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diff --git a/2119.txt b/2119.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f320327 --- /dev/null +++ b/2119.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8552 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. +XIX. (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. XIX. (of XXI.) + Frederick The Great--Friedrich Like to be Overwhelmed in + The Seven-Years War--1759-1760 + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Posting Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2119] +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 XIX.--FRIEDRICH LIKE TO BE OVERWHELMED IN THE SEVEN-YEARS +WAR.--1759-1760. + + + + +Chapter I.--PRELIMINARIES TO A FOURTH CAMPAIGN. + +The posting of the Five Armies this Winter--Five of them in Germany, not +counting the Russians, who have vanished to Cimmeria over the horizon, +for their months of rest--is something wonderful, and strikes the +picturesque imagination. Such a Chain of Posts, for length, if for +nothing else! From the centre of Bohemia eastward, Daun's Austrians are +spread all round the western Silesian Border and the southeastern +Saxon; waited on by Prussians, in more or less proximity. Next are +the Reichsfolk; scattered over Thuringen and the Franconian Countries; +fronting partly into Hessen and Duke Ferdinand's outskirts:--the main +body of Duke Ferdinand is far to westward, in Munster Country, vigilant +upon Contades, with the Rhine between. Contades and Soubise,--adjoining +on the Reichsfolk are these Two French Armies: Soubise's, some 25,000, +in Frankfurt-Ems Country, between the Mayn and the Lahn, with its back +to the Rhine; then Contades, onward to Maes River and the Dutch Borders, +with his face to the Rhine,--and Duke Ferdinand observant of him on the +other side. That is the "CORDON of Posts" or winter-quarters this Year. +"From the Giant Mountains and the Metal Mountains, to the Ocean;--to the +mouth of Rhine," may we not say; "and back again to the Swiss Alps or +springs of Rhine, that Upper-Rhine Country being all either French or +Austrian, and a basis for Soubise?" [Archenholtz, i. 306.] Not to speak +of Ocean itself, and its winged War-Fleets, lonesomely hovering and +patrolling; or of the Americas and Indies beyond! + +"This is such a Chain of mutually vigilant Winter-quarters," says +Archenholtz, "as was never drawn in Germany, or in Europe, before." +Chain of about 300,000 fighting men, poured out in that lengthy manner. +Taking their winter siesta there, asleep with one eye open, till +reinforced for new business of death and destruction against Spring. +Pathetic surely, as well as picturesque. "Three Campaigns there have +already been," sighs the peaceable observer: "Three Campaigns, surely +furious enough; Eleven Battles in them," [Stenzel, v. 185. This, +I suppose, would be his enumeration: LOBOSITZ (1756); PRAG, KOLIN, +Hastenbeck, Gross-Jagersdorf, ROSSBACH, Breslau, LEUTHEN, (1757); +Crefeld, ZORNDORF, HOCHKIRCH (1758): "eleven hitherto in all."] a Prag, +a Kolin, Leuthen, Rossbach;--must there still be others, then, to +the misery of poor mankind?" thus sigh many peaceful persons. Not +considering what are, and have been, the rages, the iniquities, the loud +and silent deliriums, the mad blindnesses and sins of mankind; and what +amount, of CALCINING these may reasonably take. Not calcinable in three +Campaigns at all, it would appear! Four more Campaigns are needed: then +there will be innocuous ashes in quantity; and a result unexpected, and +worth marking in World-History. + +It is notably one of Friedrich's fond hopes,--of which he keeps up +several, as bright cloud-hangings in the haggard inner world he now +has,--that Peace is just at hand; one right struggle more, and Peace +must come! And on the part of Britannic George and him, repeated +attempts were made,--one in the end of this Year 1759;--but one and all +of them proved futile, and, unless for accidental reasons, need not be +mentioned here. Many men, in all nations, long for Peace; but there are +Three Women at the top of the world who do not; their wrath, various in +quality, is great in quantity, and disasters do the reverse of appeasing +it. + +The French people, as is natural, are weary of a War which yields them +mere losses and disgraces; "War carried on for Austrian whims, which +likewise seem to be impracticable!" think they. And their Bernis +himself, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who began this sad French-Austrian +Adventure, has already been remonstrating with Kaunitz, and grumbling +anxiously, "Could not the Swedes, or somebody, be got to mediate? Such +a War is too ruinous!" Hearing which, the Pompadour is shocked at the +favorite creature of her hands; hastens to dismiss him ("Be Cardinal +then, you ingrate of a Bernis; disappear under that Red Hat!")--and +appoints, in his stead, one Choiseul (known hitherto as STAINVILLE, +Comte de Stainville, French Excellency at Vienna, but now made Duke on +this promotion), Duc de Choiseul; [Minister of Foreign Affairs, +"11th November, 1758" (Barbier, iv. 294).] who is a Lorrainer, or +Semi-Austrian, by very birth; and probably much fitter for the place. A +swift, impetuous kind of man, this Choiseul, who is still rather young +than otherwise; plenty of proud spirit in him, of shifts, talent of the +reckless sort; who proved very notable in France for the next twenty +years. + +French trade being ruined withal, money is running dreadfully low: +but they appoint a new Controller-General; a M. de Silhouette, who is +thought to have an extraordinary creative genius in Finance. Had he but +a Fortunatus-Purse, how lucky were it! With Fortunatus Silhouette as +purse-holder, with a fiery young Choiseul on this hand, and a fiery +old Belleisle on that, Pompadour meditates great things this +Year,--Invasions of England; stronger German Armies; better German +Plans, and slashings home upon Hanover itself, or the vital point;--and +flatters herself, and her poor Louis, that there is on the anvil, for +1759, such a French Campaign as will perhaps astonish Pitt and another +insolent King. Very fixed, fell and feminine is the Pompadour's humor +in this matter. Nor is the Czarina's less so; but more, if possible; +unappeasable except by death. Imperial Maria Theresa has masculine +reasons withal; great hopes, too, of late. Of the War's ending till flat +impossibility stop it, there is no likelihood. + +To Pitt this Campaign 1759, in spite of bad omens at the outset, proved +altogether splendid: but greatly the reverse on Friedrich's side; to +whom it was the most disastrous and unfortunate he had yet made, or did +ever make. Pitt at his zenith in public reputation; Friedrich never so +low before, nothing seemingly but extinction near ahead, when this Year +ended. The truth is, apart from his specific pieces of ill-luck, there +had now begun for Friedrich a new rule of procedure, which much altered +his appearance in the world. Thrice over had he tried by the aggressive +or invasive method; thrice over made a plunge at the enemy's heart, +hoping so to disarm or lame him: but that, with resources spent to such +a degree, is what he cannot do a fourth time: he is too weak henceforth +to think of that. + +Prussia has always its King, and his unrivalled talent; but that is +pretty much the only fixed item: Prussia VERSUS France, Austria, Russia, +Sweden and the German Reich, what is it as a field of supplies for war! +Except its King, these are failing, year by year; and at a rate fatally +SWIFT in comparison. Friedrich cannot now do Leuthens, Rossbachs; +far-shining feats of victory, which astonish all the world. His fine +Prussian veterans have mostly perished; and have been replaced by new +levies and recruits; who are inferior both in discipline and native +quality;--though they have still, people say, a noteworthy taste of the +old Prussian sort in them; and do, in fact, fight well to the last. But +"it is observable," says Retzow somewhere, and indeed it follows from +the nature of the case, "that while the Prussian Army presents always +its best kind of soldiers at the beginning of a war, Austria, such are +its resources in population, always improves in that particular, and its +best troops appear in the last campaigns." In a word, Friedrich stands +on the defensive henceforth; disputing his ground inch by inch: and is +reduced, more and more, to battle obscurely with a hydra-coil of enemies +and impediments; and to do heroisms which make no noise in the Gazettes. +And, alas, which cannot figure in History either,--what is more a sorrow +to me here! + +Friedrich, say all judges of soldiership and human character who have +studied Friedrich sufficiently, "is greater than ever," in these four +Years now coming. [Berenhorst, in _Kriegskunst;_ Retzow; &c.] And +this, I have found more and more to be a true thing; verifiable and +demonstrable in time and place,--though, unluckily for us, hardly in +this time or this place at all! A thing which cannot, by any method, +be made manifest to the general reader; who delights in shining +summary feats, and is impatient of tedious preliminaries and +investigations,--especially of MAPS, which are the indispensablest +requisite of all. A thing, in short, that belongs peculiarly to +soldier-students; who can undergo the dull preliminaries, most dull but +most inexorably needed; and can follow out, with watchful intelligence, +and with a patience not to be wearied, the multifarious topographies, +details of movements and manoeuvrings, year after year, on such a +Theatre of War. What is to be done with it here! If we could, by +significant strokes, indicate, under features true so far as they went, +the great wide fire-flood that was raging round the world; if we could, +carefully omitting very many things, omit of the things intelligible and +decipherable that concern Friedrich himself, nothing that had meaning: +IF indeed--! But it is idle preluding. Forward again, brave reader, +under such conditions as there are! + +Friedrich's Winter in Breslau was of secluded, silent, sombre character, +this time; nothing of stir in it but from work only: in marked contrast +with the last, and its kindly visitors and gayeties. A Friedrich given +up to his manifold businesses, to his silent sorrows. "I have passed my +winter like a Carthusian monk," he writes to D'Argens: "I dine alone; I +spend my life in reading and writing; and I do not sup. When one is sad, +it becomes at last too burdensome to hide one's grief continually; and +it is better to give way to it by oneself, than to carry one's gloom +into society. Nothing solaces me but the vigorous application required +in steady and continuous labor. This distraction does force one to put +away painful ideas, while it lasts: but, alas, no sooner is the work +done, than these fatal companions present themselves again, as if +livelier than ever. Maupertuis was right: the sum of evil does certainly +surpass that of good:--but to me it is all one; I have almost nothing +more to lose; and my few remaining days, what matters it much of what +complexion they be?" ["Breslau, 1st March, 1759," To D'Argens (_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ xix. 56).] + +The loss of his Wilhelmina, had there been no other grief, has darkened +all his life to Friedrich. Readers are not prepared for the details of +grief we could give, and the settled gloom of mind they indicate. A loss +irreparable and immeasurable; the light of life, the one loved heart +that loved him, gone. His passionate appeals to Voltaire to celebrate +for him in verse his lost treasure, and at least make her virtues +immortal, are perhaps known to readers: [ODE SUR LA MORT DE S. A. S. +MADAME LA PRINCESSE DE BAREITH (in _OEuvres de Voltaire,_ xviii. 79-86): +see Friedrich's Letter to him (6th November, 1758); with Voltaire's +VERSES in Answer (next month); Friedrich's new Letter (Breslau, 23d +January 1759), demanding something more,--followed by the ODE just +cited (Ib. lxxii. 402; lxxviii. 82, 92; or _OEuvres de Frederic,_ +xxiii. 20-24: &c.) alas, this is a very feeble kind of immortality, and +Friedrich too well feels it such. All Winter he dwells internally on the +sad matter, though soon falling silent on it to others. + +The War is ever more dark and dismal to him; a wearing, harassing, +nearly disgusting task; on which, however, depends life or death. This +Year, he "expects to have 300,000 enemies upon him;" and "is, with his +utmost effort, getting up 150,000 to set against them." Of business, +in its many kinds, there can be no lack! In the intervals he also wrote +considerably: one of his Pieces is a SERMON ON THE LAST JUDGMENT; handed +to Reader De Catt, one evening:--to De Catt's surprise, and to ours; the +Voiceless in a dark Friedrich trying to give itself some voice in this +way! [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xv. 1-10 (see Preuss's PREFACE there; +Formey, _SOUVENIRS,_ i. 37; &c. &c.)] Another Piece, altogether +practical, and done with excellent insight, brevity, modesty, is ON +TACTICS; [REFLEXIONS SUR LA TACTIQUE: in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxviii. +153-166.]--properly it might be called, "Serious very Private Thoughts," +thrown on paper, and communicated only to two or three, "On the new kind +of Tactics necessary with those Austrians and their Allies," who are +in such overwhelming strength. "To whose continual sluggishness, and +strange want of concert, to whose incoherency of movements, languor of +execution, and other enormous faults, we have owed, with some excuse for +our own faults, our escaping of destruction hitherto,"--but had better +NOT trust that way any longer! Fouquet is one of the highly select, +to whom he communicates this Piece; adding along with it, in Fouquet's +case, an affectionate little Note, and, in spite of poverty, some +New-year's Gift, as usual,--the "Widow's Mite [300 pounds, we find]; +receive it with the same heart with which it was set apart for you: a +small help, which you may well have need of, in these calamitous times." +["Breslau, 23d December, 1758;" with Fouquet's Answer, 2d January, 1759: +in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xx. 114-117.] Fouquet much admires the new +Tactical Suggestions;--seems to think, however, that the certainly +practicable one is, in particular, the last, That of "improving our +Artillery to some equality with theirs." For which, as may appear, the +King has already been taking thought, in more ways than one. + +Finance is naturally a heavy part of Friedrich's Problem; the part which +looks especially impossible, from our point of vision! In Friedrich's +Country, the War Budget does not differ from the Peace one. Neither is +any borrowing possible; that sublime Art, of rolling over on you know +not whom the expenditure, needful or needless, of your heavy-laden self, +had not yet--though England is busy at it--been invented among Nations. +Once, or perhaps twice, from the STANDE of some willing Province, +Friedrich negotiated some small Loan; which was punctually repaid when +Peace came, and was always gratefully remembered. But these are as +nothing, in face of such expenses; and the thought how he did contrive +on the Finance side, is and was not a little wonderful. An ingenious +Predecessor, whom I sometimes quote, has expressed himself in these +words:-- + +"Such modicum of Subsidy [he is speaking of the English Subsidy in +1758], how useful will it prove in a Country bred everywhere to Spartan +thrift, accustomed to regard waste as sin, and which will lay out no +penny except to purpose! I guess the Prussian Exchequer is, by this +time, much on the ebb; idle precious metals tending everywhere towards +the melting-pot. At what precise date the Friedrich-Wilhelm balustrades, +and enormous silver furnitures, were first gone into, Dryasdust has +not informed me: but we know they all went; as they well might. To me +nothing is so wonderful as Friedrich's Budget during this War. One day +it will be carefully investigated, elucidated and made conceivable and +certain to mankind: but that as yet is far from being the case. We +walk about in it with astonishment; almost, were it possible, with +incredulity. Expenditure on this side, work done on that: human nature, +especially British human nature, refuses to conceive it. Never in this +world, before or since, was the like. The Friedrich miracles in War are +great; but those in Finance are almost greater. Let Dryasdust bethink +him; and gird his flabby loins to this Enterprise; which is very +behooveful in these Californian times!"-- + +The general Secret of Prussian Thrift, I do fear, is lost from the +world. And how an Army of about 200,000, in field and garrison, could +be kept on foot, and in some ability to front combined Europe, on about +Three Million Sterling annually ("25 million THALERS"=3,150,000 +pounds, that is the steady War-Budget of those years), remains to us +inconceivable enough;--mournfully miraculous, as it were; and growing +ever more so in the Nugget-generations that now run. Meanwhile, here are +what hints I could find, on the Origins of that modest Sum, which also +are a wonder: [Preuss, ii. 388-392; Stenzel, v. 137-141.]-- + +"The hoarded Prussian Moneys, or 'TREASURES' [two of them, KLEINE +SCHATZ, GROSSE SCHATZ, which are rigidly saved in Peace years, for +incidence of War], being nearly run out, there had come the English +Subsidy: this, with Saxony, and the Home revenues and remnants of SCHATZ +had sufficed for 1758; but will no longer suffice. Next to Saxony, +the English Subsidy (670,000 pounds due the second time this year) was +always Friedrich's principal resource: and in the latter years of the +War, I observe, it was nearly twice the amount of what all his Prussian +Countries together, in their ravaged and worn-out state, could yield +him. In and after 1759, besides Home Income, which is gradually +diminishing, and English Subsidy, which is a steady quantity, +Friedrich's sources of revenue are mainly Two:-- + +"FIRST, there is that of wringing money from your Enemies, from those +that have deserved ill of you,--such of them as you can come at. +Enemies, open or secret, even Ill-wishers, we are not particular, +provided only they lie within arm's-length. Under this head fall +principally three Countries (and their three poor Populations, in lieu +of their Governments): Saxony, Mecklenburg (or the main part of it, +Mecklenburg-SCHWERIN), and Anhalt; from these three there is a continual +forced supply of money and furnishings. Their demerits to Friedrich +differ much in intensity; nor is his wringing of them--which in the +cases of Mecklenburg and Saxony increases year by year to the nearly +intolerable pitch--quite in the simple ratio of their demerits; but in a +compound ratio of that and of his indignation and of his wants. + +"Saxony, as Prime Author of this War, was from the first laid hold of, +collared tightly: 'Pay the shot, then, what you can' (in the end it was +almost what you cannot)! As to Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the grudge against +Prussia was of very old standing, some generations now; and the present +Duke, not a very wise Sovereign more than his Ancestors, had always +been ill with Friedrich; willing to spite and hurt him when possible: +in Reichs Diet he, of all German Princes, was the first that voted for +Friedrich's being put to Ban of the Reich,--he; and his poor People know +since whether that was a wise step! The little Anhalt Princes, too, +all the Anhalts, Dessau, Bernburg, Cothen, Zerbst [perhaps the latter +partially excepted, for a certain Russian Lady's sake], had voted, or +at least had ambiguously half-voted, in favor of the Ban, and done other +unfriendly things; and had now to pay dear for their bits of enmities. +Poor souls, they had but One Vote among them all Four;--and they only +half gave it, tremulously pulling it back again. I should guess it was +their terrors mainly, and over-readiness to reckon Friedrich a sinking +ship; and to leap from the deck of him,--with a spurn which he took for +insolent! The Anhalt-Dessauers particularly, who were once of his very +Army, half Prussians for generations back, he reckoned to have used him +scandalously ill. + +"This Year the requisition on the Four Anhalts--which they submit to +patiently, as people who have leapt into the wrong ship--is, in precise +tale: of money, 330,000 thalers (about 50,000 pounds); recruits, 2,200; +horses, 1,800. In Saxony, besides the fixed Taxes, strict confiscation +of Meissen Potteries and every Royalty, there were exacted heavy +'Contributions,' more and more heavy, from the few opulent Towns, +chiefly from Leipzig; which were wrung out, latterly, under great +severities,--'chief merchants of Leipzig all clapt in prison, kept +on bread-and-water till they yielded,'--AS great severities as would +suffice, but NOT greater; which also was noted. Unfortunate chief +merchants of Leipzig,--with Bruhl and Polish Majesty little likely to +indemnify them! Unfortunate Country altogether. An intelligent Saxon, +who is vouched for as impartial, bears witness as follows: 'And this +I know, that the oppressions and plunderings of the Austrians and +Reichsfolk, in Saxony, turned all hearts away from them; and it was +publicly said, We had rather bear the steady burden of the Prussians +than such help as these our pretended Deliverers bring.' [Stenzel +(citing from KRIEGSKANZLEI, which I have not), v. 137 n.] Whereby, on +the whole, the poor Country got its back broken, and could never look up +in the world since. Resource FIRST was abundantly severe. + +"Resource SECOND is strangest of all;--and has given rise to criticism +enough! It is no other than that of issuing base money; mixing your gold +and silver coin with copper,--this, one grieves to say, is the Second +and extreme resource. A rude method--would we had a better--of +suspending Cash-payments, and paying by bank-notes instead!' thinks +Friedrich, I suppose. From his Prussian Mints, from his Saxon [which are +his for the present], and from the little Anhalt-Bernburg Mint [of which +he expressly purchased the sad privilege,--for we are not a Coiner, +we are a King reduced to suspend Cash-payments, for the time being], +Friedrich poured out over all Germany, in all manner of kinds, huge +quantities of bad Coin. This, so long as it would last, is more and +more a copious fountain of supply. This, for the first time, has had to +appear as an item in War-Budget 1759: and it fails in no following, +but expands more and more. It was done through Ephraim, the not lovely +Berlin Jew, whom we used to hear of in Voltaire's time;--through Ephraim +and two others, Ephraim as President: in return for a net Sum, these +shall have privilege to coin such and such amounts, so and so alloyed; +shall pay to General Tauentzien, Army Treasurer, at fixed terms, the +Sums specified: 'Go, and do it; our Mint-Officers sharply watching you; +Mint-Officers, and General Tauentzien [with a young Herr Lessing, as +his Chief Clerk, of whom the King knows nothing]; Go, ye unlovely!' And +Ephraim and Company are making a great deal of money by the unlovely +job. Ephraim is the pair of tongs, the hand, and the unlovely job, are a +royal man's. Alas, yes. And none of us knows better than King Friedrich, +perhaps few of us as well, how little lovely a job it was; how +shockingly UNkingly it was,--though a practice not unknown to German +Kings and Kinglets before his time, and since down almost to ours. [In +STENZEL (v. 141) enumeration of eight or nine unhappy Potentates, who +were busy with it in those same years.] In fact, these are all unkingly +practices;--and the English Subsidy itself is distasteful to a proud +Friedrich: but what, in those circumstances, can any Friedrich do? + +"The first coinages of Ephraim had, it seems, in them about 3-7ths of +copper; something less than the half, and more than the third,"--your +gold sovereign grown to be worth 28s. 6d. "But yearly it grew worse; and +in 1762 [English Subsidy having failed] matters had got inverted; +and there was three times as much copper as silver. Commerce, as was +natural, went rocking and tossing, as on a sea under earthquakes; but +there was always ready money among Friedrich's soldiers, as among no +other: nor did the common people, or retail purchasers, suffer by it. +'Hah, an Ephraimite!' they would say, grinning not ill-humoredly, at +sight of one of these pieces; some of which they had more specifically +named 'BLUE-GOWNS' [owing to a tint of blue perceivable, in spite of +the industrious plating in real silver, or at least "boiling in +some solution" of it]; these they would salute with this rhyme, then +current:-- + + "Von aussen schon, van innen schlimm; + Von aussen Friedrich, von innen Ephraim. + Outside noble, inside slim: + Outside Friedrich, inside Ephraim. + +"By this time, whatever of money, from any source, can be scraped +together in Friedrich's world, flows wholly into the Army-Chest, as the +real citadel of life. In these latter years of the War, beginning, I +could guess, from 1759, all Civil expenditures, and wages of Officials, +cease to be paid in money; nobody of that kind sees the color even of +bad coin; but is paid only in 'Paper Assignments,' in Promises to Pay +'after the Peace.' These Paper Documents made no pretence to the rank of +Currency: such holders of them as had money, or friends, and could wait, +got punctual payment when the term did arrive; but those that could +not, suffered greatly; having to negotiate their debentures on +ruinous terms,--sometimes at an expense of three-fourths.--I will +add Friedrich's practical Schedule of Amounts from all these various +Sources; and what Friedrich's own view of the Sources was, when he could +survey them from the safe distance. + +"SCHEDULE OF AMOUNTS [say for 1761]. To make up the Twenty-five Million +thalers, necessary for the Army, there are:-- + + "From our Prussian Countries, ruined, harried as THALERS + they have been,.......... 4 millions only. + From Saxony and the other Wringings, ..... 7 millions. + English Subsidy (4 of good gold; becoppered + into double),........... 8 " + From Ephraim and his Farm of the Mint + (MUNZ-PATENT), .......... 7 " + +In sum Twenty-six Millions; leaving you one Million of margin,--and +always a plenty of cash in hand for incidental sundries. [Preuss, ii. +388.] + +"Friedrich's own view of these sad matters, as he closes his _History +of the Seven-Years War_ [at "Berlin, 17th December, 1763"], is in these +words: 'May Heaven grant,--if Heaven deign to look down on the paltry +concerns of men,--that the unalterable and flourishing destiny of this +Country preserve the Sovereigns who shall govern it from the scourges +and calamities which Prussia has suffered in these times of trouble and +subversion; that they may never again be forced to recur to the violent +and fatal remedies which we (L'ON) have been obliged to employ in +maintenance of the State against the ambitious hatred of the Sovereigns +of Europe, who wished to annihilate the House of Brandenburg, and +exterminate from the world whatever bore the Prussian name!'" [_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ v. 234.] + + + + +OF THE SMALL-WAR IN SPRING, 1759. THERE ARE FIVE DISRUPTIONS OF THAT +GRAND CORDON (February-April); AND FERDINAND OF BRUNSWICK FIGHTS HIS +BATTLE OF BERGEN (April 13th). + +Friedrich, being denied an aggressive course this Year, by no means +sits idly expectant and defensive in the interim; but, all the more +vigorously, as is observable, from February onwards, strikes out from +him on every side: endeavoring to spoil the Enemy's Magazines, and +cripple his operations in that way. So that there was, all winter +through, a good deal of Small-War (some of it not Small), of more +importance than usual,--chiefly of Friedrich's originating, with the +above view, or of Ferdinand his Ally's, on a still more pressing score. +And, on the whole, that immense Austrian-French Cordon, which goes from +the Carpathians to the Ocean, had by no means a quiet time; but was +broken into, and violently hurled back, in different parts: some four, +or even five, attacks upon it in all; three of them by Prince Henri,--in +two of which Duke Ferdinand's people co-operated; the business being for +mutual behoof. These latter Three were famous in the world, that Winter; +and indeed are still recognizable as brilliant procedures of their kind; +though, except dates and results, we can afford almost nothing of them +here. These Three, intended chiefly against Reichs people and their +Posts and Magazines, fell out on the western and middle part of +the Cordon. Another attack was in the extreme eastward, and was for +Friedrich's own behoof; under Fouquet's management;--intended against +the Austrian-Moravian Magazines and Preparations, but had little +success. Still another assault, or invasive outroad, northward against +the Russian Magazines, there also was; of which by and by. Besides all +which, and more memorable than all, Duke Ferdinand, for vital reasons of +his own, fought a Battle this Spring, considerable Battle, and did NOT +gain it; which made great noise in the world. + +It is not necessary the reader should load his memory with details of +all these preliminary things; on the contrary, it is necessary that he +keep his memory clear for the far more important things that lie ahead +of these, and entertain these in a summary way, as a kind of foreground +to what is coming. Perhaps the following Fractions of Note, which put +matters in something of Chronological or Synoptical form, will suffice +him, or more than suffice. He is to understand that the grand tug of +War, this Year, gradually turns out not to be hereabouts, nor with Daun +and his adjacencies at all, but with the Russians, who arrive from the +opposite Northern quarter; and that all else will prove to be merely +prefatory and nugatory in comparison. + +JANUARY 2d, 1759: FRANKFURT-ON-MAYN, THOUGH IT IS A REICHSTADT, FINDS +ITSELF SUDDENLY BECOME FRENCH. "Prince de Soubise lies between Mayn and +Lahn, with his 25,000; beautifully safe and convenient,--though ill off +for a place-of-arms in those parts. Opulent Frankfurt, on his right; how +handy would that be, were not Reichs Law so express! Marburg, Giessen +are outposts of his; on which side one of Ferdinand's people, Prince von +Ysenburg, watches him with an 8 or 10,000, capable of mischief in that +quarter. + +"On the Eve of New-year's day, or on the auspicious Day itself, Soubise +requests, of the Frankfurt Authorities, permission for a regiment of his +to march through that Imperial City. To which, by law and theory, the +Imperial City can say Yes or No; but practically cannot, without grave +inconvenience, say other than Yes, though most Frankfurters wish it +could. 'Yes,' answer the Frankfurt Magnates; Yes surely, under the known +conditions. Tuesday, January 2d, about 5 in the morning, while all is +still dark in Frankfurt, regiment Nassau appears, accordingly, at the +Sachsenhausen Gate, Town-guard people all ready to receive it and escort +it through; and is admitted as usual. Quite as usual: but instead +of being escorted through, it orders, in calm peremptory voice, the +Town-guard, To ground arms; with calm rapidity proceeds to admit ten +other regiments or battalions, six of them German; seizes the artillery +on the Walls, seizes all the other Gates:--and poor Frankfurt finds +itself tied hand and foot, almost before it is out of bed! Done with +great exactitude, with the minimum of confusion, and without a hurt skin +to anybody. The Inhabitants stood silent, gazing; the Town-guard laid +down their arms, and went home. Totally against Law; but cleverly done; +perhaps Soubise's chief exploit in the world; certainly the one real +success the French have yet had. + +"Soubise made haste to summon the Magistrates: 'Law of Necessity alone, +most honored Sirs! Reichs Law is clear against me. But all the more +shall private liberties, religions, properties, in this Imperial +Free-Town, be sacred to us. Defence against any aggression: and the +strictest discipline observed. Depend on me, I bid you!'--And kept his +word to an honorable degree, they say; or in absence, made it be kept, +during the Four Years that follow. Most Frankfurters are, at heart, +Anti-French: but Soubise's affability was perfect; and he gave evening +parties of a sublime character; the Magistrates all appearing there, in +their square perukes and long gowns, with a mournful joy." [Tempelhof, +iii. 7-8; Stenzel, v. 198-200.] + +Soubise soon went home, to assist in important businesses,--Invasion of +England, no less; let England look to itself this Summer!--and Broglio +succeeded him, as Army-Captain in the Frankfurt parts; with laurels +accruing, more or less. Soubise, like Broglio, began with Rossbach; +Soubise ends with Frankfurt, for the present; where Broglio also gains +his chief laurels, as will shortly be seen. Frankfurt is a great gain to +France, though an illicit one. It puts a bar on Duke Ferdinand in that +quarter; secures a starting-point for attacks on Hessen, Hanover; for +co-operation with Contades and the Lower Rhine. It is the one success +France has yet had in this War, or pretty much that it ever had in it. +Due to Prince de Soubise, in that illegal fashion.--A highly remarkable +little Boy, now in his tenth year, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, has his +wondering eyes on these things: and, short while hence, meets daily, on +the stairs and lobbies at home, a pleasant French Official Gentlemen who +is quartered there; between whom and Papa occur rubs,--as readers may +remember, and shall hear in April coming. + +GRAND CORDON DISRUPTED: ERFURT COUNTRY, 16th FEBRUARY-2d MARCH. "About +six weeks after this Frankfurt achievement, certain Reichsfolk and +Austrian Auxiliaries are observed to be cutting down endless timber, +'18,800 palisades, 6,000 trees of 60 feet,' and other huge furnishings, +from the poor Duke of Gotha's woods; evidently meaning to fortify +themselves in Erfurt. Upon which Prince Henri detaches a General +Knobloch thitherward, Duke Ferdinand contributing 4,000 to meet him +there; which combined expedition, after some sharp knocking and shoving, +entirely disrooted the Austrians and Reichsfolk, and sent them packing. +Had them quite torn out by the end of the month; and had planned to +'attack them on two sides at once' (March 2d), with a view of swallowing +them whole,--when they (these Reichs Volscians, in such a state of +flutter) privately hastened off, one and all of them, the day before." +[Narrative, in _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 1022 et seq.] + +This was BREAKAGE FIRST of the Grand Cordon; an explosive hurling of +it back out of those Erfurt parts. Done by Prince Henri's people, in +concert with Duke Ferdinand's,--who were mutually interested in the +thing. + +BREAKAGE SECOND: ERFURT-FULDA COUNTRY, 31st MARCH-8th APRIL. "About the +end of March, these intrusive Austrian Reichsfolk made some attempt to +come back into those Countries; but again got nothing but hard knocks; +and gave up the Erfurt project. For, close following on this FIRST, +there was a SECOND still deeper and rougher Breakage, in those same +regions; the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick dashing through, on a +special Errand of Ferdinand's own [of which presently], with an 8 or +10,000, in his usual fiery manner; home into the very bowels of the +Reich (April 3d, and for a week onward); and returning with 'above +2,000 prisoners' in hand; especially with a Reich well frightened behind +him;--still in time for Duke Ferdinand's Adventure [in fact, for his +Battle of Bergen, of which we are to hear]. Had been well assisted by +Prince Henri, who 'made dangerous demonstrations in the distance,' and +was extremely diligent--though the interest was chiefly Ferdinand's this +time." [Tempelhof, iii. 19-22.]--Contemporary with that FIRST Erfurt +Business, there went on, 300 miles away from it, in the quite opposite +direction, another of the same;--too curious to be omitted. + +ACROSS THE POLISH FRONTIER: FEBRUARY, 24th-MARCH 4th. "In the end of +February, General Wobersnow, an active man, was detached from Glogau, +over into Poland, Posen way, To overturn the Russian provision +operations thereabouts; in particular, to look into a certain +high-flying Polack, a Prince Sulkowski of those parts; who with all +diligence is gathering food, in expectation of the Russian advent; and +indeed has formally 'declared War against the King of Prussia;' having +the right, he says, as a Polish Magnate, subject only to his own +high thought in such affairs. The Russians and their wars are dear to +Sulkowski. He fell prisoner in their cause, at Zorndorf, last Autumn; +was stuck, like all the others, Soltikoff himself among them, into the +vaulted parts of Custrin Garrison: 'I am sorry I have no Siberia for +you,' said Friedrich, looking, not in a benign way, on the captive +Dignitaries, that hot afternoon; 'go to Custrin, and see what you have +provided for yourselves!' Which they had to do; nothing, for certain +days, but cellarage to lodge in; King inexorable, deaf to remonstrance. +Which possibly may have contributed to kindle Sulkowski into these +extremely high proceedings. + +"At any rate, Wobersnow punctually looks in upon him: seizes his +considerable stock of Russian proviants; his belligerent force, his high +person itself; and in one luckless hour snuffs him out from the list +of potentates. His belligerent force, about 1,000 Polacks, were all +compelled, 'by the cudgel, say my authorities, to take Prussian service +[in garrison regiments, and well scattered about, I suppose]; his +own high person found itself sitting locked in Glogau, left to its +reflections. Sat thus 'till the War ended,' say some; certainly till +the Sulkowski War had been sufficiently exploded by the laughter of +mankind." Here are, succinctly, the dates of this small memorability:-- + +"End of February, Wobersnow gathers, at Glogau, a force of about 8,000 +horse and foot. Marches, 24th FEBRUARY, over Oder Bridge, straight +into Poland; that same night, to the neighborhood of Lissa and Reisen +(Sulkowski's dominion), about thirty miles northeast of Glogau. +Sulkowski done next day;--part of the capture is 'fifteen small guns.' +Wobersnow goes, next, for Posen; arrives, 28th FEBRUARY; destroys +Russian Magazine, ransoms Jews. Shoots out other detachments on the +Magazine Enterprise;--detaches Platen along the Warta, where are picked +up various items, among others 'eighty tuns of brandy,'--but himself +proceeds no farther than Posen. MARCH 4th, sets out again from Posen, +homewards." [NACHRICHT VON DER UNTERNEHMUNG DES GENERAL-MAJORS VON +WOBERSNOW IN POLEN, IM FEB. UND MARZ. 1759: in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. +526-529. _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 829.] We shall hear again of Wobersnow, +in a much more important way, before long. + +To the Polish Republic so called, Friedrich explained politely, not +apologetically: "Since you allow the Russians to march through you in +attack of me, it is evident to your just minds that the attacked party +must have similar privilege." "Truly!" answered they, in their just +minds, generally; and I made no complaint about Sulkowski (though Polish +Majesty and Primate endeavored to be loud about "Invasion" and the +like):--and indeed Polish Republic was lying, for a long while past, as +if broken-backed, on the public highway, a Nation anarchic every fibre +of it, and under the feet and hoofs of travelling Neighbors, especially +of Russian Neighbors; and is not now capable of saying much for itself +in such cases, or of doing anything at all. + +FRANKFURT COUNTRY, APRIL 13th: DUKE FERDINAND'S BATTLE OF BERGEN. "Duke +Ferdinand, fully aware what a stroke that seizure of Frankfurt was to +him, resolved to risk a long march at this bad season, and attempt +to drive the French out. Contades was absent in Paris,--no fear of an +attack from Contades's Army; Broglio's in Frankfurt, grown now to about +35,000, can perhaps be beaten if vigorously attacked. Ferdinand appoints +a rendezvous at Fulda, of various Corps, Prince Ysenburg's and others, +that lie nearest, Hessians many of them, Hanoverians others; proceeds, +himself, to Fulda, with a few attendants [a drive of about 200 +miles];--having left Lord George Sackville [mark the sad name +of him!]--Sackville, head of the English, and General Sporken, a +Hanoverian,--to take charge in Munster Country, during his absence. It +was from Fulda that he shot out the Hereditary Prince on that important +Errand we lately spoke of, under the head of 'BREAKAGE SECOND,'--namely, +to clear his right flank, and scare the Reich well off him, while he +should be marching on Frankfurt. All which, Henri assisting from the +distance, the Hereditary Prince performed to perfection,--and was back +(APRIL 8th) in excellent time for the Battle. + +"Ferdinand stayed hardly a day in Fulda, ranking himself and getting on +the road. Did his long march of above 100 miles without accident or loss +of time;--of course, scaring home the Broglio Outposts in haste enough, +and awakening Broglio's attention in a high degree;--and arrives, +Thursday, April 12th, at Windecken, a Village about fifteen miles +northeast of Frankfurt; where he passes the night under arms; intending +Battle on the morrow. Broglio is all assembled, 35,000 strong; his +Assailant, with the Hereditary Prince come in, counts rather under +30,000. Broglio is posted in, and on both sides of, Bergen, a high-lying +Village, directly on Ferdinand's road to Frankfurt. Windecken is about +fifteen miles from Frankfurt; Bergen about six:--idle Tourists of our +time, on their return from Homburg to that City, leave Bergen a little +on their left. The ground is mere hills, woody dales, marshy brooks; +Broglio's position, with its Village, and Hill, and ravines and +advantages, is the choicest of the region; and Broglio's methods, +procedures and arrangements in it are applauded by all judges. + +"FRIDAY, 13th APRIL, 1759, Ferdinand is astir by daybreak; comes on, +along one of those woody balleys, pickeering, reconnoitring;--in the +end, directly up the Hill of Bergen; straight upon the key-point. It is +about 10 A.M., when the batteries and musketries awaken there; very loud +indeed, for perhaps two hours or more. Prince von Ysenburg is leader of +Ferdinand's attacking party. Their attack is hot and fierce, and they +stick to it steadily; though garden-hedges, orchards and impediments are +many, and Broglio, with, much cannon helping, makes vigorous defence. +These Ysenburgers fought till their cartridges were nearly spent, and +Ysenburg himself lay killed; but could not take Bergen. Nor could the +Hereditary Prince; who, in aid of them, tried it in flank, with his own +usual impetuosity rekindling theirs, and at first with some success; but +was himself taken in flank by Broglio's Reserve, and obliged to desist. +No getting of Bergen by that method. + +"Military critics say coolly, 'You should have smashed it well with +cannon, first [which Ferdinand had not in stock here]; and especially +have flung grenadoes into it, till it was well in flame: impossible +otherwise!' [Mauvillon, ii. 19.] The Ysenburgers and Hereditary Prince +withdraw. No pursuit of them; or almost less than none; for the one or +two French regiments that tried it (against order), nearly got cut up. +Broglio, like a very Daun at Kolin, had strictly forbidden all such +attempts: 'On no temptation quit your ground!' + +"The Battle, after this, lay quiet all afternoon; Ferdinand still in +sight; motioning much, to tempt French valor into chasing of him. But +all in vain: Broglio, though his subalterns kept urging, remonstrating, +was peremptory not to stir. Whereupon, towards evening, across certain +woody Heights, perhaps still with some hope of drawing him out, +Ferdinand made some languid attempt on Broglio's wing, or wings;--and +this also failing, had to give up the affair. He continued cannonading +till deep in the night; withdrew to Windecken: and about two next +morning, marched for home,--still with little or no pursuit: but without +hope of Frankfurt henceforth. And, in fact, has a painful Summer ahead. + +"Ferdinand had lost 5 cannon, and of killed and wounded 2,500; the +French counted their loss at about 1,900. [Mauvillon, ii. 10-19; +Tempelhof, iii. 26-31.] The joy of France over this immense victory was +extraordinary. Broglio was made Prince of the Reich, Marechal de France; +would have been raised to the stars, had one been able,--for the time +being. 'And your immense victory,' so sneered the by-standers, 'consists +in not being beaten, under those excellent conditions;--perhaps victory +is a rarity just now!'" + +This is the Battle which our Boy-Friend Johann Wolfgang watched with +such interest, from his garret-window, hour after hour; all Frankfurt +simmering round him, in such a whirlpool of self-contradictory emotions; +till towards evening, when, in long rows of carts, poor wounded Hessians +and Hanoverians came jolting in, and melted every heart into pity, into +wailing sorrow, and eagerness to help. A little later, Papa Goethe, +stepping downstairs, came across the Official French Gentleman; who said +radiantly: "Doubtless you congratulate yourself and us on this victory +to his Majesty's arms." "Not a whit (KEINESWEGS)," answers Papa Goethe, +a stiff kind of man, nowise in the mood of congratulating: "on the +contrary, I wish they had chased you to the Devil, though I had had to +go too!" Which was a great relief to his feelings, though a dangerous +one in the circumstances. [Goethe's WERKE (Stuttgart und Tubingen, +1829), xxiv. (DICHTUNG UND WAHRHEIT, i.), 153-157.] + +BREAKAGE THIRD: OVER THE METAL MOUNTAINS INTO BOHMEN (APRIL 14th-20th). +"Ferdinand's Battle was hardly ending, when Prince Henri poured across +the Mountains,--in two columns, Hulsen leading the inferior or rightmost +one,--into Leitmeritz-Eger Country; and made a most successful business +of the Austrian Magazines he found there. Magazines all filled; Enemy +all galloping for Prag:--Daun himself, who is sitting vigilant, far in +the interior, at Jaromirtz this month past, was thrown into huge flurry, +for some days! Speedy Henri (almost on the one condition of BEING +speedy) had his own will of the Magazines: burnt, Hulsen and he, 'about +600,000 pounds worth' of Austrian provender in those parts, 'what would +have kept 50,000 men five months in bread' (not to mention hay at all); +gave the Enemy sore slaps (caught about 3,000 of him, NOT yet got on +gallop for Prag); burnt his 200 boats on the Elbe:--forced him to begin +anew at the beginning; and did, in effect, considerably lame and retard +certain of his operations through the Summer. Speedy Henri marched +for home April 20th; and was all across the Mountains April 23d: a +profitable swift nine days." [Tempelhof iii. 47-53; _Helden-Geschichte,_ +v. 963-966.]--And on the sixth day hence he will have something similar, +and still more important, on foot. A swift man, when he must! + +BREAKAGE FOURTH: INTO MAHREN (APRIL 16th-21st). "This is Fouquet's +attempt, alluded to above; of which--as every reader must be satisfied +with Small-War--we will give only the dates. Fouquet, ranking at +Leobschutz, in Neisse Country, did break through into Mahren, pushing +the Austrians before him; but found the Magazines either emptied, or too +inaccessible for any worth they had;--could do nothing on the Magazines; +and returned without result; home at Leobschutz again on the fifth +day." [_ Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 958-963; Tempelhof, iii. 44-47.] This, +however, had a sequel for Fouquet; which, as it brought the King himself +into those neighborhoods, we shall have to mention, farther on. + +BREAKAGE FIFTH: INTO FRANKEN (MAY 5th-JUNE 1st). "This was Prince +Henri's Invasion of the Bamberg-Nurnberg Countries; a much sharper thing +than in any former Year. Much the most famous, and," luckily for us, +"the last of the Small-War affairs for the present. Started,--from +Tschopau region, Bamberg way,--April 29th-May 5th. In Three Columns: +Finck leftmost, and foremost (Finck had marched April 29th, pretending +to mean for Bohemia); after whom Knobloch; and (May 5th) the Prince +himself. Who has an eye to the Reichs Magazines and Preparations, as +usual;--nay, an eye to their Camp of Rendezvous, and to a fight with +their miscellaneous Selves and Auxiliaries, if they will stand fight. +'You will have to leave Saxony, and help us with the Russians, soon: +beat those Reichs people first!' urged the King; 'well beaten, they +will not trouble Saxony for a while.' If they will stand fight? But they +would not at all. They struck their tents everywhere; burnt their +own Magazines, in some cases; and only went mazing hither and +thither,--gravitating all upon Nurnberg, and an impregnable Camp which +they have in that neighborhood. Supreme Zweibruck was himself with +them; many Croats, Austrians, led by Maguire and others; all marching, +whirling at a mighty rate; with a countenance sometimes of vigor, but +always with Nurnberg Camp in rear. There was swift marching, really +beautiful manoeuvring here and there; sharp bits of fighting, too, +almost in the battle-form:--Maguire tried, or was for trying, a stroke +with Finck; but made off hastily, glad to get away. [Templehof, iii. +64.] May 11th, at Himmelskron in Baireuth, one Riedesel of theirs had +fairly to ground arms, self and 2,500, and become prisoners of war." +Much of this manoeuvring and scuffling was in Baireuth Territory. Twice, +or even thrice, Prince Henri was in Baireuth Town: "marched through +Baireuth," say the careless Old Books. Through Baireuth:--No Wilhelmina +now there, with her tremulous melodies of welcome! Wilhelminn's loves, +and terrors for her loved, are now all still. Perhaps her poor Daughter +of Wurtemberg, wandering unjustly disgraced, is there; Papa, the +Widower Margraf, is for marrying again: [Married 20th September, 1759 +(a Brunswick Princess, Sister's-daughter of his late Wife); died within +four years.]--march on, Prince Henri! + +"In Bamberg," says a Note from Archenholtz, "the Reichs troops burnt +their Magazine; and made for Nurnberg, as usual; but left some thousand +or two of Croats, who would not yet. Knobloch and his Prussians appeared +shortly after; summoned Bamberg, which agreed to receive them; and were +for taking possession; but found the Croats determined otherwise. Fight +ensued; fight in the streets; which, in hideousness of noises, if in +nothing else, was beyond parallel. The inhabitants sat all quaking in +their cellars; not an inhabitant was to be seen: a City dead,--and given +up to the demons, in this manner. Not for some hours were the Croats +got entirely trampled out. Bamberg, as usual, became a Prussian +place-of-arms; was charged to pay ransom of 40,000 pounds;--'cannot +possibly!'--did pay some 14,000 pounds, and gave bills for the +remainder." [Archenholtz. i. 371-373.] Which bills, let us mark withal, +the Kaiser in Reichs Diet decreed to be invalid: "Don't pay them!" +A thing not forgotten by Friedrich;--though it is understood the +Bambergers, lest worse might happen, privately paid their bills. "The +Expedition lasted, in whole, not quite four weeks: June 1st, Prince +Henri was at the Saxon frontier again; the German world all ringing +loud,--in jubilation, counter-jubilation and a great variety of +tones,--with the noise of what he had done. A sharp swift man; and, +sure enough, has fluttered the Reichs Volscians in their Corioli to an +unexpected degree." [Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 537-563; BERICHT VON +DER UNTERNEHMUNG DES PRINZEN HEINRICH IN FRANKEN, IM JAHR, 1759; +_Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 1033-1039; Tempelhof,????, et seq.]---[COPY +ILLEGIBLE PAGE 203,] + +A Colonel Wunsch (Lieutenant-Colonel of the Free Corps WUNSCH) +distinguished himself in this Expedition; The beginning of notably great +things to him in the few following months. Wunsch is a Wurtemberger by +birth; has been in many services, always in subaltern posts, and, this +year, will testify strangely how worthy he was of the higher. What a +Year, this of 1759, to stout old Wunsch! In the Spring, here has he just +seen his poor son, Lieutenant Wunsch, perish in one of these scuffles; +in Autumn, he will see himself a General, shining suddenly bright, to +his King and to all the world; before Winter, he will be Prisoner to +Austria, and eclipsed for the rest of this war!--Kleist, of the GREEN +HUSSARS, also made a figure here; and onwards rapidly ever higher; to +the top of renown in his business:--fallen heir to Mayer's place, as it +were. A Note says: "Poor Mayer of the Free Corps does not ride with +the Prince on this occasion. Mayer, dangerously worn down with the hard +services of last Year, and himself a man of too sleepless temper, caught +a fever in the New-year time; and died within few days: burnt away +before his time; much regretted by his Brethren of the Army, and some +few others. Gone in this way; with a high career just opening on him at +the long last! Mayer was of Austrian, of half Spanish birth; a musical, +really melodious, affectionate, but indignant, wildly stormful mortal; +and had had adventures without end. Something of pathos, of tragedy, +in the wild Life of him. [Still worth reading: in Pauli (our old watery +BRANDENBURG-HISTORY Friend). _Leben grosser Helden_ (Halle, 1759-1764, +9 vols.), iii. 142-188;--much the best Piece in that still rather +watery (or windy) Collection, which, however, is authentic, and has +some tolerable Portraits.] A man of considerable genius, military +and other:--genius in the sleepless kind, which is not the best kind; +sometimes a very bad kind. The fame of Friedrich invites such people +from all sides of the world; and this was no doubt a sensible help to +him."--But enough of all this. + +Here, surely, is abundance of preliminary Small-War, on the part of a +Friedrich reduced to the defensive!--Fouquet's Sequel, hinted at above, +was to this effect. On Fouquet's failing to get hold of the Moravian +Magazines, and returning to his Post at Leobschutz, a certain rash +General Deville, who is Austrian chief in those parts, hastily rushed +through the Jagerndorf Hills, and invaded Fouquet. Only for a few days; +and had very bad success, in that bit of retaliation. The King, who is +in Landshut, in the middle of his main cantonments, hastened over +to Leobschutz with reinforcement to Fouquet; in the thought that a +finishing-stroke might be done on this Deville;--and would have done it, +had not the rash man plunged off again (May 1st, or the night before); +homewards, at full speed. So that Friedrich, likewise at full speed, +could catch nothing of him; but merely cannonade him in the Passes +of Zuckmantel, and cut off his rear-guard of Croats. Poor forlorn of +Croats, whom he had left in some bushy Chasm; to gain him a little time, +and then to perish if THEY must! as Tempelhof remarks. [Tempelhof, iii. +56.] Upon which Friedrich returned to Landshut; and Fouquet had peace +again. + +It was from this Landshut region, where his main cantonments are, +that Friedrich had witnessed all these Inroads, or all except the very +earliest of them; the first Erfurt one, and the Wobersnow-Sulkowski. He +had quitted Breslau in the end of March, and gone to his cantonments; +quickened thither, probably, by a stroke that had befallen him at +Griefenberg, on his Silesian side of the Cordon. At Griefenberg +stood the Battalion Duringshofen, with its Colonel of the same +name,--grenadier people of good quality, perhaps near 1,000 in whole. +Which Battalion, General Beck, after long preliminary study of it, +from his Bohemian side,--marching stealthily on it, one night (March +25-26th), by two or more roads, with 8,000 men, and much preliminary +Croat-work,--contrived to envelop wholly, and carry off with him, before +help could come up. This, I suppose, had quickened Friedrich's arrival. +He has been in that region ever since,--in Landshut for the last week or +two; and returns thither after the Deville affair. + +And at Landshut,--which is the main Pass into Bohemia or from it, and is +the grand observatory-point at present,--he will have to remain till the +first days of July; almost three months. Watching, and waiting on the +tedious Daun, who has the lifting of the curtain this Year! Daun +had come to Jaromirtz, to his cantonments, "March 24th" (almost +simultaneously with Friedrich to his); expecting Friedrich's Invasion, +as usual. Long days sat Daun, expecting the King in Bohemia:--"There +goes he, at last!" thought Daun, on Prince Henri's late flamy appearance +there (BREAKAGE THIRD we labelled it);--and Daun had hastily pushed a +Division thitherward, double-quick, to secure Prag; but found it was +only the Magazines. "Above four millions worth [600,000 pounds, counting +the THALERS into sterling], above four millions worth of bread +and forage gone to ashes, and the very boats burnt? Well; the +poor Reichsfolk, or our poor Auxiliaries to them, will have empty +haversacks:--but it is not Prag!" thinks Daun. + +At what exact point of time Daun came to see that Friedrich was not +intending Invasion, and would, on the contrary, require to be invaded, I +do not know. But it must have been an interesting discovery to Daun, if +he foreshadowed to himself what results it would have on him: "Taking +the defensive, then? And what is to become of one's Cunctatorship in +that case!" Yes, truly. Cunctatorship is not now the trade needed; there +is nothing to be made of playing Fabius-Cunctator:--and Daun's fame +henceforth is a diminishing quantity. The Books say he "wasted above +five weeks in corresponding with the Russian Generals." In fact, he +had now weeks enough on hand; being articulately resolved (and even +commanded by Kriegshofrath) to do nothing till the Russians came +up;--and also (INarticulately and by command of Nature) to do as little +as possible after! This Year, and indeed all years following, the +Russians are to be Daun's best card. + +Waiting for three months here till the curtain rose, it was Friedrich +that had to play Cunctator. A wearisome task to him, we need not doubt. +But he did it with anxious vigilance; ever thinking Daun would try +something, either on Prince Henri or on him, and that the Play would +begin. But the Play did not. There was endless scuffling and +bickering of Outposts; much hitching and counter-hitching, along that +Bohemian-Silesian Frontier,--Daun gradually hitching up, leftwards, +northwards, to be nearer his Russians; Friedrich counter-hitching, +and, in the end, detaching against the Russians, as they approached in +actuality. The details of all which would break the toughest patience. +Not till July came, had both parties got into the Lausitz; Daun into +an impregnable Camp near Mark-Lissa (in Gorlitz Country); Friedrich, +opposite and eastward of him, into another at Schmottseifen:--still +after which, as the Russians still were not come, the hitching (if we +could concern ourselves with it), the maze of strategic shuffling and +counter-dancing, as the Russians get nearer, will become more intricate +than ever. + +Except that of General Beck on Battalion Duringshofen,--if that was +meant as retaliatory, and was not rather an originality of Beck's, who +is expert at such strokes,--Daun, in return for all these injurious +Assaults and Breakages, tried little or no retaliation; and got +absolutely none. Deville attempted once, as we saw; Loudon once, as +perhaps we shall see: but both proved futile. For the present absolutely +none. Next Year indeed, Loudon, on Fouquet at Landshut--But let us not +anticipate! Just before quitting Landshut for Schmottseifen, Friedrich +himself rode into Bohemia, to look more narrowly; and held Trautenau, at +the bottom of the Pass, for a day or two--But the reader has had enough +of Small-War! Of the present Loudon attempt, Friedrich, writing to +Brother Henri, who is just home from his Franconian Invasion (BREAKAGE +FIFTH), has a casual word, which we will quote. "Reich-Hennersdorf" is +below Landshut, farther down the Pass; "Liebau" still farther down,--and +its "Gallows," doubtless, is on some knoll in the environs! + +REICH-HENNERSDORF, 9th JUNE. "My congratulations on the excellent +success you have had [out in Frankenland yonder]! Your prisoners, we +hear, are 3,000; the desertion and confusion in the Reichs Army are +affirmed to be enormous:--I give those Reichs fellows two good months +[scarcely took so long] to be in a condition to show face again. As for +ourselves, I can send you nothing but contemptibilities. We have never +yet had the beatific vision of Him with the Hat and Consecrated +Sword [Papal Daun, that is]; they amuse us with the Sieur Loudon +instead;--who, three days ago [7th July, two days] did us the honor of +a visit, at the Gallows of Liebau. He was conducted out again, with all +the politeness imaginable, on to near Schatzlar," well over the Bohemian +Border; "where we flung a score of cannon volleys into the"--into the +"DERRIERE of him, and everybody returned home." [In SCHONING, ii. 65: +"9th June, 1759."] + +Perhaps the only points now noticeable in this tedious Landshut interim, +are Two, hardly noticed then at all by an expectant world. The first is: +That in the King's little inroad down to Trautenau, just mentioned, four +cannon drawn by horses were part of the King's fighting gear,--the first +appearance of Horse Artillery in the world. "A very great invention," +says the military mind: "guns and carriages are light, and made of the +best material for strength; the gunners all mounted as postilions to +them. Can scour along, over hill and dale, wherever horse can; and burst +out, on the sudden, where nobody was expecting artillery. Devised in +1758; ready this Year, four light six-pounders; tried first in the +King's raid down to Trautenau [June 29th-30th]. Only four pieces as +yet. But these did so well, there were yearly more. Imitated by the +Austrians, and gradually by all the world." [Seyfarth, ii. 543.] + +The second fact is: That Herr Guichard (Author of that fine Book on the +War-methods of the Greeks and Romans) is still about Friedrich, as he +has been for above a year past, if readers remember; and, during those +tedious weeks, is admitted to a great deal of conversation with the +King. Readers will consent to this Note on Guichard; and this shall be +our ultimatum on the wearisome Three Months at Landshut. + +MAJOR QUINTUS ICILIUS. "Guichard is by birth a Magdeburger, age now +thirty-four; a solid staid man, with a good deal of hard faculty in him, +and of culture unusual for a soldier. A handy, sagacious, learned and +intelligent man; whom Friedrich, in the course of a year's experience, +has grown to see willingly about him. There is something of positive in +Guichard, of stiff and, as it were, GRITTY, which might have offended a +weaker taste; but Friedrich likes the rugged sense of the man; his real +knowledge on certain interesting heads; and the precision with which +the known and the not rightly known are divided from one another, in +Guichard. + +"Guichard's business about the King has been miscellaneous, not worth +mention hitherto; but to appearance was well done. Of talk they are +beginning to have more and more; especially at Landshut here, in these +days of waiting; a great deal of talk on the Wars of the Ancients, +Guichard's Book naturally leading to that subject. One night, datable +accidentally about the end of May, the topic happened to be Pharsalia, +and the excellent conduct of a certain Centurion of the Tenth Legion, +who, seeing Pompey's people about to take him in flank, suddenly flung +himself into oblique order [SCHRAGE STELLUNG, as we did at Leutheu], +thereby outflanking Pompey's people, and ruining their manoeuvre and +them. 'A dexterous man, that Quintus Icilius the Centurion!' observed +Friedrich. 'Ah, yes: but excuse me, your Majesty, his name was Quintus +Caecilius,' said Guichard. 'No, it was Icilius,' said the King, positive +to his opinion on that small point; which Guichard had not the art to +let drop; though, except assertion and counter-assertion, what could be +made of it there? Or of what use was it anywhere? + +"Next day, Guichard came with the book [what "Book" nobody would ever +yet tell me], and putting his finger on the passage, 'See, your Majesty: +Quintus CAEcilius!' extinguished his royal opponent. 'Hm,' answered +Friedrich: 'so?--Well, you shall be Quintus Icilius, at any rate!' +And straightway had him entered on the Army Books 'as Major Quintus +Icilius;' his Majorship is to be dated '10th April, 1758' (to give him +seniority); and from and after this '26th May, 1759,' he is to +command the late Du Verger's Free-Battalion. All which was done:--the +War-Offices somewhat astonished at such advent of an antique Roman +among them; but writing as bidden, the hand being plain, and the man an +undeniable article. Onward from which time there is always a 'Battalion +Quintus' on their Books, instead of Battalion Du Verger; by degrees +two Batallions Quintus, and at length three, and Quintus become a +Colonel:--at which point the War ended; and the three Free-Battalions +Quintus, like all others of the same type, were discharged." This is +the authentic origin of the new name Quintus, which Guichard got, to +extinction of the old; substantially this, as derived from Quintus +himself,--though in the precise details of it there are obscurities, +never yet solved by the learned. Nicolai, for example, though he had +the story from Quintus in person, who was his familiar acquaintance, and +often came to see him at Berlin, does not, with his usual punctuality, +say, nor even confess that he has forgotten, what Book it was that +Quintus brought with him to confute the King on their Icilius-Caecilius +controversy; Nicolai only says, that he, for his part, in the fields of +Roman Literature and History, knows only three Quintus-Iciliuses, +not one of whom is of the least likelihood; and in fact, in the above +summary, I have had to INVERT my Nicolai on one point, to make the story +stick together. [Nicolai, _Anekdoten,_ vi. 129-145.] + +"Quintus had been bred for the clerical profession; carefully, at +various Universities, Leyden last of all; and had even preached, as +candidate for license,--I hope with moderate orthodoxy;--though he soon +renounced that career. Exchanged it for learned and vigorous general +study, with an eye to some College Professorship instead. He was still +hardly twenty-three, when, in 1747, the new Stadtholder," Prince of +Orange, whom we used to know, "who had his eye upon him as a youth of +merit, graciously undertook to get him placed at Utrecht, in a vacancy +which had just occurred there,--whither the Prince was just bound, on +some ceremonial visit of a high nature. The glad Quintus, at that time +Guichard and little thinking of such an alias, hastened to set off in +the Prince's train; but could get no conveyance, such was the press of +people all for Utrecht. And did not arrive till next day,--and found +quarter, with difficulty, in the garret of some overflowing Inn. + +"In the lower stories of his Inn, solitary Guichard, when night fell, +heard a specific GAUDEAMUS going on; and inquired what it was. +'A company of Professors, handselling a newly appointed +Professor;'--appointed, as the next question taught, to the very Chair +poor Quintus had come for! Serene Highness could not help himself; the +Utrechters were so bent on the thing. Quintus lay awake, all night, in +his truckle-bed; and gloomily resolved to have done with Professorships, +and become a soldier. 'If your Serene Highness do still favor me,' +said Quintus next day, 'I solicit, as the one help for me, an ensign's +commission!'--And persisted rigorously, in spite of all counsellings, +promises and outlooks on the professorial side of things. So that Serene +Highness had to grant him his commission; and Quintus was a soldier +thenceforth. Fought, more or less, in the sad remainder of that +Cumberland-Saxe War; and after the Peace of 1748 continued in the Dutch +service. Where, loath to be idle, he got his learned Books out again, +and took to studying thoroughly the Ancient Art of War. After years of +this, it had grown so hopeful that he proceeded to a Book upon it; and, +by degrees, determined that he must get to certain Libraries in +England, before finishing. In 1754, on furlough, graciously allowed and +continued, he came to London accordingly; finished his manuscript there +(printed at the Hague 1757 [_Memoires Militaires sur les &c._ (a La +Haye, 1757: 2 vols. 4to);--was in the 5th edition when I last heard of +it.]): and new War having now begun, went over (probably with English +introductions) as volunteer to Duke Ferdinand. By Duke Ferdinand he +was recommended to Friedrich, the goal of all his efforts, as of every +vagrant soldier's in those times:--and here at last, as Quintus +Icilius, he has found permanent billet, a Battalion and gradually three +Battalions, and will not need to roam any farther. + +"They say, what is very credible, that Quintus proved an active, stout +and effectual soldier, in his kind; and perhaps we may hear of some of +his small-war adventures by and by: that he was a studious, hard-headed, +well-informed man, and had written an excellent Book on his subject, +is still abundantly clear. Readers may look in the famous Gibbon's +_Autobiography,_ or still better in the Guichard Book itself, if +they want evidence. The famous Gibbon was drilling and wheeling, very +peaceably indeed, in the Hampshire Militia, in those wild years of +European War. Hampshire Militia served as key, or glossary in a sort, +to this new Book of Guichard's, which Gibbon eagerly bought and studied; +and it, was Guichard, ALIAS Quintus Icilius, who taught Gibbon all he +ever knew of Ancient War, at least all the teaching he ever had of it, +for his renowned DECLINE AND FALL." [See Gibbon's _Works_ (4to, London, +1796: _Memoirs of my Life and Writings_], i. 97; and (_Extraits de mes +Lectures_), ii. 52-54, of dates May 14th-26th, 1762,--during which days +Gibbon is engaged in actual reading of the _Memoires Militaires;_ and +already knows the Author by his ALIAS of Quintus Icilius, "a man of +eminent sagacity and insight, who was in the Dutch, and is now, I +believe, in the Prussian service." + +It was in the last days of June that Daun, after many litchings, got +into more decisive general movement northward; and slowly but steadily +planted himself at Mark-Lissa in the Lausitz: upon which, after some +survey of the phenomenon, Friedrich got to Schmottseifen, opposite +him, July 10th. Friedrich, on noticing such stir, had ridden down to +Trautenau (June 29th-30th), new Horse-Artillery attending, to look +closer into Daun's affairs; and, seeing what they were, had thereupon +followed. Above a month before this, Friedrich had detached a +considerable force against the Russians,--General Dohna, of whom in next +Chapter:--and both Daun and he again sit waiting, till they see farther. +Rapid Friedrich is obliged to wait; watching Daun and the Dohna-Russian +adventure: slow Daun will continue to wait and watch there, long weeks +and months, after that is settled, that and much else, fully to his +mind! Each is in his impregnable Camp; and each, Daun especially, +has his Divisions and Detachments hovering round him, near or far, on +different strategic errands; each Main-Camp like a planet with various +moons--Mark-Lissa especially, a kind of sun with planets and comets and +planetary moons:--of whose intricate motions and counter-motions, mostly +unimportant to us, we promised to take no notice, in face of such a +crisis just at hand. + +By the 6th of July, slow Daun had got hitched into his Camp of +Mark-Lissa; and four days after, Friedrich attending him, was in +Schmottseifen: where again was pause; and there passed nothing +mentionable, even on Friedrich's score; and till July was just ending, +the curtain did not fairly rise. Panse of above two weeks on Friedrich's +part, and of almost three months on Daun's. Mark-Lissa, an impregnable +Camp, is on the Lausitz Border; with Saxony, Silesia, Bohemia all +converging hereabouts, and Brandenburg itself in the vicinity,--there is +not a better place for waiting on events. Here, accordingly, till +well on in September, Daun sat immovable; not even hitching now,--only +shooting out Detachments, planetary, cometary, at a great rate, chiefly +on his various Russian errands. + +Daun, as we said, had been uncomfortably surprised to find, by degrees, +that Invasion was not Friedrich's plan this Year; that the dramatic +parts are redistributed, and that the playing of Fabius-Cunctator will +not now serve one's turn. Daun, who may well be loath to believe such +a thing, clings to his old part, and seems very lazy to rise and try +another. In fact, he does not rise, properly speaking, or take up his +new part at all. This Year, and all the following, he waits carefully +till the Russian Lion come; will then endeavor to assist,--or even do +jackal, which will be safer still. The Russians he intends shall act +lion; he himself modestly playing the subaltern but much safer part! +Diligent to flatter the lion; will provide him guidances, and fractional +sustenances, in view of the coming hunt; will eat the lion's leavings, +once the prey is slaughtered. This really was, in some sort, Daun's +yearly game, so long as it would last!-- + +July ending, and the curtain fairly risen, we shall have to look at +Friedrich with our best eyesight. Preparatory to which, there is, on +Friedrich's part, ever since the middle of June, this Anti-Russian Dohna +adventure going on:--of which, at first, and till about the time of +getting to Schmottseifen, he had great hopes; great, though of late +rapidly sinking again:--into which we must first throw a glance, as +properly the opening scene. + +Fouquet has been left at Landshut, should the Daun remnants still in +Bohemia think of invading. Fouquet is about rooting himself rather +firmly into that important Post; fortifying various select Hills round +Landshut, with redoubts, curtains, communications; so as to keep ward +there, inexpugnable to a much stronger force. There for about a year, +with occasional short sallies, on errands that arise, Fouquet sat +successfully vigilant; resisting the Devilles, Becks, Harsches; +protecting Glatz and the Passes of Silesia: in about a year we shall +hear of his fortunes worsening, and of a great catastrophe to him in +that Landshut Post. + +Friedrich allowed the Reichsfolk "two good months," after all that +flurrying and havoc done on them, "before they could show face in +Saxony." They did take about that time; and would have taken more, +had not Prince Henri been called away by other pressing occasions in +Friedrich's own neighborhood; and Saxony, for a good while (end of June +to beginning of September), been left almost bare of Prussian troops. +Which encourages the Reichs Army to hurry afield in very unprepared +condition,--still rather within the two months. End of July, Light +people of them push across to Halberstadt or Halle Country; and are +raising Contributions, and plundering diligently, if nothing else. Of +which we can take no notice farther: if the reader can recollect it, +well; if not, also well. The poor Reichs Army nominally makes a figure +this Year, but nominally only; the effective part of it, now and +henceforth, being Austrian Auxiliaries, and the Reichs part as flaccid +and insignificant as ever. + +Prince Henri's call to quit Saxony was this. Daun, among the numerous +Detachments he was making, of which we can take no notice, had shot +out Two (rather of COMETARY type, to use our old figure),--which every +reader must try to keep in mind. Two Detachments, very considerable: +Haddick (who grew at last to 20,000), and Loudon (16,000); who are +hovering about mysteriously over the Lausitz;--intending what? Their +intention, Friedrich thinks, especially Haddick's intention, may be +towards Brandenburg, and even Berlin: wherefore he has summoned Henri to +look after it. Henri, resting in cantonments about Tschopau and Dresden, +after the late fatigues, and idle for the moment, hastens to obey; +and is in Bautzen neighborhood, from about the end of June and onward. +Sufficiently attentive to Haddick and Loudon: who make no attempt on +Brandenburg; having indeed, as Friedrich gradually sees, and as all of +us shall soon see, a very different object in view!-- + + + + + +Chapter II.--GENERAL DOHNA; DICTATOR WEDELL: BATTLE OF ZULLICHAU. + +The Russian Lion, urged by Vienna and Versailles, made his entry, this +Year, earlier than usual,--coming now within wind of Mark-Lissa, as we +see;--and has stirred Daun into motion, Daun and everybody. From the +beginning of April, the Russians, hibernating in the interior parts +of Poland, were awake, and getting slowly under way. April 24th, the +Vanguard of 10,000 quitted Thorn; June 1st, Vanguard is in Posen; +followed by a First Division and a Second, each of 30,000. They called +it "Soltikof crossing the Weichsel with 100,000 men;" but, exclusive +of the Cossack swarms, there were not above 76,000 regulars: nor was +Soltikof their Captain just at first; our old friend Fermor was, and +continued to be till Soltikof, in a private capacity, reached Posen +(June 29th), and produced his new commission. At Fermor's own request, +as Fermor pretended,--who was skilled in Petersburg politics, and with a +cheerful face served thenceforth as Soltikof's second. + +At Posen, as on the road thither, they find Sulkowski's and the other +burnt provenders abundantly replaced: it is evident they intend, in +concert with Daun, to enclose Friedrich between two fires, and do +something considerable. Whether on Brandenburg or Silesia, is not yet +known to Friedrich. Friedrich, since the time they crossed Weichsel, +has given them his best attention; and more than once has had schemes on +their Magazines and them,--once a new and bigger Scheme actually afoot, +under Wobersnow again, our Anti-Sulkowski friend; but was obliged to +turn the force elsewhither, on alarms that rose. He himself cannot quit +the centre of the work; his task being to watch Daun, and especially, +should Daun attempt nothing else, to prevent junction of Soltikof and +him. + +Daun still lies torpid, or merely hitching about; but now when +the Russians are approaching Posen, and the case becomes pressing, +Friedrich, as is usual to him, draws upon the Anti-Swedish resource, +upon the Force he has in Pommern. That is to say, orders General Dohna, +who has the Swedes well driven in at present, to quit Stralsund Country, +to leave the ineffectual Swedes with some very small attendance; and to +march--with certain reinforcements that are arriving (Wobersnow already, +Hulsen with 10,000 out of Saxony in few days)--direct against the +Russians; and at once go in upon them. Try to burn their Magazines +again; or, equally good, to fall vigorously on some of their separate +Divisions, and cut them off in the vagrant state;--above all, to be +vigorous, be rapid, sharp, and do something effectual in that quarter. +These were Dohna's Instructions. Dohna has 18,000; Hulsen, with his +10,000, is industriously striding forward, from the farther side of +Saxony; Wobersnow, with at least his own fine head, is already there. +Friedrich, watching in the Anti-Junction position, ready for the least +chance that may turn up. + +Dohna marched accordingly; but was nothing like rapid enough: an old +man, often in ill health too; and no doubt plenty of impediments about +him. He consumed some time rallying at Stargard; twelve days more at +Landsberg, on the Warta, settling his provision matters: in fine, did +not get to Posen neighborhood till June 23d, three weeks after the +Russian Vanguard of 10,000 had fixed itself there, and other Russian +parties were daily dropping in. Dohna was 15,000, a Wobersnow with him: +had he gone at once on Posen, as Wobersnow urged, it is thought he might +perhaps have ruined this Vanguard and the Russian Magazine; which would +have been of signal service for the remaining Campaign. But he preferred +waiting for Hulsen and the 10,000, who did not arrive for seven or eight +days more; by which time Soltikof and most of the Russian Divisions had +got in;--and the work was become as good as hopeless, on those languid +terms. Dohna did try upon the Magazine, said to be ill guarded in some +Suburb of Posen; crossed the Warta with that view, found no Magazine; +recrossed the Warta; and went manoeuvring about, unable to do the least +good on Soltikof or his Magazines or operations. Friedrich was still in +Landshut region, just about quitting it,--just starting on that little +Trautenau Expedition, with his Four Pieces of Horse-Artillery (June +29th), when the first ill news of Dohna came in; which greatly +disappointed Friedrich, and were followed by worse, instead of better. + +The end was, Soltikof, being now all ready, winded himself out of Posen +one day, veiled by Cossacks; and, to Dohna's horror, had got, or was in +the act of getting, between Dohna and Brandenburg; which necessitated +new difficult manoeuvres from Dohna. Soltikof too can manoeuvre a +little: Soltikof edges steadily forward; making for Crossen-on-Oder, +where he expects to find Austrians (Haddick and Loudon, if Friedrich +could yet guess it), with 30,000 odd, especially with provision, +which is wearing scarce with him. Twice or so there was still a pretty +opportunity for Dohna on him; but Dohna never could resolve about it +in time. Back and ever back goes Dohna; facing Soltikof; but always +hitching back; latterly in Brandenburg ground, the Russians and +he;--having no provision, he either. In fine, July 17th (one week after +Friedrich had got to Schmottseifen), Dohna finds himself at the little +Town of Zullichau (barely in time to snatch it before Soltikof could), +within thirty miles of Crossen; and nothing but futility behind and +before. [Tempelhof, iii, 78-88; _ Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 835-847.] + +We can imagine Friedrich's daily survey of all this; his gloomy +calculations what it will soon amount to if it last. He has now no +Winterfeld, Schwerin, no Keith, Retzow, Moritz:--whom has he? His +noblest Captains are all gone; he must put up with the less noble. One +Wedell, Lieutenant-General, had lately recommended himself to the royal +mind by actions of a prompt daring. The royal mind, disgusted with these +Dohna hagglings, and in absolute necessity of finding somebody that had +resolution, and at least ordinary Prussian skill, hoped Wedell was the +man. And determined, the crisis being so urgent, to send Wedell in the +character of ALTER-EGO, or "with the powers of a Roman Dictator," as the +Order expressed it. [Given in Preuss, ii. 207, 208; in Stenzel, v. 212, +other particulars.] Dictator Wedell is to supersede Dohna; shall go, +at his own swift pace, fettered by nobody;--and, at all hazards, shall +attack Soltikof straightway, and try to beat him. "You are grown too +old for that intricate hard work; go home a little, and recover your +health," the King writes to Dohna. And to the Dohna Army, "Obey this +man, all and sundry of you, as you would myself;" the man's private +Order being, "Go in upon Soltikof; attack him straightway; let us have +done with this wriggling and haggling." Date of this Order is "Camp at +Schmottseifen, 20th July, 1759." The purpose of such high-flown Title, +and solemnity of nomination, was mainly, it appears, to hush down any +hesitation or surprise among the Dohna Generals, which, as Wedell was +"the youngest Lieutenant-General of the Army," might otherwise have been +possible. + +Wedell, furnished with some small escort and these Documents, arrives +in Camp Sunday Evening, 22d July:--poor Dohna has not the least word +or look of criticism; and every General, suppressing whatever thoughts +there may be, prepares to yield loyal obedience to Dictator Wedell. +"Wobersnow was the far better soldier of the two!" murmured the +Opposition party, then and long afterwards, [Retzow, &c.]--all the more, +as Wobersnow's behavior under it was beautiful, and his end tragical, as +will be seen. Wobersnow I perceive to have been a valiant sharp-striking +man, with multifarious resources in his head; who had faithfully helped +in these operations, and I believe been urgent to quicken them. But +what I remember best of him is his hasty admirable contrivance for +field-bakery in pressing circumstances,--the substance of which shall +not be hidden from a mechanical age:-- + +"You construct six slight square iron frames, each hinged to the other; +each, say, two feet square, or the breadth of two common tiles, and +shaped on the edges so as to take in tiles;--tiles are to be found on +every human cottage. This iron frame, when you hook it together, becomes +the ghost of a cubic box, and by the help of twelve tiles becomes a +compact field-oven; and you can bake with it, if you have flour and +water, and a few sticks. The succinctest oven ever heard of; for your +operation done, and your tiles flung out again, it is capable of all +folding flat like a book." [Retzow, ii. 82 n.] Never till now had +Wobersnow's oven been at fault: but in these Polish Villages, all of +mere thatched hovels, there was not a tile to be found; and the Bakery, +with astonishment, saw itself unable to proceed. + +Wedell arrived Sunday evening, 22d July; had crossed Oder at +Tschischerzig,--some say by Crossen Bridge; no matter which. Dohna's +Camp is some thirty miles west of Crossen; in and near the small +Town called Zullichau, where his head-quarter is. In those dull +peaty Countries, on the right, which is thereabouts the NORTHERN (not +eastern), bank of Oder; between the Oder and the Warta; some seventy +miles south-by-east of Landsberg, and perhaps as far southwest of Posen: +thither has Dohna now got with his futile manoeuvrings. Soltikof, drawn +up amid scrubby woods and sluggish intricate brooks, is about a mile to +east of him. + +Poor Dohna demits at once; and, I could conjecture, vanishes that very +night; glad to be out of such a thing. Painfully has Dohna manoeuvred +for weeks past; falling back daily; only anxious latterly that Soltikof, +who daily tries it, do not get to westward of him on the Frankfurt +road, and so end this sad shuffle. Soltikof as yet has not managed that +ultimate fatality; Dohna, by shuffling back, does at least contrive to +keep between Frankfurt and him;--will not try attacking him, much as +Wobersnow urges it. Has agreed twice or oftener, on Wobersnow's urgency: +"Yes, yes; we have a chance," Dohna would answer; "only let us rest till +to-morrow, and be fresh!" by which time the opportunity was always gone +again. + +Wedell had arrived with a grenadier battalion and some horse for escort; +had picked up 150 Russian prisoners by the way. Retzow has understood +he came in with a kind of state; and seemed more or less inflated; +conscious of representing the King's person, and being a Roman +Dictator,--though it is a perilously difficult office too, and requires +more than a Letter of Instructions to qualify you for it! This is not +Leonidas Wedell, whom readers once knew; poor Leonidas is dead long +since, fell in the Battle of Sohr, soon after the heroic feat of +Ziethen's and his at Elbe-Teinitz (Defence of Elbe against an Army); +this is Leonidas's elder Brother. Friedrich had observed his fiery +ways on the day of Leuthen: "Hah, a new Winterfeld perhaps?" thought +Friedrich, "All the Winterfeld I now have!"--which proved a fond hope. +Wedell's Dictatorship began this Sunday towards sunset; and lasted--in +practical fact, it lasted one day. + + + + +DICTATOR WEDELL FIGHTS HIS BATTLE (Monday, 23d July, 1759), WITHOUT +SUCCESS. + +Monday morning early, Wedell is on the heights, reconnoitring Soltikof; +cannot see much of him, the ground being so woody; does see what he +takes to be Soltikof's left wing; and judges that Soltikof will lie +quiet for this day. Which was far from a right reading of Soltikof; the +fact being that Soltikof, in long columns and divisions, beginning with +his right wing, was all on march since daybreak; what Wedell took for +Soltikof's "left wing" being Soltikof's rear-guard and baggage, waiting +till the roads cleared. Wedell, having settled everything on the above +footing, returns to Zullichau about 10 o'clock; and about 11, Soltikof, +miles long, disengaged from the bushy hollows, makes his appearance on +the open grounds of Palzig: he, sure enough (though Wedell can hardly +believe it),--five or six miles to northeast yonder; tramping diligently +along, making for Crossen and the Oder Bridge;--and is actually got +ahead of us, at last! + +This is what Wedell cannot suffer, cost what it may. Wedell's orders +were, in such case, Attack the Russians. Wedell instantly took his +measures; not unskilfully, say judges,--though the result proved +disappointing; and Wobersnow himself earnestly dissuaded: "Too +questionable, I should doubt! Soltikof is 70,000, and has no end of +Artillery; we are 26,000, and know not if we can bring a single gun to +where Soltikof is!" [Tempelhof, iii. 132-134.] + +Wedell's people have already, of their own accord, got to arms again; +stand waiting his orders on this new emergency. No delay in Wedell or in +them. "May not it be another Rossbach (if we are lucky)?" thinks Wedell: +"Cannot we burst in on their flank, as they march yonder, those awkward +fellows; and tumble them into heaps?" The differences were several-fold: +First, that Friedrich and Seidlitz are not here. Many brave men we have, +and skilful; but not a master and man like these Two. Secondly, that +there is no Janus Hill to screen our intentions; but that the Russians +have us in full view while we make ready. Thirdly, and still +more important, that we do not know the ground, and what hidden +inaccessibilities lie ahead. This last is judged to have been the +killing circumstance. Between the Russians and us there is a paltry +little Brook, or line of quagmire; scarcely noticeable here, but +passable nowhere except at the Village-Mill of Kay, by one poor Bridge +there. And then, farther inwards, as shelter of the Russians, there +is another quaggy Brook, branch of the above, which is without bridge +altogether. Hours will be required to get 26,000 people marched up +there, not to speak of heavy guns at all. + +The 26,000 march with their usual mathematical despatch: Manteuffel and +the Vanguard strike in with their sharpest edge, foot and horse, direct +on the Head of the Russian Column, Manteuffel leading on, so soon as his +few battalions and squadrons are across. Head means BRAIN (or life) +to this Russian Column; and these Manteuffel people go at it with +extraordinary energy. The Russian Head gives way; infantry and +cavalry:--their cavalry was driven quite to rear, and never came in +sight again after this of Manteuffel. But the Russians have abundance +of Reserves; also of room to manoeuvre in,--no lack of ground open, and +ground defensible (Palzig Village and Churchyard, for example);--above +all, they have abundance of heavy guns. + +Well in recoil from Manteuffel and his furies, the beaten Russians +succeed in forming "a long Line behind Palzig Village," with that +Second, slighter or Branch Quagmire between them and us; they get the +Village beset, and have the Churchyard of it lined with batteries,--say +seventy guns. Manteuffel, unsupported, has to fall back;--unwillingly, +and not chased or in disorder,--towards Kay-Mill again; where many +are by this time across. Hulsen, with the Centre, attacks now, as the +Vanguard had done; with a will, he too: Wobersnow, all manner of people +attack; time after time, for about four hours coming: and it proves +all in vain, on that Churchyard and new Line. Without cannon, we are +repulsed, torn away by those Russian volcano-batteries; never enough of +us at once! + +Hulsen, Wobersnow, everybody in detail is repulsed, or finds his success +unavailing. Poor Wobersnow did wonders; but he fell, killed. Gone he; +and has left so few of his like: a man that could ill be spared at +present!--Day is sinking; we find we have lost, in killed, wounded and +prisoners, some 6,000 men. "About sunset,"--flaming July sun going down +among the moorlands on such a scene,--Wedell gives it up; retires slowly +towards Kay Bridge. Slowly; not chased, or molested; Soltikof too glad +to be rid of him. Soltikof's one aim is, and was, towards Crossen; +towards Austrian Junction, and something to live upon. Soltikof's loss +of men is reckoned to be heavier even than Wedell's: but he could far +better afford it. He has gained his point; and the price is small in +comparison. Next day he enters Crossen on triumphant terms. + +Poor Wedell had returned over Kay-Mill Bridge, in the night-time after +his Defeat. On the morrow (Tuesday, 24th, day of Soltikof's glad entry), +Wedell crosses Oder; at Tschischerzig, the old place of Sunday evening +last,--in how different a humor, this time!--and in a day more, posts +himself opposite to Crossen Bridge, five or six miles south; and again +sits watchful of Soltikof there. At Crossen, triumphant Soltikof has +found no Austrian Junction, nor anything additional to live upon. A +very disappointing circumstance to Soltikof; "Austrian Junction still +a problem, then; a thing in the air? And perhaps the King of Prussia +taking charge of it now!" Soltikof, more and more impatient, after +waiting some days, decided Not to cross Oder by that Bridge;--"shy of +crossing anywhere [think the French Gentlemen, Montazet, Montalembert], +to the King of Prussia's side!" [Stenzel, iv. 215 (indistinct, and +giving a WRONG citation of "Montalembert, ii. 87").] Which is not +unlikely, though the King is above 100 miles off him, and has Daun +on his hands. Certain enough, keeping the River between him and any +operations of the King, Soltikof set out for Frankfurt, forty or fifty +miles farther down. In the hope probably of finding something of human +provender withal? July 30th, one week after his Battle, the vanguard of +him is there. + +Thus, in two days, or even in one, has Wedell's Dictatorship ended. Easy +to say scoffingly, "Would it had never begun!" Friedrich knows that, +and Wedell knows it;--AFTER the event everybody knows it! Friedrich said +nothing of reproachful; the reverse rather,--"I dreaded something of the +kind; it is not your fault;" [TO WEDELL, FROM THE KING, "Schmottseifen, +July 24th. 1759" (in Schoning, ii. 118).]--ordered Wedell to watch +diligently at Crossen Bridge, and be ready on farther signal. The Wedell +Problem, in such ruined condition, has now fallen to Friedrich himself. + +This is the BATTLE OF ZULLICHAU (afternoon of 23d July, 1759); the +beginning of immense disasters in this Campaign. Battle called also of +KAY and of PALZIG, those also being main localities in it. It was lost, +not by fault of Wedell's people, who spent themselves nobly upon it, nor +perhaps by fault of Wedell himself, but principally, if not solely, +by those two paltry Brooks, or threads of Quagmire, one of which turns +Kay-Mill; memorable Brooks in this Campaign, 1759. [Tempelhof, iii. +125-131.] + +Close in the same neighborhood, there is another equally contemptible +Brook, making towards Oder, and turning the so-called Krebsmuhle, which +became still more famous to the whole European Public twenty years +hence. KREBS-MUHLE (Crab-Mill), as yet quite undistinguished among +Mills; belonging to a dusty individual called Miller Arnold, with a +dusty Son of his own for Miller's Lad: was it at work this day? Or had +the terrible sound from Palzig quenched its clacking?-- + +Some three weeks ago (4th-6th JULY), there occurred a sudden sharp thing +at Havre-de-Grace on the French Coast, worth a word from us in this +place. The Montazets, Montalemberts, watching, messaging about, in the +Austrian-Russian Courts and Camps, assiduously keeping their Soltikofs +in tune, we can observe how busy they are. Soubise with his Invasion of +England, all the French are very busy; they have conquered Hessen from +Duke Ferdinand, and promise themselves a glorious Campaign, after that +Seizure of Frankfurt. Soubise, intent on his new Enterprise, is +really making ardent preparations: at Vanues in the Morbihan, +such rendezvousing and equipping;--especially at Havre, no end of +flat-bottomed boats getting built; and much bluster and agitation among +the weaker sorts in both Nations. Whereupon,-- + +"JULY 1st [just in the days while Friedrich was first trying Horse +Artillery], Rear-Admiral Rodney sails from Portsmouth with a few +Frigates, and Six Bomb-ketches [FIREDRAKE, BASILISK, BLAST, and such +nomenclatures [List of him, in Beatson, _Naval and Military Memoirs_ +(London, 1804), ii. 241; his Despatch excellently brief, ib. ii. 323]]; +and in the afternoon of Tuesday, 3d, arrives in the frith or bay of +Havre. Steers himself properly into 'the Channel of Honfleur' before +dark; and therefrom, with his Firedrake, Basilisk and Company, begins +such a bombardment of Havre and the flat-bottomed manufactories as was +quite surprising. Fifty-two incessant hours of it, before he thought +poor Havre had enough. Poor Havre had been on fire six times; the flat +manufactory (unquenchable) I know not how many; all the inhabitants off +in despair; and the Garrison building this battery to no purpose, then +that; no salvation for them but in Rodney's 'mortars getting too hot.' +He had fired of shells 1,900, of carcasses, 1,150: from Wednesday about +sunrise till Friday about 8 A.M.,--about time now for breakfast; which +I hope everybody had, after such a stretch of work. 'No damage to speak +of,' said the French Gazetteers; 'we will soon refit everything!' But +they never did; and nothing came of Havre henceforth. Vannes was always, +and is now still more, to be the main place; only that Hawke--most +unexpectedly, for one fancied all their ships employed in distant +parts--rides there with a Channel Fleet of formidable nature; and the +previous question always is: 'Cannot we beat Hawke? Can we! Or will not +he perhaps go, of himself, when the rough weather comes?'" + + + + +Chapter III.--FRIEDRICH IN PERSON ATTEMPTS THE RUSSIAN PROBLEM; NOT WITH +SUCCESS. + +Before Wedell's catastrophe, the Affair of those Haddick-Loudon +Detachments had become a little plainer to Friedrich. The intention, +he begins to suspect, is not for Berlin at all; but for junction with +Soltikof,--at Crossen, or wherever it may be. This is in fact their real +purpose; and this, beyond almost Berlin itself, it is in the highest +degree important to prevent! Important; and now as if become impossible! + +Prince Henri had come to Bautzen with his Army, specially to look after +Loudon and Haddick; and he has, all this while, had Finck with some +10,000 diligently patrolling to westward of them, guarding Berlin; he +himself watching from the southern side,--where, as on the western, +there was no danger from them. Some time before Wedell's affair, +Friedrich had pushed out Eugen of Wurtemberg to watch these people on +the eastern side;--suspicious that thitherward lay their real errand. +Eugen had but 6,000; and, except in conjunction with Finck and Henri, +could do nothing,--nor can, now when Friedrich's suspicion turns out to +be fatally true. Friedrich had always the angry feeling that Finck and +Prince Henri were the blameworthy parties in what now ensued; that they, +who were near, ought to have divined these people's secret, and spoiled +it in time; not have left it to him who was far off, and so busy +otherwise. To the last, that was his fixed private opinion; by no means +useful to utter,--especially at present, while attempting the now very +doubtful enterprise himself, and needing all about him to be swift +and zealous. This is one of Friedrich's famous labors, this of the +Haddick-Loudon junction with Soltikof; strenuous short spasm of effort, +of about a week's continuance; full of fiery insight, velocity, energy; +still admired by judges, though it was unsuccessful, or only had half +success. Difficult to bring home, in any measure, to the mind of modern +readers, so remote from it. + +Friedrich got the news of Zullichau next day, July 24th;--and instantly +made ready. The case is critical; especially this Haddick-Loudon part of +it: add 30 or 36,000 Austrians to Soltikof, how is he then to be dealt +with? A case stringently pressing:--and the resources for it few and +scattered. For several days past, Haddick, and Loudon under him, whose +motions were long enigmatic, have been marching steadily eastward +through the Lausitz,--with the evident purpose of joining +Soltikof; unless Wedell could forbid. Wedell ahead was the grand +opposition;--Finck, Henri, Wurtemberg, as good as useless;--and Wedell +being now struck down, these Austrians will go, especially Loudon will, +at a winged rate. They are understood to be approaching Sagan Country; +happily, as yet, well to westward of it, and from Sagan Town well +NORTH-westward;--but all accounts of them are vague, dim: they are an +obscure entity to Friedrich, but a vitally important one. Sagan Town may +be about 70 miles northward of where Friedrich now is: from Sagan, were +they once in the meridian of Sagan, their road is free eastward and +northward;--to Crossen is about 60 miles north-by-east from Sagan, to +Frankfurt near 100 north. Sagan is on the Bober; Bober, in every event, +is between the Austrians and their aim. + +Friedrich feels that, however dangerous to quit Daun's neighborhood, he +must, he in person, go at once. And who, in the interim, will watch Daun +and his enterprises? Friedrich's reflections are: "Well, in the crisis +of the moment, Saxony--though there already are marauding Bodies of +Reichsfolk in it--must still be left to itself for a time; or cannot +Finck and his 10,000 look to it? Henri, with his Army, now useless at +Bautzen, shall instantly rendezvous at Sagan; his Army to go with me, +against the Russians and their Haddick-Loudons; Henri to Schmottseifen, +instead of me, and attend to Daun; Henri, I have no other left! Finck +and his 10,000 must take charge of Saxony, such charge as he can:--how +lucky those Spring Forays, which destroyed the Reichs Magazines! Whereby +there is no Reichs Army yet got into Saxony (nothing but preliminary +pulses and splashings of it); none yet, nor like to be quite at once." +That is Friedrich's swift plan. + +Henri rose on the instant, as did everybody concerned: July 29th, Henri +and Army were at Sagan; Army waiting for the King; Henri so far on his +road to Schmottseifen. He had come to Sagan "by almost the rapidest +marches ever heard of,"--or ever till some others of Henri's own, which +he made in that neighborhood soon. Punctual, he, to his day; as are +Eugen of Wurtemberg's people, and all Detachments and Divisions: +Friedrich himself arrives at Sagan that same 29th, "about +midnight,"--and finds plenty of work waiting: no sleep these two nights +past; and none coming just yet! A most swift rendezvous. The speed of +everybody has been, and needs still to be, intense. + +This rendezvous at Sagan--intersection of Henri and Friedrich, bound +different roads (the Brothers, I think, did not personally meet, Henri +having driven off for Schmottseifen by a shorter road)--was SUNDAY, JULY +29th. Following which, are six days of such a hunt for those Austrian +reynards as seldom or never was! Most vehement, breathless, baffling +hunt; half of it spent in painfully beating cover, in mere finding and +losing. Not rightly successful, after all. So that, on the eighth day +hence, AUGUST 6th, at Mullrose, near Frankfurt, 80 miles from Sagan, +there is a second rendezvous,--rendezvous of Wedell and Friedrich, who +do not now "intersect," but meet after the hunt is done;--and in the +interim, there has been a wonderful performance, though an unsuccessful. +Friedrich never could rightly get hold of his Austrians. Once only, at +Sommerfeld, a long march northwest of Sagan, he came upon some outskirts +of them. And in general, in those latter eight days, especially in +the first six of them, there is, in that Kotbus-Sagan Country, such an +intersecting, checking, pushing and multifarious simmering of marches, +on the part of half a dozen Strategic Entities, Friedrich the centre +of them, as--as, I think, nobody but an express soldier-student, well +furnished with admiration for this particular Soldier, would consent to +have explained to him. One of the maziest, most unintelligible whirls +of marching; inextricable Sword Dance, or Dance of the Furies,--five +of them (that is the correct number: Haddick, Loudon, Friedrich, +Wurtemberg, Wedell);--and it is flung down for us, all in a huddle, in +these inhuman Books (which have several errors of the press, too): let +no man rashly insist with himself on understanding it, unless he have +need! Humanly pulled straight, not inhumanly flung down at random, here +the essentials of it are,--in very brief state:-- + +"SAGAN, MONDAY, 30th JULY. Friedrich is at Sagan, since midnight last, +busier and busier;" beating cover, as we termed it, and getting his +hounds (his new Henri-Army) in leash; "endeavoring, especially, to get +tidings of those Austrian people; who are very enigmatic,--Loudon a +dexterous man,--and have hung up such a curtain of Pandours between +Friedrich and them as is nearly impenetrable. In the course of this +Monday Friedrich ascertains that they are verily on the road; coming +eastward, for Sommerfeld,--'thence for Crossen!' he needs no ghost to +tell him. Wherefore, + +"TUESDAY, SAGAN TO NAUMBURG. Tuesday before daybreak Friedrich too is +on the road: northwestward; in full march towards Naumburg on Bober, +meaning to catch the Bridge from them there. March of the swiftest; +he himself is ahead, as usual, with the Vanguard of Horse. He reaches +Naumburg (northward, a march of 20 miles); finds, not Haddick or Loudon, +but a Detachment of theirs: which he at once oversets with his cavalry, +and chases,--marking withal that 'westward is the way they run.' +Westward; and that we are still ahead, thank Heaven! + +"Before his Infantry are all up, or are well rested in Naumburg, +Friedrich ascertains, on more precise tidings, that the Austrians are in +Sommerfeld, to westward (again a 20 miles); and judges That, no doubt, +they will bear off more to leftward, by Guben probably, and try to avoid +him,--unless he can still catch them in Sommerfeld. About nightfall +he marches for Sommerfeld, at his swiftest; arrives Wednesday early; +finds--alas!-- + +"SOMMERFELD, WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 1st, Friedrich finds that Loudon +was there last night,--preterite tense, alas; the question now being, +Where is he!" In fact, Loudon had written yesterday to Daun (Letter +still extant, "Sommerfeld, July 31st"), That "being swift and light," +consisting of horse for most part, "he may probably effect Junction +this very night;"--but has altered his mind very much, on sight of these +fugitives from Naumburg, since! And has borne off more to leftward. +Straight north now, and at a very brisk pace; being now all of +horse;--and has an important conference with Haddick at Guben, when +they arrive there. "Not in Sommerfeld?" thinks Friedrich (earnestly +surveying, through this slit he has made in the Pandour veil): "Gone +to Guben most likely, bearing off from us to leftward?"--Which was +the fact; though not the whole fact. And indeed the chase is now again +fallen uncertain, and there has to be some beating of covers. For one +thing, he learns to-day (August 1st) that the Russians are gone to +Frankfurt: "Follow them, you Wedell,"--orders Friedrich: them we shall +have to go into,--however this hunt end!-- + +"To Markersdorf, Thursday, August 2d. Friedrich takes the road for +Guben; reaches Markersdorf (twenty miles' march, still seven or eight +from Guben); falls upon--What phenomenon is this? The Austrian heavy +Train; meal-wagons not a few, and a regiment of foot in charge of +it;--but going the wrong way, not TOWARDS the Russians, but from them! +What on earth can this be? This is Haddick,--if Friedrich could yet +clearly know it,--Haddick and Train, who for his own part has given up +the junction enterprise. At Guben, some hours ago, he had conference +with Loudon; and this was the conclusion arrived at: 'Impossible, with +that King so near! You, Herr Loudon, push on, without heavy baggage, and +with the Cavalry altogether: you can get in, almost 20,000 strong; I, +with the Infantry, with the meal and heavy guns, will turn, and make for +the Lausitz again!' + +"This mysterious Austrian Train, going the wrong way, Friedrich +attacks, whatever it be (hoping, I suppose, it might be the Austrians +altogether); chases it vigorously; snatches all the meal-wagons, and +about 1,000 prisoners. Uncertain still what it is,--if not the Austrians +altogether? To his sorrow, he finds, on pushing farther into it, that +it is only Haddick and the Infantry; that Loudon, with the 20,000 +Horse, will have gone off for Frankfurt;--irretrievably ahead, the swift +Loudon,--ever careering northward all this while, since that +afternoon at Sommerfeld, when the fugitives altered his opinion: a now +unattainable Loudon. In the course of Thursday night, Friedrich has +satisfied himself that the Loudon junction is a thing as good as +done;--in effect, Loudon did get to Frankfurt, morning of August 3d, and +joined the Russians there; and about the same time, or only a few hours +sooner, Friedrich, by symptoms, has divined that his hunt has ended, +in this rather unsuccessful way; and that chasing of Haddick is not the +road to go." [Tempelhof, iii. 135-139.] + +Not Haddick now; with or without their Austrians, it shall be the +Russians now! Two days ago (Wednesday, as was mentioned), before sight +of those enigmatic meal-wagons, Friedrich had learned that the +Russians were to be in Frankfurt again; and had ordered Wedell to march +thitherward, at any rate. Which Wedell is doing, all this Thursday +and the four following days. As does likewise, from and after "FRIDAY, +AUGUST 3d, 1 A.M." (hunt then over), Friedrich himself,--renouncing +Haddick and the hunt. Straight towards Frankfurt thenceforth; +head-quarters Beeskow that night; next night, Mullrose, whither Wedell +is appointed, within twelve miles of Frankfurt. This is the end of +Friedrich's sore Chase and March; burnt deeply into his own weary brain, +if ours still refuse it admittance! Here, of utterly fatigued tone, is a +Note of his, chiefly on business, to Minister Finkenstein. Indeed there +are, within the next ten days, Three successive Notes to Finkenstein, +which will be worth reading in their due places. This is the First of +them:-- + +THE KING TO GRAF VON FINKENSTEIN (at Berlin). + +"BEESKOW, 3d August,1759." + +"I am just arrived here, after cruel and frightful marchings [CHECKS +HIMSELF, HOWEVER]. There is nothing desperate in all that; and I believe +the noise and disquietude this hurly-burly has caused will be the worst +of it. Show this Letter to everybody, that it may be known the State is +not undefended. I have made above 1,000 prisoners from Haddick. All his +meal-wagons have been taken. Finck, I believe, will keep an eye on him," +and secure Berlin from attempts of his. "This is all I can say. + +"To-morrow I march to within two leagues of Frankfurt [to Mullrose, +namely]. Katte [the Minister who has charge of such things] must send +me instantly Two Hundred Wispels [say tons] of Meal, and Bakers One +Hundred, to Furstenwalde. I shall encamp at Wulkow. I am very tired. For +six nights I have not closed an eye. Farewell.--F." + +During the above intricate War-Dance of Five,--the day while Friedrich +was at Sommerfeld, the day before he came in sight of Haddick's +meal-wagons going the wrong road,--there went on, at Minden, on the +Weser, three hundred miles away, a beautiful feat of War, in the highest +degree salutary to Duke Ferdinand and Britannic Majesty's Ministry; feat +which requires a word from us here. A really splendid Victory, this of +Minden, August 1st: French driven headlong through the Passes there; +their "Conquest of Hanover and Weser Country" quite exploded and flung +over the horizon; and Duke Ferdinand relieved from all his distresses, +and lord of the ascendant again in those parts. Highly interesting +to Friedrich;--especially to Prince Henri; whose apprehensions about +Ferdinand and the old Richelieu Hastenbeck-Halberstadt time returning +on us, have been very great; and who now, at Schmottseifen, fires +FEU-DE-JOIE for it with all his heart. This is a Battle still of some +interest to English readers. But can English readers consent to halt +in this hot pinch of the Friedrich crisis; and read the briefest thing +which is foreign to it? Alas, I fear they can;--and will insert the Note +here:-- + +BATTLE OF MINDEN: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1st, 1759.---"Ever since Bergen, +things have gone awry with Ferdinand, and in spite of skilful +management, of hard struggles and bright sparkles of success, he has +had a bad Campaign of it. The French, it would seem, are really got into +better fighting order; Belleisle's exertions as War-Minister have +been almost wonderful,--in some respects, TOO wonderful, as we shall +hear!--and Broglio and Contades, in comparison with Clermont and +Soubise, have real soldier qualities. Contades, across Rhine again, in +those Weser Countries, who is skilful in his way, and is pricked on +by emulation of Broglio, has been spreading himself out steadily +progressive there; while Broglio, pushing along from Frankfurt-on-Mayn, +has conquered Hessen; is into Hanover; on the edge of conquering +Hanover,--which how is Ferdinand to hinder? Ferdinand has got two, if +not three Armies to deal with, and in number is not much superior +to one. If he run to save Hanover from Broglio, he loses Westphalia: +Osnabruck (his magazine)? Munster, Lippstadt,--Contades, if left to +himself, will take these, after short siege; and will nestle himself +there, and then advance, not like a transitory fever-fit, but like +visible death, on Hanover. Ferdinand, rapid yet wary, manoeuvred his +very best among those interests of his, on the left bank of Weser; but +after the surprisal of Minden from him (brilliantly done by Broglio, +and the aid of a treacherous peasant), especially after the capture of +Osnabruck, his outlooks are gloomy to a degree: and at Versailles, +and at Minden where Contades has established himself, 'the Conquest +of Hanover' (beautiful counterweight to all one's losses in America or +elsewhere) is regarded as a certainty of this Year. + +"For the last ten days of July, about Minden, the manoeuvring, +especially on Ferdinand's part, had been intense; a great idea in the +head of Ferdinand, more or less unintelligible to Contades. Contades, +with some 30,000, which is the better half of his force, has taken one +of the unassailablest positions. He lies looking northward, his +right wing on the Weser with posts to Minden (Minden perhaps a mile +northeastward there), on his left impassable peat-bogs and quagmires; +in front a quaggy River or impassable black Brook, called the Bastau, +coming from the westward, which disembogues at Minden: [Sketch of Plan, +p. 238]--there lies Contades, as if in a rabbit-hole, say military men; +for defence, if that were the sole object, no post can be stronger. +Contades has in person say 30,000; and round him, on both sides of the +Weser, are Broglio with 20,000; besides other Divisions, I know not +how many, besieging Munster, capturing Osnabruck (our hay magazine), +attempting Lippstadt by surprise (to no purpose), and diligently working +forward, day by day, to Ferdinand's ruin in those Minden regions. Three +or four Divisions busy in that manner;--and above all, we say, he has +Broglio with a 20,000 on the right or east bank of the Weser,--who, if +Ferdinand quit him even for a day, seems to have Hanover at discretion, +and can march any day upon Hanover City, where his light troops have +already been more than once. Why does n't Ferdinand cross Weser, +re-cross Weser; coerce Broglio back; and save Hanover? cry the +Gazetteers and a Public of weak judgment. Pitt's Public is inclined +to murmur about Ferdinand; Pitt himself never. Ferdinand persists in +sticking by Minden neighborhood,--and, in a scarcely accountable way, +manoeuvring there, shooting out therefrom what mischief he can upon the +various Contades people in their sieges and the like. + +"On Contades himself he can pretend to do nothing,--except hoodwink +him, entice him out, and try to get a chance on him. But for his own +subsistence and otherwise, he is very lively;--snatches, by a sudden +stroke, Bremen City: 'Yes truly, Bremen is a Reichstadt; nor shall YOU +snatch it, as you did Frankfurt; but I will, instead; and my English +proviant-ships shall have a sure haven henceforth!' Snatches Bremen +by one sudden stroke; RE-snatches Osnabruck by another ('our magazine +considerably INCREASED since you have had it, many thanks!'); does lose +Munster, to his sorrow; but nevertheless sticks by his ground here;--nay +detaches his swift-cutting Nephew, the Hereditary Prince, who is growing +famous for such things, to cut out Contades's strong post to southward +(Gohfeld, ten miles up the Weser), which guards his meal-wagons, after +their long journey from the south. That is Contades's one weak point, +in this posture of things: his meal is at Cassel, seventy miles off. +Broglio and he see clearly, 'Till we can get a new magazine much nearer +Hanover, or at lowest, can clear out these people from infesting us +here, there is no moving northward!' To both Contades and Broglio +that is an evident thing: the corollary to which is, They must fight +Ferdinand; must watch lynx-like till a chance turn up of beating him in +fight. That is their outlook; and Ferdinand knows it is,--and manoeuvres +accordingly. Military men admire much, not his movements only, but his +clear insight into Contades's and Broglio's temper of mind, and by what +methods they were to be handled, they and his own affairs together, and +brought whither he wanted them. [In MAUVILLON (ii. 41-44) minute account +of all that.] + +"This attempt on Gohfeld was a serious mischief to Contades, if it +succeeded. But the detaching of the Prince of Brunswick on it, and +weakening one's too weak Army, 'What a rashness, what an oversight!' +thinks Contades (as Ferdinand wished him to do): 'Is our skilful enemy, +in this extreme embarrassment, losing head, then? Look at his left wing +yonder [General Wangenheim, sitting behind batteries, in his Village of +Todtenhausen, looking into Minden from the north]:--Wangenheim's left +leans on the Weser, yes; but Wangenheim's right, observe, has no support +within three miles of it: tear Wangenheim out, Ferdinand's flank is +bare!' These things seemed to Contades the very chance he had been +waiting for; and brought him triumphantly out of his rabbit-hole, into +the Heath of Minden, as Ferdinand hoped they would do. + +"And so, TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 31st, things being now all ripe, upwards +of 50,000 French are industriously in motion. Contades has nineteen +bridges ready on the Bastau Brook, in front of him; TATTOO this night, +in Contades's Camp, is to mean GENERAL MARCH, 'March, all of you, across +these nineteen Bridges, to your stations on the Plain or Heath of Minden +yonder,--and be punctual, like the clock!' Broglio crosses Weser by +the town Bridge, ranks himself opposite Todtenhausen; and through the +livelong night there is, on the part of the 50,000 French, a very great +marching and deploying. Contades and Broglio together are 51,400 foot +and horse. Ferdinand's entire force will be near 46,000; but on the day +of Battle he is only 36,000,--having detached the Hereditary Prince on +Gohfeld, in what view we know.--The BATTLE OF MINDEN, called also of +TONHAUSEN (meaning TODTENhausen), which hereupon fell out, has still its +fame in the world; and, I perceive, is well worth study by the soldier +mind: though nothing but the rough outline of it is possible here. + +"Ferdinand's posts extend from the Weser river and Todtenhausen round by +Stemmern, Holzhausen, to Hartum and the Bog of Bastau (the chief part +of him towards Bastau),--in various Villages, and woody patches and +favorable spots; all looking in upon Minden, from a distance of five +or seven miles; forming a kind of arc, with Minden for centre. He +will march up in eight Columns; of course, with wide intervals between +them,--wide, but continually narrowing as he advances; which will +indeed be ruinous gaps, if Ferdinand wait to be attacked; but which will +coalesce close enough, if he be speedy upon Contades. For Contades's +line is also of arc-like or almost semicircular form, behind it Minden +as centre; Minden, which is at the intersection of Weser and the Brook; +his right flank is on Weser, Broglio VERSUS Wangenheim the extreme +right; his left, with infantry and artillery, rests on that black Brook +of Bastau with its nineteen Bridges. As the ground on both wings is +rough, not so fit for Cavalry, Contades puts his Cavalry wholly in the +centre: they are the flower of the French Army, about 10,000 horse in +all; firm open ground ahead of them there, with strong batteries, masses +of infantry to support on each flank; batteries to ply with cross-fire +any assailant that may come on. Broglio, we said, is right wing; strong +in artillery and infantry. Broglio is to root out Waugenheim: after +which,--or even before which, if Wangenheim is kept busy and we are +nimble,--what becomes of Ferdinand's left flank, with a gap of three +miles between Wangenheim and him, and 10,000 chosen horse to take +advantage of it! Had the French been of Prussian dexterity and +nimbleness in marching, it is very possible something might have come of +this latter circumstance: but Ferdinand knows they are not; and intends +to take good care of his flank. + +"Contades and his people were of willing mind; but had no skill in +'marchiug up:' and, once got across the Bastau by their nineteen +Bridges, they wasted many hours:--'Too far, am I? not far enough? +Too close? not close enough?'--and broiled about, in much hurry and +confusion, all night. Fight was to have begun at 5 in the morning. +Broglio was in his place, silently looking into Wangenheim, by five +o'clock; but unfortunately did nothing upon Wangenheim ('Not ready you, +I see!'), except cannonade a little;--and indeed all through did nothing +('Still not ready you others!'); which surely was questionable conduct, +though not reckoned so at Versailles, when the case came to be argued +there. As to the Contades people, across those nineteen Bridges, they +had a baffling confused night; and were by no means correctly on their +ground at sunrise, nor at 7 o'clock, nor at 8; and were still mending +themselves when the shock came, and time was done. + +"The morning is very misty; but Ferdinand has himself been out examining +since the earliest daybreak: his orders last night were, 'Cavalry be +saddled at 1 in the morning,'--having a guess that there would be work, +as he now finds there will. From 5 A.M. Ferdinand is issuing from +his Camp, flowing down eastward, beautifully concentric, closing on +Contades; horse NOT in centre, but English Infantry in centre (Six +Battalions, or Six REGIMENTS by English reckoning); right opposite those +10,000 Horse of Contades's, the sight of whom seems to be very animating +to them. The English Cavalry stand on the right wing, at the Village of +Hartum: Lord George Sackville had not been very punctual in saddling at +1 o'clock; but he is there, ranked on the ground, at 8,--in what humor +nobody knows; sulky and flabby, I should rather guess. English Tourists, +idle otherwise, may take a look at Hartum on the south side, as the spot +where a very ugly thing occurred that day. + +"Soon after 8 the Fight begins: attack, by certain Hessians, on Hahlen +and its batteries; attempt to drive the French out of Hahlen, as the +first thing,--which does not succeed at once (indeed took three +attacks in all); and perhaps looks rather tedious to those Six English +Battalions. Ferdinand's order to them was, 'You shall march up to +attack, you Six, on sound of drum;' but, it seems, they read it, 'BY +sound of drum;' 'Beating our own drums; yes, of course!'--and, being +weary of this Hahlen work, or fancying they had no concern with it, +strode on, double-quick, without waiting for Hahlen at all! To the +horror of their Hanoverian comrades, who nevertheless determined to +follow as second line. 'The Contades cross-fire of artillery, battery +of 30 guns on one flank, of 36 on the other, does its best upon this +forward-minded Infantry, but they seem to heed it little; walk right +forward; and, to the astonishment of those French Horse and of all +the world, entirely break and ruin the charge made on them, and +tramp forward in chase of the same. The 10,000 Horse feel astonished, +insulted; and rush out again, furiously charging; the English halt and +serry themselves: 'No fire till they are within forty paces;' and then +such pouring torrents of it as no horse or man can endure. Rally after +rally there is, on the part of those 10,000; mass after mass of them +indignantly plunges on,--again, ever again, about six charges in +all;--but do not break the English lines: one of them (regiment +Mestrede-Camp, raised to a paroxysm) does once get through, across the +first line, but is blown back in dreadful circumstances by the second. +After which they give it up, as a thing that cannot be done. And rush +rearward, hither, thither, the whole seventy-five squadrons of them; +and 'between their two wings of infantry are seen boiling in complete +disorder.' + +"This has lasted about an hour: this is essentially the soul of the +Fight,--though there wanted not other activities, to right of it and to +left, on both sides; artilleries going at a mighty rate on both wings; +and counter-artilleries (superlative practice 'by Captain Phillips' on +OUR right wing); Broglio cannonading Wangenheim very loudly, but +with little harm done or suffered, on their right wing. Wangenheim is +watchful of that gap between Ferdinand and him, till it close itself +sufficiently. Their right-wing Infantry did once make some attempt +there; but the Prussian Horse--(always a small body of Prussians serve +in this Allied Army)--shot out, and in a brilliant manner swept them +home again. + +PLAN OF BATTLE HERE--PAGE 239,---- + +Artillery and that pretty charge of Prussian Horse are all one +remembers, except this of the English and Hanover Foot in the centre: +'an unsurpassable thing,' says Tempelhof (though it so easily might have +been a fatal!)--which has set Contades's centre boiling, and reduced +Contades altogether to water, as it were. Contades said bitterly: +'I have seen what I never thought to be possible,--a single line of +infantry break through three lines of cavalry ranked in order of battle, +and tumble them to ruin!' [Stenzel, v. 204.] + +"This was the feat, this hour's work in the centre, the essential soul +of the Fight:--and had Lord George Sackville, General of the Horse, +come on when galloped for and bidden, here had been such a ruin, say all +judges, as seldom came upon an Army. Lord George--everlasting disgrace +and sorrow on the name of him--could not see his way to coming on; +delayed, haggled; would not even let Granby, his lieutenant, come; not +for a second Adjutant, not for a third; never came on at all; but rode +to the Prince, asking, 'How am I to come on?' Who, with a politeness I +can never enough admire, did not instantly kill him, but answered, +in mild tone, 'Milord, the opportunity is now past!' Whereby Contades +escaped ruin, and was only beaten. By about 10 in the morning all was +over. When a man's centre is gone to water, no part of him is far +from the fluid state. Contades retreated into his rabbit-hole by those +nineteen bridges,--well tormented, they say, by Captain Phillips's +artillery, till he got beyond the knolls again. Broglio, who had never +been in musket-fire at all, but had merely barked on Wangenheim all +morning, instead of biting, covered the retreat, and withdrew into +Minden. And we are a beaten Army,--thanks to Lord George, not an +annihilated one. Our loss being only 7,086 (with heavy guns, colors, +cavalry flags and the like); theirs being 2,822,--full half of it +falling on those rash Six Battalions. [Mauvillon, ii. 44-60; Tempelhof, +iii. 154-179, &c. &c.: and _Proceedings of a Court-Martial, held at the +Horse-Guards, 7th-24th March and 25th March-5th April, 1760, in Trial of +Lord George Sackville_ (London, 1760)]. In Knesebeck, _Ferdinand wahrend +des siebenjahrigen Krieges_ (i. 395), Ferdinand's Letter to Friedrich of +"July 31st;" and (i. 398-418 and ii. 33-36) many special details about +Sackville and "August 1st." + +"And what is this one hears from Gohfeld in the evening? The Hereditary +Prince, busy there on us during the very hours of Minden, has blown our +rear-guard division to the winds there;--and we must move southward, +one and all of us, without a moment's delay! Out of this rabbit-hole +the retreat by rearward is through a difficult country, the Westphalian +Gates so called; fatal to Varus's Legions long ago. Contades got under +way that very night; lost most of his baggage, all his conquests, that +shadow-conquest of Hanover, and more than all his glories (Versailles +shrieking on him, 'Resign you; let Broglio be chief,);--and, on the +whole, jumbled homeward hither and thither, gravitating towards the +Rhine, nothing but Wesel to depend on in those parts, as heretofore. +Broglio retreated Frankfurt-way, also as usual, though not quite so far; +and at Versailles had clearly the victory. Zealous Belleisle could +not protect his Contades; it is not known whether he privately blamed +Contades or blamed Broglio for loss of Minden. Zealous old man, what a +loss to himself withal had Minden been! That shadow-conquest of Hanover +is quite vanished: and worse, in Ferdinand's spoil were certain LETTERS +from Belleisle to Contades, inculcating strange things;--for example, +'IL FAUT FAIRE UN DESERT DU PAYS [all Hessen, I think, lest Ferdinand +advance on you] DEVANT L'ARMEE,' and the like. Which Ferdinand saw good +to publish, and which resounded rather hideously through the general +mind." [Were taken at Detmold (Tempelhof, iii. 223); Old Newspapers full +of Excerpts from them, in the weeks following.] + +Ignominious Sackville was tried by Court-martial; cashiered, +declared incapable of again serving his Majesty "in any military +capacity;"--perhaps a mild way of signifying that he wanted the common +courage of a soldier? Zealous Majesty, always particular in soldier +matters, proclaimed it officially to be "a sentence worse than death;" +and furthermore, with his own royal hand, taking the pen himself, struck +out Sackville from the List of Privy-Councillors. Proper surely, and +indispensable;--and should have been persisted in, like Fate; which, +in a new Reign, it was not! For the rest, there was always, and is, +something of enigma in Sackville's palpably bad case. It is difficult +to think that a Sackville wanted common courage. This Sackville fought +duels with propriety; in private life, he was a surly, domineering kind +of fellow, and had no appearance of wanting spirit. It is known, he did +not love Duke Ferdinand; far from it! May not he have been of peculiarly +sour humor that morning, the luckless fool; sulky against Ferdinand, and +his "saddling at one o'clock;" sulky against himself, against the +world and mankind; and flabbily disinclined to heroic practices for the +moment? And the moment came; and the man was not there, except in that +foggy, flabby and forever ruinous condition! Archenholtz, alone of +Writers, judges that he expressly wanted to spoil the Battle of Minden +and Ferdinand's reputation, and to get appointed Commander in his stead. +Wonderful; but may have some vestige of basis, too! True, this Sackville +was as fit to lead the courses of the stars as to lead armies. But such +a Sackville has ambition, and, what is fatally more peculiar to him, a +chance for unfolding it;--any blockhead has an ambition capable, if you +encourage it sufficiently, of running to the infinite. Enough of this +particular blockhead; and may it be long before we see his like again!-- + +The English Cavalry was in a rage with Sackville. Of the English +Infantry, Historians say, what is not now much heard of in this Country, +"That these unsurpassable Six [in industrious valor unsurpassable, +though they mistook orders, and might have fared badly!] are ever since +called the Minden Regiments; that they are the 12th, 20th, 23d, 25th, +37th and 51st of the British Line; and carry 'Minden' on their colors," +[Kausler, _Schlachter, _ &c. p, 587.]--with silent profit, I hope! + +Fancy how Pitt's public, lately gloomy and dubious, blazed aloft into +joyful certainty again! Pitt's outlooks have been really gloomy all this +season; nor are the difficulties yet ended, though we hope they will +end. Let us add this other bit of Synchronism, which is still of +adverse aspect, over Seas; and will be pungently interesting to Pitt and +England, when they come to hear of it. + +"BEFORE QUEBEC, JULY 31st, 1759. This same Evening, at Quebec, on the +other side of the Atlantic,--evening at Quebec, 9 or 10 at night for +Contades and his nineteen Bridges,--there is a difficult affair going +on. Above and below the Falls of Montmorenci, and their outflow into the +St. Lawrence: attempt on General Wolfe's part to penetrate through upon +the French, under Marquis de Montcalm, French Commander-in-chief, and to +get a stroke at Quebec and him. From the south side of the St. Lawrence, +nothing can be done upon Quebec, such the distance over. From Isle +d'Orleans and the north side, it is also impossible hitherto. Easy +enough to batter the Lower Town, from your ships and redoubts: but the +High Town towers aloft on its sheer pinnacles, inaccessible even to +cannon; looks down on the skilfulest British Admiral and Fleet as if +with an air of indifference,--trying him on dark nights with fire-ships, +fire-rafts, the cunningest kinds of pyrotechny, which he skilfully tows +aside. + +"A strenuous thing, this of Wolfe's; though an unsuccessful. Towards +evening, the end of it; all Quebec assembled on the southern ramparts, +witnessing with intense interest; the sublime Falls of Montmorenci +gushing on, totally indifferent. For about a month past, General Wolfe, +with the proper equipments, and about 10,000 men, naval and military, +who was expressly selected by Pitt to besiege Quebec, and is dying to +succeed, has been trying every scheme to get into contact with it:--to +no purpose, so lofty, chasmy, rocky is the ground, cut by mountainous +precipices and torrent streams, branches of the grand St. Lawrence +River; so skilfully taken advantage of by Montcalm and his people, who +are at home here, and in regulars nearly equal Wolfe, not to speak of +Savages and Canadians, Wolfe's plan of the 31st was not ill laid; and +the execution has been zealous, seamen and landsmen alike of willing +mind;--but it met with accidents. Accidents in boating; then a still +worse accident on landing; the regiment of grenadiers, which crossed +below the Falls, having, so soon as landed, rushed off on the redoubt +there on their own score, without waiting for the two brigades that were +to cross and co-operate ABOVE the Falls! Which cut Wolfe to the heart; +and induced him, especially as the tide was making again, to give up +the enterprise altogether, and recall everybody, while it was yet time. +[_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1759, pp. 470-473; Thackeray, i. 488.] Wolfe +is strict in discipline; loves the willing mind, none more, and can +kindle it among those about him; but he loves discipline withal, and +knows how fatal the too willing may be. For six weeks more there is toil +on the back of toil everywhere for poor Wolfe. He falls into fevers, +into miseries, almost into broken heart;--nothing sure to him but that +of doing his own poor utmost to the very death. After six weeks, we +shall perhaps hear of him again. Gliding swiftly towards death; but also +towards victory and the goal of all his wishes." + +And now, after this flight half round the world, it is time we return +to Oder Country, and a Friedrich on the edge of formidable things there. +Next day after Beeskow, where we left him, he duly arrived at Mullrose; +was joined by Wedell there, August 6th; and is now at Wulkow,--"encamped +between Lebus and Wulkow," as we hear elsewhere;--quite in the environs +of Frankfurt and of great events. + + +FRIEDRICH TO GRAF VON FINKENSTEIN (Second Note). + +WULKOW, 8th August, 1759. + +"If you hear of firing to-morrow, don't be surprised; it is our +rejoicing for the Battle of Minden. I believe I shall have to keep you +in suspense some days yet. I have many arrangements to make; I find +great difficulties to surmount,--and it is required to save our Country, +not to lose it: I ought both to be more prudent and more enterprising +than ever. In a word, I will do and undertake whatever I find feasible +and possible. With all that, I see myself in the necessity of making +haste, to check the designs Haddick may have on Berlin. Adieu, MON CHER. +In a little, you will have either a DE PROFUNDIS or a TE DEUM.--F." +[_OEuvres de Frederic, _ xxv. 305, 306.] + + + + +Chapter IV.--BATTLE OF KUNERSDORF. + +Sunday, July 29th, at Frankfurt-on-Oder divine worship was broken in +upon, and the poor City thrown into consternation, by actual advent, +or as good as advent, of the Russians: "On the Crossen road, close by; +coming, come!" And they did undeniably appear, next morning, in force; +on the opposite, eastern or Kunersdorf side of the River, on the top +of the Oder-Dam there; and demanded instant admission, under penalty of +general death by fire. + +Within the Town stood Major Arnim, a Veteran of those parts, with 400 +militia; these, with their muskets and with two cannon, are the only +defence of Frankfurt, The Town has Gates; but its walls, I doubt, are +mainly garden-walls and house-walls. On the eastern side, the River, +especially if you have cannon on the Bridge, gives it something of +protection; but on the western and all other sides, it is overhung by +heights. This Frankfurt, like its bigger Namesake on the Mayn, is known +as a busy trading place, its Fairs much frequented in those Eastern +parts; and is believed by the Russians to be far richer than it is. The +reader, as there happens to be ocular testimony extant, [Johann Zudwig +Kriele, SCHLACHT BEI KUNERSDORF, MIT &C. (Berlin, 1801). Kriele was +subsequent Pastor in the Parish, an excellent intelligent man: has +compiled in brief form, with an elaborate Chart too, a clear account of +everything, in the Battle and before and after it.] may like to see a +little how they behaved there. + +"Arnim, taking survey of the Russian Party, values it, or what he can +see of it, at 1,000 [they really were 6,000]; keeps his Drawbridge up; +and answers stoutly enough, 'No.' Upon which, from the Oder-Dam, there +flies off one fiery grenado; one and no more,--which alighted in the +house of 'Mrs. Thielicke, a Baker's Widow, who was standing at the +door;'--killed poor Mrs. Thielicke, blew the house considerably to +wreck, but did not set fire to it. Amim, all the Magistrates entreating +him for the love of Heaven to leave them, is secretly shoving off his +two cannon to the Northern Gate; and in fact is making his packages +with full speed: 'Push for Custrin,' thinks Arnim, and save selves and +cannon, since no good is to be done here!' + +"It was about 11 A.M. when the Thielicke grenado fell: obstinate Arnim +would by no means go; only packed all the faster. A second summons +came: still, No. For the third and last time the Russians then summon: +'Grenadoes, a hundred more of them lie ready, unless--!' 'We will, we +will; O merciful servant of Czarish Majesty!' passionately signify the +Magistrates. But Arnim is still negative, still keeps the Bridge up. One +of the hundred does go, by way of foretaste: this lighted 'near the +Ober Kirche, in the chimney of the Town Musikus;' brought the chimney +crashing down on him [fancy a man with some fineness of ear]; tore the +house a good deal to pieces, but again did not set it on fire. 'Your +obstinate Town can be bombarded, then,--cannot it?' observed the Russian +Messenger.--'Give us Free Withdrawal!' proposes Amim. 'No; you to +be Prisoners of War; Town at Czarish Majesty's discretion.' 'Never,' +answers Arnim (to the outward ear).--'Go, oh, for the love of Heaven, +go!' cry all Official people. + +"Arnim, deaf to clamor, but steadily diligent in getting ready, does at +last go; through the Lebus Suburb, quick march; steady, yet at his best +step;--taking the Town-keys in his pocket, and leaving the Drawbridge +up. One is sorry for poor Arnim and his 400 Militia; whose conduct was +perfect, under difficulties and alarms; but proved unsuccessful. The +terrified Magistrates, finding their Keys gone, and the conflagrative +Russians at their gates, got blacksmiths on the instant; smote down, by +chisel and mallet, the locked Drawbridge, smote open the Gates: 'Enter, +O gracious Sirs; and may Czarish Majesty have mercy on us!' So that +Arnim had small start for marchers on foot; and was overtaken about +half-way. Would not yield still, though the odds were overwhelming; drew +himself out on the best ground discoverable; made hot resistance; hot +and skilful; but in vain. About six in the evening, Arnim and Party +were brought back, Prisoners, to Frankfurt again,--self, surviving men, +cannons and all (self in a wounded state);--and 'were locked in various +Brew-houses;' little of careful surgery, I should fear. Poor Arnim; man +could do no more; and he has been unfortunate." + +It is by no means our intention to describe the Iliad of miseries, +the agitations, terrors and disquietudes, the tribulation and utter +harrowing to despair, which poor Frankfurt underwent, incessantly from +that day forward, for about five weeks to come. "The furnishings of +victual [Russian stock quite out] were to an inconceivable amount; +surrender of arms, of linens, cloths, of everything useful to a hungry +Army; above all things, of horses, so that at last there were but four +horses left in all Frankfurt; and"--But we must not go into details. + +"On the second day, besides all this," what will be significant of it +all, "there was exacted 'ransom of 600,000 thalers (90,000 pounds), or +you shall be delivered to the Cossacks!' Frankfurt has not above 12,000 +inhabitants within its bounds; here is a sudden poll-tax of 7 pounds +10s. per head. Frankfurt has not such a sum; the most rigorous +collection did not yield above the tenth part of it. And more than once +those sanguinary vagabonds were openly drawn out, pitch-link in hand: +'The 90,000 pounds or--!' Civic Presidency Office in Frankfurt was not a +bed of roses. The poor Magistrates rushed distractedly about; wrung out +moneys to the last drop; moneys, and in the end plate from those that +had it; went in tearful deputation to General Soltikof,--a severe proud +kind of man, capable perhaps of being flattered,--who usually locked +them up instead. Magistrates were locked in Russian ward, at one time, +for almost a week; sat in the blazing sun; if you try for the shade of +a tree, the sentry handles arms upon you;--and were like to die. To me, +Kriele, it is a miracle how the most of us lived; nay we never really +wanted food, so kind was Providence, so generous our poor neighbors out +of all the Towns round. The utmost of money that could be raised was +6,000 pounds; nothing but some little of plate, and our Bill for the +remainder. Soltikof, a high kind of gentleman, saw at last how it +stood; let the Magistrates out of ward; sent back the plate--'Nothing of +that!'--nay, Czarish Majesty was herself generous; and FORGAVE the Bill, +on our petition, next Year. Cossacks, indeed, were a plunderous wild +crew; but the Russians kept them mostly without the gates. The regular +Russians were civil and orderly, officers and men,--greatly beyond the +Austrians in behavior." [Kriele, _Schlacht bei Kunersdorf;_ pp. 1-15 (in +compressed state).] By these few traits conceive Frankfurt: this, now +forgotten in most books, is a background on which things were transacted +still memorable to everybody. + +"Friday, August 3d, General Loudon came to hand: arrived early, in the +Guben (or Western) Suburb, his 18,000 and he. In high spirits naturally, +and somewhat exultant to have evaded Friedrich; but found a reception +that surprised him. The Russians had been living in the hope of +junction; but still more vividly in that of meal. 'Auxiliaries; +humph,--only 18,000 of them; how much welcomer had been as many +hundredweights of meal!' Loudon had pushed his baggage direct into +Frankfurt; and likewise a requisition of such and such proviants, +weights of meal and the like, in exuberant amount, to be furnished +straightway by the City: neither of which procedures would the +Russians hear of for a moment. 'Out with you!' said they roughly to the +baggage-people: 'quarter in the Guben Suburb, or where you like; not +here!' And with regard to the requisition of proviant, they answered +in a scornful angry key, 'Proviant? You too without it? You have not +brought us meal, according to covenant; instead of meal, you bring us +18,000 new eaters, most of them on horse-back,--Satan thank you! From +Frankfurt be very certain you can get no ounce of meal; Frankfurt is our +own poor meal-bag, dreadfully scanty: stay outside, and feed where and +how you can!' + +"All this, Loudon, though of hot temper, easily capable of rising to +the fierce point, had to endure in silence, for the common interest. +Loudon's own table is furnished from Frankfurt; no other Austrian man's: +all others have to shift how they can. Sad requisitioning needed, and +sad plunder to supplement it: the Austrian behavior was very bad, say +the Frankfurters; 'in particular, they had burnt gradually all the +corn-mills in the country; within many miles not one mill standing +when they left us,'--and four horses all the conveyance power we had. +Soltikof lodges in great pomp, much soldiery and cannon parading before +his doors; not an undignified man, or an inhuman or essentially foolish, +but very high in his ways, and distasteful to Austrian dignitaries." + +The Russian Army lies mainly across Oder; encamped on the Judenberg, and +eastward there, along the Heights, near three miles, to Kunersdorf and +beyond. They expect Friedrich at the gates of Frankfurt shortly; know +well that they cannot defend Frankfurt. They calculate that Friedrich +will attack them in their Judenberg Encampment, but hope they are nearly +ready for him there. Loudon, from the Guben Suburb, will hasten across, +at any moment;--welcome on such fighting occasion, though ill seen +when the question is of eating! The Russians have their Wagenburg on an +Island southward, farther up the River; they have three Pontoon Bridges +leading thither, a free retreat should they be beaten. And in the +mean while are intrenching themselves, as only Daun would,--cannon and +redoubts all round those Heights;--and except it be screwing Frankfurt +to do its impossible duty, and carting provender with all the horses +except four, have not much farther to do but wait till the King come. +Which will be speedily, it is probable!-- + +Wednesday, August 8th, Russian and Austrian Generals, a cheerful party +of them, had rendezvoused at FISCHERS MUHLE; a Mill not yet burnt, and a +pleasant Tavern as well; in one of the prettiest valleys in the Western +Environs;--intending to dine there, and have a pleasant day. But the +Miller's Boy runs in upon them, wide-eyed, "HIMMEL UND ERDE, Prussian +Hussars!" It was in verity Prussian Hussars; the King of Prussia with +them in person. He is come out reconnoitring,--the day after his arrival +in those parts. The pleasuring Generals, Russian and Austrian, sprang to +horseback at their swiftest,--hope of dinner gone futile, except to the +intervening Prussian Hussars;--and would have all been captured, but +for that Miller's Boy; whose Mill too was burnt before long. This gallop +home of the undined Generals into Frankfurt was the first news we poor +Frankfurters had of the King's arrival. + +The King has been punctual to his reckoning: he picked up Wedell at +Mullrose,--not too cordial to Wedell's people: "None of you speak to +those beaten wretches," ordered he; "till perhaps they wipe off +their Zullichau stain!" On the 7th, Friedrich advanced to Frankfurt +neighborhood; took Camp between Wulkow and Lebus;--and has just been +out reconnoitring. And has raised, fancy what emotion in poor Frankfurt +lying under its nightmare! "Next day, August 9th, from Wulkow-Lebus hand, +we" of Frankfurt, "heard a great firing; cannon-salvos, musket-volleys: +'Nothing of fight,' the Russian Officers told us; 'it is the King of +Prussia doing joy-fire for Minden,' of which we till now knew nothing." + +Friedrich, on survey of this Russian-Austrian Army, some 90,000 in +number, with such posts, artilleries, advantages, judges that he, +counting only 40,000, is not strong enough. And, indeed, had so +anticipated, and already judged; and, accordingly, has Finck on march +hitherward again,--Berlin must take its risk, Saxony must shift for +itself in the interim. Finck is due in two days,--not here at Lebus +precisely, but at another place appointed; Finck will raise him to +50,000; and then business can begin! Contrary to Russian expectation, +Friedrich does not attack Frankfurt; seems quite quiet in his +cantonments;--he is quietly (if one knew it) making preparations +farther down the River. About Reitwein, between this and Custrin, there +arrangements are proceeding, by no means of a showy sort. + +The Russian-Austrian Army quits Frankfurt, leaving only some hundreds +of garrison: Loudon moves across, Soltikof across; to the Oder-Dam and +farther; and lie, powerfully intrenched, on those Kunersdorf Heights, +and sandy Moorlands, which go eastward at right-angles to Oder-Dam. One +of the strongest Camps imaginable. All round there, to beyond Kunersdorf +and back again, near three miles each way, they have a ring of redoubts, +and artillery without end. And lie there, in order of battle, or nearly +so; ready for Friedrich, when he shall attack, through Frankfurt or +otherwise. They face to the North (Reitwein way, as it happens); to +their rear, and indeed to their front, only not so close, are woods and +intricate wilds. Loudon has the left flank; that is to say, Loudon's +left hand is towards the Oder-Dam and Frankfurt; he lies at the ROTHE +VORWERK ("Red Grange," a Farmstead much mentioned just now); rather +to northwestward of the Jew Hill and Jew Churchyard (JUDENBERG and +JUDENKIRCHHOF, likewise much mentioned); and in advance of the general +Mass. Soltikof's head-quarter, I rather understand, is on the right +wing; probably in Kunersdorf itself, or beyond that Village; there, at +least, our highly important Russian right wing is; there, elaborately +fortified; and, half a mile farther, ends,--on the edge of steep dells; +the Russian brink of which is strongly fringed with cannon, while +beyond, on the farther brink, they have built an abatis; so making +assurance doubly sure. Looking to the northward all these 90,000; their +left rather southward of Frankfurt Bridge, over which Friedrich will +probably arrive. Leftward, somewhat to rearward, they have bridges of +their own; should anything sinister befall; three bridges which lead +into that Oder Island, and the Russian Wagenburg there. + +August 10th, Finck, punctual to time, arrives in the neighborhood of +Reitwein (which is some ten miles down stream from Lebus, from Frankfurt +perhaps fifteen); Friedrich, the same day, is there before him; eager +to complete the Bridges, and get to business. One Bridge is of pontoons; +one of "Oder-boats floated up from Custrin." Bridges are not begun till +nightfall, lest eyes be abroad; are ready in the minimum of time. And +so, during the same night of the 10th, all the Infantry, with their +artilleries and battle-furnitures, pour over in two columns; the +Cavalry, at the due point of time, riding by a ford short way to the +right. And at four, in the gray of the August morning (Saturday, 11th +August, 1759), all persons and things find themselves correctly across; +ranked there, in those barren, much-indented "Pasture-grounds of Goritz" +or of OEtscher; intending towards Kunersdorf; ready for unfolding into +order of battle there. They leave their heavy baggage at Goritz, Wunsch +to guard the Bridges and it; and, in succinct condition, are all under +way. At one in the afternoon we are got to Leissow and Bischofsee; +scrubby hamlets (as the rest all are), not above two miles from +Kunersdorf. The August day is windless, shiny, sultry; man and horse are +weary with the labors, and with the want of sleep: we decide to bivouac +here, and rest on the scrubby surface, heather or whatever it is, till +to-morrow. + +Finck is Vanguard, ahead short way, and with his left on a bit of lake +or bog; the Army is in two lines, with its right on Leissow, and has +Cavalry in the kind of wood which there is to rear. Friedrich, having +settled the positions, rides out reconnoitring; hither, thither, +over the Heights of Trettin. "The day being still hot, he suffers +considerably from thirst [it is our one Anecdote] in that arid tract: at +last a Peasant does bring him, direct from the fountain, a jug of pure +cold water; whom, lucky man, the King rewarded with a thaler; and not +only so, but, the man being intelligent of the localities, took with him +to answer questions." Readers too may desire to gain some knowledge of +the important ground now under survey. + +"Frankfurt, a very ancient Town, not a very beautiful," says my Note, +"stands on an alluvium which has been ground down from certain clay +Hills on the left bank of Oder. It counted about 12,000 inhabitants in +Friedrich's time; has now perhaps about 20,000; not half the bulk of +its namesake on the Mayn; but with Three great Fairs annually, and much +trade of the rough kind. On this left or west bank of Oder the country +is arable, moderately grassy and umbrageous, the prospect round you +not unpleasant; but eastward, over the River, nothing can be more in +contrast. Oder is of swift current, of turbid color, as it rolls under +Frankfurt Bridge,--Wooden Bridge, with Dam Suburb at the end;--a River +treeless, desolate, as you look up and down; which has, evidently, +often changed its course, since grinding down that alluvium as site for +Frankfurt; and which, though now holding mainly to northward, is still +given to be erratic, and destructive on the eastern low grounds,--had +not the Frankfurters built an 'Oder-Dam' on that side; a broad strong +Earth-mound, running for many miles, and confining its floods. Beyond +the Dam there are traces of an 'Old Oder (ALTE ODER);' and, in fact, +Oder, in primeval and in recent time, has gone along, many-streamed; +indenting, quarrying, leaving lakelets, quagmires, miscellaneous sandy +tumult, at a great rate, on that eastern shore. Making of it one of +the unloveliest scenes of chaotic desolation anywhere to be met +with;--fallen unlovelier than ever in our own more recent times. + +"What we call the Heights of Kunersdorf is a broad Chain of Knolls; +coming out, at right-angles, or as a kind of spur, from the eastern high +grounds; direct towards Oder and Frankfurt. Mill-Hill (MUHLBERG) is +the root or easternmost part of this spur. From the Muhlberg, over +Kunersdorf, to Oder-Dam, which is the whole length of the spur, or Chain +of Knolls, will be little short of four miles; the breadth of the Chain +is nowhere one mile,--which is its grand defect as a Camp: 'too narrow +for manoeuvring in.' Here, atop and on the three sides of this Block +of Knolls, was fought the furious Battle of Kunersdorf [to be fought +to-morrow], one of the most furious ever known. A Block of Knolls +memorable ever since. + +"To all appearance: it was once some big Island or chain of Islands +in the Oder deluges: it is still cut with sudden hollows,--KUHGRUND +(Cow-Hollow), TIEFE WEG (Deep Way), and westernmost of all, and +most important for us here, HOHLE GRUND (Big Hollow, let us call it; +'LOUDON'S Hollow' people subsequently called it);--and is everywhere +strangely tumbled up into knolls blunt or sharp, the work of primeval +Oder in his rages. In its highest knolls,--of which let readers note +specially the Spitzberg, the Muhlberg, the Judenberg,--it rises nowhere +to 150 feet; perhaps the general height of it may be about 100. On each +side of it, especially on the north, the Country is of most intricate +character: bushy, scraggy, with brooklets or muddy oozings wandering +about, especially with a thing called the HUNERFLIESS (Hen-Floss), which +springs in the eastern woods, and has inconceivable difficulty to +get into Oder,--if it get at all! This was a sore Floss to Friedrich +to-morrow. Hen-Floss struggles, painfully meandering and oozing, along +the northern side (sometimes close, sometimes not) of our Chain of +Knolls: along the south side of it (in our time, through the middle +of it) goes the Highway to Reppen ["From that Highway will his attack +come!" thought the Russians, always till to-day]: on the north, to +Leissow, to Trettin," where Friedrich is now on survey, "go various +wheel-tracks, but no firm road. A most intricate unlovely Country. +Withered bent-grasses, heath, perhaps gorse, and on both sides a great +deal of straggling Forest-wood, reaching eastward, and especially +southward, for many miles. + +"For the rest," to our ill-luck in this place, "the Battlefield of +Kunersdorf has had a peculiar fate in the world; that of being blown +away by the winds! The then scene of things exists no longer; the +descriptions in the Old Books are gone hopelessly irrecognizable. In our +time, there is not anywhere a tract more purely of tumbled sand, than +all this between Kunersdorf and Dam Vorstadt; and you judge, without aid +of record or tradition, that it is greatly altered for the worse since +Friedrich's time,--some rabbit-colony, or other the like insignificancy, +eating out the roots, till all vegetation died, and the wind got hold +and set it dancing;--and that, in 1759, when Russian human beings +took it for a Camp, it must have been at least coherent, more or less; +covered, held together by some film of scrubby vegetation; not blowing +about in every wind as now! Kunersdorf stands with its northern end +pushed into that KUHGRUND (Cow-Hollow); which must then have been a +grassy place. Eastward of Kunersdorf the ground has still some skin of +peat, and sticks together: but westward, all that three miles, it is a +mere tumult of sand-hills, tumbled about in every direction (so diligent +have the conies been, and then the winds); no gullet, or definite cut or +hollow, now traceable anywhere, but only an endless imbroglio of twisted +sand-heaps and sand-hollows, which continually alter in the wind-storms. +Sand wholly, and--except the strong paved Highway that now runs through +it (to Reppen, Meseritz and the Polish Frontier, and is strongly paved +till it get through Kunersdorf)--chaotic wholly; a scene of heaped +barrenness and horror, not to be matched but in Sahara; the features of +the Battle quite blown away, and indecipherable in our time. + +"A hundred years ago, it would have some tattered skin,--of peat, of +heather and dwarf whins, with the sand cropping out only here and there. +So one has to figure it in Soltikof's day,--before the conies ruined +it. Which was not till within the last sixty years, as appears. Kriele's +Book (in 1801) still gives no hint of change: the KUHGRUND, which now +has nothing but dry sand for the most industrious ruminant, is still a +place of succulence and herbage in Kriele's time; 'Deep Way,' where 'at +one point two carts could not pass,' was not yet blown out of existence, +but has still 'a Well in it' for Kriele; HOHLE GRUND (since called +Loudon's Hollow), with the Jew Hill and Jew Churchyard beyond, seem +tolerable enough places to Kriele. Probably not unlike what the +surrounding Country still is. A Country of poor villages, and of wild +ground, flat generally, and but tolerably green; with lakelets, bushes, +scrubs, and intricate meandering little runlets and oozelets; and in +general with more of Forest so called than now is:--this is Kunersdorf +Chain of Knolls; Soltikof's Intrenched Camp at present; destined to +become very famous in the world, after lying so long obscure under Oder +and its rages." [TOURIST'S NOTE (Autumnn, 1852).] + +From the Knolls of Trettin, that Saturday afternoon, Friedrich takes +view of the Russian Camp. All lying bright enough there; from Muhlberg +to Judenberg, convenient to our glass; between us and the evening Sun. +Batteries most abundant, difficulties great: Soltikof just ahead here, +72,000: Loudon at the Red Grange yonder, on their extreme left, with +18,000 more. An uncommonly strong position for 90,000 against 50,000. +One thing strikes Friedrich: On front in this northern side, close by +the base of the Russian Camp, runs--for the present away FROM Oder, but +intending to join it elsewhere--a paltry little Brook, "Hen-Floss" so +called, with at least two successive Mills on it (KLEINE MUHLE, GROSSE +MUHLE); and on the northern shore of it, spilling itself out into a +wet waste called ELSBRUCH (Alder Waste), which is especially notable +to Friedrich. ALDER Waste? Watery, scrubby; no passage there, thinks +Friedrich; which his Peasant with the water-jug confirms. "Tell me, +however," inquires Friedrich, with strictness, "From the Red Grange +yonder, where General Loudon is, if you wished to get over to the HOHLE +GRUND, or to the Judenberg, would you cross that Hen-Floss?" "It is not +crossable, your Majesty; one has to go round quite westward by the +Dam." "What, from Rothe Vorwerk to Big Hollow, no passage, say you; no +crossing?" "None, your Majesty," insists the Peasant;--who is not aware +that the Russians have made one of firm trestles and logs, and use it +daily for highway there; an error of some interest to Friedrich within +the next twenty-four hours! + +Friedrich himself does not know this bit of ground: but there is with +him, besides the Peasant, a Major Linden, whose Regiment used to lie in +Frankfurt, of whom Friedrich makes minute questioning. Linden answers +confidently; has been over all this tract a hundred times; "but knows +it only as a hunter," says Tempelhof, [Tempelhof, iii. 186.] "not as a +soldier," which he ought to have done. His answers are supposed to +have misled Friedrich on various points, and done him essential damage. +Friedrich's view of the case, that evening, is by no means so despondent +as might be imagined: he regards the thing as difficult, not as +impossible,--and one of his anxieties is, that he be not balked of +trying it straightway. Retiring to his hut in Bischofsee, he makes two +Dispositions, of admirable clearness, brevity, and calculated for two +contingencies: [Given in Tempelhof, iii. 182, 183.] That of the +enemy retaining his now posture; and That of the enemy making off for +Reppen;--which latter does not at all concern us, as matters turned! Of +the former the course will unfold itself to us, in practice, shortly. At +2 A.M. Friedrich will be on foot again, at 3 on march again.--The last +phenomenon, at Bischofsee this night, is some sudden glare of disastrous +light rising over the woods:--"Russians burning Kunersdorf!" as +neighbors are sorry to hear. That is the finale of much Russian +rearranging and tumbling, this day; that barbarous burning of +Kunersdorf, before going to bed. To-morrow various other poor Villages +got burnt by them, which they had better have left standing. + +The Russians, on hearing that Friedrich was across at Goritz, and coming +on them from the north side, not from Frankfurt by the Reppen Highway, +were in great agitation. Not thrown into terror, but into manifold +haste, knowing what hasty adversary there was. Endless readjustments +they have to make; a day of tumultuous business with the Russians, this +Saturday, 11th, when the news reached them. "They inverted their front +[say all the Books but Friedrich's own]: Not coming by the Reppen +Highway, then!" think they. And thereupon changed rear to front, as at +Zorndorf, but more elaborately;--which I should not mention, were it +not that hereby their late "right wing on the Muhlberg" has, in strict +speech, become their "left," and there is ambiguity and discrepancy in +some of the Books, should any poor reader take to studying them on this +matter. Changed their front; which involves much interior changing; +readjusting of batteries and the like. That of burning Kunersdorf was +the barbaric winding up of all this: barbaric, and, in the military +sense, absurd; poor Kunersdorf could have been burnt at any moment, +if needful; and to the Russians the keeping of it standing was the +profitable thing, as an impediment to Friedrich in his advance there. +They have laid it flat and permeable; ashes all of it,--except the +Church only, which is of stone; not so combustible, and may have uses +withal. Has perhaps served as temporary lock-up, prison for the night, +to some of those Frankfurt Deputations and their troublesome wailings; +and may serve as temporary hospital to-morrow, who knows? + +Readjustments in the Russian Camp were manifold: but these are as +nothing, in the tumultuous business of the day. Carting of their +baggage, every article of value, to that safe Wagenburg in the River; +driving of cattle,--the very driving of cattle through Frankfurt, +endless herds of them, gathered by the Cossacks from far and wide, +"lasted for four-and-twenty hours." Oxen in Frankfurt that day were +at the rate of ten shillings per head. Often enough you were offered a +full-grown young steer for a loaf of bread; nay the Cossacks, when there +was absolutely no bidder, would slaughter down the animal, leave its +carcass in the streets, and sell the hide for a TYMPF,--fivepence (very +bad silver at present). Never before or since was seen in Frankfurt such +a Saturday, for bellowing and braying, and raging and tumulting, all +through the day and through the night; ushering in such a Sunday too! + +Sunday about 3 in the morning, Friedrich is on march again,--Russians +still in their place; and Disposition FIRST, not SECOND at all, to be +our rule of action! Friedrich, in Two Columns, marches off, eastward +through the woods, as if for Reppen quite away from the Russians and +their Muhlberg; but intending to circle round at the due point, and come +down upon their right flank there (left flank, as he persists to call +it), out of the woods, and clasp it in his arms in an impressive, +unexpected way. In Two Columns; which are meant, as usual, to be the Two +Lines of Battle: Seidlitz, with chosen Cavalry, is at the head of +Column First, and will be Left Wing, were we on the ground; Eugen of +Wurtemberg, closing the rear of Column First, will, he, or Finck and he +together, be Right Wing. That is the order of march;--order of BATTLE, +we shall find, had to alter itself somewhat, for reasons extremely +valid! + +Finck with his 12,000 is to keep his present ground; to have two good +batteries got ready, each on its knoll ahead, which shall wait silent +in the interim: Finck to ride out reconnoitring, with many General +Officers, and to make motions and ostentations; in a word, to persuade +the Russians that here is the Main Army coming on from the north. All +which Finck does; avoiding, as his orders were, any firing, or serious +commencement of business, till the King reappear out of the woods. The +Russians give Finck and his General Officers a cannon salvo, here and +there, without effect, and get no answer. "The King does not see his +way, then, after all?" think the Russians. Their Cossacks go scouring +about; on the southern side, "burn Schwetig and Reipzig," without the +least advantage to themselves: most of the Cavalry, and a regiment or +two of excellent Austrian Grenadiers, are with Loudon, near the Red +Grange, in front of the Russian extreme left;--but will have stept over +into Big Hollow at a moment of crisis! + +The King's march, through the Forest of Reppen, was nothing like so +expeditious as had been expected. There are thickets, intricacies, +runlets, boggy oozes; indifferent to one man well mounted, but vitally +important to 30,000 with heavy cannon to bring on. Boggy oozings +especially,--there is one dirty stream or floss (HUNERFLIESS, Hen-Floss) +which wanders dismally through those recesses, issuing from the far +south, with dirty daughters dismally wandering into it, and others that +cannot get into it (being of the lake kind): these, in their weary, +circling, recircling course towards Oder,--FAULE LAACKE (Foul Lake, +LITHER-MERE, as it were), Foul Bridge, Swine's Nook (SCHWEINEBUCKT), and +many others,--occasion endless difficulty. Whether Major Linden was shot +that day, or what became of him after, I do not know: but it was pity he +had not studied the ground with a soldier's eye instead of a hunter's! +Plumping suddenly, at last, upon Hen-Floss itself, Friedrich has to +turn angularly; angularly, which occasions great delay: the heavy cannon +(wall-guns brought from Custrin) have twelve horses each, and cannot +turn among the trees, but have to be unyoked, reyoked, turned round by +hand:--in short, it was eight in the morning before Friedrich arrived +at the edge of the wood, on the Klosterberg, Walckberg, and other woody +BERGS or knolls, within reach of Muhlberg, and behind the preliminary +abatis there (abatis which was rather of service to him than +otherwise);--and began privately building his batteries. + +At eight o'clock he, with Column First, which is now becoming Line First +(CENTRE of Line First, if we reckon Finck as RIGHT-WING), is there; +busy in that manner: Column Second, which was to have been Rear Line, is +still a pretty way behind; and has many difficulties before it gets into +Kunersdorf neighborhood, or can (having wriggled itself into a kind of +LEFT-WING) co-operate on the Russian Position from the south side. On +the north side, Finck has been ready these five hours.--Friedrich speeds +the building of his batteries: "Silent, too; the Russians have not yet +noticed us!" By degrees the Russians do notice something; shoot out +Cossacks to reconnoitre. Cossacks in quantity; who are so insolent, and +venture so very near, our gunners on the north battery give them a blast +of satisfactory grape-shot; one and then another, four blasts in all, +satisfactory to the gunner mind,--till the King's self, with a look, +with a voice, came galloping: "Silence, will you!" The Russians took no +offence; still considering Finck to be the main thing and Friedrich some +scout party,--till at last, + +Half-past eleven, everything being ready on the Walck Hill, Friedrich's +batteries opened there, in a sudden and volcanic way. Volcanically +answered by the Russians, as soon as possible; who have 72 guns on this +Muhlberg, and are nothing loath. Upon whom Finck's battery is opening +from the north, withal: Friedrich has 60 cannon hereabouts; on the +Walckberg, on the LITTLE Spitzberg (called SEIDLITZ HILL ever since); +all playing diligently on the head and south shoulder of this Muhlberg: +while Finck's battery opens on the north shoulder (could he but get near +enough). Volcanic to a degree all these; nor are the Russians wanting, +though they get more and more astonished: Tempelhof, who was in it, says +he never, except at Torgau next Year, heard a louder cannonade. Loud +exceedingly; and more or less appalling to the Russian imagination: +but not destructive in proportion; the distance being too +considerable,--"1,950 paces at the nearest," as Tempelhof has since +ascertained by measuring. Friedrich's two batteries, however, as they +took the Russians in the flank or by enfilade, did good execution. +"The Russian guns were ill-pointed; the Russian batteries wrong-built; +batteries so built as did not allow them sight of the Hollow they were +meant to defend." [Tempelhof, iii. 186, 187.] + +After above half an hour of this, Friedrich orders storm of the +Muhlberg: Forward on it, with what of enfilading it has had! Eight +grenadier Battalions, a chosen vanguard appointed for the work (names of +Battalions all given, and deathless in the Prussian War-Annals), tramp +forth on this service: cross the abatis, which the Russian grenadoes +have mostly burnt; down into the Hollow. Steady as planets; "with +a precision and coherency," says Tempelhof, "which even on the +parade-ground would have deserved praises. Once well in the Hollow, +they suffer nothing; though the blind Russian fire, going all over their +heads, rages threefold:" suffered nothing in the Hollow; nor till they +reached almost the brow of the Muhlberg, and were within a hundred steps +of the Russian guns. These were the critical steps, these final ones; +such torrents of grape-shot and musket-shot and sheer death bursting +out, here at last, upon the Eight Battalions, as they come above ground. +Who advanced, unwavering, all the faster,--speed one's only safety. They +poured into the Russian gunners and musketry battalions one volley of +choicest quality, which had a shaking effect; then, with level bayonets, +plunge on the batteries: which are all empty before we can leap +into them; artillery-men, musketeer battalions, all on wing; general +whirlpool spreading. And so, in ten minutes, the Muhlberg and its guns +are ours. Ever since Zorndorf, an idea had got abroad, says Tempelhof, +that the Russians would die instead of yielding; but it proved far +otherwise here. Down as far as Kunersdorf, which may be about a mile +westward, the Russians are all in a whirl; at best hanging in tatters +and clumps, their Officers struggling against the flight; "mixed groups +you would see huddled together a hundred men deep." The Russian Left +Wing is beaten: had we our cannon up here, our cavalry up here, the +Russian Army were in a bad way! + +This is a glorious beginning; completed, I think, as far almost as +Kunersdorf by one o'clock: and could the iron continue to be struck +while it is at white-heat as now, the result were as good as certain. +That was Friedrich's calculation: but circumstances which he had not +counted on, some which he could not count on, sadly retarded the matter. +His Left Wing (Rear Line, which should now have been Left Wing) from +southward, his Right Wing from northward, and Finck farther west, +were now on the instant to have simultaneously closed upon the beaten +Russians, and crushed them altogether. The Right Wing, conquerors of the +Muhlberg, are here: but neither Finck nor the Left can be simultaneous +with them. Finck and his artillery are much retarded with the Flosses +and poor single Bridges; and of the Left Wing there are only some +Vanguard Regiments capable of helping ("who drove out the Russians from +Kunersdorf Churchyard," as their first feat),--no Main Body yet for +a long while. Such impediments, such intricacies of bog and bush! The +entire Wing does at last get to the southeast of Kunersdorf, free of the +wood; but finds (contrary to Linden with his hunter eye) an intricate +meshwork of meres and straggling lakes, two of them in the burnt +Village itself; no passing of these except on narrow isthmuses, which +necessitate change of rank and re-change; and our Left Wing cannot, with +all its industry, "march up," that is, arrive at the enemy in fighting +line, without the painfulest delays. + +And then the getting forward of our cannon! On the Muhlberg itself +the seventy-two Russian guns, "owing to difference of calibre," or +artillery-men know what, cannot be used by us: a few light guns, +Tempelhof to one of them, a poor four in all, with perhaps 100 shot to +each, did, by the King's order, hasten to the top of the Muhlberg; and +never did Tempelhof see a finer chance for artillery than there. Soft +sloping ground, with Russians simmering ahead of you, all the way +down to Kunersdorf, a mile long: by horizontal pointing, you had such +reboundings (RICOCHETS); and carried beautiful execution! Tempelhof soon +spent his hundred shots: but it was not at once that any of our sixty +heavy guns could be got up thither. Twelve horses to each: fancy it, and +what baffling delays here and elsewhere;--and how the Russian whirlpool +was settling more and more, in the interim! And had, in part, settled; +in part, got through to the rear, and been replaced by fresh troops! + +Friedrich's activities, and suppressed and insuppressible impatiences +in this interval, are also conceivable, though not on record for us. The +swiftest of men; tied down, in this manner, with the blaze of perfect +victory ahead, were the moments NOT running out! Slower or faster, he +thinks (I suppose), the victory is his; and that he must possess his +soul till things do arrive. It was in one and more of those embargoed +intervals that he wrote to Berlin [Preuss, ii. 212 n.] (which is +waiting, as if for life or death, the issue of this scene, sixty miles +distant): "Russians beaten; rejoice with me!" Four successive couriers, +I believe, with messages to that effect; and at last a Fifth with +dolefully contrary news!-- + +In proportion as the cannon and other necessaries gradually got in, the +Fight flamed up from its embers more and more: and there ensued,--the +Russians being now ranked again (fronting eastward now) "in many lines," +and very fierce,--a second still deadlier bout; Friedrich furiously +diligent on their front and right flank; Finck, from the Alder Waste, +battering and charging (uphill, and under difficulties from those +Flosses and single Bridges) on their left flank. This too, after long +deadly efforts on the Prussian part, ended again clearly in their +favor; their enemies broken a second time, and driven not only out of +Kunersdorf and the Kuhgrund, but some say almost to the foot of the +Judenberg,--what can only be very partially true. Broken portions of the +Russian left flank,--some of Finck's people, in their victorious wrath, +may have chased these very far: but it is certain the general Russian +mass rallied again a long way short of the Judenberg;--though, the +ground being all obliterated by the rabbits and the winds, nobody can +now know with exactitude where. + +And indeed the Battle, from this point onwards, becomes blurred and +confused to us, only its grosser features visible henceforth. Where the +"Big Spitzberg" was (so terribly important soon), nobody can now +tell me, except from maps. London's motions too are obscure, though +important. I believe his grenadiers had not yet been in the fire; but am +certain they are now come out of Big Hollow; fresh for the rescue; +and have taken front rank in this Second Rally that is made. Loudon's +Cavalry Loudon himself has in hand, and waits with them in a fit place. +He has 18,000 fresh men; and an eye like few others on a field of war. +Loudon's 18,000 are fresh: of the Prussians that can by no means be +said. I should judge it must be 3 of the afternoon. The day is windless, +blazing; one of the hottest August days; and "nobody, for twelve hours +past, could command a drink of water:" very fresh the poor Prussians +cannot be! They have done two bouts of excellent fighting; tumbled the +Russians well back, stormed many batteries; and taken in all 180 cannon. + +At this stage, it appears, Finck and many Generals, Seidlitz among the +others, were of opinion that, in present circumstances, with troops so +tired, and the enemy nearly certain to draw off, if permitted, here +had been enough for one day, and that there ought to be pause till +to-morrow. Friedrich knew well the need of rest; but Friedrich, +impatient of things half-done, especially of Russians half-beaten, would +not listen to this proposal; which was reckoned upon him as a grave and +tragic fault, all the rest of his life; though favorable judges, who +were on the ground, Tempelhof for one, [Tempelhof, iii. 194.] are +willing to prove that pausing here--at the point we had really got to, a +little beyond the Kuhgrund, namely; and not a couple of miles westward, +at the foot of the Jew Hill, where vague rumor puts us--was not feasible +or reasonable. Friedrich considers with himself, "Our left wing has +hardly yet been in fire!" calls out the entire left wing, foot +and horse: these are to emerge from their meshwork of Lakes about +Kunersdorf, and bear a hand along with us on the Russian front +here,--especially to sweep away that raging Battery they have on the Big +Spitzberg, and make us clear of it. The Big Spitzberg lies to south and +ahead of the Russian right as now ranked; fatally covers their right +flank, and half ruins the attack in front. Big Spitzberg is blown +irrecognizable in our time; but it was then an all-important thing. + +The left-wing Infantry thread their lake-labyrinth, the soonest +possible; have to rank again on the hither side, under a tearing fire +from that Spitzberg; can then at last, and do, storm onwards, upwards; +but cannot, with their best efforts, take the Spitzberg: and have to +fall back under its floods of tearing case-shot, and retire out of +range. To Friedrich's blank disappointment: "Try it you, then, Seidlitz; +you saved us at Zorndorf!" Seidlitz, though it is an impossible problem +to storm batteries with horse, does charge in for the Russian flank, +in spite of its covering battery: but the torrents of grape-shot are +insufferable; the Seidlitz people, torn in gaps, recoil, whirl round, +and do not rank again till beyond the Lakes of Kunersdorf. Seidlitz +himself has got wounded, and has had to be carried away. + +And, in brief, from this point onwards all goes aback with the Prussians +more and more. Repeated attempts on that Spitzberg battery prove +vain; to advance without it is impossible. Friedrich's exertions +are passionate, almost desperate; rallying, animating, new-ordering; +everywhere in the hottest of the fire. "Thrice he personally led on +the main attack." He has had two horses shot down under him; mounting +a third, this too gets a bullet in an artery of the neck, and is about +falling, when two Adjutants save the King. In his waistcoat-pocket some +small gold case (ETUI) has got smitten flat by a bullet, which would +otherwise have ended matters. The people about him remonstrate on such +exposure of a life beyond value; he answers curtly, "We must all of +us try every method here, to win the Battle: I, like every other, must +stand to my duty here!" These, and a second brief word or two farther +on, are all of articulate that we hear from him this day. + +Friedrich's wearied battalions here on the Heights, while the Spitzberg +to left goes so ill, fight desperately; but cannot prevail farther; and +in spite of Friedrich's vehement rallyings and urgings, gradually lose +ground,--back at last to Kunersdorf and the Kuhgrund again. The Loudon +grenadiers, and exclaimed masses of fresh Russians, are not to be +broken, but advance and advance. Fancy the panting death-labors, and +spasmodic toilings and bafflings, of those poor Prussians and their +King! Nothing now succeeding; the death-agony now come; all hearts +growing hopeless; only one heart still seeing hope. The Spitzberg is +impossible; tried how often I know not. Finck, from the Alder Waste, +with his Infantry, attacks, and again attacks; without success: "Let the +Cavalry go round, then, and try there. Seidlitz we have not; you Eugen +of Wurtemberg lead them!" Eugen leads them (cuirassiers, or we will +forget what); round by the eastern end of the Muhlberg; then westward, +along the Alder Waste; finally southward, against the Russian flank, +himself foremost, and at the gallop for charging:--Eugen, "looking +round, finds his men all gone," and has to gallop the other way, gets +wounded to boot. Puttkammer, with Hussars, then tried it; Puttkammer was +shot dead, and his Hussars too could do nothing. + +Back, slowly back, go the Prussians generally, nothing now succeeds with +them. Back to the Kuhgrund again; fairly over the steep brow there; the +Russians serrying their ranks atop, rearranging their many guns. There, +once more, rose frightful struggle; desperate attempt by the fordone +Prussians to retake that Height. "Lasted fifteen minutes, line to line +not fifty yards asunder;" such musketry,--our last cartridges withal. +Ardent Prussian parties trying to storm up; few ever getting to the top, +none ever standing there alive one minute. This was the death-agony of +the Battle. Loudon, waiting behind the Spitzberg, dashes forward now, +towards the Kuhgrund and our Left Flank. At sight of which a universal +feeling shivers through the Prussian heart, "Hope ended, then!"--and +their solid ranks rustle everywhere; and melt into one wild deluge, +ebbing from the place as fast as it can. + +It is towards six o'clock; the sweltering Sun is now fallen low and +veiled; gray evening sinking over those wastes. "N'Y A-T-IL DONC PAS +UN BOUGRE DE BOULET QUI PUISSE M'ATTEINDREE (Is there no one b---- of a +ball that can reach me, then)?" exclaimed Friedrich in despair. Such a +day he had never thought to see. The pillar of the State, the Prussian +Army itself, gone to chaos in this manner. Friedrich still passionately +struggles, exhorts, commands, entreats even with tears, "Children, don't +forsake me, in this pinch (KINDER, VERLASSET HEUTE MICH, EUREN KONIG, +EUREN VATER, NICHT)!" [Kriele, p. 169.]--but all ears are deaf. On the +Muhlberg one regiment still stood by their guns, covering the retreat. +But the retreat is more and more a flight; "no Prussian Army was ever +seen in such a state." At the Bridges of that Hen-Floss, there was such +a crowding, all our guns got jammed; and had to be left, 165 of them of +various calibre, and the whole of the Russian 180 that were once in our +hands. Had the chase been vigorous, this Prussian Army had been heard +of no more. But beyond the Muhlberg, there was little or no pursuit; +through the wood the Army, all in chaos, but without molestation +otherwise, made for its Oder Bridges by the way it had come. [Tempelhof, +iii. 179-200; Retzow, ii. 80-115: in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 589-598, +_ Bericht von der am 12 August, 1759 bey Kunersdorf vorgefallenen +Schlacht_ (Official); and IB. 598-603, _Beschreibung der &c._ (by a +Private Hand): lucidly accurate both.] + +Friedrich was among the last to quit the ground. He seemed stupefied +by the excess of his emotions; in no haste to go; uncertain whether +he would go at all. His adjutants were about him, and a small party +of Ziethen Hussars under Captain Prittwitz. Wild swarms of Cossacks +approached the place. "PRITTWITZ, ICH BIN VERLOREN (Prittwitz, I am +lost)!" remarked he. "NEIN, IHRO MAJESTAT!" answered Prittwitz with +enthusiasm; charged fiercely, he and his few, into the swarms of +Cossacks; cut them about, held them at bay, or sent them else-whither, +while the Adjutants seized Friedrich's bridle, and galloped off with +him. At OEtscher and the Bridges, Friedrich found of his late Army not +quite 3,000 men. Even Wunsch is not there till next morning. Wunsch +with his Party had, early in the afternoon, laid hold of Frankfurt, +as ordered; made the garrison prisoners, blocked the Oder Bridge; poor +Frankfurt tremulously thanking Heaven for him, and for such an omen. In +spite of their Wagenburg and these Pontoon-Bridges, it appears, there +would have been no retreat for the Russians except into Wunsch's cannon: +Wagenburg way, latish in the afternoon, there was such a scramble of +runaways and retreating baggage, all was jammed into impassability; +scarcely could a single man get through. In case of defeat, the +Russian Army would have had no chance but surrender or extermination. +[Tempelhof, iii. 194: in Retzow (ii. 110) is some dubious traditionary +stuff on the matter.] At dark, however, Wunsch had summons, so truculent +in style, he knew what it meant; and answering in words peremptorily, +"No" with a like emphasis, privately got ready again, and at midnight +disappeared. Got to Reitwein without accident. + +Friedrich found at OEtscher nothing but huts full of poor wounded men, +and their miseries and surgeries;--he took shelter, himself, in a hut +"which had been plundered by Cossacks" (in the past days), but which had +fewer wounded than others, and could be furnished with some bundles of +dry straw. Kriele has a pretty Anecdote, with names and particulars, of +two poor Lieutenants, who were lying on the floor, as he entered this +hut. They had lain there for many hours; the Surgeons thinking them +desperate; which Friedrich did not. "ACH KINDER, Alas, children, you +are badly wounded, then?" "JA, your Majesty: but how goes the Battle?" +(Answer, evasive on this point): "Are you bandaged, though? Have you +been let blood?" "NEIN, EUER MAJESTAT, KEIN TEUFEL WILL UNS VERBINDEN +(Not a devil of them would bandage us)!" Upon which there is a Surgeon +instantly brought; reprimanded for neglect: "Desperate, say you? These +are young fellows; feel that hand, and that; no fever there: Nature +in such cases does wonders!" Upon which the leech had to perform his +function; and the poor young fellows were saved,--and did new fighting, +and got new wounds, and had Pensions when the War ended. [Kriele, pp. +169, 170; and in all the Anecdote-Books.] This appears to have been +Friedrich's first work in that hut at OEtscher. Here next is a Third +Autograph to Finkenstein, written in that hut, probably the first of +several Official things there:-- + + +THE KING TO GRAF VAN FINKENSTEIN (at Berlin): Third Note. + +OETSCHER, "12th August," 1759. + +"I attacked the Enemy this morning about eleven; we beat him back to the +JUDENKIRCHHOF (Jew Churchyard,"--a mistake, but now of no moment), "near +Frankfurt. All my troops came into action, and have done wonders. I +reassembled them three times; at length, I was myself nearly taken +prisoner; and we had to quit the Field. My coat is riddled with bullets, +two horses were killed under me;--my misfortune is, that I am still +alive. Our loss is very considerable. Of an Army of 48,000 men, I have, +at this moment while I write, not more than 3,000 together; and am no +longer master of my forces. In Berlin you will do well to think of +your safety. It is a great calamity; and I will not survive it: the +consequences of this Battle will be worse than the Battle itself. I have +no resources more; and, to confess the truth, I hold all for lost. I +will not survive the destruction of my Country. Farewell forever +(ADIEU POUR JAMAIS).--F." [In orig. "CE 12," no other date (_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xxv. 306).] + +Another thing, of the same tragic character, is that of handing over +this Army to Finck's charge. Order there is to Finck of that tenor: and +along with it the following notable Autograph,--a Friedrich taking +leave both of Kingship and of life. The Autograph exists; but has no +date,--date of the Order would probably be still OETSCHER, 12th AUGUST; +date of the Autograph, REITWEIN (across the River), next day. + +FRIEDRICH TO LIEUT.-GENERAL FINCK (at OEtscher or Reitwein). + +"General Finck gets a difficult commission; the unlucky Army which +I give up to him is no longer in condition to make head against the +Russians. Haddick will now start for Berlin, perhaps Loudon too; if +General Finck go after these, the Russians will fall on his rear; if +he continue on the Oder, he gets Haddick on his flank (SO KRIGT ER DEN +HADEK DISS SEIT):--however, I believe, should Loudon go for Berlin, he +might attack Loudon, and try to beat him: this, if it succeeded, would +be a stand against misfortune, and hold matters up. Time gained is much, +in these desperate circumstances. The news from Torgau and Dresden, +Coper my Secretary (COPER MEIN SEGRETER," kind of lieutenant to Eichel +[See Preuss, i. 349, iii. 442.]) "will send him. You (ER) must inform my +Brother [Prince Henri] of everything; whom I have declared Generalissimo +of the Army. To repair this bad luck altogether is not possible: but +what my Brother shall command, must be done:--the Army swears to my +Nephew [King henceforth]. + +"This is all the advice, in these unhappy circumstances, I am in a +condition to give. Had I still had resources, I would have stayed by +them (SO WEHRE ICH DARBEI GEBLIEBEN). + +"FRIEDRICH" [Exact Copy, two exact copies, in PREUSS (i. 450, and again, +ii. 215).] + +All this done, the wearied Friedrich flung himself into his truss of dry +straw; and was seen sound asleep there, a single sentry at the door, by +some high Generals that ventured to look in. On the morrow he crossed to +Reitwein; by to-morrow night, there had 23,000 of his fugitives come in +to him;--but this is now to be Finck's affair, not his! That day, too +(for the Paper seems to be misdated), he signed, and despatched to +Schmettau, Commandant in Dresden, a Missive, which proved more fatal +than either of the others; and brought, or helped to bring, very bitter +fruits for him, before long:-- + +TO LIEUTENANT-GENERAL VON SCHMETTAU (at Dresden). + +"REITWEIN, 14th [probably 13th] August, 1759. + +"You will perhaps have heard of the Check [L'ECHEC, Kunersdorf to wit!] +I have met with from the Russian Army on the 13th [12th, if you have the +Almanac at hand] of this month. Though at bottom our affairs in regard +to the Enemy here are not desperate, I find I shall not now be able to +make any detachment for your assistance. Should the Austrians attempt +anything against Dresden, therefore, you will see if there are means +of maintaining yourself; failing which, it will behoove you to try and +obtain a favorable Capitulation,--to wit, Liberty to withdraw, with +the whole Garrison, Moneys, Magazines, Hospital and all that we have at +Dresden, either to Berlin or else-whither, so as to join some Corps of +my Troops. + +"As a fit of illness [MALADIE, alas!] has come on me,--which I do not +think will have dangerous results,--I have for the present left the +command of my Troops to Lieutenant-General von Finck; whose Orders you +are to execute as if coming to you directly from myself. On this I +pray God to have you in his holy and worthy keeping.--F." [Preuss, ii. +_Urkundenbuch,_ p. 43.] + +At Berlin, on this 13th,--with the Five Couriers coming in successively +(and not in the order of their despatch, but the fatal Fifth arriving +some time AHEAD of the Fourth, who still spoke of progress and +victory),--there was such a day as Sulzer (ACH MEIN LIEBER SULZER!) +had never seen in the world. "'Above 50,000 human beings on the Palace +Esplanade and streets about;' swaying hither and thither, in agony of +expectation, in alternate paroxysm of joy and of terror and woe; often +enough the opposite paroxysms simultaneous in the different groups, and +men crushed down in despair met by men leaping into the air for very +gladness:" Sulzer (whose sympathy is of very aesthetic type) "would +not, for any consideration, have missed such a scene." [_Briefe der +Schweitzer Bodmer, Sulzer, Gessner; aus Gleim's literarischen Nachlasse: +herausgegeben von Wilhelm Korte_ (Zurich, 1804), pp. 316-319.] The +"scene" is much obliged to you, MEIN LIEBER!-- + +Practically we find, in Rodenbeck, or straggling elsewhere, this Note: +"On the day after Kunersdorf, Queen and Court fly to Magdeburg: this is +their second flight. Their first was on Haddick's Visit, October, 1757; +but after Rossbach they soon returned, and Berlin and the Court were +then extremely gay: different gentlemen, French and others of every +Nation, fallen prisoners, made the Queen's soirees the finest in the +world for splendor and variety, at that time." [Rodenbeck, i. 390; &c. +&c.] + +One other Note we save, for the sake of poor Major Kleist, "Poet of the +Spring," as he was then called. A valiant, punctual Soldier, and with a +turn for Literature as well; who wrote really pleasant fine things, new +at that time and rapturously welcome, though too much in the sentimental +vein for the times which have followed. Major Kleist,--there is a +General Kleist, a Colonel Kleist of the Green Hussars (called GRUNE +Kleist, a terrible cutting fellow):--this is not Grune Kleist; this +is the Poet of THE SPRING; whose fate at Kunersdorf made a tragic +impression in all intelligent circles of Teutschland. Here is Kriele's +Note (abridged):-- + +"Christian Ewald von Kleist, 'Poet of the Spring' [a Pommern gentleman, +now in his forty-fourth year], was of Finck's Division; had come on, +after those Eight Battalions took the first Russian battery [that is, +Muhlberg]; and had been assisting, with zeal, at the taking of three +other batteries, regardless of twelve contusions, which he gradually +got. At the third battery, he was farther badly hurt on the left arm and +the right. Took his Colonel's place nevertheless, whom he now saw fall; +led the regiment MUTHIG forward on the fourth battery. A case-shot +smashed his right leg to pieces; he fell from his horse [hour not given, +shall we say 3 P.M.]; sank, exclaiming: 'KINDER, My children, don't +forsake your King!' and fainted there. Was carried to rear and leftward; +laid down on some dry spot in the Elsbruch, not far from the Kuhgrund, +and a Surgeon brought. The Surgeon, while examining, was torn away by +case-shot: Kleist lay bleeding without help. A friend of his, Pfau [who +told Kriele], one of Finck's Generals, came riding that way: Kleist +called to him; asked how the Battle went; uncommonly glad to hear we are +still progressive. Pfau undertook, and tried his utmost, for a carriage +to Kleist; did send one of Finck's own carriages; but after such delays +that the Prussians were now yielding: poor Kleist's had become Russian +ground, and the carriage could not get in. + +"Kleist lay helpless; no luck worse than his. In the evening, Cossacks +came round him; stript him stark-naked; threw him, face foremost, into +the nearest swampy place, and went their way. One of these devils had +something so absurd and Teniers-like in the face of him, that Kleist, +in his pains, could not help laughing at remembrance of it. In the +night some Russian Hussars, human and not Cossack, found Kleist in this +situation; took him to a dry place; put a cloak over him, kindled a +watch-fire for themselves, and gave him water and bread. Towards morning +they hastened away, throwing an 8-GROSCHEN STUCK [ninepenny piece, +shilling, say half-crown] on his cloak,--with human farewell. But +Cossacks again came; again stript him naked and bare. Towards noon of +the 13th, Kleist contrived to attract some Russian Cavalry troop passing +that way, and got speech of the Captain (one Fackelberg, a German); +who at once set about helping him;--and had him actually sent into +Frankfurt, in a carriage, that evening. To the House of a Professor +Nikolai; where was plenty of surgery and watchful affection. After near +thirty hours of such a lair, his wounds seemed still curable; there was +hope for ten days. In the tenth night (22d-23d August), the shivered +pieces of bone disunited themselves; cut an artery,--which, after +many trials, could not be tied. August 24th, at two in the morning, +he died.--Great sorrow. August 26th, there was soldier's funeral; poor +Kleist's coffin borne by twelve Russian grenadiers; very many Russian +Officers attending, who had come from the Camp for that end; one Russian +Staff-Officer of them unbuckling his own sword to lay on the bier, as +there was want of one. King Friedrich had Kleist's Portrait hung in the +Garnison Kirche. Freemason Lodge, in 1788, set up a monument to him," +[Kriele, pp. 39-43.]--which still stands on the Frankfurt pavement, and +is now in sadly ruinous state. + +The Prussian loss, in this Battle, was, besides all the cannon and +field-equipages: 6,000 killed, 13,000 wounded (of which latter, 2,000 +badly, who fell to the Russians as prisoners); in all, about 19,000 +men. Nor was the Russian loss much lighter; of Russians and Austrians +together, near 18,000, as Tempelhof counts: "which will not surprise +your Majesty," reports Soltikof to his Czarina; "who are aware that +the King of Prussia sells his defeats at a dear rate." And privately +Soltikof was heard to say, "Let me fight but another such Victory, and +I may go to Petersburg with the news of it myself, with the staff in my +hand." The joy at Petersburg, striving not to be braggart or immodest, +was solemn, steady and superlative: a great feat indeed for Russia, this +Victory over such a King,--though a kind of grudge, that it was due +to Loudon, dwelt, in spite of Loudon's politic silence on that point, +unpleasantly in the background. The chase they had shamefully neglected. +It is said, certain Russian Officers, who had charge of that business +stept into a peasant's cottage to consult on it; contrived somehow to +find tolerable liquor there; and sat drinking instead. [Preuss, ii. +217.] + + + + +Chapter V.--SAXONY WITHOUT DEFENCE: SCHMETTAU SURRENDERS DRESDEN. + +Friedrich's despair did not last quite four days. On the fourth +day,--day after leaving Reitwein,--there is this little Document, which +still exists, of more comfortable tenor: "My dear Major-General von +Wunsch,--Your Letter of the 16th to Lieutenant-General von Finck +punctually arrived here: and for the future, as I am now recovered from +my illness, you have to address your Reports directly to Myself.--F." +["Madlitz," on the road to Furstenwalde, "17th August:" in Preuss, +_Friedrich der Grosse; eine historische Portrait-Skizze_ (kind of +LECTURE, so let us call it, if again citing it; Lecture delivered, on +Friedrich's Birthday, to Majesty and Staff-Officers as Audience, Berlin, +24th January, 1855), p. 18.] Finding that, except Tottleben warily +reconnoitring with a few Cossacks, no Russians showed themselves at +Reitwein; that the Russians were encamping and intrenching on the +Wine-Hills south of Frankfurt, not meaning anything immediate,--he took +heart again; ranked his 23,000; sent for General Kleist from Pommern +with his Anti-Swedish handful (leave the Swedes alone, as usual in time +of crisis); considered that artilleries and furnishings could come to +him from Berlin, which is but 60 miles; that there still lay possibility +ahead, and that, though only a miracle could save him, he would try it +to the very last. + +A great relief, this of coming to oneself again! "Till death, then;--rage +on, ye elements and black savageries!" Friedrich's humor is not +despondent, now or afterwards; though at this time it is very sad, very +angry, and, as it were, scorning even to hope: but he is at all times of +beautifully practical turn; and has, in his very despair, a sobriety of +eyesight, and a fixed steadiness of holding to his purpose, which are +of rare quality. His utterances to D'Argens, about this time and +onward,--brief hints, spontaneous, almost unconscious,--give curious +testimony of his glooms and moody humors. Of which the reader shall +see something. For the present, he is in deep indignation with his poor +Troops, among other miseries. "Actual running away!" he will have it to +be; and takes no account of thirst, hunger, heat, utter weariness and +physical impossibility! This lasts for some weeks. But in general there +is nothing of this injustice to those about him. In general, nothing +even of gloom is manifested; on the contrary, cheerfulness, brisk hope, +a strangely continual succession of hopes (mostly illusory);--though, +within, there is traceable very great sorrow, weariness and misery. A +fixed darkness, as of Erebus, is grown habitual to him; but is strictly +shut up, little of it shown to others, or even, in a sense, to himself. +He is as a traveller overtaken by the Night and its tempests and +rain-deluges, but refusing to pause; who is wetted to the bone, and does +not care farther for rain. A traveller grown familiar with the howling +solitudes; aware that the Storm-winds do not pity, that Darkness is the +dead Earth's Shadow:--a most lone soul of a man; but continually toiling +forward, as if the brightest goal and haven were near and in view. + +Once more the world was certain of Friedrich's ruin;--Friedrich himself +we have seen certain of it, for some few desperate hours:--but the world +and he, as had been repeatedly the world's case, were both disappointed. +Intrinsically there could be little doubt but Friedrich's enemies might +now have ruined him, had they been diligent about it. Now again, and now +more than ever, they have the winning-post in sight. At small distance +is the goal and purpose of all these four years' battlings and +marchings, and ten years' subterranean plottings and intriguings. He +himself says deliberately, "They had only to give him the finishing +stroke (COUP-DE-GRACE)." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 20.] But they never +gave him that stroke; could not do it, though heartily desirous. Which +was, and is, matter of surprise to an observant public. + +The cause of failure may be considered to have been, in good part, +Daun and his cunctations. Daun's zeal was unquestionable; ardent and +continual is Daun's desire to succeed: but to try it at his own risk was +beyond his power. He expected always to succeed by help of others: and +to show them an example, and go vigorously to work himself, was what he +never could resolve on. Could play only Fabius Cunctator, it would seem; +and never was that part less wanted than now! Under such a Chief Figure, +the "incoherency of action," instead of diminishing, as Friedrich had +feared, rose daily towards its maximum; and latterly became extreme. The +old Lernean Hydra had many heads; but they belonged all to one body. The +many heads of this Anti-Friedrich Hydra had withal each its own body, +and separate set of notions and advantages. Friedrich was at least a +unity; his whole strength going one way, and at all moments, under his +own sole command. The value of this circumstance is incalculable; this +is the saving-clause of Pitt and his England (Pitt also a despotic +sovereign, though a temporary one); this, second only to Friedrich's +great gifts from Nature, and the noble use he makes of them, is above +all others the circumstance that saved him in such a duel with the +Hydras. + +On the back of Kunersdorf, accordingly, there was not only no finishing +stroke upon Friedrich, but for two months no stroke or serious attempt +whatever in those neighborhoods where Friedrich is. There are four +Armies hereabouts: The Grand Russian, hanging by Frankfurt; Friedrich +at Furstenwalde (whitherward he marched from Reitwein August 16th), at +Furstenwalde or farther south, guarding Berlin;--then, unhurt yet by +battle of any kind, there are the Grand Daunish or Mark-Lissa Army, and +Prince Henri's of Schmottseifen. Of which latter Two the hitchings and +manoeuvrings from time to time become vivid, and never altogether +cease; but in no case come to anything. Above two months' scientific +flourishing of weapons, strategic counter-dancing; but no stroke +struck, or result achieved, except on Daun's part irreparable waste of +time:--all readers would feel it inhuman to be burdened with any notice +of such things. One march of Prince Henri's, which was of a famous and +decisive character, we will attend to, when it comes, that is, were +the end of September at hand; the rest must be imagined as a general +strategic dance in those frontier parts,--Silesia to rearward on one +side, the Lausitz and Frankfurt on the other,--and must go on, silently +for most part, in the background of the reader's fancy. Indeed, Saxony +is the scene of action; Friedrich, Henri, Soltikof, Daun, comparatively +inactive for the next six weeks and more. + +Some days before Kunersdorf, Daun personally, with I will forget how +many thousands, had made a move to northward from Mark-Lissa, 60 miles +or so, through Sagan Country; and lies about Priebus, waiting there +ever since. Priebus is some 40 miles north of Gorlitz, about 60 west of +Glogau, south of Frankfurt 80. This is where the Master-Smith, having +various irons in the fire, may be handiest for clutching them out, and +forging at them, as they become successively hot. Daun, as Master-Smith, +has at least three objects in view. The FIRST is, as always, Reconquest +of Silesia: this is obstructed by Prince Henri, who sits, watchful on +the threshold, at Schmottseifen yonder. The SECOND is, as last year, +Capture of Dresden: which is much the more feasible at present,--there +being, except the Garrisons, no Prussian force whatever in Saxony; and +a Reichs Army now actually there at last, after its long haggling about +its Magazines; and above all, a Friedrich with his hands full elsewhere. +To keep Friedrich's hands full,--in other words, to keep the Russians +sticking to him,--that is the THIRD object: or indeed we may call it the +first, second and third; for Daun is well aware that unless Soltikof +can manage to keep Friedrich busy, Silesia, Saxony and all else becomes +impossible. + +Ever since the fortunate junction of Loudon with Soltikof, Daun has sat, +and still sits, expectant; elaborately calculative, gathering Magazines +in different parts, planting out-parties, this way, that way, with +an eye to these three objects, all or each,--especially to the third +object, which he discerns to be all AND each. Daun was elaborately +calculative with these views: but to try any military action, upon +Prince Henri for example, or bestir himself otherwise than in driving +provender forward, and marching detachments hither and thither to the +potentially fit and fittest posts, was not in Daun's way,--so much the +worse for Daun, in his present course of enterprise. + +Prince Henri had lain quiet at Schmottseifen, waiting his Brother's +adventure; did not hear the least tidings of him till six days after +Kunersdorf, and then only by rumor; hideous, and, though still dubious, +too much of it probable! On the very day of Kunersdorf, Henri had +begun effecting some improvements on his right flank,--always a sharply +strategic, most expert creature,--and made a great many motions, which +would be unintelligible here. [Detailed, every fibre of them (as is +the soul-confusing custom there), in Tempelhof, iii. 228 et seq.] Henri +feels now that upon him lies a world of duties; and foremost of all, the +instant duty of endeavoring to open communication with his Brother. Many +marches, in consequence; much intricate marching and manoeuvring between +Daun and him: of which, when we come to Henri's great March (of 25th +September), there may be again some hint. + +For the present, let readers take their Map, and endeavor to fix the +following dates and localities in their mind. Here, in summary, are the +King's various Marches, and Two successive Encampments, two only, +during those Six Weeks of forced inaction, while he is obliged to stand +watching the Russians, and to witness so many complicacies and disasters +in the distance; which he struggles much and fruitlessly to hinder or +help:-- + +ENCAMPMENT 1st (Furstenwalde, August 18th-30th). Friedrich left Reitwein +AUGUST 16th; 17th, he is at Madlitz [Note to Wunsch written there, which +we read]; 18th, to Furstenwalde, and encamp. Furstenwalde is on the +Spree, straight between Frankfurt and Berlin; 25 miles from the former, +35 from the latter. Here for near a fortnight. At first, much in alarm +about the Russians and Berlin; but gradually ascertaining that the +Russians intend nothing. + +"In effect, all this while Soltikof lay at Lossow, 10 miles south of +Frankfurt, with his right on Oder; totally motionless, inactive, except +listening, often rather gloomily, to Daun's and Montalembert's suasive +eloquences and advices,--and once, August 22d, in the little Town of +Guben, holding Conference with Daun [of which by and by]. In consequence +of which, AUGUST 28th, Soltikof and his Russians and Austrians got under +way again; southward, but only a few marches: first to Mullrose, then +to Lieberose:--whom, the instant he heard of their movements, Friedrich, +August 30th, hastened to follow; but had not to follow very far. +Whereupon ensues, + +"ENCAMPMENT SECOND (Waldau, till September 15th). AUGUST 30th, +Friedrich, we say, rose from Furstenwalde; hastened to follow this +Russian movement, and keep within wind of it: up the valley of the +Spree; first to Mullrose neighborhood [where the Russians, loitering +some time, spoiled the canal-locks of the Friedrich-Wilhelm Canal, if +nothing more],--thence to Lieberose neighborhood; Waldau, the King's new +place of encampment,--Waldau, with Spree Forest to rear of it: silent +both parties till September 15th, when Soltikof did fairly march, not +towards Berlin, but quite in the opposite direction." + +By the middle of September, when the Russians did get on foot, and moved +eastward; especially on and after September 25th, when Henri made his +famous March westward; then it will behoove us to return to Friedrich +and these localities. For the present we must turn to Saxony, where, and +not here, the scene of action is. Take, farther, only the following +bits of Note, which will now be readable. First, these Utterances to +D'Argens; direct glimpses into the heavy-laden, indeed hag-ridden and +nearly desperate inner man of Friedrich, during the first three weeks +after his defeat at Kunersdorf:-- + + +THE KING TO MARQUIS D'ARGENS (at Berlin): Six Notes. + +1. "MADLITZ [road from Reitwein to Furstenwalde], 16th AUGUST, 1759. +We have been unfortunate, my dear Marquis; but not, by my fault. The +victory was ours, and would even have been a complete one, when our +infantry lost patience, and at the wrong moment abandoned the field of +battle. The enemy to-day is on march to Mullrose, to unite with Haddick +[not to Mullrose for ten days yet; Haddick had already got united with +THEM]. The Russian infantry is almost totally destroyed. Of my own +wrecks, all that I have been able to assemble amounts to 32,000 men; +with these I am pushing on to throw myself across the enemy's road, and +either perish or save the Capital. That is not what you [you Berliners] +will call a deficiency of resolution. + +"For the event I cannot answer. If I had more lives than one, I would +sacrifice them all to my Country. But if this stroke fail, I think I am +clear-scores with her, and that it will be permissible to look a little +to myself. There are limits to everything. I support my misfortune; +courage not abated by it: but I am well resolved, after this stroke, +if it fail, to open an outgate for myself [that small glass tube which +never quits me], and no longer be the sport of any chance." + +2. Furstenwalde, 20th AUGUST.... "Remain at Berlin, or retire to +Potsdam; in a little while there will come some catastrophe: it is not +fit that you suffer by it. If things take a good turn, you can be back +to Berlin [from Potsdam] in four hours. If ill-luck still pursue us, go +to Hanover or to Zelle, where you can provide for your safety. + +"I protest to you, that in this late Action I did what was humanly +possible to conquer; but my people"--Oh, your Majesty! + +3. FURSTENWALDE, 21st AUGUST.... "The enemy is intrenching himself near +Frankfurt; a sign he intends no attempt. If you will do me the pleasure +to come out hither, you can in all safety. Bring your bed with you; +bring my Cook Noel; and I will have you a little chamber ready. You will +be my consolation and my hope."-- + +This day,--let readers mark the circumstance,--Friedrich, in better +spirits, detaches Wunsch with some poor 6,000, to try if he can be of +help in Saxony; where the Reichs Army, now arrived in force, and with +nothing whatever in the field against them, is taking all the Northward +Garrison-Towns, and otherwise proceeding at a high rate. Too possibly +with an eye towards Dresden itself! Wunsch sets out August 21st. +[Tempelhof, iii. 211.] And we shall hear of him in those Saxon Countries +before long. + +4. FURSTENWALDE, 22d AUGUST. "Yesterday I wrote to you to come; but +to-day I forbid it. Daun is at Kotbus; he is marching on Luben and +Berlin [nothing like so rash!].--Fly these unhappy Countries!--This news +obliges me again to attack the Russians between here and Frankfurt. You +may imagine if this is a desperate resolution. It is the sole hope that +remains to me, of not being cut off from Berlin on the one side or the +other. I will give the discouraged troops some brandy"--alas!--"but I +promise myself nothing of success. My one consolation is, that I shall +die sword in hand." + +5. SAME PLACE AND DAY (after a Letter FROM D'Argens). "You make the +panegyric, MON CHER, of an Army that does not deserve any. The soldiers +had good limbs to run with, none to attack the enemy. [Alas, your +Majesty; after fifteen hours of such marching and fighting!] + +"For certain I will fight; but don't flatter yourself about the event. A +happy chance alone can help us. Go, in God's name, to Tangermunde [since +the Royal Family went, D'Argens and many Berliners are thinking of +flight], to Tangermunde, where you will be well; and wait there how +Destiny shall have disposed of us. I will go to reconnoitre the enemy +to-morrow. Next day, if there is anything to do, we will try it. But if +the enemy still holds to the Wine-Hills of Frankfurt, I shall never dare +to attack him. + +"No, the torment of Tantalus, the pains of Prometheus, the doom of +Sisyphus, were nothing like what I suffer for the last ten days [from +Kunersdorf till now, when destruction has to be warded off again, and +the force wanting]. Death is sweet in comparison to such a life. Have +compassion on me and it; and believe that I still keep to myself a great +many evil things, not wishing to afflict or disquiet anybody with them; +and that I would not counsel you to fly these unlucky Countries, if I +had any ray of hope. Adieu, MON CHER." + +Four days after, AUGUST 25th, from this same Furstenwalde, the Russians +still continuing stagnant, Friedrich despatches to Schmettau, Commandant +of Dresden (by some industrious hand, for the roads are all blocked), a +Second Letter, "That Dresden is of the highest moment; that in case of +Siege there, relief [Wunsch, namely, and perhaps more that may follow] +is on the road; and that Schmettau must defend himself to the utmost." +Let us hope this Second Missive may counteract the too despondent +First, which we read above, should that have produced discouragement +in Schmettau! [Second Letter is given in _Schmettau's Leben,_ pp. 436, +437.]--D'Argens does run to Wolfenbuttel; stays there till September +9th. Nothing more from Friedrich till 4th September, when matters are +well cooled again. + +6. WALDAU, 4th SEPTEMBER. "I think Berlin is now in safety; you may +return thither. The Barbarians [Russians] are in the Lausitz; I keep by +the side of them, between them and Berlin, so that there is nothing to +fear for the Capital. The imminency of danger is past; but there will +still be many bad moments to get through, before reaching the end of +the Campaign. These, however, only regard myself; never mind these. My +martyrdom will last two months yet; then the snows and the ices will end +it." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 78, 82, 83, 85, 86.] + +Thus at Furstenwalde, then at Waldau, keeping guard, forlorn but +resolute, against the intrusive Russian-Austrian deluges, Friedrich +stands painfully vigilant and expectant,--still for about a fortnight +more. With bad news coming to him latterly, as we shall hear. He is in +those old moorland Wusterhausen Countries, once so well known under far +other circumstances. Thirty years ago, in fine afternoons, we used +to gallop with poor Duhan de Jandun, after school-tasks done, towards +Mittenwalde, Furstenwalde and the furzy environs, far and wide; at home, +our Sister and Mother waiting with many troubles and many loves, and +Papa sleeping, Pan-like, under the shadow of his big tree:--Thirty years +ago, ah me, gone like a dream is all that; and there is solitude and +desolation and the Russian-Austrian death-deluges instead! These, I +suppose, were Friedrich's occasional remembrances; silent always, in +this locality and time. The Sorrows of WERTER, of the GIAOUR, of the +Dyspeptic Tailor in multifarious forms, are recorded in a copious +heart-rending manner, and have had their meed of weeping from a +sympathetic Public: but there are still a good few Sorrows which lie +wrapt in silence, and have never applied there for an idle tear!--Let us +look now into Daun's side of things. + +DAUM, AFTER NEGOTIATION, HAS AN INTERVIEW WITH SOLTIKOF (at Guben, +August 22d).--"Daun, who had moved to Priebus, with a view to be nearer +Soltikof, had scarcely got his tent pitched there (August 13th), when +a breathless horseman rode in, with a Note from Loudon, dated the night +before: 'King of Prussia beaten, to the very bone, beyond mistake this +time,--utterly ruined, if one may judge!' What a vision of the Promised +Land! Delighted Daun moves forward, one march, to Triebel on the morrow; +to be one march nearer the scene of glory, and endeavor to forge this +biggest of the hot irons to advantage. + +"At Triebel Soltikof's own account, elucidated by oral messengers, +eye-witnesses, and, in short, complete conspectus of this ever memorable +Victory, await the delighted Daun. Who despatches messengers, one and +another; Lacy, the first, not succeeding quite: To congratulate with +enthusiasm the most illustrious of Generals; who has beaten King +Friedrich as none else ever did or could; beaten to the edge of +extinction;--especially to urge him upon trampling out this nearly +extinct King, before he gleam up again. Soltikof understands the +congratulations very well; but as to that of trampling out, snorts an +indignant negative: 'Nay, you, why don't you try it? Surely it is more +your business than my Imperial Mistress's or mine. We have wrenched two +victories from him this season. Kay and Kunersdorf have killed near the +half of us: go you in, and wrench something!' This is Soltikof's logic; +which no messenger of Daun's, Lacy or another, aided by never such +melodies and suasions from Montalembert and Loudon, who are permanently +diligent that way, can shake. + +"And truly it is irrefragable. How can Daun, if himself merely +speculative, calculative, hope that Soltikof will continue acting? Men +who have come to help you in a heavy job of work need example. If you +wish me to weep, be grieved yourself first of all. Soltikof angrily +wipes his countenance at this point, and insists on a few tears +from Daun. Without metaphor, Soltikof has shot away all his present +ammunition, his staff of bread is quite precarious in these parts; and +Soltikof thinks always, 'Is it my business, then, or is it yours?' + +"Soltikof has intrenched himself on the Wine-Hills at Lossow, +comfortably out of Friedrich's way, and contiguous to Oder and the +provision-routes; sits there, angrily deaf to the voice of the charmer; +nothing to be charmed out of him, but gusts of indignation, instead of +consent. A proud, high-going, indignant kind of man, with a will of +his own. And sees well enough what is what, in all this symphony of the +Lacys, the Montalemberts and surrounding adorers. Montalembert, who is +here this season, our French best man (unprofitable Swedes must put up +with an inferior hand), is extremely persuasive, tries all the arts of +French rhetoric, but effects nothing. 'To let the Austrians come in +for the finishing stroke,---Excellence, it will be to let them gain, +in History, a glory which is of your earning. Daun and Austria, not +Soltikof and Russia, will be said to have extinguished this pestilent +King; whom History will have to remember!' [Choiseul's Letter (not +DUC de Choiseul, but COMTE, now Minister at Vienna) to Montalembert, +"Vienna, 16th August;" and Montalembert's Answer, "Lieberhausen [means +LIEBEROSE], 31st August, 1759:" in Montalembert, _Correspondance,_ ii. +58-65.] 'With all my heart,' answers Soltikof; 'I make the Austrians and +History perfectly welcome! Monsieur, my ammunition is in Posen; my +bread is fallen scarce; in Frankfurt can you find me one horse more?' +Indignant Soltikof is not to be taken by chaff; growls now and then, +if you stir him to the bottom: 'Why should we, who are volunteer +assistants, take all the burden of the work? I will fall back to Posen, +and home to Poland and East Preussen, if this last much longer.' + +"Austria has a good deal disgusted these Soltikofs and Russian Chief +Officers;--who are not so stupid as Austria supposes. Austria's steady +wish is, 'Let them do their function of cat's-paw for us; we are here to +eat the chestnuts; not, if we can help it, to burn our own poor fingers +for them!' After every Campaign hitherto, Austria has been in use to +raise eager accusations at Petersburg; and get the Apraxins, Fermors +into trouble: this is not the way to conciliate Russian General +Officers. Austria, taught probably by Daun, now tries the other tack: +heaps Soltikof with eulogies, flatteries, magnificent presents. All +which Soltikof accepts, but with a full sense of what they mean. An +unmanageable Soltikof; his answer always,--'Your turn now to fight a +victory! I will go my ways to Posen again, if you don't.' And, in these +current weeks, in Soltikof's audience-room, if anybody were curious +about it, we could present a very lively solicitation going on, with +answers very gruff and negatory. No suasion of Montalembert, Lacy, and +Daun Embassies, backed by diamond-hilted swords, and splendor of gifts +from Vienna itself, able to prevail on the barbarous people. + +"Daun at length resolves to go in person; solicits an Interview with +the distinguished Russian Conqueror; gets it, meets Soltikof at Guben, +half-way house between Frankfurt and Triebel; select suite attending +both Excellencies (August 22d); and exerts whatever rhetoric is in him +on the barbarous man. The barbarous man is stiff as brass; but Daun +comes into all his conditions: 'Saxony, Silesia,--Excellenz, we have +them both within clutch; such our exquisite angling and manoeuvring, in +concert with your immortal victory, which truly gives the life-breath to +everything. Oh, suffer us to clutch them: keep that King away from us; +and see if they are not ours, Saxony first, Silesia next! Provisions of +meal? I will myself undertake to furnish bread for you [though I have to +cart it from Bohemia all the way, and am myself terribly off; but fixed +to do the impossible]; ration of bread shall fail no Russian man, while +you escort us as protective friend. Towards Saxony first, where the +Reichs Army is, and not a Prussian in the field; the very Garrisons +mostly gone by this time. Dresden is to be besieged, within a week; +Dresden itself is ours, if only YOU please! Come into the Lausitz with +us, Magazines are there, loaves in abundance: Saxony done, Dresden ours, +cannot we turn to Silesia together; besiege Glogau together (I am myself +about trying Neisse, by Harsch again); capture Glogau as well as Neisse; +and crown the successfulest campaign that ever was? Oh, Excellenz--!'" + +In a word, Excellenz, strictly fixing that condition of the loaves, +consents. Will get ready to leave those Frankfurt Wine-Hills in about +a week. "But the loaves, you recollect: no Bread, no Russian!" Daun +returns to Triebel a victorious man,--though with an onerous condition +incumbent. Tempelhof, minutely computing, finds that to cart from +Bohemia such a cipher of human rations daily into these parts, will +surpass all the vehiculatory power of Daun. [Tempelhof, iii. 225.]' + + + + +THE "REICHS ARMY" 80 CALLED HAS ENTERED SAXONY, UNDER FINE OMENS; DOES +SOME FEATS OF SIEGING (August 7th-23d),--WITH AN EYE ON DRESDEN AS THE +CROWNING ONE. + +The Reichs Army, though it had been so tumbled about, in Spring, with +such havoc on its magazines and preparations, could not wait to refit +itself, except superficially; and showed face over the Mountains almost +earlier than usual. The chance was so unique: a Saxony left to its mere +Garrisons,--as it continued to be, for near two months this Year. On +such golden opportunity the Reichs Army--first, in light mischievous +precursor parties, who roamed as far as Halle or even as Halberstadt; +then the Army itself, well or ill appointed, under Generalissimo the +Prince von Zweibruck,--did come on, winding through Thuringen towards +the Northwestern Towns; various Austrian Auxiliary-Corps making +appearance on the Dresden side. Eight Austrian regiments, as a +permanency, are in the Reichs Army itself. Commander, or part Commander, +of the eight is (what alone I find noteworthy in them) "Herr General +Thomas von Blonquet:" Irish by nation, says a foot-note; [Seyfarth, ii. +831 n.]--sure enough some adventurous "Thomas PLUNKET," visible +this once, soldiering, in those circumstances; never heard of by a +sympathetic reader before or after. It was while the King was hunting +the Haddick-Loudon people in Sagan Country in such vehement fashion, +that Zweibruck came trumpeting into Saxony,--King, Prince Henri and +everybody, well occupied otherwise, far away! + +The Reichs Army has a camp at Naumburg (Rossbach neighborhood): and has +light troops out in Halle neighborhood; which have seized Halle; are +very severe upon Halle, and other places thereabouts, till chased away. +August 7th, the Reichs Army begirt Leipzig; summoned the weak +garrison there. It is a Town capable of ruin, but not of defence: +"Free-withdrawal," proposes the Reichs Army,--and upon these terms gets +hold of Leipzig, for the time being. Leipzig, Torgau, Wittenberg; in +a fortnight or less, all the Prussian posts in those parts fall to +the Reichs Army. Its marchings and siegings, among those Northwestern +places, not one of them capable of standing above a few days' siege, are +worth no mention, except to Parish History: enough that, by little +after the middle of August, Zweibruck had got all these places, +"Free-withdrawal" the terms for all; and that, except it be the +following feature in their Siege of Torgau, feature mainly Biographic, +and belonging to a certain Colonel Wolfersdorf concerned, there is +not one of those Sieges now worth a moment's attention from almost any +mortal. This is the Torgau feature,--feature of human nature, soldiering +under difficulties:-- + +COLONEL VON WOLFERSDORF BEAUTIFULLY DEFENDS HIMSELF IN TORGAU (August +9th-14th). Two days after Leipzig was had, there appeared at Torgau a +Body of Pandours, 2,000 and more; who attempted some kind of scalade on +Torgau and its small Garrison (of 700 or so),--where are a Magazine, a +Hospital and other properties: not capable, by any garrison, of standing +regular siege; but important to defend till you have proper terms +offered. The multitudinous Pandours, if I remember, made a rush into the +Suburbs, in their usual vociferous way; but were met by the 700 silent +Prussians,--silent except through their fire-arms and field-pieces,--in +so eloquent a style as soon convinced the Pandour mind, and sent it +travelling again. And in the evening of the same day (August 9th), +Colonel Wolfersdorf arrives, as new Commandant, and with reinforcements, +small though considerable in the circumstances. + +Wolfersdorf, one dimly gathers, had marched from Wittenberg on this +errand; the whole force in Torgau is now of about 3,000, still with only +field-cannon, but with a Captain over them;--who, as is evident, sets +himself in a very earnest manner to do his utmost in defence of the +place. Next morning Reichs General Kleefeld ("Cloverfield"), with 6 or +8,000 Pandour and Regular, summons Wolfersdorf: "Surrender instantly; +or--!" "We will expect you!" answers Wolfersdorf. Whereupon, same +morning (August 10th), general storm; storm No. 1: beautifully handled +by Wolfersdorf; who takes it in rear (to its astonishment), as well as +in front; and sends it off in haste. On the morrow, Saturday, a second +followed; and on Sunday a third; both likewise beautifully handled. +This third storm, readers see, was "Sunday, August 12th:" a very busy +stormful day at Torgau here,--and also, for some others of us, during +the heats of Kunersdorf, over the horizon far away! Wolfersdorf tumbles +back all storms; furthermore makes mischievous sallies: a destructive, +skilled person; altogether prompt, fertile in expedients; and evidently +is not to be managed by Kleefeld. So that Prince von Stolberg, Second to +supreme Zweibruck himself, has to take it in hand. And, + +MONDAY, 13th, at break of day, Stolberg arrives with a train of +battering guns and 6,000 new people; summons Wolfersdorf: "No," as +before. Storms him, a fourth time; likewise "No," as before: attacks, +thereupon, his Elbe Bridge, and his Redoubt across the River; finds a +Wolfersdorf party rush destructively into his rear there. And has to +withdraw, and try battering from behind the Elbe Dam. Continues this, +violently for about two hours; till again Wolfersdorf, whose poor +fieldpieces, the only artillery he has, "cannot reach so far with leaden +balls" (the iron balls are done, and the powder itself is almost done), +manages, by a flank attack, to quench this also. Which produces entire +silence, and considerable private reflection, on the part of indignant +Stolberg. Stolberg offers him the favorablest terms devisable: "Withdraw +freely, with all your honors, all your properties; only withdraw!" Which +Wolfersdorf, his powder and ball being in such a state of ebb, and no +relief possible, agrees to; with stipulations very strict as to every +particular. [In _Anonymous of Hamburg_ (iii. 350) the Capitulation, +"August 14th." given IN EXTENSO.] + +COLONEL VON WOLFERSDORF WITHDRAWS, ALSO BEAUTIFULLY (August 15th). +Accordingly, Wednesday, August 15th, at eight in the morning, +Wolfersdorf by the Elbe Gate moves out; across Elbe Bridge, and the +Redoubt which is on the farther shore yonder. Near this Redoubt, +Stolberg and many of his General Officers are waiting to see him go. +He goes in state; flags flying, music playing. Battalion Hessen-Cassel, +followed by all our Packages, Hospital convalescents, King's Artillery, +and whatever is the King's or ours, marches first. Next comes, as +rear-guard to all this, Battalion Grollmann;--along with which is +Wolfersdorf himself, knowing Grollmann for a ticklish article (Saxons +mainly); followed on the heel by Battalion Hofmann, and lastly by +Battalion Salmuth, trusty Prussians both of these. + +Battalion Hessen-Cassel and the Baggages are through the Redoubt, +Prince of Stolberg handsomely saluting as saluted. But now, on Battalion +Grollmann's coming up, Stolberg's Adjutant cries out with a loud voice +of proclamation, many Officers repeating and enforcing: "Whoever is a +brave Saxon, whoever is true to his Kaiser, or was of the Reichs Army, +let him step out: Durchlaucht will give him protection!" At sound of +which Grollmann quivers as if struck by electricity; and instantly +begins dissolving;--dissolves, in effect, nearly all, and is in the act +of vanishing like a dream! Wolfersdorf is a prompt man; and needs to be +so. Wolfersdorf, in Olympian rage, instantly stops short; draws pistol: +"I will shoot dead every man that quits rank!" vociferates he; and +does, with his pistol, make instant example of one; inviting every true +Prussian to do the like: "Jagers, Hussars, a ducat for every traitor you +shoot down!" continues Wolfersdorf (and punctually paid it afterwards): +unable to prevent an almost total dissolution of Grollmann. For some +minutes, there is a scene indescribable: storm of vociferation, menace, +musket-shot, pistol-shot; Grollmann disappearing on every side,--"behind +the Redoubt, under the Bridge, into Elbe Boats, under the cloaks of the +Croats;"--in spite of Wolfersdorf's Olympian rages and efforts. + +At sight of the shooting, Prince Stolberg, a hot man, had said +indignantly, "Herr, that will be dangerous for you (DAS WIRD NICHT GUT +GEHN)!" Wolfersdorf not regarding him a whit; regarding only Grollmann, +and his own hot business of coercing it at a ducat per head. Grollmann +gone, and Battalion Hofmann in due sequence come up, Wolfersdorf--who +has sent an Adjutant, with order, "Hessen-Cassel, HALT"--gives +Battalion Hofmann these three words of command: "Whole Battalion, +halt!--Front!--Make ready!" (with due simultaneous click of every +firelock, on utterance of that last);--and turning to Prince Stolberg, +with a brow, with a tone of voice: "Durchlaucht, Article 9 of the +Capitulation is express on this point; 'ALL DESERTION STRICTLY +PROHIBITED; NO DESERTER TO BE RECEIVED EITHER ON THE IMPERIAL OR ON +THE PRUSSIAN SIDE!' [Durchlaucht silently gives, we suppose, some faint +sniff.] Since your Durchlaucht does not keep the Capitulation, neither +will I regard it farther. I will now take you and your Suite prisoners, +return into the Town, and again begin defending myself. Be so good as +ride directly into that Redoubt, or I will present, and give fire!" + +A dangerous moment for the Durchlaucht of Stolberg; Battalion Salmuth +actually taking possession of the wall again; Hofmann here with its +poised firelock on the cock, "ready" for that fourth word, as above +indicated. A General Lusinsky of Stolberg's train, master of those +Croats, and an Austrian of figure, remarks very seriously: "Every +point of the Capitulation must be kept!" Upon which Durchlaucht has to +renounce and repent; eagerly assists in recovering Grollmann, restores +it (little the worse, little the FEWER); will give Wolfersdorf "COMMAND +of the Austrian Escort you are to have", and every satisfaction and +assurance;--wishful only to get rid of Wolfersdorf. Who thereupon +marches to Wittenberg, with colors flying again, and a name mentionable +ever since. [Templehof, iii. 201-204; Seyfarth, ii. 562 n., and _ +Beylagen,_ ii. 587; _Militair-Lexikon,_ iv. 283.] + +This Wolfersdorf was himself a Pirna Saxon; serving Polish Majesty, as +Major, in that Pirna time; perhaps no admirer of "Feldmarschall Bruhl" +and Company?--at any rate, he took Prussian service, as then offered +him; and this is his style of keeping it. A decidedly clever soldier, +and comes out, henceforth, more and more as such,--unhappily not for +long. Was taken at Maxen, he too, as will be seen. Rose, in after times, +to be Lieutenant-General, and a man famous in the Prussian military +circles; but given always, they say, to take the straight line (or +shortest distance between self and object), in regard to military +matters, to recruiting and the like, and thus getting himself into +trouble with the Civil Officials. + +Wolfersdorf, at Wittenberg or farther on, had a flattering word from the +King; applauding his effective procedures at Torgau; and ordering him, +should Wittenberg fall (as it did, August 23d), to join Wunsch, who is +coming with a small Party to try and help in those destitute localities. +Wunsch the King had detached (21st August), as we heard already. Finck +the King finds, farther, that he can detach (from Waldau Country, +September 7th); [Tempelhof, iii. 211, 237.] Russians being so languid, +and Saxony fallen into such a perilous predicament. + +"Few days after Kunersdorf," says a Note, which should be inserted here, +"there had fallen out a small Naval matter, which will be consolatory to +Friedrich, and go to the other side of the account, when he hears of +it: Kunersdorf was Sunday, August 12th; this was Saturday and Sunday +following. Besides their Grand Brest Fleet, with new Flat-bottoms, and +world-famous land-preparations going on at Vannes, for Invasion of +proud Albion, all which are at present under Hawke's strict keeping, the +French have, ever since Spring last, a fine subsidiary Fleet at Toulon, +of very exultant hopes at one time; which now come to finis. + +"SEA-FIGHT (PROPERLY SEA-HUNT OF 200 MILES), IN THE CADIZ WATERS, AUGUST +18th-19th. The fine Toulon Fleet, which expected at one time, Pitt's +ships being so scattered over the world, to be 'mistress of the +Mediterranean,' has found itself, on the contrary (such were Pitt's +resources and promptitudes); cooped in harbor all Summer; Boscawen +watching it in the usual strict way. No egress possible; till, in +the sultry weather (8th July-4th August), Boscawen's need of fresh +provisions, fresh water and of making some repairs, took him to +Gibraltar, and gave the Toulon Fleet a transient opportunity, which it +made use of. + +"August 17th, at 8 in the evening, Boscawen, at Gibraltar (some of his +ships still in deshabille or under repair), was hastily apprised by one +of his Frigates, That the Toulon Fleet had sailed; been seen visibly at +Ceuta Point so many hours ago. 'Meaning,' as Boscawen guesses, 'to +be through the Straits this very night!' By power of despatch, the +deshabille ships were rapidly got buttoned together (in about two +hours); and by 10 P.M. all were under sail. And soon were in hot chase; +the game, being now in view,--going at its utmost through the Straits, +as anticipated. At 7 next morning (Saturday, August 18th) Boscawen got +clutch of the Toulon Fleet; still well east of Cadiz, somewhere in the +Trafalgar waters, I should guess. Here Boscawen fought and chased the +Toulon Fleet for 24 hours coming; drove it finally ashore, at Lagos on +the coast of Portugal, with five of its big ships burnt or taken, +its crews and other ships flying by land and water, its poor Admiral +mortally wounded; and the Toulon Fleet a ruined article. The wind had +been capricious, here fresh, there calm; now favoring the hunters, +now the hunted; both Fleets had dropped in two. De la Clue, the French +Admiral, complained bitterly how his Captains lagged, or shore off and +forsook him. Boscawen himself, who for his own share had gone at it +eagle-like, was heard grumbling, about want of speed in some people; +and said: 'It is well; but it might have been better!' [Beatson, +ii. 313-319; ib. iii. 237-238, De la Clue, the French Admiral's +Despatch;--Boscawen's Despatch, &c., in _Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxix. +434.] + +"De la Clue--fallen long ago from all notions of 'dominating the +Mediterranean'--had modestly intended to get through, on any terms, +into the Ocean; might then, if possible, have joined the Grand 'Invasion +Squadron,' now lying at Brest, till Vannes and the furnishings are +ready, or have tried to be troublesome in the rear of Hawke, who is +blockading all that. A modest outlook in comparison;--and this is +what it also has come to. As for the Grand Invasion Squadron, Admiral +Conflans, commanding it, still holds up his head in Brest Harbor, and +talks big. Makes little of Rodney's havoc on the Flat-bottoms at Havre, +'Will soon have Flat-bottoms again: and you shall see!'--if only Hawke, +and wind and weather and Fortune, will permit." + + + + +AUSTRIAN REICHS ARMY DOES ITS CROWNING FEAT (August 26th-September 4th): +DIARY OF WHAT IS CALLED THE "SIEGE" OF DRESDEN. + +Since the first weeks of, August there have been Austrian detachments, +Wehla's Corps, Brentano's Corps, entering Saxony from the northeast +or Daun-ward side, and posting themselves in the strong points looking +towards Dresden; waiting there till the Reichs Army should capture its +Leipzigs, Torgaus, Wittenbergs, and roll forward from northwest. To all +which it is easy to fancy what an impetus was given by Kunersdorf +and August 12th; the business, after that, going on double-quick, and +pointing to immediate practical industry on Dresden. The Reichs Army +hastens to settle its northwestern Towns, puts due garrison in each, +leaves a 10 or 12,000 movable for general protection, in those parts; +and, August 23d, marches for Dresden. There are only some 15,000 left +of it now; almost half the Reichs Army drunk up in that manner; were +not Daun now speeding forth his Maguire with a fresh 12,000; who is to +command the Wehlas and Brentanos as well. And, in effect, to be Austrian +Chief, and as regards practical matters, Manager of this important +Enterprise,--all-important to Daun just now. Schmettau in Dresden sees +clearly what mischief is at hand. + +To Daun this Siege of Dresden is the alpha to whatever omegas there may +be: he and his Soltikof are to sit waiting this; and can attempt nothing +but eating of provender, till this be achieved. As the Siege was really +important, though not quite the alpha to all omegas, and has in it +curious points and physiognomic traits, we will invite readers to +some transient inspection of it,--the rather as there exist ample +contemporary Narratives, DIARIUMS and authentic records, to render that +possible and easy. [In TEMPELHOF (iii. 210-216-222) complete and careful +Narrative; in ANONYMOUS OF HAMBURG (iii. 371-377) express "DAY-BOOK" by +some Eye-witness in Dresden.]' + +"Ever since the rumor of Kunersdorf," says one Diarium, compiled out of +many, "in the last two weeks of August, Schmettau's need of vigilance +and diligence has been on the increase, his outlooks becoming grimmer +and grimmer. He has a poorish Garrison for number (3,700 in all +[Schmettau's LEBEN (by his Son), p. 408.]), and not of the best quality; +deserters a good few of them: willing enough for strokes; fighting +fellows all, and of adventurous turn, but uncertain as to loyalty in a +case of pinch. He has endless stores in the place; for one item, almost +a million sterling of ready money. Poor Schmettau, if he knew it, has +suddenly become the Leonidas of this campaign, Dresden its Thermopylae; +and"--But readers can conceive the situation. + +"AUGUST 20th, Schmettau quits the Neustadt, or northern part of Dresden, +which lies beyond the River: unimportant that, and indefensible with +garrison not adequate; Schmettau will strengthen the River-bank, blow up +the Stone Bridge if necessary, and restrict himself to Dresden Proper. +The Court is here; Schmettau does not hope that the Court can avert a +Siege from him; but he fails not to try, in that way too, and may at +least gain time. + +"AUGUST 25th, He has a Mine put under the main arch of the Bridge: 'mine +ill-made, uncertain of effect,' reports the Officer whom he sent to +inspect it. But it was never tried, the mere rumor of it kept off +attacks on that side. Same day, August 25th, Schmettau receives that +unfortunate Royal Missive [Tempelhof, iii. 208; Schmettau's LEBEN (p. +421) has "August 27th."] written in the dark days of Reitwein, morrow of +Kunersdorf (14th or 13th August)," which we read above. "That there is +another Letter on the road for him, indicating 'Relief shall be tried,' +is unknown to Schmettau, and fatally continues unknown. While Schmettau +is reading this (August 25th), General Wunsch has been on the road four +days: Wunsch and Wolfersdorf with about 8,000, at their quickest pace, +and in a fine winged frame of mind withal, are speeding on: will cross +Elbe at Meissen to-morrow night,--did Schmettau only know. People say +he did, in the way of rumor, understand that Kunersdorf had not been +the fatal thing it was thought; and that efforts would be made by a King +like his. In his place one might have, at least, shot out a spy or two? +But he did not, then or afterwards. + +"Already, ever since the arrival of Wehla and Brentano in those parts, +he has been laboring under many uncertainties; too many for a Leonidas! +Hanging between Yes and No, even about that of quitting the Neustadt, +for example: carrying over portions of his goods, but never heartily the +whole; unable to resolve; now lifting visibly the Bridge pavement, +then again visibly restoring it;--and, I think, though the contrary +is asserted, he had at last to leave in the Neustadt a great deal of +stores, horse-provender and other, not needful to him at present, or +impossible to carry, when dubiety got ended. He has put a mine under the +Bridge; but knows it will not go off. + +"Schmettau has been in many wars, but this is a case that tries his +soldier qualities as none other has ever done. A case of endless +intricacy,--if he be quite equal to it; which perhaps he was not +altogether. Nobody ever doubted Schmettau's high qualities as a man and +captain; but here are requisite the very highest, and these Schmettau +has not. The result was very tragical; I suppose, a pain to Friedrich +all his life after; and certainly to Schmettau all his. This is Saturday +night, 25th August: before Tuesday week (September 4th) there will have +sad things arrived, irremediable to Schmettau. Had Schmettau decided to +defend himself, Dresden had not been taken. What a pity Schmettau had +not been spared this Missive, calculated to produce mere doubt! Whether +he could not, and should not, after a ten days of inquiry and new +discernment, have been able to read the King's true meaning, as well +as the King's momentary humor, in this fatal Document, there is no +deciding. Sure enough, he did not read the King's true meaning in it, +but only the King's momentary humor; did not frankly set about defending +himself to the death,--or 'seeing' in that way 'whether he could not +defend himself,'--with a good capitulation lying in the rear, after he +had. + +"SUNDAY, AUGUST 26th, Trumpet at the gates. Messenger from Zweibruck is +introduced blindfold; brings formal Summons to Schmettau. Summons duly +truculent: 'Resistance vain; the more you resist, the worse it will +be,--and there is a worst [that of being delivered to the Croats, and +massacred every man], of which why should I speak? Especially if in +anything you fail of your duty to the Kur-Prinz [Electoral Prince and +Heir-Apparent, poor crook-backed young Gentleman, who has an excellent +sprightly Wife, a friend of Friedrich's and daughter of the late Kaiser +Karl VII., whom we used so beautifully], imagine what your fate will +be!'--To which Schmettau answers: 'Can Durchlaucht think us ignorant +of the common rules of behavior to Persons of that Rank? For the rest, +Durchlaucht knows what our duties here are, and would despise us if we +did NOT do them;'--and, in short, our answer again is, in polite +forms, 'Pooh, pooh; you may go your way!' Upon which the Messenger is +blindfolded again; and Schmettau sets himself in hot earnest to clearing +out his goods from the Neustadt; building with huge intertwisted +cross-beams and stone and earth-masses a Battery at his own end of the +Bridge, batteries on each side of it, below and above;--locks the Gates; +and is passionately busy all Sunday,--though divine service goes on as +usual. + +"Hardly were the Prussian guns got away, when Croat people in quantity +came in, and began building a Battery at their end of the Bridge, the +main defence-work being old Prussian meal-barrels, handily filled with +earth. 'If you fire one cannon-ball across on us,' said Schmettau, 'I +will bombard the Neustadt into flame in few minutes [I have only to aim +at our Hay Magazine yonder]: be warned! 'Nor did they once fire from +that side; Electoral Highness withal and Royal Palace being quite +contiguous behind the Prussian Bridge-Battery. Electoral Highness and +Household are politely treated, make polite answer to everything; intend +going down into the 'APOTHEKE' (Kitchen suite), or vaulted part of the +Palace, and will lodge there when the cannonade begins. + +"This same SUNDAY, AUGUST 26th, Maguire arrived; and set instantly to +building his bridge at Pillnitz, a little way above Dresden: at Uebigau, +a little below Dresden, the Reichsfolk have another. Reichsfolk, +Zweibruck in person, come all in on Wednesday; post themselves there, +to north and west of the City. What is more important, the siege-guns, +a superb stock, are steadily floating, through the Pirna regions, +hitherward; get to hand on Friday next, the fifth day hence. [Tempelhof, +p. 210.] Korbitz (half-way out to Kesselsdorf) is Durchlaucht's +head-quarter:--Chief General is Durchlaucht, conspicuously he, at least +in theory, and shall have all the glory; though Maguire, glancing on +these cannon, were it nothing more, has probably a good deal to say. +Maguire too, I observe, takes post on that north or Kesselsdorf side; +contiguous for the Head General. Wehla and Brentano post themselves on +the south or up-stream side; it is they that hand in the siege-guns: +batteries are already everywhere marked out, 13 cannon-batteries and 5 +howitzer. In short, from the morrow of that truculent Summons, Monday +morning to Thursday, there is hot stir of multifarious preparation on +Schmettau's part; and continual pouring in of the hostile force, who are +also preparing at the utmost. Thursday, the Siege, if it can be called a +Siege, begins. Gradually, and as follows:-- + +"THURSDAY MORNING (August 30th), Schmettau, who is, night and day, +'palisading the River,' and much else,--discloses (that is, Break of +Day discloses on his part) to the Dresden public a huge Gallows, black, +huge, of impressive aspect; labelled 'For Plunderers, Mutineers and +their Helpers.' [ANONYMOUS OF HAMBURG, iii. 373.] The Austrian heavy +guns are not yet in battery; but multitudes of loose Croat people go +swarming about everywhere, and there is plentiful firing from such +artilleries as they have. This same Thursday morning, two or three +battalions of them rush into the Pirna Suburb; attack the Prussian +Guard-parties there. Schmettau instantly despatches Captain Kollas and a +Trumpet:--'Durchlaucht, have the goodness to recall these Croat Parties; +otherwise the Suburb goes into flame! And directly on arrival of this +Messenger, may it please Durchlaucht. For we have computed the time; and +will not wait beyond what is reasonable for his return!' Zweibruck is +mere indignation and astonishment; 'will burn Halle,' burn Quedlinburg, +Berlin itself, and utterly ruin the King of Prussia's Dominion in +general:--the rejoinder to which is, burning of Pirna Suburb, as +predicted; seventy houses of it, this evening, at six o'clock. + +"Onward from which time there is on both sides, especially on +Schmettau's, diligent artillery practice; cannonade kept up wherever +Schmettau can see the enemy busy; enemy responding with what artillery +he has:--not much damage done, I should think, though a great deal of +noise; and for one day (Saturday, September 1st), our Diarist notes, +'Not safe to walk the streets this day.' But, in effect, the Siege, +as they call it,--which fell dead on the fifth day, and was never well +alive--consists mainly of menace and counter-menace, in the way of +bargain-making and negotiation;--and, so far as I can gather, that +superb Park of Austrian Artillery, though built into batteries, and +talked about in a bullying manner, was not fired from at all. + +"Schmettau affects towards the enemy (and towards himself, I dare say) +an air of iron firmness; but internally has no such feeling,--'Calls a +Council of War,' and the like. Council of War, on sight of that King's +Missive, confirms him with one voice: 'Surely, surely, Excellenz; no +defence possible!' Which is a prophecy and a fulfilment, both in one. +Why Schmettau did not shoot forth a spy or two, to ascertain for him +What, or whether Nothing whatever, was passing outside Dresden? I never +understand! Beyond his own Walls, the world is a vacancy and blank to +Schmettau, and he seems content it should be so. + +"SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2d. Though Schmettau's cannonade was very loud, and +had been so all night, divine service was held as usual, streets safe +again,--Austrians, I suppose, not firing with cannon. About 4 P.M., +after a great deal of powder spent, General Maguire, stepping out on +Elbe Bridge, blows or beats Appeal, three times; 'wishes a moment's +conversation with his Excellency.' Granted at once; witnesses attending +on both sides. 'Defence is impossible; in the name of humanity, +consider!' urges Maguire. 'Defence to the last man of us is certain,' +answers Schmettau, from the teeth outwards;--but, in the end, engages to +put on paper, in case he, by extremity of ill-luck, have at any time +to accept terms, what his terms will inflexibly be. Upon which there is +'Armistice till To-morrow:' and Maguire, I doubt not, reports joyfully +on this feeling of the enemy's pulse. Zweibruck and Maguire are very +well aware of what is passing in these neighborhoods (General Wunsch +back at Wittenberg by forced marches; blew it open in an hour); and are +growing highly anxious that Dresden on any terms were theirs. + +"MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3d, The death-day of the Siege; an uncommonly busy +day,--though Armistice lasted perfect till 3 P.M., and soon came back +more perfect than ever. A Siege not killed by cannon, but by medical +industry. Let us note with brevity the successive symptoms and +appliances. About seven in the morning Maguire had his Messenger in +Dresden, 'Your Excellency's Paper ready?' 'Nearly ready,' answers +Schmettau; 'we will send it by a Messenger of our own.' And about eleven +of the day Maguire does get it;--the same Captain Kollas (whose name we +recollect) handing it in; and statue-like waiting Answer. 'Pshaw, this +will never do,' ejaculates Maguire; 'terms irrationally high!' Captain +Kollas 'knows nothing of what is IN the Paper; and is charged only to +bring a Written Answer from Excellenz.' Excellenz, before writing, 'will +have to consult with Durchlaucht;' can, however, as if confidentially +and from feelings of friendship, can assure you, Sir, on my honor, That +the Garrison will be delivered to the Croats, and every man of it put +to the sword. 'The Garrison will expect that (WIRD DAS ERWARTEN),' said +Kollas, statue-like; and withdrew, with the proper bow. [Tempelhof, iii. +211.] Something interesting to us in these Military diplomatic passages, +with their square-elbowed fashions, and politeness stiff as iron! + +"Not till three of the afternoon does the Written Answer reach +Schmettau: 'Such Terms never could be accepted.'--'Good,' answers +Schmettau: 'To our last breath no others will be offered.' And commences +cannonading again, not very violently, but with the order, 'Go on, then, +night and day!' + +"About 10 at night, General Guasco, a truculent kind of man, whom I have +met with up and down, but not admitted to memory, beats Appeal on +the Bridge: 'Inform the Commandant that there will now straightway 13 +batteries of cannon, and 5 ditto of howitzers open on him, unless he +bethinks himself!' Which dreadful message is taken to Schmettau. 'Wish +the gentleman good-evening,' orders Schmettau; 'and say we will answer +with 100 guns.' Upon which Guasco vanishes;--but returns in not many +minutes, milder in tone; requests 'a sight of that Written Paper of +Terms again.' 'There it still is,' answers Schmettau, 'not altered, nor +ever shall be.' And there is Armistice again:--and the Siege, as turns +out, has fired its last shot; and is painfully expiring in paroxysms +of negotiation, which continue a good many hours. Schmettau strives +to understand clearly that his terms (of the King's own suggesting, as +Schmettau flatters himself) are accepted: nor does Durchlaucht take +upon him to refuse in any point; but he is strangely slow to sign, still +hoping to mend matters. + +"Much hithering and thithering there was, till 4 next morning +(Durchlaucht has important news from Torgau, at that moment); till 11 +next day; till 4 in the afternoon and later,--Guasco and others coming +with message after message, hasty and conciliatory: (Durchlaucht at such +a distance, his signature not yet come; but be patient; all is right, +upon my honor!' Very great hurry evident on the part of Guasco and +Company; but, nothing suspected by Schmettau. Till, dusk or darkness +threatening now to supervene, Maguire and Schmettau with respective +suites have a Conference on the Bridge,--'rain falling very heavy.' +Durchlaucht's signature, Maguire is astonished to say, has not yet come; +hut Maguire pledges his honor 'that all shall be kept without chicane;' +and adds 'what to some of us seemed not superfluous afterwards), 'I am +incapable of acting falsely or with chicane.' In fact, till 9 in the +evening there was no signature by Durchlaucht; but about 6, on such +pledge by Maguire of his hand and his honor, the Siege entirely gave +up the ghost; and Dresden belonged to Austria. Tuesday Evening, 4th +September, 1759; Sun just setting, could anybody see him for the rain. + +"Schmettau had been over-hasty; what need had Schmettau of haste? The +terms had not yet got signature, perfection of settlement on every +point; nor were they at all well kept, when they did! Considerable +flurry, temporary blindness, needless hurry, and neglect of symptoms +and precautions, must be imputed to poor Schmettau; whose troubles began +from this moment, and went on increasing. The Austrians are already +besetting Elbe Bridge, rooting up the herring-bone balks; and +approaching our Block-house,--sooner than was expected. But that is +nothing. On opening the Pirna Gate to share it with the Austrians, +Friedrich's Spy (sooner had not been possible to the man) was waiting; +who handed Schmettau that Second Letter of Friedrich's, 'Courage; there +is relief on the road!' Poor Schmettau!" + +What Captain Kollas and the Prussian Garrison thought of all this, +THEY were perhaps shy of saying, and we at such distance are not +informed,--except by one symptom: that, of Colonel Hoffman, Schmettau's +Second, whose indignation does become tragically evident. Hoffman, a +rugged Prussian veteran, is indignant at the Capitulation itself; doubly +and trebly indignant to find the Austrians on Elbe Bridge, busy raising +our Balks and Battery: "How is this Sir?" inquires he of Captain Sydow, +who is on guard at the Prussian end; "How dared you make this change, +without acquainting the Second in Command? Order out your men, and come +along with me to clear the Bridge again!" Sydow hesitates, haggles; +indignant Hoffman, growing loud as thunder, pulls out a pistol, +fatal-looking to disobedient Sydow; who calls to his men, or whose men +spring out uncalled; and shoot Hoffman down,--send two balls through +him, so that he died at 8 that night. With noise enough, then and +afterwards. Was drunk, said Schmettau's people. Friedrich answered, on +report of it: "I think as Hoffman did. If he was 'drunk,' it is pity the +Governor and all the Garrison had not been so, to have come to the same +judgment, as he." [P.S. in Autograph of Letter to Schmettau, "Waldau, +11th September, 1759" (Preuss, ii.; _Urkundenbuch,_ p. 45).] Friedrich's +unbearable feelings, of grief and indignation, in regard to all this +Dresden matter,--which are not expressed except coldly in business +form,--can be fancied by all readers. One of the most tragical bits +of ill-luck that ever befell him. A very sore stroke, in his present +condition; a signal loss and affront. And most of all, unbearable +to think how narrowly it has missed being a signal triumph;--missed +actually by a single hair's-breadth, which is as good as by a mile, or +by a thousand miles! + +Soon after 9 o'clock that evening, Durchlaucht in person came rolling +through our battery and the herring-bone balks, to visit Electoral +Highness,--which was not quite the legal time either, Durchlaucht had +not been half an hour with Electoral Highness, when a breathless Courier +came in: "General Wunsch within ten miles [took Torgau in no time, as +Durchlaucht well knows, for a week past]; and will be here before we +sleep!" Durchlaucht plunged out, over the herring-bone balks again +(which many carpenters are busy lifting); and the Electoral Highnesses, +in like manner, hurry off to Toplitz that same night, about an hour +after. What a Tuesday Night! Poor Hoffman is dead at 8 o'clock; the +Saxon Royalties, since 11, are galloping for Pirna, for Toplitz; +Durchlaucht of Zweibruck we saw hurry off an hour before +them,--Capitulation signature not yet dry, and terms of it beginning to +be broken; and Wunsch reported to be within ten miles! + +The Wunsch report is perfectly correct. Wunsch is at Grossenhayn this +evening; all in a fiery mood of swiftness, his people and he;--and +indeed it is, by chance, one of Wolfersdorf's impetuosities that has +sent the news so fast. Wunsch had been as swift with Torgau as he was +with Wittenberg: he blew out the poor Reichs Garrison there by instant +storm, and packed it off to Leipzig, under charge of "an Officer and +Trumpet:"--he had, greatly against his will, to rest two days there for +a few indispensable cannon from Magdeburg. Cannon once come, Wunsch, +burning for deliverance of Dresden, had again started at his swiftest, +"Monday, 3d September [death day of the Siege], very early." + +"He is under 8,000; but he is determined to do it;--and would have done +it, think judges, half thinks Zweibruck himself: such a fire in that +Wunsch and his Corps as is very dangerous indeed. At 4 this morning, +Zweibruck heard of his being on march: 'numbers uncertain'--(numbers +seemingly not the important point,--blows any number of us about our +business!)--and since that moment Zweibruck has driven the capitulation +at such a pace; though the flurried Schmettau suspected nothing. + +"Afternoon of TUESDAY, 4th, Wunsch, approaching Grossenhayn, had +detached Wolfersdorf with 100 light horse rightwards to Grodel, a +boating Village on Elbe shore, To seek news of Dresden; also to see if +boats are procurable for carrying our artillery up thither. At Grodel, +Wolfersdorf finds no boats that will avail: but certain boat-people, new +from Dresden, report that no capitulation had been published when they +left, but that it was understood to be going on. New spur to Wolfersdorf +and Wunsch. Wolfersdorf hears farther in this Village, That there are +some thirty Austrian horse in Grossenhayn:--'Possible these may escape +General Wunsch!' thinks Wolfersdorf; and decides to have them. Takes +thirty men of his own; orders the other seventy to hold rightward, +gather what intelligence is going, and follow more leisurely; and breaks +off for the Grossenhayn-Dresden Highway, to intercept those fellows. + +"Getting to the highway, Wolfersdorf does see the fellows; sees +also,--with what degree of horror I do not know,--that there are +at least 100 of them against his 30! Horror will do nothing for +Wolfersdorf, nor are his other 70 now within reach. Putting a bold face +on the matter, he commands, Stentor-like, as if it were all a fact: +'Grenadiers, march; Dragoons, to right forwards, WHEEL; Hussars, +FORWARD: MARCH!'--and does terrifically dash forward with the thirty +Hussars, or last item of the invoice; leaving the others to follow. The +Austrians draw bridle with amazement; fire off their carbines; take to +their heels, and do not stop for more. Wolfersdorf captures 68 of them, +for behoof of Grossenhayn; and sends the remaining 32 galloping home. +[Tempelhof, iii. 214.] Who bring the above news to Durchlaucht of +Zweibruck: '12,000 of them, may it please your Durchlaucht; such the +accounts we had!'--Fancy poor Schmettau's feelings! + +"On the morrow Dresden was roused from its sleep by loud firing and +battle, audible on the north side of the River: 'before daybreak, and +all day.' It is Wunsch impetuously busy in the woody countries there. +Durchlaucht had shot out Generals and Divisions, Brentano, Wehla, +this General and then that, to intercept Wunsch: these the fiery +Wunsch--almost as if they had been combustible material coming to quench +fire--repels and dashes back, in a wonderful manner, General after +General of them. And is lord of the field all day:--but cannot hear the +least word from Dresden; which is a surprising circumstance. + +"In the afternoon Wunsch summons Maguire in the Neustadt: 'Will answer +you in two hours,' said Maguire. Wunsch thereupon is for attacking +their two Pontoon Elbe-Bridges; still resolute for Dresden,--and orders +Wolfersdorf on one of them, the Uebigau Bridge, who finds the enemy +lifting it at any rate, and makes them do it faster. But night is now +sinking; from Schmettau not a word or sign. 'Silence over there, all +day; not a single cannon to or from,' say Wunsch and Wolfersdorf to one +another. 'Schmettau must have capitulated!' conclude they, and withdraw +in the night-time, still thunderous if molested; bivouac at Grossenhayn, +after twenty-four hours of continual march and battle, not time even for +a snatch of food. [BERICHT VON DER ACTION DES GENERAL-MAJORS VON WUNSCH, +BEY REICHENBERG, DEN 5 SEPTEMBER, 1759 in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. +606-608.] + +"Resting at Grossenhayn, express reaches Wunsch from his Commandant at +Torgau: 'Kleefeld is come on me from Leipzig with 14,000; I cannot long +hold out, unless relieved.' Wunsch takes the road again; two marches, +each of twenty miles. Reaches Torgau late; takes post in the ruins of +the North Suburb, finds he must fight Kleefeld. Refreshes his men +'with a keg of wine per Company,' surely a judicious step; and sends to +Wolfersdorf, who has the rear-guard, 'Be here with me to-morrow at +10.' Wolfersdorf starts at 4, is here at 10: and Wunsch, having scanned +Kleefeld and his Position [a Position strong IF you are dexterous to +manoeuvre in it; capable of being ruinous if you are not,--part of +the Position of a bigger BATTLE OF TORGAU, which is coming],--flies at +Kleefeld and his 14,000 like a cat-o'-mountain; takes him on the left +flank:--Kleefeld and such overplus of thousands are standing a little to +west-and-south of Torgau, with the ENTEFANG [a desolate big reedy mere, +or PLACE OF DUCKS, still offering the idle Torgauer a melancholy sport +there] as a protection to their right; but with no evolution-talent, or +none in comparison to Wunsch's;--and accordingly are cut to pieces +by Wunsch, and blown to the winds, as their fellows have all been." +[HOFBERCHT VON DER AM 8 SEPTEMBER, 1759, BEY TORGAU, VORGEFALLENEN +ACTION: in Seyfarth, _ Beylagen,_ ii. 609, 610. Tempelhof, iii. +219-222.] + +Wunsch, absolute Fate forbidding, could not save Dresden: but he is +here lord of the Northern regions again,--nothing but Leipzig now in +the enemy's hand;--and can await Finck, who is on march with a stronger +party to begin business here. It is reckoned, there are few more +brilliant little bits of Soldiering than this of Wunsch's. All the more, +as his men, for most part, were not Prussian, but miscellaneous Foreign +spirits of uncertain fealty: roving fellows, of a fighting turn, +attracted by Friedrich's fame, and under a Captain who had the art of +keeping them in tune. Wunsch has been soldiering, in a diligent though +dim miscellaneous way, these five-and-twenty years; fought in the old +Turk Wars, under disastrous Seckendorf,--Wunsch a poor young Wurtemberg +ensign, visibly busy there (1737-1739)) as was this same Schmettau, in +the character of staff-officer, far enough apart from Wunsch at that +time!--fought afterwards, in the Bavarian service, in the Dutch, at +Roucoux, at Lauffeld, again under disastrous people. Could never, under +such, find anything but subaltern work all this while; was glad to +serve, under the eye of Friedrich, as Colonel of a Free Corps; which he +has done with much diligence and growing distinction: till now, at the +long last, his chance does come; and he shows himself as a real General. +Possibly a high career lying ahead;--a man that may be very valuable +to Friedrich, who has now so few such left? Fate had again decided +otherwise for Wunsch; in what way will be seen before this Campaign +ends: "an infernal Campaign," according to Friedrich, "CETTE CAMPAGNE +INFERNALE." + +Finck, whom Friedrich had just detached from Waldau (September 6th) with +a new 8 or 6,000, to command in chief in those parts, and, along with +Wunsch, put Dresden out of risk, as it were,--Finck does at least +join Wunsch, as we shall mention in a little. And these Two, with such +Wolfersdorfs and people under them, did prove capable of making front +against Reichsfolk in great overplus of number. Nor are farther SIEGES +of those Northern Garrisons, but recaptures of them, the news one +hears from Saxony henceforth;--only that Dresden is fatally gone. +Irrecoverably, as turned out, and in that unbearable manner. Here is the +concluding scene:-- + +DRESDEN, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8th; EXIT SCHMETTAU. "A thousand times +over, Schmettau must have asked himself, 'Why was I in such a hurry? +Without cause for it I, only Maguire having cause!'--The Capitulation +had been ended in a huddle, without signature: an unwise Capitulation; +and it was scandalously ill kept. Schmettau was not to have marched +till Monday, 10th,--six clear days for packing and preparing;--but, +practically, he has to make three serve him; and to go half-packed, or +not packed at all. Endless chicanes do arise, 'upon my honor!'--not +even the 800 wagons are ready for us; 'Can't your baggages go in boats, +then?' 'No, nor shall!' answers Schmettau, with blazing eyes, and heart +ready to burst; a Schmettau living all this while as in Purgatory, or +worse. Such bullyings from truculent Guasco, who is now without muzzle. +Capitulation, most imperfect in itself, is avowedly infringed: King's +Artillery,--which we had haggled for, and ended by 'hoping for,' to +Maguire that rainy evening: why were we in such a hurry, too, and blind +to Maguire's hurry!--King's Artillery, according to Durchlaucht of +Zweibruck, when he actually signed within the walls, is 'NICHT ACCORDIRT +(Not granted), except the Field part.' King's regimental furnishings, +all and sundry, were 'ACCORDIRT, and without visitation,'--but on second +thoughts, the Austrian Officials are of opinion there must really be +visitation, must be inspection. 'May not some of them belong to Polish +Majesty?' In which sad process of inspection there was incredible waste, +Schmettau protesting; and above half of the new uniforms were lost to +us. Our 80 pontoons, which were expressly bargained for, are brazenly +denied us: '20 of them are Saxon,' cry the Austrians: 'who knows if they +are not almost all Saxon,'--upon my honor! At this rate, only wait a day +or two, and fewer wagons than 800 will be needed! thinks Schmettau; and +consents to 18 river-boats; Boats in part, then; and let us march at +once. Accordingly, + +"SATURDAY, 8th, at 5 in the morning, Schmettau, with goods and people, +does at last file out: across Elbe Bridge through the Neustadt; +Prussians five deep; a double rank of Austrians, ranged on each side, in +'espalier' they call it,--espalier with gaps in it every here and there, +to what purpose is soon evident. The march was so disposed (likewise for +a purpose) that, all along, there were one or two Companies of Prussian +Foot; and then in the interval, carriages, cannon, cavalry and hussars. +Schmettau's carriage is with the rear-guard, Madam Schmettau's well +in the van:--in two other carriages are two Prussian War-and-Domain +Ministers. [ANONYMOUS OF HAMBURG, III. 376.] 'Managers of Saxon +Finance,' these Two;--who will have to manage elsewhere than in +Dresden henceforth. Zinnow, Borck, they sit veritably there, with their +multiform Account Papers: of whom I know absolutely nothing,--except (if +anybody cared) that Zinnow, who 'died of apoplexy in June following,' +is probably of pursy red-nosed type; and that Borck, for certain, has +a very fine face and figure; delicacy, cheerful dignity, perfect +gentlemanhood in short, written on every feature of him; as painted by +Pesne, and engraved by Schmidt, for my accidental behoof. [_Fredericus +Wilhelmus Borck (Pesne pinxit,_ 1732; _Schmidt, sculptur Regis, +sculpsit, Berolini,_ 1764): an excellent Print and Portrait.] Curious +to think of that elaborate court-coat and flowing periwig, with this +specific Borck, 'old as the Devil' (whom I have had much trouble to +identify), forming visible part of this dismal Procession: the bright +eye of Borck not smiling as usual, but clouded, though impassive! But +that of Borck or his Limners is not the point. + +"The Prussians have been divided into small sections, with a mass of +baggage-wagons and cavalry between every two. And no sooner is the mass +got in movement, than there rises from the Austrian part, and continues +all the way, loud invitation, 'Whosoever is a brave Saxon, a brave +Austrian, Reichsman, come to us! Gaps in the espalier, don't you +see!' And Schmettau, in the rear, with baggage and cavalry +intervening,--nobody can reach Schmettau. Here is a way of keeping your +bargain! The Prussian Officers struggle stoutly: but are bellowed at, +struck at, menaced by bayonet and bullet,--none of them shot, I think, +but a good several of them cut and wounded;--the Austrian Officers +themselves in passionate points behaving shamefully, 'Yes, shoot them +down, the (were it nothing else) heretic dogs;' and being throughout +evidently in a hot shivery frame of mind, forgetful of the laws. Seldom +was such a Procession; spite, rage and lawless revenge blazing out +more and more. On the whole, there deserted, through those gaps of +the espalier, about half of the whole Garrison. On Madam Schmettau's +hammercloth there sat, in the Schmettau livery, a hard-featured man, +recognizable by keen eyes as lately a Nailer, of the Nailer Guild here; +who had been a spy for Schmettau, and brought many persons into trouble: +him they tear down, and trample hither and thither,--at last, into some +Guard-house near by." [The Schmettau DIARIUM in ANONYMOUS OF HAMBURG, +iii. 364-376 (corrected chiefly from TEMPELHOF): Protest, and +Correspondence in consequence, is in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 611-621; +in _ Helden-Geschichte,_ &c. &c.] + +Schmettau's protest against all this is vehement, solemnly +circumstantial: but, except in regard to the trampled Nailer (Zweibruck +on that point "heartily sorry for the insult to your Excellency's +livery; and here the man is, with a thousand apologies"), Schmettau got +no redress. Nor had Friedrich any, now or henceforth. Friedrich did at +once, more to testify his disgust than for any benefit, order Schmettau: +"Halt at Wittenberg, not at Magdeburg as was pretended to be bargained. +Dismiss your Escort of Austrians there; bid them home at once, and out +of your sight." Schmettau himself he ordered to Berlin, to idle waiting. +Never again employed Schmettau: for sixteen years that they lived +together, never saw his face more. + +Schmettau's ill-fortune was much pitied, as surely it deserved to be, +by all men. About Friedrich's severity there was, and still occasionally +is, controversy held. Into which we shall not enter for Yes or for No. +"You are like the rest of them!" writes Friedrich to him; "when the +moment comes for showing firmness, you fail in it." ["Waldau, 10th +September, 1759:" in Preuss, ii. URKUNDEN. p. 44.] Friedrich expects of +others what all Soldiers profess,--and what is in fact the soul of all +nobleness in their trade,--but what only Friedrich himself, and a select +few, are in the habit of actually performing. Tried by the standard +of common practice, Schmettau is clearly absolvable; a broken veteran, +deserving almost tears. But that is not the standard which it will +be safe for a King of men to go by. Friedrich, I should say, would be +ordered by his Office, if Nature herself did not order him, to pitch +his ideal very high; and to be rather Rhadamanthine in judging about it. +Friedrich was never accused of over-generosity to the unfortunate among +his Captains. + +After the War, Schmettau, his conduct still a theme of argument, was +reduced to the Invalid List: age now sixty-seven, but health and heart +still very fresh, as he pleaded; complaining that he could not live on +his retiring Pension of 300 pounds a year. "Be thankful you have not had +your head struck off by sentence of Court-Martial," answered Friedrich. +Schmettau, after some farther troubles from Court quarters, retired +to Brandenburg, and there lived silent, poor but honorable, for his +remaining fifteen years. Madam Schmettau came out very beautiful in +those bad circumstances: cheery, thrifty, full of loyal patience; a +constant sunshine to her poor man, whom she had preceded out of Dresden +in the way we saw. Schmettau was very quiet, still studious of War +matters; [See _Leben_ (by his Son, "Captain Schmettau;" a modest +intelligent Book), pp. 440-447.] "sent the King" once,--in 1772, while +Polish Prussia, and How it could be fortified, were the interesting +subject,--"a JOURNAL," which he had elaborated for himself, "OF THE +MARCHES OF KARL TWELFTH IN WEST PREUSSEN;" which was well received: +"Apparently the King not angry with me farther?" thought Schmettau. A +completely retired old man; studious, social,--the best men of the +Army still his friends and familiars:--nor, in his own mind, any mutiny +against his Chief; this also has its beauty in a human life, my friend. +So long as Madam Schmettau lived, it was well; after her death, +not well, dark rather, and growing darker: and in about three years +Schmettau followed (27th October, 1775), whither that good soul had +gone. The elder Brother--who was a distinguished Academician, as well +as Feldmarschall and Negotiator--had died at Berlin, in Voltaire's time, +1751. Each of those Schmettaus had a Son, in the Prussian Army, who +wrote Books, or each a short Book, still worth reading. [_Bavarian War +of 1778,_ by the Feldmarschall's Son; ad this _Leben_ we have just been +citing, by the Lieutenant-General's.] But we must return. + +On the very morrow, September 5th, Daun heard of the glorious success +at Dresden; had not expected it till about the 10th at soonest. From +Triebel he sends the news at gallop to Lieberose and Soltikof: "Rejoice +with us, Excellenz: did not I predict it? Silesia and Saxony both are +ours; fruits chiefly of your noble successes. Oh, continue them a very +little!" "Umph!" answers Soltikof, not with much enthusiasm: "Send us +meal steadily; and gain you, Excellenz's self, some noble success!" +Friedrich did not hear of it for almost a week later; not till Monday, +10th,--as a certain small Anecdote would of itself indicate. + +Sunday Evening, 9th September, General Finck, with his new 6,000, +hastening on to join Wunsch for relief of Dresden, had got to +Grossenhayn; and was putting up his tents, when the Outposts brought him +in an Austrian Officer, who had come with a Trumpeter inquiring for +the General. The Austrian Officer "is in quest of proper lodgings for +General Schmettau and Garrison [fancy Finck's sudden stare!];--last +night they lodged at Gross-Dobritz, tolerably to their mind: but +the question for the Escort is, Where to lodge this night, if your +Excellency could advise me?" "Herr, I will advise you to go back to +Gross-Dobritz on the instant," answers Finck grimly; "I shall be obliged +to make you and your Trumpet prisoners, otherwise!" Exit Austrian +Officer. That same evening, too, Captain Kollas, carrying Schmettau's +sad news to the King, calls on Finck in passing; gives dismal details +of the Capitulation and the Austrian way of keeping it; filling Finck's +mind with sorrowful indignation. [Tempelhof, iii. 237.] + +Finck--let us add here, though in date it belongs a little +elsewhere--pushes on, not the less, to join Wunsch at Torgau; joins +Wunsch, straightway recaptures Leipzig, garrison prisoners (September +13th): recaptures all those northwestern garrisons,--multitudinous +Reichsfolk trying, once, to fight him, in an amazingly loud, but +otherwise helpless way ("ACTION OF KORBITZ" they call it); cannonading +far and wide all day, and manoeuvring about, here bitten in upon, +there trying to bite, over many leagues of Country; principally under +Haddick's leading; [HOFBERICHT VON DER AM 21 SEPTEMBER BEY KORBITZ +(in Meissen Country, south of Elbe; Krogis too is a Village in this +wide-spread "Action") VORGEFALLENEN ACTION (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ +ii. 621-630). Tempelhof, iii. 248, 258.] who saw good to draw off +Dresden-ward next day, and leave Finck master in those regions. To +Daun's sad astonishment,--in a moment of crisis,--as we shall hear +farther on! So that Saxony is not yet conquered to Daun; Saxony, no, nor +indeed will be:--but Dresden is. Friedrich never could recover Dresden; +though he hoped, and at intervals tried hard, for a long while to come. + + + + +Chapter VI.--PRINCE HENRI MAKES A MARCH OF FIFTY HOURS; THE RUSSIANS +CANNOT FIND LODGING IN SILESIA. + +The eyes of all had been bent on Dresden latterly; and there had +occurred a great deal of detaching thitherward, and of marching there +and thence, as we have partly seen. And the end is, Dresden, and to +appearance Saxony along with it, is Daun's. Has not Daun good reason now +to be proud of the cunctatory method? Never did his game stand better; +and all has been gained at other people's expense. Daun has not played +one trump card; it is those obliging Russians that have played all +the trumps, and reduced the Enemy to nothing. Only continue that wise +course,--and cart meal, with your whole strength, for the Russians!-- + +Safe behind the pools of Lieberose, Friedrich between them and Berlin, +lie those dear Russians; extending, Daun and they, like an impassable +military dike, with spurs of Outposts and cunningly devised Detachments, +far and wide,--from beyond Bober or utmost Crossen on the east, to +Hoyerswerda in Elbe Country on the west;--dike of eighty miles long, +and in some eastern parts of almost eighty broad; so elaborate is Daun's +detaching quality, in cases of moment. "The King's broken Army on +one side of us," calculates Daun; "Prince Henri's on the other; +incommunicative they; reduced to isolation, powerless either or both +of them against such odds. They shall wait there, please Heaven, till +Saxony be quite finished. Zweibruck, and our Detachments and Maguires, +let them finish Saxony, while Soltikof keeps the King busy. Saxony +finished, how will either Prince or King attempt to recover it! After +which, Silesia for us;--and we shall then be near our Magazines withal, +and this severe stress of carting will abate or cease." In fact, these +seem sound calculations: Friedrich is 24,000; Henri 38,000; the military +dike is, of Austrians 75,000, of Russians and Austrians together +120,000. Daun may fairly calculate on succeeding beautifully this Year: +Saxony his altogether; and in Silesia some Glogau or strong Town taken, +and Russians and Austrians wintering together in that Country. + +If only Daun do not TOO much spare his trump cards! But there is such +a thing as excess on that side too: and perhaps it is even the more +ruinous kind,--and is certainly the more despised by good judges, +though the multitude of bad may notice it less. Daun is unwearied in +his vigilantes, in his infinite cartings of provision for himself +and Soltikof,--long chains of Magazines, big and little, at Guben, +at Gorlitz, at Bautzen, Zittau, Friedland; and does, aided by French +Montalembert, all that man can to keep those dear stupid Russians in +tune. + +Daun's problem of carting provisions, and guarding his multifarious +posts, and sources of meal and defence, is not without its difficulties. +Especially with a Prince Henri opposite; who has a superlative +manoeuvring talent of his own, and an industry not inferior to Daun's +in that way. Accordingly, ever since August 11th-13th, when Daun moved +northward to Triebel, and Henri shot out detachments parallel to +him, "to secure the Bober and our right flank, and try to regain +communication with the King,"--still more, ever since August 22d, when +Daun undertook that onerous cartage of meal for Soltikof as well as +self, the manoeuvring and mutual fencing and parrying, between Henri and +him, has been getting livelier and livelier. Fain would Daun secure his +numerous Roads and Magazines; assiduously does Henri threaten him +in these points, and try all means to regain communication with +his Brother. Daun has Magazines and interests everywhere; Henri is +everywhere diligent to act on them. + +Daun in person, ever since Kunersdorf time, has been at Triebel; Henri +moved to Sagan after him, but has left a lieutenant at Schmottseifen, +as Daun has at Mark-Lissa:--here are still new planets, and secondary +ditto, with revolving moons. In short, it is two interpenetrating solar +systems, gyrating, osculating and colliding, over a space of +several thousand square miles,--with an intricacy, with an embroiled +abstruseness Ptolemean or more! Which indeed the soldier who would know +his business--(and not knowing it, is not he of all solecisms in this +world the most flagrant?)--ought to study, out of Tempelhof and the +Books; but which, except in its results, no other reader could endure. +The result we will make a point of gathering: carefully riddled down, +there are withal in the details five or six little passages which have +some shadow of interest to us; these let us note, and carefully omit the +rest:-- + +OF FOUQUET AT LANDSHUT. "Fouquet was twice attacked at Landshut; but +made a lucky figure both times. Attack first was by Deville: attack +second by Harsch. Early in July, not long after Friedrich had left for +Schmottseifen, rash Deville (a rash creature, and then again a laggard, +swift where he should be slow, and VICE VERSA) again made trial on +Landshut and Fouquet; but was beautifully dealt with; taken in rear, +in flank, or I forget how taken, but sent galloping through the Passes +again, with a loss of many Prisoners, most of his furnitures, and all +his presence of mind: whom Daun thereupon summoned out of those parts, +'Hitherward to Mark-Lissa with your Corps; leave Fouquet alone!' +[HOFBERICHT VON DEN UNTERNEHMUNGEN DES FOUQUETSCHEN CORPS, IM JULIUS +1759: in Seyfarth, Beylagen, ii. 582-586.] + +"After which, Fouquet, things being altogether quiet round him, was +summoned, with most part of his force, to Schmottseifen; left General +Goltz (a man we have met before) to guard Landshut; and was in fair +hopes of proving helpful to Prince Henri,--when Harsch [Harsch by +himself this time, not Harsch and Deville as usual] thought here was his +opportunity; and came with a great apparatus, as if to swallow Landshut +whole. So that Fouquet had to hurry off reinforcements thither; and at +length to go himself, leaving Stutterheim in his stead at Schmottseifen. +Goltz, however, with his small handful, stood well to his work. And +there fell out sharp fencings at Landshut:--especially one violent +attack on our outposts; the Austrians quite triumphant; till 'a couple +of cannon open on them from the next Hill,'--till some violent Werner +or other charge in upon them with Prussian Hussars;--a desperate tussle, +that special one of Werner's; not only sabres flashing furiously on both +sides, but butts of pistols and blows on the face: [Tempelhof, iii. 233: +31st August.] till, in short, Harsch finds he can make nothing of it, +and has taken himself away, before Fouquet come." This Goltz, here +playing Anti-Harsch, is the Goltz who, with Winterfeld, Schmettau and +others, was in that melancholy Zittau march, of the Prince of Prussia's, +in 1757: it was Goltz by whom the King sent his finishing compliment, +"You deserve, all of you, to be tried by Court-Martial, and to lose +your heads!" Goltz is mainly concerned with Fouquet and Silesia, in late +times; and we shall hear of him once again. Fouquet did not return to +Schmottseifen; nor was molested again in Landshut this year, though he +soon had to detach, for the King's use, part of his Landshut force, and +had other Silesian business which fell to him. + +FORTRESS OF PEITZ. The poor Fortress of Peitz was taken again;--do +readers remember it, "on the day of Zorndorf," last year? "This year, +a fortnight after Kunersdorf, the same old Half-pay Gentleman with his +Five-and-forty Invalids have again been set adrift, 'with the honors +of war,' poor old creatures; lest by possibility they afflict the +dear Russians and our meal-carts up yonder. [Tempelhof, iii. 231: 27th +August.] I will forget who took Peitz: perhaps Haddick, of whom we have +lately heard so much? He was captor of Berlin in 1757, did the Inroad on +Berlin that year,--and produced Rossbach shortly after. Peitz, if he did +Peitz, was Haddick's last success in the world. Haddick has been most +industrious, 'guarding the Russian flank,'--standing between the King +and it, during that Soltikof march to Mullrose, to Lieberose; but +that once done, and the King settled at Waldau, Haddick was ordered to +Saxony, against Wunsch and Finck:--and readers know already what he made +of these Two in the 'Action at Korbitz, September 21st,'--and shall hear +soon what befell Haddick himself in consequence." + +COLONEL HORDT IS CAPTURED. "It was in that final marching of Soltikof +to Lieberose that a distinguished Ex-Swede, Colonel Hordt, of the Free +Corps HORDT, was taken prisoner. At Trebatsch; hanging on Soltikof's +right flank on that occasion. It was not Haddick, it was a swarm of +Cossacks who laid Hordt fast; his horse having gone to the girths in +a bog. [_Memoires du Comte de Hordt_ (a Berlin, 1789), ii. 53-58 +(not dated or intelligible there): in Tempelhof (iii. 235, 236) +clear account, "Trebatsch, September 4th."] Hordt, an Ex-Swede of +distinction,--a Royalist Exile, on whose head the Swedes have set a +price (had gone into 'Brahe's Plot,' years since, Plot on behalf of the +poor Swedish King, which cost Brahe his life),--Hordt now might have +fared ill, had not Friedrich been emphatic, 'Touch a hair of him, +retaliation follows on the instant!' He was carried to Petersburg; 'lay +twenty-six months and three days' in solitary durance there; and we may +hear a word from him again." + +ZIETHEN ALMOST CAPTURED. "Prince Henri, in the last days of August, +marched to Sagan in person; [Tempelhof, iii. 231: 29th August.] Ziethen +along with him; multifariously manoeuvring 'to regain communication with +the King.' Of course, with no want of counter-manoeuvring, of vigilant +outposts, cunningly devised detachments and assiduous small measures on +the part of Daun. Who, one day, had determined on a more considerable +thing; that of cutting out Ziethen from the Sagan neighborhood. And +would have done it, they say,--had not he been too cunctatory. September +2d, Ziethen, who is posted in the little town of Sorau, had very nearly +been cut off. In Sorau, westward, Daun-ward, of Sagan a short day's +march: there sat Ziethen, conscious of nothing particular,--with Daun +secretly marching on him; Daun in person, from the west, and two others +from the north and from the south, who are to be simultaneous on Sorau +and the Zietheners. A well-laid scheme; likely to have finished Ziethen +satisfactorily, who sat there aware of nothing. But it all miswent: +Daun, on the road, noticed some trifling phenomenon (Prussian party +of horse, or the like), which convinced his cautious mind that all was +found out; that probably a whole Prussian Army, instead of a Ziethen +only, was waiting at Sorau; upon which Daun turned home again, sorry +that he could not turn the other two as well. The other two were +stronger than Ziethen, could they have come upon him by surprise; or +have caught him before he got through a certain Pass, or bit of bad +ground, with his baggage. But Ziethen, by some accident, or by his own +patrols, got notice; loaded his baggage instantly; and was through the +Pass, or half through it, and in a condition to give stroke for stroke +with interest, when his enemies came up. Nothing could be done upon +Ziethen; who marched on, he and all his properties, safe to Sagan that +night,--owing to Daun's over-caution, and to Ziethen's own activity and +luck." [Tempelhof, iii. 233.] + +All this was prior to the loss of Dresden. During the crisis of that, +when everybody was bestirring himself, Prince Henri made extraordinary +exertions: "Much depends on me; all on me!" sighed Henri. A cautious +little man; but not incapable of risking, in the crisis of a game for +life and death. Friedrich and he are wedged asunder by that dike of +Russians and Austrians, which goes from Bober river eastward, post +after post, to Hoyerswerda westward, eighty miles along the +Lausitz-Brandenburg Frontier, rooting itself through the Lausitz +into Bohemia, and the sources of its meal. Friedrich and he cannot +communicate except by spies ("the first JAGER," or regular express "from +the King, arrived September 13th" [Ib. iii. 207.]): but both are of one +mind; both are on one problem, "What is to be done with that impassable +dike?"--and co-operate sympathetically without communicating. What +follows bears date AFTER the loss of Dresden, but while Henri still knew +only of the siege,--that JAGER of the 13th first brought him news of the +loss. + +"A day or two after Ziethen's adventure, Henri quits Sagan, to move +southward for a stroke at the Bohemian-Lausitz magazines; a stroke, and +series of strokes. SEPTEMBER 8th, Ziethen and (in Fouquet's absence at +Landshut) Stutterheim are pushed forward into the Zittau Country; first +of all upon Friedland,--the Zittau Friedland, for there are Friedlands +many! SEPTEMBER 9th, Stutterheim summons Friedland, gets it; gets the +bit of magazine there; and next day hastens on to Zittau. Is refused +surrender of Zittau; learns, however, that the magazine has been mostly +set on wheels again, and is a stage forward on the road to Bohemia; +whitherward Stutterheim, quitting Zittau as too tedious, hastens after +it, and next day catches it, or the unburnt remains of it. A successful +Stutterheim. Nor is Ziethen idle in the mean while; Ziethen and others; +whom no Deville or Austrian Party thinks itself strong enough to meddle +with, Prince Henri being so near. + +"Here is a pretty tempest in the heart of our Bohemian meal-conduit! +Continue that, and what becomes of Soltikof and me? Daun is off from +Triebel Country to this dangerous scene; indignantly cashiers Deville, +'Why did not you attack these Ziethen people? Had not you 10,000, Sir?' +Cashiers poor Deville for not attacking;--does not himself attack: but +carts away the important Gorlitz magazine, to Bautzen, which is the +still more important one; sits down on the lid of that (according to +wont); shoots out O'Donnell (an Irish gentleman, Deville's successor), +and takes every precaution. Prince Henri, in presence of O'Donnell, +coalesces again; walks into Gorlitz; encamps there, on the Landskron +and other Heights (Moys Hill one of them, poor Winterfeld's Hill!),--and +watches a little how matters will turn, and whether Daun, severely +vigilant from Bautzen, seated on the lid of his magazine, will not +perhaps rise." + +First and last, Daun in this business has tried several things; but +there was pretty much always, and emphatically there now is, only one +thing that could be effectual: To attack Prince Henri, and abolish him +from those countries;--as surely might have been possible, with twice +his strength at your disposal?--This, though sometimes he seemed to be +thinking of such a thing, Daun never would try: for which the subsequent +FACTS, and all good judges, were and are inexorably severe on Daun. +Certain it is, no rashness could have better spilt Daun's game than did +this extreme caution. + + + + +DAUN, SOLTIKOF AND COMPANY AGAIN HAVE A COLLOQUY (Bautzen, September +15th); AFTER WHICH EVERYBODY STARTS ON HIS SPECIAL COURSE OF ACTION. + +Soltikof's disgust at this new movement of Daun's was great and +indignant. "Instead of going at the King, and getting some victory for +himself, he has gone to Bautzen, and sat down on his meal-bags! Meal? +Is it to be a mere fighting for meal? I will march to-morrow for Poland, +for Preussen, and find plenty of meal!" And would have gone, they say, +had not Mercury, in the shape of Montalembert with his most zealous +rhetoric, intervened; and prevailed with difficulty. "One hour of +personal interview with Excellency Daun," urges Montalembert; "one +more!" "No," answers Soltikof.--"Alas, then, send your messenger!" To +which last expedient Soltikof does assent, and despatches Romanzof on +the errand. + +SEPTEMBER 15th, at Bautzen, at an early hour, there is meeting +accordingly; not Romanzof, Soltikof's messenger, alone, but Zweibruck +in person, Daun in person; and most earnest council is held. "A noble +Russian gentleman sees how my hands are bound," pleads Daun. "Will not +Excellency Soltikof, who disdains idleness, go himself upon Silesia, +upon Glogau for instance, and grant me a few days?" "No," answers +Romanzof; "Excellency Soltikof by himself will not. Let Austria +furnish Siege-Artillery; daily meal I need not speak of; 10,000 fresh +Auxiliaries beyond those we have: on these terms Excellency Soltikof +will perhaps try it; on lower terms, positively not." "Well then, yes!" +answers Daun, not without qualms of mind. Daun has a horror at weakening +himself to that extent; but what can he do? "General Campitelli, with the +10,000, let him march this night, then; join with General Loudon where +you please to order: Excellency Soltikof shall see that in every point +I conform." [Tempelhof, iii. 247-249.]--An important meeting to us, this +at Bautzen; and breaks up the dead-lock into three or more divergent +courses of activity; which it will now behoove us to follow, with the +best brevity attainable. "Bautzen, Saturday, 15th September, early in +the morning," that is the date of the important Colloquy. And precisely +eight-and-forty hours before, "on Thursday, 13th, about 10 A.M.", in +the western Environs of Quebec, there has fallen out an Event, quite +otherwise important in the History of Mankind! Of which readers shall +have some notice at a time more convenient.-- + +Romanzof returning with such answer, Soltikof straightway gathers +himself, September 15th-16th, and gets on march. To Friedrich's joy; who +hopes it may be homeward; waits two days at Waldau, for the Yes or +No. On the second day, alas, it is No: "Going for Silesia, I perceive; +thither, by a wide sweep northward, which they think will be safer!" +Upon which Friedrich also rises; follows, with another kind of speed +than Soltikof's; and, by one of his swift clutchings, lays hold of +Sagan, which he, if Soltikof has not, sees to be a key-point in this +operation. Easy for Soltikof to have seized this key-point, key of +the real road to Glogau; easy for Loudon and the new 10,000 to have +rendezvoused there: but nobody has thought of doing it. A few Croats +were in the place, who could make no debate. + +From Sagan Friedrich and Henri are at length in free communication; +Sagan to the Landskron at Gorlitz is some fifty miles of country, now +fallen vacant. From Henri, from Fouquet (the dangers of Landshut being +over), Friedrich is getting what reinforcement they can spare (September +20th-24th); will then push forward again, industriously sticking to the +flanks of Soltikof, thrusting out stumbling-blocks, making his march +very uncomfortable. + +Strange to say, from Sagan, while waiting two days for these +reinforcements, there starts suddenly to view, suddenly for Friedrich +and us, an incipient Negotiation about Peace! Actual Proposal that way +(or as good as actual, so Voltaire thinks it), on the part of Choiseul +and France; but as yet in Voltaire's name only, by a sure though a +backstairs channel, of his discovering. Of which, and of the much +farther corresponding that did actually follow on it, we purpose to say +something elsewhere, at a better time. Meanwhile Voltaire's announcement +of it to the King has just come in, through a fair and high Hand: how +Friedrich receives it, what Friedrich's inner feeling is, and has been +for a fortnight past--Here are some private utterances of his, throwing +a straggle of light on those points:-- + + +FOUR LETTERS OF FRIEDRICH'S (10th-24th September). + +No. 1. TO PRINCE FERDINAND (at Berlin). Poor little Ferdinand, the +King's Brother, fallen into bad health, has retired from the Wars, and +gone to Berlin; much an object of anxiety to the King, who diligently +corresponds with the dear little man,--giving earnest medical advices, +and getting Berlin news in return. + +"WALDAU, 10th September, 1759. + +"Since my last Letter, Dresden has capitulated,--the very day while +Wunsch was beating Maguire at The Barns (north side of Dresden, +September 5th) day AFTER the capitulation]. Wunsch went back to Torgau, +which St. Andre, with 14,000 Reichs-people under him, was for retaking; +him too Wunsch beat, took all his tents, kettles, haversacks and +utensils, 300 prisoners, six cannon and some standards. Finck is uniting +with Wunsch; they will march on the Prince of Zweibruck, and retake +Dresden [hopes always, for a year and more, to have Dresden back very +soon]. I trust before long to get all these people gathered round +Dresden, and our own Country rid of them: that, I take it, will be the +end of the Campaign. + +"Many compliments to the Prince of Wurtemberg [wounded at Kunersdorf], +and to all our wounded Generals: I hope Seidlitz is now out of danger: +that bleeding fit (EBULLITION DE SANG) will cure him of the cramp in his +jaw, and of his colics; and as he is in bed, he won't take cold. I hope +the viper-broth will do you infinite good; be assiduous in patching your +constitution, while there is yet some fine weather left: I dread the +winter for you; take a great deal of care against cold. I have still a +couple of cruel months ahead of me before ending this Campaign. +Within that time, there will be, God knows what upshot." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xxvi. 544.]--This is "September 10th:" the day of Captain +Kollas's arrival with his bad Dresden news; Daun and Soltikof profoundly +quiet for three days more. + +No. 2. TO THE DUCHESS OF SACHSEN-GOTHA (at Gotha). Voltaire has enclosed +his Peace-Proposal to that Serene Lady, always a friend of Friedrich's +and his; to whom Friedrich, directly on receipt of it, makes answer:-- + +"SAGAN, 22d September, 1759. + +"MADAM,--I receive on all occasions proofs of your goodness, to which I +am as sensible as a chivalrous man can be. Certainly it is not through +your hands, Madam, that my Correspondence with V. [with Voltaire, if +one durst write it in full] ought to be made to pass! Nevertheless, in +present circumstances, I will presume to beg that you would forward to +him the Answer here enclosed, on which I put no Address. The difficulty +of transmitting Letters has made me choose my Brother," Ferdinand, at +Berlin, "to have this conveyed to your hand. + +"If I gave bridle to my feelings, now would be the moment for developing +them; but in these critical times I judge it better not; and will +restrict myself to simple assurances of--" F. + +No. 3. TO VOLTAIRE, at the Delices (so her Serene Highness will address +it). Here is part of the Enclosure to "V." Friedrich is all for Peace; +but keeps on his guard with such an Ambassador, and writes in a proud, +light, only half-believing style:-- + +"SAGAN, 22d September, 1759. + +"The Duchess of Sachsen-Gotha sends me your Letter. I never received +your packet of the 29th: communications all interrupted here; with much +trouble I get this passed on to you, if it is happy enough to pass. + +"My position is not so desperate as my enemies give out. I expect to +finish my Campaign tolerably; my courage is not sunk:--it appears, +however, there is talk of Peace. All I can say of positive on this +article is, That I have honor for ten; and that, whatever misfortune +befall me, I feel myself incapable of doing anything to wound, the least +in the world, this principle,--which is so sensitive and delicate for +one who thinks like a gentleman (PENSE EN PREUX CHEVALIER); and so +little regarded by rascally politicians, who think like tradesmen. + +"I know nothing of what you have been telling me about [your backstairs +channels, your Duc de Choiseul and his humors]: but for making Peace +there are two conditions which I never will depart from: 1. To make +it conjointly with my faithful Allies [Hessen and England; I have no +other]; 2. To make it honorable and glorious. Observe you, I have still +honor remaining; I will preserve that, at the price of my blood. + +"If your people want Peace, let them propose nothing to me which +contradicts the delicacy of my sentiments. I am in the convulsions +of military operations; I do as the gamblers who are in ill-luck, and +obstinately set themselves against Fortune. I have forced her to return +to me, more than once, like a fickle mistress, when she had run away. My +opponents are such foolish people, in the end I bid fair to catch some +advantage over them: but, happen whatsoever his Sacred Majesty Chance +may please, I don't disturb myself about it. Up to this point, I have a +clear conscience in regard to the misfortunes that have come to me. +As to you, the Battle of Minden, that of Cadiz" (Boscawen VERSUS De la +Clue; Toulon Fleet running out, and caught by the English, as we saw), +these things perhaps, "and the loss of Canada, are arguments capable +of restoring reason to the French, who had got confused by the Austrian +hellebore. + +"This is my way of thinking. You do not find me made of rose-water: but +Henri Quatre, Louis Quatorze,--my present enemies even, whom I could +cite [Maria Theresa, twenty years ago, when your Belleisle set out to +cut her in Four],--were of no softer temper either. Had I been born a +private man, I would yield everything for the love of Peace; but one +has to take the tone of one's position. This is all I can tell you +at present. In three or four weeks the ways of correspondence will be +freer.--F." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxiii. 60, 61.] + +No. 4. TO PRINCE FERDINAND. Two days later: has got on foot again,--end +of his first march upon Soltikof again:-- + +"BAUNAU, 24th September, 1759. + +"Thank you for the news you send of the wounded Officers," Wurtemberg, +Seidlitz and the others. "You may well suppose that in the pass things +are at, I am not without cares, inquietudes, anxieties; it is the +frightfulest crisis I have had in my life. This is the moment for dying +unless one conquer. Daun and my Brother Henri are marching side by side +[not exactly!]. It is possible enough all these Armies may assemble +hereabouts, and that a general Battle may decide our fortune and +the Peace. Take care of your health, dear Brother.--F." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xxvi. 545.] + +Baunau is on Silesian ground, as indeed Sagan itself is; at Baunau +Friedrich already, just on arriving, has done a fine move on Soltikof, +and surprisingly flung the toll-gate in Soltikof's face. As we shall +see by and by;--and likewise that Prince Henri, who emerges to-morrow +morning (September 25th), has not been "marching side by side with +Daun," but at a pretty distance from that gentleman!-- + +Soltikof is a man of his word; otherwise one suspects he already saw his +Siege of Glogau to be impossible. Russians are not very skilful at the +War-minuet: fancy what it will be dancing to such a partner! Friedrich, +finding they are for Glogau, whisks across the Oder, gets there before +them: "No Glogau for you!" They stand agape for some time; then think +"Well then Breslau!" Friedrich again whisks across from them, farther +up, and is again ahead of them when they cross: "No Breslau either!" In +effect, it is hopeless; and we may leave the two manoeuvring in those +waste parts, astride of Oder, or on the eastern bank of it, till a +fitter opportunity; and attend to Henri, who is now the article in risk. + +Zweibruck's report of himself, on that day of the general Colloquy, was +not in the way of complaint, like that of the Russians, though there did +remain difficulties. "Dresden gloriously ours; Maguire Governor there, +and everything secure; upon my honor. But in the northwest part, those +Fincks and Wunsches, Excellenz?"--And the actual truth is, Wunsch +has taken Leipzig, day before yesterday (September 13th), as Daun +sorrowfully knows, by news come in overnight. And six days hence +(September 21st), Finck and Wunsch together will do their "ACTION OF +KORBITZ," and be sending Haddick a bad road! These things Zweibruck +knows only in part; but past experience gives him ominous presentiment, +as it may well do; and he thinks decidedly: "Excellenz, more Austrian +troops are indispensable there; in fact, your Excellenz's self, were +that possible; which one feels it is not, in the presence of these +Russians!" + +Russians and Reichsfolk, these are a pair of thumbscrews on both thumbs +of Daun; screwing the cunctation out of him; painfully intimating: "Get +rid of this Prince Henri; you must, you must!" And, in the course of the +next eight days Daun has actually girt himself to this great enterprise. +Goaded on, I could guess, by the "Action of Korbitz" (done on Friday, +thirty hours ago); the news of which, and that Haddick, instead of +extinguishing Finck, is retreating from him upon Dresden,--what a piece +of news! thinks Daun: "You, Zweibruck, Haddick, Maguire and Company, +you are 36,000 in Saxony; Finck has not 12,000 in the field: How is +this?"--and indignantly dismisses Haddick altogether: "Go, Sir, and +attend to your health!" [Tempelhof, iii. 276, 258-261.] News poignantly +astonishing to Daun, as would seem;--like an ox-goad in the lazy rear of +Daun. Certain it is, Daun had marched out to Gorlitz in collected form; +and, on Saturday afternoon, SEPTEMBER 22d is personally on the Heights +(not Moys Hill, I should judge, but other points of vision), taking +earnest survey of Prince Henri's position on the Landskron there. +"To-morrow morning we attack that Camp," thinks Daun; "storm Prince +Henri and it: be rid of him, at any price!" [Ib. iii. 253-256 (for +the March now ensuing): iii. 228-234, 241-247 (for Henri's anterior +movements).] + +"To-morrow morning," yes:--but this afternoon, and earlier, Prince +Henri has formed a great resolution, his plans all laid, everything in +readiness; and it is not here you will find Prince Henri to-morrow. This +is his famous March of Fifty Hours, this that we are now come to; which +deserves all our attention,--and all Daun's much more! Prince Henri was +habitually a man cautious in War; not aggressive, like his Brother, but +defensive, frugal of risks, and averse to the lion-springs usual with +some people; though capable of them, too, in the hour of need. Military +men are full of wonder at the bold scheme he now fell upon; and at his +style of executing it. Hardly was Daun gone home to his meditations +on the storm of the Landskron to-morrow, and tattoo beaten in Prince +Henri's Camp there, when, at 8 that Saturday evening, issuing +softly, with a minimum of noise, in the proper marching columns, +baggage-columns, Henri altogether quitted this Camp; and vanished like +a dream. Into the Night; men and goods, every item:--who shall say +whitherward? Leaving only a few light people to keep up the watch-fires +and sentry-cries, for behoof of Daun! Let readers here, who are in the +secret, watch him a little from afar. + +Straight northward goes Prince Henri, down Neisse Valley, 20 miles +or so, to Rothenburg; in columns several-fold, with much delicate +arranging, which was punctually followed: and in the course of to-morrow +Prince Henri is bivouacked, for a short rest of three hours,--hidden in +unknown space, 20 miles from Daun, when Daun comes marching up to storm +him on the Landskron! Gone veritably; but whitherward Daun cannot form +the least guess. Daun can only keep his men under arms there, all day; +while his scouts gallop far and wide,--bringing in this false guess and +the other; and at length returning with the eminently false one, misled +by some of Henri's baggage-columns, which have to go many routes, That +the Prince is on march for Glogau:--"Gone northeast; that way went his +wagons; these we saw with our eyes." "Northeast? Yes, to Glogau possibly +enough," thinks Daun: "Or may not he, cunning as he is and full of +feints, intend a stroke on Bautzen, in my absence?"--and hastens thither +again, and sits down on the Magazine-lid, glad to find nothing wrong +there. + +This is all that Daun hears of Henri for the next four days. Plenty of +bad news from Saxony in these four days: the Finck-Haddick Action of +Korbitz, a dismal certainty before one started,--and Haddick on his +road to some Watering Place by this time! But no trace of Henri farther; +since that of the wagons wending northeast. "Gone to Glogau, to his +Brother: no use in pushing him, or trying to molest him there!" thinks +Daun; and waits, in stagnant humor, chewing the cud of bitter enough +thoughts, till confirmation of that guess arrive:--as it never will in +this world! Read an important Note:-- + +"To northward of Bautzen forty miles, and to westward forty miles, +the country is all Daun's; only towards Glogau, with the Russians and +Friedrich thereabouts, does it become disputable, or offer Prince Henri +any chance. Nevertheless it is not to Glogau, it is far the reverse, +that the nimble Henri has gone. Resting himself at Rothenburg 'three +hours' (speed is of all things the vitalest), Prince Henri starts again, +SUNDAY afternoon, straight westward this time. Marches, with his best +swiftness, with his best arrangements, through many sleeping +Villages, to Klitten, not a wakeful one: a march of 18 miles from +Rothenburg;--direct for the Saxon side of things, instead of the +Silesian, as Daun had made sure. + +"At Klitten, MONDAY morning, bivouac again, for a few hours,--'has no +Camp, only waits three hours,' is Archenholtz's phrase: but I suppose +the meaning is, Waits till the several Columns, by their calculated +routes, have all got together; and till the latest in arriving has had +'three hours' of rest,--the earliest having perhaps gone on march again, +in the interim? There are 20 miles farther, still straight west, to +Hoyerswerda, where the outmost Austrian Division is: 'Forward towards +that; let us astonish General Wehla and his 3,000, and our March +is over!' All this too Prince Henri manages; never anything more +consummate, more astonishing to Wehla and his Master. + +"Wehla and Brentano, readers perhaps remember them busy, from the Pirna +side, at the late Siege of Dresden. Siege gloriously done, Wehla +was ordered to Hoyerswerda, on the northwest frontier; Brentano to a +different point in that neighborhood; where Brentano escaped ruin, and +shall not be mentioned; but Wehla suddenly found it, and will require +a word. Wehla, of all people on the War-theatre, had been the least +expecting disturbance. He is on the remotest western flank; to westward +of him nothing but Torgau and the Finck-Wunsch people, from whom is +small likelihood of danger: from the eastern what danger can there be? A +Letter of Dauns, some days ago, had expressly informed him that, to all +appearance, there was none. + +"And now suddenly, on the Tuesday morning, What is this? Prussians +reported to be visible in the Woods! 'Impossible!' answered Wehla;--did +get ready, however, what he could; Croat Regiments, pieces of Artillery +behind the Elster River and on good points; laboring more and more +diligently, as the news proved true. But all his efforts were to no +purpose. General Lentulus with his Prussians (the mute Swiss Lentulus, +whom we sometimes meet), who has the Vanguard this day, comes streaming +out of the woods across the obstacles; cannonades Wehla both in front +and rear; entirely swallows Wehla and Corps: 600 killed; the General +himself, with 28 Field-Officers, and of subalterns and privates 1,785, +falling prisoners to us; and the remainder scattered on the winds, +galloping each his own road towards covert and a new form of life. +Wehla is eaten, in this manner, Tuesday, September 25th:--metaphorically +speaking, the March of Fifty Hours ends in a comfortable twofold +meal (military-cannibal, as well as of common culinary meat), and in +well-deserved rest." [Tempelhof, iii. 255, 256; Seyfarth, _Beylagen;_ +&c.] + +The turning-point of the Campaign is reckoned to be this March of +Henri's; one of the most extraordinary on record. Prince Henri had a +very fast March INTO these Silesian-Lausitz Countries, early in July, +[Seyfarth, ii. 545.] and another very fast, from Bautzen, to intersect +with Schmottseifen, in the end of July: but these were as nothing +compared with the present. Tempelhof, the excellent solid man,--but who +puts all things, big and little, on the same level of detail, and has +unparalleled methods of arranging (what he reckons to be "arranging"), +and no vestige of index,--is distressingly obscure on this grand +Incident; but at length, on compulsion, does yield clear account. +[Tempelhof, iii. 253-258.] In Archenholtz it is not DATED at all; +who merely says as follows: "Most extraordinary march ever made; went +through 50 miles of Country wholly in the Enemy's possession; lasted 56 +hours, in which long period there was no camp pitched, and only twice a +rest of three hours allowed the troops. During the other fifty hours the +march, day and night, continually proceeded. Ended (NO date) in surprise +of General Wehla at Hoyerswerda, cutting up 600 of his soldiers, +and taking 1,800 prisoners. Kalkreuth, since so famous," in the +Anti-Napoleon Wars, "was the Prince's Adjutant." [Archenholtz, i. 426.] + +This is probably Prince Henri's cleverest feat,--though he did a great +many of clever; and his Brother used to say, glancing towards him, +"There is but one of us that never committed a mistake." A highly +ingenious dexterous little man in affairs of War, sharp as needles, +vehement but cautious; though of abstruse temper, thin-skinned, +capricious, and giving his Brother a great deal of trouble with his +jealousies and shrewish whims. By this last consummate little operation +he has astonished Daun as much as anybody ever did; shorn his elaborate +tissue of cunctations into ruin and collapse at one stroke; and in +effect, as turns out, wrecked his campaign for this Year. + +Daun finds there is now no hope of Saxony, unless he himself at once +proceed thither. At once thither;--and leave Glogau and the Russians +to their luck,--which in such case, what is it like to be? Probably, to +Daun's own view, ominous enough; but he has no alternative. To this pass +has the March of Fifty Hours brought us. There is such a thing as being +too cunctatory, is not there, your Excellency? Every mortal, and more +especially every Feldmarschall, ought to strike the iron while it +is hot. The remainder of this Campaign, we will hope, can be made +intelligible in a more summary manner. + + + + +FRIEDRICH MANAGES (September 24th-October 24th) TO GET THE RUSSIANS SENT +HOME; AND HIMSELF FALLS LAMED WITH GOUT. + +Friedrich's manoeuvres against Soltikof,--every reader is prepared to +hear that Soltikof was rendered futile by them: and none but military +readers could take delight in the details. Two beautiful short-cuts he +made upon Soltikof; pulled him up both times in mid career, as with hard +check-bit. The first time was at Zobelwitz: September 24th, Friedrich +cut across from Sagan, which is string to bow of the Russian march; +posted himself on the Heights of Zobelwitz, of Baunau, Milkau (at Baunau +Friedrich will write a LETTER this night, if readers bethink themselves; +Milkau is a place he may remember for rain-deluges, in the First +Silesian War [Supra, p. 323; ib. vol. vii. p. 311.]): "Let the Russians, +if they now dare, try the Pass of Neustadtel here!" A fortunate hour, +when he got upon this ground. Quartermaster-General Stoffel, our old +Custrin acquaintance, is found marking out a Camp with a view to that +Pass of Neustadtel; [Tempelhof, iii. 293; Retzow, ii. 163.] is, greatly +astonished to find the Prussian Army emerge on him there; and at once +vanishes, with his Hussar-Cossack retinues. "September 24th," it is +while Prince Henri was on the last moiety of his March of Fifty Hours. +This severe twitch flung Soltikof quite out from Glogau,--was like +to fling him home altogether, had it not been for Montalembert's +eloquence;--did fling him across the Oder. Where, again thanks to +Montalembert, he was circling on with an eye to Breslau, when Friedrich, +by the diameter, suddenly laid bridges, crossed at Koben, and again +brought Soltikof to halt, as by turnpike suddenly shut: "Must pay first; +must beat us first!" + +These things had raised Friedrich's spirits not a little. Getting on +the Heights of Zobelwitz, he was heard to exclaim, "This is a lucky +day; worth more to me than a battle with victory." [Retzow, ii. 163.] +Astonishing how he blazed out again, quite into his old pride and +effulgence, after this, says Retzow. Had been so meek, so humbled, +and even condescended to ask advice or opinion from some about him. +Especially "from two Captains," says the Opposition Retzow, whose heads +were nearly turned by this sunburst from on high. Captain Marquart and +another,--I believe, he did employ them about Routes and marking of +Camps, which Retzow calls consulting: a King fallen tragically scarce of +persons to consult; all his Winterfelds, Schwerins, Keiths and Council +of Peers now vanished, and nothing but some intelligent-looking Captain +Marquart, or the like, to consult:--of which Retzow, in his splenetic +Opposition humor, does not see the tragedy, but rather the comedy: how +the poor Captains found their favor to be temporary, conditional, and +had to collapse again. One of them wrote an "ESSAY on the COUP-D'OEIL +MILITAIRE," over which Retzow pretends to weep. This was Friedrich's +marginal Note upon the MS., when submitted to his gracious perusal: "You +(ER) will do better to acquire the Art of marking Camps than to write +upon the Military Stroke of Eye." Beautifully written too, says Retzow; +but what, in the eyes of this King, is beautiful writing, to knowing +your business well? No friend he to writing, unless you have got +something really special, and urgent to be written. + +Friedrich crassed the Oder twice. Took Soltikof on both sides of the +Oder, cut him out of this fond expectation, then of that; led him, +we perceive, a bad life. Latterly the scene was on the right bank; +Sophienthal, Koben, Herrnstadt and other poor places,--on that big +eastern elbow, where Oder takes his final bend, or farewell of Poland. +Ground, naturally, of some interest to Friedrich: ground to us unknown; +but known to Friedrich as the ground where Karl XII. gave Schulenburg +his beating, ["Near Guhrau" (while chasing August the Strong and him out +of Poland), "12th October, 1704:" vague account of it, dateless, and as +good as placeless, in Voltaire (_Charles Douse,_ liv. iii.), _OEuvres,_ +xxx. 142-145.] which produced the "beautiful retreat" of Schulenburg. +The old Feldmarschall Schulenburg whom we used to hear of once,--whose +Nephew, a pipeclayed little gentleman, was well known to Friedrich and +us. + +For the rest, I do not think he feels this out-manoeuvring of the +Russians very hard work. Already, from Zobelwitz Country, 25th +September, day of Henri at Hoyerswerda, Friedrich had written to +Fouquet: "With 21,000 your beaten and maltreated Servant has hindered +an Army of 50,000 from attacking him, and compelled them to retire on +Neusatz!" Evidently much risen in hope; and Henri's fine news not yet +come to hand. By degrees, Soltikof, rendered futile, got very +angry; especially when Daun had to go for Saxony. "Meal was becoming +impossible, at any rate," whimpers Daun: "O Excellency, do but consider, +with the nobleness natural to you! Our Court will cheerfully furnish +money, instead of meal."--"Money? My people cannot eat money!" growled +Soltikof, getting more and more angry; threatening daily to march for +Posen and his own meal-stores. What a time of it has Montalembert, has +the melancholy Loudon, with temper so hot! + +At Sophienthal, October 10th, Friedrich falls ill of gout;--absolutely +lamed; for three weeks cannot stir from his room. Happily the outer +problem is becoming easier and easier; almost bringing its own solution. +At Sophienthal the lame Friedrich takes to writing about CHARLES XII. +AND HIS MILITARY CHARACTER,--not a very illuminative Piece, on the +first perusal, but I intend to read it again; [REFLEXIONS SUR LES TALENS +MILITAIRES ET SUR LE CARACTERE DE CHARLES XII. (_OEuvres de Frederic,_ +vii. 69-88).]--which at least helps him to pass the time. Soltikof, more +and more straitened, meal itself running low, gets angrier and angrier. +His treatment of the Country, Montalembert rather encouraging, is +described as "horrible." One day he takes the whim, whim or little more, +of seizing Herrnstadt; a small Town, between the Two Armies, where the +Prussians have a Free Battalion. The Prussian Battalion resists; +drives Soltikof's people back. "Never mind," think they: "a place of no +importance to us; and Excellency Soltikof has ridden else-whither." By +ill-luck, in the afternoon, Excellency Soltikof happened to mention the +place again. Hearing that the Prussians still have it, Soltikof mounts +into a rage; summons the place, with answer still No; thereupon orders +instant bombardment of it, fiery storms of grenadoes for it; and has the +satisfaction of utterly burning poor Herrnstadt; the Prussian Free-Corps +still continuing obstinate. It was Soltikof's last act in those parts, +and betokens a sulphurous state of humor. + +Next morning (October 24th), he took the road for Posen, and marched +bodily home. [Tempelhof, iii. 299, 291-300 (general account, abundantly +minute).] Home verily, in spite of Montalembert and all men. "And for +me, what orders has Excellency?" Loudon had anxiously inquired, on the +eve of that event. "None whatever!" answered Excellency: "Do your own +pleasure; go whithersoever seems good to you." And Loudon had to take +a wide sweep round, by Kalish, through the western parts of Poland; and +get home to the Troppau-Teschen Country as he best could. + +By Kalish, by Czenstochow, Cracow, poor Loudon had to go: a dismal march +of 300 miles or more,--waited on latterly by Fouquet, with Werner, Goltz +and others, on the Silesian Border; whom Friedrich had ordered thither +for such end. Whom Loudon skilfully avoided to fight; having already, by +desertion and by hardships, lost half his men on the road. Glad enough +to get home and under roof, with his 20,000 gone to 10,000; and to make +bargain with Fouquet: "Truce, then, through Winter; neither of us +to meddle with the other, unless after a fortnight's warning given." +[Tempelhof, iii. 328-331.] NOVEMBER 1st, a month before this, the King, +carried on a litter by his soldiers, had quitted Sophienthal; and, +crossing the River by Koben, got to Glogau. [Rodenbeck, i. 396.] The +greater part of his force, 13,000 under Hulsen, he had immediately sent +on for Saxony; he himself intending to wait recovery in Glogau, with +this Silesian wing of the business happily brought to finis for the +present. + +On the Saxon side, too, affairs are in such a course that the King +can be patient at Glogau till he get well. Everything is prosperous +in Saxony since that March on Hoyerswerda; Henri, with his Fincks and +Wunsches, beautifully posted in the Meissen-Torgau region; no dislodging +of him, let Daun, with his big mass of forces, try as he may. Daun, +through the month of October, is in various Camps, in Schilda last of +all: Henri successively in two; in Strehla for some ten days; then in +Torgau for about three weeks, carefully intrenched, [Tempelhof. iii. +276, 281, 284 (Henri in Strehla, October 4th-17th; thence to Torgau: 22d +October, Daun "quits his Camp of Belgern" for that of Schilda, which was +his last in those parts).]--where traces of him will turn up (not too +opportunely) next year. Daun, from whatever Camp, goes laboring on this +side and on that; on every side the deft Henri is as sharp as needles; +nothing to be made of him by the cunning movements and contrivances of +Daun. Very fine manoeuvring it was, especially on Henri's part; a charm +to the soldier mind;--given minutely in Tempelhof, and capable of +being followed (if you have Maps and Patience) into the last details. +Instructive really to the soldier;--but must be, almost all, omitted +here. One beautiful slap to Duke d'Ahremberg (a poor old friend of +Daun's and ours) we will remember: "Action of Pretsch" they call +it; defeat, almost capture of poor D'Ahremberg; who had been sent to +dislodge the Prince, by threatening his supplies, and had wheeled, +accordingly, eastward, wide away; but, to his astonishment, found, after +a march or two, Three select Prussian Corps emerging on him, by front, +by rear, by flank, with Horse-artillery (quasi-miraculous) bursting out +on hill-tops, too,--and, in short, nothing for it but to retreat, +or indeed to run, in a considerably ruinous style: poor D'Ahremberg! +[Seyfarth (_Beylagen,_ ii. 634-637), "HOFBERICHT VON DER AM 29 OCTOBER, +1759, BEY MEURO [chiefly BEY PRETSCH] VORGEFALLENEN ACTION;" ib. ii. 543 +n.] On the whole, Daun is reduced to a panting condition; and knows not +what to do. His plans were intrinsically bad, says Tempelhof; without +beating Henri in battle, which he cannot bring himself to attempt, +he, in all probability, will, were it only for difficulties of the +commissariat kind, have to fall back Dresden-ward, and altogether take +himself away. [Tempelhof, iii. 287-289.] + +After this sad slap at Pretsch, Daun paused for consideration; took +to palisading himself to an extraordinary degree, slashing the Schilda +Forests almost into ruin for this end; and otherwise sat absolutely +quiet. Little to be done but take care of oneself. Daun knows withal of +Hulsen's impending advent with the Silesian 13,000;--November 2d, Hulsen +is actually at Muskau, and his 13,000 magnified by rumor to 20,000. +Hearing of which, Daun takes the road (November 4th); quits his +gloriously palisaded Camp of Schilda; feels that retreat on Dresden, or +even home to Bohemia altogether, is the one course left. + +And now, the important Bautzen Colloquy of SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER +15th, having here brought its three or more Courses of Activity to a +pause,--we will glance at the far more important THURSDAY, 13th, other +side the Ocean:-- + +ABOVE QUEBEC, NIGHT OF SEPTEMBER 12th-13th, In profound silence, on the +stream of the St. Lawrence far away, a notable adventure is going on. +Wolfe, from two points well above Quebec ("As a last shift, we will try +that way"), with about 5,000 men, is silently descending in boats; with +purpose to climb the Heights somewhere on this side the City, and be +in upon it, if Fate will. An enterprise of almost sublime nature; +very great, if it can succeed. The cliffs all beset to his left hand, +Montcalm in person guarding Quebec with his main strength. + +Wolfe silently descends; mind made up; thoughts hushed quiet into one +great thought; in the ripple of the perpetual waters, under the grim +cliffs and the eternal stars. Conversing with his people, he was heard +to recite some passages of Gray's ELEGY, lately come out to those +parts; of which, says an ear-witness, he expressed his admiration to an +enthusiastic degree: "Ah, these are tones of the Eternal Melodies, are +not they? A man might thank Heaven had he such a gift; almost as WE +might for succeeding here, Gentlemen!" [Professor Robison, then a Naval +Junior, in the boat along with Wolfe, afterwards a well-known Professor +of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh, was often heard, by persons whom I +have heard again, to repeat this Anecdote. See Playfair, BIOGRAPHICAL +ACCOUNT OF PROFESSOR ROBISON,--in _Transactions_ of Royal Society of +Edinburgh, vii. 495 et seq.] Next morning (Thursday, 13th September, +1759), Wolfe, with his 5,000, is found to have scrambled up by some +woody Neck in the heights, which was not quite precipitous; has trailed +one cannon with him, the seamen busy bringing up another; and by 10 of +the clock stands ranked (really somewhat in the Friedrich way, though +on a small scale); ready at all points for Montcalm, but refusing to be +over-ready. + +Montcalm, on first hearing of him, had made haste: "OUI, JE LES VOIS OU +ILS NE DOIVENT PAS ETRE; JE VAIS LES E'CRASER (to smash them)!" said +he, by way of keeping his people in heart. And marches up, beautifully +skilful, neglecting none of his advantages. Has numerous Canadian +sharpshooters, preliminary Indians in the bushes, with a provoking fire: +"Steady!" orders Wolfe; "from you not one shot till they are within +thirty yards." And Montcalm, volleying and advancing, can get no +response, more than from Druidic stones; till at thirty yards the stones +become vocal,--and continue so at a dreadful rate; and, in a space +of seventeen minutes, have blown Montcalm's regulars, and the gallant +Montcalm himself, and their second in command, and their third, into +ruin and destruction. In about seven minutes more the agony was done; +"English falling on with the bayonet, Highlanders with the claymore;" +fierce pursuit, rout total:--and Quebec and Canada as good as finished. +The thing is yet well known to every Englishman; [The military details +of it seem to be very ill known (witness Colonel Beatson's otherwise +rather careful Pamphlet, THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM, written quite lately, +which we are soon to cite farther); and they would well deserve +describing in the SEYFARTH-BEYLAGEN, or even in the TEMPELHOF +way,--could an English Officer, on the spot as this Colonel was, be +found to do it!--Details are in Beatson (quite another "Beatson"), +_Naval and Military History,_ ii. 300-308; in _Gentleman's Magazine_ +for 1759, the Despatches and particulars: see also Walpole, _George the +Second,_ iii. 217-222.] and how Wolfe himself died in it, his beautiful +death. + +Truly a bit of right soldierhood, this Wolfe. Manages his small +resources in a consummate manner; invents, contrives, attempts and +re-attempts, irrepressible by difficulty or discouragement, How could a +Friedrich himself have managed this Quebec in a more artistic way? The +small Battle itself, 5,000 to a side, and such odds of Savagery and +Canadians, reminds you of one of Friedrich's: wise arrangements; exact +foresight, preparation corresponding; caution with audacity; inflexible +discipline, silent till its time come, and then blazing out as we see. +The prettiest soldiering I have heard of among the English for several +generations. Amherst, Commander-in-chief, is diligently noosing, and +tying up, the French military settlements, Niagara, Ticonderoga; Canada +all round: but this is the heart or windpipe of it; keep this firm, and, +in the circumstances, Canada is yours. + +Colonel Reatson, in his recent Pamphlet, THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM,--which, +especially on the military side, is distressingly ignorant and shallow, +though NOT intentionally incorrect anywhere,--gives Extracts from a +Letter of Montcalm's ("Quebec, 24th August, 1759"), which is highly +worth reading, had we room. It predicts to a hair's-breadth, not only +the way "M. Wolfe, if he understands his trade, will take to beat and +ruin me if we meet in fight;" but also,--with a sagacity singular to +look at, in the years 1775-1777, and perhaps still more in the years +1860-1863,--what will be the consequences to those unruly English, +Colonial and other. "If he beat me here, France has lost America +utterly," thinks Montcalm: "Yes;--and one's only consolation is, In ten +years farther, America will be in revolt against England!" Montcalm's +style of writing is not exemplary; but his power of faithful +observation, his sagacity, and talent of prophecy are so considerable, +we are tempted to give the IPSISSIMA VERBA of his long Letter in regard +to those two points,--the rather as it seems to have fallen much out of +sight in our day:-- + +MONTCALM TO A COUSIN IN FRANCE. + +"CAMP BEFORE QUEBEC, 24th August, 1759. + +"MONSIEUR ET CHER COUSIN,--Here I am, for more than three months past, +at handgrips with M. Wolfe; who ceases not day or night to bombard +Quebec, with a fury which is almost unexampled in the Siege of a Place +one intends to retain after taking it."... Will never take it in that +way, however, by attacking from the River or south shore; only ruins us, +but does not enrich himself. Not an inch nearer his object than he was +three months ago; and in one month more the equinoctial storms will +blow his Fleet and him away.--Quebec, then, and the preservation of +the Colony, you think, must be as good as safe?" Alas, the fact is +far otherwise. The capture of Quebec depends on what we call a +stroke-of-hand--[But let us take to the Original now, for Prediction +First]:-- + +"La prise de Quebec depend d'un coup de main. Les Anglais sont maitres +de la riviere: ils n'ont qu'a effectuer une descente sur la rive ou +cette Ville, sans fortifications et sans defense, est situee. Les voila +en etat de me presenter la bataille; que je ne pourrais plus refuser, +et que je ne devrais pas gagner. M. Wolfe, en effet, s'il entend son +metier, n'a qu'a essuyer le premier feu, venir ensuite a grands pas +sur mon armee, faire a bout portant sa decharge; mes Canadiens, sans +discipline, sourds a la voix du tambour et des instrumens militaires, +deranges pa cette escarre, ne sauront plus reprendre leurs rangs. Ils +sont d'ailleurs sans baionettes pour repondre a celles de l'ennemi: il +ne leur reste qu'a fuir,--et me voila battu sans ressource. [This is a +curiously exact Prediction! I won't survive, however; defeat here, in +this stage of our affairs, means loss of America altogether:] il est +des situations ou il ne reste plus a un General que de perir avec +honneur.... Mes sentimens sont francais, et ils le seront jusque dans le +tombeau, si dans le tombeau on est encore quelque chose. + +"Je me consolerai du moins de ma defaite, et de la perte de la Colonie, +par l'intime persuasion ou je suis [Prediction Second, which is still +more curious], que cette defaite vaudra, un jour, a ma Patrie plus +qu'une victoire; et que le vainqueur, en s'agrandissant, trouvera un +tombeau dans son agrandissement meme. + +"Ce que j'avance ici, mon cher Cousin, vous paraitra un paradoxe: mais +un moment de reflexion politique, un coup d'oeil sur la situation des +choses en Amerique, et la verite de mon opinion brillera dans tout son +jour. [Nobody will obey, unless necessity compel him: VOILA LES HOMMES; +GENE of any kind a nuisance to them; and of all men in the world LES +ANGLAIS are the most impatient of obeying anybody.] Mais si ce sont-la +les Anglais de l'Europe, c'est encore plus les Anglais d'Amerique. +Une grande partie de ces Colons sont les enfans de ces hommes qui +s'expatrierent dans ces temps de trouble ou l'ancienne Angleterre, en +proie aux divisions, etait attaquee dans ses privileges et droits; et +allerent chercher en Amerique une terre ou ils pussent vivre et mourir +libres et presque independants:--et ces enfans n'ont pas degenere des +sentimens republicains de leurs peres. D'autres sont des hommes +ennemis de tout frein, de tout assujetissement, que le gouvernement y +a transportes pour leurs crimes, D'autres, enfin, sont un ramas de +differentes nations de l'Europe, qui tiennent tres-peu a l'ancienne +Angleterre par le coeur et le sentiment; tous, en general, ne ce +soucient gueres du Roi ni du Parlement d'Angleterre. + +"Je les connais bien,--non sur des rapports etrangers, mais sur +des correspondances et des informations secretes, que j'ai moi-meme +menagees; et dont, un jour, si Dieu me prete vie, je pourrai faire usage +a l'avantage de ma Patrie. Pour surcroit de bonheur pour eux, tous ces +Colons sont parvenues, dans un etat tres-florissant; ils sont nombreux +et riches:--ils recueillent dans le sein de leur patrie toutes les +necessites de la vie. L'ancienne Angleterre a ete assez sotte, et assez +dupe, pour leur laisser etablir chez eux les arts, les metiers, les +manufactures:--c'est a dire, qu'elle leur a laisse briser la chaine +de besoins qui les liait, qui les attachait a elle, et qui les fait +dependants. Aussi toutes ces Colonies Anglaises auraient-elles depuis +longtemps secoue le joug, chaque province aurait forme une petite +republique independante, si la crainte de voir les Francais a leur Porte +n'avait ete un frein qui les avait retenu. Maitres pour maitres, ils ont +pefere leurs compatriotes aux etrangers; prenant cependant pour maxime +de n'obeir que le moins qu'ils pourraient. Mais que le Canada vint a +etre conquis, et que les Canadiens et ces Colons ne fussent plus +qu'une seul peuple,--et la premiere occasion ou l'ancienne Angleterre +semblerait toucher a leurs interets, croyez-vous, mon cher Cousin, que +ces Colons obeiront? Et qu'auraient-ils a craindre en se revoltant?... +Je suis si sur de ce que j'ecris, que je ne donnerais pas dix ans apres +la conquete du Canada pour en voir l'accomplissement. + +"Voila ce que, comme Francais, me console aujourd'hui du danger +imminent, que court ma Patrie, de voir cette Colonie perdue pour elle." +[In Beatson, Lieutenant-Colonel R.E., _The Plains of Abraham; Notes +original and selected_ (Gibraltar, Garrison Library Press, 1858), pp. +38 et seq.] Extract from _"Lettres de M. le Marquis de Montcalm a MM. De +Berryer et De la Mole:_ 1757-1759 (Londres, 1777),"--which is not in the +British-Museum Library, on applying; and seems to be a forgotten Book. +(NOTE OF FIRST EDITION, 1865.) + +"A Copy is in the BOSTON ATHENAEUM LIBRARY, New-England: it is a +Pamphlet rather than a Book; contains Two Letters to Berryer MINISTRE +DE LA MARINE, besides this to Mole the Cousin: Publisher is the noted J. +Almon,--in French and English." (From _Boston Sunday Courier,_ of 19th +April, 1868, where this Letter is reproduced.) + +In the Temple Library, London, I have since found a Copy: and, on +strict survey, am obliged to pronounce the whole Pamphlet a +FORGERY,--especially the Two Letters to "Berryer MINISTER OF MARINE;" +who was not yet Minister of anything, nor thought of as likely to be, +for many months after the date of these Letters addressed to him as +such! Internal evidence too, were such at all wanted, is abundant in +these BERRYER Letters; which are of gross and almost stupid structure in +comparison to the MOLE one. As this latter has already got into various +Books, and been argued of in Parliaments and high places (Lord Shelburne +asserting it to be spurious, Lord Mansfield to be genuine: REPORT OF +PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES in _Gentleman's Magazine_ for NOVEMBER and for +DECEMBER, 1777, pp. 515, 560),--it may be allowed to continue here +in the CONDEMNED state. Forger, probably, some Ex-Canadian, or other +American ROYALIST, anxious to do the Insurgent Party and their British +Apologists an ill turn, in that critical year;--had shot off his +Pamphlet to voracious Almon; who prints without preface or criticism, +and even without correcting the press. (NOTE OF JULY, 1868.) + +Montcalm had been in the Belleisle RETREAT FROM PRAG (December, 1742); +in the terrible EXILLES Business (July, 1747), where the Chevalier de +Belleisle and 4 or 5,000 lost their lives in about an hour. Captain +Cook was at Quebec, Master in the Royal Navy; "sounding the River, +and putting down buoys." Bougainville, another famous Navigator, was +Aide-de-Camp of Montcalm. There have been far-sounding Epics built +together on less basis than lies ready here, in this CAPTURE OF +QUEBEC;--which itself, as the Decision that America is to be English and +not French, is surely an Epoch in World-History! Montcalm was 48 when +he perished; Wolfe 33. Montcalm's skull is in the Ursulines Convent +at Quebec,--shown to the idly curious to this day. [Lieutenant-Colonel +Beatson, pp. 28, 15.] + +It was on October 17th,--while Friedrich lay at Sophienthal, lamed +of gout, and Soltikof had privately fixed for home (went that day +week),--that this glorious bit of news reached England. It was only +three days after that other, bad and almost hopeless news, from the same +quarter; news of poor Wolfe's Repulse, on the other or eastern side +of Quebec, July 31st, known to us already, not known in England till +October 14th. Heightened by such contrast, the news filled all men with +a strange mixture of emotions. "The incidents of Dramatic Fiction," +says one who was sharer in it, "could not have been conducted with more +address to lead an audience from despondency to sudden exultation, than +Accident had here prepared to excite the passions of a whole People. +They despaired; they triumphed; and they wept,--for Wolfe had fallen in +the hour of victory! Joy, grief, curiosity, astonishment, were +painted in every countenance: the more they inquired, the higher +their admiration rose. Not an incident but was heroic and affecting." +[Walpole, iii. 219.] America ours; but the noble Wolfe now not! + +What Pitt himself said of these things, we do not much hear. On the +meeting of his Parliament, about a month hence, his Speech, somebody +having risen to congratulate and eulogize him, is still recognizably of +royal quality, if we evoke it from the Walpole Notes. Very modest, very +noble, true; and with fine pieties and magnanimities delicately audible +in it: "Not a week all Summer but has been a crisis, in which I have +not known whether I should not be torn to pieces, instead of being +commended, as now by the Honorable Member. The hand of Divine +Providence; the more a man is versed in business, the more he everywhere +traces that!... Success has given us unanimity, not unanimity success. +For my own poor share, I could not have dared as I have done, except in +these times. Other Ministers have hoped as well, but have not been so +circumstanced to dare so much.... I think the stone almost rolled to the +top of the hill; but let us have a care; it may rebound, and hideously +drag us down with it again." [Ib. iii. 225; Thackeray, i. 446.] + +The essential truth, moreover, is, Pitt has become King of England; +so lucky has poor England, in its hour of crisis, again been. And +the difference between an England guided by some kind of Friedrich +(temporary Friedrich, absolute, though of insecure tenure), and by a +Newcastle and the Clack of Tongues, is very great! But for Pitt, +there had been no Wolfe, no Amherst; Duke Ferdinand had been the Royal +Highness of Cumberland,--and all things going round him in St. Vitus, at +their old rate. This man is a King, for the time being,--King really of +the Friedrich type;--and rules, Friedrich himself not more despotically, +where need is. Pitt's War-Offices, Admiralties, were not of themselves +quick-going entities; but Pitt made them go. Slow-paced Lords in Office +have remonstrated, on more than one occasion: "Impossible, Sir; these +things cannot be got ready at the time you order!" "My Lord, they +indispensably must," Pitt would answer (a man always reverent of coming +facts, knowing how inexorable they are); and if the Negative continued +obstinate in argument, he has been known to add: "My Lord, to the King's +service, it is a fixed necessity of time. Unless the time is kept, I +will impeach your Lordship!" Your Lordship's head will come to lie at +your Lordship's feet! Figure a poor Duke of Newcastle, listening to such +a thing;--and knowing that Pitt will do it; and that he can, such is his +favor with universal England;--and trembling and obeying. War-requisites +for land and for sea are got ready with a Prussian punctuality,--at what +multiple of the Prussian expense, is a smaller question for Pitt. + +It is about eighteen months ago that Pownal, Governor of New England, +a kind of half-military person, not without sound sense, though sadly +intricate of utterance,--of whom Pitt, just entering on Office, has, I +suppose, asked an opinion on America, as men do of Learned Counsel on +an impending Lawsuit of magnitude,--had answered, in his long-winded, +intertwisted, nearly inextricable way, to the effect, "Sir, I incline to +fear, on the whole, that the Action will NOT lie,--that, on the +whole, the French will eat America from us in spite of our teeth." [In +THACKERAY, ii. 421-452, Pownal's intricate REPORT (his "DISCOURSE," or +whatever he calls it, "ON THE DEFENCE OF THE INLAND FRONTIERS," his &c. +&c.), of date "15th January, 1758."] January 15th, 1758, that is the +Pownal Opinion-of-Counsel;--and on September 13th, 1759, this is what +we have practically come to. And on September 7th, 1760: within twelve +months more,--Amherst, descending the Rapids from Ticonderoga side, and +two other little Armies, ascending from Quebec and Louisburg, to meet +him at Montreal, have proved punctual almost to an hour; and are in +condition to extinguish, by triple pressure (or what we call noosing), +the French Governor-General in Montreal, a Monsieur de Vaudreuil, and +his Montreal and his Canada altogether; and send the French bodily home +out of those Continents. [Capitulation between Amherst and Vaudreuil +("Montreal, 8th September, 1760"), in 55 Articles: in BEATSON, iii. +274-283.] Which may dispense us from speaking farther on the subject. + +From the Madras region, too, from India and outrageous Lally, the news +are good. Early in Spring last, poor Lally,--a man of endless talent and +courage, but of dreadfully emphatic loose tongue, in fact of a blazing +ungoverned Irish turn of mind,--had instantly, on sight of some small +Succors from Pitt, to raise his siege of Madras, retire to Pondicherry; +and, in fact, go plunging and tumbling downhill, he and his India with +him, at an ever-faster rate, till they also had got to the Abyss. "My +policy is in these five words, NO ENGLISHMAN IN THIS PENINSULA," wrote +he, a year ago, on landing in India; and now it is to be No FRENCHMAN, +and there is one word in the five to be altered!--Of poor Lally, zealous +and furious over-much, and nearly the most unfortunate and worst-used +"man of genius" I ever read of, whose lion-like struggles against French +Official people, and against Pitt's Captains and their sea-fights and +siegings, would deserve a volume to themselves, we have said, and can +here say, as good as nothing,--except that they all ended, for Lally and +French India, in total surrender, 16th January, 1761; and that Lally, +some years afterwards, for toils undergone and for services done, got, +when accounts came to be liquidated, death on the scaffold. Dates I give +below. [28th April, 1758, Lands at Pondicherry; instantly proceeds +upon Fort St. David. 2d June, 1758, Takes it: meant to have gone now +on Madras; but finds he has no money;--goes extorting money from +Black Potentates about, Rajah of Travancore, &c., in a violent and +extraordinary style; and can get little. Nevertheless, 14th December, +1758, Lays Siege to Madras.] + +16th February, 1759, Is obliged to quit trenches at Madras, and retire +dismally upon Pondicherry,--to mere indigence, mutiny ("ten mutinies"), +Official conspiracy, and chaos come again. + +22d January, 1760, Makes outrush on Wandewash, and the English posted +there; is beaten, driven back into Pondicherry. April, 1760, Is besieged +in Pondicherry. 16th January, 1761, Is taken, Pondicherry, French India +and he;--to Madras he, lest the French Official party kill him, as they +attempt to do. + +23d September, 1761, arrives, prisoner, in England: thence, on parole, +to France and Paris, 21st October. November, 1762, To Bastille; waits +trial nineteen months; trial lasts two years. 6th May, 1766, To be +BEHEADED,--9th May was. [See BEATSON, ii. 369-372, 96-110, &c.; Voltaire +(FRAGMENTS SUR L'INDE) in _OEuvres,_ xxix. 183-253; BIOGRAPHIC +UNIVERSELLE, Lally.] + +"Gained Fontenoy for us," said many persons;--undoubtedly gained various +things for us, fought for us Berserkir-like on all occasions; hoped, +in the end, to be Marechal de France, and undertook a Championship of +India, which issues in this way! America and India, it is written, +are both to be Pitt's. Let both, if possible, remain silent to us +henceforth. + +As to the Invasion-of-England Scheme, Pitt says he does not expect +the French will invade us; but if they do, he is ready. [Speech, 4th +November, supra.] + + + + +Chapter VII.--FRIEDRICH REAPPEARS ON THE FIELD, AND IN SEVEN DAYS AFTER +COMES THE CATASTROPHE OF MAXEN. + +November 6th-8th, Daun had gone to Meissen Country: fairly ebbing +homeward; Henri following, with Hulsen joined,--not vehemently attacking +the rhinoceros, but judiciously pricking him forward. Daun goes at his +slowest step: in many divisions, covering a wide circuit; sticking +to all the strong posts, till his own time for quitting them: slow, +sullenly cautious; like a man descending dangerous precipices back +foremost, and will not be hurried. So it had lasted about a week; Daun +for the last four days sitting restive, obstinate, but Henri pricking +into him more and more, till the rhinoceros seemed actually about +lifting himself,--when Friedrich in person arrived in his Brother's +Camp. [Tempelhof, iii. 301-305.] + +At the Schloss of Herschstein, a mile or two behind Lommatsch, which +is Henri's head-quarter (still to westward of Meissen; Daun hanging on, +seven or eight miles to southeastward ahead; loath to go, but actually +obliged),--it was there, Tuesday, November 13th, that the King met his +Brother again. A King free of his gout; in joyful spirits; and high of +humor,--like a man risen indignant, once more got to his feet, after +three months' oppressions and miseries from the unworthy. "Too high," +mourns Retzow, in a gloomy tone, as others do in perhaps a more +indulgent one. Beyond doubt, Friedrich's farther procedures in this +grave and weighty Daun business were more or less imprudent; of a too +rapid and rash nature; and turned out bitterly unlucky to him. "Had +he left the management to Henri!" sighed everybody, after the unlucky +event. + +Friedrich had not arrived above four-and-twenty hours, when news came +in: "The Austrians in movement again; actually rolling off Dresden-ward +again." "Haha, do they smell me already!" laughed he: "Well, I will send +Daun to the Devil,"--not adding, "if I can." And instantly ordered sharp +pursuit,--and sheer stabbing with the ox-goad, not soft and delicate +pricking, as Henri's lately. [Retzow, ii. 168; Tempelhof, iii. 306.] +Friedrich, in fact; was in a fiery condition against Daun: "You +trampled on me, you heavy buffalo, these three months; but that is over +now!"--and took personally the vanguard in this pursuit. And had a bit +of hot fighting in the Village of Korbitz (scene of that Finck-Haddick +"Action," 21st September last, and of poor Haddick's ruin, and +retirement to the Waters);--where the Austrians now prove very fierce +and obstinate; and will not go, till well slashed into, and torn out by +sheer beating:--which was visibly a kind of comfort to the King's humor. +"Our Prussians do still fight, then, much as formerly! And it was all +a hideous Nightmare, all that, and Daylight and Fact are come, and +Friedrich is himself again!" + +They say Prince Henri took the liberty of counselling him, even of +entreating him: "Leave well alone; why run risks?" said Henri. Daun, +it was pretty apparent, had no outlook at the present but that of +sauntering home to Bohmen; leaving Dresden to be an easy prey again, and +his whole Campaign to fall futile, as the last had. Under Henri's gentle +driving he would have gone slower; but how salutary, if he only went! +These were Henri's views: but Friedrich was not in the slow humor; +impatient to be in Dresden; "will be quartered there in a week," writes +he, "and more at leisure than now." ["Wilsdruf, 17th November, 1759," +and still more "19th November," Friedrich to Voltaire in high spirits +that way (_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxiii. 66).] He is thinking of Leuthen, +of Rossbach, of Campaign 1757, so gloriously restored after ruin; and, +in the fire of his soul, is hoping to do something similar a second +time. That is Retzow's notion: who knows but there may be truth in it? A +proud Friedrich, got on his feet again after such usage;--nay, who knows +whether it was quite so unwise to be impressive on the slow rhinoceros, +and try to fix some thorn in his snout, or say (figuratively), to hobble +his hind-feet; which, I am told, would have been beautifully ruinous; +and, though riskish, was not impossible? [Tempelhof, iii. 311, &c.] Ill +it indisputably turned out; and we have, with brevity, to say how, and +leave readers to their judgment of it. + +It was in the Village of Krogis, about six miles forward, on the +Meissen-Freyberg road, a mile or two on from Korbitz, and directly after +the fierce little tussle in that Village,--that Friedrich, his blood +still up, gave the Order for Maxen, which proved so unlucky to him. +Wunsch had been shot off in pursuit of the beaten Austrians; but they +ran too fast; and Wunsch came back without farther result, still early +in the day. Back as far as Krogis, where the next head-quarter is to +be;--and finds the King still in a fulminant condition; none the milder, +it is likely, by Wunsch's returning without result. "Go straight to +General Finck; bid him march at once!" orders the King; and rapidly +gives Wunsch the instructions Finck is to follow. Finck and his Corps +are near Nossen, some ten miles ahead of Krogis, some twenty west from +Dresden. There, since yesterday, stands Finck, infesting the left or +western flank of the Austrians,--what was their left, and will be again, +when they call halt and face round on us:--Let Finck now march at once, +quite round that western flank; by Freyberg, Dippoldiswalde, thence east +to Maxen; plant himself at Maxen (a dozen miles south of Dresden, among +the rocky hills), and stick diligently in the rear of those Austrians, +cutting off, or threatening to cut off, their communications with +Bohemia, and block the Pirna Country for them. + +Friedrich calculates that, if Daun is for retreating by Pirna Country, +this will, at lowest, be a method to quicken him in that movement; or +perhaps it may prove a method to cut off such retreat altogether, and +force Daun to go circling by the Lausitz Hills and Wildernesses, exposed +to tribulations which may go nigh to ruin him. That is Friedrich's proud +thought: "an unfortunate Campaign; winding up, nevertheless, as 1757 +did, in blazes of success!" And truly, if Friedrich could have made +himself into Two; and, while flashing and charging in Daun's front, have +been in command at Maxen in Daun's rear,--Friedrich could have made +a pretty thing of this waxen Enterprise; and might in good part have +realized his proud program. But there is no getting two Friedrichs. +Finck, a General of approved quality, he is the nearest approach we can +make to a second Friedrich;--and he, ill-luck too super-adding itself, +proves tragically inadequate. And sets all the world, and Opposition +Retzow, exclaiming, "See: Pride goes before a fall!"-- + +At 3 in the afternoon, Friedrich, intensely surveying from the heights +of Krogis the new Austrian movements and positions, is astonished, not +agreeably ("What, still only here, Herr General!"), by a personal visit +from Finck. Finck finds the Maxen business intricate, precarious; wishes +farther instructions, brings forward this objection and that. Friedrich +at last answers, impatiently: "You know I can't stand making of +difficulties (ER WEISS DASS ICH DIE DIFFICULTATEN NICHT LEIDEN KANN; +MACHE DASS ER FORT KOMMT); contrive to get it done!" With which +poor comfort Finck has to ride back to Nossen; and scheme out his +dispositions overnight. + +Next morning, Thursday, 15th, Finck gets on march; drives the Reichsfolk +out of Freyberg; reaches Dippoldiswalde:--"Freyberg is to be my +Magazine," considers Finck; "Dippoldiswalde my half-way house; Four +Battalions of my poor Eighteen shall stand there, and secure the +meal-carts." Friday, 16th, Finck has his Vanguard, Wunsch leading it, in +possession of Maxen and the Heights; and on Saturday gets there himself, +with all his people and equipments. I should think about 12,000 men: in +a most intersected, intertwisted Hill Country; full of gullets, dells +and winding brooks;--it is forecourt of the Pirna rocks, our celebrated +Camp of Gahmig lies visible to north, Dohna and the Rothwasser +bounding us to east;--in grim November weather, some snow falling, or +snow-powder, alternating with sleet and glazing frosts: by no means a +beautiful enterprise to Finck. Nor one of his own choosing, had one a +choice in such cases. + +To Daun nothing could be more unwelcome than this news of Finck, +embattled there at Maxen in the inextricable Hill Country, direct on +the road of Daun's meal-carts and Bohemian communications. And truly +withal,--what Daun does not yet hear, but can guess,--there is gone, in +supplement or as auxiliary to Finck, a fierce Hussar party, under GRUNE +Kleist, their fiercest Hussar since Mayer died; who this very day, at +Aussig, burns Daun's first considerable Magazine; and has others in view +for the same fate. [Friedrich's second Letter to Voltaire, Wilsdruf, +"19th November, 1759."] An evident thing to Daun, that Finck being +there, meal has ceased. + +On the instant, Daun falls back on Dresden; Saturday, 17th, takes post +in the Dell of Plauen (PLAUEN'SCHE GRUND); an impassable Chasm, with +sheer steeps on both sides, stretching southward from Dresden in front +of the Hill Country: thither Daun marches, there to consider what is +to be done with Finck. Amply safe this position is; none better in the +world: a Village, Plauen, and a Brook, Weistritz, in the bottom of this +exquisite Chasm; sheer rock-walls on each side,--high especially on the +Daun, or south side;--head-quarters can be in Dresden itself; room for +your cavalry on the plain ground between Dresden and the Chasm. A post +both safe and comfortable; only you must not loiter in making up your +mind as to Finck; for Friedrich has followed on the instant. Friedrich's +head-quarter is already Wilsdruf, which an hour or two ago was Daun's: +at Kesselsdorf vigilant Ziethen is vanguard. So that Friedrich looks +over on you from the northern brow of your Chasm; delays are not good +near such a neighbor. + +Daun--urged on by Lacy, they say--is not long in deciding that, in this +strait, the short way out will be to attack Finck in the Hills. Daun is +in the Hills, as well as Finck (this Plauen Chasm is the boundary-ditch +of the Hills): Daun with 27,000 horse and foot, moving on from this +western part; 3,000 light people (one Sincere the leader of them) +moving simultaneously from Dresden itself, that is, from northward or +northwestward; 12,000 Reichsfolk, horse and foot, part of them already +to southeastward of Finck, other part stealing on by the Elbe bank +thitherward: here, from three different points of the compass, are +42,000. These simultaneously dashing in, from west, north, south, upon +Finck, may surely give account of his 12,000 and him! If only we can +keep Friedrich dark upon it; which surely our Pandours will contrive to +do. + +Finck, directly on arriving at Maxen, had reported himself to the King; +and got answer before next morning: "Very well; but draw in those Four +Battalions you have left in Dippoldiswalde; hit with the whole of your +strength, when a chance offers." Which order Finck, literally and not +too willingly, obeys; leaves only some light remnant in Dippoldiswalde, +and reinforcement to linger within reach, till a certain Bread-convoy +come to him, which will be due next morning (Monday, 19th); and which +does then safely get home, though under annoyances from cannonading in +the distance. + +SUNDAY, 18th, Finck fails not to reconnoitre from the highest Hill-top; +to inquire by every method: he finds, for certain, that the enemy are +coming in upon him. With his own eyes he sees Reichsfolk marching, in +quantity, southeastward by the Elbe shore: "Intending towards Dohna, as +is like?"--and despatched Wunsch, who, accordingly, drove them out of +Dohna. Of all this Finck, at once, sent word to Friedrich. Who probably +enough received the message; but who would get no new knowledge from +it,--vigilant Ziethen having, by Austrian deserters and otherwise, +discovered this of the Reichsfolk; and furthermore that Sincere with +3,000 was in motion, from the north, upon Finck. Sunday evening, +Friedrich despatches Ziethen's Report; which punctually came to Finck's +hand; but was the last thing he received from Friedrich, or Friedrich +from him. The intervening Pandours picked up all the rest. The Ziethen +REPORT, of two or three lines, most succinct but sufficient, like a +cutting of hard iron, is to be read in many Books: we may as well give +the Letter and it:-- + +FRIEDRICH'S LETTER (WILSDRUF, 18th NOVEMBER, 1759). "My dear +General-Lieutenant von Finck,--I send you the enclosed Report from +General Ziethen, showing what is the lie of matters as seen from this +side; and leave the whole to your disposition and necessary measures. I +am your well-affectioned King,--F." The Enclosure is as follows:-- + +GENERAL ZIETHEN'S REPORT (KESSELSDORF, 18th NOVEMBER, 1759). "To your +Royal Majesty, send [no pronoun "I" allowed] herewith a Corporal, who +has deserted from the Austrians. He says, Sincere with the Reserve did +march with the Reichs Army; but a league behind it, and turned towards +Dippoldiswalde. General Brentano [Wehla's old comrade, luckier than +Wehla], as this Deserter heard last night in Daun's head-quarter,--which +is in the southern Suburb of Dresden, in the Countess Moschinska's +Garden,--was yesterday to have been in Dohlen [looking into our outposts +from the hither side of their Plauen Dell], but was not there any +longer," as our Deserter passed, "and it was said that he had gone to +Maxen at three in the afternoon." [Tempelhof, iii. 309.] + +Thus curtly is Finck authorized to judge for himself in the new +circumstances. Marginally is added, in Friedrich's own hand: "ER WIRD +ENTWEDER MIT DEN REICHERN ODER MIT SICEREN EINEN GANG HABEN,--Either +with the Reichers or with Sincere you will have a bout, I suppose." + +MAP FACING PAGE 350, BOOK XIX GOES HERE---- + +Finck, from his own Hill-top, on Sunday and Monday, sees all this of +Ziethen, and much more. Sees the vanguard of Daun himself approaching +Dippoldiswalde, cannonading his meal-carts as they issue there; on all +sides his enemies encompassing him like bees;--and has a sphinx-riddle +on his mind, such as soldier seldom had. Shall he manoeuvre himself out, +and march away, bread-carts, baggages and all entire? There is still +time, and perfect possibility, by Dippoldiswalde there, or by other +routes and methods. But again, did not his Majesty expect, do not these +words "a bout" still seem to expect, a bit of fighting with somebody or +other? Finck was an able soldier, and his skill and courage well known; +but probably another kind of courage was wanted this day, of which Finck +had not enough. Finck was not king of this matter; Finck was under a +King who perhaps misjudged the matter. If Finck saw no method of doing +other than hurt and bad service to his King by staying here, Finck +should have had the courage to come away, and front the King's +unreasonable anger, expecting redress one day, or never any redress. +That was Finck's duty: but everybody sees how hard it was for flesh and +blood. + +Finck, truer to the letter than to the spirit, determined to remain. +Did, all that Monday, his best to prepare himself; called in his +outposts ("Was not I ordered?" thinks Finck, too literally); and sees +his multitudes of enemies settle round him;--Daun alone has 27,000 men, +who take camp at Dippoldiswalde; and in sum-total they are as 4 to 1 of +Finck:--a Finck still resolute of face, though internally his thoughts +may be haggard enough. Doubtless he hopes, too, that Friedrich will do +something:--unaware that none of his messages reach Friedrich. As for +Daun, having seen his people safely encamped here, he returns to Dresden +for the night, to see that Friedrich is quiet. Friedrich is quiet +enough: Daun, at seven next morning (TUESDAY, 20th), appeared on the +ground again; and from all sides Finck is assaulted,--from Daun's side +nearest and soonest, with Daun's best vigor. + +Dippoldiswalde is some seven miles from Maxen. Difficult hill-road +all the way: but the steepest, straitest and worst place is +at Reinhartsgrimma, the very first Hamlet after you are out of +Dippoldiswalde. There is a narrow gullet there, overhung with heights +all round. The roads are slippery, glazed with sleet and frost; Cavalry, +unroughened, make sad sliding and sprawling; hardly the Infantry +are secure on their feet: a terrible business getting masses of +artillery-wagons, horse and man, through such a Pass! It is thought, had +Finck garnished this Pass of Reinhartsgrimma, with the proper batteries, +the proper musketries, Daun never would have got through. Finck had not +a gun or a man in it: "Had not I order?" said he,--again too literally. +As it was, Daun, sliding and sprawling in the narrow steeps, had +difficulties almost too great; and, they say, would have given it up, +had it not been that a certain Major urged, "Can be done, Excellenz, and +shall!" and that the temper of his soldiers was everywhere excellent. +Unfortunate Finck had no artillery to bear on Daun's transit through the +Pass. Nothing but some weak body of hussars and infantry stood looking +into it, from the Hill of Hausdorf: even these might have given him +some slight hindrance; but these were played upon by endless Pandours, +"issuing from a wood near by," with musketries, and at length with +cannon batteries, one and another;--and had to fall back, or to be +called back, to Maxen Hill, where the main force is. + +In the course of yesterday, by continual reconnoitring, by Austrian +deserters, and intense comparison of symptoms, Finck had completely +ascertained where the Enemy's Three Attacks were to be,--"on Maxen, +from Dippoldiswalde, Trohnitz, Dohna, simultaneously three attacks," +it appears;--and had with all his skill arranged himself on the Maxen +summits to meet these. He stands now elaborately divided into Three +groups against those Three simultaneities; forming (sadly wide apart, +one would say, for such a force as Finck's) a very obtuse-angled +triangle:--the obtuse vertex of which (if readers care to look on their +Map) is Trohnitz, the road Brentano and Sincere are coming. On the +base-angles, Maxen and Dohna, Finck expects Daun and the Reich. From +Trohnitz to Maxen is near two miles; from Maxen to Dohna above four. At +Dohna stands Wunsch against the Reich; Finck himself at Maxen, expecting +Daun, as the pith of the whole affair. In this triangular way stands +Finck at the topmost heights of the country,--"Maxen highest, but +Hausdorf only a little lower,"--and has not thought of disputing the +climb upwards. Too literal an eye to his orders: alas, he was not +himself king, but only king's deputy! + +The result is, about 11 A.M., as I obscurely gather, Daun has conquered +the climb; Daun's musketries begin to glitter on the top of Hausdorf; +and 26 or 32 heavy cannon open their throats there; and the Three +Attacks break loose. Finck's Maxen batteries (scarcely higher than +Daun's, and far inferior in weight) respond with all diligence, the poor +regimental fieldpieces helping what they can. Mutual cannonade, very +loud for an hour and half; terrific, but doing little mischief; after +which Daun's musketries (the ground now sufficiently clear to Daun), +which are the practical thing, begin opening, first from one point, then +from another: and there ensues, for five hours coming, at Maxen and at +the other two points of Finck's triangle, such a series of explosive +chargings, wheelings, worryings and intricate death-wrestlings, as it +would provoke every reader to attempt describing to him. Except indeed +he were a soldier, bound to know the defence of posts; in which case +I could fairly promise him that there are means of understanding the +affair, and that he might find benefit in it. [Tempelhof, iii. 307-317. +JOURNAL UND NACHRICHT VON DER GEFANGENNEHMUNG DES FINCK'SCHEN CORPS BEY +MAXEN, IM JAHRE 1759 (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 637-654).] + +Daun's Grenadiers, and Infantry generally, are in triumphant spirits; +confident of victory, as they may reasonably be. Finck's people, too, +behave well, some of them conspicuously well, though in gloomier mood; +and make stubborn fight, successful here and there, but, as a whole, not +capable of succeeding. By 3 in the afternoon, the Austrians have forced +the Maxen Post; they "enter Maxen with great shoutings;" extrude the +obstinate Prussian remnants; and, before long, have the poor Village "on +fire in every part." Finck retreating northward to Schmorsdorf, towards +the obtuse angle of his triangle, if haply there may be help in that +quarter for him. Daun does not push him much; has Maxen safely burning +in every part. + +From Schmorsdorf Finck pushes out a Cavalry charge on Brentano. "Could +we but repulse Brentano yonder," thinks he, "I might have those Four +Battalions to hand, and try again!" But Brentano makes such cannonading, +the Cavalry swerve to a Hollow on their right; then find they have not +ground, and retire quite fruitless. Finck's Cavalry, and the Cavalry +generally, with their horses all sliding on the frosty mountain-gnarls, +appear to be good for little this day. Brentano, victorious over the +Cavalry, comes on with such storm, he sweeps through the obtuse +angle, home upon Finck; and sweeps him out of Schmorsdorf Village to +Schmorsdorf Hill, there to take refuge, as the night sinks,--and to see +himself, if his wild heart will permit him to be candid, a ruined man. +Of the Three Attacks, Two have completely succeeded on him; only Wunsch, +at Dohna, stands victorious; he has held back the Reich all day, +and even chased it home to its posts on the Rothwasser (RED WATER), +multitudinous as it was. + +Finck's mood, as the November shadows gathered on him,--the equal heart +may at least pity poor Finck! His resolution is fixed: "Cut ourselves +through, this night: Dohna is ours: other side that Red Water there are +roads;--perish or get through!" And the Generals (who are rallied now +"on the Heights of Falkenhain and Bloschwitz," midway between Maxen and +Dohna) get that Order from him. And proceed to arrange for executing +it,--though with outlook more and more desperate, as their scouts +report that every pass and post on the Red Water is beset by Reichsfolk. +"Wunsch, with the Cavalry, he at least may thread his way out, under +cloud of night, by the opposite or Daun side," calculates Finck. And +Wunsch sets out accordingly: a very questionable, winding, subterranean +march; difficult in the extreme,--the wearied SLIPshod horses going at +a snail's pace; and, in the difficult passes, needing to be dragged +through with bridle and even to be left altogether:--in which, withal, +it will prove of no use for Wunsch to succeed! Finck's Generals +endeavoring to rank and rearrange through the night, find that their +very cartridges are nearly spent, and that of men, such wounding, such +deserting has there been, they have, at this time, by precise count, +2,836 rank and file. Evidently desperate. + +At daylight, Daun's cannon beginning again from the Maxen side, Finck +sends to capitulate. "Absolute surrender," answers Daun: "prisoners of +war, and you shall keep your private baggage. General Wunsch with the +Cavalry, he too must turn back and surrender!" Finck pleaded hard, on +this last score: "General Wunsch, as head of the Cavalry, is not under +me; is himself chief in that department." But it was of no use: Wunsch +had to return (not quite got through Daun's Lines, after such a night), +and to surrender, like everybody else. Like Eight other Generals; like +Wolfersdorf of Torgau, and many a brave Officer and man. Wednesday +morning, 21st November, 1769: it is Finck's fourth day on Maxen; his +last in the Prussian Service. + +That same Wednesday Afternoon there were ranked in the GROSSE GARTEN at +Dresden, of dejected Prussian Prisoners from Maxen, what exact number +was never known: the Austrians said 15,000; but nobody well believed +them; their last certain instalment being only, in correct numbers, +2,836. Besides the killed, wounded and already captured, many had +deserted, many had glided clear off. It is judged that Friedrich +lost, by all these causes, about 12,000 men. Gone wholly,--with their +equipments and appurtenances wholly, which are not worth counting +in comparison. Finck and the other Generals, 8 of them, and 529 +Officers,--Finck, Wunsch, Wolfersdorf, Mosel (of the Olmutz Convoy), +not to mention others of known worth, this is itself a sore loss to +Friedrich, and in present circumstances an irreparable. [Seyfarth, ii. +576; in _Helden-Geschichte,_ (v. 1115), the Vienna Account.] + +The outburst and paroxysm of Gazetteer rumor, which arose in Europe +over this, must be left to the imagination; still more the whirlwind of +astonishment, grief, remorse and indignation that raged in the heart of +Friedrich on first hearing of it. "The Caudine Forks;" "Scene of Pirna +over again, in reverse form;" "Is not your King at last over with it?" +said and sang multifariously the Gazetteers. As counter-chorus to which, +in a certain Royal Heart: "That miserable purblind Finck, unequal to his +task;--that overhasty I, who drove him upon it! This disgrace, loss nigh +ruinous; in fine, this infernal Campaign (CETTE CAMPAGNE INFEMALE)!" +The Anecdote-Books abound in details of Friedrich's behavior at Wilsdruf +that day; mythical all, or in good part, but symbolizing a case that is +conceivable to everybody. Or would readers care to glance into the very +fact with their own eyes? As happens to be possible. + + +1. BEFORE MAXEN: FRIEDRICH TO D'ARGENS AND OTHERS. + +TO D'ARGENS (Krogis, 15th November, order for Maxen just given). +"Yesterday I joined the Army [day before yesterday, but took the field +yesterday], and Daun decamped. I have followed him thus far, and will +continue it to the frontiers of Bohemia. Our measures are so taken +[Finck, to wit], that he will not get out of Saxony without considerable +losses. Yesterday cost him 500 men taken at Korgis here. Every movement +he makes will cost him as many." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 101.] + +TO VOLTAIRE (Wilsdruf, 17th November). "We are verging on the end of our +Campaign: and I will write to you in eight days from Dresden, with more +composure and coherency than now." [Ib. xxiii. 66.] + +TO THE SAME (Wilsdruf, 19th November). "The Austrians are packing off +to Bohemia,--where, in reprisal for the incendiary operations they have +done in my countries, I have burnt them two big magazines. I render the +beatified Hero's retreat as difficult as possible; and I hope he +will come upon some bad adventures within a few days." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xxiii. 66.] + +SAME DAY AND PLACE, TO D'ARGENS. A volley of most rough-paced off-hand +Rhyming, direct from the heart; "Ode [as he afterwards terms it, or +irrepressible extempore LILT] TO FORTUNE:" + +"MARQUIS, QUEL CHANGEMENT, what a change! I, a poor heretic creature, +never blessed by the Holy Father; indeed, little frequenting Church, nor +serving either Baal or the God of Israel; held down these many months, +and reported by more than one shaven scoundrel [priest-pamphleteer at +Vienna] to be quite extinct, and gone vagabond over the world,--see +how capricious Fortune, after all her hundred preferences of my rivals, +lifts me with helpful hand from the deep, and packs this Hero of the Hat +and Sword,--whom Popes have blessed what they could, and who has walked +in Pilgrimage before now [to Marienzell once, I believe, publicly at +Vienna],--out of Saxony; panting, harassed goes he, like a stranger +dog from some kitchen where the cook had flogged him out!" [Ib. xix. +103-106.]... (A very exultant Lilt, and with a good deal more of the +chanticleer in it than we are used to in this King!) + + +2. AFTER MAXEN. + +TO D'ARGENS (Wilsdruf, 22d November). "Do with that [some small piece +of business] whatever you like, my dear Marquis. I am so stupefied +(E'TOURDI) with the misfortune which has befallen General Finck, that +I cannot recover from my astonishment. It deranges all my measures; +it cuts me to the quick. Ill-luck, which persecutes my old age, has +followed me from the Mark [Kunersdorf, in the Mark of Brandenburg] +to Saxony. I will still strive what I can. The little ODE I sent you, +addressed TO FORTUNE, had been written too soon! One should not sing +victory till the battle is over. I am so crushed down by these incessant +reverses and disasters, that I wish a thousand times I were dead; +and from day to day I grow wearier of dwelling in a body worn out and +condemned to suffer. I am writing to you in the first moment of my +grief. Astonishment, sorrow, indignation, scorn, all blended together, +lacerate my soul. Let us get to the end, then, of this execrable +Campaign; I will then write to you what is to become of me; and we will +arrange the rest. Pity me;--ad make no noise about me; bad news go fast +enough of themselves. Adieu, dear Marquis." [_OEuvres de Frederic, _ +xix. 107.] + +All this, of course, under such pressing call of actualities, had +very soon to transform itself into silence; into new resolution, and +determinate despatch of business. But the King retained a bitter memory +of it all his days. To Finck he was inexorable:--ordered him, the first +thing on his return from Austrian Captivity, Trial by Court-Martial; +which (Ziethen presiding, June, 1763) censured Finck in various +points, and gave him, in supplement to the Austrian detention, a +Year's Imprisonment in Spandau. No ray of pity visible for him, then +or afterwards, in the Royal mind. So that the poor man had to beg +his dismissal; get it, and go to Denmark for new promotion and +appreciation.--"Far too severe!" grumbled the Opposition voices, with +secret counter-severity. And truly it would have been more beautiful to +everybody, for the moment, to have made matters soft to poor Finck,--had +Friedrich ever gone on that score with his Generals and Delegates; +which, though the reverse of a cruel man, he never did. And truly, as +we often observe, the Laws of Fact are still severer than Friedrich +was:--so that, in the long-run, perhaps it is beautifulest of all for a +King, who is just, to be rhadamanthine in important cases. + +Exulting Daun, instead of Bohemia for winter-quarters, pushes out now +for the prize of Saxony itself. Daun orders Beck to attack suddenly +another Outpost of Friedrich's, which stands rearward of him at Meissen, +under a General Dierecke,--the same whom, as Colonel Dierecke, we +saw march out of flamy Zittau, summer gone two years. Beck goes in +accordingly, 3d December; attacks Dierecke, not by surprise, but with +overwhelming superiority; no reinforcement possible: Dierecke is on +the wrong side of the Elbe, no retreat or reinforcement for him; has to +fight fiercely all day, Meissen Bridge being in a broken state; then, at +night, to ship his people across in Elbe boats, which are much delayed +by the floating ice, so that daylight found 1,500 of them still on that +northern side; all of whom, with General Dierecke himself, were made +prisoners by Beck. [Tempelhof, iii. 321: "3d-4th December, 1759."] A +comfortable supplement to Maxen, though not of the same magnificence. + +After which, Daun himself issued minatory from the Plauen Chasm; +expecting, as all the world did, that Friedrich, who is 36,000 of +Unfortunate against, say, 72,000 of Triumphant, will, under penalty, +take himself away. But it proved otherwise. "If you beat us, Excellency +Feldmarschall, yes; but till then--!" Friedrich draws out in battalia; +Leo in wild ragged state and temper, VERSUS Bos in the reverse: "Come +on; then!" Rhinoceros Bos, though in a high frame of mind, dare not, on +cool survey; but retires behind the Plauen Chasm again. Will at least +protect Dresden from recapture; and wait here, in the interim; carting +his provision out of Bohemia,--which is a rough business, with Elbe +frozen, and the passes in such a choked wintry state. Upon whom +Friedrich, too, has to wait under arms, in grim neighborhood, for six +weeks to come: such a time as poor young Archenholtz never had before +or after. [Archenholtz, ii. 11-13.] It was well beyond New-year's day +before Friedrich could report of himself, and then only in a sense, as +will be seen: "We retired to this poor cottage [cottage still standing, +in the little Town of Freyberg]; Daun did the like; and this unfortunate +Campaign, as all things do, came actually to an end." + +Daun holds Dresden and the Dell of Plauen; but Saxony, to the world's +amazement, he is as far as ever from holding. "Daun's front is a small +arc of a circle, bending round from Dresden to Dippoldiswalde; Friedrich +is at Freyberg in a bigger concave arc, concentric to Daun, well +overlapping Daun on that southward or landward side, and ready for him, +should he stir out; Kesselsdorf is his nearest post to Daun; and the +Plauen Chasm for boundary, which was not overpassed by either." In +Dresden, and the patch of hill-country to the southeastward of it by +Elbe side, which is instep or glacis of the Pirna rock-country, seventy +square miles or so, there rules Daun; and this--with its heights of +Gahmig, valuable as a defence for Dresden against Austria, but not +otherwise of considerable value--was all that Daun this year, or pretty +much in any coming year, could realize of conquest in Saxony. + +Fabius Cunctator has not succeeded, as the public expected. In fact, +ever since that of Hochkirch and the Papal Hat, he has been a waning +man, more and more questionable to the undiscerning public. Maxen was +his last gleam upwards; a round of applause rose again on Maxen, feeble +in comparison with Hochkirch, but still arguing hope,--which, after +this, more and more died out; so that in two years more, poor Madam +Daun, going to Imperial Levee, "had her state-carriage half filled +with nightcaps, thrown into it by the Vienna people, in token of her +husband's great talent for sleep." [Archenholtz (Anno 1762, "last Siege +of Schweidnitz").] + + + + +Chapter VIII.--MISCELLANEA IN WINTER-QUARTERS, 1759-1760. + +Friedrich was very loath to quit the field this Winter. In spite of +Maxen and ill-luck and the unfavorablest weather, it still was, for +about two months, his fixed purpose to recapture Dresden first, and +drive Daun home. "Had I but a 12,000 of Auxiliaries to guard my right +flank, while trying it!" said he. Ferdinand magnanimously sent him +the Hereditary Prince with 12,000, who stayed above two months; ["Till +February 15th;" List of the Regiments (German all), in SEYFARTH, ii. +578 n.] and Friedrich did march about, attempting that way, [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ v. 32. Old Newspaper rumors: in _Gentleman's Magazine,_ +xxix. 605, "29th December," &c.]--pushed forward to Maguire and +Dippoldiswalde, looked passionately into Maguire on all sides; but +found him, in those frozen chasms, and rock-labyrinths choked with snow, +plainly unattackable; him and everybody, in such frost-element;--and +renounced the passionate hope. + +It was not till the middle of January that Friedrich put his troops into +partial cantonments, Head-quarter Freyberg; troops still mainly in the +Villages from Wilsdruf and southward, close by their old Camp there. +Camp still left standing, guarded by Six Battalions; six after six, +alternating week about: one of the grimmest camps in Nature; the canvas +roofs grown mere ice-plates, the tents mere sanctuaries of frost:--never +did poor young Archenholtz see such industry in dragging wood-fuel, such +boiling of biscuits in broken ice, such crowding round the embers to +roast one side of you, while the other was freezing. [Archenholtz (UT +SUPRA), ii. 11-15.] But Daun's people, on the opposite side of Plauen +Dell, did the like; their tents also were left standing in the frozen +state, guarded by alternating battalions, no better off than their +Prussian neighbors. This of the Tents, and Six frost-bitten Battalions +guarding them, lasted till April. An extraordinary obstinacy on the part +both of Daun and of Friedrich; alike jealous of even seeming to yield +one inch more of ground. + +The Hereditary Prince, with his 12,000, marched home again in February; +indeed, ever after the going into cantonments, all use of the Prince +and his Force here visibly ceased; and, on the whole, no result whatever +followed those strenuous antagonisms, and frozen tents left standing for +three months; and things remained practically what they were. So that, +as the grand "Peace Negotiations" also came to nothing, we might omit +this of Winter-quarters altogether; and go forward to the opening of +Campaign Fifth;--were it not that characteristic features do otherwise +occur in it, curious little unveilings of the secret hopes and +industries of Friedrich:--besides which, there have minor private events +fallen out, not without interest to human readers. For whose behoof +mainly a loose intercalary Chapter may be thrown together here. + + + + +SERENE HIGHNESS OF WURTEMBERG, AT FULDA (November 30th, 1759), IS JUST +ABOUT "FIRING VICTORIA," AND GIVING A BALL TO BEAUTY AND FASHION, IN +HONOR OF A CERTAIN EVENT;--BUT IS UNPLEASANTLY INTERRUPTED. + +November 21st, the very day while Finck was capitulating in the Hills of +Maxen, Duke Ferdinand, busy ever since his Victory at Minden, did, after +a difficult Siege of Munster, Siege by Imhof, with Ferdinand protecting +him, get Munster into hand again, which was reckoned a fine success to +him. Very busy has the Duke been: industriously reaping the fruits +of his Victory at Minden; and this, the conclusive rooting out of the +French from that Westphalian region, is a very joyful thing; and puts +Ferdinand in hopes of driving them over the Mayn altogether. Which some +think he would have done; had not he, with magnanimous oblivion of self +and wishes, agreed to send the Hereditary Prince and those 12,000 to +assist in Friedrich's affairs, looking upon that as the vital point in +these Allied Interests. Friedrich's attempts, we have said, turned out +impossible; nor would the Hereditary Prince and his 12,000, though +a good deal talked about in England and elsewhere, [Walpole, _George +Second,_ iii. 248 (in a sour Opposition tone); &c. &c.] require more +than mention; were it not that on the road thither, at Fulda ("Fulda is +half-way house to Saxony," thinks Ferdinand, "should Pitt and Britannic +Majesty be pleased to consent, as I dare presume they will"), the +Hereditary Prince had, in his swift way, done a thing useful for +Ferdinand himself, and which caused a great emotion, chiefly of +laughter, over the world, in those weeks. + +"No Enemy of Friedrich's," says my Note, "is of feller humor than the +Serenity of Wurtemberg, Karl Eugen, Reigning Duke of that unfortunate +Country; for whom, in past days, Friedrich had been so fatherly, and +really took such pains. 'Fatherly? STEP-fatherly, you mean; and for his +own vile uses!' growled the Serenity of Wurtemberg:--always an ominous +streak of gloom in that poor man; streak which is spread now to whole +skies of boiling darkness, owing to deliriums there have been! Enough, +Karl Eugen, after divorcing his poor Wife, had distinguished himself +by a zeal without knowledge, beyond almost all the enemies of +Friedrich;--and still continues in that bad line of industry. His poor +Wife he has made miserable in some measure; also himself; and, in a +degree, his poor soldiers and subjects, who are with him by compulsion +in this Enterprise. The Wurtembergers are Protestants of old type; and +want no fighting against 'the Protestant Hero,' but much the reverse! +Serene Karl had to shoot a good few of these poor people, before they +would march at all; and his procedures were indeed, and continued to be, +of a very crying nature, though his poor Populations took them silently. +Always something of perverse in this Serene Highness; has it, I think, +by kind. + +"Besides his quota to the Reich, Karl Eugen has 12,000 more on +foot,--and it is of them we are treating at present. In 1757 he had lent +these troops to the Empress Queen, for a consideration; it was they +that stood on the Austrian left, at Leuthen; and were the first that +got beaten, and had to cease standing,--as the Austrians were abundantly +loud in proclaiming. To the disgust of Serene Highness: 'Which of you +did stand, then? Was it their blame, led as they were?' argued he. +And next year, 1758, after Crefeld, he took his 12,000 to the French +('subsidy,' or consideration, 'to be paid in SALT,' it appears [_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ v. 10.]); with whom they marched about, and did nothing +considerable. The Serenity had pleaded, 'I must command them myself!' +'You?' said Belleisle, and would not hear of it. Next year again, +however, that is 1759, the Duke was positive, 'I must;' Belleisle not +less so, 'You cannot;'--till Minden fell out; and then, in the wreck of +Contades, Belleisle had to consent. Serenity of Wurtemberg, at that late +season, took the field accordingly; and Broglio now has him at Fulda, +'To cut off Ferdinand from Cassel;' to threaten Ferdinand's left flank +and his provision-carts in that quarter. May really become unpleasant +there to Ferdinand;--and ought to be cut out by the Hereditary Prince. +'To Fulda, then, and cut him out!' + +"FULDA, FRIDAY, 30th NOVEMBER, 1759. Serene Highness is lying here for a +week past; abundantly strong for the task on hand,--has his own 12,000, +supplemented by 1,000 French Light Horse;--but is widely scattered +withal, posted in a kind of triangular form; his main posts being Fulda +itself, and a couple of others, each thirty miles from Fulda, and five +miles from one another,--with 'patrols to connect them,' better or +worse. Abundantly strong for the task, and in perfect security; and +indeed intends this day to 'fire VICTORIA' for the Catastrophe at Maxen, +and in the evening will give a Ball in farther honor of so salutary an +event:--when, about 9 A.M., news arrives at the gallop, 'Brunswickers +in full march; are within an hour of the Town-Bridge!' Figure to what +flurry of Serene Highness; of the victoria-shooting apparatus; of busy +man-milliner people, and the Beauty and Fashion of Fulda in general! + +"The night before, a rumor of the French Post being driven in by +somebody had reached Serene Highness; who gave some vague order, not +thinking it of consequence. Here, however, is the Fact come to hand in +a most urgent and undeniable manner! Serene Highness gets on horseback; +but what can that help? One cannon (has nothing but light cannon) he +does plant on the Bridge; but see, here come premonitory bomb-shells +one and another, terrifying to the mind;--and a single Hessian dragoon, +plunging forward on the one unready cannon, and in the air making horrid +circles,--the gunners leave said cannon to him, take to their heels; and +the Bridge is open. The rest of the affair can be imagined. Retreat at +our swiftest, 'running fight,' we would fain call it, by various roads; +lost two flags, two cannon; prisoners were above 1,200, many of them +Officers. 'A merciful Providence saved the Duke's Serene Person from +hurt,' say the Stuttgard Gazetteers: which was true,--Serene Highness +having been inspired to gallop instantly to rearward and landward, +leaving an order to somebody, 'Do the best you can!' + +"So that the Ball is up; dress-pumps and millineries getting all locked +into their drawers again,--with abundance of te-hee-ing (I hope, mostly +in a light vein) from the fair creatures disappointed of their dance +for this time. Next day Serene Highness drew farther back, and next day +again farther,--towards Frankenland and home, as the surest place;--and +was no more heard of in those localities." [Buchholz, ii. 332; +Mauvillon, ii. 80; _Helden-Geschichte,_ v. 1184-1193; Old Newspapers, +in _Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxix. 603.] + +Making his first exit, not yet quite his final, from the War-Theatre, +amid such tempests of haha-ing and te-hee-ing. With what thoughts in his +own lofty opaque mind;--like a crowned mule, of such pace and carriage, +who had unexpectedly stepped upon galvanic wires!-- + +As to those poor Wurtembergers, and their notion of the "Protestant +Hero," I remark farther, that there is a something of real truth in it. +Friedrich's Creed, or Theory of the Universe, differed extremely, in +many important points, from that of Dr. Martin Luther: but in the vital +all-essential point, what we may call the heart's core of all Creeds +which are human, human and not simious or diabolic, the King and the +Doctor were with their whole heart at one: That it is not allowable, +that it is dangerous and abominable, to attempt believing what is +not true. In that sense, Friedrich, by nature and position, was a +Protestant, and even the chief Protestant in the world. What kind of +"Hero," in this big War of his, we are gradually learning;--in which +too, if you investigate, there is not wanting something of "PROTESTANT +Heroism," even in the narrow sense. For it does appear,--Maria Theresa +having a real fear of God, and poor Louis a real fear of the Devil, +whom he may well feel to be getting dangerous purchase over him,--some +hope-gleams of acting upon Schism, and so meriting Heaven, did mingle +with their high terrestrial combinations, on this unique opportunity, +more than are now supposed in careless History-Books. + + + + +WHAT IS PERPETUAL PRESIDENT MAUPERTUIS DOING, ALL THIS WHILE? IS HE +STILL IN BERLIN; OR WHERE IN THE UNIVERSE IS HE? ALAS, POOR MAUPERTUIS! + +In the heat of this Campaign, "July 27th,"--some four days after the +Battle of Zullichau, just while Friedrich was hurrying off for that +Intersection at Sagan, and breathless Hunt of Loudon and Haddick,--poor +Maupertuis had quitted this world. July 27th, 1759; at Basel, on the +Swiss Borders, in his friend Bernouilli's house, after long months of +sickness painfully spent there. And our poor Perpetual President, at +rest now from all his Akakia burns, and pains and labors in flattening +the Earth and otherwise, is gone. + +Many beautifuler men have gone within the Year, of whom we can say +nothing. But this is one whose grandly silent, and then occasionally +fulminant procedures, Akakia controversies, Olympian solemnities and +flamy pirouettings under the contradiction of sinners, we once saw; and +think with a kind of human pathos that we shall see no more. From his +goose of an adorer, La Beaumelle, I have riddled out the following +particulars, chiefly chronological,--and offer them to susceptible +readers. La Beaumelle is, in a sort, to be considered the speaker; or La +Beaumelle and this Editor in concert. + +FINAL PILGRIMAGE OF THE PERPETUAL PRESIDENT. "Maupertuis had quitted +Berlin soon after Voltaire. That threat of visiting Voltaire with +pistols,--to be met by 'my syringe and vessel of dishonor' on Voltaire's +part,--was his last memorability in Berlin. His last at that time; or +indeed altogether, for he saw little of Berlin farther. + +"End of April, 1753, he got leave of absence; set out homewards, +for recovery of health. Was at Paris through summer and autumn: very +taciturn in society; 'preferred pretty women to any man of science;' +would sententiously say a strong thing now and then, 'bitter but not +without BONHOMIE,' shaking slightly his yellow wig. Disdainful, to how +high a degree, of AKAKIA brabbles, and Voltaire gossip for or against! +In winter went to St. Malo; found his good Father gone; but a loving +Sister still there. + +"June, 1754, the King wrote to him, 'VENEZ VITE, Come quickly:' July, +1754, he came accordingly, [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xx. 49.] saw Berlin +again; did nothing noticeable there, except get worse in health; and +after eleven months, June, 1756, withdrew again on leave,--never to +return this time, though he well intended otherwise. But at St. Malo, +when, after a month or two of Paris, he got thither (Autumn, 1756), +and still more, next summer, 1757, when he thought of leaving St. +Malo,--what wars, and rumors of war, all over the world! + +"June, 1757, he went to Bordeaux, intending to take ship for Hamburg, +and return; but the sea was full of English cruisers [Pitt's Descents +lying in store for St. Malo itself]. No getting to Berlin by the Hamburg +or sea route! 'Never mind, then,' wrote the King: 'Improve your health; +go to Italy, if you can.' + +"Summer, 1757, Maupertuis made for Italy; got as far as +Toulouse;--stayed there till May following; sad, tragically stoical; +saying, sparingly, and rather to women than men, strong things, admired +by the worthier sort. Renounced thoughts of Italy: 'Europe bleeding, and +especially France and Prussia, how go idly touring?' + +"May, 1758, Maupertuis left Toulouse: turned towards Berlin; slow, sad, +circuitous;--never to arrive. Saw Narbonne, Montpellier, Nimes; with +what meditations! At Lyons, under honors sky-high, health getting worse, +stays two months; vomits clots of blood there. Thence, July 24th, to +Neufchatel and the Lord Marischal; happy there for three months. Hears +there of Professor Konig's death (AKAKIA Konig): 'One scoundrel less in +the world,' ejaculated he; 'but what is one!'--October 16th, to the +road again, to Basel; stays perforce, in Bernouilli's house there, all +Winter; health falling lower and lower. + +"April, 1759, one day he has his carriage at the door ('Homeward, at +all rates!'): but takes violent spasms in the carriage; can't; can no +farther in this world. Lingers here, under kind care, for above three +months more: dying slowly, most painfully. With much real stoicism; not +without a stiff-jointed algebraic kind of piety, almost pathetic in +its sort. 'Two Capuchins from a neighboring Convent daily gave him +consolations,' not entirely satisfactory; for daily withal, 'unknown to +the Capuchins, he made his Valet, who was a Protestant, read to him from +the Geneva Bible;'--and finds many things hard to the human mind. July +27th, 1759, he died." [La Beaumelle, _Vie de Maupertuis,_ pp. 196-216.] + +Poor Maupertuis; a man of rugged stalwart type; honest; of an ardor, an +intelligence, not to be forgotten for La Beaumelle's pulings over them. +A man of good and even of high talent; unlucky in mistaking it for the +highest! His poor Wife, a born Borck,--hastening from Berlin, but again +and again delayed by industry of kind friends, and at last driving on +in spite of everything,--met, in the last miles, his Hearse and Funeral +Company. Adieu, a pitying adieu to him forever,--and even to his adoring +La Beaumelle, who is rather less a blockhead than he generally seems. + +This of the Two Capuchins, the last consummation of collapse in man, is +what Voltaire cannot forget, but crows over with his shrillest +mockery; and seldom mentions Maupertuis without that last touch to his +life-drama. + + + + +GRAND FRENCH INVASION-SCHEME COMES ENTIRELY TO WRECK (Quiberon Bay, 20th +November, 1759): OF CONTROLLER-GENERAL SILHOUETTE, AND THE OUTLOOKS OF +FRANCE, FINANCIAL AND OTHER. + +On the very day of Maxen, Tuesday, November 20th, the grand French +Invasion found its terminus,--not on the shores of Britain, but +of Brittany, to its surprise. We saw Rodney burn the Flat-bottom +manufactory at Havre; Boscawen chase the Toulon Squadron, till it ended +on the rocks of Lagos. From January onwards, as was then mentioned, +Hawke had been keeping watch, off Brest Harbor, on Admiral Conflans, +who presides there over multifarious preparations, with the last Fleet +France now has. At Vannes, where Hawke likewise has ships watching, +are multifarious preparations; new Flat-bottoms, 18,000 troops,--could +Conflans and they only get to sea. At the long last, they did get;--in +manner following:-- + +"November 9th, a wild gale of wind had blown Hawke out of sight; away +home to Torbay, for the moment. 'Now is the time!' thought Conflans, and +put to sea (November 14th); met by Hawke, who had weighed from Torbay +to his duty; and who, of course, crowded every sail, after hearing that +Conflans was out. At break of day, November 20th [in the very hours when +poor Finck was embattling himself round Maxen, and Daun sprawling up +upon him through the Passes], Hawke had had signal, 'A Fleet in sight;' +and soon after, 'Conflans in sight,'--and the day of trial come. + +"Conflans is about the strength of Hawke, and France expects much of +him; but he is not expecting Hawke. Conflans is busy, at this moment, +in the mouth of Quiberon Bay, opening the road for Vannes and the +18,000;--in hot chase, at the moment, of a Commodore Duff and his small +Squadron, who have been keeping watch there, and are now running all +they can. On a sudden, to the astonishment of Conflans, this little +Squadron whirls round, every ship of it (with a sky-rending cheer, could +he hear it), and commences chasing! Conflans, taking survey, sees that +it is Hawke; he, sure enough, coming down from windward yonder at his +highest speed; and that chasing will not now be one's business!-- + +"About 11 A.M. Hawke is here; eight of his vanward ships are sweeping on +for action. Conflans, at first, had determined to fight Hawke; and drew +up accordingly, and did try a little: but gradually thought better +of it; and decided to take shelter in the shoaly coasts and nooks +thereabouts, which were unknown to Hawke, and might ruin him if he +should pursue, the day being short, and the weather extremely bad. +Weather itself almost to be called a storm. 'Shoreward, then; eastward, +every ship!' became, ultimately, Conflans's plan. On the whole, it was +2 in the afternoon before Hawke, with those vanward Eight, could get +clutch of Conflans. And truly he did then strike his claws into him in +a thunderously fervid manner, he and all hands, in spite of the roaring +weather:--a man of falcon, or accipitral, nature as well as name. + +"Conflans himself fought well; as did certain of the others,--all, more +or less, so long as their plan continued steady:--thunderous miscellany +of cannon and tempest; Conflans with his plan steady, or Conflans with +his plan wavering, VERSUS those vanward Eight, for two hours or more. +But the scene was too dreadful; this ship sinking, that obliged to +strike; things all going awry for Conflans. Hawke, in his own Flagship, +bore down specially on Conflans in his,--who did wait, and exchange a +couple of broadsides; but then sheered off, finding it so heavy. French +Vice-Admiral next likewise gave Hawke a broadside; one only, and sheered +off, satisfied with the return. Some Four others, in succession, did +the like; 'One blast, as we hurry by' (making for the shore, mostly)! So +that Hawke seemed swallowed in volcanoes (though, indeed, their firing +was very bad, such a flurry among them), and his Blue Flag was invisible +for some time, and various ships were hastening to help him,--till a +Fifth French ship coming up with her broadside, Hawke answered her in +particular (LA SUPERBE, a Seventy-four) with all his guns together; +which sent the poor ship to the bottom, in a hideously sudden manner. +One other (the THESEE) had already sunk in fighting; two (the SOLEIL and +the HEROS) were already running for it,--the HEROS in a very unheroic +manner! But on this terrible plunge-home of the SUPERBE, the rest all +made for the shore;--and escaped into the rocky intricacies and the +darkness. Four of Conflans's ships were already gone,--struck, sunk, +or otherwise extinct,--when darkness fell, and veiled Conflans and his +distresses. 'Country people, to the number of 10,000,' crowded on the +shore, had been seen watching the Battle; and, 'as sad witnesses of the +White Flag's disgrace,' disappeared into the interior." [Beatson, ii. +327-345: and Ib. iii. 244-250. In _Gentleman's Magazine,_ (xxix. 557), +"A Chaplain's Letter," &c.] + +It was such a night as men never witnessed before. Walpole says: "The +roaring of the elements was redoubled by the thunder from our ships; and +both concurred in that scene of horror to put a period to the Navy and +hopes of France. Seven ships of the line got into the River Vilaine +[lay there fourteen months, under strict watching, till their backs +were broken, "thumping against the shallow bottom every tide," and only +"three, with three frigates," ever got out again]; eight more escaped +to different ports," into the River Charente ultimately. "Conflans's own +ship and another were run on shore, and burnt. One we took." Two, with +their crews, had gone to the bottom; one under Hawke's cannon; one +partly by its own mismanagement. "Two of ours were lost in the storm +[chasing that SOLEIL and HEROS], but the crews saved. Lord Howe, who +attacked LA FORMIDABLE, bore down on her with such violence, that her +prow forced in his lower tier of guns. Captain Digby, in the DUNKIRK, +received the fire of twelve of the enemy's ships, and lost not a man. +Keppel's was full of water, and he thought it sinking: a sudden squall +emptied his ship; but he was informed all his powder was wet; 'Then,' +said he, 'I am sorry I am safe.' They came and told him a small quantity +was undamaged; 'Very well,' said he; 'then attack again.' Not above +eight of our ships were engaged in obtaining that decisive victory. +The Invasion was heard of no more." [Walpole, _George Second,_ iii. +232.--Here is the List, accurately riddled out: 1. FORMIDABLE, struck +(about 4 P.M.): 2. THESEE, sunk (by a tumble it made, while in action, +under an unskilful Captain): 3. SUPERBE, sunk: 4. HEROS, struck; could +not he boarded, such weather; and recommenced next day, but had to run +and strand itself, and be burnt by the English;--as did (5.) the SOLEIL +ROYAL (Conflans's Flagship), Conflans and crew (like those of the HEROS) +getting out in time.] + +Invasion had been fully intended, and even, in these final days, +considerably expected. In the old London Newspapers we read this notice: +MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19th: "To-day there came Three Expresses,"--Three +Expresses, with what haste in their eyes, testifying successively of +Conflans's whereabouts. But it was believed that Hawke would still +manage. And, at any rate, Pitt wore such a look,--and had, in fact, made +such preparation on the coasts, even in failure of Hawke,--there was no +alarm anywhere. Indignation rather;--and naturally, when the news did +come, what an outburst of Illumination in the windows and the hearts of +men! + +"Hawke continued watching the mouths of the Vilaine and Charente Rivers +for a good while after, and without interruption henceforth,--till the +storms of Winter had plainly closed them for one season. Supplies of +fresh provisions had come to him from England all Summer; but were +stopped latterly by the wild weather. Upon which, in the Fleet, arose +this gravely pathetic Stave of Sea-Poetry, with a wrinkle of briny humor +grinning in it:-- + + Till Hawke did bang Monsieur Conflans [CONGFLANG], + You sent us beef and beer; + Now Monsieur's beat, we've nought to eat, + Since you have nought to fear." [Beatson, ii. 342 n.] + +The French mode of taking this catastrophe was rather peculiar. Hear +Barbier, an Eye-witness; dating PARIS, DECEMBER, 1759: "Since the first +days of December, there has been cried, and sold in the streets, a +Printed Detail of all that concerns the GRAND INVASION projected this +long while: to wit, the number of Ships of the Line, of Frigates, +Galiots,--among others 500 Flat-bottomed Boats, which are to carry over, +and land in England, more than 54,000 men;--with list of the Regiments, +and number of the King's Guards, that are also to go: there are +announced for Generals-in-Chief, M. le Prince de Conti [do readers +remember him since the Broglio-Maillebois time, and how King Louis +prophesied in autograph that he would be "the Grand Conti" one +day?]--Prince de Conti, Prince de Soubise [left his Conquest of +Frankfurt for this greater Enterprise], and Milord Thomont [Irish +Jacobite, whom I don't know]. As sequel to this Detail, there is a +lengthy Song on the DISEMBARKMENT IN ENGLAND, and the fear the English +must have of it!" Calculated to astonish the practical forensic mind. + +"It is inconceivable", continues he, "how they have permitted such +a Piece to be printed; still more to be cried, and sold price one +halfpenny (DEUX LIARDS). This Song is indecent, in the circumstances of +the actual news from our Fleet at Brest (20th of last month);--in regard +to which bad adventure M. le Marquis de Conflans has come to Versailles, +to justify himself, and throw the blame on M. le Marquis de Beauffremont +[his Rear-Admiral, now safe in the Charente, with eight of our poor +ships]. Such things are the more out of place, as we are in a bad enough +position,--no Flat-bottoms stirring from the ports, no Troops of the +MAISON DU ROI setting out; and have reason to believe that we are now to +make no such attempt." [Barbier, iv. 336.] + +Silhouette, the Controller-General, was thought to have a creative +genius in finance: but in the eighth month of his gestation, what +phenomena are these? October 26th, there came out Four Decrees of +Council, setting forth, That, "as the expenses of the War exceed not +only the King's ordinary revenues, but the extraordinaries he has had to +lay on his people, there is nothing for it but," in fact, Suspension of +Payment; actual Temporary Bankruptcy:--"Cannot pay you; part of you not +for a year, others of you not till the War end; will give you 5 per cent +interest instead." Coupled with which, by the same creative genius, is a +Declaration in the King's name, "That the King compels nobody, but does +invite all and sundry of loyal mind to send their Plate (on loan, of +course, and with due receipt for it) to the Mint to be coined, lest +Majesty come to have otherwise no money,"--his very valets, as is +privately known, having had no wages from him for ten months past. + +Whereupon the rich Princes of the Blood, Due d'Orleans foremost, and +Official persons, Pompadour, Belleisle, Choiseul, do make an effort; and +everybody that has Plate feels uneasily that he cannot use it, and that +he ought to send it. And, November 5th, the King's own Plate, packed +ostentatiously in carts, went to the Mint;--the Dauphiness, noble +Saxon Lady, had already volunteered with a silver toilet-table of hers, +brand-new and of exquisite costly pattern; but the King forbade her. On +such examples, everybody had to make an effort, or uneasily try to make +one. King Friedrich, eight days after Maxen, is somewhat amused at these +proceedings in the distance:-- + +"The kettles and spoons of the French seem to me a pleasant resource, +for carrying on War!" writes he to D'Argens. ["Wilsdruf, 28th November, +1759," _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 108.] "A bit of mummery to act on the +public feeling, I suppose. The result of it will be small: but as +the Belleisle LETTERS [taken in Contades's baggage, after Minden, and +printed by Duke Ferdinand for public edification] make always such +an outcry about poverty, those people are trying to impose on their +enemies, and persuade them that the carved and chiselled silver of the +Kingdom will suffice for making a vigorous Campaign. I see nothing else +that can have set them on imagining the farce they are now at. There is +Munster taken from them by the English-Hanoverian people; it is affirmed +that the French, on the 25th, quitted Giessen, to march on Friedberg +and repass the Rhine [might possibly have done so;--but the Hereditary +Prince and his 12,000 come to be needed elsewhere!]--Poor we are +opposite our enemies here, cantoned in the Villages about; the last +truss of straw, the last loaf of bread will decide which of us is to +remain in Saxony. And as the Austrians are extremely squeezed together, +and can get nothing out of Bohmen,"--one hopes it will not be they! + +All through November, this sending of Plate, I never knew with what +net-result of moneys coinable, goes on in Paris; till, at the highest +tables, there is nothing of silver dishes left;--and a new crockery kind +(rather clumsy; "CULS NOIRS," as we derisively call them, pigment of +BOTTOM part being BLACK) has had to be contrived instead. Under what +astonishments abroad and at home, and in the latter region under what +execrations on Silhouette, may be imagined. "TOUT LE MONDE JURE BEAUCOUP +CONTRE M. DE SILHOUETTE, All the world swears much against him," says +Barbier;--but I believe probably he was much to be pitied: "A creative +genius, you; and this is what you come to?" + +November 22d, the poor man got dismissed; France swearing at him, I +know not to what depth; but howling and hissing, evidently, with all +its might. The very tailors and milliners took him up,--trousers +without pockets, dresses without flounce or fold, which they called A LA +SILHOUETTE:--and, to this day, in France and Continental Countries, +the old-fashioned Shadow-Profile (mere outline, and vacant black) is +practically called a SILHOUETTE. So that the very Dictionaries have him; +and, like bad Count Reinhart, or REYNARD, of earlier date, he has become +a Noun Appellative, and is immortalized in that way. The first of +that considerable Series of Creative Financiers, Abbe Terray and the +rest,--brought in successively with blessings, and dismissed with +cursings and hissings,--who end in Calonne, Lomenie de Brienne, and +what Mirabeau Pere called "the General Overturn (CULBUTE GENERALE)." +Thitherward, privately, straight towards the General Overturn, is France +bound;--and will arrive in about thirty years. + + + + +FRIEDRICH, STRANGE TO SAY, PUBLISHES (March-June, 1760) AN EDITION OF +HIS POEMS. QUESTION, "WHO WROTE Matinees du Roi de Prusse?"--FOR THE +SECOND, AND POSITIVELY THE LAST TIME. + +In this avalanche of impending destructions, what can be more surprising +than to hear of the Editing of Poems on his Majesty's part! Actual +publication of that OEuvre de Poesie, for which Voltaire, poor +gentleman, suffered such tribulation seven years ago. Now coming out +from choice: Reprint of it, not now to the extent of twelve copies for +highly special friends, but in copious thousands, for behoof of mankind +at large! The thing cost Friedrich very little meditating, and had +become necessary,--and to be done with speed. + +Readers recollect the OEUVRE DE POESIE, and satirical hits said to be +in it. At Paris, about New-year's time 1760, some helpful Hand had +contrived to bring out, under the pretended date "Potsdam," a +cheap edition of that interesting Work. [_"OEuvres du Philosophe de +Sans-Souci:"_ 1 vol. 12 mo, "Potsdam [PARIS, in truth], 1760."] Merely +in the way of theft, as appeared to cursory readers, to D'Argens, for +example: [His Letter to the King, _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 138.] +but, in deeper fact, for the purpose of apprising certain Crowned Heads, +friendly and hostile,--Czarish Majesty and George II. of England the +main two,--what this poetizing King was pleased to think of them in +his private moments. D'Argens declares himself glad of this theft, so +exquisitely clever is the Book. But Friedrich knows better: "March 17th, +when a Copy of it came to him," Friedrich sees well what is meant,--and +what he himself has to do in it. He instantly sets about making a few +suppressions, changes of phrase; sends the thing to D'Argens: "Publish +at once, with a little prefatory word." And, at the top of his speed, +D'Argens has, in three weeks' time, the suitable AVANT-PROPOS, or AVIS +AU LIBRAIRE, "circulating in great quantities, especially in London +and Petersburg" ("Thief Editor has omitted; and, what is far more, +has malignantly interpolated: here is the poor idle Work itself, not a +Counterfeit of it, if anybody care to read it"), and an Orthodox Edition +ready. [Came out April 9th [see MITCHELL, ii. 153], "and a second finer +Edition in June:" in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ x. p. x, xix. 137 n., 138; +especially in PREUSS, i. 467, 468 (if you will compare him with +HIMSELF on these different occasions, and patiently wind out his bit +of meaning), all manner of minutest details.] The diligent Pirate +Booksellers, at Amsterdam, at London, copiously reproduced this +authorized Berlin Edition too,--or added excerpts from it to their +reprints of the Paris one, by way of various-readings. And everybody +read and compared, what nobody will now do; theme, and treatment of +theme, being both now so heartily indifferent to us. + +Who the Perpetrator of this Parisian maleficence was, remained +dark;--and would not be worth inquiring into at all, except for two +reasons intrinsically trifling, but not quite without interest to +readers of our time. First, that Voltaire, whom some suspected (some, +never much Friedrich, that I hear of), appears to have been perfectly +innocent;--and indeed had been incapacitated for guilt, by Schmidt and +Freytag, and their dreadful Frankfurt procedures! This is reason FIRST; +poor Voltaire mutely asking us, Not to load him with more sins than his +own. Reason SECOND is, that, by a singular opportunity, there has, in +these very months, [Spring, 1863.] a glimmering of light risen on it to +this Editor; illustrating two other points as well, which readers here +are acquainted with, some time ago, as riddles of the insignificant +sort. The DEMON NEWSWRITER, with his "IDEA" of Friedrich, and the +"MATINEES DU ROI DE PRUSSE:" readers recollect both those Productions; +both enigmatic as to authorship;--but both now become riddles which can +more or less be read. + +For the surprising circumstance (though in certain periods, when the +realm of very Chaos re-emerges, fitfully, into upper sunshine now and +then, nothing ought to surprise one as happening there) is, That, only +a few months ago, the incomparable MATINEES (known to my readers five +years since) has found a new Editor and reviver. Editor illuminated "by +the Secretary of the Great Napoleon," "by discovery of manuscripts," "by +the Duc de Rovigo," and I know not what; animated also, it is said, by +religious views. And, in short, the MATINEES is again abroad upon the +world,--"your London Edition twice reprinted in Germany, by the Jesuit +party since" (much good may it do the Jesuit party!)--a MATINEES again +in comfortable circumstances, as would seem. Probably the longest-eared +Platitude now walking the Earth, though there are a good many with ears +long. Unconscious, seemingly, that it has been killed thrice and four +times already; and that indeed, except in the realm of Nightmare, it +never was alive, or needed any killing; belief in it, doubt upon it +(I must grieve to inform the Duc de Rovigo and honorable persons +concerned), being evidence conclusive that you have not yet the faintest +preliminary shadow of correct knowledge about Friedrich or his habits or +affairs, and that you ought first to try and acquire some. + +To me argument on this subject would have been too unendurable. But +argument there was on it, by persons capable and willing, more than one: +and in result this surprising brand-new London moon-calf of a MATINEES +was smitten through, and slit in pieces, for the fifth time,--as if +that could have hurt it much! "MIT DER DUMMHEIT," sings Schiller; "Human +Stupidity is stronger than the very Gods." However, in the course of +these new inspections into matters long since obsolete, there did--what +may truly be considered as a kind of profit by this Resuscitating of the +moon-calf MATINEES upon afflicted mankind, and is a net outcome from it, +real, though very small--some light rise as to the origin and genesis of +MATINEES; some twinkles of light, and, in the utterly dark element, did +disclose other monstrous extinct shapes looming to right and left of +said monster: and, in a word, the Authorship of MATINEES, and not of +MATINEES only, becomes now at last faintly visible or guessable. To +one of those industrious Matadors, as we may call them, Slayers of this +moon-calf for the fourth or fifth time, I owe the following Note; which, +on verifying, I can declare to be trustworthy:-- + +"The Author of MATINEES, it is nearly certain", says my Correspondent, +"is actually a 'M. de Bonneville,'--contrary to what you wrote five +years ago. [A.D. 1858 (SUPRA, v. 165, 166).] Not indeed the Bonneville +who is found in Dictionaries, who is visibly impossible; but a +Bonneville of the preceding generation, who was Marechal de Saxe's +Adjutant or Secretary, old enough to have been the Uncle or the Father +of that revolutionary Bonneville. Marechal de Saxe died November 30th, +1750; this senior Bonneville, still a young man, had been with him to +Potsdam on visit there. Bonneville, conscious of genius, and now out of +employment, naturally went thither again; lived a good deal there, or +went between France and there: and authentic History knows of him, by +direct evidence, and by reflex, the following Three Facts (the SECOND of +them itself threefold), of which I will distinguish the indubitable from +the inferentially credible or as good as certain:-- + +"1. Indubitable, That Bonneville sold to Friedrich certain Papers, +military Plans, or the like, of the late Marechal and was paid for them; +but by no means met the recognition his genius saw itself to merit. +These things are certain, though not dated, or datable except as of +the year 1750 or 1751. After which, for above twenty years, Bonneville +entered upon a series of adventures, caliginous, underground, for most +part; 'soldiering in America,' 'writing anonymous Pamphlets or Books,' +roaming wide over the world; and led a busy but obscure and uncertain +life, hanging by Berlin as a kind of centre, or by Paris and Berlin +as his two centres; and had a miscellaneous series of adventures, +subterranean many of them, unluminous all of them, not courting +the light; which lie now in naturally a very dark condition. Dimly +discernible, however, in the general dusk of Bonneville, dim and vague +of outline, but definitely steady beyond what could have been expected, +it does appear farther,--what alone entitles Bonneville to the least +memory here, or anywhere in Nature now or henceforth,-- + +"2. Inferentially credible, That, shortly after that first rebuff in +Potsdam, he, not another, in 1752, was your 'DEMON NEWSWRITER,' whom +we gazed at, some time since, devoutly crossing ourselves, for a little +while! + +"Likewise that, in 1759-1760, after or before his American wanderings, +he, the same Bonneville, as was suspected at the time, ["Nicolai, _Ueber +Zimmermanns Fragmente,_ i. 181, 182, ii. 253, 254. Sketch of what is +authentically known about Bonneville: 'suspected both of MATINEES and +of the Stolen EDITION.'"] stole and edited this surreptitious +mischief-making _OEuvres du Philosophe de Sans-Souci_ (Paris or +Lyon, pretending to be 'Potsdam,' January, 1760)," which we are now +considering!" Encouraged, probably enough, by Choiseul himself, who, in +any case, is now known to have been the promoter of this fine bit of +mischief, [Choiseul's own Note, "To M. de Malesherbes, DIRECTEUR DE +LA LIBRAIRE, 10th December, 1759: 'By every method screen the King's +Government from being suspected;--and get the Edition out at once.'" +(Published in the _Constitutionnel, _ 2d December, 1850, by M. +Sainte-Beuve; copied in Preuss, _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 168 +n.)]--and who may thereupon [or may as probably, NOT "thereupon," if it +were of the least consequence to gods or men] have opened to Bonneville +a new military career in America? Career which led to as good as +nothing; French soldiering in America being done for, in the course of +1760. Upon which Bonneville would return to his old haunts, to his old +subterranean industries in Paris and Berlin. + +"And that, finally, in 1765, he, as was again suspected at the time, +["Nicolai, Ueber Zimmermanns Fragmente, i. 181, 182, ii. 253, 254. +Sketch of what is authentically known about Bonneville: 'suspected both +of MATINEES and of the Stolen EDITION.'"] he and no other, did write +those MATINEES, which appeared next year in print (1766), and many times +since; and have just been reprinted, as a surprising new discovery, at +London, in Spring, 1863. + +"3. Again indubitable, That either after or before those Editorial +exploits, Bonneville had sold the Marechal de Saxe's Plans and Papers, +which were already the King's, to some second person, and been a second +time paid for them. And was, in regard to this Swindling exploit, found +out; and by reason of that sale, or for what reason is not known, was +put into Spandau, and, one hopes, ended his life there." ["Nicolai, UBI +SUPRA;--and besides him, only the two following references, out of half +a cart-load: 1. Bachaumont, MEMOIRES SECRETES, '7th February, 1765' (see +Barbier, _Dictionnaire des Anonymes,_ Matinees), who calls MATINEES +'a development of the IDEE DE LA PERSONNE,' &c. (that is, of your 'DEMON +NEWSWRITER;' already known to Bachaumont, this 'IDEE,' it seems, as +well as the MATINEES in Manuscript). 2. LETTER of Grimm to Duchess of +Sachsen-Gotha [OUR Duchess], dated 'Paris, 15th April, 1765:' not in +printed _Correspondance de Grimm,_ but still in the Archives of Gotha, +in company with a MS. of MATINEES, probably the oldest extant (see,--in +the GRENZBOTEN Periodical, Leipzig, 1863, pp. 473-484, 500-519,--K. +SAMWER, who is Chief MALLEUS of this new London moon-calf, and will +inform the curious of every particular)]." + +MATINEES was first printed 1766 (no place), and seven or eight times +since, in different Countries; twice or thrice over, as "an interesting +new discovery:"--very wearisome to this Editor; who read MATINEES (in +poor LONDON print, that too) many years ago,--with complete satisfaction +as to Matinees, and sincere wish not to touch it again even with a pair +of tongs;--and has since had three "priceless MSS. of it" offered him, +at low rates, as a guerdon to merit. + +Fact No. 2, which alone concerns us here,--and which, in its three +successive stages, does curiously cohere with itself and with other +things,--comes, therefore, not by direct light, which indeed, by the +nature of the case, would be impossible. Not by direct light, but by +various reflex lights, and convergence of probabilities old and new, +which become the stronger the better they are examined; and may be +considered as amounting to what is called a moral certainty,--"certain" +enough for an inquiry of that significance. To a kind of moral +certainty: kind of moral consolation too; only One individual of Adam's +Posterity, not Three or more, having been needed in these multifarious +acts of scoundrelism; and that One receiving payment, or part payment, +so prompt and appropriate, in the shape of a permanent cannon-ball at +his ankle. + +This is the one profit my readers or I have yet derived from the late +miraculous Resuscitation of MATINEES ROYALES; the other items of profit +in that Enterprise shall belong, not to us in the least measure, but to +Bonneville, and to his well or ill disposed Coadjutors and Copartners in +the Adventure. Adieu to it, and to him and to them, forever and a day! + + + + +PEACE-NEGOTIATIONS HOPEFUL TO FRIEDRICH ALL THROUGH WINTER; BUT THE +FRENCH WON'T. VOLTAIRE, AND HIS STYLE OF CORRESPONDING. + +This Winter there was talk of Peace, more specifically than ever. +November 15th, at the Hague, as a neutral place, there had been, by the +two Majesties, Britannic and Prussian, official DECLARATION, "We, for +our part, deeply lament these horrors, and are ready to treat of Peace." +This Declaration was presented November 15th, 1759, by Prince Ludwig of +Brunswick (Head General of the Dutch, and a Brother of Prince Ferdinand +our General's, suitable for such case), to the Austrian-French +Excellencies at the Hague. By whom it had been received with the due +politeness, "Will give it our profoundest consideration;" [DECLARATION +(by the two Majesties) that they are ready to treat of Peace, 15th +November, 1759, presented by, &c. (as above); ANSWER from France, in +stingy terms, and not till 3d April, 1760: are in _London Gazette;_ in +_Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxix. 603, xxx. 188; in &c. &c.]--which indeed +the French, for some time, privately did; though the Austrians privately +had no need to do so, being already fixed for a negative response to the +proposal. But hereby rose actual talk of a "Congress;" and wagging of +Diplomatic wigs as to where it shall be. "In Breda," said some; "Breda +a place used to Congresses." "Why not in Nanci here?" said poor old +Ex-Polish Stanislaus, alive to the calls of benevolence, poor old +Titular soul. Others said "Leipzig;" others "Augsburg;"--and indeed +in Augsburg, according to the Gazetteers, at one time, there were +"upholsterers busy getting ready the apartments." So that, with such +rumor in the Diplomatic circles, the Gazetteer and outer world was full +of speculation upon Peace; and Friedrich had lively hopes of it, and had +been hoping three months before, as we transiently saw, though again it +came to nothing. All to nothing; and is not, in itself, worth the least +attention from us here,--a poor extinct fact, loud in those months and +filling the whole world, now silent and extinct to everybody,--except, +indeed, that it offers physiognomic traits here and there of a certain +King, and of those about him. For which reason we will dwell on it a few +minutes longer. + +Nobody, in that Winter 1759-1760, could guess where, or from whom, this +big world-interesting Peace-Negotiation had its birth; as everybody now +can, when nobody now is curious on the question! At Sagan, in September +last, we all saw the small private source of it, its first outspurt into +daylight; and read Friedrich's ANSWERS to Voltaire and the noble +Duchess on it:--for the sake of which Two private Correspondents, and +of Friedrich's relation to them, possibly a few more Excerpts may still +have a kind of interest, now when the thing corresponded on has ceased +to have any. To the Duchess, a noble-minded Lady, beautifully zealous to +help if she could, by whose hand these multifarious Peace-Papers have to +pass, this is always Friedrich's fine style in transmitting them. Out of +many specimens, following that of Sagan which we gave, here are the Next +Three:-- + + +FRIEDRICH TO THE DUCHESS OF SACHSEN-GOTHA (Three other Letters on the +"Peace"). + +1. "WILSDRUF, 21st November, 1759 [day after Maxen, SURRENDER was THIS +morning--of which he has not heard]. + +"MADAM,--Nothing but your generosities and your indulgence could justify +my incongruity [INCONGRUITE, in troubling you with the Enclosed]. You +will have it, Madam, that I shall still farther abuse those bounties, +which are so precious to me: at least remember that it is by your order, +if I forward through your hand this Letter, which does not merit such +honor. + +"Chance, which so insolently mocks the projects of men, and delights to +build up and then pull down, has led us about, thus far,--to the end of +the Campaign [not quite ended yet, if we knew]. The Austrians are girt +in by the Elbe on this side; I have had two important Magazines of +theirs in Bohemia destroyed [Kleist's doing]. There have been some bits +of fighting (AFFAIRES), that have turned entirely to our advantage:--so +that I am in hopes of forcing M. Daun to repass the Elbe, to abandon +Dresden, and to take the road for Zittau and Bohemia. + +"I talk to you, Madam, of what I am surrounded with; of what, being in +your neighborhood, may perhaps have gained your attention. I could go +to much greater length, if my heart dared to explain itself on the +sentiments of admiration, gratitude and esteem, with which I am,--Madam +my Cousin,--Your most faithful Cousin, Friend and Servant,--F." + + +2. + +"FREYBERG, 18th December, 1759. + +"MADAM,--You spoil me so by your indulgence, you so accustom me to have +obligations to you, that I reproach myself a hundred times with this +presumption. Certainly I should not continue to enclose these Letters to +your care, had not I the hope that perhaps the Correspondence may be of +some use to England, and even to Europe,--for without doubt Peace is +the desirable, the natural and happy state for all Nations. It is to +accelerate Peace, Madam, that I abuse your generosities. This motive +excuses me to myself for the incongruity of my procedures. + +"The goodness you have to take interest in my situation obliges me to +give you some account of it. We have undergone all sorts of misfortune +here [Maxen, what not], at the moment we were least expecting them. +Nevertheless, there remains to us courage and hope; here are Auxiliaries +[Hereditary Prince and 12,000] on the point of arriving; there is reason +to think that the end of our Campaign will be less frightful than seemed +likely three weeks ago. May you, Madam, enjoy all the happiness that I +wish you. May all the world become acquainted with your virtues, imitate +them, and admire you as I do. May you be persuaded that...--F." + + +3. + +"FREYBERG, 16th February, 1760. + +"MADAM,--It is to my great regret that I importune Your Highness so +often with my Letters. Your bounties, Madam, have spoiled me;--it +will teach you to be more chary of them to others. I regard you as an +estimable Friend, to whose friendship I have recourse in straits. +The question is still Peace, Madam; and were not the object of my +importunities so beautiful, Madam, I should be inexcusable."--Goes then +into practical considerations, about "Cocceji" (King's Aide-de-Camp, +once Keith's, who carries this Letter), about a "Herr von Edelsheim," +a "Bailli de Froulay", and the possible "Conditions of Peace,"--not of +consequence to us just now. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xviii. 174, 173, +172. Correspondence on this subject lasts from 22d September, 1759, to +8th May, 1760: IB. pp. 170-186. In that final Letter of 8th May is the +phrase, hardly worth restoring to its real ownership, though the context +considerably redeems it there,--"the prejudice I can't get rid of, that, +in war, DIEU EST POUR LES GROS ESCADRONS."] + +As to Voltaire again, and the new Friedrich-Voltaire Style of +Correspondence, something more of detail will be requisite. Ever since +the black days of 1757, when poor Wilhelmina, with Rossbach and Leuthen +still hidden from her in a future gloomy as death, desperately brought +Voltaire to bear upon Cardinal Tencin in this matter, without success, +there has been a kind of regular corresponding between Voltaire and +Friedrich; characteristic on both sides. A pair of Lovers hopelessly +estranged and divorced; and yet, in a sense, unique and priceless to one +another. The Past, full of heavenly radiances, which issued, alas, in +flames and sooty conflagrations as of Erebus,--let us forget it, and be +taught by it! The Past is painful, and has been too didactic to some +of us: but here still is the Present with its Future; better than blank +nothing. Pleasant to hear the sound of that divine voice of my loved +one, were it only in commonplace remarks on the weather,--perhaps +intermixed with secret gibings on myself:--let us hear it while we can, +amid those world-wide crashing discords and piping whirlwinds of war. + +Friedrich sends his new Verses or light Proses, which he is ever and +anon throwing off; Voltaire sends his, mostly in print, and of more +elaborate turn: they talk on matters that are passing round them, round +this King, the centre of them,--Friedrich usually in a rather swaggering +way (lest his Correspondent think of blabbing), and always with +something of banter audible in him;--as has Voltaire too, but in a finer +TREBLE tone, being always female in this pretty duet of parted lovers. +It rarely comes to any scolding between them; but there is or can be +nothing of cordiality. Nothing, except in the mutual admiration, which +one perceives to be sincere on both sides; and also, in the mutual +practical estrangement: "Nothing more of you,--especially of YOU, +Madam,--as a practical domestic article!" + +After long reading, with Historical views, in this final section of the +Friedrich-Voltaire Correspondence, at first so barren otherwise and of +little entertainment, one finds that this too, when once you CAN "read" +it (that is to say, when the scene and its details are visible to +you), becomes highly dramatic, Shakspearean-comic or more, for this +is Nature's self, who far excels even Shakspeare;--and that the +inextricably dark condition of these Letters is a real loss to the +ingenuous reader, and especially to the student of Friedrich. Among the +frequently recurring topics, one that oftenest turns up on Voltaire's +side is that of Peace: Oh, if your Majesty would but make Peace! Does it +depend on me? thinks Friedrich always; and is, at last, once provoked to +say so:-- + + +FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE. + +"REICH-HENNERSDORF, 2d July, 1759, [shortly before Schmottseifen, while +waiting Daun's slow movements]. + +"Asking ME for Peace: there is a bitter joke!--[In verse, this; flings +off a handful of crackers on the BIEN-AIME, whose Chamberlain you are, +on the HONGROISE QUI'IL ADORE, on the Russian QUE J'ABHORRE;--then +continues in prose]: + +"It is to him," the Well-beloved Louis, "that you must address +yourself, or to his Amboise in Petticoats [his Pompadour, acting the +Cardinal-Premier on this occasion]. But these people have their heads +filled with ambitious projects: these people are the difficulty; they +wish to be the sovereign arbiters of sovereigns;--and that is what +persons of my way of thinking will by no means put up with. I love +Peace quite as much as you could wish; but I want it good, solid and +honorable. Socrates or Plato would have thought as I do on this subject, +had they found themselves placed in the accursed position which is now +mine in the world. + +"Think you there is any pleasure in leading this dog of a life [CHIENNE, +she-dog]? In seeing and causing the butchery of people you know nothing +of; in losing daily those you do know and love; in seeing perpetually +your reputation exposed to the caprices of chance; in passing year after +year in disquietudes and apprehensions; in risking, without end, your +life and your fortune? + +"I know right well the value of tranquillity, the sweets of society, the +charms of life; and I love to be happy, as much as anybody whatever. But +much as I desire these blessings, I will not purchase them by basenesses +and infamies. Philosophy enjoins us to do our duty; faithfully to serve +our Country, at the price of our blood, of our repose, and of every +sacrifice that can be required of us. The illustrious ZADIG went through +a good many adventures which were not to his taste, CANDIDE the like; +and nevertheless took their misfortune in patience. What finer example +to follow than that of those heroes? + +"Take my word, our 'curt jackets,' as you call them [HABITS ECOURTES, +peculiar to the Prussian soldier at that time], are as good as your red +heels, as the Hungarian pelisses, and the green frocks of the Roxelans +[Russians]. We are actually on the heels of the latter [at least +poor Dohna is, and poor Dictator Wedell will be, not with the effect +anticipated!]--who by their stupidities give us fine chance. You will +see I shall get out of the scrape this Year too, and deliver myself +both from the Greens and the Dirty-Whites [Austrian color of coat]. +My neighbor of the Sacred Hat,--I think, in spite of Holy Father's +benediction, the Holy Ghost must have inspired him the reverse way; he +seems to have a great deal of lead in his bottom.... F." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xxiii. 53.] + +VOLTAIRE IN ANSWER. + +"THE DELICES," guessed to be some time in "August, 1759." + +"In whatever state you are, it is very certain that you are a great +man. It is not to weary your Majesty that I now write; it is to confess +myself,--on condition you will give me absolution! I have betrayed you; +that is the fact"--(really guilty this time, and HAVE shown something of +your writing; as your Majesty, oh how unjustly, is often suspecting that +I do, and with mischievous intention, instead of good, ah, Sire!)--In +fact, I have received that fine "MARCUS-AURELIUS" Letter (Letter we have +just read); exquisite Piece, though with biting "JUVENAL" qualities in +it too; and have shown it, keeping back the biting parts, to a beautiful +gillflirt of the Court, MINAUDIERE (who seems to be a Mistress of +Choiseul's), who is here attending Tissot for her health: MINAUDIERE +charmed with it; insists on my sending to Choiseul, "He admires the King +of Prussia, as he does all nobleness and genius; send it!" And I did +so;--and look here, what an Answer from Choiseul (Answer lost): and +may it not have a fine effect, and perhaps bring Peace--Oh, forgive me, +Sire. But read that Note of the great man. "Try if you can decipher +his writing. One may have very honest sentiments, and a great deal of +ESPRIT, and yet write like a cat.... + +"Sire, there was once a lion and a mouse (RAT); the mouse fell in love +with the lion, and went to pay him court. The lion, tired of it, gave +him a little scrape with his paw. The mouse withdrew into his mouse-hole +(SOURICIERE); but he still loved the lion; and seeing one day a net they +were spreading out to catch the lion and kill him, he gnawed asunder one +mesh of it. Sire, the mouse kisses very humbly your beautiful claws, +in all submissiveness:--he will never die between two Capuchins, as, +at Bale, the mastiff (DOGUE) of St. Malo has done [27th July last]. He +would have wished to die beside his lion. Believe that the mouse was +more attached than the mastiff."--V. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxiii. 59, +60.] + +To which we saw the Answer, pair of Answers, at Sagan, in September +last. This Note from Choiseul, conveyed by Voltaire, appears to have +been the trifling well-spring from which all those wide-spread waters +of Negotiation flowed. Pitt, when applied to, on the strength of +Friedrich's hopes from this small Document of Choiseul's, was of course +ready, "How welcome every chance of a just Peace!" and agreed to the +Joint Declaration at the Hague; and took what farther trouble I know +not,--probably less sanguine of success than Friedrich. Friedrich was +ardently industrious in the affair; had a great deal of devising and +directing on it, a great deal of corresponding with Voltaire and the +Duchess, only small fractions of which are now left. He searched out, or +the Duchess of Sachsen-Gotha did it for him, a proper Secret Messenger +for Paris: Secret Messenger, one Baron von Edelsheim, properly veiled, +was to consult a certain Bailli de Froulay, a friend of Friedrich's in +Paris;--which loyal-hearted Bailli did accordingly endeavor there; but +made out nothing. Only much vague talking; part of it, or most of it, +subdolous on Choiseul's side. Pitt would hear of no Peace which did +not include Prussia as well as England: some said this was the cause +of failure;--the real cause was that Choiseul never had any serious +intention of succeeding. Light Choiseul, a clever man, but an unwise, +of the sort called "dashing," had entertained the matter merely in the +optative form,--and when it came nearer, wished to use it for making +mischief between Pitt and Friedrich, and for worming out Edelsheim's +secrets, if he had any,--for which reason he finally threw Edelsheim +into the Bastille for a few days. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 38-41, +detailed account of the Affair.] + +About the end of March I guess it to have been that Choiseul, by way of +worming out poor Edelsheim's secrets, flung him into the Bastille for +a day or two. Already in December foregoing, we have seen Choiseul's +Black-Artist busy upon the Stolen EDITION of Friedrich's Verses. A +Choiseul full of intrigues; adroit enough, ambitious enough; restlessly +industrious in making mischief, if there were nothing else to be made; +who greatly disgusted Friedrich, now and afterwards. + +And this was what the grand Voltaire Pacification came to, though +it filled the world with temporary noise, and was so interesting to +Voltaire and another. What a heart-affecting generosity, humility and +dulcet pathos in that of the poor Mouse gnawing asunder a mesh of the +Lion's net! There is a good deal of that throughout, on the Voltaire +side,--that is to say, while writing to Friedrich. But while writing of +him, to third parties, sometimes almost simultaneously, the contrast +of styles is not a little startling; and the beautiful affectionately +chirping Mouse is seen suddenly to be an injured Wild-cat with its fur +up. All readers of Voltaire are aware of this; and how Voltaire handles +his "LUC" (mysterious nickname for KING FRIEDRICH ), when Luc's back is +turned. For alas, there is no man or thing but has its wrong side too; +least of all, a Voltaire,--doing TREBLE voice withal, if you consider +it, in such a Duet of estranged Lovers! Suppose we give these few +Specimens,--treble mostly, and a few of bass as well,--to illustrate +the nature of this Duet, and of the noises that went on round it, in a +war-convulsed world? And first of all, concerning the enigma "What is +Luc?" + +What the LUC in Voltaire is? Shocking explanations have been hit +upon: but Wagniere (WAGNER, an intelligent Swiss man), Voltaire's old +Secretary, gives this plain reading of the riddle: "M. de Voltaire had, +at The Delices [near by Ferney, till the Chateau got built], a big +Ape, of excessively mischievous turn; who used to throw stones at the +passers-by, and sometimes would attack with its teeth friend or foe +alike. One day it thrice over bit M. de Voltaire's own leg. He had +called it LUC (Luke); and in conversation with select friends, as also +in Letters to such, he sometimes designated the King of Prussia by that +nickname: 'HE is like my Luc here; bites whoever caresses him!'--In 1756 +M. de Voltaire, having still on his heart the Frankfurt Outrage, wrote +curious MEMOIRES [ah, yes, VIE PRIVEE]; and afterwards wished to burn +them; but a Copy had been stolen from him in 1768,"--and they still +afflict the poor world. + +To the same effect speaks Johannes von Muller: "Voltaire had an Ape +called Luc; and the spiteful man, in thus naming the King, meant to +stigmatize him as the mere APE of greater men; as one without any +greatness of his own."--No; LUC was mischievous, flung stones after +passengers; had, according to Clogenson, "bitten Voltaire himself, while +being caressed by him;" that was the analogy in Voltaire's mind. Preuss +says, this Nickname first occurs "12th December, 1757." Suppose 11th +December to have been the day of getting one's leg bitten thrice over; +and that, in bed next morning,--stiff, smarting, fretful against the sad +ape-tricks and offences of this life,--before getting up to one's Works +and Correspondences, the angry similitude had shot, slightly fulgurous +and consolatory, athwart the gloom of one's mood? [Longchamp et Wagniere +_Memoires,_ i. 34; Johannes von Muller, _Works _ (12mo, Stuttgard, +1821), xxxi. 140 (LETTERS TO HIS BROTHER, No, 218, "July, 1796"); +Clogenson's Note, in _OEuvres de Voltaire,_ lxxvii. 103; Preuss, ii. +71.] That will account for Luc. + +Many of the Voltaire-Friedrich LETTERS are lost; and the remainder +lie in sad disorder in all the Editions, their sequence unintelligible +without lengthy explanation. So that the following Snatches cannot well +be arranged here in the way of Choral Strophe and Antistrophe, as would +have been desirable. We shall have to group them loosely under heads; +with less respect to date than to subject-matter, and to the reader's +convenience for understanding them. + + +VOLTAIRE ON FRIEDRICH, TO DIFFERENT THIRD-PARTIES, DURING THIS WAR. + +TO D'ARGENTAL (Has not yet heard of LEUTHEN, which happened five days +before).... "I have tasted the vengeance of consoling the King of +Prussia, and that is enough for me. He goes beating on the one side, and +getting beaten on the other: except for another miracle [like Rossbach], +he will be ruined. Better have really been a philosopher, as he +pretended to be." [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ lxvii. 139 ("The Delices, 10th +December, 1757").] + +TO THE REVEREND COMTE DE BERNIS (outwardly still our flourishing +Prime-Minister, by grace of Pompadour, but soon to be extinguished under +a Red Hat. Date is six days before ZORNDORF).... "I cannot imagine +how some people have gone into suspecting that my heart might have the +weakness to lean a little towards WHOM you know, towards my Ingrate that +was! One is bound to have politeness; but one has memory as well;--and +one is attached, as warmly as superfluously, to the Good Cause, which +it belongs only to you to defend. Certain it is, poor I am not like the +three-fourths of the Germans in these days [since ROSSBACH, above all]! +I have everywhere seen Ladies'-fans with the Prussian Eagle painted on +them, eating the FLEUR-DE-LIS; the Hanover Horse giving a kick to M. +de Richelieu's bottom; a Courier carrying a bottle of Queen-of-Hungary +Water to Madame de Pompadour. My Nieces shall certainly not have +that fashion of Fans, at my poor little DELICES, whither I am just +returning." [Ib. lxxvii. 35 ("Soleure, 19th August, 1758").] + +TO MADAME D'ARGENTAL (on occasion of MINDEN: Kunersdorf three days ago, +but not yet heard of).... "Truly, Madame, when M. de Contades leads to +the butchery all the descendants of our ancient chevaliers, and sets +them to attack eighty pieces of cannon [not in the least, if you knew +it; the reverse, if you knew it],--as Don Quixote did the windmills! +This horrible day pierces my soul. I am French to excess, especially +since those new favors [not worth mentioning here], which I owe to my +divine Angels and to M. le Duc de Choiseul. + +"Luc--you know who Luc is [as do we]--is probably giving Battle to the +Austrians and Russians [KUNERSDORF, 12th; three days ago, did it, +and was beaten to your mind], at the moment while I have the honor of +writing to you; at least, he told me such was his Royal intention. If +they beat him, as may happen, what a shame for us to have been beaten by +the Duke of Brunswick! I wish you knew this Duke [as I have done; a Duke +of no ESPRIT, no gift of tongue, in fact no talent at all that I could +discern], you would be much astonished; and would say, 'The people whom +he beats must be great blockheads.' The truth of the fact is, that all +these troops are better disciplined than ours:" [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ +lxxviii, 186, 187 ("Delices, 15th August, 1759").]--Yes indeed, my +esteemed Voltaire; and also, perhaps, that ESPRIT, or gift of tongue, is +not the sole gift for Battles and Campaigns?-- + +TO D'ARGENTAL (seventh day after KUNERSDORF: "mouse upon lion's net" +nearly contemporaneous). "At last, then, I think my Russians must be +near Great Glogau [might have been, one thinks, after such a Kunersdorf; +did not start for a month yet; never could get very near at all]. Who +would have thought that Barberina [Mackenzie's Dancer once; sent to +Glogau, Cocceji and she, when their marriage became public] was going to +be besieged by the Russians, and in Glogau: O Destiny!-- + +"I don't love Luc, far from it: I never will pardon him his infamous +procedure with my Niece [at Frankfurt that time]; nor the face he has to +write me flattering things twice a month; without having ever repaired +his wrongs. I desire much his entire humiliation, the chastisement of +the sinner; whether his eternal damnation. I don't quite know." [Ib. +lxxviii. 195 ("19th August, 1759").] (Hear, hear!) + +TO THE SAME (a month after MAXEN: "Peace" Negotiation very lively). ... +"Meanwhile, if Luc could be punished before this happy Peace! If, by +this last stroke of General Beck [tussle with Dierecke at Meissen, 4th +December, capture of Dierecke and 1,500; stroke not of an overwhelming +nature, but let us be thankful for our mercies], which has opened the +road from the Lausitz to Berlin [alas, not in the least], some Haddick +could pay Berlin a visit again! You see, in Tragedy I wish always to +have crime punished. + +"There is talk of a great Battle fought the 6th [not a word of truth in +it] between Luc and him of the Consecrated Hat: said to have been very +murderous. I interest myself very much in this Piece" now playing under +the Sun. "Whenever the Austrians have any advantage, Kaunitz says to +Madame de Bentinck [litigant wandering Lady, known to me at Berlin and +elsewhere], 'Write that to our Friend Voltaire.' Whenever Luc has the +least success, he tells me, 'I have battered the oppressors of mankind. +Dear Angel, in these horrors I am the only one that has room to +laugh:--and yet I don't laugh either; owing to the CULS-NOIRS [base +crockery; one's Dinner Plate all vanished [Supra, p. 374.]], to the +Annuities, Lotteries, and to Pondicherry,--for I am always afraid about +that latter!" (Going, that, for certain; going, gone, and your East +Indies along with it!) [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ lxxviii. 346 ("22d +December, 1759").] + +TO PERPETUAL SECRETARY FORMEY (in forwarding a "Letter left with me"). +"Health and peace, Monsieur; and be SECRETAIRE ETERNEL. Your King is +always a man unique, astonishing, inimitable. He makes charming verses, +in times when another could not write a line of prose; he deserves to +be happy: but will he be so? And if not, what becomes of you? For my own +part, I will not die between two Capuchins. Hardly worth while, exalting +one's soul for such a future as that. What a stupid and detestable farce +this world is!" [Ib. lxxviii. 348 (from SOUVENIRS D'UN CITOYEN, i. 302), +"11th January 1760."] + +TO D'ARGENTAL ("Peace" Negotiations still at their briskest),... "But, +my dear Angel, you will see on Tuesday the great man who has turned my +head (DONT JE SUIS FOU), M. le Duc de Choiseul. The Letters he honors +me with enchant me. God will bless him, don't doubt it,"--after all! "We +have at Pondicherry a Lally, a devil of an Irish spirit,--who will cost +me, sooner or later, above 20,000 livres annually [have rents in our +INDIA COMPANY, say 1,000 pounds a year, as my Angels know], which used +to be the readiest item of my Pittance. But M. le Duc de Choiseul will +triumph over Luc in one way or other; then what joy! I suppose he shows +you my impertinent reveries. Do you know, Luc is so mad, that I don't +despair of bringing him to reason [persuading him to give up Cleve, and +knuckle as he should, in this Peace Affair]. That were what I should +call the true Comedy! I should like to have your advices on the +conduct of that Dramatic Piece." [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ lxxviii. 375 +("Delices, 15th February, 1760").] + +The late "mouse" gnawing its mesh of net, what a subtle and mighty +hunter has it grown! This of Cleve, however, and of knuckling, would +not do. Hear the stiff Answer that comes: "'Conditions of Peace,' do you +call them? The people that propose such can have no wish to see Peace. +What a logic theirs! 'I might yield the Country of Cleve, because the +inhabitants are stupid'! What would your Ministers say if one required +the Province of Champagne from them, because the Proverb says, +Ninety-nine sheep and one Champagner make a Hundred head of cattle?" +[Friedrich to Voltaire, "Freyberg, 3d April, 1760:" _OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xxiii. 73, 74.] + +AGAIN TO D'ARGENTAL (three or four months after; Luc having proved +obstinate, and still unsuccessful).... "I conjure you make use of all +your eloquence to tell him [the supreme Duc de Choiseul], that if Luc +misgo, it will be no misfortune to France. That Brandenburg will always +remain an Electorate; that it is good there be no Elector in it strong +enough to do without the protection of our King; and that all the +Princes of the Empire will always have recourse to that august +protection Most Christian Majesty's] CONTRA L'AQUILA GRIFAGNA,--were +the Prussian Kingship but abolished. Nota bene, if Luc were discomfited +this Year, we should have Peace next Winter." [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ +lxxix. 110 ("July, 1760").] + +TO SUPREME CHOISEUL (a year later).... "He has been a bad man, this Luc; +and now, if one were to bet,--by the law of probability it would be 3 +to 1 that Luc will go to pot (SERA PERDU), with his rhymings and his +banterings, and his injustices and politics, all as bad as himself." +[Ib. lxxx. 313 ("Chateau de Ferney, 13th July, 1761").] + + +VOLTAIRE ON SURROUNDING OBJECTS, CHIEFLY ON MAUPERTUIS, AND THE BATTLES. + +TO D'ALEMBERT (in the Rossbach-Leuthen interval: on the Battle of +BRESLAU, 22d November, 1757; called by the Austrians "a Malplaquet," and +believed by Voltaire to be a Malplaquet and more). ... "The Austrians +do avenge us, and humble us [us, and our miserable Rossbachs], in a +terrible manner. Thirteen attacks on the Prussian intrenchments, lasted +six hours; never was Victory bloodier, or more horribly beautiful +[in the brain of certain men]. We pretty French fellows, we are more +expeditious, our job is done in five minutes. The King of Prussia is +always writing me Verses, now like a desperado, now like a hero; and +as for me, I try to live like a philosopher in my hermitage. He has +obtained what he always wished: to beat the French, to be admired by +them, to mock them; but the Austrians are mocking him in a very serious +way. Our shame of November 5th has given him glory; and with such glory, +which is but transient and dearly bought, he must content himself. He +will lose his own Countries, with those he has seized, unless the French +again discover [which they will] the secret of losing all their Armies, +as they did in 1741." [Ib. Lxxvii. 133, 134 ("Delices, 6th December, +1757," day after Leuthen).] + + +TO CLAIRAUT, THE MATHEMATICIAN (Maupertuis lately dead). An excellent +Treatise, this you have sent me, Monsieur! "Your war with the Geometers +on the subject of this Comet appears to me like a war of the gods in +Olympus, while on Earth there is going on a fight of dogs and cats.... +Would to Heaven our friend Moreau-Maupertuis had cultivated his art +like you! That he had predicted comets, instead of exalting his soul +to predict the future; of dissecting the brains of giants to know the +nature of the soul; of japanning people with pitch to cure them of every +malady; of persecuting Konig; and of dying between Two Capuchins" (dead +three weeks ago, on those terms, poor soul)! [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ +lxxviii. 191 ("Delices, 19th August, 1759").] + +TO D'ALEMBERT (a week later).... "What say you of Maupertuis dying +between Two Capuchins! He was ill, this long while, of a repletion of +pride; but I had not reckoned him either a hypocrite or an imbecile. +I don't advise you ever to go and fill his place at Berlin; you would +repent that. I am Astolpho warning Roger (Ruggiero) not to trust himself +to the Enchantress Alcina; but Roger was unadvisable." [Ib. lxxviii. 197 +("Delices, 25th August, 1759").] + +TO THE SAME (two years later: Luc, on certain grounds, may as well +be saved). "With regard to Luc, though I have my just causes of anger +against him, I own to you, in my quality of Frenchman and thinking +being, I am glad that a certain most Orthodox House has not swallowed +Germany, and that the Jesuits are not confessing in Berlin. Over towards +the Danube superstition is very powerful.... The INFAME--You are +well aware that I speak of superstition only; for as to the Christian +religion, I respect and love it, like you. Courage, Brethren! Preach +with force, and write with address: God will bless you.--Protect, you +my Brother, the Widow Calas all you can! She is a poor weak-minded +Huguenot, but her Husband was the victim of the WHITE PENITENTS. It +is the concern of Human Nature that the Fanatics of Toulouse be +confounded." (The case of Calas, SECOND act of it, getting on the +scene: a case still memorable to everybody. Stupendous bit of French +judicature; and Voltaire's noblest outburst, into mere transcendent +blaze of pity, virtuous wrath, and determination to bring rescue and +help against the whole world.) [_OEuvres de Voltaire,_ lxxviii. 52, 53 +("Ferney, 28th November, 1762").] + + +FRIEDRICH TO VOLTAIRE, BEFORE AND DURING THESE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS. + +AT SCHMOTTSEIFEN, FIVE DAYS BEFORE ZULLICHAU, TEN DAYS BEFORE THAT HUNT +OF LOUDON AND HADDICK (Voltaire, under rebuke for indiscretion, has been +whimpering a little. My discreet Niece burnt those LAST verses, Sire; +no danger there, at least! Truculent Bishop Something-AC tried to attack +your Majesty; but was done for by a certain person). Friedrich answers: +"In truth, you are a singular creature. When I think of scolding you, +you say two words, and the reproach expires. Impossible to scold you, +even when you deserve it.... + +"As to your Niece, let her burn me or roast me, I care little. Nor are +you to think me so sensitive to what your Bishops in IC or in AC may +say of me. I have the lot of all actors who play in public; applauded +by some, despised by others. One must prepare oneself for satires, +for calumnies, for a multitude of lies, which will be sent abroad into +currency against one: but need that trouble my tranquillity? I go my +road; I do nothing against the interior voice of my conscience; and I +concern myself very little in what way my actions paint themselves in +the brain of beings, not always very thinking, with two legs and without +feathers." ["Schmottseifen, 18th July, 1759;" _OEuvres de Frederic,_ +xxiii. 55, 56.] + +AT WILSDRUF, JUST BEFORE MAXEN (an exultant exuberant curious Letter; +too long for insertion,--part of it given above).... "For your Tragedy +of SOCRATE, thanks. At Paris they are going to burn it, the wretched +fools,--not aware that absurd fanaticism is their dominant vice. Better +burn the dose of medicine, however, than the useful Doctor. I, can I +join myself to that set? If I bite you, as you complain, it is without +my knowledge. But I am surrounded with enemies, one hitting me, another +pricking me, another daubing me with mud;--patience at last yields, and +one flies abroad into a general rage, too indiscriminate perhaps." + +You talk of my Verses on Rossbach (my ADIEU TO THE HOOPERS on finding +their Bridge burnt [Supra, p. 21.]). "This Campaign I have had no +beatific vision, in the style of Moses. The barbarous Cossacks and +Tartars, infamous to look at on any side, have burnt and ravaged +countries, and committed atrocious inhumanities. This is all I saw of +THEM. Such melancholy spectacles don't tend to raise one's spirits. +[Breaks off into metre:] LA FORTUNE INCONSTANTE ET FIERE, Fortune +inconstant and proud. Does not treat her suitors Always in an equal +manner. Those fools called heroes, who run the country, + + Ces fous nommes heros, et qui courent les champs, + Couverts de sang et de poussiere, + Voltaire, n'ont pas tous les ans + La faceur de voir le derriere + De leurs ennemis insolents. + +Can't expect that pleasure every year"!... + +Maupertuis, say you? "Don't trouble the ashes of the dead; let the grave +at least put an end to your unjust hatreds. Reflect that even Kings make +peace after long battling; cannot you ever make it? I think you would +be capable, like Orpheus, of descending to Hell, not to soften Pluto and +bring back your beautiful Emilie, but to pursue into that Abode of Woe +an enemy whom your wrath has only too much persecuted in the world: for +shame!" [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxiii. 61-65 ("Wilsdruf, 17th November, +1759").]--and rebukes him, more than once elsewhere, in very serious +terms. + +IN WINTER-QUARTERS, ON PEACE AND THE STOLEN EDITION. (Starts in verse, +which we abridge:) With how many laurels you have covered yourself in +all the fields of Literature! One laurel yet is wanting to the brow +of Voltaire. If, as the crown of so many perfect works, he could by a +skilful manoeuvre bring back Peace, I, and Europe with me, would think +that his masterpiece! [Takes to prose:] + +"This is my thought and all Europe's. Virgil made as fine Verses as you; +but he never made a Peace. It will be a distinction you will have over +all your brethren of Parnassus, if you succeed. + +"I know not who has betrayed me, and thought of printing [the +EDITION;--not you, surely!] a pack of rhapsodies which were good enough +to amuse myself, but were never meant for publication. After all, I +am so used to treacheries and bad manoeuvres,"--what matters this +insignificant one? + +"I know not who the Bredow is [whom you speak of having met]; but he has +told you true. The sword and death have made frightful ravages among +us. And the worst is, we are not yet at the end of the tragedy. You may +judge what effect these cruel shocks made on me. I wrap myself in my +stoicism, the best I can. Flesh and blood revolt against such tyrannous +command; but it must be followed. If you saw me, you would scarcely know +me again: I am old, broken, gray-headed, wrinkled; I am losing my teeth +and my gayety: if this go on, there will be nothing of me left, but the +mania of making verses, and an inviolable attachment to my duties and +to the few virtuous men whom I know." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxiii. 69 +("Freyberg, 24th Feb. 1760").] + +IN WINTER-QUARTERS, A MONTH LATER (comes still on "Peace" again). ... +"I will have you paid that bit of debt [perhaps of postage or the like], +that Louis of the Mill (Louis du Moulin," at Fontenoy, who got upon a +Windmill with his Dauphin, and caught that nickname from the common men) +"may have wherewithal to make war on me. Add tenth-penny tax to your tax +of twentieth-penny; impose new capitations, make titular offices to get +money; do, in a word, whatever you like. In spite of all your efforts, +you will not get a Peace signed by my hands, except on conditions +honorable to my Nation. Your people, blown up with self-conceit and +folly, may depend on these words. Adieu, live happy; and while you make +all your efforts to destroy Prussia, think that nobody has less deserved +it than I, either of you or of your French." [Ib. xxiii. 72 ("Freyberg, +20th March, 1760").] + +STILL IN WINTER-QUARTERS (on "Peace" still; but begins with +"Maupertuis," which is all we will give). "What rage animates you +against Maupertuis? You accuse HIM of having published that Furtive +EDITION. Know that his Copy, well sealed by him, arrived here after his +death, and that he was incapable of such an indiscretion. [Breaks into +verse:] + + Leave in peace the cold ashes of Maupertuis: + Truth can defend him, and will. + His soul was faithful and noble: + He pardoned you that scandalous Akakia (CE VIL LIBELLE + QUE VOTRE FUREUR CRIMINELLE + PRIT SOIN CHEZ MOI DE GRIFFONER); he did:-- + And you? Shame on such delirium as Voltaire's! + What, this beautiful, what, this grand genius, + Whom I admired with transport, + Soils himself with calumny, and is ferocious on the dead? + Flocking together, in the air uttering cries of joy, + Vile ravens pounce down upon sepulchres, + And make their prey of corpses:"-- + +Blush, repent, alas! + +These Specimens will suffice. "The King of Prussia?" Voltaire would +sometimes say: "He is as potent and as malignant as the Devil; but he +is also as unhappy, not knowing friendship,"--having such a chance, too, +with some of us! + + + + +FRIEDRICH HAS SENT LORD MARISCHAL TO SPAIN: OTHER FOND HOPES OF +FRIEDRICH'S. + +In the beginning of this Year, 1759, Earl Marischal had been called +out of his Neufchatel stagnancy, and launched into the Diplomatic field +again; sent on mission into Spain, namely. The case was this: Ferdinand +VI. of Spain (he who would not pay Friedrich the old Spanish debt, but +sent him merino rams, and a jar of Queen-Dowager snuff) had fallen into +one of his gloomy fits, and was thought to be dying;--did, in fact, +die, in a state nearly mad, on the 10th August following. By Treaty of +Aix-la-Chapelle, and by all manner of Treaties, Carlos of Naples, his +Half-Brother (Termagant's Baby Carlos, whom we all knew), was to succeed +him in Spain; Don Philip, the next Brother, now of Parma and Piacenza, +was to follow as King in Naples,--ceding those two litigious Duchies to +Austria, after all. Friedrich, vividly awake to every chance, foresaw, +in case of such disjunctures in Italy, good likelihood of quarrel there. +And has despatched the experienced old Marischal to be on the ground, +and have his eyes open. Marischal knows Spain very well; and has often +said, "He left a dear old friend there, the Sun." Marischal was under +way, about New-year's time; but lingered by the road, waiting how +Ferdinand would turn,--and having withal an important business of his +own, as he sauntered on. Did not arrive, I think, till Summer was at +hand, and his dear Old Friend coming out in vigor. + +August 10th, 1759, Ferdinand died; and the same day Carlos became King +of Spain. But, instead of giving Naples to Don Philip, Carlos gave it +to a junior Son of his own; and left poor Philip to content himself with +Parma and Piacenza, as heretofore. Clear against the rights of Austria; +Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle is perfectly explicit on that point! Will +not Austria vindicate its claim? Politicians say, Austria might have +recovered not only Parma and Piacenza, but the kingdom of Naples +itself,--no France at present able to hinder it, no Spain ever able. But +Austria, contrary to expectation, would not: a Country tenacious enough +of its rights, real and imaginary; greedy enough of Italy, but of +Silesia much more! The matter was deliberated in Council at Vienna; but +the result was magnanimously, No. "Finish this Friedrich first; finish +this Silesia. Nothing else till that!" + +The Marischal's legationary function, therefore, proved a sinecure; +no Carlos needing Anti-Austrian assistance from Friedrich or another; +Austria magnanimously having let him alone. Doubtless a considerable +disappointment to Friedrich. Industrious Friedrich had tried, on +the other side of this affair, Whether the King of Sardinia, once +an adventurous fighting kind of man, could not be stirred up, having +interests involved? But no; he too, grown old, devotional, apprehensive, +held by his rosaries, and answered, No. Here is again a hope reasonable +to look at, but which proves fallacious. + +Marischal continued in Spain, corresponding, sending news (the Prussian +Archives alone know what), for nearly a couple of years. [Returned +"April, 1762" (Friedrich's Letter to him, "10th April, 1762:" in +_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xx. 285).] His Embassy had one effect, which is +of interest to us here. On his way out, he had gone by London, with a +view of getting legal absolution for his Jacobitism,--so far, at least, +as to be able to inherit the Earldom of Kintore, which is likely to +fall vacant soon. By blood it is his, were the Jacobite incapacities +withdrawn. Kintore is a cadet branch of the Keiths; "John, younger Son +of William Sixth Lord Marischal," was the first Kintore. William Sixth's +younger Son, yes;--and William's Father, a man always venerable to me, +had (A.D. 1593) founded Marischal College, Aberdeen,--where, for a +few, in those stern granite Countries, the Diviner Pursuits are still +possible (thank God and this Keith) on frugal oatmeal. MARISCHAL-COLLEGE +Keith, or FIFTH Lord Marischal, was grandfather's grandfather of our +Potsdam Friend, who is tenth and last. [Douglas's _Scotch Peerage,_ +pp. 448 et seq., 387 et seq.] Honor to the brave and noble, now fallen +silent under foot NOT of the nobler! In a word, the fourth Kintore was +about dying childless; and Marischal had come by London on that heritage +business. + +He carried, naturally, the best recommendations. Britannic Majesty, Pitt +and everybody met him with welcome and furtherance; what he wished was +done, and in such a style of promptness and cordiality, Pitt pushing +it through, as quite gained the heart of old Marischal. And it is +not doubted, though particulars have not been published, That he sent +important Spanish notices to Pitt, in these years;-and especially +informed him that King Carlos and the French Bourbon had signed a FAMILY +COMPACT (15th August, 1761), or solemn covenant, to stand by one another +as brothers. Which was thenceforth, to Pitt privately, an important +fact, as perhaps we shall see; though to other men it was still only a +painful rumor and dubiety. Whether the old Marischal informed him, That +King Carlos hated the English; that he never had, in his royal mind, +forgiven that insult of Commodore Martin's (watch laid on the table, in +the Bay of Naples, long ago), I do not know; but that also was a fact. A +diligent, indignant kind of man, this Carlos, I am told; by no means an +undeserving King of Spain, though his Portraits declare him an ugly: +we will leave him in the discreet Marischal's hands, with the dear Old +Friend shining equally on both. + +Singular to see how, in so veracious an intellect as Friedrich's, so +many fallacies of hope are constantly entertained. War in Italy, on +quarrel with King Carlos; Peace with France and the Pompadour, by help +of Edelsheim and the Bailli de Froulay; Peace with Russia and the INFAME +CATIN, by help of English briberies (Friedrich sent an agent this winter +with plenty of English guineas, but he got no farther than the Frontier, +not allowed even to try): sometimes, as again this winter, it is hope of +Denmark joining him (in alarm against the Russian views on Holstein; but +that, too, comes to nothing); above all, there is perennially, budding +out yearly, the brighter after every disappointment, a hope in the +Grand Turk and his adherencies. Grand Turk, or failing him, the Cham of +Tartary,--for certain, some of these will be got to fasten on the heels +of Austria, of Russia; and create a favorable diversion? Friedrich took +an immense deal of trouble about this latter hope. It is almost pathetic +to see with what a fond tenacity he clings to it; and hopes it over +again, every new Spring and Summer. [Preuss, ii. 121 et seq., 292 &c.; +Schoning, ii. iii. PASSIM.] + +The hope that an INFAME CATIN might die some day (for she is now deep +in chaotic ailments, deepish even in brandy) seems never to have +struck him; at least there is nowhere any articulate hint of it,--the +eagle-flight of one's imagination soaring far above such a pettiness! +Hope is very beautiful; and even fallacious hope, in such a Friedrich. +The one hope that did not deceive him, was hope in his own best exertion +to the very death; and no fallacy ever for a moment slackened him in +that. Stand to thyself: in the wide domain of Imagination, there is no +other certainty of help. No other certainty;--and yet who knows through +what pettinesses Heaven may send help! + + + + +Chapter IX.--PRELIMINARIES TO A FIFTH CAMPAIGN. + +It was April 25th before Friedrich quitted Freyberg, and took Camp; not +till the middle of June that anything of serious Movement came. Much +discouragement prevails in his Army, we hear: and indeed, it must +be owned, the horoscope of these Campaigns grows yearly darker. Only +Friedrich himself must not be discouraged! Nor is;--though there seldom +lay ahead of any man a more dangerous-looking Year than this that is +now dimly shaping itself to Friedrich. His fortune seems to have quitted +him; his enemies are more confident than ever. + +This Year, it seems, they have bethought them of a new device against +him. "We have 90 million Population," count they; "he has hardly 5; in +the end, he must run out of men! Let us cease exchanging prisoners with +him." At Jagerndorf, in April, 1758 (just before our march to Olmutz), +there had been exchange; not without haggles; but this was the last on +Austria's part. Cartel of the usual kind, values punctually settled: a +Field-marshal is worth 3,000 common men, or 1,500 pounds; Colonel worth +130 men, or 65 pounds; common man is worth 10s. sterling, not a high +figure. [Archenholtz, ii. 53.] The Russians haggled still more, no +keeping of them to their word; but they tried it a second time, last +year (October, 1759); and by careful urging and guiding, were got +dragged through it, and the prisoners on both sides sent to their colors +again. After which, it was a settled line of policy, "No more exchanging +or cartelling; we will starve him out in that article!" And had +Friedrich had nothing but his own 5 millions to go upon, though these +contributed liberally, he had in truth been starved out. Nor could +Saxony, with Mecklenburg, Anhalt, Erfurt, and their 10,000 men a year, +have supplied him,--"had not there," says Archenholtz (a man rather fond +of superlatives),-- + +"Had not there risen a Recruiting system," or Crimping system, "the +like of which for kind and degree was never seen in the Earth before. +Prisoners, captive soldiers, if at all likely fellows, were by +every means persuaded, and even compelled, to take Prussian +service. Compelled, cudgel in hand," says Archenholtz (who is too +indiscriminating, I can see,--for there were Pfalzers, Wurtembergers, +Reichsfolk, who had FIRST been compelled the other way): "not asked if +they wished to serve, but dragged to the Prussian colors, obliged to +swear there, and fight against, their countrymen." Say at least, +against their countrymen's Governors, contumacious Serene Highnesses of +Wurtemberg, Mecklenburg and the like. Wurtemberg, we mentioned lately, +had to shoot a good few of his first levy against the Protestant +Champion, before they would march at all!--I am sorry for these poor +men; and wish the Reich had been what it once was, a Veracity and +Practical Reality, not an Imaginary Entity and hideously contemptible +Wiggery, as it now is! Contemptible, and hideous as well;--setting +itself up on that, fundamental mendacity; which is eternally tragical, +though little regarded in these days, and which entails mendacities +without end on parties concerned!--But, apart from all this, certain it +is, + +"The whole German Reich was deluged with secret Prussian Enlisters. +The greater part of these were not actual Officers at all, but hungry +Adventurers, who had been bargained with, and who, for their own profit, +allowed themselves every imaginable art to pick up men. Head and centre +of them was the Prussian Colonel Colignon," one of the Free-Corps +people; "a man formed by nature for this business [what a beautiful +man!]--who gave all the others their directions, and taught them by his +own example. Colignon himself," in winter-time, "travelled about in all +manner of costumes and characters; persuading hundreds of people +into the Prussian service. He not only promised Commissions, but gave +such,--nominating loose young fellows (LAFFEN), students, merchants' +clerks and the like, to Lieutenancies and Captaincies in the Prussian +Army [about as likely as in the Seraphim and Cherubim, had they known +it]: in the Infantry, in the Cuirassiers, in the Hussars,--it is all +one, you have only to choose. The renown of the Prussian arms was so +universal, and combined with the notion of rich booty, that Colignon's +Commission-manufactory was continually busy. No need to provide +marching-money, hand-money [shillings for earnest]; Colignon's recruits +travelled mostly of will and at their own charge. In Franken, in +Schwaben, in the Rhine Countries, a dissolute son would rob his +father,--as shopmen their masters' tills, and managers their +cash-boxes,--and hie off to those magnanimous Prussian Officials, who +gave away companies like kreutzers, and had a value for young fellows +of spirit. They hastened to Magdeburg with their Commissions; where they +were received as common recruits, and put by force into the regiments +suitable. No use in resisting: the cudgel and the drill-sergeant,"--who +doubts it?--"till complete submission. By this and other methods +Colignon and his helpers are reckoned to have raised for the King, in +the course of this War, about 60,000 recruits." [Archenholtz, ii. 53.] + +This Year, Daun, though his reputation is on the decline lately, is to +have the chief command, as usual; the Grand Army, with Saxony for field +of conquest, and the Reichsfolk to assist, is to be Daun's. But, what is +reckoned an important improvement, Loudon is to have a separate command, +and Army of his own. Loudon, hot of temper, melancholic, shy, is not a +man to recommend himself to Kriegshofrath people; but no doubt Imperial +Majesty has had her own wise eye on him. His merits are so undeniable; +the need of some Commander NOT of the Cunctator type is become so very +pressing. "Army of Silesia, 50,000;" that is to be Loudon's, with +40,000 Russians to co-operate and unite themselves with Loudon; and +try actually for conquest of Silesia, this Year; while Daun, conquering +Saxony, keeps the King busy. + +At Petersburg, Versailles, Vienna, much planning there has been, and +arduous consulting: first at Petersburg, in time and in importance, +where Montalembert has again been very urgent in regard to those poor +Swedish people, and the getting of them turned to some kind of use: +"Stettin in conjunction with the Swedes; oh, listen to reason, and +take Stettin!" "Would not Dantzig by ourselves be the advisable thing?" +answers Soltikof: "Dantzig is an important Town, and the grand Baltic +Haven; and would be so convenient for our Preussen, since we have +determined to maintain that fine Conquest." So thinks Czarish Majesty, +as well as Soltikof, privately, though there are difficulties as to +Dantzig; and, in fine, except Colberg over again, there can be nothing +attempted of sieging thereabouts. A Siege of Colberg, however, there is +actually to be: Second Siege,--if perhaps it will prove luckier than +the First was, two years since? Naval Armament Swedish-Russian, +specific Land Armament wholly Russian, are to do this Second Siege, at a +favorable time; except by wishes, Soltikof will not be concerned in +it; nor, it is to be hoped, shall we,--in such pressure of haste as is +probably ahead for us. + +"Silesia would be the place for sieges!" say the Vienna people always; +and Imperial Majesty is very urgent; and tries all methods,--eloquence, +flatteries, bribes,--to bring Petersburg to that view. Which is at +last adopted; heartily by Czarish Majesty, ever ready for revenge on +Friedrich, the more fatal and the more direct, the better. Heartily +by her; not so heartily by Soltikof and her Army people, who know the +Austrian habits; and privately decide on NOT picking chestnuts from +the fire, while the other party's paws keep idle, and only his jaws are +ready. + +Of Small-War there is nothing or little to be said; indeed there occurs +almost none. Roving Cossack-Parties, under one Tottleben, whom we shall +hear of otherwise, infest Pommern, bickering with the Prussian posts +there; not ravaging as formerly, Tottleben being a civilized kind of +man. One of these called at the Castle of Schwedt, one day; found Prince +Eugen of Wurtemberg there (nearly recovered of his Kunersdorf +wounds), who is a Son-in-law of the House, married to a Daughter of +Schwedt;--ancestor of the now Russian Czars too, had anybody then known +it. Him these Cossacks carried off with them, a march or two; then, +taking his bond for a certain ransom, let him go. Bond and bondholder +being soon after captured by the Prussians, Eugen paid no ransom; so +that to us his adventure is without moment, though it then made some +noise among the Gazetteers. + +Two other little passages, and only two, we will mention; which have in +themselves a kind of memorability. First, that of General Czetteritz and +the MANUSCRIPT he lost. Of posts across the Elbe I find none mentionable +here, and believe there is none, except only Czetteritz's; who stands at +Cosdorf, well up towards Torgau Country, as sentry over Torgau and the +Towns there. On Czetteritz there was, in February, an attempt made +by the active General Beck, whom Daun had detached for that object. +Extremely successful, according to the Austrian Gazetteers; but in +reality amounting to as good as nothing:--Surprisal of Czetteritz's +first vedette, in the dawn of a misty February morning (February 21st, +1760); non-surprisal of his second, which did give fire and alarm, +whereupon debate; and Czetteritz springing into his saddle; retreat of +his people to rearward, with loss of 7 Officers and 200 prisoners;--but +ending in re-advance, with fresh force, a few hours after; [Seyfarth, +ii. 655.]--in repulse of Beck, in recovery of Cosdorf, and a general +state of AS-YOU-WERE in that part. A sputter of Post-War, not now worth +mentioning at all,--except only for one small circumstance: That in +the careering and swift ordering, such as there was, on the rear-guard +especially, Major-General Czetteritz's horse happened to fall; whereby +not only was the General taken prisoner, but his quarters got plundered, +and in his luggage,--what is the notable circumstance,--there was found +a small Manuscript, MILITAIRISCHE INSTRUKZION FUR DIE GENERALE, such +as every Prussian General has, and is bound to keep religiously +secret.[Stands now in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxviii. 3 et. seq.; was +finished (the revisal of it was), by the King, "2d April, 1748)" see +PREUSS, i. 478-480; and (_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxviii. PREFACE, for +endless indistinct details about the translations and editions of it. +London Edition, 1818, calls itself the FIFTH.] This, carried to Daun's +head-quarters, was duly prized, copied; and in the course of a year came +to print, in many shapes and places; was translated into English, under +the Title, MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA, in 1762 (and +again, hardly so WELL, in 1797); and still languidly circulates among +the studious of our soldiers. Not a little admired by some of them; and +unfortunately nearly all they seem to know of this greatest of modern +Soldiers. [See, for example, in _Life of General Sir Charles Napier, by +his Brother_ (London, 1857), iii. 365 and elsewhere,--one of the best +judges in the world expressing his joy and admiration on discovery +of Friedrich; discovery, if you read well, which amounts to these +INSTRUCTIONS, and no more.] + +Next, about a month after, we have something to report of Loudon from +Silesia, or rather of the Enemies he meets there; for it is not a +victorious thing. But it means a starting of the Campaign by an +Austrian invasion of Silesia; long before sieging time, while all these +Montalembert-Soltikof pleadings and counter-pleadings hang dubious at +Petersburg, and Loudon's "Silesian Army" is still only in a nascent or +theoretic state, and only Loudon himself is in a practical one. + +Friedrich has always Fouquet at Landshut, in charge of the Silesian +Frontier; whose outposts, under Goltz as head of these, stretch, by +Neisse, far eastward, through the Hills to utmost Mahren; Fouquet's own +head-quarter being generally Landshut, the main gate of the Country. +Fouquet, long since, rooted himself rather firmly into that important +post; has a beautiful ring of fortified Hills around Landshut; battery +crossing battery, girdling it with sure destruction, under an expert +Fouquet,--but would require 30,000 men to keep it, instead of 13,000, +which is Fouquet's allotment. Upon whom Loudon is fully intending a +stroke this Year. Fouquet, as we know, has strenuously managed to +keep ward there for a twelvemonth past; in spite, often enough, of +new violent invadings and attemptings (violent, miscellaneous, but +intermittent) by the Devilles and others;--and always under many +difficulties of his own, and vicissitudes in his employment: a +Fouquet coming and going, waxing and waning, according to the King's +necessities, and to the intermittency or constancy of pressures on +Landshut. Under Loudon, this Year, Fouquet will have harder times than +ever;--in the end, too hard! But will resist, judge how by the following +small sample:-- + +"Besides Fouquet and his 13,000," says my Note, "the Silesian Garrisons +are all vigilant, are or ought to be; and there are far eastward of +him, for guarding of the Jagerndorf-Troppau Border, some 4 or 6,000, +scattered about, under Lieutenant-General Goltz, in various Hill +Posts,--the chief Post of which, Goltz's own, is the little Town of +Neustadt, northward of Jagerndorf [where we have billeted in the +old Silesian Wars]: Goltz's Neustadt is the chief; and Leobschutz, +southwestward of it, under 'General Le Grand' [once the Major GRANT of +Kolin Battle, if readers remember him, "Your Majesty and I cannot take +the Battery ourselves!"] is probably the second in importance. Loudon, +cantoned along the Moravian side of the Border, perceives that he can +assemble 32,000 foot and horse; that the Prussians are 13,000 PLUS +6,000; that Silesia can be invaded with advantage, were the weather +come. And that, in any kind of weather, Goltz and his straggle of +posts might be swept into the interior, perhaps picked up and pocketed +altogether, if Loudon were sharp enough. Swept into the interior Goltz +was; by no means pocketed altogether, as he ought to have been! + +"MARCH 13th, 1760, Loudon orders general muster hereabouts for the 15th, +everybody to have two days, bread and forage; and warns Goltz, as bound +in honor: 'Excellenz, to-morrow is March 14th; to-morrow our pleasant +time of Truce is out,--the more the pity for both of us!' 'Yea, +my esteemed neighbor Excellenz!' answers Goltz, with the proper +compliments; but judges that his esteemed neighbor is intending mischief +almost immediately. Goltz instantly sends orders to all his posts: 'You, +Herr General Grant, you at Leobschutz, and all the rest of you, make +your packages; march without delay; rendezvous at Steinau and Upper +Glogau [far different from GREAT-Glogau], Neisse-ward; swift!' And would +have himself gone on the 14th, but could not,--his poor little Bakery +not being here, nor wagons for his baggages quite to be collected in a +moment,--and it was Saturday, 15th, 5 A.M., that Goltz appointed himself +to march. + +"The last time we saw General Goltz was on the Green of Bautzen, above +two years ago,--when he delivered that hard message to the King's +Brother and his party, 'You deserve to be tried by Court-martial, and +have your heads cut off!' He was of that sad Zittau business of the late +Prince of Prussia's,--Goltz, Winterfeld, Ziethen, Schmettau and others? +Winterfeld and the Prince are both dead; Schmettau is fallen into +disaster; Goltz is still in good esteem with the King. A stalwart, +swift, flinty kind of man, to judge by the Portraits of him; +considerable obstinacy, of a tacitly intelligent kind, in that steady +eye, in that droop of the eyebrows towards the strong cheek-bones; +plenty of sleeping fire in Lieutenant-General Goltz. + +"His principal force, on this occasion, is one Infantry Regiment; +REGIMENT MANTEUFFEL:--readers perhaps recollect that stout Pommern +Regiment, Manteuffel of Foot, and the little Dialogue it had with the +King himself, on the eve of Leuthen: 'Good-night, then, Fritz! To-morrow +all dead, or else the Enemy beaten.' Their conduct, I have heard, was +very shining at Leuthen, where everybody shone; and since then they +have been plunging about through the death-element in their old +rugged way,--and re-emerge here into definite view again, under +Lieutenant-General Goltz, issuing from the north end of Neustadt, in the +dim dawn of a cold spring morning, March 15th, 5 A.M.; weather latterly +very wet, as I learn. They intend Neisse-way, with their considerable +stock of baggage-wagons; a company of Dragoons is to help in escorting: +party perhaps about 2,000 in all. Goltz will have his difficulties this +day; and has calculated on them. And, indeed, at the first issuing, here +they already are. + +"Loudon, with about 5,000 horse,--four Regiments drawn up here, and +by and by with a fifth (happily not with the grenadiers, as he had +calculated, who are detained by broken bridges, waters all in flood +from the rain),--is waiting for him, at the very environs of Neustadt. +Loudon, by a trumpet, politely invites him to surrender, being so +outnumbered; Goltz, politely thanking, disregards it, and marches on: +Loudon escorting, in an ominous way; till, at Buchelsdorf, the fifth +Regiment (best in the Austrian service) is seen drawn out across the +highway, plainly intimating, No thoroughfare to Goltz and Pommern. +Loudon sends a second trumpet: 'Surrender prisoners; honorablest terms; +keep all your baggage: refuse, and you are cut down every man.' 'You +shall yourself hear the answer,' said Goltz. Goltz leads this second +trumpet to the front; and, in Pommern dialect, makes known what General +Loudon's proposal is. The Pommerners answer, as one man, a No of such +emphasis as I have never heard; in terms which are intensely vernacular, +it seems, and which do at this day astonish the foreign mind: 'We will +for him something, WIR WOLLEN IHM WAS--' But the powers of translation +and even of typography fail; and feeble paraphrase must give it: 'We +will for him SOMETHING INEFFABLE CONCOCT,' of a surprisingly contrary +kind! 'WIR WOLLEN IHM WAS' (with ineffable dissyllabic verb governing +it)! growled one indignant Pommerner; 'and it ran like file-fire along +the ranks,' says Archenholtz; everybody growling it, and bellowing +it, in fierce bass chorus, as the indubitable vote of Pommern in those +circumstances. + +"Loudon's trumpet withdrew. Pommern formed square round its baggage; +Loudon's 5,000 came thundering in, fit to break adamant; but met such +a storm of bullets from Pommern, they stopped about ten paces short, +in considerable amazement, and wheeled back. Tried it again, still +more amazement; the like a third time; every time in vain. After which, +Pommern took the road again, with vanguard, rearguard; and had peace for +certain miles,--Loudon gloomily following, for a new chance. How many +times Loudon tried again, and ever again, at good places, I forget,--say +six times in all. Between Siebenhufen and Steinau, in a dirty defile, +the jewel of the road for Loudon, who tried his very best there, one of +our wagons broke down; the few to rear of it, eighteen wagons and some +country carts, had to be left standing. Nothing more of Pommern was left +there or anywhere. Near Steinau there, Loudon gave it up as desperate, +and went his way. His loss, they say, was 300 killed, 500 wounded; +Pommern's was 35 killed, and above 100 left wounded or prisoners. One +of the stiffest day's works I have known: some twelve miles of march, in +every two an attack. Pommern has really concocted something surprising, +and kept its promise to Loudon! 'Thou knowest what the Pommerners can +do,' said they once to their own King. An obstinate, strong-boned, +heavy-browed people; not so stupid as you think. More or less of Jutish +or Anglish type; highly deficient in the graces of speech, and, I should +judge, with little call to Parliamentary Eloquence." [Preuss, ii. 241 +(incorrect in some small points); Archenholtz, ii. 61; Seyfarth, ii. +640, and _Beylagen,_ ii. 657-660; Tempelhof, iv. 8-10; in ANONYMOUS OF +HAMBURG (iv. 68) the Austrian account.] + +Friedrich is, this Year, considered by the generality of mankind, to be +ruined: "Lost 60,000 men last Campaign; was beaten twice; his luck is +done; what is to become of him?" say his enemies, and even the impartial +Gazetteer, with joy or sorrow. Among his own people there is gloom or +censure; hard commentaries on Maxen: "So self-willed, high, and deaf +to counsel from Prince Henri!" Henri himself, they say, is sullen; +threatening, as he often does, to resign "for want of health;" and as he +quite did, for a while, in the end of this Campaign, or interval between +this and next. + +Friedrich has, with incredible diligence, got together his finance +(copper in larger dose than ever, Jew Ephraim presiding as usual); and, +as if by art-magic, has on their feet 100,000 men against his enemy's +280,000. Some higher Officers are secretly in bad spirits; but the men +know nothing of discouragement. Friedrich proclaims to them at marching, +"For every cannon you capture, 100 ducats; for every flag, 50; for +every standard (cavalry flag), 40;"--which sums, as they fell due, +were accordingly paid thenceforth. [Stenzel, v. 236, 237; ib. 243.] But +Friedrich, too, is abundantly gloomy, if that could help him; which he +knows well it cannot, and strictly hides it from all but a few;--or all +but D'Argens almost alone, to whom it can do no harm. Read carefully by +the light of contemporary occurrences, not vaguely in the vacant +haze, as the Editors give it, his correspondence with D'Argens becomes +interesting almost to a painful degree: an unaffected picture of one +of the bravest human souls weighed down with dispiriting labors and +chagrins, such as were seldom laid on any man; almost beyond bearing, +but incurable, and demanding to be borne. Wilhelmina is away, away; to +D'Argens alone of mortals does he whisper of these things; and to him +not wearisomely, or with the least prolixity, but in short sharp gusts, +seldom now with any indignation, oftenest with a touch of humor in them, +not soliciting any sympathy, nor expecting nearly as much as he will get +from the faithful D'Argens. + +"I am unfortunate and old, dear Marquis; that is why they persecute +me: God knows what my future is to be this Year! I grieve to resemble +Cassandra with my prophecies; but how augur well of the desperate +situation we are in, and which goes on growing worse? I am so gloomy +to-day, I will cut short.... Write to me when you have nothing better +to do; and don't forget a poor Philosopher who, perhaps to expiate his +incredulity, is doomed to find his Purgatory in THIS world." [_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ xix. 138, 139 ("Freyberg, 20th March, 1760").]... To +another Friend, in the way of speech, he more deliberately says: +"The difficulties I had, last Campaign, were almost infinite: such a +multitude of enemies acting against me; Pommern, Brandenburg, Saxony, +Frontiers of Silesia, alike in danger, often enough all at one time. +If I escaped absolute destructiou, I must impute it chiefly to the +misconduct of my enemies; who gained such advantages, but had not the +sense to follow them up. Experience often corrects people of their +blunders: I cannot expect to profit by anything of that kind; on their +part, in the course of this Campaign:" judge if it will be a light +one, MON CHER. [To Mitchell, one evening, "Camp of Schlettau, May 23d" +(Mitchell, ii. 159).] + +The symptoms we decipher in these Letters, and otherwise, are those of +a man drenched in misery; but used to his black element, unaffectedly +defiant of it, or not at the pains to defy it; occupied only to do +his very utmost in it, with or without success, till the end come. +Prometheus, chained on the Ocean-cliffs, with the New Ruling-Powers in +the upper hand, and their vultures gradually eating him; dumb Time and +dumb Space looking on, apparently with small sympathy: Prometheus and +other Titans, now and then, have touched the soul of some AEschylus, +and drawn tones of melodious sympathy, far heard among mankind. But with +this new Titan it is not so: nor, upon the whole, with the proper +Titan, in this world, is it usually so; the world being a--what shall +we say?--a poorish kind of world, and its melodies and dissonances, +its loves and its hatreds worth comparatively little in the long-run. +Friedrich does wonderfully without sympathy from almost anybody; and +the indifference with which he walks along, under such a cloud of sulky +stupidities, of mendacities and misconceptions from the herd of mankind, +is decidedly admirable to me. + +But let us look into the Campaign itself. Perhaps--contrary to the +world's opinion, and to Friedrich's own when, in ultra-lucid moments, he +gazes into it in the light of cold arithmetic, and finds the aspect of +it "frightful"--this Campaign will be a little luckier to him than the +last? Unluckier it cannot well be:--or if so, it will at least be final +to him! + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, +Vol. XIX. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + +***** This file should be named 2119.txt or 2119.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/2119/ + +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. 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