him! Prince Henri, seeing how it was, drew back from +Gross Seidlitz; with beautiful suddenness, one night; unmolested: in +the morning, Zweibruch's hussars find him posted-- inexpugnable on the +Heights of Gahmig,--which is nearer Dresden a good step; nearer Dombale; +and not so ready to be enclosed by Daun, without enclosure of Dresden +too. Prince Henri's manoeuvring, in this difficult situation, is the +admiration of military men: how he stuck by Gahmig; but threw out, +in the vital points, little camps,--'camp of Kesselsdorf' (a place +memorable), on the west of Dresden; and on the east, in the north suburb +of Dresden itself across the River (should we have to go across the +River for Daun's sake), a 'strong abatis;' and neglected nothing; self +and everybody under him, lively as eagles to make themselves dangerous, +Mayer in particular distinguishing himself much. Prince Henri would +have been a hard morsel for Daun. But beyond that, there is help on the +road." + + + + +FRIEDRICH INTERVENING, DAUN DRAWS BACK; INTRENCHES HIMSELF IN +NEIGHBORHOOD TO DRESDEN AND PIRNA; FRIEDRICH FOLLOWING HIM. FOUR ARMIES +STANDING THERE, IN DEAD-LOCK, FOR A MONTH; WITH ISSUE, A FLANK-MARCH +ON THE PART OF FRIEDRICH'S ARMY, WHICH HALTS AT HOCHKIRCH (September +12th-October 10th, 1758). + +Daun, since August 26th, is striding towards Meissen Bridge; without +rest, day after day, at the very top of his speed,--which I find is +"nine miles a day;" [Tempelhof, ii. 261.] Bos being heavy of foot, +at his best. September 1st, Daun has got within ten miles of Meissen +Bridge, when--Here is news, my friends; King of Prussia has beaten our +poor Russians; will soon be in full march this way! King of Prussia and +Margraf Karl both bending hitherward; at the rate, say, of "nineteen +miles a day," instead of nine:--Meissen Bridge is not the thing we shall +want! Daun instantly calls halt, at this news; waits, intrenches; and, +in a day or two, finding the news true, hurries to rearward all he can. +From the Russian side too, Daun has heard of Zorndorf, and the grand +"Victory" of Fermor there; but knows well, by this sudden re-emergence +of the Anti-Fermor, what kind of Victory it is. + +Was it here while waiting about Meissen, or where was it, that Daun got +his Letter to Fermor answered in that singular way? The Letter of two +weeks ago,--carried by Loudon's Hussars, or by whomsoever,--for certain, +it was retorted or returned upon Daun; not as if from the Dead-Letter +Office, but with an Answer he little expected! Here is what record I +have; very vague for a well-known little fact of sparkling nature:-- + +"A curious Letter fell into Friedrich's hands [Bearer, I always guess, +the Loudon Hussar-Captain with his 500, pretending to form junction +with Fermor], Prussian Hussars picking it up somewhere,--date, place, +circumstances, blurred into oblivion in those poor Books; Letter itself +indisputable enough, and Answer following on it; Letter and Answer +substantially to this effect:-- + +"DAUN TO FERMOR [Probably from Zittau, by Loudon's Hussars]. + +"Your Excellenz does not know that wily Enemy as I do. By no means get +into battle with such a one. Cautiously manoeuvre about; detain him +there, till I have got my stroke in Saxony done: don't try fighting him. + +DAUN." + +"ANSWER AS FROM FERMOR (Zorndorf once done, Daun by the first +opportunity got his Answer, duly signed 'Fermor,' but evidently in a +certain King's handwriting):-- + +"Your Excellenz was in the right to warn me against a cunning Enemy, +whom you knew better than I. Here have I tried fighting him, and got +beaten. Your unfortunate "FERMOR." [Muller, _Kurzgefasste Beschreibung +der drei Schlesischen Kriege_ (Berlin, 1755); in whom, alone of all the +reporters, is the story given in an intelligible form. This Muller's +Book is a meritoriously brief Summary, incorrect in no essential +particular, and with all the Battle-Plans on one copperplate: LIEUTENANT +Muller, this one; not PROFESSOR Muller, ALIAS Schottmuller by any +means!] + +September 9th, Friedrich and Margraf Karl, correct to their appointment, +meet at Grossenhayn, some miles north of Meissen and its Bridge; by +which time Daun is clean gone again, back well above Dresden again, +strongly posted at Stolpen (a place we once heard of, in General +Haddick's time, last Year), well in contact with Daun's Pirna friends +across the River, and out of dangerous neighborhoods. Friedrich and the +Margraf have followed Daun at quick step; but Daun would pause nowhere, +till he got to Stolpen, among the bushy gullets and chasms. September +12th, Friedrich had speech of Henri, and the pleasure of dining with +him in Dresden. Glad to meet again, under fortunate management on both +parts; and with much to speak and consult about. + +A day or two before, there had lain (or is said to have lain) a grand +scheme in Daun: Zweibruck to burst out from Pirna by daybreak, and +attack the Camp of Gahmig in front (35,000 against 20,000); Daun to +cross the River on pontoons, some hours before, under cloud of night, +and be ready on rear and left flank of Gahmig (with as many supplemental +thousands as you like): what can save Prince Henri? Beautiful plan; on +which there were personal meetings and dinings together by Zweibruck and +Daun; but nothing done. [Tempelhof, ii. 262-265.] At the eleventh hour, +say the Austrian accounts, Zweibruck sent word, "Impossible to-morrow; +cannot get in my Out-Parties in time!"--and next day, here is Friedrich +come, and a collapse of everything. Or perhaps there never seriously was +such a plan? Certain it is, Daun takes camp at Stolpen, a place known +to him, one of the strongest posts in Germany; intrenches himself to +the teeth,--good rear-guard towards Zittau and the Magazines; River +and Pirna on our left flank; Loudon strong and busy on our right flank, +barring the road to Bautzen;--and obstinately sits there, a very bad +tooth in the jaw of a certain King; not to be extracted by the best +kinds of forceps and the skilfulest art, for nearly a month to come. +Four Armies, Friedrich's, Henri's, Daun's, Zweibruck's, all within +sword-stroke of each other,--the universal Gazetteer world is on tiptoe. +But except Friedrich's eager shiftings and rubbings upon Stolpen (west +side, north, and at length northeast side), all is dead-lock, and +nothing comes of it. + +Friedrich has his food convenient from Dresden; but a road to Bautzen +withal is what he cannot do without;--and there lies the sorrow, and the +ACHING, as this tooth knows well, and this jaw well! Harsch and Deville +are busy upon Neisse, have Neisse under blockade, perhaps upon Kosel +too, for some time past, [Neisse "blockaded more and more" since August +4th (Kosel still earlier, but only by Pandour people); not completely so +till September 30th, or even till October 26th: _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. +268-270.] and are carting the siege-stock to begin bombardment: a road +to Silesia, before very long, Friedrich must and will have. Friedrich's +operations on Daun in this post are patiently artful, and curious to +look upon, but beyond description here: enough to say, that in the +second week he makes his people hut themselves (weather wet and bad); +and in the fourth week, finding that nothing contrivable would provoke +Daun into fighting,--he loads at Dresden provisions for I think nine +days; makes, from two or from three sides, a sudden spurt upon Loudon, +who is Daun's northern outpost; brushes Loudon hastily away; and himself +takes the road for Bautzen, by Daun's right flank, thrown bare in this +manner. [Tempelhof, ii. 278.] + +Road for Bautzen; which is the road for Zittau withal, for Daun's +bread-basket, as well as for Neisse and Harsch! Nine days' provision; +that is our small outfit, that and our own right-hands; and the waste +world lies all ahead. OCTOBER 1st, Retzow, as vanguard, sweeps out +the few Croats from Bautzen, deposits his meal-wagons there; occupies +Hochkirch, and the hilly environs to east; is to take possession of +Weissenberg especially, and of the Stromberg Hill and other strong +points: which Retzow punctually does, forgetting nothing,--except +perhaps the Stromberg, not quite remembered in time; a thing of small +consequence in Retzow's view, since all else had gone right. + +Hearing of which, Daun, with astonishment, finds that he must quit those +beautifully chasmy fastnesses of Stolpen, and look to his bread; which +is getting to lie under the enemy's feet, if Zittau road be left yonder +as it is. OCTOBER 5th, after councils of war and deliberation enough, +Daun gets under way; [Ib. ii. 279.] cautiously, favored by a night very +dark and wet, glides through to right of Friedrich's people, softly +along between Bautzen and the Pirna Country; nobody molesting him, so +dark and wet: and after one other march in those bosky solitudes, sits +down at Kittlitz,--ahead or to east of Bautzen, of Hochkirch, of +Retzow and all Friedrich's people;--and again sets to palisading +and intrenching there. Kittlitz, near Lobau, there is Daun's new +head-quarter; Lobau Water, with its intricate hollows, his line of +defence: his posts going out a mile to north and to south of Kittlitz. +And so sits; once more blocking Zittau road, and quietly waiting what +Friedrich will do. + +Friedrich is at Bautzen since the 7th; impatient enough to be forward, +but must not till a second larger provision-convoy from Dresden come in. +Convoy once in, Friedrich hastens off, Tuesday, 10th October, towards +Weissenberg Country, where Retzow is; some ten or twelve miles to +eastward,--Zittau-ward, if that chance to suit us; Silesia-ward, as +is sure to suit. At the "Pass of Jenkowitz," short way from Bautzen, +Pandours attempt our baggage; need to be battered off, and again +off: which apprises Friedrich that Daun's whole Army is ahead in the +neighborhood somewhere. Marching on, Friedrich, from the knoll of +Hochkirch, shoulder of the southern Hills, gets complete view of +Daun,--stretching north and south, at right angles to the Zittau roads +and to Friedrich, in the way we described;--and is a little surprised, +and I could guess piqued, at seeing Daun in such a state of forwardness. +"Encamp here, then!" he says,--here, on this row of Heights parallel to +Daun, within a mile of Daun: just here, I tell you! under the very +nose of Daun, who is above two to one of us; and see what Daun will +do. Marwitz, his favorite Adjutant, one of those free-spoken Marwitzes, +loyal, skilful, but liable to stiff fits, takes the liberty to +remonstrate, argue; says at length, He, Marwitz, dare not be concerned +in marking out such an encampment; not he, for his poor part! And is put +under arrest; and another Adjutant does it; cannon playing on his people +and him while engaged in the operation. + +Friedrich's obstinate rashness, this Tuesday Evening, has not wanted its +abundant meed of blame,--rendered so emphatic by what befell on Saturday +morning next. His somewhat too authoritative fixity; a certain radiancy +of self-confidence, dangerous to a man; his sovereign contempt of +Daun, as an inert dark mass, who durst undertake nothing: all this +is undeniable, and worth our recognition in estimating Friedrich. One +considerably extenuating circumstance does at last turn up,--in the +shape of a new piece of blame to the erring Friedrich; his sudden anger, +namely, against the meritorious General Retzow; his putting Retzow under +arrest that Tuesday Evening: "How, General Retzow? You have not taken +hold of the Stromberg for me!" That is the secret of Retzow: and on +studying the ground you will find that the Stromberg, a blunt tabular +Hill, of good height, detached, and towering well up over all that +region, might have rendered Friedrich's position perfectly safe. "Seize +me the Stromberg to-morrow morning, the first thing!" ordered Friedrich. +And a Detachment went accordingly; but found Daun's people already +there,--indisposed to go; nay determined not to go, and getting +reinforced to unlimited amounts. So that the Stromberg was left +standing, and remained Daun's; furnished with plenty of cannon by Daun. +Retzow's arrest, Retzow being a steady favorite of Friedrich's, was only +of a few hours: "pardonable that oversight," thinks Friedrich, though it +came to cost him dear. For the rest, I find, Friedrich's keeping of this +Camp, without the Stromberg, was intended to end, the third day hence: +"Saturday, 14th, then, since Friday proves impossible!" Friedrich had +settled. And it did end Saturday, 14th, though at an earlier HOUR, and +with other results than had been expected. Keith said, "The Austrians +deserve to be hanged if they don't attack us here." "We must hope they +are more afraid of us than even of the gallows," answered Friedrich. +A very dangerous Camp; untenable without the Stromberg. Let us try to +understand it, and Daun's position to it, in some slight degree. + +"Hochkirch (HIGHkirk) is an old Wendish-Saxon Village, standing +pleasantly on its Hill-top, conspicuous for miles round on all sides, +or on all but the south side, where it abuts upon other Heights, which +gradually rise into Hills a good deal higher than it. The Village hangs +confusedly, a jumble of cottages and colegarths, on the crown and north +slope of the Height; thatched, in part tiled, and built mostly of rough +stone blocks, in our time,--not of wood, as probably in Friedrich's. A +solid, sluttishly comfortable-looking Village; with pleasant hay-fields, +or long narrow hay-stripes (each villager has his stripe), reaching down +to the northern levels. The Church is near the top; Churchyard, and some +little space farther, are nearly horizontal ground, till the next Height +begins sloping up again towards the woody Hills southward. The view from +this little esplanade atop, still better from the Church belfry, is wide +and pretty. Free on all sides except the south: pleasant Heights and +Hollows, of arable, of wood, or pasture; well watered by rushing Brooks, +all making northward, direct for Spree (the Berlin Spree), or else into +the Lobau Water, which is the first big branch of Spree. + +"The place is still partly of Wendish speech; the Parson has to preach +one half of the Sunday in Wend, the other in German. Among the Hills +to south," well worth noting at present, "is one called CZARNABOG, or +'Devil's Hill;' where the Wendish Devil and his Witches (equal to any +German on his Blocksberg, or preternatural Bracken of the Harz) hold +their annual WITCHES'-SABBATH,--a thing not to be contemplated without +a shudder by the Wendish mind. Thereabouts, and close from Hochkirch +southward, all is shadowy intricacy of thicket and wild wood. Northward +too from Hochkirch, and all about, I perceive the scene was woodier then +than now;--and must have looked picturesque enough (had anybody been +in quest of that), with the multifarious uniforms, and tented people +sprinkled far and wide among the leafy red-and-yellow of October, 1758." +[Tourist's Note, September, 1858.] + +In the Village of Wuischke, precisely at the northern base of that +shaggy Czarnabog or Devil's Hill, stand Loudon and 3,000 Croats and +grenadiers, as the extreme left of Daun's position. Wuischke is nearly +straight south of Hochkirch; so far westward has Loudon pushed forward +with his Croats, hidden among the Hills; though Daun's general position +lies a good mile to east of Friedrich's:--irregularly north and south, +both Friedrich and Daun; the former ignorant what Croats and Loudonries, +there may be among those Devil's Hills to his right; the latter not +ignorant. Friedrich's right wing, Keith in command of it, stretches +to Hochkirch and a little farther: beyond Hochkirch, it has Four flank +Battalions in potence form, with proper vedettes and pickets; and above +all, with a strong Battery of Twenty Guns, which it maintains on the +next Height immediately adjoining Hochkirch, and perceptibly higher than +Hochkirch. This is the finis of Keith on his right; and--except those +vedettes, and pickets of Free-corps people, thrown out a little way +ahead into the bushes, on that side--Friedrich's right wing knows +nothing of the shaggy elevations horrent with wood, which lie to +southward; and merely intends to play its Twenty Cannon upon them, +should they give birth to anything. This is Friedrich's posture on his +right or south wing. + +From Hochkirch northward or nearly so, but sprinkled about in all the +villages and points of strength, as far up as Drehsa and beyond Drehsa, +to near Kotitz, a less important village, Friedrich extends about four +miles; centre at Rodewitz, where his own head-quarter is, above two +miles north of Hochkirch. Not far from Rodewitz, but a little to left +and ahead, stands his second and best Battery, of Thirty Guns; ready to +play upon Lauska, a poor village, and its roadway, should the Austrians +try anything there, or from their Stromberg post, which is a good mile +behind Lauska. His strength, in these lines, some count to be only +28,000, or less. Four or five miles to northeast, in and behind +Weissenberg (which we used to know last summer), lies Retzow, with +perhaps 10 or 12,000, which will bring him up to 40,000, were they +properly joined with him as a left wing. Daun's force counts 90,000; +with Friedrich lying under his nose in this insolent manner. + +Daun's head-quarter, as we said, is Kittlitz; a Village some two miles +short of Lobau, in the direction southeast of Friedrich; perhaps five +miles to southeast of Rodewitz, Friedrich's lodging. It is close upon +the Bautzen-Zittau Highway; Zittau some twenty miles to south of it, +Herrnhuth and the pacific Brethren about half-way thither. Kittlitz lies +more to south than Hochkirch itself; and Daun's outposts, as we saw, +circle quite round among those Devil's Hills, and envelop Friedrich's +right flank. But Daun's main force lies chiefly northward, and well +to west, of Kittlitz; parallel to Friedrich, and eastward of him; with +elaborate intrenchments; every village, brook, bridge, height and bit of +good ground, Stromberg to end with, punctually secured. Obliquely over +the Stromberg, holding the Stromberg and certain Villages to southeast +and to northwest of it, lies D'Ahremberg, as right wing: about 20,000 +he, put into oblique potence; looking into Kotitz, which is Friedrich's +extreme left; and in a good measure dividing Friedrich from the Retzow +10,000. And lastly, as reserve, in front of Reichenbach, eight or nine +miles to east of all that, lies the Prince of Baden-Durlach, 25,000 or +so; barring Retzow on that side, and all attempts on the Silesian +Road there. Daun's lines, not counting in the southern outposts or +Devil's-Hill parties, are considerably longer than Friedrich's, and also +considerably deeper. The two head-quarters are about five miles apart: +but the two fronts--divided by a brook and good hollow running here (one +of many such, making all for Lobau Water)--are not half a mile apart. +Towards Hochkirch and the top of this brook, the opposing posts are +quite crammed close on one another; divided only by their hollow. Many +brooks, each with a definite hollow, run tinkling about here, swift but +straitened to get out; especially Lobau Water, which receives them all, +has to take a quite meandering circling course (through Daun's quarters +and beyond them) before it can disembogue in Spree, and decidedly set +out for Berlin under that new name. The Landscape--seen from Hochkirch +Village, still better from the Church-steeple which lifts you high +above it, and commands all round except to the south, where Friedrich's +battery-height quite shuts you in, and hides even those Devil's Hills +beyond--is cheerful and pretty. Village belfries, steeples and towers; +airy green ridges of heights, and intricate greener valleys: now rather +barer than you like. The Tourist tells me, in Friedrich's time there +must have been a great deal more of wood than now. + + + + +WHAT ACTUALLY BEFELL AT HOCHKIRCH (Saturday, 14th October, 1758). + +Friedrich, for some time,--probably ever since Wednesday morning, when +he found the Stromberg was not to be his,--had decided to be out of this +bad post. In which, clearly enough, nothing was to be done, unless +Daun would attempt something else than more and more intrenching and +palisading himself. Friedrich on the second day (Thursday, 12th) rode +across to Weissenberg, to give Retzow his directions, and take view of +the ground: "Saturday night, Herr Retzow, sooner it cannot be [Friedrich +had aimed at Friday night, but finds the Provision-convoy cannot +possibly be up]; Saturday night, in all silence, we sweep round out of +this,--we and you;--hurl Baden-Durlach about his business; and are at +Schops and Reichenbach, and the Silesian Highway open, next morning, +to us!" [Tempelhof, ii. 320.] Quietly everything is speeding on towards +this consummation, on Friedrich's part. But on Daun's part there +is--started, I should guess, on the very same Thursday--another +consummation getting ready, which is to fall out on Saturday MORNING, +fifteen hours before that other, and entirely supersede that other!-- + +Keith's opinion, that the Austrians deserve to be hanged if they +don't attack us here, is also Loudon's opinion and Lacy's, and indeed +everybody's,--and at length Daun's own; who determines to try something +here, if never before or after. This plan, all judges admit, was +elaborate and good; and was well executed too,--Daun himself presiding +over the most critical part of the execution. A plan to have ruined +almost any Army, except this Prussian one and the Captain it chanced +to have. A universal camisado, or surprisal of Friedrich in his Camp, +before daylight: everybody knows that it took effect (Hochkirch, +Saturday, 14th October, 1758, 5 A.M. of a misty morning); nobody expects +of an unassisted fellow-creature much light on so doubly dark a thing. +But the truth is, there are ample accounts, exact, though very chaotic; +and the thing, steadily examined, till its essential features +extricate themselves from the unessential, proves to be not quite +so unintelligible, and nothing like so destructive, overwhelming and +ruinous as was supposed. + +Daun's plan is very elaborate, and includes a great many combinations; +all his 90,000 to come into it, simultaneously or in succession. But the +first and grandly vital part, mainspring and father to all the rest, is +this: That Daun, in person, after nightfall of Friday, shall, with the +pick of his force, say 30,000 horse and foot, with all their artilleries +and tools, silently quit his now position in front of Hochkirch, +Friedrich's right wing. Shall sweep off, silently to southward and +leftward, by Wuischke; thence westward and northward, by the northern +base of those Devil Mountains, through the shaggy hollows and thick +woods there, hitherto inhabited by Croats only, and unknown to the +Prussians: forward, ever forward, through the night-watches that way; +till he has fairly got to the flank of Hochkirch and Friedrich: Daun to +be standing there, all round from the southern environs of Hochkirch, +westward through the Woods, by Meschwitz, Steindorfel, and even north +to Waditz (if readers will consult their Map), silently enclosing +Friedrich, as in the bag of a net, in this manner;--ready every man and +gun by about four on Saturday morning. Are to wait for the stroke of +five in Hochkirch steeple; and there and then to begin business,--there +first; but, on success THERE, the whole 90,000 everywhere,--and to draw +the strings on Friedrich, and bag and strangle his astonished people and +him. + +The difficulty has been to keep it perfectly secret from so vigilant a +man as Friedrich: but Daun has completely succeeded. Perhaps Friedrich's +eyes have been a little dimmed by contempt of Daun: Daun, for the +last two days especially, has been more diligent than ever to palisade +himself on every point; nothing, seemingly, on hand but felling woods, +building abatis, against some dangerous Lion's-spring. They say also, +he detected a traitor in his camp; traitor carrying Letters to Friedrich +under pretence of fresh eggs,--one of the eggs blown, and a Note of +Daun's Procedures substituted as yolk. "You are dead, sirrah," said +Daun; "hoisted to the highest gallows: Are not you? But put in a Note +of my dictating, and your beggarly life is saved." Retzow Junior, though +there is no evidence except of the circumstantial kind, thinks this +current story may be true. [Retzow, i. 347.] Certain it is, neither +Friedrich nor any of his people had the least suspicion of Daun's +project, till the moment it exploded on them, when the clock at +Hochkirch struck five. Daun, in the last two days, had been felling even +more trees than they are aware of,--thousands of trees in those Devil's +wildernesses to Friedrich's right; and has secretly hewn himself roads, +passable by night for men and ammunition-wagons there:--and in front of +Friedrich, especially Hochkirch way, Daun seems busier than ever felling +wood, this Friday night; numbers of people running about with axes, with +lanterns over there, as if in the push of hurry, and making a great deal +of noise. "Intending retreat for Zittau to-morrow!" thinks Friedrich, as +the false egg-yolk had taught him; or merely, "That poor precautionary +fellow!" supposing the false yolk a myth. In short, Daun has got through +his nocturnal wildernesses with perfect success. And stands, dreamt of +by no enemy, in the places appointed for his 30,000 and him; and that +poor old clock of Hochkirch, unweariedly grunting forward to the stroke +of five, will strike up something it is little expecting!-- + +The Prussians have vedettes, pickets and small outposts of Free-corps +people scattered about within their border of that Austrian Wood, the +body of which, about Hochkirch as everywhere else, belongs wholly to +Croats. Of course there are guard-parties, sentries duly vigilant, in +the big Battery to southeast of Hochkirch,--and along southwestward in +that POTENCE, or fore-arm of Four Battalions, which are stationed there. +Four good Battalions looking southward there, with Cavalry to right; +Ziethen's Cavalry,--whose horses stand saddled through the night, ready +always for the nocturnal "Pandourade," which seldom fails them. There, +as elsewhere, are the due vigilances, watchmen, watch-fires. The rest of +the Prussian Army is in its blankets, wholly asleep, while Daun stands +waiting for the stroke of five. + +That Daun, bursting in with his chosen 30,000, will trample down the +sleeping Prussian POTENCE at Hochkirch; capture its big Battery to left, +its Village of Hochkirch to rear, and do extensive ruin on the whole +right wing of Friedrich; rendering Friedrich everywhere an easy conquest +to the rest of Daun's people, who stand, far and wide, duly posted and +prepared, waiting only their signal from Hochkirch: much of this, all of +it that had regard to Hochkirch Battery and Village, and the Prussians +stationed there, Daun did execute. And readers, from the data they have +got, must conceive the manner of it,--human description of the next Two +Hours, about Hochkirch, in the thick darkness there, and stormful sudden +inroad, and stormful resistance made, being manifestly an impossible +thing. Nobody was "massacred in his bed" as the sympathetic gazetteers +fancied; nobody was killed, that I hear of, without arms, in his hand: +but plenty of people perished, fierce of humor, on both sides; and from +half-past five till towards eight, there was a general blaze of fiery +chaos pushing out ever and anon, swallowed in the belly of Night again, +such as was seldom seen in this world. Instead of confused details, and +wearisome enumeration of particulars, which nobody would listen to or +understand, we will give one intelligent young gentleman's experience, +our friend Tempelhof's, who stood in this part of the Prussian Line; +experience distinct and indubitable to us; and which was pretty +accurately symbolical, I otherwise see, of what befell on all points +thereabouts. Faithfully copied, and in the essential parts not even +abridged, here it is:-- + +Tempelhof, at that time a subaltern of artillery, was stationed with a +couple of 24-pounders in attendance on the Battalion Plothow, which +with three others and some cavalry lay to the south side of Hochkirch, +forming a kind of fore-arm or POTENCE there to right of the big Battery, +with their rear to Hochkirch; and keeping vedettes and Free-corps +parties spread out into the woods and Devil's Hills ahead. Tempelhof +had risen about three, as usual; had his guns and gunners ready; and was +standing by the watch-fire, "expecting the customary Pandourade," and +what form it would take this morning. "Close on five o'clock; and not a +mouse stirring! We are not to have our Pandourade, then?" On a sudden, +noise bursts out; noise enough, sharp fire among the Free-corps people; +fire growing ever sharper, noisier, for the next half-hour, but nothing +whatever to be seen. "Battalion Plothow had soon got its clothes on, all +to the spatterdashes; and took rank to right and left of the FLECHE, and +of my two guns, in front of its post: but on account of the thick +fog everything was totally dark. I fired off my cannons [shall we say +straight southward?] to learn whether there was anything in front of +us. No answer: 'Nothing there--Pshaw, a mere crackery (GEKNACKER) of +Pandours and our Free-corps people, after all!' But the noise grew +louder, and came ever nearer; I turned my guns towards it [southward, +southeastward, or perhaps a gun each way?]--and here we had a salvo in +response, from some battalions who seemed to be two hundred yards or so +ahead. The Battalion Plothow hereupon gave fire; I too plied my cannons +what I could,--and had perhaps delivered fifteen double shots from them, +when at once I tumbled to the ground, and lost all consciousness" for +some minutes or moments. + +Awakening with the blood running down his face, poor Tempelhof concluded +it had been a musket-shot in the head; but on getting to his hands and +knees, he found the place "full of Austrian grenadiers, who had crept in +through our tents to rear; and that it had been a knock with the butt of +the musket from one of those fellows, and not a bullet" that had struck +him down. Battalion Plothow, assailed on all sides, resisted on all +sides; and Tempelhof saw from the ground,--I suppose, by the embers +of watch-fires, and by rare flashes of musketry, for they did not fire +much, having no room, but smashed and stabbed and cut,--"an infantry +fight which in murderous intensity surpasses imagination. I was taken +prisoner at this turn; but soon after got delivered by our cavalry +again." [Tempelhof, ii. 324 n.] + +This latter circumstance, of being delivered by the Cavalry, I find to +be of frequent occurrence in that first act of the business there: the +Prussian Battalion, surprised on front and rear, always makes murderous +fight for itself: is at last overwhelmed, obliged to retire, perhaps +opening its way by bayonet charge;--upon which our Cavalry (Ziethen's, +and others that gathered to him) cutting in upon the disordered +surprisers, cut them into flight, rescue the prisoners, and for a time +reinstate matters. The Prussian battalions do not run (nobody runs); but +when repulsed by the endless odds, rally again. The big Battery is not +to be had of them without fierce and dogged struggle; and is retaken +more than once or twice. Still fiercer, more dogged, was the struggle +in Hochkirch Village; especially in Hochkirch Church and +Churchyard,--whither the Battalion Margraf-Karl had flung themselves; +the poor Village soon taking fire about them. Soon taking fire, and +continuing to be a scene of capture and recapture, by the flame-light; +while Battalion Margraf-Karl stood with invincible stubbornness, pouring +death from it; not to be compulsed by the raging tide of Austrian +grenadiers; not by "six Austrian battalions," by "eight," or by never +so many. Stood at bay there; levelling whole masses of them,--till its +cartridges were spent, all to one or two per man; and Major Lange, the +heroic Captain of it, said, "We shall have to go, then, my men; let us +cut ourselves through!"--and did so, in an honorably invincible manner; +some brave remnant actually getting through, with Lange himself wounded +to death. + +I think it was not till towards six o'clock that the right wing +generally became aware what the case was: "More than a Pandourade, +yes;"--though what it might be, in the thick fog which had fallen, +blotting out all vestiges of daylight, nobody could well say. Rallied +Battalions, reinforced by this or the other Battalion hurrying up from +leftward, always charge in upon the enemy, in Hochkirch or wherever he +is busy; generally push him back into the Night; but are then fallen +upon on both flanks by endless new strength, and obliged to draw back in +turn. And Ziethen's Horse, in the mean while, do execution; breaking in +on the tumultuous victors; new Cuirassiers, Gens-d'Armes dashing up +to help, so soon as saddled, and charging with a will: so that, on the +whole, the enemy, variously attempting, could make nothing of us on that +western, or rearward side,--thanks mainly to Ziethen and the Horse. "Had +we but waited till three or four of our Battalions had got up!" say the +Prussian narrators. But it is thick mist; few yards ahead you cannot see +at all, unless it be flame; and close at hand, all things and figures +waver indistinct,--hairy outlines of blacker shadows on a ground of +black. + +It must have been while Lange was still fighting, perhaps before Lange +took to the Church of Hochkirch, scarcely later than half-past six (but +nobody thought of pulling out his watch in such a business!)--about six, +or half-past six, when Keith, who has charge of this wing, and lodges +somewhere below or north of Hochkirch, came to understand that his +big Battery was taken; that here was such a Pandourade as had not been +before; and that, of a surety, said Battery must be retaken. Keith +springs on horseback; hastily takes "Battalion Kannacker" and several +remnants of others; rushes upwards, "leaving Hochkirch a little to +right; direct upon the big Battery." Recaptures the big Battery. But +is set upon by overwhelming multitudes, bent to have it back;--is +passionate for new assistance in this vital point; but can get none: +had been "DISARTED by both his Aide-de-camps," says poor John Tebay, +a wandering English horse-soldier, who attends him as mounted groom; +"asked twenty times, and twenty more, 'Where are my Aide-de-camps!'" +["Captens Cockcey and Goudy" he calls them--(COCCEJI whose Father +the Kanzler we have seen, and GAUDI whose self),--who both had, in +succession, struck into Hochkirch as the less desperate place, according +to Tebay: see TEBAY'S LETTER to Mitchell, "Crossen, October 29th" (in +MEMOIRS AND PAPERS, ii. 501-505);--which is probably true every word, +allowing for Tebay's temper; but is highly indecipherable, though not +entirely so after many readings and researehings.]--but could get +no response or reinforcement; and at length, quite surrounded and +overwhelmed, had to retire; opening his way by the bayonet; and before +long, suddenly stopping short,--falling dead into Tebay's arms; shot +through the heart. Two shots on the right side he had not regarded; +but this on the left side was final: Keith's fightings are suddenly +all done. Tebay, in distraction, tried much to bring away the body; but +could by no present means; distractedly "rid for a coach;" found, on +return, that the Austrians had the ground, and the body of his master; +Hochkirch, Church and all, now undisputedly theirs. + +To appearance, it was this news of Keith's repulse (I know not whether +of Keith's DEATH as yet) that first roused Friedrich to a full sense of +what was now going on, two miles to south of him. Friedrich, according +to his habits, must have been awake and afoot when the Business first +broke out; though, for some considerable time, treating it as nothing +but a common crackery of Pandours. Already, finding the Pandourade +louder than usual, he had ordered out to it one battalion and the other +that lay handy: but now he pushes forward several battalions under Franz +of Brunswick (his youngest Brother-in-law), with Margraf Karl and +Prince Moritz: "Swift you, to Hochkirch yonder!"--and himself springs on +horseback to deal with the affair. Prince Franz of Brunswick, poor young +fellow, cheerily coming on, near Hochkirch had his head shorn off by a +cannon-ball. Moritz of Dessau, too, "riding within twenty yards of the +Austrians," so dark was it, he so near-sighted, got badly hit,--and soon +after, driving to Bautzen for surgery, was made prisoner by Pandours; +[In ARCHENHOLTZ (i. 289, 290) his dangerous adventures on the road to +Bautzen, in this wounded condition.] never fought again, "died next +year of cancer in the lip." Nothing but triumphant Austrian shot and +cannon-shot going yonder; these battalions too have to fall back with +sore loss. + +Friedrich himself, by this time, is forward in the thick of the tumult, +with another body of battalions; storming furiously along, has his horse +shot under him; storms through, "successfully, by the other side of +Hochkirch" (Hochkirch to his left):--but finds, as the mist gradually +sinks, a ring of Austrians massed ahead, on the + +--MAP GOES HERE, FACING PAGE 160, BOOK XVIII------ + +Heights; as far as Steindorfel and farther, a general continent of +Austrians enclosing all the south and southwest; and, in fact, that here +is now nothing to be done. That the question of his flank is settled; +that the question now is of his front, which the appointed Austrian +parties are now upon attacking. Question especially of the Heights of +Drehsa, and of the Pass and Brook of Drehsa (rearward of his centre +part), where his one retreat will lie, Steindorfel being now lost. Part +first of the Affair is ended; Part second of it begins. + +Rapidly enough Friedrich takes his new measures. Seizes Drehsa Height, +which will now be key of the field; despatches Mollendorf thither +(Mollendorf our courageous Leuthen friend); who vigorously bestirs +himself; gets hold of Drehsa Height before the enemy can; Ziethen +co-operating on the Heights of Kumschutz, Canitz and other points of +vantage. And thus, in effect, Friedrich pulls up his torn right skirt +(as he is doing all his other skirts) into new compact front against the +Austrians: so that, in that southwestern part especially; the Austrians +do not try it farther; but "retire at full gallop," on sight of this +swift seizure of the Keys by Mollendorf and Ziethen. Friedrich also +despatches instant order to Retzow, to join him at his speediest. +Friedrich everywhere rearranges himself, hither, thither, with skilful +rapidity, in new Line of Battle; still hopeful to dispute what is left +of the field;--longing much that Retzow could come on wings. + +By this time (towards eight, if I might guess) Day has got the upper +hand; the Daun Austrians stand visible on their Ring of Heights all +round, behind Hochkirch and our late Battery, on to westward and +northward, as far as Steindorfel and Waditz;--extremely busy rearranging +themselves into something of line; there being much confusion, much +simmering about in clumps and gaps, after such a tussle. In front of us, +to eastward, the appointed Austrian parties are proceeding to attack: +but in daylight, and with our eyes open, it is a thing of difficulty, +and does not prosper as Hochkirch did. Duke D'Ahremberg, on their +extreme right, had in charge to burst in upon our left, so soon as he +saw Hochkirch done: D'Ahremberg does try; as do others in their places, +near Daun; but with comparatively little success. D'Ahremberg, meeting +something of check or hindrance where he tried, pauses, for a good +while, till he see how others prosper. Their grand chance is their +superiority of number; and the fact that Friedrich can try nothing upon +THEM, but must stand painfully on the defensive till Retzow come. +To Friedrich, Retzow seems hugely slow about it. But the truth is, +Baden-Durlach, with his 20,000 of Reserve, has, as per order, made +attack on Retzow, 20,000 against 12: one of the feeblest attacks +conceivable; but sufficient to detain Retzow till he get it repulsed. +Retzow is diligent as Time, and will be here. + +Meanwhile, the Austrians on front do, in a sporadic way, attack and +again attack our batteries and posts; especially that big Battery of +Thirty Guns, which we have to north of Rodewitz. The Austrians do take +that Battery at last; and are beginning again to be dangerous,--the +rather as D'Ahremberg seems again to be thinking of business. It is high +time Retzow were here! Few sights could be gladder to Friedrich, than +the first glitter of Retzow's vanguard,--horse, under Prince Eugen of +Wurtemberg,--beautifully wending down from Weissenberg yonder; skilfully +posting themselves, at Belgern and elsewhere, as thorns in the sides of +D'Ahremberg (sharp enough, on trial by D'Ahremberg). Followed, before +long, by Retzow himself; serenely crossing Lobau Water; and, with great +celerity, and the best of skill, likewise posting himself,--hopelessly +to D'Ahremberg, who tries nothing farther. The sun is now shining; it is +now ten of the day. Had Retzow come an hour sooner;--efore we lost that +big Battery and other things! But he could come no sooner; be thankful +he is here at last, in such an overawing manner. + +Friedrich, judging that nothing now can be made of the affair, orders +retreat. Retreat, which had been getting schemed, I suppose, and planned +in the gloom of the royal mind, ever since loss of that big Battery +at Rodewitz. Little to occupy him, in this interim; except indignant +waiting, rigorously steady, and some languid interchange of cannon-shot +between the parties. Retreat is to Klein-Bautzen neighborhood (new +head-quarter Doberschutz, outposts Kreckwitz and Purschwitz); four miles +or so to northwest. Rather a shifting of your ground, which astonishes +the military reader ever since, than a retreating such as the common +run of us expected. Done in the usual masterly manner; part after part +mending off, Retzow standing minatory here, Mollendorf minatory there, +in the softest quasi-rhythmic sequence; Cavalry all drawn out between +Belgern and Kreckwitz, baggage-wagons filing through the Pass of +Drehsa;--not an Austrian meddling with it, less or more; Daun and his +Austrians standing in their ring of five miles, gazing into it like +stone statues; their regiments being still in a confused state,--and +their Daun an extremely slow gentleman. [Tempelhof, ii. 319-336; +Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ i. 432-453; _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 241-257; +Archenholtz, &c. &c.] + +And in this manner Friedrich, like a careless swimmer caught in the +Mahlstrom, has not got swallowed in it; but has made such a buffeting +of it, he is here out of it again, without bone broken,--not, we hope, +without instruction from the adventure. He has lost 101 pieces of +cannon, most of his tents and camp-furniture; and, what is more +irreparable, above 8,000 of his brave people, 5,381 of them and 119 +Officers (Keith and Moritz for two) either dead or captive. In men the +Austrian loss, it seems, is not much lower, some say is rather a shade +higher; by their own account, 325 Officers, 5,614 rank and file, killed +and wounded,--not reckoning 1,000 prisoners they lost to us, and "at +least 2,000" who took that chance of deserting in the intricate dark +woods. [Tempelhof, ii. 336; but see Kausler, p. 576.] + +Friedrich, all say, took his punishment in a wonderfully cheerful +manner. De Catt the Reader, entering to him that evening as usual, the +King advanced, in a tragic declamatory attitude; and gave him, with +proper voice and gesture, an appropriate passage of Racine:-- + + "Enfin apres un an, tu me revois, Arbate, + Non plus comme autrefois cet heureux Mithridate, + Qui, de Rome toujours balancant le destin, + Tenait entre elle et moi l'univers incertain. + Je suis vaincu; Pompee a saisi l'avantage + D'une nuit qui laissait peu de place au courage; + Mes soldats presque nus, dans"... + +Not a little to De Catt's comfort. [Rodenbeck, i. 354.] During the +retreat itself, Retzow Junior had come, as Papa's Aide-de-Camp, with a +message to the King; found him on the heights of Klein Bautzen, watching +the movements. Message done with, the King said, in a smiling tone, +"Daun has played me a slippery trick to-day!" "I have seen it," answered +Retzow; "but it is only a scratch, which your Majesty will soon manage +to heal again."--"GLAUBT ER DIES, Do you think so?" "Not only I, but the +whole Army firmly believe it of your Majesty."--"You are quite right," +added the King, in a confidentially candid way: "We will manage Daun. +What I lament is, the number of brave men that have died this morning." +[Retzow, i. 359 n.] On the morrow, he was heard to say publicly: "Daun +has let us out of check-mate; the game is not lost yet. We will rest +ourselves here, a few days; then go for Silesia, and deliver Neisse." +The Anecdote-Books (perhaps not mythically) add this: "Where are all +your guns, though?" said the King to an Artilleryman, standing vacant +on parade, next day. "IHRO MAJESTAT, the Devil stole them all, last +night!"--"Hm, well, we must have them back from him." [Archenholtz, i. +299.] + +Nothing immoderately depressive in Hochkirch, it appears;--though, alas, +on the fourth day after, there came a message from Baireuth; which did +strike one down: "My noble Wilhelmina dead; died in the very hours while +we were fighting here!" [On a common Business-Letter to Prince Henri, +"Doberschutz, 18th October, 1758," is this sudden bit of Autograph: +"GRAND DIEU, MA SOEUR DE BAREITH!"--(Schoning, _Der siebenjahrige Krieg, +nach der Original-Correspondens &c. aus den Staats-Archiven:_ Potsdam, +1851: i. 287.)] Readers must conceive it: coming unexpected more or +less, black as sudden universal hurricane, on the heart of the man; a +sorrow sacred, yet immeasurable, irremediable to him; as if the sky +too were falling on his head, in aid of the mean earth and its +ravenings:--of all this there can nothing be said at present. +Friedrich's one relief seems to have been the necessity laid on him of +perpetual battling with outward business;--we may fancy, in the rapid +weeks following, how much was lying at all times in the background of +his mind suppressed into its caves. + +Daun, it appears, was considerably elated; spent a great deal of +his time, so precious just at present, in writing despatches, in +congratulating and being congratulated;--did an elaborate TE-DEUM, or +Ambrosian Song, in Artillery and VOX HUMANA,--which with the adjuncts, +say splenetic people, as at Kolin, sensibly assisted Friedrich's +affairs. Daun was by no means of braggart turn; but the recognition of +his matchless achievement by the gazetteer public, whether in exultation +or in lamentation, was loud and universal; and the joy, in Vienna and +the cognate quarters, knew no bounds for the time being. Thus, among +other tokens, the Holiness of our Lord the Pope, blessing Heaven for +such success against the Heretic, was pleased to send him "a Consecrated +Hat and Sword,"--such as the old Popes were wont, very long ago, to +bestow on distinguished Champions against the Heathen,--(much jeered at, +and crowed over, by a profane Friedrich [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xv. +122, 124, 126, &c. &c.: in PREUSS, ii. 196, complete List of these +poor Pieces; which are hearty, not hypocritical, in their contemptuous +hilarity, but have little other metit.]): "the effect of which +miraculous furnishings," says Tempelhof, "turned out to be that the +Feldmarschall never gained any success more;" in fact, except that small +thing on Finck next Year, never any, as it chanced. Daun had withdrawn +to his old Camp, on the day of Hochkirch; leaving only a detachment on +the field there: it was not for six or seven days more that he stept out +to the Kreckwitz and Purschwitz neighborhood; more within sight of his +vanquished enemy,--but nothing like vigilant enough of what might still +be in him, after such vanquishing!--We must spare this Note, for the +sake of a heroic kind of man, who had not too much of reward in the +world:-- + +"Tebay could not recover Keith's body: Croats had the plundering of +Keith; other Austrians, not of Croat kind, carried the dead General +into Hochkirch Church: Lacy's emotion on recognizing him there,--like +a tragic gleam of his own youth suddenly brought back to him, as in +starlight, piercing and sad, from twenty years distance,--is well known +in Books. On the morrow, Sunday, October 15th, Keith had honorable +soldier's-burial there,--'twelve cannon' salvoing thrice, and 'the whole +Corps of Colloredo' with their muskets thrice; Lacy as chief mourner, +not without tears. Four months after, by royal order, Keith's body was +conveyed to Berlin; reinterred in Berlin, in a still more solemn public +manner, with all the honors, all the regrets; and Keith sleeps now in +the Garnison-Kirche:--far from bonnie Inverugie; the hoarse sea-winds +and caverns of Dunottar singing vague requiem to his honorable line +and him, in the imaginations of some few. 'My Brother leaves me a noble +legacy,' said the old Lord Marischal: 'last year he had Bohemia under +ransom; and his personal estate is 70 ducats, (about 25 pounds). +[Varnhagen, p. 261.] + +"In Hochkirch Church there is still, not in the Churchyard as formerly, +a fine, modestly impressive Monument to Keith; modest Urn of black +marble on a Pedestal of gray,--and, in gold letters, an Inscription not +easily surpassable in the lapidary way:... 'DUM IN PRAELIO NON PROCUL +HINC INCLINATAM SUORUM ACIEM MENTE MANU VOCE ET EXEMPLO RESTITUERAT +PUGNANS UT HEROAS DECET OCCUBUIT. D. XIV. OCTOBRIS' These words go +through you like the clang of steel. [In RODENBECK, i. 149. Given also +(very nearly correct) in CORRESPONDENCE OF SIR ROBERT MURRAY KEITH +(London, 1849), i. 151. This is the junior of the two Diplomatic +Roberts, genealogical cousins of Keith; by this one (in 1771, not 1776 +as German Guide-books have it) the Hochkirch Monument was set up. A very +interesting Collection of LETTERS those of his;--edited with the usual +darkness, or rather more.] Friedrich's sorrow over him ('tears,' high +eulogies, 'LOUA EXTREMEMENT') is itself a monument. Twenty years after, +Keith had from his Master a Statue, in Berlin. One of Four; to the Four +most deserving: Schwerin (1771), Winterfeld (1777), Seidlitz (1779, +Keith (when?), [Nicolai _ (Beschreibung der Residenzstadte,_ i. 193, +194) gives these dates for the Three, and for Keith's no date.]--which +still stand in the Wilhelm Platz there. + +"Hochkirch Church has been rebuilt in late years: a spacious airy +Church, with galleries, and requisites, especially with free air, light +and cleanliness. Capable perhaps of 1,500 sitters: half of them Wends. +'Above 700 skeletons, in one heap, were dug out, in cutting the new +foundations. The strong outer Door of the old Church, red oak, I should +think, is still retained in that capacity; still shows perhaps half a +dozen rough big quasi-KEYHOLES, torn through it in different parts, and +daylight shining in, where the old bullets passed. The Keith Monument, +perhaps four feet high, is on the flagged floor, left side of the +pulpit, close by the wall,--'the bench where Keith's body lay has had +to be cased in new plank [zinc would be better] against the knives of +tourists.'" + +Old Lord Marischal--George, "MARECHAL D'ECOSSE" as he always signs +himself--was by this time seventy-two; King's Governor of Neufchatel, +for a good while past and to come (1754-1763). In "James," the junior, +but much the stronger and more solid, he has lost, as it were, a FATHER +and younger brother at once; father, under beautiful conditions; and the +tears of the old man are natural and affecting. Ten years older than his +Brother; and survived him still twenty years. An excellent cheery old +soul, he too; honest as the sunlight, with a fine small vein of gayety, +and "pleasant wit," in him: what a treasure to Friedrich at Potsdam, +in the coming years; and how much loved by him (almost as one BOY loves +another), all readers would be surprised to discover. Some hints of him +will perhaps be allowed us farther on. + + + + +SEQUEL OF HOCHKIRCH; THE CAMPAIGN ENDS IN A WAY SURPRISING TO AN +ATTENTIVE PUBLIC (22d October-20th November, 1758). + +There followed upon Hochkirch five weeks of rapid events; such as +nobody had been calculating on. To the reader, so weary of marchings, +manoeuvrings, surprisals, campings and details of war, not many words, +we hope, may render these results conceivable. + +Friedrich stayed ten days, refitting himself, in that Camp of +Klein-Bautzen, on one of the branches of the Spree. Daun, who had +retired to his old strong place, on the 14th, scarcely occupying +Hochkirch Field at all, came out in about a week; and took a strong post +near Friedrich; not attempting anything upon him, but watching him, now +better within sight. Friedrich's fixed intention is, to march to Neisse +all the same; what probably Daun, under the shadow of his laurels and +his new Papal Hat, may not have considered possible, with the road to +Neisse blocked by 80,000 men. Friedrich has refitted himself with the +requisite new cannon and furnitures, from Dresden; especially with +Prince Henri and 6,000 foot and horse,--led by Prince Henri in person; +so Prince Henri would have it, the capricious little man; and that Finck +should be left in Saxony instead of him. All which weakens Saxony not a +little. But Friedrich hopes the Reichs Army is a feeble article; ill off +for provision in those parts, and not likely to attempt very much on the +sudden. Accordingly:-- + + + + +FRIEDRICH MARCHES, ENIGMATICALLY, NOT ON GLOGAU, BUT ON REICHENBACH AND +GORLITZ; TO DAUN'S ASTONISHMENT. + +SUNDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 22d, Convoy of many wagons quit Bautzen (Bautzen +Proper, not the Village, but the Town), laden with all the wounded of +Hochkirch; above 3,000 by count, to carry them to Dresden for deliberate +surgery. Keith's Tebay, I perceive, is in this Convoy; not ill hurt, but +willing to lie in Hospital a little, and consider. These poor fellows +cannot get to Dresden: on the second day, a Daun Detachment, hussaring +about in those parts, is announced ahead; and (by new order from +head-quarters) the Convoy turns northwards for Hoyerswerda,--(to Tebay's +disgust with the Commandant; "shied off," says Tebay, "for twelve +hussars!" [Second LETTER from Tebay, in Mitchell, ubi supra.])--and, I +think, in the end, went on to Glogau instead of Dresden. Which was very +fortunate for Tebay and the others. The poor wounded being thus disposed +of, Friedrich next night, at 10 o'clock, Monday, 23d, in the softest +manner, pushes off his Bakery and Army Stores a little way, northward +down the Spree Valley, on the western fork of the Spree (fork farthest +from Daun); follows, himself, with the rest of the Army, next evening, +down the eastern fork, also northward. "Going for Glogau," thinks Daun, +when the hussars report about it (late on Tuesday night): "Let him go, +if he fancy that a road TO Neisse! But, indeed, what other shift has +he," considers Daun, "but to try rallying at Glogau yonder, safe under +the guns?"--and is not in the slightest haste about this new matter. +[Tempelhof, ii. 341-347.] + +United with his baggage-column, Friedrich proceeds northeastward; +crosses Spree still northward or northeastward; encamps there, in the +dark hours of Tuesday; no Daun heeding him. Before daylight, however, +Friedrich is again on foot; in several columns now, for the bad +country-roads ahead;--and has struck straight SOUTHeastward, if Daun +were noting him. And, in the afternoon of Wednesday, Daun is astonished +to learn that this wily Enemy is arrived in Reichenbach vicinity; +sweeping in our poor posts thereabouts; immovably astride of the +Silesian Highway, after all! An astonished Daun hastens out, what he +can, to take survey of the sudden Phenomenon. Tries it, next day and +next, with his best Loudons and appliances; finds that this Phenomenon +can actually march to Neisse ahead of him, indifferent to Pandours, or +giving them as good as they bring;--and that nothing but a battle and +beating (could we rashly dream of such a thing, which we cannot) +will prevent it. "Very well, then!" Daun strives to say. And lets the +Phenomenon march (FROM Gorlitz, OCTOBER 30th); Loudon harassing the +rear of it, for some days; not without counter harassment, much waste +of cannonading, and ruin to several poor Lausitz Villages by +fire,--"Prussians scandalously burn them, when we attack!" says Loudon. +Till, at last, finding this march impregnably arranged, "split into +two routes," and ready for all chances, Loudon also withdraws to more +promising business. Poor General Retzow Senior was of this march; +absolutely could not be excused, though fallen ill of dysentery, like +to die;--and did die, the day after he got to Schweidnitz, when the +difficulties and excitement were over. [Retzow, i. 372.] + +Of Friedrich's march, onward from Gorlitz, we shall say nothing farther, +except that the very wind of it was salvatory to his Silesian Fortresses +and interests. That at Neisse, on and after November 1st,--which is the +third or second day of Friedrich's march,--General Treskow, Commandant +of Neisse, found the bombardment slacken more and more ("King of Prussia +coming," said the Austrian deserters to us); and that, on November 6th, +Treskow, looking out from Neisse, found the Austrian trenches empty, +Generals Harsch and Deville hurrying over the Hills homewards,--pickings +to be had of them by Treskow,--and Neisse Siege a thing finished. +[TAGEBUCH, &c. ("Diary of the Siege of Neisse," 4th August, 26th +October, 6th November, 1758, "1 A.M. suddenly"), in Seyfarth, +_Beylagen,_ ii. 468-472: of Treskow's own writing; brief and clear. +_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 268-270.] It had lasted, in the way of blockade +and half-blockade, for about three months; Deville, for near one month, +half-blockading, then Harsch (since September 30th) wholly blockading, +with Deville under him, and an army of 20,000; though the actual +cannonade, very fierce, but of no effect, could not begin till little +more than a week ago,--so difficult the getting up of siege-material +in those parts. Kosel, under Commandant Lattorf, whose praises, like +Treskow's, were great,--had stood four months of Pandour blockading and +assaulting, which also had to take itself away on advent of Friedrich. +Of Friedrich, on his return-journey, we shall hear again before long; +but in the mean while must industriously follow Daun. + + + + +FELDMARSCHALL DAUN AND THE REICHS ARMY TRY SOME SIEGE OF DRESDEN +(9th-16th November). + +OCTOBER 30th, Daun, seeing Neisse Siege as good as gone to water, +decided with himself that he could still do a far more important stroke: +capture Dresden, get hold of Saxony in Friedrich's absence. Daun turned +round from Reichenbach, accordingly; and, at his slow-footed pace, +addressed himself to that new errand. Had he made better despatch, +or even been in better luck, it is very possible he might have done +something there. In Dresden, and in Governor Schmettau with his small +garrison, there is no strength for a siege; in Saxony is nothing but +some poor remnant under Finck, much of it Free-corps and light people: +capable of being swallowed by the Reichs Army itself,--were the Reichs +Army enterprising, or in good circumstances otherwise. It is true the +Russians have quitted Colberg as impossible; and are flowing homewards +dragged by hunger: the little Dohna Army will, therefore, march for +Saxony; the little Anti-Swedish Army, under Wedell, has likewise been +mostly ordered thither; both at their quickest. For Daun, all turns on +despatch; loiter a little, and Friedrich himself will be here again! + +Daun, I have no doubt, stirred his slow feet the fastest he could. +NOVEMBER 7th, Daun was in the neighborhood of Pirna Country again, had +his Bridge at Pirna, for communication; urged the Reichs Army to bestir +itself, Now or never. Reichs Army did push out a little against +Finck; made him leave that perpetual Camp of Gahmig, take new camps, +Kesselsdorf and elsewhere; and at length made him shoot across Elbe, to +the northwest, on a pontoon bridge below Dresden, with retreating room +to northward, and shelter under the guns of that City. Reichs Army +has likewise made powerful detachments for capture of Leipzig and the +northwestern towns; capture of Torgau, the Magazine town, first of all: +summon them, with force evidently overpowering, "Free withdrawal, if you +don't resist; and if you do--!" At Torgau there was actual attempt made +(November 12th), rather elaborate and dangerous looking; under Haddick, +with near 10,000 of the "Austrian-auxiliary" sort: to whom the old +Commandant--judging Wedell, the late Anti-Swedish Wedell, to be now +near--rushed out with "300 men and one big gun;" and made such a firing +and gesticulation as was quite extraordinary, as if Wedell were here +already: till Wedell's self did come in sight; and the overpowering +Reichs Detachment made its best speed else-whither. [Tempelhof, &c.; +"Letter from a Prussian Officer," in _Helden-Geschichte_, v. 286.] The +other Sieges remained things of theory; the other Reichs Detachments +hurried home, I think, without summoning anybody. + +Meanwhile, Daun, with the proper Artilleries at last ready, comes +flowing forward (NOVEMBER 8th-9th); and takes post in the Great Garden, +or south side of Dresden; minatory to Schmettau and that City. The +walls, or works, are weak; outside there is nothing but Mayer and the +Free Corps to resist, who indeed has surpassed himself this season, and +been extraordinarily diligent upon that lazy Reichs Army. Commandant +Schmettau signifies to Daun, the day Daun came in sight, "If your +Excellenz advance farther on me, the grim Rules of War in besieged +places will order That I burn the Suburbs, which are your defences +in attacking me,"--and actually fills the fine houses on the Southern +Suburb with combustible matter, making due announcements, to Court and +population, as well as to Dann. "Burn the Suburbs?" answers Daun: "In +the name of civilized humanity, you will never think of such thing!" +"That will I, your Excellenz, of a surety, and do it!" answers +Schmettau. So that Dresden is full of pity, terror and speculation. The +common rumor is, says Excellency Mitchell, who is sojourning there for +the present, "That Bruhl [nefarious Bruhl, born to be the death of +us!] has persuaded Polish Majesty to sanction this enterprise of +Daun's,"--very careless, Bruhl, what become of Dresden or us, so the +King of Prussia be well hurt or spited! + +Certain enough, NOVEMBER 9th, Daun does come on, regardless of +Schmettau's assurances; so that, "about midnight:" Mayer, who "can hear +the enemy busily building four big batteries" withal, has to report +himself driven to the edge of those high Houses (which are filled with +combustibles), and that some Croats are got into the upper windows. +"Burn them, then!" answers Schmettasu (such the dire necessity of sieged +places): and, "at 3 A.M." (three hours' notice to the poor inmates), +Mayer does so; hideous flames bursting out, punctually at the stroke of +3: "whole Suburb seemed on blaze [about a sixth part of it actually +so], nay you would have said the whole Town was environed in flames." +Excellency Mitchell climbed a steeple: "will not describe to your +Lordship the horror, the terror and confusion of this night; wretched +inhabitants running with their furniture [what of it they had got flung +out, between 12 o'clock and 3] towards the Great Garden; all Dresden, to +appearance, girt in flames, ruins and smoke." Such a night in Dresden, +especially in the Pirna Suburb, as was never seen before. [Mitchell, +_Memoirs and Papers,_ i. 459. In _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 295-302, minute +account (corresponding well with Mitchell's); ib. 303-333, the certified +details of the damage done: "280 houses lost;" "4 human lives."] This +was the sad beginning, or attempt at beginning, of Dresden Siege; and +this also was the end of it, on Daun's part at present. For four days +more, he hung about the place, minatory, hesitative; but attempted +nothing feasible; and on the fifth day,--"for a certain weighty reason," +as the Austrian Gazettes express it,--he saw good to vanish into the +Pirna Rock-Country, and be out of harm's way in the mean while! + +The Truth is, Daun's was an intricate case just now; needing, above all +things, swiftness of treatment; what, of all things, it could not get +from Daun. His denunciations on that burnt Suburb were again loud; but +Schmettau continues deaf to all that,--means "to defend himself by the +known rules of war and of honor;" declares, he "will dispute from street +to street, and only finish in the middle of Polish Majesty's Royal +Palace." Denunciation will do nothing! Daun had above 100,000 men in +those parts. Rushing forward with sharp shot and bayonet storm, instead +of logical denunciation, it is probable Daun might have settled his +Schmettau. But the hour of tide was rigorous, withal;--and such an ebb, +if you missed it in hesitating! NOVEMBER 15th, Daun withdrew; the ebbing +come. That same day, Friedrich was at Lauban in the Lausitz, within a +hundred miles again; speeding hitherward; behind him a Silesia brushed +clear, before him a Saxony to be brushed. "Reason weighty" enough, think +Daun and the Austrian Gazettes! But such, since you have missed the +tide-hour, is the inexorable fact of ebb,--going at that frightful rate. +Daun never was the man to dispute facts. + +November 20th, Friedrich arrived in Dresden; heard, next day, that Daun +had wheeled decisively homeward from Pirna Country; that the Reichs Army +and he are diligently climbing the Metal Mountains; and that there is +not in Saxony, more than in Silesia, an enemy left. What a Sequel to +Hochkirch! "Neisse and Dresden both!" we had hoped as sequel, if lucky: +"Neisse OR Dresden" seemed infallible. And we are climbing the Metal +Mountains, under facts superior to us. + +And Campaign Third has closed in this manner;--leaving things much as it +found them. Essentially a drawn match; Contending Parties little altered +in relative strength;--both of them, it may be presumed, considerably +weaker. Friedrich is not triumphant, or shining in the light of +bonfires, as last Year; but, in the mind of judges, stands higher than +ever (if that could help him much);--and is not "annihilated" in the +least, which is the surprising circumstance. + +Friedrich's marches, especially, have been wonderful, this Year. In +the spring-time, old Marechal de Belleisle, French Minister of War, +consulting officially about future operations, heard it objected once: +"But if the King of Prussia were to burst in upon us there?" "The King +of Prussia is a great soldier," answered M. de Belleisle; "but his Army +is not a shuttle (NAVETTE),"--to be shot about, in that way, from side +to side of the world! No surely; not altogether. But the King of Prussia +has, among other arts, an art of marching Armies, which by degrees +astonishes the old Marechal. To "come upon us EN NAVETTE," suddenly +"like a shuttle" from the other side of the web, became an established +phrase among the French concerned in these unfortunate matters. +[Archenholtz, i. 316; Montalembert, SAEPIUS, for the phrase "EN +NAVETTE."] + +"The Pitt-and-Ferdinand Campaign of 1758," says a Note, which I would +fain abridge, "is more palpably victorious than Friedrich's, much more +an affair of bonfires than his; though it too has had its rubs. Loss of +honor at Crefeld; loss of Louisburg and Codfishery: these are serious +blows our enemy has had. But then, to temper the joy over Louisburg, +there was, at Ticonderoga, by Abercrombie, on the small scale (all +the extent of scale he had), a melancholy Platitude committed: that of +walking into an enemy without the least reconnoitring of him, who proves +to be chin-deep in abatis and field-works; and kills, much at his ease, +about 2,000 brave fellows, brought 5,000 miles for that object. And +obliges you to walk away on the instant, and quit Ticonderoga, like +a--surely like a very tragic Dignitary in Cocked-hat! To be cashiered, +we will hope; at least to be laid on the shelf, and replaced by some +Wolfe or some Amherst, fitter for the business! Nor were the Descents on +the French Coast much to speak of: 'Great Guns got at Cherbourg,' these +truly, as exhibited in Hyde-Park, were a comfortable sight, especially +to the simpler sort: but on the other hand, at Morlaix, on the part of +poor old General Bligh and Company, there had been a Platitude equal or +superior to that of Abercrombie, though not so tragical in loss of men. +'What of that?' said an enthusiastic Public, striking their balance, and +joyfully illuminating.--Here is a Clipping from Ohio Country, 'LETTER +of an Officer [distilled essence of Two Letters], dated, FORT-DUQUESNE, +28th NOVEMBER, 1758:-- + +"'Our small Corps under General Forbes, after much sore scrambling +through the Wildernesses, and contending with enemies wild and tame, +is, since the last four days, in possession of Fort Duquesne [PITTSBURG +henceforth]: Friday, 24th, the French garrison, on our appearance, made +off without fighting; took to boats down the Ohio, and vanished out +of those Countries,'--forever and a day, we will hope. 'Their +Louisiana-Canada communication is lost; and all that prodigious tract of +rich country,'--which Mr. Washington fixed upon long ago, is ours +again, if we can turn it to use. 'This day a detachment of us goes to +Braddock's field of battle [poor Braddock!], to bury the bones of our +slaughtered countrymen; many of whom the French butchered in cold blood, +and, to their own eternal shame and infamy, have left lying above ground +ever since. As indeed they have done with all those slain round the +Fort in late weeks;'--calling themselves a civilized Nation too!" [Old +Newspapers (in _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1759, pp. 41, 39).] + +LOWER RHINE, JULY-NOVEMBER, 1758. "Ferdinand's manoeuvres, after +Crefeld, on the France-ward side of Rhine, were very pretty: but, +without Wesel, and versus a Belleisle as War-Minister, and a Contades +who was something of a General, it would not do. Belleisle made uncommon +exertions, diligent to get his broken people drilled again; Contades +was wary, and counter-manoeuvred rather well. Finally, Soubise" (readers +recollect him and his 24 or 30,000, who stood in Frankfurt Country, on +the hither or north side of Rhine), famed Rossbach Soubise,--"pushing +out, at Belleisle's bidding, towards Hanover, in a region vacant +otherwise of troops,--became dangerous to Ferdinand. 'Making for +Hanover?' thought Ferdinand: 'Or perhaps meaning to attack my 12,000 +English that are just landed? Nay, perhaps my Rhine-Bridge itself, and +the small Party left there?' Ferdinand found he would have to return, +and look after Soubise. Crossed, accordingly (August 8th), by his old +Bridge at Rees,--which he found safe, in spite of attempts there had +been; ["Fight of Meer" (Chevert, with 10,000, beaten off, and the Bridge +saved, by Imhof, with 3,000;--both clever soldiers; Imhof in better +luck, and favored by the ground: "5th August, 1758"): MAUVILLON, i. +315.]--and never recrossed during this War. Judges even say his first +crossing had never much solidity of outlook in it; and though so +delightful to the public, was his questionablest step. + +"On the 12,000 English, Soubise had attempted nothing. Ferdinand joined +his English at Soest (August 20th); to their great joy and his; [Duke +of Marlborough's heavy-laden LETTER to Pitt, "Koesfeld, August 15th:" +"Nothing but rains and uncertainties;" "marching, latterly, up to our +middles in water;" have come from Embden, straight south towards Wesel +Country, almost 150 miles (Soest still a good sixty miles to southeast +of us). CHATHAM CORRESPONDENCE (London, 1838), i. 334, 337. The poor +Duke died in two months hence; and the command devolved on Lord +George Sackville, as is too well known.] 10 to 12,000 as a first +instalment:--Grand-looking fellows, said the Germans. And did you ever +see such horses, such splendor of equipment, regardless of expense? Not +to mention those BERGSCHOTTEN (Scotch Highlanders), with their bagpipes, +sporrans, kilts, and exotic costumes and ways; astonishing to the German +mind. [Romantic view of the BERGSCHOTTEN (2,000 of them, led by the +Junior of the Robert Keiths above mentioned, who is a soldier as yet), +in ARCHENHOLTZ, i. 351-353: IB. and in PREUSS, ii. 136, of the "uniforms +with gold and silver lace," of the superb horses, "one regiment all +roan horses, another all black, another all" &c.] Out of all whom +(BERGSCHOTTEN included), Ferdinand, by management,--and management +was needed,--got a great deal of first-rate fighting, in the next Four +Years. + +"Nor, in regard to Hanover, could Soubise make anything of it; though +he did (owing to a couple of stupid fellows, General Prince von Ysenburg +and General Oberg, detached by Ferdinand on that service) escape the +lively treatment Ferdinand had prepared for him; and even gave a kind +of Beating to each of those stupid fellows, [1. "Fight of Sandershausen" +(Broglio, as Soubise's vanguard, 12,000; VERSUS Ysenburg, 7,000, who +stupidly would not withdraw TILL beaten: "23d July, 1758," BEFORE +Ferdinand had come across again). 2. Fight of Lutternberg (Soubise, +30,000; VERSUS Oberg, about 18,000, who stupidly hung back till Soubise +was all gathered, and THEN &c., still more stupidly: "10th October, +1758"). See MAUVILLON, i. 312 (or better, ARCHENHOLTZ, i. 345); and +MAUVILLON, i. 327. Both Lutternberg and Sandershausen are in the +neighborhood of Cassel;--as many of those Ferdinand fights were.]--one +of which, Oberg's one, might have ruined Oberg and his Detachment +altogether, had Soubise been alert, which he by no means was! 'Paris +made such jeering about Rossbach and the Prince de Soubise,' says +Voltaire, [_Histoire de Louis XV._ ] 'and nobody said a word about these +two Victories of his, next Year!' For which there might be two reasons: +one, according to Tempelhof, that 'the Victories were of the so-so +kind (SIC WAREN AUCH DARNACH);' and another, that they were ascribed to +Broglio, on both occasions,--how justly, nobody will now argue! + +"Contades had not failed, in the mean while, to follow with the +main Army; and was now elaborately manoeuvring about; intent to have +Lippstadt, or some Fortress in those Rhine-Weser Countries. On the tail +of that second so-so Victory by Soubise, Contades thought, Now would be +the chance. And did try hard, but without effect. Ferdinand was himself +attending Contades; and mistakes were not likely. Ferdinand, in the +thick of the game (October 21st-30th), 'made a masterly movement'--that +is to say, cut Contades and his Soubise irretrievably asunder: +no junction now possible to them; the weaker of them liable to +ruin,--unless Contades, the stronger, would give battle; which, though +greatly outnumbering Ferdinand, he was cautious not to do. A melancholic +cautious man, apt to be over-cautious,--nicknamed 'L'APOTHECAIRE' by the +Parisians, from his down looks,--but had good soldier qualities withal. +Soubise and he haggled about, a short while,--not a long, in these +dangerous circumstances; and then had to go home again, without result, +each the way he came; Contades himself repassing through Wesel, and +wintering on his own side of the Rhine." + +How Pitt is succeeding, and aiming to succeed, on the French Foreign +Settlements: on the Guinea Coast, on the High Seas everywhere; in the +West Indies; still more in the East,--where General Lally (that fiery +O'MuLLALLY, famous since Fontenoy), missioned with "full-powers," as +they call them, is raging up and down, about Madras and neighborhood, in +a violent, impetuous, more and more bankrupt manner:--Of all this we can +say nothing for the present, little at any time. Here are two facts +of the financial sort, sufficiently illuminative. The much-expending, +much-subsidying Government of France cannot now borrow except at 7 per +cent Interest; and the rate of Marine Insurance has risen to 70 per +cent. [Retzow, ii. 5.] One way and other, here is a Pitt clearly +progressive; and a long-pending JENKINS'S-EAR QUESTION in a fair way to +be settled! + +Friedrich stays in Saxony about a month, inspecting and adjusting; +thence to Breslau, for Winter-quarters. His Winter is like to be a sad +and silent one, this time; with none of the gayeties of last Year; the +royal heart heavy enough with many private sorrows, were there none of +public at all! This is a word from him, two days after finishing Daun +for the season:-- + + +FRIEDRICH TO MYLORD MARISCHAL (at Colombier in Neufchatel). + +"DRESDEN, 23d November, 1758. + +"There is nothing left for us, MON CHER MYLORD, but to mingle and blend +our weeping for the losses we have had. If my head were a fountain of +tears, it would not suffice for the grief I feel. + +"Our Campaign is over; and there has nothing come of it, on one side or +the other, but the loss of a great many worthy people, the misery of a +great many poor soldiers crippled forever, the ruin of some Provinces, +the ravage, pillage and conflagration of some flourishing Towns. +Exploits these which make humanity shudder: sad fruits of the wickedness +and ambition of certain People in Power, who sacrifice everything to +their unbridled passions! I wish you, MON CHER MYLORD, nothing that has +the least resemblance to my destiny; and everything that is wanting to +it. Your old friend, till death."--F. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xx. 273.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, +Vol. XVIII. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + +***** This file should be named 2118.txt or 2118.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/2118/ + +Produced by D.R. Thompson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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