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diff --git a/2120.txt b/2120.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..719081d --- /dev/null +++ b/2120.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10747 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. +XX. (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. XX. (of XXI.) + Frederick The Great--Friedrich is not to be Overwhelmed: + The Seven-Years War Gradually Ends--25th April, 1760-15th + February, 1763. + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Posting Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2120] +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 XX.--FRIEDRICH IS NOT TO BE OVERWHELMED: THE SEVEN-YEARS WAR +GRADUALLY ENDS--25th April, 1760-15th February, 1763. + + + + +Chapter I.--FIFTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. + +There were yet, to the world's surprise and regret, Three Campaigns +of this War; but the Campaign 1760, which we are now upon, was what +produced or rendered possible the other two;--was the crisis of them, +and is now the only one that can require much narrative from us here. +Ill-luck, which, Friedrich complains, had followed him like his shadow, +in a strange and fateful manner, from the day of Kunersdorf and earlier, +does not yet cease its sad company; but, on the contrary, for long +months to come, is more constant than ever, baffling every effort of +his own, and from the distance sending him news of mere disaster and +discomfiture. It is in this Campaign, though not till far on in it, +that the long lane does prove to have a turning, and the Fortune of War +recovers its old impartial form. After which, things visibly languish: +and the hope of ruining such a Friedrich becomes problematic, the effort +to do it slackens also; the very will abating, on the Austrian part, +year by year, as of course the strength of their resources is still +more steadily doing. To the last, Friedrich, the weaker in material +resources, needs all his talent,--all his luck too. But, as the +strength, on both sides, is fast abating,--hard to say on which side +faster (Friedrich's talent being always a FIXED quantity, while all +else is fluctuating and vanishing),--what remains of the once terrible +Affair, through Campaigns Sixth and Seventh, is like a race between +spent horses, little to be said of it in comparison. Campaign 1760 +is the last of any outward eminence or greatness of event. Let us +diligently follow that, and be compendious with the remainder. + +Friedrich was always famed for his Marches; but, this Year, they +exceeded all calculation and example; and are still the admiration of +military men. Can there by no method be some distant notion afforded +of them to the general reader? They were the one resource Friedrich had +left, against such overwhelming superiority in numbers; and they came +out like surprises in a theatre,--unpleasantly surprising to Daun. +Done with such dexterity, rapidity and inexhaustible contrivance and +ingenuity, as overset the schemes of his enemies again and again, and +made his one army equivalent in effect to their three. + +Evening of April 25th, Friedrich rose from his Freyberg cantonments; +moved back, that is, northward, a good march; then encamped himself +between Elbe and the Hill-Country; with freer prospect and more +elbow-room for work coming. His left is on Meissen and the Elbe; his +right at a Village called the Katzenhauser, an uncommonly strong camp, +of which one often hears afterwards; his centre camp is at Schlettau, +which also is strong, though not to such a degree. This line extends +from Meissen southward about 10 miles, commanding the Reich-ward Passes +of the Metal Mountains, and is defensive of Leipzig, Torgau and the +Towns thereabouts. [Tempelhof, iv. 16 et seq.] Katzenhauser is but a +mile or two from Krogis--that unfortunate Village where Finck got his +Maxen Order: "ER WEISS,--You know I can't stand having difficulties +raised; manage to do it!" + +Friedrich's task, this Year, is to defend Saxony; Prince Henri having +undertaken the Russians,--Prince Henri and Fouquet, the Russians and +Silesia. Clearly on very uphill terms, both of them: so that Friedrich +finds he will have a great many things to assist in, besides defending +Saxony. He lies here expectant till the middle of June, above seven +weeks; Daun also, for the last two weeks, having taken the field in a +sort. In a sort;--but comes no nearer; merely posting himself astride of +the Elbe, half in Dresden, half on the opposite or northern bank of the +River, with Lacy thrown out ahead in good force on that vacant side; and +so waiting the course of other people's enterprises. + +Well to eastward and rearward of Daun, where we have seen Loudon about +to be very busy, Prince Henri and Fouquet have spun themselves out into +a long chain of posts, in length 300 miles or more, "from Landshut, +along the Bober, along the Queiss and Oder, through the Neumark, +abutting on Stettin and Colberg, to the Baltic Sea." [Tempelhof, iv. +21-24.] On that side, in aid of Loudon or otherwise, Daun can attempt +nothing; still less on the Katzenhauser-Schlettau side can he dream of +an attempt: only towards Brandenburg and Berlin--the Country on that +side, 50 or 60 miles of it, to eastward of Meissen, being vacant of +troops--is Daun's road open, were he enterprising, as Friedrich hopes +he is not. For some two weeks, Friedrich--not ready otherwise, it being +difficult to cross the River, if Lacy with his 30,000 should think of +interference--had to leave the cunctatory Feldmarschall this chance or +unlikely possibility. At the end of the second week ("June 14th," as we +shall mark by and by), the chance was withdrawn. + +Daun and his Lacy are but one, and that by no means the most harassing, +of the many cares and anxieties which Friedrich has upon him in those +Seven Weeks, while waiting at Schlettau, reading the omens. Never +hitherto was the augury of any Campaign more indecipherable to him, or +so continually fluctuating with wild hopes, which proved visionary, and +with huge practical fears, of what he knew to be the real likelihood. +"Peace coming?" It is strange how long Friedrich clings to that fond +hope: "My Edelsheim is in the Bastille, or packed home in disgrace: +but will not the English and Choiseul make Peace? It is Choiseul's one +rational course; bankrupt as he is, and reduced to spoons and kettles. +In which case, what a beautiful effect might Duke Ferdinand produce, +if he marched to Eger, say to Eger, with his 50,000 Germans (Britannic +Majesty and Pitt so gracious), and twitched Daun by the skirt, whirling +Daun home to Bohemia in a hurry!" Then the Turks; the Danes,--"Might not +the Danes send us a trifle of Fleet to Colberg (since the English +never will), and keep our Russians at bay?"--"At lowest these hopes are +consolatory," says he once, suspecting them all (as, no doubt, he often +enough does), "and give us courage to look calmly for the opening of +this Campaign, the very idea of which has made me shudder!" ["To Prince +Henri:" in _Schoning,_ ii. 246 (3d April, 1760): ib. 263 (of the DANISH +outlook); &c. &c.] + +Meanwhile, by the end of May, the Russians are come across the +Weichsel again, lie in four camps on the hither side; start about June +1st;--Henri waiting for them, in Sagan Country his head-quarter; and on +both hands of that, Fouquet and he spread out, since the middle of May, +in their long thin Chain of Posts, from Landshut to Colberg again, like +a thin wall of 300 miles. To Friedrich the Russian movements are, and +have been, full of enigma: "Going upon Colberg? Going upon Glogau; upon +Breslau?" That is a heavy-footed certainty, audibly tramping forward on +us, amid these fond visions of the air! Certain too, and visible to a +duller eye than Friedrich's; Loudon in Silesia is meditating mischief. +"The inevitable Russians, the inevitable Loudon; and nothing but +Fouquet and Henri on guard there, with their long thin chain of posts, +infinitely too thin to do any execution!" thinks the King. To whom their +modes of operating are but little satisfactory, as seen at Schlettau +from the distance. "Condense yourself," urges he always on Henri; "go +forward on the Russians; attack sharply this Corps, that Corps, while +they are still separate and on march!" Henri did condense himself, "took +post between Sagan and Sprottau; post at Frankfurt,"--poor Frankfurt, is +it to have a Kunersdorf or Zorndorf every year, then? No; the cautious +Henri never could see his way into these adventures; and did not attack +any Corps of the Russians. Took post at Landsberg ultimately,--the +Russians, as usual, having Posen as place-of-arms,--and vigilantly +watched the Russians, without coming to strokes at all. A spectacle +growing gradually intolerable to the King, though he tries to veil his +feelings. + +Neither was Fouquet's plan of procedure well seen by Friedrich in the +distance. Ever since that of Regiment Manteuffel, which was a bit of +disappointment, Loudon has been quietly industrious on a bigger scale. +Privately he cherishes the hope, being a swift vehement enterprising +kind of man, to oust Fouquet; and perhaps to have Glatz Fortress taken, +before his Russians come! In the very end of May, Loudon, privately +aiming for Glatz, breaks in upon Silesia again,--a long way to eastward +of Fouquet, and as if regardless of Glatz. Upon which, Fouquet, in dread +for Schweidnitz and perhaps Breslau itself, hastened down into the Plain +Country, to manoeuvre upon Loudon; but found no Loudon moving that way; +and, in a day or two, learned that Landshut, so weakly guarded, had been +picked up by a big corps of Austrians; and in another day or two, that +Loudon (June 7th) had blocked Glatz,--Loudon's real intention now clear +to Fouquet. As it was to Friedrich from the first; whose anger and +astonishment at this loss of Landshut were great, when he heard of it in +his Camp of Schlettau. "Back to Landshut," orders he (11th June, three +days before leaving Schlettau); "neither Schweidnitz nor Breslau are in +danger: it is Glatz the Austrians mean [as Fouquet and all the world now +see they do!]; watch Glatz; retake me Landshut instantly!" + +The tone of Friedrich, which is usually all friendliness to Fouquet, had +on this occasion something in it which offended the punctual and rather +peremptory Spartan mind. Fouquet would not have neglected Glatz; pity he +had not been left to his own methods with Landshut and it. Deeply hurt, +he read this Order (16th June); and vowing to obey it, and nothing but +it, used these words, which were remembered afterwards, to his assembled +Generals: "MEINE HERREN, it appears, then, we must take Landshut again. +Loudon, as the next thing, will come on us there with his mass of force; +and we must then, like Prussians, hold out as long as possible, think of +no surrender on open field, but if even beaten, defend ourselves to the +last man. In case of a retreat, I will be one of the last that leaves +the field: and should I have the misfortune to survive such a day, +I give you my word of honor never to draw a Prussian sword more." +[Stenzel, v. 239.] This speech of Fouquet's (June 16th) was two days +after Friedrich got on march from Schlettau. June 17th, Fouquet got to +Landshut; drove out the Austrians more easily than he had calculated, +and set diligently, next day, to repair his works, writing to Friedrich: +"Your Majesty's Order shall be executed here, while a man of us lives." +Fouquet, in the old Crown-Prince time, used to be called Bayard by his +Royal friend. His Royal friend, now darker of face and scathed by much +ill-weather, has just quitted Schlettau, three days before this recovery +of Landshut; and will not have gone far till he again hear news of +Fouquet. + +NIGHT OF JUNE 14th-15th, Friedrich, "between Zehren and Zabel," +several miles down stream,--his bridges now all ready, out of Lacy's +cognizance,--has suddenly crossed Elbe; and next afternoon pitches +camp at Broschwitz, which is straight towards Lacy again. To Lacy's +astonishment; who is posted at Moritzburg, with head-quarter in that +beautiful Country-seat of Polish Majesty,--only 10 miles to eastward, +should Friedrich take that road. Broschwitz is short way north of +Meissen, and lies on the road either to Grossenhayn or to Radeburg +(Radeburg only four miles northward of Lacy), as Friedrich shall see +fit, on the morrow. For the Meissen north road forks off there, in those +two directions: straight northward is for Grossenhayn, right hand is for +Badeburg. Most interesting to Lacy, which of these forks, what is quite +optional, Friedrich will take! Lacy is an alert man; looks well to +himself; warns Daun; and will not be caught if he can help it. +Daun himself is encamped at Reichenberg, within two miles of him, +inexpugnably intrenched as usual; and the danger surely is not great: +nevertheless both these Generals, wise by experience, keep their eyes +open. + +The FIRST great Feat of Marching now follows, On Friedrich's part; with +little or no result to Friedrich; but worth remembering, so strenuous, +so fruitless was it,--so barred by ill news from without! Both this +and the Second stand recorded for us, in brief intelligent terms by +Mitchell, who was present in both; and who is perfectly exact on every +point, and intelligible throughout,--if you will read him with a Map; +and divine for yourself what the real names are, out of the inhuman +blotchings made of them, not by Mitchell's blame at all. [Mitchell, +_Memoirs and Papers,_ ii. 160 et seq.] + +TUESDAY, JUNE 17th, second day of Friedrich's stay at Broschwitz, +Mitchell, in a very confidential Dialogue they had together, learned +from him, under seal of secrecy, That it was his purpose to march for +Radeburg to-morrow morning, and attack Lacy and his 30,000, who lie +encamped at Moritzburg out yonder; for which step his Majesty was +pleased farther to show Mitchell a little what the various inducements +were: "One Russian Corps is aiming as if for Berlin; the Austrians are +about besieging Glatz,--pressing need that Fouquet were reinforced in +his Silesian post of difficulty. Then here are the Reichs-people close +by; can be in Dresden three days hence, joined to Daun: 80,000 odd there +will then be of Enemies in this part: I must beat Lacy, if possible, +while time still is!"--and ended by saying: "Succeed here, and all may +yet be saved; be beaten here, I know the consequences: but what can I +do? The risk must be run; and it is now smaller than it will ever again +be." + +Mitchell, whose account is a fortnight later than the Dialogue itself, +does confess, "My Lord, these reasons, though unhappily the thing seems +to have failed, 'appear to me to be solid and unanswerable.'" Much +more do they to Tempelhof, who sees deeper into the bottom of them than +Mitchell did; and finds that the failure is only superficial. [Mitchell, +_Memoirs and Papers,_ ii. 160 (Despatch, "June 30th, 1760"); Tempelhof, +iv. 44.] The real success, thinks Tempelhof, would be, Could the King +manoeuvre himself into Silesia, and entice a cunctatory Daun away with +him thither. A cunctatory Daun to preside over matters THERE, in +his superstitiously cautious way; leaving Saxony free to the +Reichsfolk,--whom a Hulsen, left with his small remnant in Schlettau, +might easily take charge of, till Silesia were settled?" The plan was +bold, was new, and completely worthy of Friedrich," votes Tempelhof; +"and it required the most consummate delicacy of execution. To lure Daun +on, always with the prospect open to him of knocking you on the head, +and always by your rapidity and ingenuity to take care that he never +got it done." This is Tempelhof's notion: and this, sure enough, was +actually Friedrich's mode of management in the weeks following; though +whether already altogether planned in his head, or only gradually +planning itself, as is more likely, nobody can say. We will look a very +little into the execution, concerning which there is no dubiety:-- + +WEDNESDAY, 18th JUNE, "Friedrich," as predicted to Mitchell, the night +before, "did start punctually, in three columns, at 3 A.M. [Sun just +rising]; and, after a hot march, got encamped on the southward side +of Radeburg: ready to cross the Rodern Stream there to-morrow, as +if intending for the Lausitz [should that prove needful for alluring +Lacy],--and in the mean while very inquisitive where Lacy might be. One +of Lacy's outposts, those Saxon light horse, was fallen in with; was +chased home, and Lacy's camp discovered, that night. At Bernsdorf, not +three miles to southward or right of us; Daun only another three to +south of him. Let us attack Lacy to-morrow morning; wind round to get +between Daun and him, [Tempelhof, iv. 47-49.]--with fit arrangements; +rapid as light! In the King's tent, accordingly, his Generals are +assembled to take their Orders; brief, distinct, and to be done with +brevity. And all are on the move for Bernsdorf at 4 next morning; when, +behold,-- + +"THURSDAY, 19th, At Bernsdorf there is no Lacy to be found. Cautions +Dorn has ordered him in,--and not for Lacy's sake, as appears, but for +his own: 'Hitherward, you alert Lacy; to cover my right flank here, my +Hill of Reichenberg,--lest it be not impregnable enough against that +feline enemy!' And there they have taken post, say 60,000 against +30,000; and are palisading to a quite extraordinary degree. No fight +possible with Lacy or Daun." + +This is what Mitchell counts the failure of Friedrich's enterprise: +and certainly it grieved Friedrich a good deal. Who, on riding out to +reconnoitre Reichenberg (Quintus Icilius and Battalion QUINTUS part of +his escort, if that be an interesting circumstance), finds Reichenberg +a plainly unattackable post; finds, by Daun's rate of palisading, that +there will be no attack from Daun either. No attack from Daun;--and, +therefore, that Hulsen's people may be sent home to Schlettau again; and +that he, Friedrich, will take post close by, and wearisomely be content +to wait for some new opportunity. + +Which he does for a week to come; Daun sitting impregnable, intrenched +and palisaded to the teeth,--rather wishing to be attacked, you would +say; or hopeful sometimes of doing something of the Hochkirch sort again +(for the country is woody, and the enemy audacious);--at all events, +very clear not to attack. A man erring, sometimes to a notable degree, +by over-caution. "Could hardly have failed to overwhelm Friedrich's +small force, had he at once, on Friedrich's crossing the Elbe, joined +Lacy, and gone out against him," thinks Tempelhof, pointing out the form +of operation too. [Tempelhof, iv. 42, 48.] Caution is excellent; but +not quite by itself. Would caution alone do it, an Army all of Druidic +whinstones, or innocent clay-sacks, incapable of taking hurt, would +be the proper one!--Daun stood there; Friedrich looking daily into +him,--visibly in ill humor, says Mitchell; and no wonder; gloomy and +surly words coming out of him, to the distress of his Generals: "Which +I took the liberty of hinting, one evening, to his Majesty;" hint +graciously received, and of effect perceptible, at least to my +imagining. + +WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25th, After nearly a week of this, there rose, towards +sunset, all over the Reichenberg, and far and wide, an exuberant +joy-firing: "For what in the world?" thinks Friedrich. Alas, your +Majesty,--since your own messenger has not arrived, nor indeed ever +will, being picked up by Pandours,--here, gathered from the Austrian +outposts or deserters, are news for you, fatal enough! Landshut is done; +Fouquet and his valiant 13,000 are trodden out there. Indignant Fouquet +has obeyed you, not wisely but too well. He has kept Landshut six nights +and five days. On the morning of the sixth day, here is what befell:-- + +"LANDSHUT, MONDAY, 23d JUNE, About a quarter to two in the morning, +Loudon, who had gathered 31,000 horse and foot for the business, and +taken his measures, fired aloft, by way of signal, four howitzers into +the gray of the summer morning; and burst loose upon Fouquet, in various +columns, on his southward front, on both flanks, ultimately in his rear +too: columns all in the height of fighting humor, confident as three to +one,--and having brandy in them, it is likewise said. Fouquet and +his people stood to arms, in the temper Fouquet had vowed they would: +defended their Hills with an energy, with a steady skill, which Loudon +himself admired; but their Hill-works would have needed thrice the +number;--Fouquet, by detaching and otherwise, has in arms only 10,680 +men. Toughly as they strove, after partial successes, they began to lose +one Hill, and then another; and in the course of hours, nearly all their +Hills. Landshut Town Loudon had taken from them, Landshut and its +roads: in the end, the Prussian position is becoming permeable, plainly +untenable;--Austrian force is moving to their rearward to block the +retreat. + +"Seeing which latter fact, Fouquet throws out all his Cavalry, a poor +1,500, to secure the Passes of the Bober; himself formed square with the +wrecks of his Infantry; and, at a steady step, cuts way for himself with +bayonet and bullet. With singular success for some time, in spite of the +odds. And is clear across the Bober; when lo, among the knolls ahead, +masses of Austrian Cavalry are seen waiting him, besetting every +passage! Even these do not break him; but these, with infantry and +cannon coming up to help them, do. Here, for some time, was the fiercest +tug of all,--till a bullet having killed Fouquet's horse, and carried +the General himself to the ground, the spasm ended. The Lichnowski +Dragoons, a famed Austrian regiment, who had charged and again charged +with nothing but repulse on repulse, now broke in, all in a foam of +rage; cut furiously upon Fouquet himself; wounded Fouquet thrice; would +have killed him, had it not been for the heroism of poor Trautschke, +his Groom [let us name the gallant fellow, even if unpronounceable], +who flung himself on the body of his Master, and took the bloody strokes +instead of him; shrieking his loudest, 'Will you murder the Commanding +General, then!' Which brought up the Colonel of Lichnowski; a Gentleman +and Ritter, abhorrent of such practices. To him Fouquet gave his +sword;--kept his vow never to draw it again. + +"The wrecks of Fouquet's Infantry were, many of them, massacred, no +quarter given; such the unchivalrous fury that had risen. His Cavalry, +with the loss of about 500, cut their way through. They and some +stragglers of Foot, in whole about 1,500 of both kinds, were what +remained of those 10,680 after this bloody morning's work. There had +been about six hours of it; 'all over by 8 o'clock.'" [_Hofbericht +von der am 23 Junius, 1760, bey Landshuth vorgefallenen Action_ (in +Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 669-671); _Helden-Geschichte,_ vi. 258-284; +Tempelhof, iv. 26-41; Stenzel, v. 241 (who, by oversight,--this Volume +being posthumous to poor Stenzel,--protracts the Action to "half-past 7 +in the evening").] + +Fouquet has obeyed to the letter: "Did not my King wrong me?" Fouquet +may say to himself. Truly, Herr General, your King's Order was a little +unwise; as you (who were on the ground, and your King not) knew it +to be. An unwise Order;--perhaps not inexcusable in the sudden +circumstances. And perhaps a still more perfect Bayard would have +preferred obeying such a King in spirit, rather than in letter, and +thereby doing him vital service AGAINST his temporary will? It is not +doubted but Fouquet, left to himself and his 13,000, with the Fortresses +and Garrisons about him, would have maintained himself in Silesia till +help came. The issue is,--Fouquet has probably lost this fine King +his Silesia, for the time being; and beyond any question, has lost him +10,000 Prussian-Spartan fighters, and a fine General whom he could ill +spare!--In a word, the Gate of Silesia is burst open; and Loudon has +every prospect of taking Glatz, which will keep it so. + +What a thunder-bolt for Friedrich! One of the last pillars struck away +from his tottering affairs. "Inevitable, then? We are over with it, +then?" One may fancy Friedrich's reflections. But he showed nothing of +them to anybody; in a few hours, had his mind composed, and new plans on +the anvil. On the morrow of that Austrian Joy-Firing,--morrow, or some +day close on it (ought to have been dated, but is not),--there went +from him, to Magdeburg, the Order: "Have me such and such quantities of +Siege-Artillery in a state of readiness." [Tempelhof, iv. 51.] Already +meaning, it is thought, or contemplating as possible a certain Siege, +which surprised everybody before long! A most inventive, enterprising +being; no end to his contrivances and unexpected outbreaks; especially +when you have him jammed into a corner, and fancy it is all over with +him! + +"To no other General," says Tempelhof, "would such a notion of besieging +Dresden have occurred; or if it had suggested itself, the hideous +difficulties would at once have banished it again, or left it only as a +pious wish. But it is strokes of this kind that characterize the great +man. Often enough they have succeeded, been decisive of great campaigns +and wars, and become splendid in the eyes of all mankind; sometimes, as +in this case, they have only deserved to succeed, and to be splendid in +the eyes of judges. How get these masses of enemies lured away, so +that you could try such a thing? There lay the difficulty; insuperable +altogether, except by the most fine and appropriate treatment. Of a +truth, it required a connected series of the wisest measures and most +secret artifices of war;--and withal, that you should throw over them +such a veil as would lead your enemy to see in them precisely the +reverse of what they meant. How all this was to be set in action, and +how the Enemy's own plans, intentions and moods of mind were to be used +as raw material for attainment of your object,--studious readers will +best see in the manoeuvres of the King in his now more than critical +condition; which do certainly exhibit the completest masterpiece in the +Art of leading Armies that Europe has ever seen." + +Tempelhof is well enough aware, as readers should continue to be, that, +primarily, and onward for three weeks more, not Dresden, but the getting +to Silesia on good terms, is Friedrich's main enterprise: Dresden only +a supplement or substitute, a second string to his bow, till the first +fail. But, in effect, the two enterprises or strings coincide, or are +one, till the first of them fail; and Tempelhof's eulogy will apply +to either. The initiatory step to either is a Second Feat of +Marching;--still notabler than the former, which has had this poor +issue. Soldiers of the studious or scientific sort, if there are yet any +such among us, will naturally go to Tempelhof, and fearlessly encounter +the ruggedest Documents and Books, if Tempelhof leave them dubious on +any point (which he hardly will): to ingenuous readers of other sorts, +who will take a little pains for understanding the thing, perhaps the +following intermittent far-off glimpses may suffice. [Mitchell, ii. 162 +et seq.; and Tempelhof (iv. 50-53 et seq.), as a scientific check on +Mitchell, or unconscious fellow-witness with him,--agreeing beautifully +almost always.] + +On ascertaining the Landshut disaster, Friedrich falls back a little; +northward to Gross-Dobritz: "Possibly Daun will think us cowed by what +has happened; and may try something on us?" Daun is by no means sure of +this COWED phenomenon, or of the retreat it has made; and tries nothing +on it; only rides up daily to it, to ascertain that it is there; and +diligently sends out parties to watch the Northeastward parts, where +run the Silesian Roads. After about a week of this, and some +disappointments, Friedrich decides to march in earnest. There had, one +day, come report of Lacy's being detached, Lacy with a strong Division, +to block the Silesian roads; but that, on trial, proved to be false. +"Pshaw, nothing for us but to go ourselves!" concludes Friedrich,--and, +JULY 1st, sends off his Bakery and Heavy Baggage; indicating to +Mitchell, "To-morrow morning at 3!"--Here is Mitchell's own account; +accurate in every particular, as we find: [Mitchell, ii. 164; Tempelhof, +iv. 54.] + +WEDNESDAY, JULY 2d. "From Gross-Dobritz to Quosdorf [to Quosdorf, a poor +Hamlet there, not QuoLsdorf, as many write, which is a Town far enough +from there]--the Army marched accordingly. In two columns; baggage, +bakery and artillery in a third; through a country extremely covered +with wood. Were attacked by some Uhlans and Hussars; whom a few +cannon-shot sent to the road again. March lasted from 3 in the morning +to 3 in the afternoon;" twelve long hours. "Went northeastward a space +of 20 miles, leaving Radeburg, much more leaving Reichenberg, Moritzburg +and the Daun quarters well to the right, and at last quite to rearward; +crossed the Roder, crossed the Pulsnitz," small tributaries or +sub-tributaries of the Elbe in those parts; "crossed the latter (which +divides Meissen from the Lausitz) partly by the Bridge of Krakau, first +Village in the Lausitz. Head-quarter was the poor Hamlet of Quosdorf, +a mile farther on. 'This march had been carefully kept secret,' says +Mitchell; 'and it was the opinion of the most experienced Officers, +that, had the Enemy discovered the King of Prussia's design, they might, +by placing their light troops in the roads with proper supports, have +rendered it extremely difficult, if not impracticable.'" + +Daun very early got to know of Friedrich's departure, and whitherward; +which was extremely interesting to Daun: "Aims to be in Silesia before +me; will cut out Loudon from his fine prospects on Glatz?"--and had +instantly reinforced, perhaps to 20,000, Lacy's Division; and ordered +Lacy, who is the nearest to Friedrich's March, to start instantly on the +skirts of said March, and endeavor diligently to trample on the same. +For the purpose of harassing said March, Lacy is to do whatever he with +safety can (which we see is not much: "a few Uhlans and Hussars"); at +lowest, is to keep it constantly in sight; and always encamp as near it +as he dare; [Tempelhof, iv. 54.]--Daun himself girding up his loins; and +preparing, by a short-cut, to get ahead of it in a day or two. Lacy +was alert enough, but could not do much with safety: a few Uhlans and +Hussars, that was all; and he is now encamped somewhere to rearward, as +near as he dare. + +THURSDAY, 3d JULY. "A rest-day; Army resting about Krakau, after such +a spell through the woody moors. The King, with small escort, rides out +reconnoitring, hither, thither, on the southern side or Lacy quarter: to +the top of the Keulenberg (BLUDGEON HILL), at last,--which is ten or a +dozen miles from Krakau and Quosdorf, but commands an extensive view. +Towns, village-belfries, courses of streams; a country of mossy woods +and wild agricultures, of bogs, of shaggy moor. Southward 10 miles is +Radeberg [not RadebUrg, observe]; yonder is the town of Pulsnitz on our +stream of Pulsnitz; to southeast, and twice as far, is Bischofswerda, +chasmy Stolpen (too well known to us before this): behind us, +Konigsbruck, Kamenz and the road from Grossenhayn to Bautzen: these and +many other places memorable to this King are discoverable from Bludgeon +Hill. But the discovery of discoveries to him is Lacy's Camp,--not very +far off, about a mile behind Pulsnitz; clearly visible, at Lichtenberg +yonder. Which we at once determine to attack; which, and the roads to +which, are the one object of interest just now,--nothing else visible, +as it were, on the top of the Keulenberg here, or as we ride homeward, +meditating it with a practical view. 'March at midnight,' that is the +practical result arrived at, on reaching home." + +FRIDAY, JULY 4th. "Since the stroke of midnight we are all on march +again; nothing but the baggages and bakeries left [with Quintus to watch +them, which I see is his common function in these marches]; King himself +in the Vanguard,--who hopes to give Lacy a salutation. [Tempelhof, iv. +56.] 'The march was full of defiles,' says Mitchell: and Mitchell, in +his carriage, knew little what a region it was, with boggy intricacies, +lakelets, tangly thickets, stocks and stumps; or what a business to pass +with heavy cannon, baggage-wagons and columns of men! Such a march; and +again not far from twenty miles of it: very hot, as the morning broke, +in the breathless woods. Had Lacy known what kind of ground we had to +march in, and been enterprising--! thinks Tempelhof. The march being +so retarded, Lacy got notice of it, and vanished quite away,--to +Bischofswerda, I believe, and the protecting neighborhood of Daun. +Nothing of him left when we emerge, simultaneously from this hand and +from that, on his front and on his rear, to take him as in a vice, as in +the sudden snap of a fox-trap;--fox quite gone. Hardly a few hussars of +him to be picked up; and no chase possible, after such a march." + +Friedrich had done everything to keep himself secret: but Lacy has +endless Pandours prowling about; and, I suppose, the Country-people +(in the Lausitz here, who ought to have loyalty) are on the Lacy side. +Friedrich has to take his disappointment. He encamps here, on the +Heights, head-quarter Pulsnitz,--till Quintus come up with the baggage, +which he does punctually, but not till nightfall, not till midnight the +last of him. + +SATURDAY, JULY 5th. "To the road again at 3 A.M. Again to northward, to +Kloster (CLOISTER) Marienstern, a 15 miles or so,--head-quarter in the +Cloister itself. Daun had set off for Bautzen, with his 50 or 60,000, +in the extremest push of haste, and is at Bautzen this night; ahead +of Friedrich, with Lacy as rear-guard of him, who is also ahead of +Friedrich, and safe at Bischofswerda. A Daun hastening as never before. +This news of a Daun already at Bautzen awakened Friedrich's utmost +speed: 'Never do, that Daun be in Silesia before us! Indispensable to +get ahead of Bautzen and him, or to be waiting on the flank of his next +march!' Accordingly, + +"SUNDAY, JULY 6th, Friedrich, at 3 A.M., is again in motion; in three +columns, streaming forward all day: straight eastward, Daun-ward. +Intends to cross the Spree, leaving Bautzen to the right; and take +post somewhere to northeast of Bautzen, and on the flank of Daun. The +windless day grows hotter and hotter; the roads are of loose sand, +full of jungles and impediments. This was such a march for heat and +difficulty as the King never had before. In front of each Column went +wagons with a few pontoons; there being many brooks and little streams +to cross. The soldier, for his own health's sake, is strictly forbidden +to drink; but as the burning day rose higher, in the sweltering close +march, thirst grew irresistible. Crossing any of these Brooks, the +soldiers pounce down, irrepressible, whole ranks of them; lift water, +clean or dirty; drink it greedily from the brim of the hat. Sergeants +may wag their tongues and their cudgels at discretion: 'showers of +cudgel-strokes,' says Archenholtz; Sergeants going like threshers on the +poor men;--'though the upper Officers had a touch of mercy, and affected +not to see this disobedience to the Sergeants and their cudgels,' +which was punishable with death. War is not an over-fond Mother, but a +sufficiently Spartan one, to her Sons. There dropt down, in the march +that day, 105 Prussian men, who never rose again. And as to intercepting +Daun by such velocity,--Daun too is on march; gone to Gorlitz, at almost +a faster pace, if at a far heavier,--like a cart-horse on gallop; faring +still worse in the heat: '200 of Daun's men died on the road this day, +and 300 more were invalided for life.' [Tempelhof, iv. 58; Archenholtz, +ii. 68; Mitchell, ii. 166.] + +"Before reaching the Spree, Friedrich, who is in the Vanguard, hears +of this Gorlitz March, and that the bird is flown. For which he has, +therefore, to devise straightway a new expedient: 'Wheel to the right; +cross Spree farther down, holding towards Bautzen itself,' orders +Friedrich. And settles within two miles of Bautzen; his left being at +Doberschutz,--on the strong ground he held after Hochkirch, while Daun, +two years ago, sat watching so quiescent. Daun knows what kind of march +these Prussians, blocked out from relief of Neisse, stole on him THEN, +and saved their Silesia, in spite of his watching and blocking;--and +has plunged off, in the manner of a cart-horse scared into galloping, to +avoid the like." What a Sabbath-day's journey, on both sides, for those +Sons of War! Nothing in the Roman times, though they had less +baggage, comes up to such modern marching: nor is this the fastest of +Friedrich's, though of Daun's it unspeakably is. "Friedrich, having +missed Daun, is thinking now to whirl round, and go into Lacy,--which +will certainly bring Daun back, even better. + +"This evening, accordingly, Ziethen occupies Bautzen; sweeps out certain +Lacy precursors, cavalry in some strength, who are there. Lacy has come +on as far as Bischofswerda: and his Horse-people seem to be wide ahead; +provokingly pert upon Friedrich's outposts, who determines to chastise +them the first thing to-morrow. To-morrow, as is very needful, is to be +a rest-day otherwise. For Friedrich's wearied people a rest-day; not at +all for Daun's, who continues his heavy-footed galloping yet another day +and another, till he get across the Queiss, and actually reach Silesia." + +MONDAY, JULY 7th. "Rest-day accordingly, in Bautzen neighborhood; +nothing passing but a curious Skirmish of Horse,--in which Friedrich, +who had gone westward reconnoitring, seeking Lacy, had the main share, +and was notably situated for some time. Godau, a small town or village, +six miles west of Bautzen, was the scene of this notable passage: +actors in it were Friedrich himself, on the Prussian part; and, on the +Austrian, by degrees Lacy's Cavalry almost in whole. Lacy's Cavalry, +what Friedrich does not know, are all in those neighborhoods: and +no sooner is Godau swept clear of them, than they return in greater +numbers, needing to be again swept; and, in fact, they gradually +gather in upon him, in a singular and dangerous manner, after his first +successes on them, and before his Infantry have time to get up and +support. + +"Friedrich was too impatient in this provoking little haggle, arresting +him here. He had ordered on the suitable Battalion with cannon; but +hardly considers that the Battalion itself is six miles off,--not +to speak of the Order, which is galloping on horseback, not going by +electricity:--the impatient Friedrich had slashed in at once upon Godau, +taken above 100 prisoners; but is astonished to see the slashed +people return, with Saxon-Dragoon regiments, all manner of regiments, +reinforcing them. And has some really dangerous fencing there;--issuing +in dangerous and curious pause of both parties; who stand drawn up, +scarcely beyond pistol-shot, and gazing into one another, for I know +not how many minutes; neither of them daring to move off, lest, on the +instant of turning, it be charged and overwhelmed. As the impatient +Friedrich, at last, almost was,--had not his Infantry just then got in, +and given their cannon-salvo. He lost about 200, the Lacy people hardly +so many; and is now out of a considerable personal jeopardy, which is +still celebrated in the Anecdote-Books, perhaps to a mythical extent. +'Two Uhlans [Saxon-Polish Light-Horse], with their truculent pikes, are +just plunging in,' say the Anecdote-Books: Friedrich's Page, who had got +unhorsed, sprang to his feet, bellowed in Polish to them: 'What are +you doing here, fellows?' 'Excellenz [for the Page is not in Prussian +uniform, or in uniform at all, only well-dressed], Excellenz, our horses +ran away with us,' answer the poor fellows; and whirl back rapidly." The +story, says Retzow, is true. [Retzow, ii. 215.] + +This is the one event of July 7th,--and of July 8th withal; which day +also, on news of Daun that come, Friedrich rests. Up to July 8th, it is +clear Friedrich is shooting with what we called the first string of his +bow,--intent, namely, on Silesia. Nor, on hearing that Daun is forward +again, now hopelessly ahead, does he quit that enterprise; but, on the +contrary, to-morrow morning, July 9th, tries it by a new method, as we +shall see: method cunningly devised to suit the second string as well. +"How lucky that we have a second string, in case of failure!"-- + +TUESDAY, 8th JULY. "News that Daun reached Gorlitz yesternight; and +is due to-night at Lauban, fifty miles ahead of us:--no hope now +of reaching Daun. Perhaps a sudden clutch at Lacy, in the opposite +direction, might be the method of recalling Daun, and reaching him? That +is the method fallen upon. + +"Sun being set, the drums in Bautzen sound TATTOO,--audible to listening +Croats in the Environs;--beat TATTOO, and, later in the night, other +passages of drum-music, also for Croat behoof (GENERAL-MARCH I think it +is); indicating That we have started again, in pursuit of Daun. And in +short, every precaution being taken to soothe the mind of Lacy and +the Croats, Friedrich silently issues, with his best speed, in Three +columns, by Three roads, towards Lacy's quarters, which go from that +village of Godau westward, in a loose way, several miles. In three +columns, by three routes, all to converge, with punctuality, on Lacy. +Of the columns, two are of Infantry, the leftmost and the rightmost, on +each hand, hidden as much as possible; one is of Cavalry in the middle. +Coming on in this manner--like a pair of triple-pincers, which are to +grip simultaneously on Lacy, and astonish him, if he keep quiet. But +Lacy is vigilant, and is cautious almost in excess. Learning by his +Pandours that the King seems to be coming this way, Lacy gathers himself +on the instant; quits Godau, by one in the morning; and retreats bodily, +at his fastest step, to Bischofswerda again; nor by any means stops +there." [Tempelhof, iv. 61-63.] + +For the third time! "Three is lucky," Friedrich may have thought: +and there has no precaution, of drum-music, of secrecy or persuasive +finesse, been neglected on Lacy. But Lacy has ears that hear the grass +grow: our elaborately accurate triple-pincers, closing simultaneously +on Bischofswerda, after eighteen miles of sweep, find Lacy flown again; +nothing to be caught of him but some 80 hussars. All this day and +all next night Lacy is scouring through the western parts at an +extraordinary rate; halting for a camp, twice over, at different +places,--Durre Fuchs (THIRSTY FOX), Durre Buhle (THIRSTY SWEETHEART), or +wherever it was; then again taking wing, on sound of Prussian parties to +rear; in short, hurrying towards Dresden and the Reichsfolk, as if for +life. + +Lacy's retreat, I hear, was ingeniously done, with a minimum of disorder +in the circumstances: but certainly it was with a velocity as if his +head had been on fire; and, indeed, they say he escaped annihilation by +being off in time. He put up finally, not at Thirsty Sweetheart, still +less at Thirsty Fox, successive Hamlets and Public Houses in the sandy +Wilderness which lies to north of Elbe, and is called DRESDEN HEATH; +but farther on, in the same Tract, at Weisse Hirsch (WHITE HART); which +looks close over upon Dresden, within two miles or so; and is a kind +of Height, and military post of advantage. Next morning, July 10th, +he crosses Dresden Bridge, comes streaming through the City; and takes +shelter with the Reichsfolk near there:--towards Plauen Chasm; the +strongest ground in the world; hardly strong enough, it appears, in the +present emergency. + +Friedrich's first string, therefore, has snapt in two; but, on the +instant, he has a second fitted on:--may that prove luckier! + + + + +Chapter II. + +FRIEDRICH BESIEGES DRESDEN. + +From and after the Evening of Wednesday, July 9th, it is upon a Siege of +Dresden that Friedrich goes;--turning the whole war-theatre topsy-turvy; +throwing Daun, Loudon, Lacy, everybody OUT, in this strange and sudden +manner. One of the finest military feats ever done, thinks Tempelhof. +Undoubtedly a notable result so far, and notably done; as the impartial +reader (if Tempelhof be a little inconsistent) sees for himself. +These truly are a wonderful series of marches, opulent in continual +promptitudes, audacities, contrivances;--done with shining talent, +certainly; and also with result shining, for the moment. And in a +Fabulous Epic I think Dresden would certainly have fallen to Friedrich, +and his crowd of enemies been left in a tumbled condition. + +But the Epic of Reality cares nothing for such considerations; and +the time allowable for capture of Dresden is very brief. Had Daun, +on getting warning, been as prompt to return as he was to go, frankly +fronting at once the chances of the road, he might have been at Dresden +again perhaps within a week,--no Siege possible for Friedrich, hardly +the big guns got up from Magdeburg. But Friedrich calculated there would +be very considerable fettling and haggling on Daun's part; say a good +Fortnight of Siege allowed;--and that, by dead-lift effort of all hands, +the thing was feasible within that limit. On Friedrich's part, as we can +fancy, there was no want of effort; nor on his people's part,--in spite +of his complainings, say Retzow and the Opposition party; who insinuate +their own private belief of impossibility from the first. Which is +not confirmed by impartial judgments,--that of Archenholtz, and others +better. The truth is, Friedrich was within an inch of taking Dresden by +the first assault,--they say he actually could have taken it by storm +the first day; but shuddered at the thought of exposing poor Dresden to +sack and plunder; and hoped to get it by capitulation. + +One of the rapidest and most furious Sieges anywhere on record. Filled +Europe with astonishment, expectancy, admiration, horror:--must be very +briefly recited here. The main chronological epochs, salient points of +crisis and successive phases of occurrence, will sufficiently indicate +it to the reader's fancy. + +"It was Thursday Evening, 10th July, when Lacy got to his Reichsfolk, +and took breath behind Plauen Chasm. Maguire is Governor of Dresden. The +consternation of garrison and population was extreme. To Lacy himself it +did not seem conceivable that Friedrich could mean a Siege of Dresden. +Friedrich, that night, is beyond the River, in Daun's old impregnability +of Reichenberg: 'He has no siege-artillery,' thinks Lacy; 'no means, no +time.' + +"Nevertheless, Saturday, next day after to-morrow,--behold, there is +Hulsen, come from Schlettau to our neighborhood, on our Austrian side +of the River. And at Kaditz yonder, a mile below Dresden, are not +the King's people building their Pontoons; in march since 2 in the +morning,--evidently coming across, if not to besiege Dresden, then to +attack us; which is perhaps worse! We outnumber them,--but as to trying +fight in any form? Zweibruck leaves Maguire an additional 10,000;--every +help and encouragement to Maguire; whose garrison is now 14,000: 'Be of +courage, Excellenz Maguire! Nobody is better skilled in siege-matters. +Feldmarschall and relief will be here with despatch!'--and withdraws, +Lacy and he, to the edge of the Pirna Country, there to be well out of +harm's way. Lacy and he, it is thought, would perhaps have got beaten, +trying to save Dresden from its misery. Lacy's orders were, Not, on any +terms, to get into fighting with Friedrich, but only to cover Dresden. +Dresden, without fighting, has proved impossible to cover, and Lacy +leaves it bare." [Tempelhof, iv. 65.] + +"At Kaditz," says Mitchell, "where the second bridge of boats took a +great deal of time, I was standing by his Majesty, when news to the +above effect came across from General Hulsen. The King was highly +pleased; and, turning to me, said: 'Just what I wished! They have saved +me a very long march [round by Dippoldiswalde or so, in upon the rear +of them] by going of will.' And immediately the King got on horseback; +ordering the Army to follow as fast as it could." [Mitchell, ii. 168.] +"Through Preisnitz, Plauen-ward, goes the Army; circling round the +Western and the Southern side of Dresden; [a dread spectacle from the +walls]; across Weistritz Brook and the Plauen Chasm [comfortably left +vacant]; and encamps on the Southeastern side of Dresden, at Gruna, +behind the GREAT GARDEN; ready to begin business on the morrow. Gruna, +about a mile to southeast of Dresden Walls, is head-quarter during this +Siege. + +"Through the night, the Prussians proceed to build batteries, the best +they can;--there is no right siege-artillery yet; a few accidental +howitzers and 25-pounders, the rest mere field-guns;--but to-morrow +morning, be as it may, business shall begin. Prince von Holstein [nephew +of the Holstein Beck, or "Holstein SILVER-PLATE," whom we lost long +ago], from beyond the River, encamped at the White Hart yonder, is to +play upon the Neustadt simultaneously. + +MONDAY 14th, "At 6 A.M., cannonade began; diligent on Holstein's part +and ours; but of inconsiderable effect. Maguire has been summoned: 'Will +[with such a garrison, in spite of such trepidations from the Court +and others] defend himself to the last man.' Free-Corps people [not +Quintus's, who is on the other side of the River], [Tempelhof, v. 67.] +with regulars to rear, advance on the Pirna Gate; hurl in Maguire's +Out-parties; and had near got in along with them,--might have done so, +they and their supports, it is thought by some, had storm seemed the +recommendable method. + +"For four days there is livelier and livelier cannonading; new batteries +getting opened in the Moschinska Garden and other points; on the +Prussian part, great longing that the Magdeburg artillery were here. +The Prussians are making diligently ready for it, in the mean while +(refitting the old Trenches, 'old Envelope' dug by Maguire himself in +the Anti-Schmettau time; these will do well enough):--the Prussians +reinforce Holstein at the Weisse, Hirsch, throw a new bridge across +to him; and are busy day and night. Maguire, too, is most industrious, +resisting and preparing: Thursday shuts up the Weistritz Brook (a dam +being ready this long while back, needing only to be closed), and lays +the whole South side of Dresden under water. Many rumors about Daun: +coming, not coming;--must for certain come, but will possibly be +slowish." + +FRIDAY 18th. "Joy to every Prussian soul: here are the heavy guns from +Magdeburg. These, at any rate, are come; beds for them all ready; +and now the cannonading can begin in right earnest. As it does with a +vengeance. To Mitchell, and perhaps others, 'the King of Prussia says He +will now be master of the Town in a few days. And the disposition he has +made of his troops on the other side of the River is intended not only +to attack Dresden on that side [and defend himself from Daun], but also +to prevent the Garrison from retiring.... This morning, Friday, 18th, +the Suburb of Pirna, the one street left of it, was set fire to, by +Maguire; and burnt out of the way, as the others had been. Many of the +wretched inhabitants had fled to our camp: "Let them lodge in Plauen, +no fighting there, quiet artificial water expanses there instead." Many +think the Town will not be taken; or that, if it should, it will cost +very dear,--so determined seems Maguire. [Mitchell, iii. 170, 171.] And, +in effect, from this day onwards, the Siege became altogether fierce, +and not only so, but fiery as well; and, though lasting in that violent +form only four, or at the very utmost seven, days more, had near ruined +Dresden from the face of the world." + +SATURDAY, 19th, "Maguire, touched to the quick by these new artilleries +of the Prussians this morning, found good to mount a gun or two on the +leads of the Kreuz-Kirche [Protestant High Church, where, before now, +we have noticed Friedrich attending quasi-divine service more than +once];--that is to say, on the crown of Dresden; from which there is +view into the bottom of Friedrich's trenches and operations. Others say, +it was only two or three old Saxon cannon, which stand there, for firing +on gala-days; and that they hardly fired on Friedrich more than once. +For certain, this is one of the desirablest battery-stations,--if only +Friedrich will leave it alone. Which he will not for a moment; but +brings terrific howitzers to bear on it; cannon-balls, grenadoes; tears +it to destruction, and the poor Kreuz-Kirche along with it. Kirche +speedily all in flames, street after street blazing up round it, again +and again for eight-and-forty hours coming; hapless Dresden, during two +days and nights, a mere volcano henceforth." "By mistake all that, and +without order of mine," says Friedrich once;--meaning, I think, all that +of the Kreuz-Kirche: and perhaps wishing he could mean the bombardment +altogether, [Schoning, ii. 361 "To Prince Henri, at Giessen [Frankfurt +Country], 23d July, 1760."]--who nevertheless got, and gets, most of the +credit of the thing from a shocked outside world. + +"This morning," same Saturday, 19th, "Daun is reported to have arrived; +vanguard of him said to be at Schonfeld, over in THIRSTY-SWEETHEART +Country yonder which Friedrich, going to reconnoitre, finds tragically +indisputable: 'There, for certain; only five miles from Holstein's post +at the WHITE HART, and no River between;--as the crow flies, hardly +five from our own Camp. Perhaps it will be some days yet before he do +anything?' So that Friedrich persists in his bombardment, only the more: +'By fire-torture, then! Let the bombarded Royalties assail Maguire, and +Maguire give in;--it is our one chance left; and succeed we will and +must!' Cruel, say you?--Ah, yes, cruel enough, not merciful at all. The +soul of Friedrich, I perceive, is not in a bright mood at this time, but +in a black and wrathful, worn almost desperate against the slings and +arrows of unjust Fate: 'Ahead, I say! If everybody will do miracles, +cannot we perhaps still manage it, in spite of Fate?'" Mitchell is very +sorry; but will forget and forgive those inexorable passages of war. + +"I cannot think of the bombardment of Dresden without horror," says he; +"nor of many other things I have seen. Misfortunes naturally sour men's +temper [even royal men's]; and long continued, without interval, at +last extinguish humanity." "We are now in a most critical and dangerous +situation, which cannot long last: one lucky event, approaching to a +miracle, may still save all: but the extreme caution and circumspection +of Marshal Daun--!" [Mitchell, ii. 184, 185.] + +If Daun could be swift, and end the miseries of Dresden, surely Dresden +would be much obliged to him. It was ten days yet, after that of the +Kreuz-Kirche, before Dresden quite got rid of its Siege: Daun never was +a sudden man. By a kind of accident, he got Holstein hustled across +the River that first night (July 19th),--not annihilated, as was very +feasible, but pushed home, out of his way. Whereby the North side of +Dresden is now open; and Daun has free communication with Maguire. + +Maguire rose thereupon to a fine pitch of spirits; tried several things, +and wished Daun to try; but with next to no result. For two days after +Holstein's departure, Daun sat still, on his safe Northern shore; +stirring nothing but his own cunctations and investigations, leaving the +bombardment, or cannonade, to take its own course. One attempt he did +make in concert with Maguire (night of Monday 21st), and one attempt +only, of a serious nature; which, like the rest, was unsuccessful. And +would not be worth mentioning,--except for the poor Regiment BERNBURG'S +sake; Bernburg having got into strange case in consequence of it. + +"This Attempt [night of 21st-22d July] was a combined sally and +assault--Sally by Maguire's people, a General Nugent heading them, from +the South or Plauen side of Dresden, and Assault by 4,000 of Daun's from +the North side--upon Friedrich's Trenches. Which are to be burst in upon +in this double way, and swept well clear, as may be expected. +Friedrich, however, was aware of the symptoms, and had people ready +waiting,--especially, had Regiment BERNBURG, Battalions 1st and 2d; a +Regiment hitherto without stain. + +"Bernburg accordingly, on General Nugent's entering their trenches from +the south side, falls altogether heartily on General Nugent; tumbles him +back, takes 200 prisoners, Nudent himself one of them [who is considered +to have been the eye of the enterprise, worth many hundreds this night] +all this Bernburg, in its usually creditable manner, does, as expected +of it. But after, or during all this, when the Dann people from the +north come streaming in, say four to one, both south and north, Bernburg +looked round for support; and seeing none, had, after more or less +of struggle, to retire as a defeated Bernburg,--Austrians taking +the battery, and ruling supreme there for some time. Till Wedell, or +somebody with fresh Battalions, came up; and, rallying Bernburg to him, +retook their Battery, and drove out the Austrians, with a heavy loss of +prisoners. [Tempelhof, iv. 79.] + +"I did not hear that Bernburg's conduct was liable to the least fair +censure. But Friedrich's soul is severe at this time; demanding miracles +from everybody: 'You runaway Bernburg, shame on you!'--and actually +takes the swords from them, and cuts off their Hat-tresses: 'There!' +Which excited such an astonishment in the Prussian Army as was seldom +seen before. And affected Bernburg to the length almost of despair, and +breaking of heart,--in a way that is not ridiculous to me at all, +but beautiful and pathetic. Of which there is much talk, now and long +afterwards, in military circles. 'The sorrows of these poor Bernburgers, +their desperate efforts to wash out this stigma, their actual washing +of it out, not many weeks hence, and their magnificent joy on the +occasion,--these are the one distinguishing point in Daun's relief of +Dresden, which was otherwise quite a cunctatory, sedentary matter." + +Daun built three Bridges,--he had a broad stone one already,--but did +little or nothing with them; and never himself came across at all. +Merely shot out nocturnal Pandour Parties, and ordered up Lacy and the +Reichsfolk to do the like, and break the night's rest of his Enemy. He +made minatory movements, one at least, down the River, by his own shore, +on Friedrich's Ammunition-Boats from Torgau, and actually intercepted +certain of them, which was something; but, except this, and vague +flourishings of the Pandour kind, left Friedrich to his own course. + +Friedrich bombarded for a day or two farther; cannonaded, out of more or +fewer batteries, for eight, or I think ten days more. Attacks from Daun +there were to be, now on this side, now on that; many rumors of attack, +but, except once only (midnight Pandours attempting the King's lodging, +"a Farm-house near Gruna," but to their astonishment rousing the whole +Prussian Army "in the course of three minutes" [Archenholtz, ii. 81 (who +is very vivid, but does not date); Rodenbeck, ii. 24 (quotes similar +account by another Eye-witness, and guesses it to be "night of July +22d-23d").]), rumor was mainly all. For guarding his siege-lines, +Friedrich has to alter his position; to shift slightly, now fronting +this way, now the other way; is "called always at midnight" (against +these nocturnal disturbances), and "never has his clothes off." +Nevertheless, continues his bombardment, and then his cannonading, +till his own good time, which I think is till the 26th. His +"ricochet-battery," which is good against Maguire's people, innocent +to Dresden, he continued for three days more;--while gathering +his furnitures about Plauen Country, making his arrangements at +Meissen;--did not march till the night of June 29th. Altogether calmly; +no Daun or Austrian molesting him in the least; his very sentries +walking their rounds in the trenches till daylight; after which they +also marched, unmolested, Meissen-ward. + +Unfortunate Friedrich has made nothing of Dresden, then. After such a +June and July of it, since he left the Meissen Country; after all these +intricate manoeuvrings, hot fierce marchings and superhuman exertions, +here is he returning to Meissen Country poorer than if he had stayed. +Fouquet lost, Glatz unrelieved--Nay, just before marching off, what is +this new phenomenon? Is this by way of "Happy journey to you!" Towards +sunset of the 29th, exuberant joy-firing rises far and wide from the +usually quiet Austrian lines,--"Meaning what, once more?" Meaning that +Glatz is lost, your Majesty; that, instead of a siege of many weeks (as +might have been expected with Fouquet for Commandant), it has held out, +under Fouquet's Second, only a few hours; and is gone without remedy! +Certain, though incredible. Imbecile Commandant, treacherous Garrison +(Austrian deserters mainly), with stealthy Jesuits acting on them: no +use asking what. Here is the sad Narrative, in succinct form. + + + + +CAPTURE OF GLATZ (26th July, 1760). + +"Loudon is a swift man, when he can get bridle; but the curb-hand of +Daun is often heavy on him. Loudon has had Glatz blockaded since June +7th; since June 23d he has had Fouquet rooted away, and the ground clear +for a Siege of Glatz. But had to abstain altogether, in the mean time; +to take camp at Landshut, to march and manoeuvre about, in support of +Daun, and that heavy-footed gallop of Daun's which then followed: on +the whole, it was not till Friedrich went for Dresden that the +Siege-Artillery, from Olmutz, could be ordered forward upon Glatz; not +for a fortnight more that the Artillery could come; and, in spite of +Loudon's utmost despatch, not till break of day, July 26th, that +the batteries could open. After which, such was Loudon's speed +and fortune,--and so diligent had the Jesuits been in those seven +weeks,--the 'Siege,' as they call it, was over in less than seven hours. + +"One Colonel D'O [Piedmontese by nation, an incompetent person, known to +loud Trenck during his detention here] was Commandant of Glatz, and had +the principal Fortress,--for there are two, one on each side the Neisse +River;--his Second was a Colonel Quadt, by birth Prussian, seemingly +not very competent he either, who had command of the Old Fortress, round +which lies the Town of Glatz: a little Town, abounding in Jesuits;--to +whose Virgin, if readers remember, Friedrich once gave a new gown; +with small effect on her, as would appear. The Quadt-D'O garrison was +2,400,--and, if tales are true, it had been well bejesuited during those +seven weeks. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 55.] At four in the morning, +July 26th) the battering began on Quadt; Quadt, I will believe, +responding what he could,--especially from a certain Arrowhead Redoubt +(or FLECHE) he has, which ought to have been important to him. After +four or five hours of this, there was mutual pause,--as if both parties +had decided upon breakfast before going farther. + +"Quadt's Fortress is very strong, mostly hewn in the rock; and he has +that important outwork of a FLECHE; which is excellent for enfilading, +as it extends well beyond the glacis; and, being of rock like the rest, +is also abundantly defensible. Loudon's people, looking over into +this FLECHE, find it negligently guarded; Quadt at breakfast, as would +seem:--and directly send for Harsch, Captain of the Siege, and even for +Loudon, the General-in-Chief. Negligently guarded, sure enough; nothing +in the FLECHE but a few sentries, and these in the horizontal position, +taking their unlawful rest there, after such a morning's work. 'Seize me +that,' eagerly orders Loudon; 'hold that with firm grip!' Which is +done; only to step in softly, two battalions of you, and lay hard hold. +Incompetent Quadt, figure in what a flurry, rushing out to recapture +his FLECHE,--explodes instead into mere anarchy, whole Companies of him +flinging down their arms at their Officers' feet, and the like. So +that Quadt is totally driven in again, Austrians along with him; and +is obliged to beat chamade;--D'O following the example, about an hour +after, without even a capitulation. Was there ever seen such a defence! +Major Unruh, one of a small minority, was Prussian, and stanch; here is +Unruh's personal experience,--testimony on D'O's Trial, I suppose,--and +now pretty much the one thing worth reading on this subject. + +"MAJOR ULZRUH TESTIFIES: 'At four in the morning, 26th July, 1760, the +Enemy began to cannonade the Old Fortress [that of Quadt]; and about +nine, I was ordered with 150 men to clear the Envelope from Austrians. +Just when I had got to the Damm-Gate, halt was called. I asked the +Commandant, who was behind me, which way I should march; to the +Crown-work or to the Envelope? Being answered, To the Envelope, I +found on coming out at the Field-Gate nothing but an Austrian +Lieutenant-colonel and some men. He called to me, "There had been +chamade beaten, and I was not to run into destruction (MICH UNGLUCKLICH +MACHEN)!" I offered him Quarter; and took him in effect prisoner, with +20 of his best men; and sent him to the Commandant, with request that +he would keep my rear free, or send me reinforcement. I shot the Enemy a +great many people here; chased him from the Field-Gate, and out of +both the Envelope and the Redoubt called the Crane [that is the FLECHE +itself, only that the Austrians are mostly not now there, but gone +THROUGH into the interior there!]--Returning to the Field-Gate, I +found that the Commandant had beaten chamade a second time; there were +marching in, by this Field-Gate, two battalions of the Austrian Regiment +ANDLAU; I had to yield myself prisoner, and was taken to General Loudon. +He asked me, "Don't you know the rules of war, then; that you fire after +chamade is beaten?" I answered in my heat, "I knew of no chamade; what +poltroonery or what treachery had been going on, I knew not!" Loudon +answered, "You might deserve to have your head laid at your feet, Sir! +Am I here to inquire which of you shows bravery, which poltroonery?"' +[Seyfarth, ii. 652.] A blazing Loudon, when the fire is up!"-- + +After the Peace, D'O had Court-Martial, which sentenced him to death, +Friedrich making it perpetual imprisonment: "Perhaps not a traitor, only +a blockhead!" thought Friedrich. He had been recommended to his post by +Fouquet. What Trenck writes of him is, otherwise, mostly lies. + +Thus is the southern Key of Silesia (one of the two southern Keys, +Neisse being the other) lost to Friedrich, for the first time; and +Loudon is like to drive a trade there; "Will absolutely nothing prosper +with us, then?" Nothing, seemingly, your Majesty! Heavier news Friedrich +scarcely ever had. But there is no help. This too he has to carry with +him as he can into the Meissen Country. Unsuccessful altogether; beaten +on every hand. Human talent, diligence, endeavor, is it but as lightning +smiting the Serbonian Bog? Smite to the last, your Majesty, at any rate; +let that be certain. As it is, and has been. That is always something, +that is always a great thing. + +Friedrich intends no pause in those Meissen Countries. JULY 30th, on his +march northward, he detaches Hulsen with the old 10,000 to take Camp at +Schlettau as before, and do his best for defence of Saxony against the +Reichsfolk, numerous, but incompetent; he himself, next day, passes on, +leaving Meissen a little on his right, to Schieritz, some miles farther +down,--intending there to cross Elbe, and make for Silesia without loss +of an hour. Need enough of speed thither; more need than even Friedrich +supposes! Yesterday, July 30th, Loudon's Vanguard came blockading +Breslau, and this day Loudon himself;--though Friedrich heard nothing, +anticipated nothing, of that dangerous fact, for a week hence or more. + +Soltikof's and Loudon's united intentions on Silesia he has well known +this long while; and has been perpetually dunning Prince Henri on the +subject, to no purpose,--only hoping always there would probably be +no great rapidity on the part of these discordant Allies. Friedrich's +feelings, now that the contrary is visible, and indeed all through the +Summer in regard to the Soltikof-Loudon Business, and the Fouquet-Henri +method of dealing with it, have been painful enough, and are growing +ever more so. Cautious Henri never would make the smallest attack on +Soltikof, but merely keep observing him;--the end of which, what can the +end of it be? urges Friedrich always: "Condense yourselves; go in +upon the Russians, while they are in separate corps;"--and is very +ill-satisfied with the languor of procedures there. As is the Prince +with such reproaches, or implied reproaches, on said languor. Nor is his +humor cheered, when the King's bad predictions prove true. What has it +come to? These Letters of King and Prince are worth reading,--if indeed +you can, in the confusion of Schoning (a somewhat exuberant man, loud +rather than luminous);--so curious is the Private Dialogue going +on there at all times, in the background of the stage, between the +Brothers. One short specimen, extending through the June and July just +over,--specimen distilled faithfully out of that huge jumbling sea of +Schaning, and rendered legible,--the reader will consent to. + + + + +DIALOGUE OF FRIEDRICH AND HENRI (from their Private Correspondence: June +7th-July 29th, 1760). + +FRIEDRICH (June 7th; before his first crossing Elbe: Henri at Sagan; +he at Schlettau, scanning the waste of fatal possibilities). ... +Embarrassing? Not a doubt, of that! "I own, the circumstances both of +us are in are like to turn my head, three or four times a day." Loudon +aiming for Neisse, don't you think? Fouquet all in the wrong.--"One +has nothing for it but to watch where the likelihood of the biggest +misfortune is, and to run thither with one's whole strength." + +HENRI... "I confess I am in great apprehension for Colberg:"--shall +one make thither; think you? Russians, 8,000 as the first instalment +of them, have ARRIVED; got to Posen under Fermor, June 1st:--so the +Commandant of Glogau writes me (see enclosed). + +FRIEDRICH (June 9th). Commandant of Glogau writes impossibilities: +Russians are not on march yet, nor will be for above a week. + +"I cross Elbe, the 15th. I am compelled to undertake something of +decisive nature, and leave the rest to chance. For desperate disorders +desperate remedies. My bed is not one of roses. Heaven aid us: for human +prudence finds itself fall short in situations so cruel and desperate as +ours." [Schoning, ii. 313 ("Meissen Camp, 7th June, 1760"); ib. ii. 317 +("9th June").] + +HENRI. Hm, hm, ha (Nothing but carefully collected rumors, and +wire-drawn auguries from them, on the part of Henri; very intense +inspection of the chicken-bowels,--hardly ever without a shake of the +head). + +FRIEDRICH (June 26th; has heard of the Fouquet disaster).... "Yesterday +my heart was torn to pieces [news of Landshut, Fouquet's downfall +there], and I felt too sad to be in a state for writing you a sensible +Letter; but to-day, when I have come to myself a little again, I will +send you my reflections. After what has happened to Fouquet, it is +certain Loudon can have no other design but on Breslau [he designs Glatz +first of all]: it will be the grand point, therefore, especially if +the Russians too are bending thither, to save that Capital of Silesia. +Surely the Turks must be in motion:--if so, we are saved; if not so, we +are lost! To-day I have taken this Camp of Dobritz, in order to be more +collected, and in condition to fight well, should occasion rise,--and +in case all this that is said and written to me about the Turks is TRUE +[which nothing of it was], to be able to profit by it when the time +comes." [Schoning, ii. 341 ("Gross-Dobritz, 26th June, 1760").] + +HENRI (simultaneously, June 26th: Henri is forward from Sagan, through +Frankfurt, and got settled at Landsberg, where he remains through the +rest of the Dialogue).... Tottleben, with his Cossacks, scouring +about, got a check from us,--nothing like enough. "By all my accounts, +Soltikof, with the gross of the Russians, is marching for Posen. The +other rumors and symptoms agree in indicating a separate Corps, under +Fermor, who is to join Tottleben, and besiege Colberg: if both these +Corps, the Colberg and the Posen one, act, in concert, my embarrassment +will be extreme.... I have just had news of what has befallen General +Fouquet. Before this stroke, your affairs were desperate enough; now I +see but too well what we have to look for." [Ib. ii. 339 ("Landsberg, +26th June, 1760").] (How comforting!) + +FRIEDRICH. "Would to God your prayers for the swift capture of Dresden +had been heard; but unfortunately I must tell you, this stroke has +failed me.... Dresden has been reduced to ashes, third part of the +Altstadt lying burnt;--contrary to my intentions: my orders were, To +spare the City, and play the Artillery against the works. My Minister +Graf von Finck will have told you what occasioned its being set on +fire." [Schoning, ii. 361 ("2d-3d July").] + +HENRI (July 26th; Dresden Siege gone awry).... "I am to keep the +Russians from Frankfurt, to cover Glogau, and prevent a besieging of +Breslau! All that forms an overwhelming problem;--which I, with my +whole heart, will give up to somebody abler for it than I am." [Ib. ii. +369-371 ("Landsherg, 26th July").] + +FRIEDRICH (29th July; quits the Trenches of Dresden this night). ... +"I have seen with pain that you represent everything to yourself on the +black side. I beg you, in the name of God, my dearest Brother, don't +take things up in their blackest and worst shape:--it is this that +throws your mind into such an indecision, which is so lamentable. Adopt +a resolution rather, what resolution you like, but stand by it, and +execute it with your whole strength. I conjure you, take a fixed +resolution; better a bad than none at all.... What is possible to man, +I will do; neither care nor consideration nor effort shall be spared, to +secure the result of my plans. The rest depends on circumstances. Amid +such a number of enemies, one cannot always do what one will, but must +let them prescribe." [Ib. ii. 370-372 ("Leubnitz, before Dresden, 29th +July, 1760").] + +An uncomfortable little Gentleman; but full of faculty, if one can +manage to get good of it! Here, what might have preceded all the above, +and been preface to it, is a pretty passage from him; a glimpse he has +had of Sans-Souci, before setting out on those gloomy marchings and +cunctatory hagglings. Henri writes (at Torgau, April 26th, just back +from Berlin and farewell of friends):-- + +"I mean to march the day after to-morrow. I took arrangements with +General Fouquet [about that long fine-spun Chain of Posts, where we are +to do such service?]--the Black Hussars cannot be here till to-morrow, +otherwise I should have marched a day sooner. My Brother [poor little +invalid Ferdinand] charged me to lay him at your feet. I found him +weak and thin, more so than formerly. Returning hither, the day before +yesterday, I passed through Potsdam; I went to Sans-Souci [April 24th, +1760]:--all is green there; the Garden embellished, and seemed to me +excellently kept. Though these details cannot occupy you at present, +I thought it would give you pleasure to hear of them for a moment." +[Schoning, ii. 233 ("Torgau, 26th April, 1760").] Ah, yes; all is so +green and blessedly silent there: sight of the lost Paradise, actually +IT, visible for a moment yonder, far away, while one goes whirling in +this manner on the illimitable wracking winds!-- + +Here finally, from a distant part of the War-Theatre, is another Note; +which we will read while Friedrich is at Schieritz. At no other place so +properly; the very date of it, chief date (July 31st), being by accident +synchronous with Schieritz:-- + + + + +DUKE FERDINAND'S BATTLE OF WARBURG (31st July, 1760). + +Duke Ferdinand has opened his difficult Campaign; and especially--just +while that Siege of Dresden blazed and ended--has had three sharp +Fights, which were then very loud in the Gazettes, along with it. Three +once famous Actions; which unexpectedly had little or no result, and are +very much forgotten now. So that bare enumeration of them is nearly +all we are permitted here. Pitt has furnished 7,000 new English, this +Campaign,--there are now 20,000 English in all, and a Duke Ferdinand +raised to 70,000 men. Surely, under good omens, thinks Pitt; and still +more think the Gazetteers, judging by appearances. Yes: but if Broglio +have 130,000, what will it come to? Broglio is two to one; and has, +before this, proved himself a considerable Captain. + +Fight FIRST is that of KORBACH (July 10th): of Broglio, namely, who has +got across the River Ohm in Hessen (to Ferdinand's great disgust with +the General Imhof in command there), and is streaming on to seize the +Diemel River, and menace Hanover; of Broglio, in successive sections, at +a certain "Pass of Korbach," VERSUS the Hereditary Prince (ERBPRINZ of +Brunswick), who is waiting for him there in one good section,--and who +beautifully hurls back one and another of the Broglio sections; but +cannot hurl back the whole Broglio Army, all marching by sections that +way; and has to retire, back foremost, fencing sharply, still in a +diligently handsome manner, though with loss. [Mauvillon, ii. 105.] That +is the Battle of Korbach, fought July 10th,--while Lacy streamed through +Dresden, panting to be at Plauen Chasm, safe at last. + +Fight SECOND (July 16th) was a kind of revenge on the Erbprinz's part: +Affair of EMSDORF, six days after, in the same neighborhood; beautiful +too, said the Gazetteers; but of result still more insignificant. +Hearing of a considerable French Brigade posted not far off, at that +Village of Emsdorf, to guard Broglio's meal-carts there, the indignant +Erbprinz shoots off for that; light of foot,--English horse mainly, and +Hill Scots (BERG-SCHOTTEN so called, who have a fine free stride, in +summer weather);--dashes in upon said Brigade (Dragoons of Bauffremont +and other picked men), who stood firmly on the defensive; but were cut +up, in an amazing manner, root and branch, after a fierce struggle, and +as it were brought home in one's pocket. To the admiration of military +circles,--especially of mess-rooms and the junior sort. "Elliot's +light horse [part of the new 7,000], what a regiment! Unparalleled for +willingness, and audacity of fence; lost 125 killed,"--in fact, the +loss chiefly fell on Elliot. [Ib. ii. 109 (Prisoners got "were +2,661, including General and Officers 179," with all their furnitures +whatsoever, "400 horses, 8 cannon," &c.).] The BERG-SCHOTTEN too,--I +think it was here that these kilted fellows, who had marched with such +a stride, "came home mostly riding:" poor Beauffremont Dragoons being +entirely cut up, or pocketed as prisoners, and their horses ridden in +this unexpected manner! But we must not linger,--hardly even on WARBURG, +which was the THIRD and greatest; and has still points of memorability, +though now so obliterated. + +"Warburg," says my Note on this latter, "is a pleasant little Hessian +Town, some twenty-five miles west of Cassel, standing on the north or +left bank of the Diemel, among fruitful knolls and hollows. The famous +'BATTLE OF WARBURG,'--if you try to inquire in the Town itself, from +your brief railway-station, it is much if some intelligent inhabitant, +at last, remembers to have heard of it! The thing went thus: Chevalier +du Muy, who is Broglio's Rear-guard or Reserve, 30,000 foot and horse, +with his back to the Diemel, and eight bridges across it in case of +accident, has his right flank leaning on Warburg, and his left on a +Village of Ossendorf, some two miles to northwest of that. Broglio, +Prince Xavier of Saxony, especially Duke Ferdinand, are all vehemently +and mysteriously moving about, since that Fight of Korbach; Broglio +intent to have Cassel besieged, Du Muy keeping the Diemel for him; +Ferdinand eager to have the Diemel back from Du Muy and him. + +"Two days ago (July 29th), the Erbprinz crossed over into these +neighborhoods, with a strong Vanguard, nearly equal to Du Muy; and, +after studious reconnoitring and survey had, means, this morning (July +31st), to knock him over the Diemel again, if he can. No time to be +lost; Broglio near and in such force. Duke Ferdinand too, quitting +Broglio for a moment, is on march this way; crossed the Diemel, about +midnight, some ten miles farther down, or eastward; will thence bend +southward, at his best speed, to support the Erbprinz, if necessary, and +beset the Diemel when got;--Erbprinz not, however, in any wise, to +wait for him; such the pressure from Broglio and others. A most busy +swift-going scene that morning;--hardly worth such describing at this +date of time. + +"The Erbprinz, who is still rather to northeastward, that is to +rightward, not directly frontward, of Du Muy's lines; and whose plan of +attack is still dark to Du Muy, commences [about 8 A.M., I should guess] +by launching his British Legion so called,--which is a composite body, +of Free-Corps nature, British some of it ('Colonel Beckwith's people,' +for example), not British by much the most of it, but an aggregate of +wild strikers, given to plunder too:--by launching his British Legion +upon Warburg Town, there to take charge of Du Muy's right wing. Which +Legion, 'with great rapidity, not only pitched the French all out, but +clean plundered the poor Town;' and is a sad sore on Du Muy's right, who +cannot get it attended to, in the ominous aspects elsewhere visible. +For the Erbprinz, who is a strategic creature, comes on, in the style +of Friedrich, not straight towards Du Muy, but sweeps out in two +columns round northward; privately intending upon Du Muy's left wing +and front--left wing, right wing, (by British Legion), and front, all +three;--and is well aided by a mist which now fell, and which hung on +the higher ground, and covered his march, for an hour or more. This mist +had not begun when he saw, on the knoll-tops, far off on the right, but +indisputable as he flattered himself,--something of Ferdinand emerging! +Saw this; and pours along, we can suppose, with still better step and +temper. And bursts, pretty simultaneously, upon Du Muy's right wing +and left wing, coercing his front the while; squelches both these wings +furiously together; forces the coerced centre, mostly horse, to plunge +back into the Diemel, and swim. Horse could swim; but many of the Foot, +who tried, got drowned. And, on the whole, Du Muy is a good deal wrecked +[1,600 killed, 2,000 prisoners, not to speak of cannon and flags], and, +but for his eight bridges, would have been totally ruined. + +"The fight was uncommonly furious, especially on Du Muy's left; +'Maxwell's Brigade' going at it, with the finest bayonet-practice, +musketry, artillery-practice; obstinate as bears. On Du Muy's right, the +British Legion, left wing, British too by name, had a much easier job. +But the fight generally was of hot and stubborn kind, for hours, perhaps +two or more;--and some say, would not have ended so triumphantly, had +it not been for Duke Ferdinand's Vanguard, Lord Granby and the English +Horse; who, warned by the noise ahead, pushed on at the top of their +speed, and got in before the death. Granby and the Blues had gone at the +high trot, for above five miles; and, I doubt not, were in keen humor +when they rose to the gallop and slashed in. Mauvillon says, 'It was +in this attack that Lord Granby, at the head of the Blues, his own +regiment, had his hat blown off; a big bald circle in his head rendering +the loss more conspicuous. But he never minded; stormed still on,' bare +bald head among the helmets and sabres; 'and made it very evident that +had he, instead of Sackville, led at Minden, there had been a different +story to tell. The English, by their valor,' adds he, 'greatly +distinguished themselves this day. And accordingly they suffered by far +the most; their loss amounting to 590 men:' or, as others count,--out +of 1,200 killed and wounded, 800 were English." [Mauvillon, ii. 114. +Or better, in all these three cases, as elsewhere, Tempelhof's specific +Chapter on Ferdinand (Tempelhof, iv. 101-122). Ferdinand's Despatch +(to King George), in _Knesebeck,_ ii. 96-98;--or in the Old Newspapers +(_Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxx. 386, 387), where also is Lord Granby's +Despatch.] + +This of Granby and the bald head is mainly what now renders Warburg +memorable. For, in a year or two, the excellent Reynolds did a +Portrait of Granby; and by no means forgot this incident; but gives him +bare-headed, bare and bald; the oblivious British connoisseur not now +knowing why, as perhaps he ought. The portrait, I suppose, may be in +Belvoir Castle; the artistic Why of the baldness is this BATTLE OF +WARBURG, as above. An Affair otherwise of no moment. Ferdinand had soon +to quit the Diemel, or to find it useless for him, and to try other +methods,--fencing gallantly, but too weak for Broglio; and, on the +whole, had a difficult Campaign of it, against that considerable Soldier +with forces so superior. + + + + +Chapter III.--BATTLE OF LIEGNITZ. + +Friedrich stayed hardly one day in Neissen Country; Silesia, in the jaws +of destruction, requiring such speed from him. His new Series of Marches +thitherward, for the next two weeks especially, with Daun and Lacy, and +at last with Loudon too, for escort, are still more singular than +the foregoing; a fortnight of Soldier History such as is hardly to be +paralleled elsewhere. Of his inward gloom one hears nothing. But the +Problem itself approaches to the desperate; needing daily new invention, +new audacity, with imminent destruction overhanging it throughout. A +March distinguished in Military Annals;--but of which it is not for us +to pretend treating. Military readers will find it in TEMPELHOF, and +the supplementary Books from time to time cited here. And, for our own +share, we can only say, that Friedrich's labors strike us as abundantly +Herculean; more Alcides-like than ever,--the rather as hopes of any +success have sunk lower than ever. A modern Alcides, appointed to +confront Tartarus itself, and be victorious over the Three-headed Dog. +Daun, Lacy, Loudon coming on you simultaneously, open-mouthed, are a +considerable Tartarean Dog! Soldiers judge that the King's resources of +genius were extremely conspicuous on this occasion; and to all men it is +in evidence that seldom in the Arena of this Universe, looked on by the +idle Populaces and by the eternal Gods and Antigods (called Devils), did +a Son of Adam fence better for himself, now and throughout. + +This, his Third march to Silesia in 1760, is judged to be the most +forlorn and ominous Friedrich ever made thither; real peril, and ruin +to Silesia and him, more imminent than even in the old Leuthen days. +Difficulties, complicacies very many, Friedrich can foresee: a Daun's +Army and a Lacy's for escort to us; and such a Silesia when we do +arrive. And there is one complicacy more which he does not yet know of; +that of Loudon waiting ahead to welcome him, on crossing the Frontier, +and increase his escort thenceforth!--Or rather, let us say, Friedrich, +thanks to the despondent Henri and others, has escaped a great Silesian +Calamity;--of which he will hear, with mixed emotions, on arriving at +Bunzlau on the Silesian Frontier, six days after setting out. Since the +loss of Glatz (July 26th), Friedrich has no news of Loudon; supposes +him to be trying something upon Neisse, to be adjusting with his slow +Russians; and, in short, to be out of the dismal account-current just at +present. That is not the fact in regard to Loudon; that is far from the +fact. + + + + +LOUDON IS TRYING A STROKE-OF-HAND ON BRESLAU, IN THE GLATZ FASHION, IN +THE INTERIM (July 30th-August 3d). + +Hardly above six hours after taking Glatz, swift Loudon, no Daun now +tethering him (Daun standing, or sitting, "in relief of Dresden" far +off), was on march for Breslau--Vanguard of him "marched that same +evening (July 26th):" in the liveliest hope of capturing Breslau; +especially if Soltikof, to whom this of Glatz ought to be a fine +symbol and pledge, make speed to co-operate. Soltikof is in no violent +enthusiasm about Glatz; anxious rather about his own Magazine at Posen, +and how to get it carted out of Henri's way, in case of our advancing +towards some Silesian Siege. "If we were not ruined last year, it was +n't Daun's fault!" growls he often; and Montalembert has need of all +his suasive virtues (which are wonderful to look at, if anybody cared +to look at them, all flung into the sea in this manner) for keeping the +barbarous man in any approach to harmony. The barbarous man had, after +haggle enough, adjusted himself for besieging Glogau; and is surly to +hear, on the sudden (order from Petersburg reinforcing Loudon), that it +is Breslau instead. "Excellenz, it is not Cunctator Daun this time, it +is fiery Loudon." "Well, Breslau, then!" answers Soltikof at last, after +much suasion. And marches thither; [Tempelhof, iv. 87-89 ("Rose from +Posen, July 26th").] faster than usual, quickened by new temporary +hopes, of Montalembert's raising or one's own: "What a place-of-arms, +and place of victual, would Breslau be for us, after all!" + +And really mends his pace, mends it ever more, as matters grow +stringent; and advances upon Breslau at his swiftest: "To rendezvous +with Loudon under the walls there,--within the walls very soon, and +ourselves chief proprietor!"--as may be hoped. Breslau has a garrison of +4,000, only 1,000 of them stanch; and there are, among other bad items, +9,000 Austrian Prisoners in it. A big City with weak walls: another +place to defend than rock-hewn little Glatz,--if there be no better than +a D'O for Commandant in it! But perhaps there is. + +"WEDNESDAY, 30th JULY, Loudon's Vanguard arrived at Breslau; next day +Loudon himself;--and besieged Breslau very violently, according to his +means, till the Sunday following. Troops he has plenty, 40,000 odd, +which he gives out for 50 or even 60,000; not to speak of Soltikof, +'with 75,000' (read 45,000), striding on in a fierce and dreadful manner +to meet him here. 'Better surrender to Christian Austrians, had not +you?' Loudon's Artillery is not come up, it is only struggling on from +Glatz; Soltikof of his own has no Siege-Artillery; and Loudon judges +that heavy-footed Soltikof, waited on by an alert Prince Henri, is a +problematic quantity in this enterprise. 'Speedy oneself; speedy +and fiery!' thinks Loudon: 'by violence of speed, of bullying and +bombardment, perhaps we can still do it!' And Loudon tried all these +things to a high stretch; but found in Tauentzien the wrong man. + +"THURSDAY, 31st, Loudon, who has two bridges over Oder, and the +Town begirt all round, summons Tauentzien in an awful sounding tone: +'Consider, Sir: no defence possible; a trading Town, you ought not to +attempt defence of it: surrender on fair terms, or I shall, which God +forbid, be obliged to burn you and it from the face of the world!' +'Pooh, pooh,' answers Tauentzien, in brief polite terms; 'you yourselves +had no doubt it was a Garrison, when we besieged you here, on the heel +of Leuthen; had you? Go to!'--Fiery Loudon cannot try storm, the Town +having Oder and a wet ditch round it. He gets his bombarding batteries +forward, as the one chance he has, aided by bullying. And to-morrow, + +"FRIDAY, AUGUST 1st, sends, half officially, half in the friendly way, +dreadful messages again: a warning to the Mayor of Breslau (which was +not signed by Loudon), 'Death and destruction, Sir, unless'--!--warning +to the Mayor; and, by the same private half-official messenger, a new +summons to Tauentzien: 'Bombardment infallible; universal massacre by +Croats; I will not spare the child in its mother's womb.' 'I am not with +child,' said Tauentzien, 'nor are my soldiers! What is the use of such +talk?' And about 10 that night, Loudon does accordingly break out into +all the fire of bombardment he is master of. Kindles the Town in various +places, which were quenched again by Tauentzien's arrangements; kindles +especially the King's fine Dwelling-house (Palace they call it), and +adjacent streets, not quenchable till Palace and they are much ruined. +Will this make no impression? Far too little. + +"Next morning Loudon sends a private messenger of conciliatory tone: +'Any terms your Excellency likes to name. Only spare me the general +massacre, and child in the mother's womb!' From all which Tauentzien +infers that you are probably short of ammunition; and that his outlooks +are improving. That day he gets guns brought to bear on General Loudon's +own quarter; blazes into Loudon's sitting-room, so that Loudon has +to shift else-whither. No bombardment ensues that night; nor next day +anything but desultory cannonading, and much noise and motion;--and at +night, SUNDAY, 3d, everything falls quiet, and, to the glad amazement +of everybody, Loudon has vanished." [Tempelhof, iv. 90-100; Archenholtz, +ii. 89-94; HOFBERICHT VON DER BELAGERUNG VON BRESLAU IM AUGUST 1760 (in +Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 688-698); also in _Helden-Geschichte,_ vi. +299-309: in _Anonymous of Hamburg_ (iv. 115-124), that is, in the OLD +NEWSPAPERS, extremely particular account, How "not only the finest Horse +in Breslau, and the finest House [King's Palace], but the handsomest +Man, and, alas, also the prettiest Girl [poor Jungfer Muller, +shattered by a bomb-shell on the streets], were destroyed in this short +Siege,"--world-famous for the moment. Preuss, ii. 246.] + +Loudon had no other shift left. This Sunday his Russians are still five +days distant; alert Henri, on the contrary, is, in a sense, come to +hand. Crossed the Katzbach River this day, the Vanguard of him did, at +Parchwitz; and fell upon our Bakery; which has had to take the road. +"Guard the Bakery, all hands there," orders Loudon; "off to Striegau +and the Hills with it;"--and is himself gone thither after it, leaving +Breslau, Henri and the Russians to what fate may be in store for them. +Henri has again made one of his winged marches, the deft creature, +though the despondent; "march of 90 miles in three days [in the last +three, from Glogau, 90; in the whole, from Landsberg, above 200], and +has saved the State," says Retzow. "Made no camping, merely bivouacked; +halting for a rest four or five hours here and there;" [Retzow, ii. +230 (very vague); in Tempelhof (iv. 89, 90, 95-97) clear and specific +account.] and on August 5th is at Lissa (this side the Field of +Leuthen); making Breslau one of the gladdest of cities. + +So that Soltikof, on arriving (village of Hundsfeld, August 8th), by the +other side of the River, finds Henri's advanced guards intrenched +over there, in Old Oder; no Russian able to get within five miles of +Breslau,--nor able to do more than cannonade in the distance, and ask +with indignation, "Where are the siege-guns, then; where is General +Loudon? Instead of Breslau capturable, and a sure Magazine for us, here +is Henri, and nothing but steel to eat!" And the Soltikof risen into +Russian rages, and the Montalembert sunk in difficulties: readers can +imagine these. Indignant Soltikof, deaf to suasion, with this dangerous +Henri in attendance, is gradually edging back; always rather back, with +an eye to his provisions, and to certain bogs and woods he knows of. But +we will leave the Soltikof-Henri end of the line, for the opposite end, +which is more interesting.--To Friedrich, till he got to Silesia itself, +these events are totally unknown. His cunctatory Henri, by this winged +march, when the moment came, what a service has he done!-- + +Tauentzien's behavior, also, has been superlative at Breslau; and was +never forgotten by the King. A very brave man, testifies Lessing of him; +true to the death: "Had there come but three, to rally with the King +under a bush of the forest, Tauentzien would have been one." Tauentzien +was on the ramparts once, in this Breslau pinch, giving orders; a +bomb burst beside him, did not injure him. "Mark that place," said +Tauentzien; and clapt his hat on it, continuing his orders, till a more +permanent mark were put. In that spot, as intended through the next +thirty years, he now lies buried. [_Militair-Lexikon,_ iv. 72-75; +Lessing's _Werke;_ &c. &c.] + + + + +FRIEDRICH ON MARCH, FOR THE THIRD TIME, TO RESCUE SILESIA (August +1st-15th). + +AUGUST 1st, Friedrich crossed the Elbe at Zehren, in the Schieritz +vicinity, as near Meissen as he could; but it had to be some six miles +farther down, such the liabilities to Austrian disturbance. All are +across that morning by 5 o'clock (began at 2); whence we double back +eastward, and camp that night at Dallwitz,--are quietly asleep there, +while Loudon's bombardment bursts out on Breslau, far away! At Dallwitz +we rest next day, wait for our Bakeries and Baggages; and SUNDAY, AUGUST +3d, at 2 in the morning, set forth on the forlornest adventure in the +world. + +The arrangements of the March, foreseen and settled beforehand to the +last item, are of a perfection beyond praise;--as is still visible in +the General Order, or summary of directions given out; which, to this +day, one reads with a kind of satisfaction like that derivable from +the Forty-seventh of Euclid: clear to the meanest capacity, not a word +wanting in it, not a word superfluous, solid as geometry. "The Army +marches always in Three Columns, left Column foremost: our First Line of +Battle [in case we have fighting] is this foremost Column; Second Line +is the Second Column; Reserve is the Third. All Generals' chaises, +money-wagons, and regimental Surgeons' wagons remain with their +respective Battalions; as do the Heavy Batteries with the Brigades to +which they belong. When the march is through woody country, the Cavalry +regiments go in between the Battalions [to be ready against Pandour +operations and accidents]. + +"With the First Column, the Ziethen Hussars and Free-Battalion Courbiere +have always the vanguard; Mohring Hussars and Free-Battalion Quintus +[speed to you, learned friend!] the rear-guard. With the Second Column +always the Dragoon regiments Normann and Krockow have the vanguard; +Regiment Czetteritz [Dragoons, poor Czetteritz himself, with his lost +MANUSCRIPT, is captive since February last], the rear-guard. With the +Third Column always the Dragoon regiment Holstein as head, and the ditto +Finkenstein to close the Column.--During every march, however, there +are to be of the Second Column 2 Battalions joined with Column Third; so +that the Third Column consists of 10 Battalions, the Second of 6, while +on march. + +"Ahead of each Column go three Pontoon Wagons; and daily are 50 +work-people allowed them, who are immediately to lay Bridge, where it is +necessary. The rear-guard of each Column takes up these Bridges again; +brings them on, and returns them to the head of the Column, when the +Army has got to camp. In the Second Column are to be 500 wagons, and +also in the Third 500, so shared that each battalion gets an equal +number. The battalions--" [In TEMPELHOF (iv. 125, 126) the entire +Piece.]... This may serve as specimen. + +The March proceeded through the old Country; a little to left of the +track in June past: Roder Water, Pulsnitz Water; Kamenz neighborhood, +Bautzen neighborhood,--Bunzlau on Silesian ground. Daun, at +Bischofswerda, had foreseen this March; and, by his Light people, had +spoiled the Road all he could; broken all the Bridges, HALF-felled the +Woods (to render them impassable). Daun, the instant he heard of the +actual March, rose from Bischofswerda: forward, forward always, to be +ahead of it, however rapid; Lacy, hanging on the rear of it, willing to +give trouble with his Pandour harpies, but studious above all that it +should not whirl round anywhere and get upon his, Lacy's, own throat. +One of the strangest marches ever seen. "An on-looker, who had observed +the march of these different Armies," says Friedrich, "would have +thought that they all belonged to one leader. Feldmarschall Daun's he +would have taken for the Vanguard, the King's for the main Army, and +General Lacy's for the Rear-guard." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 56.] +Tempelhof says: "It is given only to a Friedrich to march on those +terms; between Two hostile Armies, his equals in strength, and a Third +[Loudon's, in Striegau Country] waiting ahead." + +The March passed without accident of moment; had not, from Lacy or Daun, +any accident whatever. On the second day, an Aide-de-Camp of Daun's +was picked up, with Letters from Lacy (back of the cards visible to +Friedrich). Once,--it is the third day of the March (August 6th, village +of Rothwasser to be quarter for the night),--on coming toward Neisse +River, some careless Officer, trusting to peasants, instead of examining +for himself and building a bridge, drove his Artillery-wagons into the +so-called ford of Neisse; which nearly swallowed the foremost of them in +quicksands. Nearly, but not completely; and caused a loss of five or six +hours to that Second Column. So that darkness came on Column Second in +the woody intricacies; and several hundreds of the deserter kind took +the opportunity of disappearing altogether. An unlucky, evidently too +languid Officer; though Friedrich did not annihilate the poor fellow, +perhaps did not rebuke him at all, but merely marked it in elucidation +of his qualities for time coming." This miserable village of Rothwasser" +(head-quarters after the dangerous fording of Neisse), says Mitchell, +"stands in the middle of a wood, almost as wild and impenetrable as +those in North America. There was hardly ground enough cleared about it +for the encampment of the troops." [Mitchell, ii. 190; Tempelhof, iv. +131.] THURSDAY, AUGUST 7th, Friedrich--traversing the whole Country, +but more direct, by Konigsbruck and Kamenz this time--is at Bunzlau +altogether. "Bunzlau on the Bober;" the SILESIAN Bunzlau, not the +Bohemian or any of the others. It is some 30 miles west of Liegnitz, +which again lies some 40 northwest of Schweidnitz and the Strong Places. +Friedrich has now done 100 miles of excellent marching; and he has still +a good spell more to do,--dragging "2,000 heavy wagons" with him, and +across such impediments within and without. Readers that care to study +him, especially for the next few days, will find it worth their while. + +Tempelhof gives, as usual, a most clear Account, minute to a degree; +which, supplemented by Mitchell and a Reimann Map, enables us as it were +to accompany, and to witness with our eyes. Hitherto a March toilsome in +the extreme, in spite of everything done to help it; starting at 3 or +at 2 in the morning; resting to breakfast in some shady place, while +the sun is high, frugally cooking under the shady woods,--"BURSCHEN +ABZUKOCHEN here," as the Order pleasantly bears. All encamped now, at +Bunzlau in Silesia, on Thursday evening, with a very eminent week's work +behind them. "In the last five days, above 100 miles of road, and such +road; five considerable rivers in it"--Bober, Queiss, Neisse, Spree, +Elbe; and with such a wagon-train of 2,000 teams. [Tempelhof, iv. +123-150.] + +Proper that we rest a day here; in view of the still swifter marchings +and sudden dashings about, which lie ahead. It will be by extremely +nimble use of all the limbs we have,--hands as well as feet,--if any +good is to come of us now! Friedrich is aware that Daun already holds +Striegau "as an outpost [Loudon thereabouts, unknown to Friedrich], +these several days;" and that Daun personally is at Schmottseifen, in +our own old Camp there, twenty or thirty miles to south of us, and has +his Lacy to leftward of him, partly even to rearward: rather in advance +of US, both of them,--if we were for Landshut; which we are not. "Be +swift enough, may not we cut through to Jauer, and get ahead of Daun?" +counts Friedrich: "To Jauer, southeast of us, from Bunzlau here, is 40 +miles; and to Jauer it is above 30 east for Daun: possible to be +there before Daun! Jauer ours, thence to the Heights of Striegau +and Hohenfriedberg Country, within wind of Schweidnitz, of Breslau: +magazines, union with Prince Henri, all secure thereby?" So reckons the +sanguine Friedrich; unaware that Loudon, with his corps of 35,000, has +been summoned hitherward; which will make important differences! Loudon, +Beck with a smaller Satellite Corps, both these, unknown to Friedrich, +lie ready on the east of him: Loudon's Army on the east; Daun's, +Lacy's on the south and west; three big Armies, with their Satellites, +gathering in upon this King: here is a Three-headed Dog, in the Tartarus +of a world he now has! On the fourth side of him is Oder, and +the Russians, who are also perhaps building Bridges, by way of a +supplementary or fourth head. + +AUGUST 9th (BUNZLAU TO GOLDBERG), Friedrich, with his Three Columns +and perfect arrangements, makes a long march: from Bunzlau at 3 in the +morning; and at 5 afternoon arrives in sight of the Katzbach Valley, +with the little Town of Goldberg some miles to right. Katzbach River +is here; and Jauer, for to-morrow, still fifteen miles ahead. But on +reconnoitring here, all is locked and bolted: Lacy strong on the Hills +of Goldberg; Daun visible across the Katzbach; Daun, and behind him +Loudon, inexpugnably posted: Jauer an impossibility! We have bread only +for eight days; our Magazines are at Schweidnitz and Breslau: what is to +be done? Get through, one way or other, we needs must! Friedrich encamps +for the night; expecting an attack. If not attacked, he will make +for Liegnitz leftward; cross the Katzbach there, or farther down at +Parchwitz:--Parchwitz, Neumarkt, LEUTHEN, we have been in that country +before now:--Courage! + +AUGUST 10th-11th (TO LIEGNITZ AND BACK). At 5 A.M., Sunday, August 10th, +Friedrich, nothing of attack having come, got on march again: down +his own left bank of the Katzbach, straight for Liegnitz; unopposed +altogether; not even a Pandour having attacked him overnight. But no +sooner is he under way, than Daun too rises; Daun, Loudon, close by, on +the other side of Katzbach, and keep step with us, on our right; Lacy's +light people hovering on our rear:--three truculent fellows in buckram; +fancy the feelings of the way-worn solitary fourth, whom they are +gloomily dogging in this way! The solitary fourth does his fifteen miles +to Liegnitz, unmolested by them; encamps on the Heights which look down +on Liegnitz over the south; finds, however, that the Loudon-Daun people +have likewise been diligent; that they now lie stretched out on their +right bank, three or four miles up-stream or to rearward, and what is +far worse, seven miles downwards, or ahead: that, in fact, they are a +march nearer Parchwitz than he;--and that there is again no possibility. +"Perhaps by Jauer, then, still? Out of this, and at lowest, into some +vicinity of bread, it does behoove us to be!" At 11 that night Friedrich +gets on march again; returns the way he came. And, + +AUGUST 11th, At daybreak, is back to his old ground; nothing now to +oppose him but Lacy, who is gone across from Goldberg, to linger as rear +of the Daun-Loudon march. Friedrich steps across on Lacy, thirsting +to have a stroke at Lacy; who vanishes fast enough, leaving the ground +clear. Could but our baggage have come as fast as we! But our baggage, +Quintus guarding and urging, has to groan on for five hours yet; and +without it, there is no stirring. Five mortal hours;--by which time, +Daun, Lacy, Loudon are all up again; between us and Jauer, between us +and everything helpful;--and Friedrich has to encamp in Seichau,--"a +very poor Village in the Mountains," writes Mitchell, who was painfully +present there, "surrounded on all sides by Heights; on several of which, +in the evening, the Austrians took camp, separated from us by a deep +ravine only." [Mitchell, ii. 194.] + +Outlooks are growing very questionable to Mitchell and everybody. "Only +four days' provisions" (in reality six), whisper the Prussian Generals +gloomily to Mitchell and to one another: "Shall we have to make for +Glogau, then, and leave Breslau to its fate? Or perhaps it will be +a second Maxen to his Majesty and us, who was so indignant with poor +Finck?" My friends, no; a Maxen like Finck's it will never be: a very +different Maxen, if any! But we hope better things. + +Friedrich's situation, grasped in the Three-lipped Pincers in this +manner, is conceivable to readers. Soltikof, on the other side of Oder, +as supplementary or fourth lip, is very impatient with these three. "Why +all this dodging, and fidgeting to and fro? You are above three to one +of your enemy. Why don't you close on him at once, if you mean it at +all? The end is, He will be across Oder; and it is I that shall have the +brunt to bear: Henri and he will enclose me between two fires!" And in +fact, Henri, as we know, though Friedrich does not or only half does, +has gone across Oder, to watch Soltikof, and guard Breslau from any +attempts of his,--which are far from HIS thoughts at this moment;--a +Soltikof fuming violently at the thought of such cunctations, and of +being made cat's-paw again. "Know, however, that I understand you," +violently fumes Soltikof, "and that I won't. I fall back into the +Trebnitz Bog-Country, on my own right bank here, and look out for my +own safety."--"Patience, your noble Excellenz," answer they always; "oh, +patience yet a little! Only yesterday (Sunday, 10th the day after his +arrival in this region), we had decided to attack and crush him; Sunday +very early: [Tempelhof, iv. 137, 148-150.] but he skipped away to +Liegnitz. Oh, be patient yet a day or two: he skips about at such a +rate!" Montalembert has to be suasive as the Muses and the Sirens. +Soltikof gloomily consents to another day or two. And even, such +his anxiety lest this swift King skip over upon HIM, pushes out a +considerable Russian Division, 24,000 ultimately, under Czernichef, +towards the King's side of things, towards Auras on Oder, namely,--there +to watch for oneself these interesting Royal movements; or even to join +with Loudon out there, if that seem the safer course, against them. +Of Czernichef at Auras we shall hear farther on,--were these Royal +movements once got completed a little. + +MORNING OF AUGUST 12th, Friedrich has, in his bad lodging at Seichau, +laid a new plan of route: "Towards Schweidnitz let it be; round by +Pombsen and the southeast, by the Hill-roads, make a sweep flankward +of the enemy!"--and has people out reconnoitring the Hill-roads. Hears, +however, about 8 o'clock, That Austrians in strength are coming between +us and Goldberg! "Intending to enclose us in this bad pot of a Seichau; +no crossing of the Katzbach, or other retreat to be left us at all?" +Friedrich strikes his tents; ranks himself; is speedily in readiness +for dispute of such extremity;--sends out new patrols, however, +to ascertain. "Austrians in strength" there are NOT on the side +indicated;--whereupon he draws in again. But, on the other hand, the +Hill-roads are reported absolutely impassable for baggage; Pombsen an +impossibility, as the other places have been. So Friedrich sits down +again in Seichau to consider; does not stir all day. To Mitchell's +horror, who, "with great labor," burns all the legationary ciphers and +papers ("impossible to save the baggage if we be attacked in this hollow +pot of a camp"), and feels much relieved on finishing. [Mitchell, ii. +144; Tempelhof, iv. 144.] + +Towards sunset, General Bulow, with the Second Line (second column of +march), is sent out Goldberg-way, to take hold of the passage of the +Katzbach: and at 8 that night we all march, recrossing there about 1 +in the morning; thence down our left bank to Liegnitz for the second +time,--sixteen hours of it in all, or till noon of the 13th. Mitchell +had been put with the Cavalry part; and "cannot but observe to your +Lordship what a chief comfort it was in this long, dangerous and painful +March," to have burnt one's ciphers and dread secrets quite out of the +way. + +And thus, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13th, about noon, we are in our old Camp; +Head-quarter in the southern suburb of Liegnitz (a wretched little +Tavern, which they still show there, on mythical terms): main part of +the Camp, I should think, is on that range of Heights, which reaches two +miles southward, and is now called "SIEGESBERG (Victory Hill)," from +a modern Monument built on it, after nearly 100 years. Here Friedrich +stays one day,--more exactly, 30 hours;--and his shifting, next time, is +extremely memorable. + + + + +BATTLE, IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF LIEGNITZ, DOES ENSUE (Friday morning, +15th August, 1760). + +Daun, Lacy and Loudon, the Three-lipped Pincers, have of course +followed, and are again agape for Friedrich, all in scientific postures: +Daun in the Jauer region, seven or eight miles south; Lacy about +Goldberg, as far to southwest; Loudon "between Jeschkendorf and +Koischwitz," northeastward, somewhat closer on Friedrich, with the +Katzbach intervening. That Czernichef, with an additional 24,000, to +rear of Loudon, is actually crossing Oder at Auras, with an eye to +junction, Friedrich does not hear till to-morrow. [Tempelhof, iv. +148-151; Mitchell, ii. 197.] + +The scene is rather pretty, if one admired scenes. Liegnitz, a square, +handsome, brick-built Town, of old standing, in good repair (population +then, say 7,000), with fine old castellated edifices and aspects: +pleasant meeting, in level circumstances, of the Katzbach valley with +the Schwartz-wasser (BLACK-WATER) ditto, which forms the north rim of +Liegnitz; pleasant mixture of green poplars and brick towers,--as seen +from that "Victory Hill" (more likely to be "Immediate-Ruin Hill!") +where the King now is. Beyond Liegnitz and the Schwartzwasser, +northwestward, right opposite to the King's, rise other Heights called +of Pfaffendorf, which guard the two streams AFTER their uniting. Kloster +Wahlstatt, a famed place, lies visible to southeast, few miles off. +Readers recollect one Blucher "Prince of Wahlstatt," so named from one +of his Anti-Napoleon victories gained there? Wahlstatt was the scene of +an older Fight, almost six centuries older, [April 9th, 1241 (Kohler, +REICHS-HISTORIE).]--a then Prince of Liegnitz VERSUS hideous Tartar +multitudes, who rather beat him; and has been a CLOISTER Wahlstatt ever +since. Till Thursday, 14th, about 8 in the evening, Friedrich continued +in his Camp of Liegnitz. We are now within reach of a notable Passage of +War. + +Friedrich's Camp extends from the Village of Schimmelwitz, fronting +the Katzbach for about two miles, northeastward, to his Head-quarter in +Liegnitz Suburb: Daun is on his right and rearward, now come within +four or five miles; Loudon to his left and frontward, four or five, +the Katzbach separating Friedrich and him; Lacy lies from Goldberg +northeastward, to within perhaps a like distance rearward: that is the +position on Thursday, 14th. Provisions being all but run out; and three +Armies, 90,000 (not to count Czernichef and his 24,000 as a fourth) +watching round our 30,000, within a few miles; there is no staying here, +beyond this day. If even this day it be allowed us? This day, Friedrich +had to draw out, and stand to arms for some hours; while the Austrians +appeared extensively on the Heights about, apparently intending an +attack; till it proved to be nothing: only an elaborate reconnoitring by +Daun; and we returned to our tents again. + +Friedrich understands well enough that Daun, with the facts now before +him, will gradually form his plan, and also, from the lie of matters, +what his plan will be: many are the times Daun has elaborately +reconnoitred, elaborately laid his plan; but found, on coming to +execute, that his Friedrich was off in the interim, and the plan gone +to air. Friedrich has about 2,000 wagons to drag with him in these +swift marches: Glogau Magazine, his one resource, should Breslau and +Schweidnitz prove unattainable, is forty-five long miles northwestward. +"Let us lean upon Glogau withal," thinks Friedrich; "and let us be out +of this straightway! March to-night; towards Parchwitz, which is towards +Glogau too. Army rest till daybreak on the Heights of Pfaffendorf +yonder, to examine, to wait its luck: let the empty meal-wagons jingle +on to Glogau; load themselves there, and jingle back to us in Parchwitz +neighborhood, should Parchwitz not have proved impossible to our +manoeuvrings,--let us hope it may not!"--Daun and the Austrians having +ceased reconnoitring, and gone home, Friedrich rides with his Generals, +through Liegnitz, across the Schwartzwasser, to the Pfaffendorf Heights. +"Here, Messieurs, is our first halting-place to be: here we shall halt +till daybreak, while the meal-wagons jingle on!" And explains to them +orally where each is to take post, and how to behave. Which done, he too +returns home, no doubt a wearied individual; and at 4 of the afternoon +lies down to try for an hour or two of sleep, while all hands are busy +packing, according to the Orders given. + +It is a fact recorded by Friedrich himself, and by many other people, +That, at this interesting juncture, there appeared at the King's Gate, +King hardly yet asleep, a staggering Austrian Officer, Irish by nation, +who had suddenly found good to desert the Austrian Service for the +Prussian--("Sorrow on them: a pack of"--what shall I say?)--Irish +gentleman, bursting with intelligence of some kind, but evidently deep +in liquor withal. "Impossible; the King is asleep," said the Adjutant +on duty; but produced only louder insistence from the drunk Irish +gentleman. "As much as all your heads are worth; the King's own safety, +and not a moment to lose!" What is to be done? They awaken the King: +"The man is drunk, but dreadfully in earnest, your Majesty." "Give him +quantities of weak tea [Tempelhof calls it tea, but Friedrich merely +warm water]; then examine him, and report if it is anything." Something +it was: "Your Majesty to be attacked, for certain, this night!" what his +Majesty already guessed:--something, most likely little; but nobody to +this day knows. Visible only, that his Majesty, before sunset, rode +out reconnoitring with this questionable Irish gentleman, now in a very +flaccid state; and altered nothing whatever in prior arrangements;--and +that the flaccid Irish gentleman staggers out of sight, into dusk, into +rest and darkness, after this one appearance on the stage of history. +[_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 63; Tempelhof, iv. 154.] + +From about 8 in the evening, Friedrich's people got on march, in their +several columns, and fared punctually on; one column through the streets +of Liegnitz, others to left and to right of that; to left mainly, as +remoter from the Austrians and their listening outposts from beyond the +Katzbach River;--where the camp-fires are burning extremely distinct +to-night. The Prussian camp-fires, they too are all burning uncommonly +vivid; country people employed to feed them; and a few hussar sentries +and drummers to make the customary sounds for Daun's instruction, till +a certain hour. Friedrich's people are clearing the North Suburb of +Liegnitz, crossing the Schwartzwasser: artillery and heavy wagons all +go by the Stone-Bridge at Topferberg (POTTER-HILL) there; the lighter +people by a few pontoons farther down that stream, in the Pfaffendorf +vicinity. About one in the morning, all, even the right wing from +Schimmelwitz, are safely across. + +Schwartzwasser, a River of many tails (boggy most of them, Sohnelle or +SWIFT Deichsel hardly an exception), gathering itself from the southward +for twenty or more miles, attains its maximum of north at a place called +Waldau, not far northwest of Topferberg. Towards this Waldau, Lacy is +aiming all night; thence to pounce on our "left wing,"--which he will +find to consist of those empty watch-fires merely. Down from Waldau, +past Topferberg and Pfaffendorf (PRIEST-town, or as we should call it, +"Preston"), which are all on its northern or left bank, Schwartzwasser's +course is in the form of an irregular horse-shoe; high ground to its +northern side, Liegnitz and hollows to its southern; till in an angular +way it do join Katzbach, and go with that, northward for Oder the rest +of its course. On the brow of these horse-shoe Heights,--which run +parallel to Schwartzwasser one part of them, and nearly parallel to +Katzbach another (though above a mile distant, these latter, from +IT),--Friedrich plants himself: in Order of Battle; slightly altering +some points of the afternoon's program, and correcting his Generals, +"Front rather so and so; see where their fires are, yonder!" Daun's +fires, Loudon's fires; vividly visible both:--and, singular to say, +there is nothing yonder either but a few sentries and deceptive drums! +All empty yonder too, even as our own Camp is; all gone forth, even as +we are; we resting here, and our meal-wagons jingling on Glogau way! + +Excellency Mitchell, under horse-escort, among the lighter baggage, +is on Kuchelberg Heath, in scrubby country, but well north behind +Friedrich's centre: has had a dreadful march; one comfort only, that +his ciphers are all burnt. The rest of us lie down on the grass;--among +others, young Herr von Archenholtz, ensign or lieutenant in Regiment +FORCADE: who testifies that it is one of the beautifulest nights, the +lamps of Heaven shining down in an uncommonly tranquil manner; and that +almost nobody slept. The soldier-ranks all lay horizontal, musket under +arm; chatting pleasantly in an undertone, or each in silence revolving +such thoughts as he had. The Generals amble like observant spirits, +hoarsely imperative. [Archenholtz, ii. 100-111.] Friedrich's line, we +observed, is in the horse-shoe shape (or PARABOLIC, straighter than +horse-shoe), fronting the waters. Ziethen commands in that smaller +Schwartzwasser part of the line, Friedrich in the Katzbach part, which +is more in risk. And now, things being moderately in order, Friedrich +has himself sat down--I think, towards the middle or convex part of his +lines--by a watch-fire he has found there; and, wrapt in his cloak, his +many thoughts melting into haze, has sunk ito a kind of sleep. Seated on +a drum, some say; half asleep by the watch-fire, time half-past 2,--when +a Hussar Major, who has been out by the Bienowitz, the Pohlschildern +way, northward, reconnoitring, comes dashing up full speed: "The King? +where is the King?" "What is it, then?" answers the King for himself. +"Your Majesty, the Enemy in force, from Bienowitz, from Pohlschildern, +coming on our Left Wing yonder; has flung back all my vedettes: is +within 500 yards by this time!" + +Friedrich springs to horse; has already an Order speeding forth, +"General Schenkendorf and his Battalion, their cannon, to the crown +of the Wolfsberg, on our left yonder; swift!" How excellent that every +battalion (as by Order that we read) "has its own share of the heavy +cannon always at hand!" ejaculate the military critics. Schenkendorf, +being nimble, was able to astonish the Enemy with volumes of case-shot +from the Wolfsberg, which were very deadly at that close distance. Other +arrangements, too minute for recital here, are rapidly done; and our +Left Wing is in condition to receive its early visitors,--Loudon or +whoever they may be. It is still dubious to the History-Books whether +Friedrich was in clear expectation of Loudon here; though of course he +would now guess it was Loudon. But there is no doubt Loudon had not the +least expectation of Friedrich; and his surprise must have been intense, +when, instead of vacant darkness (and some chance of Prussian baggage, +which he had heard of), Prussian musketries and case-shot opened on him. + +Loudon had, as per order, quitted his Camp at Jeschkendorf, about the +time Friedrich did his at Schimmelwitz; and, leaving the lights all +burning, had set forward on his errand; which was (also identical with +Friedrich's), to seize the Heights of Pfaffendorf, and be ready there +when day broke, scouts having informed him that the Prussian Baggage was +certainly gone through to Topferberg,--more his scouts did not know, nor +could Loudon guess,--"We will snatch that Baggage!" thought Loudon; and +with such view has been speeding all he could; no vanguard ahead, lest +he alarm the Baggage escort: Loudon in person, with the Infantry of the +Reserve, striding on ahead, to devour any Baggage-escort there may be. +Friedrich's reconnoitring Hussar parties had confirmed this belief: +"Yes, yes!" thought Loudon. And now suddenly, instead of Baggage to +capture, here, out of the vacant darkness, is Friedrich in person, on +the brow of the Heights where we intended to form!-- + +Loudon's behavior, on being hurled back with his Reserve in this manner, +everybody says, was magnificent. Judging at once what the business was, +and that retreat would be impossible without ruin, he hastened instantly +to form himself, on such ground as he had,--highly unfavorable ground, +uphill in part, and room in it only for Five Battalions (5,000) of +front;--and came on again, with a great deal of impetuosity and good +skill; again and ever again, three times in all. Had partial successes; +edged always to the right to get the flank of Friedrich; but could not, +Friedrich edging conformably. From his right-hand, or northeast part, +Loudon poured in, once and again, very furious charges of Cavalry; on +every repulse, drew out new Battalions from his left and centre, +and again stormed forward: but found it always impossible. Had his +subordinates all been Loudons, it is said, there was once a fine chance +for him. By this edging always to the northeastward on his part and +Friedrich's, there had at last a considerable gap in Friedrich's Line +established itself,--not only Ziethen's Line and Friedrich's Line now +fairly fallen asunder, but, at the Village of Panten, in Friedrich's own +Line, a gap where anybody might get in. One of the Austrian Columns was +just entering Panten when the Fight began: in Panten that Column has +stood cogitative ever since; well to left of Loudon and his struggles; +but does not, till the eleventh hour, resolve to push through. At +the eleventh hour;--and lo, in the nick of time, Mollendorf (our +Leuthen-and-Hochkirch friend) got his eye on it; rushed up with infantry +and cavalry; set Panten on fire, and blocked out that possibility and +the too cogitative Column. + +Loudon had no other real chance: his furious horse-charges and attempts +were met everywhere by corresponding counter-fury. Bernburg, poor +Regiment Bernburg, see what a figure it is making! Left almost alone, +at one time, among those horse-charges; spending its blood like water, +bayonet-charging, platooning as never before; and on the whole, stemming +invincibly that horse-torrent,--not unseen by Majesty, it may be hoped; +who is here where the hottest pinch is. On the third repulse, which +was worse than any before, Loudon found he had enough; and tried it no +farther. Rolled over the Katzbach, better or worse; Prussians catching +6,000 of him, but not following farther: threw up a tine battery at +Bienowitz, which sheltered his retreat from horse:--and went his ways, +sorely but not dishonorably beaten, after an hour and half of uncommonly +stiff fighting, which had been very murderous to Loudon. Loss of 10,000 +to him: 4,000 killed and wounded; prisoners 6,000; 82 cannon, 28 flags, +and other items; the Prussian loss being 1,800 in whole. [Tempelhof, iv. +159.] By 5 o'clock, the Battle, this Loudon part of it, was quite over; +Loudon (35,000) wrecking himself against Friedrich's Left Wing (say half +of his Army, some 15,000) in such conclusive manner. Friedrich's Left +Wing alone has been engaged hitherto. And now it will be Ziethen's turn, +if Daun and Lacy still come on. + +By 11 last night, Daun's Pandours, creeping stealthily on, across +the Katzbach, about Schimmelwitz, had discerned with amazement that +Friedrich's Camp appeared to consist only of watch-fires; and had shot +off their speediest rider to Daun, accordingly; but it was one in the +morning before Daun, busy marching and marshalling, to be ready at the +Katzbach by daylight, heard of this strange news; which probably +he could not entirely believe till seen with his own eyes. What +a spectacle! One's beautiful Plan exploded into mere imbroglio of +distraction; become one knows not what! Daun's watch-fires too had +all been left burning; universal stratagem, on both sides, going on; +producing--tragically for some of us--a TRAGEDY of Errors, or the +Mistakes of a Night! Daun sallied out again, in his collapsed, upset +condition, as soon as possible: pushed on, in the track of Friedrich; +warning Lacy to push on. Daun, though within five miles all the while, +had heard nothing of the furious Fight and cannonade; "southwest wind +having risen," so Daun said, and is believed by candid persons,--not by +the angry Vienna people, who counted it impossible: "Nonsense; you were +not deaf; but you loitered and haggled, in your usual way; perhaps not +sorry that, the brilliant Loudon should get a rebuff!" + +Emerging out of Liegnitz, Daun did see, to northeastward, a vast pillar +or mass of smoke, silently mounting, but could do nothing with it. +"Cannon-smoke, no doubt; but fallen entirely silent, and not wending +hitherward at all. Poor Loudon, alas, must have got beaten!" Upon which +Daun really did try, at least upon Ziethen; but could do nothing. +Poured cavalry across the Stone-bridge at the Topferberg: who drove in +Ziethen's picket there; but were torn to pieces by Ziethen's cannon. +Ziethen across the Schwartzwasser is alert enough. How form in order +of battle here, with Ziethen's batteries shearing your columns +longitudinally, as they march up? Daun recognizes the impossibility; +wends back through Liegnitz to his Camp again, the way he had come. +Tide-hour missed again; ebb going uncommonly rapid! Lacy had been about +Waldau, to try farther up the Schwartzwasser on Ziethen's right: but the +Schwartzwasser proved amazingly boggy; not accessible on any point to +heavy people,--"owing to bogs on the bank," with perhaps poor prospect +on the other side too! + +And, in fact, nothing of Lacy more than of Daun, could manage to get +across: nothing except two poor Hussar regiments; who, winding up far to +the left, attempted a snatch on the Baggage about Hummeln,--Hummeln, +or Kuchel of the Scrubs. And gave a new alarm to Mitchell, the last of +several during this horrid night; who has sat painfully blocked in +his carriage, with such a Devil's tumult, going on to eastward, and no +sight, share or knowledge to be had of it. Repeated hussar attacks there +were on the Baggage here, Loudon's hussars also trying: but Mitchell's +Captain was miraculously equal to the occasion; and had beaten them all +off. Mitchell, by magnanimous choice of his own, has been in many Fights +by the side of Friedrich; but this is the last he will ever be in or +near;--this miraculous one of Liegnitz, 3 to 4.30 A.M., Friday, August +15th, 1760. + +Never did such a luck befall Friedrich before or after. He was clinging +on the edge of slippery abysses, his path hardly a foot's-breadth, mere +enemies and avalanches hanging round on every side: ruin likelier at no +moment, of his life;--and here is precisely the quasi-miracle which +was needed to save him. Partly by accident too; the best of management +crowned by the luckiest of accidents. [Tempelhof, iv. 151-171; +Archenholtz, ubi supra; HO BERICHT VON DER SCHLACHT SO AM 15 AUGUST, +1760, BEY LIEGNITZ, VORGEFALLEN (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 696-703); &c. +&c.] + +Friedrich rested four hours on the Battle-field,--if that could be +called rest, which was a new kind of diligence highly wonderful. +Diligence of gathering up accurately the results of the Battle; packing +them into portable shape; and marching off with them in one's pocket, +so to speak. Major-General Saldern had charge of this, a man of many +talents; and did it consummately. The wounded, Austrian as well as +Prussian, are placed in the empty meal-wagons; the more slightly wounded +are set on horseback, double in possible cases: only the dead are left +lying: 100 or more meal-wagons are left, their teams needed for drawing +our 82 new cannon;--the wagons we split up, no Austrians to have them; +usable only as firewood for the poor Country-folk. The 4 or 5,000 good +muskets lying on the field, shall not we take them also? Each cavalry +soldier slings one of them across his back, each baggage driver one: +and the muskets too are taken care of. About 9 A.M., Friedrich, with +his 6,000 prisoners, new cannon-teams, sick-wagon teams, trophies, +properties, is afoot again. One of the succinctest of Kings. + +I should have mentioned the joy of poor Regiment Bernburg; which +rather affected me. Loudon gone, the miracle of Battle done, and this +miraculous packing going on,--Friedrich riding about among his people, +passed along the front of Bernburg, the eye of him perhaps intimating, +"I saw you, BURSCHE;" but no word coming from him. The Bernburg +Officers, tragically tressless in their hats, stand also silent, grim as +blackened stones (all Bernburg black with gunpowder): "In us also is +no word; unless our actions perhaps speak?" But a certain Sergeant, +Fugleman, or chief Corporal, stept out, saluting reverentially: +"Regiment Bernburg, IHRO MAJESTAT--?" "Hm; well, you did handsomely. +Yes, you shall have your side-arms back; all shall be forgotten and +washed out!" "And you are again our Gracious King, then?" says the +Sergeant, with tears in his eyes.--"GEWISS, Yea, surely!" [Tempelhof, +iv. 162-164.] Upon which, fancy what a peal of sound from the ecstatic +throat and heart of this poor Regiment. Which I have often thought of; +hearing mutinous blockheads, "glorious Sons of Freedom" to their own +thinking, ask their natural commanding Officer, "Are not we as good as +thou? Are not all men equal?" Not a whit of it, you mutinous blockheads; +very far from it indeed! + +This was the breaking of Friedrich's imprisonment in the deadly +rock-labyrinths; this success at Liegnitz delivered him into free field +once more. For twenty-four hours more, indeed, the chance was still full +of anxiety to him; for twenty-four hours Daun, could he have been rapid, +still had the possibilities in hand;--but only Daun's Antagonist was +usually rapid. About 9 in the morning, all road-ready, this latter +Gentleman "gave three Salvos, as Joy-fire, on the field of Liegnitz;" +and, in the above succinct shape,--leaving Ziethen to come on, "with +the prisoners, the sick-wagons and captured cannon," in the +afternoon,--marched rapidly away. For Parchwitz, with our best speed: +Parchwitz is the road to Breslau, also to Glogau,--to Breslau, if it be +humanly possible! Friedrich has but two days' bread left; on the Breslau +road, at Auras, there is Czernichef with 24,000; there are, or there +may be, the Loudon Remnants rallied again, the Lacy Corps untouched, all +Daun's Force, had Daun made any despatch at all. Which Daun seldom did. +A man slow to resolve, and seeking his luck in leisure. + +All judges say, Daun ought now to have marched, on this enterprise +of still intercepting Friedrich, without loss of a moment. But he +calculated Friedrich would probably spend the day in TE-DEUM-ing on the +Field (as is the manner of some); and that, by to-morrow, things would +be clearer to one's own mind. Daun was in no haste; gave no orders,--did +not so much as send Czernichef a Letter. Czernichef got one, however. +Friedrich sent him one; that is to say, sent him one TO INTERCEPT. +Friedrich, namely, writes a Note addressed to his Brother Henri: +"Austrians totally beaten this day; now for the Russians, dear Brother; +and swift, do what we have agreed on!" [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 67.] +Friedrich hands this to a Peasant, with instructions to let himself be +taken by the Russians, and give it up to save his life. Czernichef, it +is thought, got this Letter; and perhaps rumor itself, and the delays of +Daun, would, at any rate, have sent him across. Across he at once went, +with his 24,000, and burnt his Bridge. A vanished Czernichef;--though +Friedrich is not yet sure of it: and as for the wandering Austrian +Divisions, the Loudons, Lacys, all is dark to him. + +So that, at Parchwitz, next morning (August 16th), the question, +"To Glogau? To Breslau?" must have been a kind of sphinx-enigma to +Friedrich; dark as that, and, in case of error, fatal. After some brief +paroxysm of consideration, Friedrich's reading was, "To Breslau, then!" +And, for hours, as the march went on, he was noticed "riding much +about," his anxieties visibly great. Till at Neumarkt (not far from the +Field of LEUTHEN), getting on the Heights there,--towards noon, I +will guess,--what a sight! Before this, he had come upon Austrian +Out-parties, Beck's or somebody's, who did not wait his attack: he saw, +at one point, "the whole Austrian Army on march (the tops of its +columns visible among the knolls, three miles off, impossible to say +whitherward);" and fared on all the faster, I suppose, such a bet +depending;--and, in fine, galloped to the Heights of Neumarkt for a +view: "Dare we believe it? Not an Austrian there!" And might be, for the +moment, the gladdest of Kings. Secure now of Breslau, of junction +with Henri: fairly winner of the bet;--and can at last pause, and take +breath, very needful to his poor Army, if not to himself, after such +a mortal spasm of sixteen days! Daun had taken the Liegnitz accident +without remark; usually a stoical man, especially in other people's +misfortunes; but could not conceal his painful astonishment on this +new occasion,--astonishment at unjust fortune, or at his own sluggardly +cunctations, is not said. + +Next day (August 17th), Friedrich encamps at Hermannsdorf, head-quarter +the Schloss of Hermannsdorf, within seven miles of Breslau; continues a +fortnight there, resting his wearied people, himself not resting much, +watching the dismal miscellany of entanglements that yet remain, how +these will settle into groups,--especially what Daun and his Soltikof +will decide on. In about a fortnight, Daun's decision did become +visible; Soltikof's not in a fortnight, nor ever clearly at all. Unless +it were To keep a whole skin, and gradually edge home to his +victuals. As essentially it was, and continued to be; creating endless +negotiations, and futile overtures and messagings from Daun to +his barbarous Friend, endless suasions and troubles from poor +Montalembert,--of which it would weary every reader to hear mention, +except of the result only. + +Friedrich, for his own part, is little elated with these bits of +successes at Liegnitz or since; and does not deceive himself as to +the difficulties, almost the impossibilities, that still lie ahead. In +answer to D'Argens, who has written ("at midnight," starting out of bed +"the instant the news came"), in zealous congratulation on Liegnitz, +here is a Letter of Friedrich's: well worth reading,--though it has been +oftener read than almost any other of his. A Letter which D'Argens +never saw in the original form; which was captured by the Austrians or +Cossacks; [See _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 198 (D'Argens himself, "19th +October" following), and ib. 191 n.; Rodenbeck, ii. 31, 36;--mention +of it in Voltaire, Montalembert, &c.] which got copied everywhere, soon +stole into print, and is ever since extensively known. + + +FRIEDRICH TO MARQUIS D'ARGENS (at Berlin). + +"HERMANNSDORF, near Breslau, 27th August, 1760. + +"In other times, my dear Marquis, the Affair of the 15th would have +settled the Campaign; at present it is but a scratch. There will be +needed a great Battle to decide our fate: such, by all appearance, we +shall soon have; and then you may rejoice, if the event is favorable to +us. Thank you, meanwhile, for all your sympathy. It has cost a deal +of scheming, striving and much address to bring matters to this point. +Don't speak to me of dangers; the last Action costs me only a Coat +[torn, useless, only one skirt left, by some rebounding cannon-ball?] +and a Horse [shot under me]: that is not paying dear for a victory. + +"In my life, I was never in so bad a posture as in this Campaign. +Believe me, miracles are still needed if I am to overcome all the +difficulties which I still see ahead. And one is growing weak withal. +'Herculean' labors to accomplish at an age when my powers are forsaking +me, my weaknesses increasing, and, to speak candidly, even hope, the +one comfort of the unhappy, begins to be wanting. You are not enough +acquainted with the posture of things, to know all the dangers that +threaten the State: I know them, and conceal them; I keep all the fears +to myself, and communicate to the Public only the hopes, and the trifle +of good news I may now and then have. If the stroke I am meditating +succeed [stroke on Daun's Anti-Schweidnitz strategies, of which anon], +then, my dear Marquis, it will be time to expand one's joy; but till +then let us not flatter ourselves, lest some unexpected bit of bad news +depress us too much. + +"I live here [Schloss of Hermannsdorf, a seven miles west of Breslau] +like a Military Monk of La Trappe: endless businesses, and these done, +a little consolation from my Books. I know not if I shall outlive this +War: but should it so happen, I am firmly resolved to pass the remainder +of my life in solitude, in the bosom of Philosophy and Friendship. When +the roads are surer, perhaps you will write me oftener. I know not where +our winter-quarters this time are to be! My House in Breslau is burnt +down in the Bombardment [Loudon's, three weeks ago]. Our enemies grudge +us everything, even daylight, and air to breathe: some nook, however, +they must leave us; and if it be a safe one, it will be a true pleasure +to have you again with me. + +"Well, my dear Marquis, what has become of the Peace with France +[English Peace]! Your Nation, you see, is blinder than you thought: +those fools will lose their Canada and Pondicherry, to please the Queen +of Hungary and the Czarina. Heaven grant Prince Ferdinand may pay +them for their zeal! And it will be the innocent that suffer, the poor +officers and soldiers, not the Choiseuls and--... But here is business +come on me. Adieu, dear Marquis; I embrace you.--F." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xix. 191.] + +Two Events, of opposite complexion, a Russian and a Saxon, Friedrich had +heard of while at Hermannsdorf, before writing as above. The Saxon Event +is the pleasant one, and comes first. + +HULSEN ON THE DURRENBERG, AUGUST 20th. "August 20th, at Strehla, in that +Schlettau-Meissen Country, the Reichsfolk and Austrians made attack +on Hulsen's Posts, principal Post of them the Durrenberg (DRY-HILL) +there,--in a most extensive manner; filling the whole region with vague +artillery-thunder, and endless charges, here, there, of foot and +horse; which all issued in zero and minus quantities; Hulsen standing +beautifully to his work, and Hussar Kleist especially, at one point, +cutting in with masterly execution, which proved general overthrow +to the Reichs Project; and left Hulsen master of the field and of his +Durrenberg, PLUS 1,217 prisoners and one Prince among them, and one +cannon: a Hulsen who has actually given a kind of beating to the +Reichsfolk and Austrians, though they were 30,000 to his 10,000, and had +counted on making a new Maxen of it." [Archenholts, ii. 114; BERICHT +VON DER OM 20 AUGUST 1780 BEY STREHLA VORGEFALLONEN ACTION (Seyfarth, +_Beylagen,_ ii. 703-719).] Friedrich writes a glad laudatory Letter +to Hulsen: "Right, so; give them more of that when they apply next!" +[Letter in SCHONING, ii. 396, "Hermsdorf" (Hermannsdorf), "27th August, +1760."] + +This is a bit of sunshine to the Royal mind, dark enough otherwise. +Had Friedrich got done here, right fast would he fly to the relief of +Hulsen, and recovery of Saxony. Hope, in good moments, says, "Hulsen +will be able to hold out till then!" Fear answers, "No, he cannot, +unless you get done here extremely soon!"--The Russian Event, full of +painful anxiety to Friedrich, was a new Siege of Colberg. That is the +sad fact; which, since the middle of August, has been becoming visibly +certain. + +SECOND SIEGE OF COLBERG, AUGUST 26th. "Under siege again, that poor +Place; and this time the Russians seem to have made a vow that take it +they will. Siege by land and by sea; land-troops direct from Petersburg, +15,000 in all (8,000 of them came by ship), with endless artillery; and +near 40 Russian and Swedish ships-of-war, big and little, blackening the +waters of poor Colberg. August 26th [the day before Friedrich's writing +as above], they have got all things adjusted,--the land-troops covered +by redoubts to rearward, ships moored in their battering-places;--and +begin such a bombardment and firing of red-hot balls upon Colberg as was +rarely seen. To which, one can only hope old Heyde will set a face of +gray-steel character, as usual; and prove a difficult article to deal +with, till one get some relief contrived for him. [Archenholtz, ii. 116: +in _Helden-Geschichte,_ (vi.73-83), "TAGEBUCH of Siege, 26th August-18th +September," and other details.] + + + + +Chapter IV.--DAUN IN WRESTLE WITH FRIEDRICH IN THE SILESIAN HILLS. + +In spite of Friedrich's forebodings, an extraordinary recoil, in all +Anti-Friedrich affairs, ensued upon Liegnitz; everything taking the +backward course, from which it hardly recovered, or indeed did not +recover at all, during the rest of this Campaign. Details on the +subsequent Daun-Friedrich movements--which went all aback for Daun, Daun +driven into the Hills again, Friedrich hopeful to cut off his bread, and +drive him quite through the Hills, and home again--are not permitted us. +No human intellect in our day could busy itself with understanding these +thousand-fold marchings, manoeuvrings, assaults, surprisals, sudden +facings-about (retreat changed to advance); nor could the powerfulest +human memory, not exclusively devoted to study the Art Military under +Friedrich, remember them when understood. For soldiers, desirous not +to be sham-soldiers, they are a recommendable exercise; for them I do +advise Tempelhof and the excellent German Narratives and Records. But in +regard to others--A sample has been given: multiply that by the ten, by +the threescore and ten; let the ingenuous imagination get from it what +will suffice. Our first duty here to poor readers, is to elicit from +that sea of small things the fractions which are cardinal, or which give +human physiognomy and memorability to it; and carefully suppress all the +rest. + +Understand, then, that there is a general going-back on the Austrian and +Russian part. Czernichef we already saw at once retire over the Oder. +Soltikof bodily, the second day after, deaf to Montalembert, lifts +himself to rearward; takes post behind bogs and bushy grounds more and +more inaccessible; ["August 18th, to Trebnitz, on the road to +Militsch" (Tempelhof, iv. 167).] followed by Prince Henri with his best +impressiveness for a week longer, till he seem sufficiently remote and +peaceably minded: "Making home for Poland, he," thinks the sanguine +King; "leave Goltz with 12,000 to watch him. The rest of the Army over +hither!" Which is done, August 27th; General Forcade taking charge, +instead of Henri,--who is gone, that day or next, to Breslau, for his +health's sake. "Prince Henri really ill," say some; "Not so ill, but in +the sulks," say others:--partly true, both theories, it is now thought; +impossible to settle in what degree true. Evident it is, Henri sat +quiescent in Breslau, following regimen, in more or less pathetic humor, +for two or three months to come; went afterwards to Glogau, and had +private theatricals; and was no more heard of in this Campaign. Greatly +to his Brother's loss and regret; who is often longing for "your +recovery" (and return hither), to no purpose. + +Soltikof does, in his heart, intend for Poland; but has to see the Siege +of Colberg finish first; and, in decency even to the Austrians, would +linger a little: "Willing I always, if only YOU prove feasible!" Which +occasions such negotiating, and messaging across the Oder, for the next +six weeks, as--as shall be omitted in this place. By intense suasion of +Montalembert, Soltikof even consents to undertake some sham movement +on Glogau, thereby to alleviate his Austrians across the River; and +staggers gradually forward a little in that direction:--sham merely; for +he has not a siege-gun, nor the least possibility on Glogau; and Goltz +with the 12,000 will sufficiently take care of him in that quarter. + +Friedrich, on junction with Forcade, has risen to perhaps 50,000; and is +now in some condition against the Daun-Loudon-Lacy Armies, which cannot +be double his number. These still hang about, in the Breslau-Parchwitz +region; gloomy of humor; and seem to be aiming at Schweidnitz,--if that +could still prove possible with a Friedrich present. Which it by no +means does; though they try it by their best combinations;--by "a +powerful Chain of Army-posts, isolating Schweidnitz, and uniting Daun +and Loudon;" by "a Camp on the Zobtenberg, as crown of the same;"--and +put Friedrich on his mettle. Who, after survey of said Chain, executes +(night of August 30th) a series of beautiful manoeuvres on it, which +unexpectedly conclude its existence:--"with unaccountable hardihood," as +Archenholtz has it, physiognomically TRUE to Friedrich's general style +just now, if a little incorrect as to the case in hand, "sees good +to march direct, once for all, athwart said Chain; right across its +explosive cannonadings and it,--counter-cannonading, and marching +rapidly on; such a march for insolence, say the Austrians!" [Archenholtz +(ii. 115-116); who is in a hurry, dateless, and rather confuses a +subsequent DAY (September 18th) with this "night of August 30th." See +RETZOW, ii. 26; and still better, TEMPELHOF, iv. 203.] Till, in this +way, the insolent King has Schweidnitz under his protective hand again; +and forces the Chain to coil itself wholly together, and roll into the +Hills for a safe lodging. Whither he again follows it: with continual +changes of position, vying in inaccessibility with your own; threatening +your meal-wagons; trampling on your skirts in this or the other +dangerous manner; marching insolently up to your very nose, more than +once ("Dittmannsdorf, September 18th," for a chief instance), and +confusing your best schemes. [Tempelhof, iv. 193-231; &c. &c.: in +_Anonymous of Hamburg,_ iv. 222-235, "Diary of the AUSTRIAN Army" (3-8th +September).] + +This "insolent" style of management, says Archenholtz, was practised +by Julius Caesar on the Gauls; and since his time by nobody,--till +Friedrich, his studious scholar and admirer, revived it "against another +enemy." "It is of excellent efficacy," adds Tempelhof; "it disheartens +your adversary, and especially his common people, and has the reverse +effect on your own; confuses him in endless apprehensions, and details +of self-defence; so that he can form no plan of his own, and his +overpowering resources become useless to him." Excellent efficacy,--only +you must be equal to doing it; not unequal, which might be very fatal to +you! + +For about five weeks, Friedrich, eminently practising this style, has +a most complex multifarious Briarean wrestle with big Daun and his +Lacy-Loudon Satellites; who have a troublesome time, running hither, +thither, under danger of slaps, and finding nowhere an available mistake +made. The scene is that intricate Hill-Country between Schweidnitz and +Glatz (kind of GLACIS from Schweidnitz to the Glatz Mountains): Daun, +generally speaking, has his back on Glatz, Friedrich on Schweidnitz; +and we hear of encampings at Kunzendorf, at BUNZELWITZ, at +BURKERSDORF--places which will be more famous in a coming Year. Daun +makes no complaint of his Lacy-Loudon or other satellite people; who are +diligently circumambient all of them, as bidden; but are unable, like +Daun himself, to do the least good; and have perpetually, Daun and they, +a bad life of it beside this Neighbor. The outer world, especially +the Vienna outer world, is naturally a little surprised: "How is this, +Feldmarschall Daun? Can you do absolutely nothing with him, then; but +sit pinned in the Hills, eating sour herbs!" + +In the Russians appears no help. Soltikof on Glogau, we know what that +amounts to! Soltikof is evidently intending home, and nothing else. +To all Austrian proposals,--and they have been manifold, as poor +Montalembert knows too well,--the answer of Soltikof was and is: "Above +90,000 of you circling about, helping one another to do Nothing. Happy +were you, not a doubt of it, could WE be wiled across to you, to get +worried in your stead!" Daun begins to be extremely ill-off; provisions +scarce, are far away in Bohemia; and the roads daily more insecure, +Friedrich aiming evidently to get command of them altogether. Think of +such an issue to our once flourishing Campaign 1760! Daun is vigilance +itself against such fatality; and will do anything, except risk a Fight. +Here, however, is the fatal posture: Since September 18th, Daun sees +himself considerably cut off from Glatz, his provision-road more and +more insecure;--and for fourteen days onward, the King and he have got +into a dead-lock, and sit looking into one another's faces; Daun in a +more and more distressed mood, his provender becoming so uncertain, and +the Winter season drawing nigh. The sentries are in mutual view: each +Camp could cannonade the other; but what good were it? By a tacit +understanding they don't. The sentries, outposts and vedettes forbear +musketry; on the contrary, exchange tobaccoes sometimes, and have a +snatch of conversation. Daun is growing more and more unhappy. To which +of the gods, if not to Soltikof again, can he apply? + +Friedrich himself, successful so far, is abundantly dissatisfied with +such a kind of success;--and indeed seems to be less thankful to his +stars than in present circumstances he ought. Profoundly wearied we find +him, worn down into utter disgust in the Small War of Posts: "Here we +still are, nose to nose," exclaims he (see Letters TO HENRI), "both of +us in unattackable camps. This Campaign appears to me more unsupportable +than any of the foregoing. Take what trouble and care I like, I +can't advance a step in regard to great interests; I succeed only in +trifles.... Oh for good news of your health: I am without all assistance +here; the Army must divide again before long, and I have none to intrust +it to." [Schoning, ii. 416.] + +And TO D'ARGENS, in the same bad days: "Yes, yes, I escaped a great +danger there [at Liegnitz]. In a common War it would have signified +something; but in this it is a mere skirmish; my position little +improved by it. I will not sing Jeremiads to you; nor speak of my fears +and anxieties, but can assure you they are great. The crisis I am in +has taken another shape; but as yet nothing decides it, nor can the +development of it be foreseen. I am getting consumed by slow fever; I am +like a living body losing limb after limb. Heaven stand by us: we +need it much. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 193 ("Dittmannsdorf, 18th +September," day after, or day of finishing, that cannonade).]... You +talk always of my person, of my dangers. Need I tell you, it is not +necessary that I live; but it is that I do my duty, and fight for my +Country to save it if possible. In many LITTLE things I have had luck: I +think of taking for my motto, MAXIMUS IN MINIMIS, ET MINIMUS IN MAXIMIS. +A worse Campaign than any of the others: I know not sometimes what will +become of it. But why weary you with such details of my labors and my +sorrows? My spirits have forsaken me. All gayety is buried with the +Loved Noble Ones whom my heart was bound to. Adieu." + +Or, again, TO HENRI: Berlin? Yes; I am trying something in bar of that. +Have a bad time of it, in the interim." Our means, my dear Brother, are +so eaten away; far too short for opposing the prodigious number of our +enemies set against us:--if we must fall, let us date our destruction +from the infamous Day of Maxen!" + +Is in such health, too, all the while: "Am a little better, thank +you; yet have still the"--what shall we say (dreadful biliary +affair)?--"HEMORRHOIDES AVEUGLES: nothing that, were it not for the +disquietudes I feel: but all ends in this world, and so will these. +... I flatter myself your health is recovering. For these three days +in continuance I have had so terrible a cramp, I thought it would choke +me;--it is now a little gone. No wonder the chagrins and continual +disquietudes I live in should undermine and at length overturn the +robustest constitution." [Schoning, ii. 419: "2d October." Ib. ii. 410: +"16th September." Ib. ii. 408.] + +Friedrich, we observe, has heard of certain Russian-Austrian intentions +on Berlin; but, after intense consideration, resolves that it will +behoove him to continue here, and try to dislodge Daun, or help Hunger +to dislodge him; which will be the remedy for Berlin and all things +else. There are news from Colberg of welcome tenor: could Daun be sent +packing, Soltikof, it is probable, will not be in much alacrity for +Berlin!--September 18th, at Dittmannsdorf, was the first day of Daun's +dead-lock: ever since, he has had to sit, more and more hampered, pinned +to the Hills, eating sour herbs; nothing but Hunger ahead, and a +retreat (battle we will not dream of), likely to be very ruinous, with a +Friedrich sticking to the wings of it. Here is the Note on Colberg:-- + +SEPTEMBER 18th, COLHERG SIEGE RAISED. "The same September 18th, what +a day at Colberg too! it is the twenty-fourth day of the continual +bombardment there. Colberg is black ashes, most of its houses ruins, not +a house in it uninjured. But Heyde and his poor Garrison, busy day and +night, walk about in it as if fire-proof; with a great deal of battle +still left in them. The King, I know not whether Heyde is aware, has +contrived something of relief; General Werner coming:--the fittest of +men, if there be possibility. When, see, September 18th, uneasy motion +in the Russian intrenchments (for the Russians too are intrenched +against attack): Something that has surprised the Russians yonder. +Climb, some of you, to the highest surviving steeple, highest +chimney-top if no steeple survive:--Yonder IS Werner come to our relief, +O God the Merciful!" + +"Werner, with 5,000, was detached from Glogau (September 5th), from +Goltz's small Corps there; has come as on wings, 200 miles in thirteen +days. And attacks now, as with wings, the astonished Russian 15,000, +who were looking for nothing like him,--with wings, with claws, and with +beak; and in a highly aquiline manner, fierce, swift, skilful, storms +these intrenched Russians straightway, scatters them to pieces,--and +next day is in Colberg, the Siege raising itself with great +precipitation; leaving all its artilleries and furnitures, rushing +on shipboard all of it that can get,--the very ships-of-war, says +Archenholtz, hurrying dangerously out to sea, as if the Prussian Hussars +might possibly take THEM. A glorious Werner! A beautiful defence, and +ditto rescue; which has drawn the world's attention." [Seyfarth, ii. +634; Archenholtz, ii. 116: in _Helden-Geschichte,_ (vi. 73-83), TAGEBUCH +of Siege.] + +Heyde's defence of Colberg, Werner's swift rescue of it, are very +celebrated this Autumn. Medals were struck in honor of them at Berlin, +not at Friedrich's expense, but under Friedrich's patronage; who +purchased silver or gold copies, and gave them about. Veteran Heyde had +a Letter from his Majesty, and one of these gold Medals;--what an honor! +I do not hear that Heyde got any other reward, or that he needed any. +A beautiful old Hero, voiceless in History; though very visible in that +remote sphere, if you care to look. + +That is the news from Colberg; comfortable to Friedrich; not likely to +inspire Soltikof with new alacrity in behalf of Daun. It remains to +us only to add, that Friedrich, with a view to quicken Daun, shot out +(September 24th, after nightfall, and with due mystery) a Detachment +towards Neisse,--4,000 or so, who call themselves 15,000, and affect to +be for Mahren ultimately. "For Mahren, and my bit of daily bread!" Daun +may well think; and did for some time think, or partly did. Pushed +off one small detachment really thither, to look after Mahren; and +(September 29th) pushed off another bigger; Lacy namely, with 15,000, +pretending to be thither,--but who, the instant they were out of +Friedrich's sight, have whirled, at a rapid pace, quite into the +opposite direction: as will shortly be seen! Daun has now other irons in +the fire. Daun, ever since this fatal Dead-lock in the Hills, has been +shrieking hoarsely to the Russians, day and night; who at last take pity +on him,--or find something feasible in his proposals. + + + + +THE RUSSIANS MAKE A RAID ON BERLIN, FOR RELIEF OF DAUN AND THEIR OWN +BEHOOF (October 3d-12th, 1760). + +Powerful entreaties, influences are exercised at Petersburg, and here in +the Russian Camp: "Noble Russian Excellencies, for the love of Heaven, +take this man off my windpipe! A sally into Brandenburg: oh, could not +you? Lacy shall accompany; seizure of Berlin, were it only for one day!" +Soltikof has falleu sick,--and, indeed, practically vanishes from our +affairs at this point;--Fermor, who has command in the interim, finally +consents: "Our poor siege of Colberg, what an end is come to it! What +an end is the whole Campaign like to have! Let us at least try this of +Berlin, since our hands are empty." The joy of Daun, of Montalembert, +and of everybody in Austrian Court and Camp may be conceived. + +Russians to the amount of 20,000, Czernichef Commander; Tottleben Second +in command, a clever soldier, who knows Berlin: these are to start from +Sagan Country, on this fine Expedition, and to push on at the very +top of their speed. September 20th, Tottleben, with 3,000 of them as +Vanguard, does accordingly cross Oder, at Beuthen in Sagan Country; and +strides forward direct upon Berlin: Lacy, with 15,000, has started from +Silesia, we saw how, above a week later (September 29th), but at a +still more furious rate of speed. Soltikof,--theoretically Soltikof, +but practically Fermor, should the dim German Books be ambiguous to +any studious creature,--with the Main Army (which by itself is still a +20,000 odd), moves to Frankfurt, to support the swift Expedition, and +be within two marches of it. Here surely is a feasibility! Berlin, for +defence, has nothing but weak palisades; and of effective garrison 1,200 +men. + +And feasible, in a sort, this thing did prove; indisputably delivering +Daun from strangulation in the Silesian Mountains; filling the Gazetteer +mind with loud emotion of an empty nature; and very much affecting many +poor people in Berlin and neighborhood. Making a big Chapter in Berlin +Local History; though compressible to small bulk for strangers, who have +no specific sympathies in that locality. + +"FRIDAY, 3d OCTOBER, 1760, Tottleben, with his hasty Vanguard of 3,000, +preceded by hastier rumor, comes circling round Berlin environs; takes +post at the Halle Gate [West side of the City]; summons Rochow [the same +old Commandant of Haddick's time];--requires instant admittance; ransom +of Four million Thalers, and other impossible things. Berlin has been +putting itself in some posture; repairing its palisades, throwing up +bits of redoubts in front of the gates, and, though sounding with alarms +and uncertainties, shows a fine spirit of readiness for the emergency. +Rochow is still Commandant, the same old Rochow who shrunk so +questionably in Haddick's time: but Rochow has no Court to tremble for +at present; Queen and Royal Family, Archives, Principal Ministries, +Directorium in a body, went all to Magdeburg again, on the Kunersdorf +Disaster last year, and are safe from such insults. The spirit of the +population, it appears, even of the rich classes, some of whom are +very rich, is extraordinary. Besides Rochow, moreover, there are, +by accident, certain Generals in Berlin: Seidlitz and two others, +recovering from their Kunersdorf hurts, who step into the breach with +heart admirably willing, if with limbs still lame. Then there is old +Field-marshal Lehwald [Anti-Russian at Gross Jagersdorf, but dismissed +as too old], who is official Governor of Berlin, who succeeded poor +Keith in that honorable office: all these were strong for defence;--and +do not now grudge, great men as they are, to take each his Gate of +Berlin, his small redoubt thrown up there, and pass the night and the +day in doing his utmost with it. + +"Rochow refuses the surrender, and the Four Millions pure specie; +and Tottleben, about 3 P.M. in an intermittent way, and about 5 in a +constant, begins bombarding--grenadoes, red-hot balls, what he can;--and +continues the s&me till 3 next morning. Without result to speak of; +Seidlitz and Consorts making good counter-play; the poor old 1,200 of +Garrison growing almost young again with energy, under their Seidlitzes; +and the population zealously co-operating, especially quenching all +fires that rose. What greatly contributed withal was the arrival of +Prince Eugen overnight. Eugen of Wurtemberg [cadet of that bad Duke] had +been engaged driving home the Swedes, but instantly quitted that with a +5,000 he had; and has marched this day,--his Vanguard has, mostly Horse, +whom the Foot will follow to-morrow,--a distance of forty miles, on this +fine errand. Delicate manoeuvring, by these wearied horsemen, to enter +Berlin amid uncertain jostlings, under the shine of Russian bombardment; +ecstatic welcome to them, when they did get in,--instant subscription +for fat oxen to them; a just abundance of beef to them, of generous beer +I hope not more than an abundance: phenomena which, with others of +the like, could be dwelt on, had we room. [Tempelhof, iv. 266-290; +Archenholtz, ii. 122-148; _Helden-Geschichte,_ vi. 103-149, 350-352; &c. +&c.]' + +"Tottleben, under these omens, found it would not do; wended off towards +his Czernichef next morning; eastward again as far as Copenik, Prince +Eugen attending him in a minatory manner: and, in Berlin for the moment, +the bad ten hours were over. For four days more, the fate of things hung +dubious; hope soon fading again, but not quite going out till the fifth +day. And this, in fact, was mainly all of bombardment that the City +had to suffer; though its fate of capture was not to be averted. Is not +Tottleben gone? Yes; but Lacy, marching at a rate he never did before +(except from Bischofswerda), is arrived in the environs this same +evening, cautious but furious. The King is far away; what are Eugen's +5,000 against these? + +"On the other hand, Hulsen, leaving his Saxon affairs to their +chance,--which, alas, are about extinct, at any rate; except Wittenberg, +all Saxony gone from us!--Hulsen is on winged march hitherward with +about 9,000. 'How would the King come on wings, like an eagle from the +Blue, if he were but aware!' thought everybody, and said. Hulsen did +arrive on the 8th; so that there are now 14,000 of us. Hulsen did;--but +no King could; the King is just starting (October 4th, the King, on +these bad rumors about Saxony, about Berlin, quitted the attempt on +Daun; October 7th, got on march hitherward; has finished his first +march hitherward,--Daun gradually preparing to attend him in the +distance),--when Hulsen arrives. And here are all their Lacys, +Czernichefs fairly assembled; five to two of us,--35,000 of them against +our 14,000. + +"Hulsen and Eugen, drawn out in their skilfulest way, manoeuvred about, +all this Wednesday, 8th; attempted, did not attempt; found on candid +examination, That 14,000 VERSUS 35,000 ran a great risk of being +worsted; that, in such case, the fate of the City might be still +more frightful; and that, on the whole, their one course was that of +withdrawing to Spandau, and leaving poor Berlin to capitulate as +it could. Capitulation starts again with Tottleben that same night; +Gotzkowsky, a magnanimous Citizen and Merchant-Prince, stepping forth +with beautiful courageous furtherances of every kind; and it ends better +than one could have hoped: Ransom--not of Four Millions pure specie +(which would have been 600,000 pounds): 'Gracious Sir, it is beyond our +utmost possibility!'--but of One and a Half Million in modern Ephraim +coin; with a 30,000 pounds of douceur-money to the common man, Russian +and Austrian, for his forbearance;--'for the rest, we are at your +Excellency's mercy, in a manner!' And so, + +"THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9th, about 7 in the morning, Tottleben marches in; +exactly six days since he first came circling to the Halle Gate and +began bombarding. Tottleben, knowing Friedrich, knew the value of +despatch; and, they say, was privately no enemy to Berlin, remembering +old grateful days here. For Tottleben has himself been in difficulties; +indeed, was never long out of them, during the long stormy life he +had. Not a Russian at all; though I suppose Father of the now Russian +Tottlebens whom one hears of: this one was a poor Saxon Gentleman, Page +once to poor old drunken Weissenfels, whom, for a certain fair soul's +sake, we sigh to remember! Weissenfels dying, Tottleben became a soldier +of Polish Majesty's;--acceptable soldier, but disagreed with Bruhl, for +which nobody will like him worse. Disagreed with Bruhl; went into the +Dutch service (may have been in Fontenoy for what I know); was there +till Aix-la-Chapelle, till after Aix-la-Chapelle; kindly treated, and +promoted in the Dutch Army; but with outlooks, I can fancy, rather +dull. Outlooks probably dull in such an element,--when, being a +handsome fellow in epaulettes (Major-General, in fact, though poor), he, +diligently endeavoring, caught the eye of a Dutch West-Indian Heiress; +soft creature with no end of money; whom he privately wedded, and ran +away with. To the horror of her appointed Dutch Lover and Friends; who +prosecuted the poor Major-General with the utmost rigor, not of Law +only. And were like to be the ruin of his fair West-Indian and him; when +Friedrich, about 1754 as I guess, gave him shelter in Berlin; finding +no insupportable objection in what the man had done. The rather, as +his Heiress and he were rich. Tottleben gained general favor in Berlin +society; wished, in 1756, to take service with Friedrich on the breaking +out of this War. 'A Colonel with me, yes,' said Friedrich. But Tottleben +had been Major-General among the Dutch, and could not consent to sink; +had to go among the Russians for a Major-Generalcy; and there +and elsewhere, for many years coming, had many adventures, mostly +troublesome, which shall not be memorable to us here. [Sketch of +Tottleben's Life; in RODENBECK, ii. 69-72.] + +"Lacy, who, after hovering about in these vicinities for four days, had +now actually come up, so soon as Eugen and Hulsen withdrew,--was deeply +disgusted at the Terms of Capitulation; angry to find that Tottleben +had concluded without him; and, in fact, flew into open rage at +the arrangements Tottleben had made for himself and for others. 'No +admittance, except on order from his Excellency!' said the Russian +Sentry to Lacy's Austrians: upon which, Lacy forced the Gate, +and violently marched in. Took lodging, to his own mind, in the +Friedrichstadt quarter; and was fearfully truculent upon person and +property, during his short stay. A scandal to be seen, how his Croats +and loose hordes went openly ravening about, bent on mere housebreaking, +street-robbery and insolent violence. So that Tottleben had fairly to +fire upon the vagabonds once or twice; and force on the unwilling +Lacy some coercion of them within limits. For the three days of his +continuance,--it was but three days in all,--Lacy was as the evil genius +of Berlin; Tottleben and his Russians the good. Their discipline was so +excellent; all Cossacks and loose rabble strictly kept out beyond the +Walls. To Bachmann, Russian Commandant, the Berliners, on his departure, +had gratefully got ready a money-gift of handsome amount: 'By no means,' +answered Bachmann: 'your treatment was according to the mildness of our +Sovereign Czarina. For myself, if I have served you in anything, the +fact that for three days I have been Commandant of the Great Friedrich's +Capital is more than a reward to me.' + +"Tottleben and Lacy, during those three days of Russian and Austrian +joint dominion, had a stormy time of it together. 'Destroy the +LAGER-HAUS,' said Lacy: Lager-Haus, where they manufacture their +soldiers' uniforms; it is the parent of all cloth-manufacturing in +Prussia; set up by Friedrich Wilhelm,--not on free-trade principles. +'The Lager-Haus, say you? I doubt, it is now private property; screened +by our Capitulation;'--which it proves to be. 'You shall blow up the +Arsenal!' said Lacy, with vehemence and truculence. A noble edifice, as +travellers yet know: fancy its fragments flying about among the populous +streets, plunging through the roofs of Palaces, and great houses all +round. Lacy was inexorable; Tottleben had to send a Russian Party (one +wishes they had been Croats) on this sad errand. They proceeded to the +Powder-Magazine for explosive material, as preliminary; they were rash +in handling the gunpowder there, which blew up in their hands; sent +itself and all of them into the air; and saved the poor Arsenal: 'Not +powder enough now left for our own artillery uses,' urged Tottleben. + +"Saxon and Austrian Parties were in the Palaces about,--at Potsdam, +at Charlottenburg, Schonhausen (the Queen's), at Friedrichsfeld (the +Margraf Karl's), some of whom behaved well, some horribly ill. In +Charlottenburg, certain Saxon Bruhl-Dragoons, who by their conduct might +have been Dragoons of Attila, smashed the furnitures, the doors, cutting +the Pictures, much maltreating the poor people; and, what was reckoned +still more tragical, overset the poor Polignac Collection of Antiques +and Classicalities; not only knocking off noses and arms, but beating +them small, lest reparation by cement should be possible. Their +Officers, Pirna people, looking quietly on. A scandalous proceeding, +thought everybody, friend or foe,--especially thought Friedrich; whose +indignation at this ruin of Charlottenburg came out in way of reprisal +by and by. At Potsdam, on the other hand, Prince Esterhazy, with perhaps +Hungarians among his people, behaved like a very Prince; received +from the Castellan an Attestation that he had scrupulously respected +everything; and took, as souvenir, only one Picture of little value; +Prince de Ligne, who was under him, carrying off, still more daintily, +one goose-quill, immortal by having been a pen of the Great Friedrich's. + +"Tottleben, with no feeling other than Official tempered by Human, was +in great contrast with Lacy, and very beneficent to Berlin during the +three days it lay under the TRIBULA, or harrow of War. But the Tutelary +Angel of Berlin, then and afterwards for weeks and months, till all +scores got settled, was the Gotzkowsky mentioned above." Whom we shall +see again helpful at Leipzig; a man worth marking in these tumults. "If +Tottleben was the temporal Armed King, this Gotzkowsky was the Spiritual +King, PAPA or Universal Father, armed only with charities, pieties, +prayers, ever shiningly attended by self-sacrifices on Gotzkowsky's +part; which averted woes innumerable (Lager-Haus only one of a long +list); and which 'surpassed all belief,' write the Berlin Magistracy, +as if in tears over such heroism. Truly a Prince of Merchants, this +Gotzkowsky, not for his vast enterprises, and the mere 1,500 workmen he +employs, but for the still greater heart that dwells in him. Had +begun as a travelling Pedler; used to call at Reinsberg, with female +haberdasheries exquisitely chosen ('GALLANTERIE wares' the Germans call +them), for the then Princess Royal; not unnoticed by Friedrich, who +recognized the broad sense, solidity and great thoughts of the man. Of +all which Friedrich has known far more since then, in various branches +of Prussian commerce improved by Gotzkowsky's managements. A truly +notable Gotzkowsky; became bankrupt at last, one is sorry to hear; and +died in affliction and neglect,--short of the humblest wages for so much +good work done in the world! [Preuss, ii. 257, &c. &c.; GESCHICHTE EINES +PATRIOTISCHEN KAUFMANNS (Berlin, 1769, by Gotzkowsky himself).] + +"Gotzkowsky's House was like a general storeroom for everybody's +preciosities; his time, means, self were the refuge of all the needy. +In Zorndorf time, when this Czernichef [if readers can remember], who +is now so supreme,--Czernichef, Soltikof and others,--had nothing for +it but to lodge in the cellars of burnt Custrin, Gotzkowsky, with ready +money, with advice, with assuagement, had been their DEUS EX MACHINA: +and now Czernichef remembers it; and Gotzkowsky, as Papa, has to go with +continual prayers, negotiations, counsellings, expedients, and be the +refuge of all unjustly suffering men Berlin has immensities of trade in +war-furnitures: the capitals circulating are astonishing to Archenholtz; +million on the back of million; no such city in Germany for trade. The +desire of the Three-days Lacy Government is towards any Lager-Haus; +any mass of wealth, which can be construed as Royal or connected with +Royalty. Ephraim and Itzig, mint-masters of that copper-coinage; rolling +in foul wealth by the ruin of their neighbors; ought not these to bleed? +Well, yes,--if anybody; and copiously if you like! I should have said +so: but the generous Gotzkowsky said in his heart, 'No;' and again +pleaded and prevailed. Ephraim and Itzig, foul swollen creatures, were +not broached at all; and their gratitude was, That, at a future day, +Gotzkowsky's day of bankruptcy, they were hardest of any on Gotzkowsky. + +"Archenholtz and the Books are enthusiastically copious upon Gotzkowsky +and his procedures; but we must be silent. This Anecdote only, in regard +to Freedom of the Press,--to the so-called 'air we breathe, not having +which we die!' Would modern Friends of Progress believe it? Because, +in former stages of this War, the Berlin Newspapers have had offensive +expressions (scarcely noticeable to the microscope in our day, and below +calculation for smallness) upon the Russian and Austrian Sovereigns or +Peoples,--the Able Editors (there are only Two) shall now in person, +here in the market-place of Berlin, actually run the gantlet for +it,--'run the rods (GASSEN-LAUFEN'), as the fashion now is; which is +worse than GANTLET, not to speak of the ignominy. That is the barbaric +Russian notion: 'who are you, ill-formed insolent persons, that give a +loose to your tongue in that manner? Strip to the waistband, swift! Here +is the true career opened for you: on each hand, one hundred sharp rods +ranked waiting you; run your courses there,--no hurry more than you +like!' The alternative of death, I suppose, was open to these Editors; +Roman death at least, and martyrdom for a new Faith (Faith in the Loose +Tongue), very sacred to the Democratic Ages now at hand. But nobody +seems to have thought of it; Editors and Public took the thing as a +'sorrow incident to this dangerous Profession of the Tongue Loose (or +looser than usual); which nobody yet knew to be divine. The Editors made +passionate enough lamentation, in the stript state; one of then, with +loud weeping, pulled off his wig, showed ice-gray hair; 'I am in my 68th +year!' But it seems nothing would have steaded them, had not Gotzkowsky +been busy interceding. By virtue of whom there was pardon privately +in readiness: to the ice-gray Editor complete pardon; to the junior +quasi-complete; only a few switches to assert the principle, and +dismissal with admonition." [_Helden-Geschichte_, vi. 103-148; Rodenbeck, +ii. 41-54; Archenholtz, ii. 130-147; Preuss, UBI SUPRA: &c. &c.] + +The pleasant part of the fact is, that Gotzkowsky's powerful +intercessions were thenceforth no farther needed. The same day, +Saturday, October 11th, a few hours after this of the GASSEN-LAUFEN, +news arrived full gallop: "The King is coming!" After which it was +beautiful to see how all things got to the gallop; and in a no-time +Berlin was itself again. That same evening, Saturday, Lacy took the +road, with extraordinary velocity, towards Torgau Country, where the +Reichsfolk, in Hulsen's absence, are supreme; and, the second evening +after, was got 60 miles thitherward. His joint dominion had been of +Two days. On the morning of Sunday, 12th, went Tottleben, who had +businesses, settlements of ransom and the like, before marching. +Tottleben, too, made uncommon despatch; marched, as did all these +invasive Russians, at the rate of thirty miles a day; their Main Army +likewise moving off from Frankfurt to a safer distance. Friedrich was +still five marches off; but there seemed not a moment to lose. + +The Russian spoilings during the retreat were more horrible than ever: +"The gallows gaping for us; and only this one opportunity, if even +this!" thought the agitated Cossack to himself. Our poor friend Nissler +had a sad tale to tell of them; [In Busching, _Beitrage,_ i. 400, +401, account of their sacking of Nussler's pleasant home and estate, +"Weissensee, near Berlin."] as who had not? Terror and murder, +incendiary fire and other worse unnamable abominations of the Pit. One +old Half-pay gentleman, whom I somewhat respect, desperately barricaded +himself, amid his domestics and tenantries, Wife and Daughters +assisting: "Human Russian Officers can enter here; Cossacks no, but +shall kill us first. Not a Cossack till all of us are lying dead!" +[Archenholtz, ii. 150.] And kept his word; the human Russians owning it +to be proper. + +In Guben Country, "at Gross-Muckro, October 15th," the day after passing +Guben, Friedrich first heard for certain, That the Russians had been in +Berlin, and also that they were gone, and that all was over. He made two +marches farther,--not now direct for Berlin, but direct for Saxony AND +it;--to Lubben, 50 or 60 miles straight south of Berlin; and halted +there some days, to adjust himself for a new sequel. "These are the +things," exclaims he, sorrowfully, to D'Argens, "which I have been in +dread of since Winter last; this is what gave the dismal tone to my +Letters to you. It has required not less than all my philosophy to +endure the reverses, the provocations, the outrages, and the whole scene +of atrocious things that have come to pass." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ +xix. 199; "22d October."] Friedrich's grief about Berlin we need not +paint; though there were murmurs afterwards, "Why did not he start +sooner?" which he could not, in strict reason, though aware that these +savageries were on march. He had hoped the Eugen-Hulsen appliances, even +should all else fail, might keep them at bay. And indeed, in regard to +these latter, it turned only on a hair. Montalembert calculating, vows, +on his oath, "Can assure you, M. l'Ambassadeur, PUIS BIEN VOUS ASSURER +COMME SI J,ETAIS DEVANT DIEU, as if I stood before God," [Montalembert, +ii. 108.] that, from first to last, it was my doing; that but for me, at +the very last, the Russians, on sight of Hulsen and Eugen, and no Lacy +come, would have marched away! + +Friedrich's orderings and adjustings, dated Lubben, where his Army +rested after this news from Berlin, were manifold; and a good deal still +of wrecks from the Berlin Business fell to his share. For instance, one +thing he had at once ordered: "Your Bill of a Million-and-half to the +Russians, don't pay it, or any part of it! When Bamberg was ransomed, +Spring gone a year,--Reich and Kaiser, did they respect our Bill we had +on Bamberg? Did not they cancel it, and flatly refuse?" Friedrich is +positive on the point, "Reprisal our clear remedy!" But Berlin itself +was in alarm, for perhaps another Russian visit; Berlin and Gotzkowsky +were humbly positive the other way. Upon which a visit of Gotskowsky +to the Royal Camp: "Merchants' Bills are a sacred thing, your Majesty!" +urged Gotzkowsky. Who, in his zeal for the matter, undertook dangerous +visits to the Russian Quarters, and a great deal of trouble, peril and +expense, during the weeks following. Magnanimous Gotzkowsky, "in mere +bribes to the Russian Officials, spent about 6,000 pounds of his own," +for one item. But he had at length convinced his Majesty that Merchants' +Bills were a sacred thing, in spite of Bamberg and desecrative +individualities; and that this Million-and-half must be paid. Friedrich +was struck with Gotzkowsky and his view of the facts. Friedrich, +from his own distressed funds, handed to Gotzkowsky the necessary +Million-and-half, commanding only profound silence about it; and to +Gotzkowsky himself a present of 150,000 thalers (20,000 pounds odd); +[Archenholtz, ii. 146.] and so the matter did at last end. + +It had been a costly business to Berlin, and to the King, and to the +poor harried Country. To Berlin, bombardment of ten hours; alarm of +discursive siege-work in the environs for five days; foreign yoke for +three days; lost money to the amounts above stated; what loss in wounds +to body or to peace of mind, or whether any loss that way, nobody has +counted. The Berlin people rose to a more than Roman height of temper, +testifies D'Argens; [_ OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 195-199: "D'Argens +to the King: Berlin, 19th October, 1760,"--an interesting Letter of +details.] so that perhaps it was a gain. The King's Magazines and +War-furnitures about Berlin are wasted utterly,--Arsenal itself not +blown up, we well know why;--and much Hunnish ruin in Charlottenburg, +with damage to Antiques,--for which latter clause there shall, in a few +months, be reprisal: if it please the Powers! + +Of all this Montalembert declares, "Before God, that he, Montalembert, +is and was the mainspring." And indeed, Tempelhof, without censure +of Montalembert and his vocation, but accurately computing time and +circumstance, comes to the same conclusion;--as thus: "OCTOBER 8th, +seeing no Lacy come, Czernichef, had it not been for Montalembert's +eloquence, had fixed for returning to Copenik: whom cautious Lacy would +have been obliged to imitate. Suppose Czernichef had, OCTOBER 9th, got +to Copenik,--Eugen and Hulsen remain at Berlin; Czernichef could +not have got back thither before the 11th; on the 11th was news of +Friedrich's coming; which set all on gallop to the right about." +[Tempelhof, iv. 277.] So that really, before God, it seems Montalembert +must have the merit of this fine achievement:--the one fruit, so far +as I can discover, of his really excellent reasonings, eloquences, +patiences, sown broadcast, four or five long years, on such a field as +fine human talent never had before. I declare to you, M. l'Ambassadeur, +this excellent vulture-swoop on Berlin, and burning or reburning of the +Peasantry of the Mark, is due solely to one poor zealous gentleman!-- + +What was next to follow out of THIS,--in Torgau neighborhood, where +Daun now stands expectant,--poor M. de Montalembert was far from +anticipating; and will be in no haste to claim the merit of before God +or man. + + + + +Chapter V.--BATTLE OF TORGAU. + +After Hulsen's fine explosion on the Durrenberg, August 20th, on the +incompetent Reichs Generals, there had followed nothing eminent; new +futilities, attemptings and desistings, advancings and recoilings, on +the part of the Reich; Hulsen solidly maintaining himself, in defence of +his Torgau Magazine and Saxon interests in those regions, against such +overwhelming odds, till relief and reinforcement for them and him +should arrive; and gaining time, which was all he could aim at in such +circumstances. Had the Torgau Magazine been bigger, perhaps Hulsen might +have sat there to the end. But having solidly eaten out said Magazine, +what could Hulsen do but again move rearward? [_Hogbericht von dem +Ruckzug des General-Lieutenants von Hulsen aus dem Lager bey Torgau _ +(in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. 755-784).] Above all, on the alarm from +Berlin, which called him off double-quick, things had to go their old +road in that quarter. Weak Torgau was taken, weak Wittenberg besieged. +Leipzig, Torgau, Wittenberg, all that Country, by the time the Russians +left Berlin, was again the Reich's. Eugen and Hulsen, hastening for +relief of Wittenberg, the instant Berlin was free, found Wittenberg a +heap of ruins, out of which the Prussian garrison, very hunger urging, +had issued the day before, as prisoners of war. Nothing more to be done +by Eugen, but take post, within reach of Magdeburg and victual, and wait +new Order from the King. + +The King is very unquestionably coming on; leaves Lubben thitherward +October 20th. [Rodenbeck, ii. 35: in _Anonymous of Hamburg_ (iv. +241-245) Friedrich's Two Marches, towards and from Berlin (7th-17th +October, to Lubben; thence, 20th October-3d November, to Torgau).] With +full fixity of purpose as usual; but with as gloomy an outlook as ever +before. Daun, we said, is now arrived in those parts: Daun and the +Reich together are near 100,000; Daun some 60,000,--Loudon having stayed +behind, and gone southward, for a stroke on Kosel (if Goltz will permit, +which he won't at all!),--and the Reich 35,000. Saxony is all theirs; +cannot they maintain Saxony? Not a Town or a Magazine now belongs +to Friedrich there, and he is in number as 1 to 2. "Maintain Saxony; +indisputably you can!" that is the express Vienna Order, as Friedrich +happens to know. The Russians themselves have taken Camp again, and +wait visibly, about Landsberg and the Warta Country, till they see Daun +certain of executing said Order; upon which they intend, they also, to +winter in those Elbe-Prussian parts, and conjointly to crush Friedrich +into great confinement indeed. Friedrich is aware of this Vienna Order; +which is a kind of comfort in the circumstances. The intentions of the +hungry Russians, too, are legible to Friedrich; and he is much resolved +that said Order shall be impossible to Daun. "Were it to be possible, we +are landless. Where are our recruits, our magazines, our resources for +a new Campaign? We may as well die, as suffer that to be possible!" Such +is Friedrich's fixed view. He says to D'Argens:-- + +"You, as a follower of Epicurus, put a value on life; as for me, I +regard death from the Stoic point of view. Never shall I see the moment +that forces me to make a disadvantageous Peace; no persuasion, no +eloquence, shall ever induce me to sign my dishonor. Either I will bury +myself under the ruins of my Country, or if that consolation appears too +sweet to the Destiny that persecutes me, I shall know how to put an end +to my misfortunes when it is impossible to bear them any longer. I +have acted, and continue to act, according to that interior voice of +conscience and of honor which directs all my steps: my conduct shall be, +in every time, conformable to those principles. After having sacrificed +my youth to my Father, my ripe years to my Country, I think I have +acquired the right to dispose of my old age. I have told you, and I +repeat it, Never shall my hand sign a humiliating Peace. Finish this +Campaign I certainly will, resolved to dare all, and to try the most +desperate things either to succeed or to find a glorious end (FIN +GLORIEUSE)." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 202 ("Kemberg, 28th October, +1760," a week and a day before Torgau).] + +Friedrich had marched from Lubben, after three days, settling of +affairs, OCTOBER 20th; arrived at Jessen, on the Elbe, within wind of +Wittenberg, in two days more. "He formed a small magazine at Duben," +says Archenholtz; "and was of a velocity, a sharpness,"--like lightning, +in a manner! Friedrich is uncommonly dangerous when crushed into a +corner, in this way; and Daun knows that he is. Friedrich's manoeuvrings +upon Daun--all readers can anticipate the general type of them. The +studious military reader, if England boasts any such, will find punctual +detail of them in TEMPELHOF and the German Books. For our poor objects, +here is a Summary which may suffice:-- + +From Lubben, having winded up these bad businesses,--and reinforced +Goltz, at Glogau, to a 20,000 for Silesia's sake, to look towards Kosel +and Loudon's attempts there,--Friedrich gathered himself into proper +concentration; and with all the strength now left to him pushed forward +(20th October) towards Wittenberg, and recovery of those lost Saxon +Countries. To Wittenberg from Lubben is some 60 miles;--can be done, +nearly, in a couple of days. With the King, after Goltz is furnished, +there are about 30,000; Eugen and Hulsen, not idle for their own part, +wait in those far Western or Ultra-Wittenberg regions (in and beyond +Dessau Country), to join him with their 14,000, when they get signal. +Joined with these, he will be 44,000; he will then cross Elbe somewhere, +probably not where Daun and the Reich imagine, and be in contact with +his Problem; with what a pitch of willingness nobody need be told! Daun, +in Torgau Country, has one of the best positions; nor is Daun a man for +getting flurried. + +The poor Reichs Army, though it once flattered itself with intending to +dispute Friedrich's passage of the Elbe, and did make some detachings +and manoeuvrings that way, on his approach to Wittenberg (October +22d-23d),--took a safer view, on his actual arrival there, on his +re-seizure of that ruined place, and dangerous attitude on the right +bank below and above. Safer view, on salutary second thoughts;--and fell +back Leipzig-way, southward to Duben, 30 or 40 miles. Whence rapidly to +Leipzig itself, 30 or 40 more, on his actually putting down his bridges +over Elbe. Friedrich's crossing-place was Schanzhaus, in Dessau Country, +between Roslau and Klikau, 12 or 15 miles below Wittenberg; about midway +between Wittenberg and the inflow of the Mulda into Elbe. He crossed +OCTOBER 26th, no enemy within wind at all; Daun at Torgau in his +inexpugnable Camp, Reichsfolk at Duben, making towards Leipzig at their +best pace. And is now wholly between Elbe and Mulda; nothing but Mulda +and the Anhall Countries and the Halle Country now to rear of him. + +At Jonitz, next march southward, he finds the Eugen-Hulsen people ready. +We said they had not been idle while waiting signal: of which here +is one pretty instance. Eugen's Brother, supreme Reigning Duke of +Wurtemberg,--whom we parted with at Fulda, last Winter, on sore +terms; but who again, zealous creature, heads his own little Army in +French-Austrian service, in still more eclipsed circumstances ("No +subsidy at all, this Year, say your august Majesties? Well, I must do +without: a volunteer; and shall need only what I can make by forced +contributions!" which of course he is diligent to levy wherever +possible),--has latterly taken Halle Country in hand, very busy raising +contributions there: and Eugen hears, not without interest, that certain +regiments or detachments of his, pushed out, are lying here, there, +superintending that salutary work,--within clutch, perhaps, of Kleist +the Hussar! Eugen despatches Kleist upon him; who pounces with his usual +fierce felicity upon these people. To such alarm of his poor Serenity +and poor Army, that Serenity flies off homeward at once, and out of +these Wars altogether; where he never had other than the reverse of +business to be, and where he has played such a farce-tragedy for four +years back. Eugen has been heard to speak,--theoretically, and in +excited moments,--of "running such a fellow through the body," were one +near him:: but it is actually Eugen in person that sends him home +from these Wars: which may be counted a not unfraternal or unpatriotic +procedure; being of indisputable benefit to the poor Sovereign man +himself, and to everybody concerned with him. + +Hearing that Friedrich was across, Daun came westward that same day +(October 26th), and planted himself at Eilenburg; concluding that the +Reichsfolk would now be in jeopardy first of all. Which was partly the +fact; and indeed this Daun movement rather accelerated the completion +of it. Without this the Reichs Army might have lived another day. It had +quitted Duben, and gone in all haste for Leipzig, at 1 in the morning +(not by Eilenburg, of which or of Daun's arrival there it knows +nothing),--"at 1 in the morning of the 27th," or in fact, so soon as +news could reach it at the gallop, That Friedrich was across. And now +Friedrich, seeing Daun out in this manner, judged that a junction was +contemplated; and that one could not be too swift in preventing it. +October 29th, with one diligent march, Friedrich posted himself at +Duben; there, in a sort now between Daun and the Reichsfolk, detached +Hulsen with a considerable force to visit these latter in Leipzig +itself; and began with all diligence forming "a small Magazine in +Duben," Magdeburg and the current of the Elbe being hitherto his only +resource in that kind. By the time of Hulsen's return, this little +operation will be well forward, and Daun will have declared himself a +little. + +Hulsen, evening of October 30th, found Leipzig in considerable emotion, +the Reichsfolk taking refuge in it: not the least inclined to stand +a push, when Hulsen presented himself. Night of 30th-31st, there was +summoning and menacing; Reich endeavoring to answer in firm style; +but all the while industriously packing up to go. By 5 in the morning, +things had come to extremity;---morning, happily for some of us, was +dark mist. But about 5 o'clock, Hulsen (or Hulsen's Second) coming on +with menace of fire and sword upon these poor Reichspeople, found the +Reichspeople wholly vanished in the mist. Gone bodily; in full march for +the spurs of the Metal-Mountain Range again;--concluding, for the fourth +time, an extremely contemptible Campaign. Daun, with the King ahead +of him, made not the least attempt to help them in their Leipzig +difficulty; but retired to his strong Camp at Torgau; feels his work to +lie THERE,--as Friedrich perceives of him, with some interest. + +Hulsen left a little garrison in Leipzig (friend Quintus a part of it); +[Tempelhof, iv. 290.] and returned to the King; whose small Magazine +at Duben, and other small affairs there,--Magdeburg with boats, and +the King with wagons, having been so diligent in carrying grain +thither,--are now about completed. From Daun's returning to Torgau, +Friedrich infers that the cautious man has got Order from Court to +maintain Torgau at all costs,--to risk a battle rather than go. "Good: +he shall have one!" thinks Friedrich. And, NOVEMBER 2d, in four columns, +marches towards Torgau; to Schilda, that night, which is some seven +miles on the southward side of Torgau. The King, himself in the vanguard +as usual, has watched with eager questioning eye the courses of Daun's +advanced parties, and by what routes they retreat; discerns for certain +that Daun has no views upon Duben or our little Magazine; and that the +tug of wrestle for Torgau, which is to crown this Campaign into conquest +of Saxony, or shatter it into zero like its foregoers on the Austrian +part, and will be of death-or-life nature on the Prussian part, ought to +ensue to-morrow. Forward, then! + +This Camp of Torgau is not a new place to Daun. It was Prince Henri's +Camp last Autumn; where Daun tried all his efforts to no purpose; and +though hugely outnumbering the Prince, could make absolutely nothing of +it. Nothing, or less; and was flowing back to Dresden and the Bohemian +Frontier, uncheered by anything, till that comfortable Maxen Incident +turned up. Daun well knows the strength of this position. Torgau and the +Block of Hill to West, called Hill of Siptitz:--Hulsen, too, stood here +this Summer; not to mention Finck and Wunsch, and their beating the +Reichspeople here. A Hill and Post of great strength; not unfamiliar to +many Prussians, nor to Friedrich's studious considerations, though his +knowledge of it was not personal on all points;--as To-morrow taught +him, somewhat to his cost. + +"Tourists, from Weimar and the Thuringian Countries," says a Note-book, +sometimes useful to us, "have most likely omitted Rossbach in their +screaming railway flight eastward; and done little in Leipzig but +endeavor to eat dinner, and, still more vainly, to snatch a little +sleep in the inhuman dormitories of the Country. Next morning, screaming +Dresden-ward, they might, especially if military, pause at Oschatz, a +stage or two before Meissen, where again are objects of interest. You +can look at Hubertsburg, if given that way,--a Royal Schloss, memorable +on several grounds;--at Hubertsburg, and at other features, in the +neighborhood of Oschatz. This done, or this left not done, you strike +off leftward, that is northward, in some open vehicle, for survey of +Torgau and its vicinities and environs. Not above fifteen miles for you; +a drive singular and pleasant; time enough to return and be in Dresden +for dinner. + +"Torgau is a fine solid old Town; Prussian military now abundant in it. +In ancient Heathen times, I suppose, it meant the GAU, or District, +of THOR; Capital of that Gau,--part of which, now under Christian or +quasi-Christian circumstances, you have just been traversing, with Elbe +on your right hand. Innocent rural aspects of Humanity, Boor's life, +Gentry's life, all the way, not in any holiday equipment; on the +contrary, somewhat unkempt and scraggy, but all the more honest +and inoffensive. There is sky, earth, air, and freedom for your own +reflections: a really agreeable kind of Gau; pleasant, though in part +ugly. Large tracts of it are pine-wood, with pleasant Villages and fine +arable expanses interspersed. Schilda and many Villages you leave to +right and left. Old-fashioned Villages, with their village industries +visible around; laboring each in its kind,--not too fast; probably with +extinct tobacco-pipe hanging over its chin (KALT-RAUCHEND, 'smoking +COLD,' as they phrase it). + +"Schilda has an absurd celebrity among the Germans: it is the Gotham of +Teutschland; a fountain of old broad-grins and homely and hearty +rustic banter; welling up from the serious extinct Ages to our own day; +'SCHILTburger' (Inhabitant of SCHILDA) meaning still, among all the +Teutsch populations, a man of calmly obstinate whims and delusions, +of notions altogether contrary to fact, and agreeable to himself +only; resolutely pushing his way through life on those terms: +amid horse-laughter, naturally, and general wagging of beards from +surrounding mankind. Extinct mirth, not to be growled at or despised, in +Ages running to the shallow, which have lost their mirth, and become all +one snigger of mock-mirth. For it is observable, the more solemn is your +background of DARK, the brighter is the play of all human genialities +and coruscations on it,--of genial mirth especially, in the hour for +mirth. Who the DOCTOR BORDEL of Schilda was, I do not know: but they +have had their Bordel, as Gotham had;--probably various Bordels; +industrious to pick up those Spiritual fruits of the earth. For the +records are still abundant and current; fully more alive than those of +Gotham here are.--And yonder, then, is actually Schilda of the absurd +fame. A small, cheerful-looking human Village, in its Island among the +Woods; you see it lying to the right:--a clean brick-slate +congeries, with faint smoke-canopy hanging over it, indicating frugal +dinner-kettles on the simmer;--and you remember kindly those good old +grinnings, over good SCHILTBURGER, good WISE MEN OF GOTHAM, and +their learned Chroniclers, and unlearned Peasant Producers, who have +contributed a wrinkle of human Fun to the earnest face of Life. + +"After Schilda, and before, you traverse long tracts of Pine Forest, all +under forest management; with long straight stretches of sandy road (one +of which is your own), straight like red tape-strings, intersecting the +wide solitudes: dangerous to your topographies,--for the finger-posts +are not always there, and human advice you can get none. Nothing but the +stripe of blue sky overhead, and the brown one of tape (or sand) under +your feet: the trees poor and mean for most part, but so innumerable, +and all so silent, watching you all like mute witnesses, mutely +whispering together; no voice but their combined whisper or big forest +SOUGH audible to you in the world:--on the whole, your solitary ride +there proves, unexpectedly, a singular deliverance from the mad railway, +and its iron bedlamisms and shrieking discords and precipitances; and +is soothing, and pensively welcome, though sad enough, and in outward +features ugly enough. No wild boars are now in these woods, no chance of +a wolf:"--what concerns us more is, that Friedrich's columns, on the 3d +of November, had to march up through these long lanes, or tape-stripes +of the Torgau Forest; and that one important column, one or more, +took the wrong turn at some point, and was dangerously wanting at the +expected moment!-- + +"Torgau itself stands near Elbe; on the shoulder, eastern or Elbe-ward +shoulder, of a big mass of Knoll, or broad Height, called of Siptitz, +the main Eminence of the Gau. Shoulder, I called it, of this Height of +Siptitz; but more properly it is on a continuation, or lower ulterior +height dipping into Elbe itself, that Torgau stands. Siptitz Height, +nearly a mile from Elbe, drops down into a straggle of ponds; after +which, on a second or final rise, comes Torgau dipping into Elbe. Not +a shoulder strictly, but rather a CHEEK, with NECK intervening;--neck +GOITRY for that matter, or quaggy with ponds! The old Town stands high +enough, but is enlaced on the western and southern side by a set of +lakes and quagmires, some of which are still extensive and undrained. +The course of the waters hereabouts; and of Elbe itself, has had its +intricacies: close to northwest, Torgau is bordered, in a straggling +way, by what they call OLD ELBE; which is not now a fluent entity, but +a stagnant congeries of dirty waters and morasses. The Hill of Siptitz +abuts in that aqueous or quaggy manner; its forefeet being, as it were, +at or in Elbe River, and its sides, to the South and to the North +for some distance each way, considerably enveloped in ponds and boggy +difficulties. + +"Plenty of water all about, but I suppose mostly of bad quality; at +least Torgau has declined drinking it, and been at the trouble to lay +a pipe, or ROHRGRABEN, several miles long, to bring its culinary water +from the western neighborhoods of Siptitz Height. Along the southern +side of Siptitz Height goes leisurely an uncomfortable kind of Brook, +called the 'ROHRGRABEN (Pipe-Ditch);' the meaning of which unexpected +name you find to be, That there is a SERVICE-PIPE laid cunningly at the +bottom of this Brook; lifting the Brook at its pure upper springs, and +sending it along, in secret tubular quasi-bottled condition; leaving the +fouler drippings from the neighborhood to make what 'brook' they still +can, over its head, and keep it out of harm's way till Torgau get it. +This is called the ROHRGRABEN, this which comes running through Siptitz +Village, all along by the southern base of Siptitz Hill; to the idle +eye, a dirtyish Brook, ending in certain notable Ponds eastward: but +to the eye of the inquiring mind, which has pierced deeper, a Tube of +rational Water, running into the throats of Torgau, while the so-called +Brook disembogues at discretion into the ENTEFANG (Duck-trap), and what +Ponds or reedy Puddles there are,"--of which, in poor Wunsch's fine bit +of fighting, last Year, we heard mention. Let readers keep mind of them. + +The Hill Siptitz, with this ROHRGRABEN at the southern basis of it, +makes a very main figure in the Battle now imminent. Siptitz Height +is, in fact, Daun's Camp; where he stands intrenched to the utmost, +repeatedly changing his position, the better to sustain Friedrich's +expected attacks. It is a blunt broad-backed Elevation, mostly in +vineyard, perhaps on the average 200 feet above the general level, and +of five or six square miles in area: length, east to west, from Grosswig +neighborhood to the environs of Torgau, may be about three miles; +breadth, south to north, from the Siptitz to the Zinna neighborhoods, +above half that distance. The Height is steepish on the southern side, +all along to the southwest angle (which was Daun's left flank in the +great Action coming), but swells up with easier ascent on the west, +earth and other sides. Let the reader try for some conception of its +environment and it, as the floor or arena of a great transaction this +day. + +Daun stands fronting southward along these Siptitz Heights, looking +towards Schilda and his dangerous neighbor; heights, woods, ponds and +inaccessibilities environing his Position and him. One of the strongest +positions imaginable; which, under Prince Henri, proved inexpugnable +enough to some of us. A position not to be attacked on that southern +front, nor on either of its flanks:--where can it be attacked? +Impregnable, under Prince Henri in far inferior force: how will you take +it from Daun in decidedly superior? A position not to be attacked at +all, most military men would say;--though One military man, in his +extreme necessity, must and will find a way into it. + +One fault, the unique military man, intensely pondering, discovers that +it has: it is too small for Daun; not area enough for manoeuvring 65,000 +men in it; who will get into confusion if properly dealt with. A most +comfortable light-flash, the EUREKA of this terrible problem. "We will +attack it on rear and on front simultaneously; that is the way to handle +it!" Yes; simultaneously, though that is difficult, say military judges; +perhaps to Prussians it may be possible. It is the opinion of military +judges who have studied the matter, that Friedrich's plan, could it have +been perfectly executed, might have got not only victory from Daun, +but was capable to fling his big Army and him pell-mell upon the Elbe +Bridge, that is to say, in such circumstances, into Elbe River, and +swallow him bodily at a frightful rate! That fate was spared poor Daun. + +MONDAY, 3d NOVEMBER, 1760, at half-past 6 in the morning Friedrich is +on march for this great enterprise. The march goes northward, in Three +Columns, with a Fourth of Baggage; through the woods, on four different +roads; roads, or combinations of those intricate sandy avenues already +noticed. Northward all of it at first; but at a certain point ahead (at +crossing of the Eilenburg-Torgau Road, namely), the March is to divide +itself in two. Half of the force is to strike off rightward there with +Ziethen, and to issue on the south side of Siptitz Hill; other half, +under Friedrich himself, to continue northward, long miles farther, +and then at last bending round, issue--simultaneously with Ziethen, if +possible--upon Siptitz Hill from the north side. We are about 44,000 +strong, against Daun, who is 65,000. + +Simultaneously with Ziethen, so far as humanly possible: that is the +essential point! Friedrich has taken every pains that it shall be +correct, in this and all points; and to take double assurance of hiding +it from Daun, he yesternight, in dictating his Orders on the other heads +of method, kept entirely to himself this most important Ziethen portion +of the Business. And now, at starting, he has taken Ziethen in his +carriage with him a few miles, to explain the thing by word of mouth. +At the Eilenburg road, or before it, Ziethen thinks he is clear as to +everything; dismounts; takes in hand the mass intrusted to him; +and strikes off by that rightward course: "Rightward, Herr Ziethen; +rightward till you get to Klitschen, your first considerable island +in this sea of wood; at Klitschen strike to the left into the woods +again,--your road is called the Butter-Strasse (BUTTER-STREET); goes +by the northwest side of Siptitz Height; reach Siptitz by the +Butter-Street, and then do your endeavor!" + +With the other Half of his Army, specially with the First Column of it, +Friedrich proceeds northward on his own part of the adventure. Three +Columns he has, besides the Baggage one: in number about equal to +Ziethen's; if perhaps otherwise, rather the chosen Half; about 8,000 +grenadier and footguard people, with Kleist's Hussars, are Friedrich's +own Column. Friedrich's Column marches nearest the Daun positions; the +Baggage-column farthest; and that latter is to halt, under escort, +quite away to left or westward of the disturbance coming; the other +Two Columns, Hulsen's of foot, Holstein's mostly of horse, go through +intermediate tracks of wood, by roads more or less parallel; and are +all, Friedrich's own Column, still more the others, to leave Siptitz +several miles to right, and to end, not AT Siptitz Height, but several +miles past it, and then wheeling round, begin business from the +northward or rearward side of Daun, while Ziethen attacks or menaces his +front,--simultaneously, if possible. Friedrich's march, hidden all by +woods, is more than twice as far as Ziethen's,--some 14 or 15 miles in +all; going straight northward 10 miles; thence bending eastward, then +southward through woods; to emerge about Neiden, there to cross a Brook +(Striebach), and strike home on the north side of Daun. The track of +march is in the shape somewhat of a shepherd's crook; the long HANDLE of +it, well away from Siptitz, reaches up to Neiden, this is the straight +or wooden part of said crook; after which comes the bent, catching, or +iron part,--intended for Daun and his fierce flock. Ziethen has hardly +above six miles; and ought to be deliberate in his woodlands, till the +King's party have time to get round. + +The morning, I find, is wet; fourteen miles of march: fancy such a +Promenade through the dripping Woods; heavy, toilsome, and with such +errand ahead! The delays were considerable; some of them accidental. +Vigilant Daun has Detachments watching in these Woods:--a General Ried, +who fires cannon and gets off: then a General St. Ignon and the St. +Ignon Regiment of Dragoons; who, being BETWEEN Column First and Column +Second, cannot get away; but, after some industry by Kleist and those +of Column Two, are caught and pocketed, St. Ignon himself prisoner among +the rest. This delay may perhaps be considered profitable: but there +were other delays absolutely without profit. For example, that of having +difficulties with your artillery-wagons in the wet miry lanes; that of +missing your road, at some turn in the solitary woods; which latter was +the sad chance of Column Third, fatally delaying it for many hours. + +Daun, learning by those returned parties from the Woods what the Royal +intentions on him are, hastily whirls himself round, so as to front +north, and there receive Friedrich: best line northward for Friedrich's +behoof; rear line or second-best will now receive Ziethen or what may +come. Daun's arrangements are admitted to be prompt and excellent. Lacy, +with his 20,000,--who lay, while Friedrich's attack was expected from +south, at Loswig, as advanced guard, east side of the GROSSE TEICH +(supreme pond of all, which is a continuation of the Duck-trap, +ENTEFANG, and hangs like a chief goitre on the goitry neck of +Torgau),--Lacy is now to draw himself north and westward, and looking +into the Entefang over his left shoulder (so to speak), be rear-guard +against any Ziethen or Prussian party that may come. Daun's baggage +is all across the Elbe, all in wagons since yesterday; three Bridges +hanging for Daun and it, in case of adverse accident. Daun likewise +brings all or nearly all his cannon to the new front, for Friedrich's +behoof: 200 new pieces hither; Archenholtz says 400 in whole; certainly +such a weight of artillery as never appeared in Battle before. Unless +Friedrich's arrangements prove punctual, and his stroke be emphatic, +Friedrich may happen to fare badly. On the latter point, of emphasis, +there is no dubiety for Friedrich: but on the former,--things +are already past doubt, the wrong way! For the last hour or so of +Friedrich's march there has been continual storm of cannonade and +musketry audible from Ziethen's side:--"Ziethen engaged!" thinks +everybody; and quickens step here, under this marching music from the +distance. Which is but a wrong reading or mistake, nothing more; the +real phenomenon being as follows: Ziethen punctually got to Klitschen +at the due hour; struck into the BUTTER-STRASSE, calculating his paces; +but, on the edge of the Wood found a small Austrian party, like those in +Friedrich's route; and, pushing into it, the Austrian party replied with +cannon before running. Whereupon Ziethen, not knowing how inconsiderable +it was, drew out in battle-order; gave it a salvo or two; drove it back +on Lacy, in the Duck-trap direction,--a long way east of Butter-Street, +and Ziethen's real place;--unlucky that he followed it so far! Ziethen +followed it; and got into some languid dispute with Lacy: dispute quite +distant, languid, on both sides, and consisting mainly of cannon; but +lasting in this way many precious hours. This is the phenomenon which +friends, in the distance read to be, "Ziethen engaged!" Engaged, yes, +and alas with what? What Ziethen's degree of blame was, I do not know. +Friedrich thought it considerable:--"Stupid, stupid, MEIN LIEBER!" +which Ziethen never would admit;--and, beyond question, it was of high +detriment to Friedrich this day. Such accidents, say military men, are +inherent, not to be avoided, in that double form of attack: which may be +true, only that Friedrich had no choice left of forms just now. + +About noon Friedrich's Vanguard (Kleist and Hussars), about 1 o'clock +Friedrich himself, 7 or 8,000 Grenadiers, emerged from the Woods +about Neiden. This Column, which consists of choice troops, is to +be Front-line of the Attack. But there is yet no Second Column under +Hulsen, still less any Third under Holstein, come in sight: and +Ziethen's cannonade is but too audible. Friedrich halts; sends Adjutants +to hurry on these Columns;--and rides out reconnoitring, questioning +peasants; earnestly surveying Daun's ground and his own. Daun's now +right wing well eastward about Zinna had been Friedrich's intended point +of attack; but the ground, out there, proves broken by boggy brooks and +remnant stagnancies of the Old Elbe: Friedrich finds he must return into +the Wood again; and attack Daun's left. Daun's left is carefully drawn +down EN POTENCE, or gallows-shape there; and has, within the Wood, +carefully built by Prince Henri last year, an extensive Abatis, or +complete western wall,--only the north part of which is perhaps now +passable, the Austrians having in the cold time used a good deal of it +as firewood lately. There, on the northwest corner of Daun, across that +weak part of the Abatis, must Friedrich's attack lie. But Friedrich's +Columns are still fatally behind,--Holstein, with all the Cavalry we +have, so precious at present, is wandering by wrong paths; took the +wrong turn at some point, and the Adjutant can hardly find him at all, +with his precept of "Haste, Haste!" + +We may figure Friedrich's humor under these ill omens. Ziethen's +cannonade becomes louder and louder; which Friedrich naturally fancies +to be death or life to him,--not to mean almost nothing, as it did. +"MEIN GOTT, Ziethen is in action, and I have not my Infantry up!" +[Tempelhof, iv. 303.] cried he. And at length decided to attack as he +was: Grenadiers in front, the chosen of his Infantry; Ramin's Brigade +for second line; and, except about 800 of Kleist, no Cavalry at all. +His battalions march out from Neiden hand, through difficult brooks, +Striebach and the like, by bridges of Austrian build, which the +Austrians are obliged to quit in hurry. The Prussians are as yet +perpendicular to Daun, but will wheel rightward, into the Domitsch Wood +again; and then form,--parallel to Daun's northwest shoulder; and to +Prince Henri's Abatis, which will be their first obstacle in charging. +Their obstacles in forming were many and intricate; ground so difficult, +for artillery especially: seldom was seen such expertness, such +willingness of mind. And seldom lay ahead of men such obstacles AFTER +forming! Think only of one fact: Daun, on sight of their intention, +has opened 400 pieces of Artillery on them, and these go raging and +thundering into the hem of the Wood, and to whatever issues from it, +now and for hours to come, at a rate of deafening uproar and of sheer +deadliness, which no observer can find words for. + +Archenholtz, a very young officer of fifteen, who came into it perhaps +an hour hence, describes it as a thing surpassable only by Doomsday: +clangorous rage of noise risen to the infinite; the boughs of the trees +raining down on you, with horrid crash; the Forest, with its echoes, +bellowing far and near, and reverberating in universal death-peal; +comparable to the Trump of Doom. Friedrich himself, who is an old hand, +said to those about him: "What an infernal fire (HOLLISCHES FEUER)! Did +you ever hear such a cannonade before? I never." [Tempelhof, iv. +304; Archenholtz, ii. 164.] Friedrich is between the Two Lines of his +Grenadiers, which is his place during the attack: the first Line of +Grenadiers, behind Prince Henri's Abatis, is within 800 yards of Daun; +Ramin's Brigade is to rear of the Second Line, as a Reserve. Horse they +have none, except the 800 Kleist Hussars; who stand to the left, outside +the Wood, fronted by Austrian Horse in hopeless multitude. Artillery +they have, in effect, none: their Batteries, hardly to be got across +these last woody difficulties of trees growing and trees felled, did +rank outside the Wood, on their left; but could do absolutely nothing +(gun-carriages and gunners, officers and men, being alike blown away); +and when Tempelhof saw them afterwards, they never had been fired at +all. The Grenadiers have their muskets, and their hearts and their +right-hands. + +With amazing intrepidity, they, being at length all ready in rank +within 800 yards, rush into the throat of this Fire-volcano; in the +way commanded,--which is the alone way: such a problem as human bravery +seldom had. The Grenadiers plunge forward upon the throat of Daun; but +it is into the throat of his iron engines and his tearing billows of +cannon-shot that most of them go. Shorn down by the company, by the +regiment, in those terrible 800 yards,--then and afterwards. Regiment +STUTTERHEIM was nearly all killed and wounded, say the Books. You would +fancy it was the fewest of them that ever got to the length of selling +their lives to Daun, instead of giving them away to his 400 cannon. But +it is not so. The Grenadiers, both Lines of them, still in quantity, did +get into contact with Daun. And sold him their lives, hand to hand, at a +rate beyond example in such circumstances;--Daun having to hurry up new +force in streams upon them; resolute to purchase, though the price, for +a long while, rose higher and higher. + +At last the 6,000 Grenadiers, being now reduced to the tenth man, had to +fall back. Upon which certain Austrian Battalions rushed dawn in chase, +counting it Victory come: but were severely admonished of that mistake; +and driven back by Ramin's people, who accompanied them into their ranks +and again gave Daun a great deal of trouble before he could overpower +them. This is Attack First, issuing in failure first: one of the +stiffest bits of fighting ever known. Began about 2 in the afternoon; +ended, I should guess, rather after 3. Daun, by this time, is in +considerable disorder of line; though his 400 fire-throats continue +belching ruin, and deafening the world, without abatement. Daun himself +had got wounded in the foot or leg during this Attack, but had no time +to mind it: a most busy, strong and resolute Daun; doing his very best. +Friedrich, too, was wounded,--nobody will tell me in which of these +attacks;--but I think not now, at least will not speak of it now. What +his feelings were, as this Grenadier Attack went on,--a struggle so +unequal, but not to be helped, from the delays that had risen,--nobody, +himself least of all, records for us: only by this little symptom: Two +Grandsons of the Old Dessauer's are Adjutants of his Majesty, and +well loved by him; one of them now at his hand, the other heading his +regiment in this charge of Grenadiers. Word comes to Friedrich that this +latter one is shot dead. On which Friedrich, turning to the Brother, and +not hiding his emotion, as was usual in such moments, said: "All goes +ill to-day; my friends are quitting me. I have just heard that your +Brother is killed (TOUT VA MAL AUJOURD'HUI; MES AMIS ME QUITTENT. ON +VIENT DE M'ANNONCER LA MORT DE VOTRE FRERE)!" [Preuss, ii. 226.] Words +which the Anhalt kindred, and the Prussian military public, treasured up +with a reverence strange to us. Of Anhalt perhaps some word by and by, +at a fitter season. + +Shortly after 3, as I reckon the time, Hulsen's Column did arrive: +choice troops these too, the Pomeranian MANTEUFFEL, one regiment of +them;--young Archenholtz of FORCADE (first Battalion here, second and +third are with Ziethen, making vain noise) was in this Column; came, +with the others, winding to the Wood's edge, in such circuits, poor +young soul; rain pouring, if that had been worth notice; cannon-balls +plunging, boughs crashing, such a TODES-POSAUNE, or Doomsday-Thunder, +broken loose:--they did emerge steadily, nevertheless, he says, "like +sea-billows or flow of tide, under the smoky hurricane." Pretty men are +here too, Manteuffel Pommerners; no hearts stouter. With these, and the +indignant Remnants which waited for them, a new assault upon Daun is set +about. And bursts out, on that same northwest corner of him; say +about half-past 3. The rain is now done, "blown away by the tremendous +artillery," thinks Archenholtz, if that were any matter. + +The Attack, supported by a few more Horse (though Column Three still +fatally lingers), and, I should hope, by some practicable weight of +Field-batteries, is spurred by a grimmer kind of indignation, and is of +fiercer spirit than ever. Think how Manteuffel of Foot will blaze out; +and what is the humor of those once overwhelmed Remnants, now getting +air again! Daun's line is actually broken in this point, his artillery +surmounted and become useless; Daun's potence and north front are +reeling backwards, Prussians in possession of their ground. "The field +to be ours!" thinks Friedrich, for some time. If indeed Ziethen had +been seriously busy on the southern side of things, instead of vaguely +cannonading in that manner! But resolute Daun, with promptitude, calls +in his Reserve from Grosswig, calls in whatsoever of disposable force he +can gather; Daun rallies, rushes again on the Prussians in overpowering +number; and, in spite of their most desperate resistance, drives them +back, ever back; and recovers his ground. + +A very desperate bout, this Second one; probably the toughest of the +Battle: but the result again is Daun's; the Prussians palpably +obliged to draw back. Friedrich himself got wounded here;--poor young +Archenholtz too, ONLY wounded, not killed, as so many were:--Friedrich's +wound was a contusion on the breast; came of some spent bit of +case-shot, deadened farther by a famed pelisse he wore,--"which saved my +life," he said afterwards to Henri. The King himself little regarded +it (mentioning it only to Brother Henri, on inquiry and solicitation), +during the few weeks it still hung about him. The Books intimate that +it struck him to the earth, void of consciousness for some time, to +the terror of those about him; and that he started up, disregarding +it altogether in this press of business, and almost as if ashamed of +himself, which imposed silence on people's tongues. In military circles +there is still, on this latter point, an Anecdote; which I cannot +confirm or deny, but will give for the sake of Berenhorst and his famed +Book on the ART OF WAR. Berenhorst--a natural son of the Old Dessauer's, +and evidently enough a chip of the old block, only gone into the +articulate-speaking or intellectual form--was, for the present, an +Adjutant or Aide-de-camp of Friedrich's; and at this juncture was seen +bending over the swooned Friedrich, perhaps with an over-pathos or +elaborate something in his expression of countenance: when Friedrich +reopened his indignant eyes: "WAS MACHT ER HIER?" cried Friedrich: "ER +SAMMLE FUYARDS! What have you to do here? Go and gather runaways" (be +of some real use, can't you)!--which unkind cut struck deep into +Berenhorst, they say; and could never after be eradicated from his +gloomy heart. It is certain he became Prince Henri's Adjutant soon +after, and that in his KRIEGSKUNST, amidst the clearest orthodox +admiration, he manifests, by little touches up and down, a feeling +of very fell and pallid quality against the King; and belongs, in a +peculiarly virulent though taciturn way, to the Opposition Party. His +Book, next to English Lloyd's (or perhaps superior, for Berenhorst is +of much the more cultivated intellect, highly condensed too, though so +discursive and far-read, were it not for the vice of perverse diabolic +temper), seemed, to a humble outsider like myself, greatly the +strongest-headed, most penetrating and humanly illuminative I had had to +study on that subject. Who the weakest-headed was (perhaps JOMINI, among +the widely circulating kind?), I will not attempt to decide, so great is +the crush in that bad direction. To return. + +This Second Attack is again a repulse to the indignant Friedrich; though +he still persists in fierce effort to recover himself: and indeed Daun's +interior, too, it appears, is all in a whirl of confusion; his losses +too having been enormous:--when, see, here at length, about half-past 4, +Sun now down, is the tardy Holstein, with his Cavalry, emerging from +the Woods. Comes wending on yonder, half a mile to north of us; straight +eastward or Elbe-ward (according to the order of last night), leaving +us and our death-struggles unregarded, as a thing that is not on his +tablets, and is no concern of Holstein's. Friedrich halts him, not +quite too late; organizes a new and third Attack. Simultaneous universal +effort of foot and horse upon Daun's Front; Holstein himself, who is +almost at Zinna by this time, to go upon Daun's right wing. This is +Attack Third; and is of sporadic intermittent nature, in the thickening +dusk and darkness: part of it successful, none of it beaten, but +nowhere the success complete. Thus, in the extreme west or leftmost of +Friedrich's attack, SPAEN Dragoons,--one of the last Horse Regiments +of Holstein's Column,--SPAEN Dragoons, under their Lieutenant-Colonel +Dalwig (a beautiful manoeuvrer, who has stormed through many fields, +from Mollwitz onwards), cut in, with an admired impetuosity, with an +audacious skill, upon, the Austrian Infantry Regiments there; broke +them to pieces, took two of them in the lump prisoners; bearded whole +torrents of Austrian cavalry rushing up to the rescue,--and brought off +their mass of prisoner regiments and six cannon;--the Austrian rescuers +being charged by some new Prussian party, and hunted home again. +[Tempelhof, iv. 305.] "Had these Prussian Horse been on their ground at +2 o'clock, and done as now, it is very evident," says Tempelhof, "what +the Battle of Torgau had by this time been!" + +Near by, too, farther rightwards, if in the bewildering indistinctness +I might guess where (but the where is not so important to us), Baireuth +Dragoons, they of the 67 standards at Striegau long since, plunged into +the Austrian Battalions at an unsurpassable rate; tumbled four regiments +of them (Regiment KAISER, Regiment NEIPPERG,--nobody now cares which +four) heels over head, and in few minutes took the most of them +prisoners; bringing them home too, like Dalwig, through crowds of +rescuers. Eastward, again, or Elbe-ward, Holstein has found such +intricacies of ground, such boggy depths and rough steeps, his +Cavalry could come to no decisive sabring with the Austrian; but stood +exchanging shot;--nothing to be done on that right wing of Daun. + +Daun's left flank, however, does appear, after Three such Attacks, to be +at last pretty well ruined: Tempelhof says, "Daun's whole Front Line was +tumbled to pieces; disorder had, sympathetically, gone rearward, even +in those eastern parts; and on the western and northwestern the Prussian +Horse Regiments were now standing in its place." But, indeed, such +charging and recharging, pulsing and repulsing, has there been +hereabouts for hours past, the rival Hosts have got completely +interpenetrated; Austrian parties, or whole regiments, are to rear of +those Prussians who stand ranked here, and in victorious posture, as the +Night sinks. Night is now sinking on this murderous day: "Nothing more +to be made of it; try it again to-morrow!" thinks the King; gives Hulsen +charge of bivouacking and re-arranging these scattered people; and rides +with escort northwestward to Elsnig, north of Neiden, well to rear of +this bloody arena,--in a mood of mind which may be figured as gloomy +enough. + +Daun, too, is home to Torgau,--1 think, a little earlier,--to have his +wound dressed, now that the day seems to him secure. Buccow, Daun's +second, is killed; Daun's third is an Irish Graf O'Donnell, memorable +only on this one occasion; to this O'Donnell, and to Lacy, who is firm +on his ground yonder, untouched all day, the charge of matters is left. +Which cannot be a difficult one, hopes Daun. Daun, while his wound is +dressing, speeds off a courier to Vienna. Courier did enter duly there, +with glorious trumpeting postilions, and universal Hep-hep-hurrah; +kindling that ardently loyal City into infinite triumph and +illumination,--for the space of certain hours following. + +Hulsen meanwhile has been doing his best to get into proper bivouac for +the morrow; has drawn back those eastward horse regiments, drawn forward +the infantry battalions; forward, I think, and well rightward, where, +in the daytime, Daun's left flank was. On the whole, it is northwestward +that the general Prussian Bivouac for this night is; the extremest +SOUTHwestern-most portion of it is Infantry, under General Lestwitz; +a gallant useful man, who little dreams of becoming famous this dreary +uncertain night. + +It is 6 o'clock. Damp dusk has thickened down into utter darkness, on +these terms:--when, lo, cannonade and musketade from the south, +audible in the Lestwitz-Hulsen quarters: seriously loud; red glow +of conflagration visible withal,--some unfortunate Village going up +("Village of Siptitz, think you?"); and need of Hulsen at his fastest! +Hulsen, with some readiest Foot Regiments, circling round, makes +thitherward; Lestwitz in the van. Let us precede him thither, and +explain a little what it was. + +Ziethen, who had stood all day making idle noises,--of what a fatal +quality we know, if Ziethen did not,--waiting for the King's appearance, +must have been considerably displeased with himself at nightfall, when +the King's fire gradually died out farther and farther north, giving +rise to the saddest surmises. Ziethen's Generals, Saldern and the +Leuthen Mollendorf, are full of gloomy impatience, urgent on him to try +something. "Push westward, nearer the King? Some stroke at the enemy on +their south or southwestern side, where we have not molested them all +day? No getting across the Rohrgraben on them, says your Excellenz? +Siptitz Village, and their Battery there, is on our side of the +Rohrgraben:--UM GOTTES WILLEN, something, Herr General!" Ziethen does +finally assent: draws leftward, westward; unbuckles Saldern's people +upon Siptitz; who go like sharp hounds from the slip; fasten on Siptitz +and the Austrians there, with a will; wrench these out, force them to +abandon their Battery, and to set Siptitz on fire, while they run out +of it. Comfortable bit of success, so far,--were not Siptitz burning, +so that we cannot get through. "Through, no: and were we through, is not +there the Rohrgraben?" thinks Ziethen, not seeing his way. + +How lucky that, at this moment, Mollendorf comes in, with a discovery +to westward; discovery of our old friend "the Butter-Street,"--it is +nothing more,--where Ziethen should have marched this morning: there +would he have found a solid road across the Rohrgraben, free passage +by a bridge between two bits of ponds, at the SCHAFEREI (Sheep-Farm) of +Siptitz yonder. "There still," reports Mollendorf, "the solid road +is; unbeset hitherto, except by me Mollendorf!" Thitherward all do +now hasten, Austrians, Prussians: but the Prussians are beforehand; +Mollendorf is master of the Pass, deploying himself on the other side +of it, and Ziethen and everybody hastening through to support him there, +and the Austrians making fierce fight in vain. The sound of which has +reached Hulsen, and set Lestwitz and him in motion thither. + +For the thing is vital, if we knew it. Close ahead of Mollendorf, when +he is through this Pass, close on Mollendorf's left, as he wheels round +on the attacking Austrians, is the southwest corner of Siptitz Height. +Southwest corner, highest point of it; summit and key of all that Battle +area; rules it all, if you get cannon thither. It hangs steepish on the +southern side, over the Rohrgraben, where this Mollendorf-Austrian fight +begins; but it is beautifully accessible, if you bear round to the west +side,--a fine saddle-shaped bit of clear ground there, in shape like the +outside or seat of a saddle; Domitsch Wood the crupper part; summit of +this Height the pommel, only nothing like so steep:--it is here (on the +southern saddle-flap, so to speak), gradually mounting westward to the +crupper-and-pommel part, that the agony now is. + +And here, in utter darkness, illuminated only by the musketry and cannon +blazes, there ensued two hours of stiff wrestling in its kind: not +the fiercest spasm of all, but the final which decided all. Lestwitz, +Hulsen, come sweeping on, led by the sound and the fire; "beating the +Prussian march, they," sharply on all their drums,--Prussian march, +rat-tat-tan, sharply through the gloom of Chaos in that manner; and join +themselves, with no mistake made, to Mollendorf's, to Ziethen's left +and the saddle-flap there, and fall on. The night is pitch-dark, +says Archenholtz; you cannot see your hand before you. Old Hulsen's +bridle-horses were all shot away, when he heard this alarm, far off: no +horse left; and he is old, and has his own bruises. He seated himself +on a cannon; and so rides, and arrives; right welcome the sight of him, +doubt not! And the fight rages still for an hour or more. + +To an observant Mollendorf, watching about all day, the importance and +all-importance of Siptitz Summit, if it can be got, is probably known; +to Daun it is alarmingly well known, when he hears of it. Daun is +zealously urgent on Lacy, on O'Donnell; who do try what they can; send +reinforcements, and the like; but nothing that proves useful. O'Donnell +is not the man for such a crisis: Lacy, too, it is remarked, has always +been more expert in ducking out of Friedrich's way than in fighting +anybody. [Archenholtz's sour remark.] In fine, such is the total +darkness, the difficulty, the uncertainty, most or all of the +reinforcements sent halted short, in the belly of the Night, uncertain +where; and their poor friends got altogether beaten and driven away. + +MAP FACING PAGE 527, BOOK XX---- + +About 9 at night, all the Austrians are rolling off, eastward, eastward. +Prussians goading them forward what they could (firing not quite done +till 10); and that all-important pommel of the saddle is indisputably +won. The Austrians settled themselves, in a kind of half-moon shape, +close on the suburbs of Torgau; the Prussians in a parallel half-moon +posture, some furlongs behind them. The Austrians sat but a short time; +not a moment longer than was indispensable. Daun perceives that the +key of his ground is gone from him; that he will have to send a second +Courier to Vienna. And, above all things, that he must forthwith get +across the Elbe and away. Lucky for him that he has Three Bridges (or +Four, including the Town Bridge), and that his Baggage is already all +across and standing on wheels. With excellent despatch and order Daun +winds himself across,--all of him that is still coherent; and indeed, in +the distant parts of the Battle-field, wandering Austrian parties were +admonished hitherward by the River's voice in the great darkness,--and +Daun's loss in prisoners, though great, was less than could have been +expected: 8,000 in all. + +Till towards one in the morning, the Prussians, in their half-moon, had +not learned what he was doing. About one they pushed into Torgau, and +across the Town Bridge; found 26 pontoons,--all the rest packed off +except these 26;--and did not follow farther. Lacy retreated by the +other or left bank of the River, to guard against attempts from that +side. Next day there was pursuit of Lacy; some prisoners and furnitures +got from him, but nothing of moment: Daun and Lacy joined at Dresden; +took post, as usual, behind their inaccessible Plauen Chasms. Sat there, +in view of the chasing Prussians, without farther loss than this of +Torgau, and of a Campaign gone to water again. What an issue, for the +third time! [Tempelhof, iv. 291-318,; Archenholtz, ii. 159-174; Retzow, +ii. 299 et seq.; UMSTANDLICHE BESCHREIBUNG DES &C, (in Seyfarth, +_Beylagen,_ ii. 823-848): in _Helden-Geschichte,_ or in _Anonymous of +Hamburg_ (iv. 245-300), the Daun DESPATCHES, the Lists, &c.]-- + +On Torgau-field, behind that final Prussian half-moon, there reigned, +all night, a confusion which no tongue can express. Poor wounded men by +the hundred and the thousand, weltering in their blood, on the cold wet +ground; not surgeons or nurses, but merciless predatory sutlers, equal +to murder if necessary, waiting on them and on the happier that were +dead. "Unutterable!" says Archenholtz; who, though wounded, had crawled +or got carried to some village near. The living wandered about in gloom +and uncertainty; lucky he whose haversack was still his, and a crust of +bread in it: water was a priceless luxury, almost nowhere discoverable. +Prussian Generals roved about with their Staff-Officers, seeking to +re-form their Battalions; to little purpose. They had grown indignant, +in some instances, and were vociferously imperative and minatory; but in +the dark who needed mind them?--they went raving elsewhere, and, for the +first time, Prussian word-of-command saw itself futile. Pitch darkness, +bitter cold, ground trampled into mire. On Siptitz Hill there is nothing +that will burn: farther back, in the Domitsch Woods, are numerous fine +fires, to which Austrians and Prussians alike gather: "Peace and truce +between us; to-morrow morning we will see which are prisoners, which are +captors." So pass the wild hours, all hearts longing for the dawn, and +what decision it will bring. + +Friedrich, at Elsnig, found every hut full of wounded, and their +surgeries, and miseries silent or loud. He himself took shelter in the +little Church; passed the night there. Busy about many things;--"using +the altar," it seems, "by way of writing-table [self or secretaries +kneeling, shall we fancy, on those new terms?], and the stairs of it as +seat." Of the final Ziethen-Lestwitz effort he would scarcely hear the +musketry or cannonade, being so far away from it. At what hour, or from +whom first, he learned that the Battle of Torgau had become Victory +in the night-time, I know not: the Anecdote-Books send him out in his +cloak, wandering up and down before daybreak; standing by the soldiers' +fires; and at length, among the Woods, in the faint incipiency of dawn, +meeting a Shadow which proves to be Ziethen himself in the body, with +embraces and congratulations:--evidently mythical, though dramatic. +Reach him the news soon did; and surely none could be welcomer. +Head-quarters change from the altar-steps in Elsnig Church to secular +rooms in Torgau. Ziethen has already sped forth on the skirts of Lacy; +whole Army follows next day; and, on the War-theatre it is, on the +sudden, a total change of scene. Conceivable to readers without the +details. + +Hopes there were of getting back Dresden itself; but that, on closer +view, proved unattemptable. Daun kept his Plauen Chasm, his few +square miles of ground beyond; the rest of Saxony was Friedrich's, as +heretofore. Loudon had tried hard on Kosel for a week; storming once, +and a second time, very fiercely, Goltz being now near; but could make +nothing of it; and, on wind of Goltz, went his way. [HOFBERICHT VON +DER BELAGERUNG VON KOSEL, IM OCTOBER 1760 (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ ii. +798-804): began "October 21st;" ended "at daybreak, October 27th."] +The Russians, on sound of Torgau, shouldered arms, and made for Poland. +Daun, for his own share, went to Vienna this Winter; in need of surgery, +and other things. The population there is rather disposed to be +grumbly on its once heroic Fabius; wishes the Fabius were a little less +cunctatory. But Imperial Majesty herself, one is proud to relate, +drove out, in Old Roman spirit, some miles, to meet him, her defeated +ever-honored Daun, and to inquire graciously about his health, which is +so important to the State. [Archenholtz, ii. 179.] + +Torgau was Daun's last Battle: Daun's last battle; and, what is more to +the joy of readers and their Editor here, was Friedrich's last,--so +that the remaining Two Campaigns may fairly be condensed to an extreme +degree; and a few Chapters more will deliver us altogether from this +painful element!-- + +Daun lost at Torgau, by his own account, "about 11,000 men,"--should +have said, according to Tempelhof, and even to neutral persons, "above +12,000 killed and wounded, PLUS 8,000 prisoners, 45 cannon, 29 flags, 1 +standard (or horse-flag)," [Tempelhof, iv. 213; Kausler, p. 726.] which +brings him to at least 20,000 minus;--the Prussian loss, heavy enough +too, being, by Tempelhof's admission, "between 13 and 14,000, of whom +4,000 prisoners." The sore loss, not so computable in arithmetic,--but +less sore to Daun, perhaps, than to most people,--is that of being +beaten, and having one's Campaign reduced to water again. No Conquest +of Saxony, any more than of Silesia, possible to Daun, this Year. In +Silesia, thanks to Loudon, small thanks to Loudon's Chief, they have got +Glatz: Kosel they could not get; fiery Loudon himself stormed and blazed +to no purpose there, and had to hurry home on sight of Goltz and relief. +Glatz is the net sum-total. Daun knows all this; but in a stoical +arithmetical manner, and refuses to be flurried by it. + +Friedrich, as we said, had hoped something might be done in Saxony on +the defeated Daun;--perhaps Dresden itself be got back from him, and +his Army altogether sent to winter in Bohemia again? But it proved +otherwise. Daun showed not the least disposition to quit his Plauen +Chasm, or fall into discouragement: and after some weeks of diligent +trial, on Friedrich's part, and much running about in those central and +Hill-ward parts, Friedrich found he would have to be content with his +former allotment of Saxon territory, and to leave the Austrians quiet +in theirs. Took winter-quarters accordingly, and let the Enemy take. +Cantoned himself, in that Meissen-Freyberg Country, in front of the +Austrians and their impassable Plauens and Chasms:--pretty much as in +the past Year, only that the Two Armies lay at a greater distance, and +were more peaceable, as if by mutual consent. + +Head-quarter of the King is Leipzig; where the King did not arrive till +December 8th,--such adjusting and arranging has he had, and incessant +running to and fro. He lived in the "Apel House, NEW Neumarkt, No. 16;" +[Rodenbeck, ii. 65.] the same he had occupied in 1757, in the Rossbach +time. "ACH! how lean your Majesty has grown!" said the Mistress of it, +at sight of him again (mythically, I should fancy, though it is in the +Anecdote-Books). "Lean, JA WOHL," answered he: "and what wonder, with +Three Women [Theresa, Czarina, Pompadour] hanging on the throat of me +all this while!" But we propose to look in upon him ourselves, in this +Apel House, on more authentic terms, by and by. Read, meanwhile, these +Two bits of Autograph, thrown off incidentally, at different places, in +the previous busy journeyings over Meissen-Freyberg country:-- + + +1. FRIEDRICH TO MARQUIS D'ARGENS (at Berlin). + +"MEISSEN, 10th November, 1760. + +... "I drove the enemy to the Gates of Dresden; they occupy their Camp +of last Year; all my skill is not enough to dislodge them,"--[Chasm of +Plauen, "a place impregnable, were it garrisoned by chimney-sweeps," +says the King once]. "We have saved our reputation by the Day of Torgau: +but don't imagine our enemies are so disheartened as to desire Peace. +Duke Ferdinand's affairs are not in a good way [missed Wesel, of which +presently;--and, alas also, George II. died, this day gone a fortnight, +which is far worse for us, if we knew it!]--I fear the French will +preserve through Winter the advantages they gained during the Campaign. + +"In a word, I see all black, as if I were at the bottom of a tomb. +Have some compassion on the situation I am in; conceive that I +disguise nothing from you, and yet that I do not detail to you all my +embarrassments, my apprehensions and troubles. Adieu, dear Marquis; +write to me sometimes,--don't forget a poor devil, who curses ten times +a day his fatal existence, and could wish he already were in those +Silent Countries from which nobody returns with news." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xix. 204, 205.] + +2. The Second, of different complexion, is a still more interesting +little Autograph, date elsewhere, farther on, in those wanderings. Madam +Camas, Widow of the Colonel Camas whom we knew twenty years ago, is +"Queen's OBER-HOFMEISTERINN (Lady in Chief),"--to whom the King's +Letters are always pretty:-- + +FREIDRICH TO MADAM CAMAS (at Magdeburg, with the Queen's Majesty). + +"NEUSTADT, 18th November, 1760. + +"I am exact in answering, and eager to satisfy you [in that matter +of the porcelain] you shall have a breakfast-set, my good Mamma; six +coffee-cups, very pretty, well diapered, and tricked out with all the +little embellishments which increase their value. On account of some +pieces which they are adding to the set, you will have to wait a +few days; but I flatter myself this delay will contribute to your +satisfaction, and produce for you a toy that will give you pleasure, and +make you remember your old Adorer. It is curious how old people's habits +agree. For four years past I have given up suppers, as incompatible +with the Trade I am obliged to follow; and in marching days, my dinner +consists of a cup of chocolate. + +"We hurried off, like fools, quite inflated with our Victory, to try if +we could not chase the Austrians out of Dresden: they made a mockery +of us from the tops of their mountains. So I have withdrawn, like a bad +little boy, to conceal myself, out of spite, in one of the wretchedest +villages in Saxony. And here the first thing will be to drive the +Circle gentlemen, [Reichs Army] out of Freyberg into Chemnitz, and get +ourselves room to quarter and something to live upon. It is, I swear to +you, a dog of a life [or even a she-dog, CHIENNE DE VIE], the like of +which nobody but Don Quixote ever led before me. All this tumbling and +toiling, and bother and confusion that never ceases, has made me so old, +that you would scarcely know me again. On the right side of my head +the hair is all gray; my teeth break and fall out; I have got my +face wrinkled like the falbalas of a petticoat; my back bent like a +fiddle-bow; and spirit sad and downcast like a monk of La Trappe. I +forewarn you of all this, lest, in case we should meet again in +flesh and bone, you might feel yourself too violently shocked by my +appearance. There remains to me nothing but the heart,--which has +undergone no change, and which will preserve, so long as I breathe, its +feelings of esteem and of tender friendship for my good Mamma. Adieu." +[_OEuvres de Frederic,_ XVIII. 144.]--To which add only this on Duke +Ferdinand, "whose affairs," we just heard, "are not in a good way:"-- + + + + +FIGHT OF KLOSTER KAMPEN (Night of October 15th-16th); WESEL NOT TO BE +HAD BY DUKE FERDINAND. + +After WARBURG (July 31st, while Friedrich was on the eve of crossing +Elbe on new adventures, Dresden Siege having failed him), Duke Ferdinand +made no figure to the Gazetteers; fought no Battle farther; and has +had a Campaign, which is honorable only to judges of a higher than the +Gazetteer sort. + +By Warburg Ferdinand had got the Diemel; on the north bank of which +he spread himself out, impassable to Broglio, who lay trying on the +opposite bank:--"No Hanover by this road." Broglio thereupon drew back +a little; pushed out circuitously from his right wing, which reaches far +eastward of Ferdinand, a considerable Brigade,--circuitously, round by +the Weser-Fulda Country, and beyond the embouchure of Diemel,--to try it +by that method. Got actually a few miles into Hanoverian territory, by +that method; laid hold of Gottingen, also of Munden, which secures a +road thither: and at Gottingen there, "ever since August 4th," Broglio +has been throwing up works, and shooting out hussar-parties to a good +distance; intending, it would seem, to maintain himself, and to be +mischievous, in that post. Would, in fact, fain entice Ferdinand across +the Weser, to help Gottingen. "Across Weser, yes;--and so leave Broglio +free to take Lippstadt from me, as he might after a short siege," +thinks Ferdinand always; "which would beautifully shorten Broglio's +communication [quite direct then, and without interruption, all the way +to Wesel], and make Hanover itself, Hanover and Brunswick, the central +Seat of War!" Which Ferdinand, grieved as he is for Gottingen, will by +no means consent to. + +Ferdinand, strong only as one to two, cannot hinder Broglio, though he +tries variously; and is much at a loss, seeing Broglio irrepressibly +busy this way, all through August and on into September;--has heard, +however, from Wesel, through secret partisans there, that Wesel, +considered altogether out of risk, is left in a very weak condition; +weak in garrison, weak even in gunners. Reflecting upon which, in his +difficulties, Ferdinand asks himself, "A sudden stroke at Wesel, 200 +miles away, might it not astonish Broglio, who is so busy on us just +here?"--and, September 22d, despatches the Hereditary Prince on that +errand. A man likely for it, if there be one in the world:--unable to do +it, however, as the issue told. Here is what I find noted. + +"SEPTEMBER 22d, the Erbprinz, with a chosen Corps of 15,000, mostly +English, left these Diemel regions towards Wesel, at his speediest. +September 29th, Erbprinz and vanguard, Corps rapidly following, are got +to Dorsten, within 20 miles of Wesel. A most swift Erbprinz; likely +for such work. And it is thought by judges, Had he had either +siege-artillery or scaling apparatus, he might really have attacked +Wesel with good chance upon it. But he has not even a ladder ready, +much less a siege-gun. Siege-guns are at Bielefeld [come from Bremen, I +suppose, by English boating, up the Weser so far]; but that is six score +miles of wheel-carriage; roads bad, and threatening to be worse, as it +is equinoctial weather. There is nothing for it but to wait for those +guns. + +"The Erbprinz, hopefully waiting, does his endeavor in the interim; +throws a bridge over the Rhine, pounces upon Cleve garrison (prisoners, +with their furnitures), pounces upon this and that; 'spreads terror' +on the French thereabouts 'up to Dusseldorf and Koln,--and on Broglio +himself, so far off, the due astonishment. 'Wesel to be snatched,--ye +Heavens! Our Netherlands road cut off: Dusseldorf, Koln, our Rhine +Magazines, all and sundry, fallen to the hawks,--who, the lighter-winged +of them, might pay visits in France itself!' Broglio has to suspend +his Gottingen operations, and detach Marquis de Castries with (say +ultimately, for Castries is to grow and gather by the road) 35,000, +to relieve Wesel. Castries marches double-quick; weather very +rainy;--arrives in those parts OCTOBER 13th;--hardly a gun from +Bielefeld come to hand yet, Erbprinz merely filling men with terror. And +so, + +"OCTOBER 14th, after two weeks and a day, the Hereditary Prince sees, +not guns from Bielefeld, but Castries pushing into Wesel a 7,000 of +additional garrison,--and the Enterprise on Wesel grown impossible. +Impossible, and probably far more; Castries in a condition to devour +us, if he prove sharp. It behooves the Hereditary Prince to be himself +sharp;--which he undoubtedly was, in this sharp crisis. Next day, our +Erbprinz, taking survey of Castries in his strong ground of Kloster +Kampen, decides, like a gallant fellow, to attack HIM;--and straightway +does it. Breaks, that same night (October 15th-16th, 1760), stealthily, +through woods and with precautions, into Castries's Post;--intending +surprisal, and mere ruin to Castries. And there ensued, not the +SURPRISAL as it turned out, but the BATTLE OF KLOSTER KAMPEN; which +again proved unsuccessful, or only half-successful, to the Hereditary +Prince. A many-winged, intricate Night-Battle; to be read of in Books. +This is where the Chevalier d'Assas, he or Somebody, gave the alarm to +the Castries people at the expense of his life. 'A MOI, AUVERGNE, Ho, +Auvergne!' shouted D'Assas (if it was D'Assas at all), when the stealthy +English came upon him; who was at once cut down. [Preuss (ii. 270 n.) +asserts it to be proved, in _"Miscellen aus den neuesten auslandischen +Litteratur_ (1824, No. 3, p. 409)," a Book which none of us ever saw, +"That the real hero [equal to a Roman Decius or more] was not Captain +d'Assas, of the Regiment Auvergne, but a poor Private Soldier of it, +called Dubois"!--Is not this a strange turn, after such be-PENSIONING, +be-painting, singing and celebrating, as rose upon poor D'Assas, or the +Family of D'Assas, twenty years afterwards (1777-1790)!--Both Dubois and +D'Assas, I conclude, lay among the slain at Kloster Kampen, silent they +forever:--and a painful doubt does rise, As to the miraculous operation +of Posthumous Rumor and Wonder; and Whether there was any "miracle +of heroism," or other miracle at all, and not rather a poor nocturnal +accident,--poor sentry in the edge of the wood, shrieking out, on +apparition of the stealthy English, "Ho, Auvergne, help!" probably +firing withal; and getting killed in consequence? NON NOSTRUM EST.] It +is certain, Auvergne gave fire; awoke Castries bodily; and saved him +from what was otherwise inevitable. Surprise now there was none farther; +but a complex Fight, managed in the darkness with uncommon obstinacy; +ending in withdrawal of the Erbprinz, as from a thing that could not +be done. His loss in killed, wounded and prisoners, was 1,638; that +of Castries, by his own counting, 2,036: but Kloster Kampen, in the +wide-awake state, could not be won. + +"During the Fight, the Erbprinz's Rhine-Bridge had burst in two: his +ammunition was running short;--and, it would seem, there is no retreat, +either! The Erbprinz put a bold face on the matter, stood to Castries in +a threatening attitude; manoeuvred skilfully for two days longer, +face still to Castries, till the Bridge was got mended; then, night of +October 18th-19th, crossed to his own side; gathered up his goods; and +at a deliberate pace marched home, on those terms;--doing some useful +fighting by the road." [Mauvillon, ii. 120-129: Tempelhof, ii. 325-332.] + +Had lost nothing, say his admirers, "but one cannon, which burst." One +burst cannon left on the field of Kloster Kampen;--but also, as we see, +his errand along with it; and 1,600 good fighters lost and burst: which +was more important! Criticisms there were on it in England, perhaps +of the unwise sort generally; sorrow in the highest quarter. "An +unaccountable expedition," Walpole calls it, "on which Prince Ferdinand +suddenly despatched his Nephew, at the head of a considerable +force, towards the frontiers of Holland,"--merely to see the country +there?--"which occasioned much solicitude in England, as the Main Army, +already unequal to that of France, was thus rendered much weaker. King +George felt it with much anxiety." [Walpole's _George Second,_ iii. +299.] An unaccountable Enterprise, my poor Gazetteer friends,--very +evidently an unsuccessful one, so far as Wesel went. Many English +fallen in it, too: "the English showed here again a GANZ AUSNEHMENDE +TAPFERKEIT," says Mauvillon; and probably their share of the loss was +proportionate. + +Clearly enough there is no Wesel to be had. Neither could Broglio, +though disturbed in his Gottingen fortifyings and operations, be ejected +out of Gottingen. Ferdinand, on failure of Wesel, himself marched to +Gottingen, and tried for some days; but found he could not, in such +weather, tear out that firmly rooted French Post, but must be content to +"mask it," for the present; and, this done, withdrew (December 13th) +to his winter-quarters near by, as did Broglio to his,--about the time +Friedrich and Daun had finally settled in theirs. + +Ferdinand's Campaigns henceforth, which turn all on the defence of +Hanover, are highly recommended to professional readers; but to the laic +sort do not prove interesting in proportion to the trouble. In fact, the +huge War henceforth begins everywhere, or everywhere except in Pitt's +department of it, to burn lower, like a lamp with the oil getting done; +and has less of brilliancy than formerly. "Let us try for Hanover," +the Belleisles, Choiseuls and wise French heads had said to themselves: +"Canada, India, everything is lost; but were dear Hanover well in +our clutch, Hanover would be a remedy for many things!" Through the +remaining Campaigns, as in this now done, that is their fixed plan. +Ferdinand, by unwearied effort, succeeded in defending Hanover,--nothing +of it but that inconsiderable slice or skirt round Gottingen, which they +kept long, could ever be got by the French. Ferdinand defended Hanover; +and wore out annually the big French Armies which were missioned +thither, as in the spasm of an expiring last effort by this poor +hag-ridden France,--at an expense to her, say, of 50,000 men per year. +Which was good service on Ferdinand's part; but done less and less in +the shining or universally notable way. + +So that with him too we are henceforth, thank Heaven, permitted and +even bound to be brief. Hardly above two Battles more from him, if even +two:--and mostly the wearied Reader's imagination left to conceive +for itself those intricate strategies, and endless manoeuvrings on the +Diemel and the Dill, on the Ohm River and the Schwalm and the Lippe, or +wherever they may be, with small help from a wearied Editor!-- + + + + +Chapter VI.--WINTER-QUARTERS 1760-1761. + +A melancholy little event, which afterwards proved unexpectedly +unfortunate for Friedrich, had happened in England ten days before the +Battle of Torgau. Saturday, 25th October, 1760, George II., poor old +gentleman, suddenly died. He was in his 77th year; feeble, but not +feebler than usual,--unless, perhaps, the unaccountable news from +Kloster Kampen may have been too agitating to the dim old mind? On the +Monday of this week he had, "from a tent in Hyde Park," presided at a +Review of Dragoons; and on Thursday, as his Coldstream Guards were +on march for Portsmouth and foreign service, "was in his Portico at +Kensington to see them pass;"--full of zeal always in regard to military +matters, and to this War in particular. Saturday, by sunrise he was +on foot; took his cup of chocolate; inquired about the wind, and the +chances of mails arriving; opened his window, said he would have a turn +in the Gardens, the morning being so fine. It was now between 7 and 8. +The valet then withdrew with the chocolate apparatus; but had +hardly shut the door, when he heard a deep sigh, and fall of +something,--"billet of wood from the fire?" thought he;--upon which, +hurrying back, he found it was the King, who had dropt from his seat, +"as if in attempting to ring the bell." King said faintly, "Call +Amelia," and instantly died. Poor deaf Amelia (Friedrich's old love, now +grown old and deaf) listened wildly for some faint sound from those lips +now mute forever. George Second was no more; his grandson George +Third was now King. [Old Newspapers (in _Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxx. +486-488).] + +Intrinsically taken, this seemed no very great event for Friedrich, for +Pitt, for England or mankind: but it proved otherwise. The merit of +this poor King deceased, who had led his Nation stumbling among the +chimney-pots at such a rate in these mad German Wars for Twenty Years +past, was, That he did now stand loyal to the Enterprise, now when +it had become sane indeed; now when the Nation was broad awake, and +a Captain had risen to guide it out of that perilous posture, into +never-expected victory and triumph! Poor old George had stood by his +Pitt, by his Ferdinand, with a perfect loyalty at all turns; and been +devoted, heart and soul and breeches-pocket, to completely beating +Bourbon's oppressive ideas out of Bourbon's head. A little fact, but +how important, then and there! Under the Successor, all this may be +different:--ghastly beings, Old Tutors, Favorites, Mother's-Favorites, +flit, as yet invisible, on the new backstairs:--should Bute and Company +get into the foreground, people will then know how important it was. +Walpole says:-- + +"The Yorkes [Ex-Chancellor Hardwicke people] had long distasted this +War:" yes, and been painfully obliged to hold their tongues: "but now," +within a month or so of the old King's death, "there was published, +under Lord Hardwicke's countenance, a Tract setting forth the burden and +ill policy of our German measures. It was called CONSIDERATIONS ON THE +GERMAN WAR; was ably written, and changed many men's minds." This is the +famous "Mauduit Pamphlet:" first of those small stones, from the sling +of Opposition not obliged to be dormant, which are now beginning to +rattle on Pitt's Olympian Dwelling-place,--high really as Olympus, in +comparison with others of the kind, but which unluckily is made of +GLASS like the rest of them! The slinger of this first resounding little +missile, Walpole informs us, was "one Mauduit, formerly a Dissenting +Teacher,"--son of a Dissenting Minister in Bermondsey, I hear, and +perhaps himself once a Preacher, but at present concerned with Factorage +of Wool on the great scale; got soon afterwards promoted to be Head +of the Custom-house in Southampton, so lovely did he seem to Bute and +Company. "How agreeable his politics were to the interior of the Court, +soon appeared by a place [Southampton Custom-house] being bestowed on +him by Lord Bute." A fortunate Mauduit, yet a stupidly tragical; had +such a destiny in English History! Hear Walpole a little farther, on +Mauduit, and on other things then resonant to Arlington Street in a way +of their own. "TO SIR HORACE MANN [at Florence]:-- + +"NOVEMBER 14th, 1760 [tenth night after Torgau].... We are all in guns +and bonfires for an unexpected victory of the King of Prussia over Daun; +but as no particulars are yet arrived, there are doubters." + +"DECEMBER 5th, 1760. I have received the samples of brocadella.... I +shall send you a curious Pamphlet, the only work I almost ever knew that +changed the opinions of many. It is called CONSIDERATIONS ON THE PRESENT +GERMAN WAR, ["London: Printed for John Wilkie, at the Bible, in St. +Paul's Churchyard, 1761," adds my poor Copy (a frugal 12mo, of pp. +144), not adding of what edition.] and is written by a wholesale +Woollen-Draper [connected with Wool, in some way] "Factor at Blackwell +Hall," if that mean Draper:--and a growing man ever after; came to be +"Agent for Massachusetts," on the Boston-TEA occasion, and again +did Tracts; was "President of the"--in short, was a conspicuous +Vice-President, so let us define him, of The general Anti-Penalty or +Life-made-Soft Association, with Cause of civil and religious Liberty +all over the World, and such like; and a Mauduit comfortably resonant +in that way till he died [Chalmers, BIOG. DICTIONARY; Nichols, LITERARY +ANECDOTES; &c. &c.]; but the materials are supposed to be furnished by +the faction of the Yorkes. The confirmation of the King of Prussia's +victory near Torgau does not prevent the disciples of the Pamphlet from +thinking that the best thing which could happen for us would be to have +that Monarch's head shot off. [Hear, hear!]-- + +"There are Letters from the Hague [what foolish Letters do fly about, my +friend!], that say Daun is dead of his wounds. If he is, I shall begin +to believe that the King of Prussia will end successfully at last. [Oh!] +It has been the fashion to cry down Daun; but, as much as the King of +Prussia may admire himself [does immensely, according to our Selwyn +informations], I dare say he would have been glad to be matched with one +much more like himself than one so opposite as the Marshal." + +"JANUARY 2d, 1761. The German War is not so popular as you imagine, +either in the Closet or in the Nation." [Walpole, _Letters to Sir Horace +Mann_ (Lond. 1843), i. 6, 7.] (Enough, enough.) + +The Mauduit Pamphlet, which then produced such an effect, is still to +be met in old Collections and on Bookstalls; but produces little save +weariness to a modern reader. "Hanover not in real danger," argues he; +"if the French had it, would not they, all Europe ordering them, have +to give it up again?" Give it up,--GRATIS, or in return for Canada and +Pondicherry, Mauduit's does not say. Which is an important omission! But +Mauduit's grand argument is that of expense; frightful outlay of money, +aggravated by ditto mismanagement of same. + +A War highly expensive, he says--(and the truth is, Pitt was never +stingy of money: "Nearly the one thing we have in any plenty; be +frank in use of that, in an Enterprise so ill-provided otherwise, and +involving life and death!" thinks Pitt);--"dreadfully expensive," +urges Mauduit, and gives some instances of Commissariat moneys signally +wasted,--not by Pitt, but by the stupidity of Pitt's War Offices, +Commissariat Offices, Offices of all kinds; not to be cured at once +by any Pitt:--How magazines of hay were shipped and reshipped, carried +hither, thither, up this river, down that (nobody knowing where the +war-horses would be that were to eat it); till at length, when it had +reached almost the value of bohea tea, the right place of it was found +to be Embden (nearest to Britain from the first, had one but known), and +not a horse would now taste it, so spoiled was the article; all horses +snorted at it, as they would have done at bohea, never so expensive. +[Mauduit (towards the end) has a story of that tenor,--particulars not +worth verifying.] These things are incident to British warfare; also to +Swedish, and to all warfares that have their War Offices in an imaginary +state,--state much to be abhorred by every sane creature; but not to +be mended all at once by the noblest of men, into whose hands they are +suddenly thrust for saving his Nation. Conflagration to be quenched; and +your buckets all in hideous leakage, like buckets of the Danaides:--your +one course is, ply them, pour with them, such as they are. + +Mauduit points out farther the enormous fortunes realized by a swindling +set of Army-Furnishers, Hebrews mainly, and unbeautiful to look on. +Alas, yes; this too is a thing incident to the case; and in a degree to +all such cases, and situations of sudden crisis;--have not we seen Jew +Ephraim growing rich by the copper money even of a Friedrich? Christian +Protestants there are, withal, playing the same game on a larger scale. +Herr Schimmelmann ("MOULDY-man") the Dane, for instance,--Dane or +Holsteiner,--is coining false money for a Duke of Holstein-Plon, who +has not a Seven-Years War on his hands. Diligently coining, this Mouldy +Individual; still more successfully, is trading in Friedrich's Meissen +China (bought in the cheapest market, sold in the dearest); has at +Hamburg his "Auction of Meissen Porcelain," steadily going on, as a +new commercial institution of that City;--and, in short, by assiduously +laboring in such harvest-fields, gathers a colossal fortune, 100,000 +pounds, 300,000 pounds, or I will not remember what. Gets "ennobled," +furthermore, by a Danish Government prompt to recognize human merit: +Elephant Order, Dannebrog Order; no Order good enough for this +Mouldy-man of merit; [Preuss, ii. 391, 282, &c.]--and is, so far as +I know, begetting "Nobles," that is to say, Vice-Kings and monitory +Exemplars, for the Danish People, to this day. Let us shut down the iron +lid on all that. + +Mauduit's Pamphlet, if it raised in the abhorrent unthinking English +mind some vague notion, as probably it did, that Pitt was responsible +for these things, or was in a sort the cause or author of them, might +produce some effect against him. "What a splash is this you are +making, you Great Commoner; wetting everybody's feet,--as our Mauduit +proves;--while the Conflagration seems to be going out, if you let it +alone!" For the heads of men resemble--My friend, I will not tell you +what they, in multitudinous instances, resemble. + +But thus has woollen Mauduit, from his private camp ("Clement's Lane, +Lombard Street," say the Dictionaries), shot, at a very high object, +what pigeon's-egg or small pebble he had; the first of many such +that took that aim; with weak though loud-sounding impact, but with +results--results on King Friedrich in particular, which were stronger +than the Cannonade of Torgau! As will be seen. For within year and +day,--Mauduit and Company making their noises from without, and the +Butes and Hardwickes working incessantly with such rare power of +leverage and screwage in the interior parts,--a certain Quasi-Olympian +House, made of glass, will lie in sherds, and the ablest and noblest man +in England see himself forbidden to do England any service farther: +"Not needed more, Sir! Go you,--and look at US for the remainder of your +life!" + + + + +KING FRIEDRICH IN THE APEL HOUSE AT LEIPZIG (8th December, 1760-17th +March, 1761). + +Friedrich's Winter in the Apel House at Leipzig is of cheerfuler +character than we might imagine. Endless sore business he doubtless has, +of recruiting, financiering, watching and providing, which grows more +difficult year by year; but he has subordinates that work to his signal, +and an organized machinery for business such as no other man. And +solacements there are withal: his Books he has about him; welcomer than +ever in such seasons: Friends too,--he is not solitary; nor neglectful +of resources. Faithful D'Argens came at once (stayed till the middle +of March): [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 212, 213. Sends a Courier to +conduct D'Argens "FOR December 8th;" "21st March," D'Argens is back at +Berlin.] D'Argens, Quintus Icilius, English Mitchell; these three almost +daily bore him company. Till the middle of January, also, he had his +two Nephews with him (Sons of his poor deceased Brother, the late tragic +Prince of Prussia),--the elder of whom, Friedrich Wilhelm, became King +afterwards; the second, Henri by name, died suddenly of small-pox within +about seven years hence, to the King's deep and sore grief, who liked +him the better of the two. Their ages respectively are now about 16 and +14. [Henri, born 30th December, 1747, died 26th May, 1767;--Friedrich +Wilhelm, afterwards Friedrich Wilhelm II. (sometimes called DER DICKE, +The Big), born 25th December, 1744; King, 17th August, 1786; died 16th +November, 1797.] Their appetite for dancing, and their gay young ways, +are pleasant now and afterwards to the old Uncle in his grim element. +[Letters, &c. in SCHONING.] + +Music, too, he had; daily evening Concert, though from himself there is +no fluting now. One of his Berlin Concert people who had been sent for +was Fasch, a virtuoso on I know not what instrument,--but a man given to +take note of things about him. Fasch was painfully surprised to see his +King so altered in the interim past: "bent now, sunk into himself, grown +old; to whom these five years of war-tumult and anxiety, of sorrow and +hard toil, had given a dash of gloomy seriousness and melancholy, which +was in strong contrast with his former vividly bright expression, and +was not natural to his years." [Zelter's _Life of Fasch_ (cited in +PREUSS, ii. 278).] + +From D'Argens there is one authentic Anecdote, worth giving. One evening +D'Argens came to him; entering his Apartment, found him in a situation +very unexpected; which has been memorable ever since. "One evening +[there is no date to it, except vaguely, as above, December, 1760-March, +1761], D'Argens, entering the King's Apartment, found him sitting on the +ground with a big platter of fried meat, from which he was feeding his +dogs. He had a little rod, with which he kept order among them, and +shoved the best bits to his favorites. The Marquis, in astonishment, +recoiled a step, struck his hands together, and exclaimed: 'The Five +Great Powers of Europe, who have sworn alliance, and conspired to undo +the Marquis de Brandebourg, how might they puzzle their heads to +guess what he is now doing! Scheming some dangerous plan for the next +Campaign, think they; collecting funds to have money for it; studying +about magazines for man and horse; or he is deep in negotiations to +divide his enemies, and get new allies for himself? Not a bit of all +that. He is sitting peaceably in his room, and feeding his dogs!'" +[Preuss, ii. 282.] + + + + +INTERVIEW WITH HERR PROFESSOR GELLERT (Thursday, 18th December, 1760). + +Still more celebrated is the Interview with Gellert; though I cannot say +it is now more entertaining to the ingenuous mind. One of Friedrich's +many Interviews, this Winter, with the Learned of Leipzig University; +for he is a born friend of the Muses so called, and never neglects an +opportunity. Wonderful to see how, in such an environment, in the depths +of mere toil and tribulation, with a whole breaking world lying on his +shoulders, as it were,--he always shows such appetite for a snatch of +talk with anybody presumably of sense, and knowledge on something! + +"This Winter," say the Books, "he had, in vacant intervals, a great deal +of communing with the famed of Leipzig University;" this or the other +famed Professor,--Winkler, Ernesti, Gottsched again, and others, coming +to give account, each for himself, of what he professed to be teaching +in the world: "on the Natural Sciences," more especially the Moral; on +Libraries, on Rare Books. Gottsched was able to satisfy the King on one +point; namely, That the celebrated passage of St. John's Gospel--"THERE +ARE THREE THAT BEAR RECORD--was NOT in the famous Manuscript of the +Vienna Library; Gottsched having himself examined that important CODEX, +and found in the text nothing of said Passage, but merely, written +on the margin, a legible intercalation of it, in Melanchthon's hand. +Luther, in his Version, never had it at all." [_Helden-Geschichte,_ +vi. 596.] A Gottsched inclined to the Socinian view? Not the least +consequence to Friedrich or us! Our business is exclusively with Gellert +here. + +Readers have heard of Gellert; there are, or there were, English +Writings about him, LIVES, or I forget what: and in his native +Protestant Saxony, among all classes, especially the higher, he had, +in those years and onwards to his death, such a popularity and real +splendor of authority as no man before or since. Had risen, against his +will in some sort, to be a real Pope, a practical Oracle in those parts. +In his modest bachelor lodging (age of him five-and-forty gone) he +has sheaves of Letters daily,--about affairs of the conscience, of the +household, of the heart: from some evangelical young lady, for example, +Shall I marry HIM, think you, O my Father?" and perhaps from her Papa, +"Shall SHE, think you, O my ditto?"--Sheaves of Letters: and of oral +consulters such crowds, that the poor Oracle was obliged to appoint +special hours for that branch of his business. His class-room (he +lectures on MORALS, some THEORY OF MORAL SENTIMENT, or such like) is +crowded with "blue uniforms" (ingenuous Prussian Officers eager to +hear a Gellert) in these Winters. Rugged Hulsen, this very season, who +commands in Freyberg Country, alleviates the poor village of Hainichen +from certain official inflictions, and bids the poor people say "It is +because Gellert was born among you!" Plainly the Trismegistus of mankind +at that date:--who is now, as usual, become a surprising Trismegistus to +the new generations! + +He had written certain thin Books, all of a thin languid nature; but +rational, clear; especially a Book of FABLES IN VERSE, which are watery, +but not wholly water, and have still a languid flavor in them for +readers. His Book on LETTER-WRITING was of use to the rising generation, +in its time. Clearly an amiable, ingenious, correct, altogether good +man; of pious mind,--and, what was more, of strictly orthodox, according +to the then Saxon standard in the best circles. This was the figure +of his Life for the last fifteen years of it; and he was now about the +middle of that culminating period. A modest, despondent kind of man, +given to indigestions, dietetics, hypochondria: "of neat figure +and dress; nose hooked, but not too much; eyes mournfully blue and +beautiful, fine open brow;"--a fine countenance, and fine soul of its +sort, poor Gellert: "punctual like the church-clock at divine service, +in all weathers." [Jordens, _Lexikon Deutscher Dichter und Prosaisten_ +(Leipzig, 1807), ii. 54-68 (Gellert).] + +A man of some real intellect and melody; some, by no means much; who was +of amiable meek demeanor; studious to offend nobody, and to do whatever +good he could by the established methods;--and who, what was the great +secret of his success, was of orthodoxy perfect and eminent. Whom, +accordingly, the whole world, polite Saxon orthodox world, hailed as +its Evangelist and Trismegistus. Essentially a commonplace man; but who +employed himself in beautifying and illuminating the commonplace of his +clay and generation:--infinitely to the satisfaction of said generation. +"How charming that you should make thinkable to us, make vocal, musical +and comfortably certain, what we were all inclined to think; you +creature plainly divine!" And the homages to Gellert were unlimited and +continual, not pleasant all of them to an idlish man in weak health. + +Mitchell and Quintus Icilius, who are often urging on the King that a +new German Literature is springing up, of far more importance than the +King thinks, have spoken much to him of Gellert the Trismegistus;--and +at length, in the course of a ten days from Friedrich's arrival here, +actual Interview ensues. The DIALOGUE, though it is but dull and watery +to a modern palate, shall be given entire, for the sake of one of the +Interlocutors. The Report of it, gleaned gradually from Gellert himself, +and printed, not long afterwards, from his manuscripts or those of +others, is to be taken as perfectly faithful. Gellert, writing to his +inquiring Friend Rabener (a then celebrated Berlin Wit), describes, from +Leipzig, "29th January, 1760," or about six weeks after the event: "How, +one day about the middle of December, Quintus Icilius suddenly came +to my poor lodging here, to carry me to the King." Am too ill to go. +Quintus will excuse me to-day; but will return to-morrow, when no excuse +shall avail. Did go accordingly next day, Thursday, 18th December, +4 o'clock of the afternoon; and continued till a quarter to 6. "Had +nothing of fear in speaking to the King. Recited my MALER ZU ATHEN." +King said, at parting, he would send for me again. "The English +Ambassador [Mitchell], an excellent man, was probably the cause of the +King's wish to see me.... The King spoke sometimes German, sometimes +French; I mostly German." [_Gellert's Briefwechsel mit Demoiselle +Lucius, herausgegeben von F. A. Ebert_ (Leipzig, 1823), pp. 629, 631.] +As follows:-- + +KING. "Are you (ER) the Professor Gellert?" + +GELLERT. "Yea, IHRO MAJESTAT." + +KING. "The English Ambassador has spoken highly of you to me. Where do +you come from?" + +GELLERT. "From Hainichen, near Freyberg." + +KING. "Have not you a brother at Freyberg?" + +GELLERT. "Yea, IHRO MAJESTAT." + +KING. "Tell me why we have no good German Authors." + +MAJOR QUINTUS ICILIUS (puts in a word). "Your Majesty, you see here one +before you;--one whom the French themselves have translated, calling him +the German La Fontaine!" + +KING. "That is much. Have you read La Fontaine?" + +GELLERT. "Yes, your Majesty; but have not imitated: I am original (ICH +BIN EIN ORIGINAL)." + +KING. "Well, this is one good Author among the Germans; but why have not +we more?" + +GELLERT. "Your Majesty has a prejudice against the Germans." + +KING. "No; I can't say that (Nein; das kann ich nicht sagen)." + +GELLERT. "At least, against German writers." + +KING. "Well, perhaps. Why have we no good Historians? Why does no one +undertake a Translation of Tacitus?" + +GELLERT. "Tacitus is difficult to translate; and the Frenoh themselves +have but bad translations of him." + +KING. "That is true (DA HAT ER RECHT)." + +GELLERT. "And, on the whole, various reasons may be given why the +Germans have not yet distinguished themselves in every kind of writing. +While Arts and Sciences were in their flower among the Greeks, the +Romans were still busy in War. Perhaps this is the Warlike Era of +the Germans:--perhaps also they have yet wanted Augustuses and +Louis-Fourteenths!" + +KING. "How, would you wish one Augustus, then, for all Germany?" + +GELLERT. "Not altogether that; I could wish only that every Sovereign +encouraged men of genius in his own country." + +KING (starting a new subject). "Have you never been out of Saxony?" + +GELLERT. "I have been in Berlin." + +KING. "You should travel." + +GELLERT. "IHRO MAJESTAT, for that I need two things,--health and means." + +KING. "What is your complaint? Is it DIE GELEHRTE KRANKHEIT (Disease of +the Learned," Dyspepsia so called)? "I have myself suffered from that. I +will prescribe for you. You must ride daily, and take a dose of rhubarb +every week." + +GELLERT. "ACH, IHRO MAJESTAT: if the horse were as weak as I am, he +would be of no use to me; if he were stronger, I should be too weak to +manage him." (Mark this of the Horse, however; a tale hangs by it.) + +KING. "Then you must drive out." + +GELLERT. "For that I am deficient in the means." + +KING. "Yes, that is true; that is what Authors (GELEHRTE) in Deutschland +are always deficient in. I suppose these are bad times, are not they?" + +GELLERT. "JA WOHL; and if your Majesty would grant us Peace (DEN FRIEDEN +GEBEN WOLLTEN)--" + +KING. "How can I? Have not you heard, then? There are three of them +against me (ES SIND JA DREI WIDER MICH)!" + +GELLERT. "I have more to do with the Ancients and their History than +with the Moderns." + +KING (changing the topic). "What do you think, is Homer or Virgil the +finer as an Epic Poet?" + +GELLERT. "Homer, as the more original." + +KING. "But Virgil is much more polished (VIEL POLIRTER)." + +GELLERT. "We are too far removed from Homer's times to judge of his +language. I trust to Quintilian in that respect, who prefers Homer." + +KING. "But one should not be a slave to the opinion of the Ancients." + +GELLERT. "Nor am I that. I follow them only in cases where, owing to the +distance, I cannot judge for myself." + +MAJOR ICILIUS (again giving a slight fillip or suggestion). "He," the +Herr Professor here, "has also treated of GERMAN LETTER-WRITING, and has +published specimens." + +KING. "So? But have you written against the CHANCERY STYLE, then" +(the painfully solemn style, of ceremonial and circumlocution; Letters +written so as to be mainly wig and buckram)? + +GELLERT. "ACH JA, that have I, IHRO MAJESTAT!" + +KING. "But why doesn't it change? The Devil must be in it (ES IST ETWAS +VERTEUFELTES). They bring me whole sheets of that stuff, and I can make +nothing of it!" + +GELLERT. "If your Majesty cannot alter it, still less can I. I can only +recommend, where you command." + +KING. "Can you repeat any of your Fables?" + +GELLERT. "I doubt it; my memory is very treacherous." + +KING. "Bethink you a little; I will walk about [Gellert bethinks him, +brow puckered. King, seeing the brow unpucker itself]. Well, have you +one?" + +GELLERT. "Yes, your Majesty: THE PAINTER." Gellert recites (voice +plaintive and hollow; somewhat PREACHY, I should doubt, but not cracked +or shrieky);--we condense him into prose abridgment for English readers; +German can look at the bottom of the page: [(Gellert's WERKE: Leipzig, +1840; i. 135.)]-- + +"'A prudent Painter in Athens, more intent on excellence than on money, +had done a God of War; and sent for a real Critic to give him his +opinion of it. On survey, the Critic shook his head: "Too much Art +visible; won't do, my friend!" The Painter strove to think otherwise; +and was still arguing, when a young Coxcomb [GECK, Gawk] stept in: +"Gods, what a masterpiece!" cried he at the first glance: "Ah, that +foot, those exquisitely wrought toenails; helm, shield, mail, what +opulence of Art!" The sorrowful Painter looked penitentially at the real +Critic, looked at his brush; and the instant this GECK was gone, struck +out his God of War.'" + +KING. "And the Moral?" + +GELLERT (still reciting): + +"'When the Critic does not like thy Bit of Writing, it is a bad sign +for thee; but when the Fool admires, it is time thou at once strike it +out.'" + + + "Ein kluger Maler in Athen, + Der minder, weil man ihn bezhalte, + Als weil er Ehre suchte, malte, + Liess einen Kenner einst den Mars im Bilde sehn, + Und bat sich seine Meinung aus. + Der Kenner sagt ihm fiei heraus, + Dass ihm das Bild nicht ganz gefallen wollte, + Und dass es, um recht schon zu sein, + Weit minder Kunst verrathen sollte. + Der Maler wandte vieles ein; + Der Kenner stritt mit ihm aus Grunden, + Und konnt ihn doch nicht uberwinden. + Gleich trat ein junger Geck herein, + Und nahm das Bild in Augenschein. + 'O,' rief er, 'bei dem ersten Blicke, + Ihr Gotter, welch ein Meisterstucke! + Ach, welcher Fuss! O, wie geschickt + Sind nicht die Nagel ausgedruckt! + Mars lebt durchaus in diesem Bilde. + Wie viele Kunst, wie viele Pracht + Ist in dem Helm und in dem Schilde, + Und in der Rustung angebracht!' + Der Maler ward beschamt geruhret, + Und sah den Kenner klaglich an. + 'Nun,' sprach er, 'bin ich uberfuhret! + Ihr habt mir nicht zu viel gethan.' + Der junge Geck war kaum hinaus, + So strich er seinen Kriegsgott aus." + + +MORAL. + + "Wenn deine Schrift dem Kenner nicht gefallt, + So ist es schon ein boses Zeichen; + Doch, wenn sie gar des Narren Lob erhalt, + So ist es Zeit, sie auszustreichen." + +KING. "That is excellent; very fine indeed. You have a something of soft +and flowing in your verses; them I understand altogether. But there was +Gottsched, one day, reading me his Translation of IPHIGENIE; I had the +French Copy in my hand, and could not understand a word of him [a Swan +of Saxony, laboring in vain that day]! They recommended me another Poet, +one Peitsch [Herr Peitsch of Konigsberg, Hofrath, Doctor and Professor +there, Gottsched's Master in Art; edited by Gottsched thirty years ago; +now become a dumb idol, though at one time a god confessed]; him I flung +away." + +GELLERT. "IHRO MAJESTAT, him I also fling away." + +KING. "Well, if I continue here, you must come again often; bring your +FABLES with you, and read me something." + +GELLERT. "I know not if I can read well; I have the singing kind of +tone, native to the Hill Country." + +KING. "JA, like the Silesians. No, you must read me the FABLES +yourself; they lose a great deal otherwise. Come back soon." [_Gellert's +Briefwechsel mit Demoiselle Lucius_ (already cited), pp. 632 et seq.] +(EXIT GELLERT.) + +KING (to Icilius, as we learn from a different Record). "That is quite +another man than Gottsched!" (EXUENT OMNES.) + +The modest Gellert says he "remembered Jesus Sirach's advice, PRESS NOT +THYSELF ON KINGS,--and never came back;" nor was specially sent for, +in the hurries succeeding; though the King never quite forgot him. Next +day, at dinner, the King said, "He is the reasonablest man of all the +German Literary People, C'EST LE PLUS RAISONNABLE DE TOUS LES SAVANS +ALLEMANDS." And to Garve, at Breslau, years afterwards: "Gellert is the +only German that will reach posterity; his department is small, but he +has worked in it with real felicity." And indeed the King had, before +that, as practical result of the Gellert Dialogue, managed to set some +Berlin Bookseller upon printing of these eligible FABLES, "for the use +of our Prussian Schools;" in which and other capacities the FABLES still +serve with acceptance there and elsewhere. [Preuss, ii. 274.] + +In regard to Gellert's Horse-exercise, I had still to remember that +Gellert, not long after, did get a Horse; two successive Horses; both +highly remarkable. The first especially; which was Prince Henri's gift: +"The Horse Prince Henri had ridden at the Battle of Freyberg" (Battle +to be mentioned hereafter);--quadruped that must have been astonished at +itself! But a pretty enough gift from the warlike admiring Prince to +his dyspeptic Great Man. This Horse having yielded to Time, the very +Kurfurst (grandson of Polish Majesty that now is) sent Gellert another, +housing and furniture complete; mounted on which, Gellert and it were +among the sights of Leipzig;--well enough known here to young Goethe, in +his College days, who used to meet the great man and princely horse, and +do salutation, with perhaps some twinkle of scepticism in the corner of +his eye. [DICHTUNG UND WAHRHEIT, Theil ii. Buch 6 (in Goethe's WERKE, +xxv. 51 et seq).] Poor Gellert fell seriously ill in December, 1769; +to the fear and grief of all the world: "estafettes from the Kurfurst +himself galloped daily, or oftener, from Dresden for the sick bulletin;" +but poor Gellert died, all the same (13th of that month); and we have +(really with pathetic thoughts, even we) to bid his amiable existence in +this world, his bits of glories and him, adieu forever. + + + + +DIALOGUE WITH GENERAL SALDERN (in the Apel House, Leipzig, 21st January, +1761). + +Four or five weeks after this of Gellert, Friedrich had another +Dialogue, which also is partly on record, and is of more importance to +us here: Dialogue with Major-General Saldern; on a certain business, +delicate, yet profitable to the doer,--nobody so fit for it as Saldern, +thinks the King. Saldern is he who did that extraordinary feat +of packing the wrecks of battle on the Field of Liegnitz; a fine, +clear-flowing, silent kind of man, rapid and steady; with a great deal +of methodic and other good faculty in him,--more, perhaps, than he +himself yet knows of. Him the King has sent for, this morning; and it +is on the business of Polish Majesty's Royal Hunting-Schloss at +Hubertsburg,--which is a thing otherwise worth some notice from us. + +For three months long the King had been representing, in the proper +quarters, what plunderings, and riotous and even disgusting +savageries, the Saxons had perpetrated at Charlottenburg, Schonhausen, +Friedrichsfeld, in October last, while masters there for a few days: but +neither in Reichs Diet, where Plotho was eloquent, nor elsewhere by the +Diplomatic method, could he get the least redress, or one civil word of +regret. From Polish Majesty himself, to whom Friedrich remonstrated the +matter, through the English Resident at Warsaw, Friedrich had expected +regret; but he got none. Some think he had hoped that Polish Majesty, +touched by these horrors of war, and by the reciprocities evidently +liable to follow, might be induced to try something towards mediating +a General Peace: but Polish Majesty did not; Polish Majesty answered +simply nothing at all, nor would get into any correspondence: upon which +Friedrich, possibly a little piqued withal, had at length determined on +retaliation. + +Within our cantonments, reflects Friedrich, here is Hubertsburg Schloss, +with such a hunting apparatus in and around it; Polish Majesty's +HERTZBLATT ("lid of the HEART," as they call it; breastbone, at least, +and pit of his STOMACH, which inclines to nothing but hunting): let his +Hubertsburg become as our Charlottenburg is; perhaps that will touch his +feelings! Friedrich had formed this resolution; and, Wednesday, +January 21st, sends for Saldern, one of the most exact, deft-going +and punctiliously honorable of all his Generals, to execute it. Enter +Saldern accordingly,--royal Audience-room "in the APEL'SCHE HAUS, New +Neumarkt, No. 16," as above;--to whom (one Kuster, a reliable creature, +reporting for us on Saldern's behalf) the King says, in the distinct +slowish tone of a King giving orders:-- + +KING. "Saldern, to-morrow morning you go [ER, He goes) with a detachment +of Infantry and Cavalry, in all silence, to Hubertsburg; beset the +Schloss, get all the furnitures carefully packed up and invoiced. I want +nothing with them; the money they bring I mean to bestow on our Field +Hospitals, and will not forget YOU in disposing of it." + +Saldern, usually so prompt with his "JA" on any Order from the King, +looks embarrassed, stands silent,--to the King's great surprise;--and +after a moment or two says:-- + +SALDERN. "Forgive me, your Majesty: but this is contrary to my honor and +my oath." + +KING (still in a calm tone). "You would be right to think so if I did +not intend this desperate method for a good object. Listen to me: great +Lords don't feel it in their scalp, when their subjects are torn by +the hair; one has to grip their own locks, as the only way to give them +pain." (These last words the King said in a sharper tone; he again made +his apology for the resolution he had formed; and renewed his Order. +With the modesty usual to him, but also with manliness, Saldern +replied:)-- + +SALDERN. "Order me, your Majesty, to attack the enemy and his batteries, +I will on the instant cheerfully obey: but against honor, oath and duty, +I cannot, I dare not!" + +The King, with voice gradually rising, I suppose, repeated his +demonstration that the thing was proper, necessary in the circumstances; +but Saldern, true to the inward voice, answered steadily:-- + +SALDERN. "For this commission your Majesty will easily find another +person in my stead." + +KING (whirling hastily round, with an angry countenance, but, I should +say, an admirable preservation of his dignity in such extreme case). +"SALDERN, ER WILL NICHT REICH WERDEN,--Saldern, you refuse to become +rich." And EXIT, leaving Saldern to his own stiff courses. [Kuster, +_Charakterzuge des General-Lieutenant v. Saldern_ (Berlin, 1793), pp. +39-44.] + +Nothing remained for Saldern but to fall ill, and retire from the +Service; which he did: a man honorably ruined, thought everybody;--which +did not prove to be the case, by and by. + +This surely is a remarkable Dialogue; far beyond any of the Gellert +kind. An absolute King and Commander-in-Chief, and of such a type in +both characters, getting flat refusal once in his life (this once only, +so far as I know), and how he takes it:--one wishes Kuster, or somebody, +had been able to go into more details!--Details on the Quintus-Icilius +procedure, which followed next day, would also have been rather +welcome, had Kuster seen good. It is well known, Quintus Icilius and his +Battalion, on order now given, went cheerfully, next day, in Saldern's +stead. And sacked Hubertsburg Castle, to the due extent or farther: +100,000 thalers (15,000 pounds) were to be raised from it for the +Field-Hospital behoof; the rest was to be Quintus's own; who, it was +thought, made an excellent thing of it for himself. And in hauling +out the furnitures, especially in selling them, Quintus having an +enterprising sharp head in trade affairs, "it is certain," says Kuster, +as says everybody, "various SCHANDLICHKEITEN (scandals) occurred, which +were contrary to the King's intention, and would not have happened under +Saldern." What the scandals particularly were, is not specified to me +anywhere, though I have searched up and down; much less the net amount +of money realized by Quintus. I know only, poor Quintus was bantered +about it, all his life after, by this merciless King; and at Potsdam, +in years coming, had ample time and admonition for what penitence was +needful. + +"The case was much canvassed in the Army," says poor Kuster; "it was +the topic in every tent among Officers and common Men. And among us +Army-Chaplains too," poor honest souls, "the question of conflicting +duties arose: Your King ordering one thing, and your own Conscience +another, what ought a man to do? What ought an Army-Chaplain to preach +or advise? And considerable mutual light in regard to it we struck out +from one another, and saw how a prudent Army-Chaplain might steer his +way. Our general conclusion was, That neither the King nor Saldern could +well be called wrong. Saldern listening to the inner voice; right he, +for certain. But withal the King, in his place, might judge such a thing +expedient and fit; perhaps Saldern himself would, had Saldern been King +of Prussia there in January, 1761." + +Saldern's behavior in his retirement was beautiful; and after the Peace, +he was recalled, and made more use of than ever: being indeed a model +for Army arrangements and procedures, and reckoned the completest +General of Infantry now left, far and near. The outcries made about +Hubertsburg, which still linger in Books, are so considerable, one +fancies the poor Schloss must have been quite ruined, and left standing +as naked walls. Such, however, we by no means find to be the case; but, +on the contrary, shall ourselves see that everything was got refitted +there, and put into perfect order again, before long. + + + + +THERE ARE SOME WAR-MOVEMENTS DURING WINTER; GENERAL FINANCIERING +DIFFICULTIES. CHOISEUL PROPOSES PEACE. + +February 15th, there fell out, at Langensalza, on the Unstrut, in Gotha +Country, a bit of sharp fighting; done by Friedrich's people and Duke +Ferdinand's in concert; which, and still more what followed on it, made +some noise in the quiet months. Not a great thing, this of Langensalza, +but a sudden, and successfully done; costing Broglio some 2,000 +prisoners; and the ruin of a considerable Post of his, which he had +lately pushed out thither, "to seize the Unstrut," as he hoped. A +Broglio grasping at more than he could hold, in those Thuringen parts, +as elsewhere! And, indeed, the Fight of Langensalza was only the +beginning of a series of such; Duke Ferdinand being now upon one of +his grand Winter-Adventures: that of suddenly surprising and exploding +Broglio's Winter-quarters altogether, and rolling him back to Frankfurt +for a lodging. So that, since the first days of February, especially +since Langensalza day, there rose suddenly a great deal of rushing +about, in those regions, with hard bits of fighting, at least of severe +campaigning;--which lasted two whole-months;--filling the whole world +with noise that Winter; and requiring extreme brevity from us here. It +was specially Duke Ferdinand's Adventure; Friedrich going on it, as per +bargain, to the Langensalza enterprise, but no farther; after which +it did not much concern Friedrich, nor indeed come to much result for +anybody. + +"Strenuous Ferdinand, very impatient of the Gottingen business and +provoked to see Broglio's quarters extend into Hessen, so near hand, for +the first time, silently determines to dislodge him. Broglio's chain of +quarters, which goes from Frankfurt north as far as Marburg, then turns +east to Ziegenhayn; thence north again to Cassel, to Munden with its +Defiles; and again east, or southeast, to Langensalza even: this chain +has above 150 miles of weak length; and various other grave faults to +the eye of Ferdinand,--especially this, that it is in the form, not of +an elbow only, or joiner's-square, which is entirely to be disapproved, +but even of two elbows; in fact, of the PROFILE OF A CHAIR [if readers +had a Map at hand]. FOOT of the chair is Frankfurt; SEAT part is from +Marburg to Ziegenhayn; BACK part, near where Ferdinand lies in +chief force, is the Cassel region, on to Munden, which is TOP of the +back,--still backwards from which, there is a kind of proud CURL or +overlapping, down to Langensalza in Gotha Country, which greedy Broglio +has likewise grasped at! Broglio's friends say he himself knew the +faultiness of this zigzag form, but had been overruled. Ferdinand +certainly knows it, and proceeds to act upon it. + +"In profound silence, namely, ranks himself (FEBRUARY 1st-12th) in +three Divisions, wide enough asunder; bursts up sudden as lightning, +at Langensalza and elsewhere; kicks to pieces Broglio's Chair-Profile, +kicks out especially the bottom part which ruins both foot and back, +these being disjointed thereby, and each exposed to be taken in +rear;--and of course astonishes Broglio not a little; but does not steal +his presence of mind. + +"So that, in effect, Broglio had instantly to quit Cassel and warm +lodging, and take the field in person; to burn his Magazines; and, at +the swiftest rate permissible, condense himself, at first partially +about Fulda (well down the leg of his chair), and then gradually all +into one mass near Frankfurt itself;--with considerable losses, loss +especially of all his Magazines, full or half full. And has now, except +Marburg, Ziegenhayn and Cassel, no post between Gottingen and him. +Ferdinand, with his Three Divisions, went storming along in the wild +weather, Granby as vanguard; pricking into the skirts of Broglio. +Captured this and that of Corps, of Magazines that had not been got +burnt; laid siege to Tassel, siege to Ziegenhayn; blocked Marburg, +not having guns ready: and, for some three or four weeks, was by +the Gazetteer world and general public thought to have done a very +considerable feat;--though to himself, such were the distances, +difficulties of the season, of the long roads, it probably seemed very +questionable whether, in the end, any feat at all. + +"Cassel he could not take, after a month's siege under the best +of Siege-Captains; Ziegenhayn still less under one of the worst. +Provisions, ammunitions, were not to be had by force of wagonry: scant +food for soldiers, doubly scant the food of Sieges;"--"the road from +Beverungen [where the Weser-boats have to stop, which is 30 miles from +Cassel, perhaps 60 from Ziegenhayn, and perhaps 100 from the outmost or +southern-most of Ferdinand's parties] is paved with dead horses," +nor has even Cassel nearly enough of ammunition:--in a word, Broglio, +finding the time come, bursts up from his Frankfurt Position (March +14th-21st) in a sharp and determined manner; drives Ferdinand's people +back, beats the Erbprinz himself one day (by surprisal, 'My compliment +for Langensalza'), and sets his people running. Ferdinand sees the +affair to be over; and deliberately retires; lucky, perhaps, that he +still can deliberately: and matters return to their old posture. Broglio +resumes his quarters, somewhat altered in shape, and not quite so +grasping as formerly; and beyond his half-filled Magazines, has lost +nothing considerable, or more considerable than has Ferdinand himself." +[Tempelhof, v. 15-45; Mauvillon, ii. 135-148.] + +The vital element in Ferdinand's Adventure was the Siege of Cassel; +all had to fail, when this, by defect of means, under the best of +management, declared itself a failure. Siege Captain was a Graf von +Lippe-Buckeburg, Ferdinand's Ordnance-Master, who is supposed to be "the +best Artillery Officer in the world,"--and is a man of great mark in +military and other circles. He is Son and Successor of that fantastic +Lippe-Buckeburg, by whom Friedrich was introduced to Free-Masonry long +since. He has himself a good deal of the fantast again, but with a +better basis of solidity beneath it. A man of excellent knowledge +and faculty in various departments; strict as steel, in regard to +discipline, to practice and conduct of all kinds; a most punctilious, +silently supercilious gentleman, of polite but privately irrefragable +turn of mind. A tall, lean, dusky figure; much seen to by neighbors, as +he stalks loftily through this puddle of a world, on terms of his own. +Concerning whom there circulates in military circles this Anecdote, +among many others;--which is set down as a fact; and may be, whether +quite believable or not, a symbol of all the rest, and of a man not +unimportant in these Wars. "Two years ago, on King Friedrich's birthday, +24th January, 1759, the Count had a select dinner-party in his tent in +Ferdinand's Camp, in honor of the occasion. Dinner was well over, and +wine handsomely flowing, when somebody at last thought of asking, 'What +is it, then, Herr Graf, that whistling kind of noise we hear every now +and then overhead?' 'That is nothing,' said the Graf, in his calm, dusky +way: 'that is only my Artillery-people practising; I have bidden +them hit the pole of our tent if they can: unhappily there is not +the slightest danger. Push the bottles on.'" [Archenholtz, ii. +356; Zimmermann, _Einsamkeit,_ iii. 461; &c.] Lippe-Buckeburg was +Siege-Captain at Cassel; Commandant besieged was Comte de Broglio, the +Marshal's younger Brother, formerly in the Diplomatic line;--whom we saw +once, five years ago, at the Pirna Barrier, fly into fine frenzy, and +kick vainly against the pricks. Friedrich says once, to D'Argens or +somebody: "I hope we shall soon have Cassel, and M. le Comte de Broglio +prisoner" (deserves it for his fine frenzies, at Pirna and since);--but +that comfort was denied us. + +Some careless Books say, Friedrich had at first good hopes of this +Enterprise; and "had himself lent 7,000 men to it:" which is the fact, +but not the whole fact. Friedrich had approved, and even advised this +plan of Ferdinand's, and had agreed to send 7,000 men to co-operate at +Langensalza,--which, so far out in Thuringen, and pointing as if to +the Reichsfolk, is itself an eye-sorrow to Friedrich. The issue we +have seen. His 7,000 went accordingly, under a General Syburg; met the +Ferdinand people (General Sporken head of these, and Walpole's "Conway" +one of them); found the Unstrut in flood, but crossed nevertheless; +dashed in upon the French and Saxons there, and made a brilliant thing +of it at Langensalza. [_Bericht von der bey Langensalza am 15 Februar +1761 vorgefallenen Action_ in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii. 75; Tempelhof, +v. 22-27.] Which done, Syburg instantly withdrew, leaving Sporken and +his Conways to complete the Adventure; and, for his part, set himself +with his whole might "to raising contributions, recruits, horses, +proviants, over Thuringen;" "which," says Tempelhof, "had been his grand +errand there, and in which he succeeded wonderfully." + +Towards the end of Ferdinand's Affair, Cassel Siege now evidently like +to fail, Friedrich organized a small Expedition for his own behoof: +expedition into Voigtland, or Frankenland, against the intrusive +Reichs-people, who have not now a Broglio or Langensalza to look across +to, but are mischievous upon our outposts on the edge of the Voigtland +yonder. The expedition lasted only ten days (APRIL 1st it left quarters; +APRIL 11th was home again); a sharp, swift and very pretty expedition; +[Tempelhof, v. 48-57.] of which we can here say only that it was +beautifully impressive on the Reichs gentlemen, and sent their +Croateries and them home again, to Bamberg, to Eger, quite over the +horizon, in a considerably flurried state. After which there was no +Small-War farther, and everybody rested in cantonment, making ready till +the Great should come. + +The Prussian wounded are all in Leipzig this Winter; a crowded stirring +Town; young Archenholtz, among many others, going about in convalescent +state,--not attending Gellert's course, that I hear of,--but noticing +vividly to right and left. Much difficulty about the contributions, +Archenholtz observes;--of course an ever-increasing difficulty, here as +everywhere, in regard to finance! From Archenholtz chiefly, I present +the following particulars; which, though in loose form, and without +date, except the general one of Winter 1760-1761, to any of them, are to +be held substantially correct. + +... "'It is impossible to pay that Contribution,' exclaim the +Leipzigers: 'you said, long since, it was to be 75,000 pounds on us +by the year; and this year you rise to 160,000 pounds; more than +double!'--'Perhaps that is because you favored the Reichsfolk while +here?' answer the Prussians, if they answer anything: 'It is the King's +order. Pay it you must.'--'Cannot; simply impossible.' 'Possible, we +tell you, and also certain; we will burn your Leipzig if you don't!' And +they actually, these Collector fellows, a stony-hearted set, who had a +percentage of their own on the sums levied, got soldiers drawn out +more than once pitch-link in hand, as if for immediate burning: hut the +Leipzigers thought to themselves, 'King Friedrich is not a Soltikof!' +and openly laughed at those pitch-links. Whereupon about a hundred +of their Chief Merchants were thrown into prison,--one hundred or so, +riddled down in a day or two to Seventeen; which latter Seventeen, as +they stood out, were detained a good many days, how many is not +said, but only that they were amazingly firm. Black-hole for lodging, +bread-and-water for diet, straw for bed: nothing would avail on the +Seventeen: 'Impossible,' they answered always; each unit of them, in +sight of the other sixteen, was upon his honor, and could not think of +flinching. 'You shall go for soldiers, then;--possibly you will prefer +that, you fine powdered velvet gentlemen? Up then, and march; here +are your firelocks, your seventeen knapsacks: to the road with us; +to Magdeburg, there to get on drill!' Upon which the Seventeen, +horror-struck at such quasi-ACTUAL possibility, gave in. + +"Magnanimous Gotzkowsky, who had come to Leipzig on business at the +time [which will give us a date for this by and by], and been solemnly +applied to by Deputation of the Rath, pleaded with his usual zealous +fidelity on their behalf; got various alleviations, abatements; gave +bills:--'Never was seen such magnanimity!' said the Leipzig Town-Council +solemnly, as that of Berlin, in October last, had done." [Archenholtz, +ii. 187-192.] + +Of course the difficulties, financial and other, are increasing every +Winter;--not on Friedrich's side only. Here, for instance, from the +Duchy of Gottingen, are some items in the French Account current, this +Winter, which are also furnished by Archenholtz:-- + +"For bed-ticking, 13,000 webs; of shirts ready-made, 18,000; shoes," I +forget in what quantity; but "from the poor little Town of Duderstadt +600 pairs,--liability to instant flogging if they are not honest shoes; +flogging, and the whole shoemaker guild summoned out to see it." Hardy +women the same Duderstadt has had to produce: 300 of them, "each with +basket on back, who are carrying cannon-balls from the foundry at +Lauterberg to Gottingen, the road being bad." [Archenholtz, ii. 237.] +"These French are in such necessity," continues Archenholtz, "they +spare neither friend nor foe. The Frankish Circle, for example, pleads +piteously in Reichs Diet that it has already smarted by this War to +the length of 2,230,000 pounds, and entreats the Kaiser to bid Most +Christian Majesty cease HIS exactions,--but without the least result." +Result! If Most Christian Majesty and his Pompadour will continue +this War, is it he, or is it you, that can furnish the Magazines? +"Magazine-furnishings, over all Hessen and this part of Hanover, are +enormous. Recruits too, native Hessian, native Hanoverian, you shall +furnish,--and 'We will hang them, and do, if caught deserting' [to their +own side]!" + +I add only one other item from Archenholtz: "Mice being busy in these +Hanover Magazines, it is decided to have cats, and a requisition goes +out accordingly [cipher not given]: cats do execution for a time, but +cannot stand the confinement," are averse to the solitary system, and +object (think with what vocality!): "upon which Hanover has to send +foxes and weasels." [Ib. ii. 240] These guardian animals, and the 300 +women laden with cannon-balls from the forge, are the most peculiar +items in the French Account current, and the last I will mention. + +Difficulty, quasi-impossibility, on the French side, there evidently +is, perhaps more than on any other. But Choiseul has many arts;--and +his Official existence, were there nothing more, demands that he do the +impossible now if ever. This Spring (26th March, 1761), to the surprise +and joy of mankind, there came formal Proposal, issuing from Choiseul, +to which Maria Theresa and the Czarina had to put their signatures; +regretting that the British-Prussian Proposal of last Year had, by ill +accident, fallen to the ground, and now repeating it themselves (real +"Congress at Augsburg," and all things fair and handsome) to Britannic +and Prussian Majesties. Who answered (April 3d) as before, "Nothing +with more willingness, we!" [The "Declaration" (of France &c.), with the +Answer or "Counter-Declaration," in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii. 12-16.] + +And there actually did ensue, at Paris, a vivid Negotiating all Summer; +which ended, not quite in nothing, but in less, if we might say so. +Considerably less, for some of us. We shall have to look what end +it had, and Mauduit will look!--Most people, Pitt probably among the +others, came to think that Choiseul, though his France is in beggary, +had no real view from the first, except to throw powder in the eyes of +France and mankind, to ascertain for himself on what terms those English +would make Peace, and to get Spain drawn into his quarrel. A Choiseul +with many arts. But we will leave him and his Peace-Proposals, and the +other rumors and futilities of this Year. They are part of the sound +and smoke which fill all Years; and which vanish into next to nothing, +oftenest into pure nothing, when the Years have waited a little. +Friedrich's finances, copper and other, were got completed; his Armies +too were once more put on a passable footing;--and this Year will have +its realities withal. + +Gotzkowsky, in regard to those Leipzig Finance difficulties, yields me a +date, which is supplementary to some of the Archenholtz details. I find +it was "January 20th, 1761,"--precisely while the Saldern Interview, and +subsequent wreck of Hubertsburg, went on,--that "Gotzkowsky arrived in +Leipzig," [Rodenbeck, ii. 77.] and got those unfortunate Seventeen out +of ward, and the contributions settled. + +And withal, at Paris, in the same hours, there went on a thing worth +noting. That January day, while Icilius was busy on the Schloss of +Hubertsburg, poor old Marechal de Belleisle,--mark him, reader!--"in the +Rue de Lille at Paris," lay sunk in putrid fever; and on the fourth day +after, "January 26th, 1761," the last of the grand old Frenchmen died. +"He had been reported dead three days before," says Barbier: "the +public wished it so; they laid the blame on him of this apparent" (let a +cautious man write it, "apparent) derangement in our affairs,"--instead +of thanking him for all he had done and suffered (loss of so much, +including reputation and an only Son) to repair and stay the same. "He +was in his 77th year. Many people say, 'We must wait three months, to +see if we shall not regret him,'"--even him! [Barbier, iv. 373; i. 154.] +So generous are Nations. + +Marechal Duc de Belleisle was very wealthy: in Vernon Country, Normandy, +he had estates and chateaux to the value of about 24,000 pounds +annually. All these, having first accurately settled for his own debts, +he, in his grand old way, childless, forlorn, but loftily polite to the +last, bequeathed to the King. His splendid Paris Mansion he expressly +left "to serve in perpetuity as a residence for the Secretary of State +in the Department of War:" a magnificent Town-House it is, "HOTEL +MAGNIFIQUE, at the end of the Pont-Royal,"--which, I notice farther, is +in our time called "Hotel de CHOISEUL-PRASLIN,"--a house latterly become +horrible in men's memory, if my guess is right. + +And thus vanishes, in sour dark clouds, the once great Belleisle. +Grandiose, something almost of great in him, of sublime,--alas, yes, of +too sublime; and of unfortunate beyond proportion, paying the debt of +many foregoers! He too is a notability gone out, the last of his kind. +Twenty years ago, he crossed the OEil-de-Boeuf with Papers, just setting +out to cut Teutschland in Four; and in the Rue de Lille, No. 54, with +that grandiose Enterprise drawing to its issue in universal defeat, +disgrace, discontent and preparation for the General Overturn (CULBUTE +GENERALE of 1789)) he closes his weary old eyes. Choiseul succeeds him +as War-Minister; War-Minister and Prime-Minister both in one;--and by +many arts of legerdemain, and another real spasm of effort upon Hanover +to do the impossible there, is leading France with winged steps the same +road. + +Since March 17th, Friedrich was no longer in Leipzig. He left at that +time, for Meissen Country, and the Hill Cantonments,--organized there +his little Expedition into Voigtland, for behoof of the Reichsfolk;--and +did not return. Continued, mostly in Meissen Country, as the fittest for +his many businesses, Army-regulatings and other. Till the Campaign come, +we will remember of him nothing, but this little Note, and pleasant +little Gift, to his CHERE MAMAN, the day after his arrival in those +parts:-- + + +TO MADAM CAMAS (at Magdeburg, with the Queen). + +"MEISSEN, 20th March, 1761. + +"I send you, my dear Mamma, a little Trifle, by way of keepsake and +memento [Snuffbox of Meissen Porcelain, with the figure of a Dog on the +lid]. You may use the Box for your rouge, for your patches, or you may +put snuff in it, or BONBONS or pills: but whatever use you turn it to, +think always, when you see this Dog, the Symbol of Fidelity, that he who +sends it outstrips, in respect of fidelity and attachment to MAMAN, all +the dogs in the world; and that his devotion to you has nothing whatever +in common with the fragility of the material which is manufactured +hereabouts. + +"I have ordered Porcelain here for all the world, for Schonhausen [for +your Mistress, my poor uncomplaining Wife], for my Sisters-in-law; in +fact, I am rich in this brittle material only. And I hope the receivers +will accept it as current money: for, the truth is, we are poor as can +be, good Mamma; I have nothing left but honor, my coat, my sword, and +porcelain. + +"Farewell, my beloved Mamma. If Heaven will, I shall one day see you +again face to face; and repeat to you, by word of mouth, what I have +already said and written; but, turn it and re-turn it as I may, I shall +never, except very incompletely, express what the feelings of my heart +to you are.--F." [Given in Rodenbeck, ii. 79; omitted, for I know not +what reason, in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xviii. 145: cited partly in +Preuss, ii. 282.] ------ + +It was during this Winter, if ever it was, that Friedrich received +the following Letter from an aspiring Young Lady, just coming out, age +seventeen,--in a remote sphere of things. In "Sleepy Hollow" namely, or +the Court of Mirow in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, where we once visited with +Friedrich almost thirty years ago. The poor collapsed Duke has ceased +making dressing-gowns there; and this is his Niece, Princess Charlotte, +Sister to the now reigning Duke. + +This Letter, in the translated form, and the glorious results it had +for some of us, are familiar to all English readers for the last hundred +years. Of Friedrich's Answer to it, if he sent one, we have no trace +whatever. Which is a pity, more or less;--though, in truth, the Answer +could only have been some polite formality; the Letter itself being +a mere breath of sentimental wind, absolutely without significance to +Friedrich or anybody else,--except always to the Young Lady herself, to +whom it brought a Royal Husband and Queenship of England, within a year. +Signature, presumably, this Letter once had; date of place, of day, +year, or even century (except by implication), there never was any: but +judicious persons, scanning on the spot, have found that the "Victory" +spoken of can only have meant Torgau; and that the aspiring Young Lady, +hitherto a School Girl, not so much as "confirmed" till a month or two +ago, age seventeen in May last, can only have I written it, at Mirow, +in the Winter subsequent. [Ludwig Giesebrecht,--DER FURSTENHOF IN MIROW +WUHREND DER JAHRE 1708-1761, in _Programm des vereinigten Koniglichen +und Stadt-Gymnasiums_ for 1863 (Stettin, 1863), pp. 26-29,--enters into +a minute criticism.] Certain it is, in September NEXT, September, 1761, +directly after George III.'s Wedding, there appeared in the English +Newspapers, what doubtless had been much handed about in society before, +the following "TRANSLATION OF A LETTER, SAID TO HAVE BEEN WRITTEN BY +PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF MECKLENBERG TO THE KING OF PRUSSIA, ON ONE OF HIS +VICTORIES,"--without farther commentary or remark of any kind; everybody +then understanding, as everybody still. So notable a Document ought to +be given in the Original as well (or in what passes for such), and with +some approach to the necessary preliminaries of time and place: [From +_Gentleman's Magazine_ (for October, 1761, xxxi. 447) we take, verbatim, +the TRANSLATION; from PREUSS (ii. 186) the "ORIGINAL," who does not say +where he got it,--whether from an old German Newspaper or not.]-- + + +[TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF PRUSSIA (in Leipzig, or Somewhere. or +Somewhere). + +MIROW IN MECHLENBURG-STRELITZ, Winter of 1760-1761.] + +"Sire!--Ich weiss nicht, ob ich uber Ewr. Majestat letzteren Sieg +frohlich odor traurig sein soll, weil eben der gluckliche Sieg, der neue +Lorbeern um Dero Scheitel geflochten hat, uber mein Vaterland Jammer +und Elend verbreitet. Ich weiss, Sire, in diesem unserm lasterhaft +verfeinerten Zeitalter werde ich verlacht werden, dass mein Herz uber +das Ungluck des Landes trauert, dass ich die Drangsale des Krieges +beweine, und von ganzer Seele die Ruckkehr des Friedens wunsche. Selbst +Sie, Sire, werden vielleicht denken, es schicke sich besser fur mich, +mich in der Kunst zu gefallen zu uben, oder mich nur um hausliche +Angelegenheiten zu bekummern. Allein dem seye wie ihm wolle, so fuhlt +mein Herz zu sehr fur diese Unglucklichen, um eine dringende Furbitte +fur dieselben zuruck zu halten. + +"Seit wenigen Jahren hatte dieses Land die angenehmste Gestalt gewonnen. +Man traf keine verodete Stellen an. Alles war angebaut. Das Landvolk sah +vergnugt aus, und in den Stadten herrschte Wohlstand und Freude. Aber +welch' eine Veranderung gegen eine so angenehme Scene! Ich bin in +partheischen Beschreibungen nicht erfahren, noch weniger kann ich die +Grauel der Verwilstung mit erdichteten Schilderungen schrecklicher +darstellen. Allein gewiss selbst Krieger, welche ein edles Herz und +Gefuhl besitzen, wurden durch den Anblick dieser Scenen zu Thranen +bewegt werden. Das ganze Land, mein werthes Vaterland, liegt da gleich +einer Wuste. Der Ackerbau und die Viehzucht haben aufgehort. Der Bauer +und der Hirt sind Soldaten worden, und in den Stadten sieht man nur +Greise, Weiber, und Kinder, vielleicht noch hie und da einen jungen +Mann, der aber durch empfangene Wunden ein Kruppel ist und den ihn +umgebenden kleinen Knaben die Geschichte einer jeden Wunde mit einem so +pathetischen Heldenton erzahlt, dassihr Herz schon der Trommel folgt, +ehe sie recht gehen konnen. Was aber das Elend auf den hochsten Gipfel +bringt, sind die immer abwechselnden Vorruckungen und Zuruckziehungen +beider Armeen, da selbst die, so sich unsre Freunde nennen, beim Abzuge +alles mitnehmen und verheeren, und wenn sie wieder kommen, gleich viel +wieder herbei geschafft haben wollen. Von Dero Gerechtigkeit, Sire, +hoffen wir Hulfe in dieser aussersten Noth. An Sie, Sire, mogen auch +Frauen, ja selbst Kinder ihre Klagen bringen. Sie, die sich auch zur +niedrigsten Klasse gutigst herablassen, und dadurch, wenn es moglich +ist, noch grosser werden, als selbst durch ihre Siege, werden die +meinigen nicht unerhort lassen und, zur Ehre Dero eigenen Ruhmes, +Bedruckungen und Drangsalen abhelfen, welche wider alle Menschenliebe +und wider alle gute Kriegszucht streiten. Ich bin &c." + + +"MAY IT PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY, "I am at a loss whether I shall +congratulate or condole with you on your late victory; since the same +success that has covered you with laurels has overspread the Couutry of +MecklenburgH with desolation. I know, Sire, that it seems unbecoming my +sex, in this age of vicious refinement, to feel for one's Country, to +lament the horrors of war, or wish for the return of peace. I know you +may think it more properly my province to study the art of pleasing, or +to turn my thoughts to subjects of a more domestic nature: but, however +unbecoming it may be in me, I can't resist the desire of interceding for +this unhappy people. + +"It was but a very few years ago that this territory wore the most +pleasing appearance. The Country was cultivated, the peasant looked +cheerful, and the towns abounded with riches and festivity. What an +alteration at present from such a charming scene! I am not expert at +description, nor can my fancy add any horrors to the picture; but sure +even conquerors themselves would weep at the hideous prospect now +before me. The whole Country, my dear Country, lies one frightful waste, +presenting only objects to excite terror, pity and despair. The +business of the husbandman and the shepherd are quite discontinued; the +husbandman and the shepherd are become soldiers themselves, and help to +ravage the soil they formerly occupied. The towns are inhabited only by +old men, women and children; perhaps here and there a warrior, by wounds +and loss of limbs rendered unfit for service, left at his door; his +little children hang round him, ask a history of every wound, and grow +themselves soldiers before they find strength for the field. But this +were nothing, did we not feel the alternate insolence of either army, +as it happens to advance or retreat. It is impossible to express the +confusion, even those who call themselves our friends create. Even those +from whom we might expect redress, oppress us with new calamities. From +your justice, therefore, it is that we hope relief; to you even children +and women may complain, whose humanity stoops to the meanest petition, +and whose power is capable of repressing the greatest injustice. + +"I am, Sire, &c." + + +It is remarked that this Young Lady, so amiably melodious in tone, +though she might address to King Friedrich, seems to be writing to +the wind; and that she gives nothing of fact or picture in regard to +Mecklenburg, especially to Mecklenburg-STRELITZ, but what is taken from +her own beautiful young brain. All operatic, vague, imaginary,--some of +it expressly untrue. [In Mecklenburg-SCHWERIN, which had always to smart +sore for its Duke and the line he took, the Swedes, this year, as usual +(but, TILL Torgau, with more hope than usual), had been trying for +winter-quarters: and had by the Prussians, as usual, been hunted +out,--Eugen of Wurtemberg speeding thither, directly after Torgau; +Rostock his winter-quarters;--who, doubtless with all rigor, is levying +contributions for Prussian behoof. But as to Mecklenburg-Strelitz,--see, +for example, in SCHONING, iii. 30 &c., an indirect but altogether +conclusive proof of the perfectly amicable footing now and always +subsisting there; Friedrich reluctant to intrude even with a small +request or solicitation, on Eugen's behalf, at this time.] So that +latterly there have been doubts as to its authenticity altogether. +["Boll, _Geschichte Mecklenburgs mit besonderer Berucksichtigung der +Culturgeschichte_ (Neubrandenburg, 1856), ii. 303-305;"--cited by +Giesebrecht, who himself takes the opposite view.] And in fact the +Piece has a good deal the air of some School-Exercise, Model of +Letter-writing, Patriotic Aspiration or the like;--thrown off, shall +we say, by the young Parson of Mirow (Charlotte's late Tutor), with +Charlotte there to SIGN; or by some Patriotic Schoolmaster elsewhere, +anywhere, in a moment of enthusiasm, and without any Charlotte but +a hypothetic one? Certainly it is difficult to fancy how a modest, +rational, practical young person like Charlotte can have thought of so +airy a feat of archery into the blue! Charlotte herself never disavowed +it, that I heard of; and to Colonel Grahame the Ex-Jacobite, hunting +about among potential Queens of England, for behoof of Bute and of a +certain Young King and King's Mother, the Letter did seem abundantly +unquestionable and adorable. Perhaps authentic, after all;--and +certainly small matter whether or not. + + + + +Chapter VII.--SIXTH CAMPAIGN OPENS: CAMP OF BUNZELWITZ. + +To the outward observer Friedrich stands well at present, and seems +again in formidable posture. After two such Victories, and such almost +miraculous recovery of himself, who shall say what resistance he will +not yet make? In comparison with 1759 and its failures and disasters, +what a Year has 1760 been! Liegnitz and Torgau, instead of Kunersdorf +and Maxen, here are unexpected phenomena; here is a King risen from the +deeps again,--more incalculable than ever to contemporary mankind. "How +these things will end?" Fancy of what a palpitating interest THEN, while +everybody watched the huge game as it went on; though it is so little +interesting now to anybody, looking at it all finished! Finished; no +mystery of chance, of world-hope or of world-terror now remaining in +it; all is fallen stagnant, dull, distant;--and it will behoove us to be +brief upon it. + +Contemporaries, and Posterity that will make study, must alike admit +that, among the sons of men, few in any Age have made a stiffer fight +than Friedrich has done and continues to do. But to Friedrich himself it +is dismally evident, that year by year his resources are melting away; +that a year must come when he will have no resource more. Ebbing very +fast, his resources;--fast too, no doubt, those of his Enemies, but not +SO fast. They are mighty Nations, he is one small Nation. His thoughts, +we perceive, have always, in the background of them, a hue of settled +black. Easy to say, "Resist till we die;" but to go about, year after +year, practically doing it, under cloudy omens, no end of it visible +ahead, is not easy. Many men, Kings and other, have had to take that +stern posture;--few on sterner terms than those of Friedrich at present; +and none that I know of with a more truly stoical and manful figure of +demeanor. He is long used to it! Wet to the bone, you do not regard new +showers; the one thing is, reach the bridge before IT be swum away. + +The usual hopes, about Turks, about Peace, and the like, have not been +wanting to Friedrich this Winter; mentionable as a trait of Friedrich's +character, not otherwise worth mention. Hope of aid from the Turks, it +is very strange to see how he nurses this fond shadow, which never came +to anything! Happily, it does not prevent, it rather encourages, the +utmost urgency of preparation: "The readier we are, the likelier are +Turks and everything!" Peace, at least, between France and England, +after such a Proposal on Choiseul's part, and such a pass as France has +really got to, was a reasonable probability. But indeed, from the first +year of this War, as we remarked, Peace has seemed possible to Friedrich +every year; especially from 1759 onward, there is always every winter +a lively hope of Peace:--"No slackening of preparation; the reverse, +rather; but surely the Campaign of next Summer will be cut short, and we +shall all get home only half expended!" [Schoning (IN LOCIS).] + +Practically, Friedrich has been raising new Free-Corps people, been +recruiting, refitting and equipping, with more diligence than ever; and, +in spite of the almost impossibilities, has two Armies on foot, some +96,000 men in all, for defence of Saxony and of Silesia,--Henri to +undertake Saxony, VERSUS Daun; Silesia, with Loudon and the Russians, to +be Friedrich's heavier share. The Campaign, of which, by the one party +and the other, very great things had been hoped and feared, seemed once +as if it would begin two months earlier than usual; but was staved off, +a long time, by Friedrich's dexterities, and otherwise; and in effect +did not begin, what we can call beginning, till two months later than +usual. Essentially it fell, almost all, to Friedrich's share; and turned +out as little decisive on him as any of its foregoers. The one memorable +part of it now is, Friedrich's Encampment at Bunzelwitz; which did not +occur till four months after Friedrich's appearance on the Field. And +from the end of April, when Loudon made his first attempt, till the end +of August, when Friedrich took that Camp, there was nothing but a series +of attempts, all ineffectual, of demonstrations, marchings, manoeuvrings +and small events; which, in the name of every reader, demand +condensation to the utmost. If readers will be diligent, here, so far as +needful, are the prefatory steps. + +Since Fouquet's disaster, Goltz generally has Silesia in charge; and +does it better than expected. He was never thought to have Fouquet's +talent in him; but he shows a rugged loyalty of mind, less egoistic than +the fiery Fouquet's; and honestly flings himself upon his task, in a way +pleasant to look at: pleasant to the King especially, who recognizes in +Goltz a useful, brave, frank soul;--and has given him, this Spring, the +ORDER OF MERIT, which was a high encouragement to Goltz. In Silesia, +after Kosel last Year, there had been truce between Goltz and Loudon; +which should have produced repose to both; but did not altogether, owing +to mistakes that rose. And at any rate, in the end of April, Loudon, +bursting suddenly into Silesia with great increase to the forces already +there, gave notice, as per bargain, That "in 96 hours" the Truce would +expire. And waiting punctiliously till the last of said hours was run +out, Loudon fell upon Goltz (APRIL 25th, in the Schweidnitz-Landshut +Country) with his usual vehemence;--meaning to get hold of the Silesian +Passes, and extinguish Goltz (only 10 or 12,000 against 30,000), as he +had done Fouquet last Year. + +But Goltz took his measures better; seized "the Gallows-Hill of +Hohenfriedberg," seized this and that; and stood in so forcible an +attitude, that Loudon, carefully considering, durst not risk an assault; +and the only result was: Friedrich hastened to relief of Goltz (rose +from Meissen Country MAY 3d), and appeared in Silesia six weeks earlier +than he had intended. But again took Cantonments there (Schweidnitz and +neighborhood);--Loudon retiring wholly, on first tidings of him, home to +Bohemia again. Home in Bohemia; at Braunau, on the western edge of the +Glatz Mountains,--there sits Loudon thenceforth, silent for a long time; +silently collecting an Army of 72,000, with strict orders from Vienna to +avoid fighting till the Russians come. Loudon has very high intentions +this Year. Intends to finish Silesia altogether;--cannot he, after such +a beginning upon Glatz last Year? That is the firm notion at Vienna +among men of understanding: ever-active Loudon the favorite there, +against a Cunctator who has been too cunctatory many times. Liegnitz +itself, was not that (as many opine) a disaster due to cunctation, not +of Loudon's? + +Loudon is to be joined by 60,000 Russians, under a Feldmarschall +Butturlin, not under sulky Soltikof, this Year; junction to be in Upper +Silesia, in Neisse neighborhood. We take that Fortress," say the Vienna +people; "it is next on the file after Glatz. Neisse taken; thence +northward, cleaning the Country as we go; Brieg, Schweidnitz, Glogau, +probably Breslau itself in some good interim: there are but Four +Fortresses to do; and the thing is finished. Let the King, one to three, +and Loudon in command against him, try if he can hinder it!" This is the +Program in Vienna and in Petersburg. And, accordingly, the Russians +have got on march about the end of May; plodding on ever since, due +hereabouts before June end: "junction to be as near Neisse as you can: +and no fighting of the King, on any terms, till the Russians come." +Never were the Vienna people so certain before. Daun is to do nothing +"rash" in Saxony (a Daun not given that way, they can calculate), but is +to guard Loudon's game; carefully to reinforce, comfort and protect the +brave Loudon and his Russians till they win;--after which Saxony as rash +as you like. This is the Program of the Season:--readers feel what an +immensity of preliminary higglings, hitchings and manoeuvrings will now +demand to be suppressed by us! Read these essential Fractions, chiefly +chronological;--and then, at once, To Bunzelwitz, and the time of close +grips in Silesia here. + +"Last Year," says a loose Note, which we may as well take with us, +"Tottleben did not go home with the rest, but kept hovering about, in +eastern Pommern, with a 10,000, all Winter; attempting several kinds of +mischief in those Countries, especially attempting to do something +on Colberg; which the Russians mean to besiege next Summer, with more +intensity than ever, for the Third, and, if possible, the last time. +'Storm their outposts there,' thinks Tottleben, 'especially Belgard, +the chief outpost; girdle tighter and tighter the obstinate little +crow's-nest of a Colberg, and have it ready for besieging in good time.' +Tottleben did try upon the outposts, especially Belgard the chief one +(January 18th, 1761), but without the least success at Belgard; with a +severe reproof instead, Werner's people being broad awake: [Account of +itt, _Helden-Geschichte,_ vi. 670.] upon which Tottleben and they made a +truce, 'Peaceable till May 12th;' till June 1st, it proved, about which +time [which time, or afterwards, as the Silesian crisis may admit!] we +will look in on them again." + +MAY 3d, as above intimated, Friedrich hastened off for Silesia, quitted +Meissen that day, with an Army of some 50,000; pressingly intent to +relieve Goltz from his dangerous predicament there. This is one of +Friedrich's famed marches, done in a minimum of time and with a maximum +of ingenuity; concerning which I will remember only that, one night, "he +lodged again at Rodewitz, near Hochklrch, in the same house as on +that Occasion [what a thirty months to look back upon, as you sink to +sleep!]--and that no accident anywhere befell the March, though Daun's +people, all through Saxony and the Lausitz, were hovering on the +flank,--apprehensive chiefly lest it might mean a plunge INTO BOHEMIA, +for relief of Goltz, instead of what it did." For six weeks after that +hard March, the King's people got Cantonments again, and rested. + +Prince Henri is left in Saxony, with Daun in huge force against him, +Daun and the Reich; between whom and Henri,--Seidlitz being in the field +again with Henri, Seidlitz and others of mark,--there fell out a great +deal of exquisite manoeuvring, rapid detaching and occasional sharp +cutting on the small scale; but nothing of moment to detain us here +or afterwards, We shall say only that Henri, to a wonderful extent, +maintained himself against the heavy overwhelming Daun and his Austrian +and Reichs masses; and that Napoleon, I know not after what degree of +study, pronounced this Campaign of 1761 to be the masterpiece of Henri, +and really a considerable thing, _"La campagne de 1761 est celle ou ce +Prince a vraiment montre des talents superieurs;_ the Battle of Freyberg +[wait till next Year] nothing in comparison." [Montholon, _Memoires de +Napoleon,_ vii. 324.] Which may well detain soldier-people upon it; but +must not us, in any measure. The result of Henri being what we said,--a +drawn game, or nearly so,--we will, without interference from him, +follow Friedrich and Goltz. + +Friedrich and Goltz,--or, alas, it is very soon Friedrich alone; the +valiant Goltz soon perishing from his hand! After brief junction in +Schweidnitz Country, Friedrich detached Goltz to his old fortified +Camp at Glogau, there to be on watch. Goltz watching there, lynx-eyed, +skilful, volunteered a Proposal (June 22d): "Reinforce me to 20,000, +your Majesty; I will attack so and so of those advancing Russians!" +Which his Majesty straightway approved of, and set going. [Goltz's +Letter to the King, "Glogau, 22d June, 1761," is in Tempelhof (v. +88-90), who thinks the plan good.] Goltz thereupon tasked all his +energies, perhaps overmuch; and it was thought might at last really have +done something for the King, in this matter of the Russians still in +separate Divisions,--a thing feasible if you have energy and velocity; +always unfeasible otherwise. But, alas, poor Goltz, just when ready +to march, was taken with sudden violent fever, the fruit probably of +overwork; and, in that sad flame, blazed away his valiant existence +in three or four days:-gone forever, June 30th, 1761; to the regret of +Friedrich and of many. + +Old Ziethen was at once pushed on, from Glogau over the frontier, to +replace Goltz; but, I doubt, had not now the requisite velocity: Ziethen +merely manoeuvred about, and came home "attending the Russians," as +Henri, Dohna and others had done. The Russians entered Silesia, from the +northeast or Polish side, without difficulty; and (July 15th-20th) +were within reach of Breslau and of an open road to southward, and to +junction with Loudon, who is astir for them there. About Breslau they +linger and higgle, at their leisure, for three weeks longer: and if +their junction with the Austrians "in Neisse neighborhood" is to be +prevented or impeded, it is Friedrich, not Ziethen, that will have to do +it. + +Junction in Neisse neighborhood (Oppeln, where it should have been, +which is some 35 miles from Neisse), Friedrich did, by velocity and +dexterity, contrive to prevent; but junction somewhere he probably +knows to be inevitable. These are among Friedrich's famed marches and +manoeuvrings, these against the swift Loudon and his slow Russians; but +we will not dwell on them. My readers know the King's manner in such +cases; have already been on two Marches with him, and even in these same +routes and countries. We will say only, that the Russians were and had +been very dilatory; Loudon much the reverse; and their and Loudon's +Adversary still more. That, for five days, the Russians, at length close +to Breslau (August 6th-11th), kept vaguely cannonading and belching +noise and apprehension upon the poor City, but without real damage to +it, and as if merely to pass the time; and had gradually pushed out +fore-posts, as far as Oppeln, towards Loudon, up their safe right bank +of Oder. That Loudon, on the first glimpse of these, had made his +best speed Neisse-ward; and did a march or two with good hope; but at +Munsterberg (July 22d), on the morning of the third or fourth day's +march, was astonished to see Friedrich ahead of him, nearer Neisse than +he; and that in Neisse Country there was nothing to be done, no Russian +junction possible there. + +"Try it in Schweidnitz Country, then!" said Loudon. The Russians leave +off cannonading Breslau; cross Oder, about Auras or Leubus +(August 11th-12th); and Loudon, after some finessing, marches back +Schweidnitz-way, cautiously, skilfully; followed by Friedrich, anxious +to prevent a junction here too or at lowest to do some stroke before it +occur. A great deal of cunning marching, shifting and manoeuvring there +is, for days round Schweidnitz on all sides; encampings by +Friedrich, now Liegnitz head-quarter, now Wahlstadt, now Schonbrunn, +Striegau;--without the least essential harm to Loudon or likelihood +increasing that the junction can be hindered. No offer of battle either; +Loudon is not so easy to beat as some. The Russians come on at a snail's +pace, so Loudon thinks it, who is extremely impatient; but makes no +mistakes in consequence, keeps himself safe (Kunzendorf, on the edge of +the Glatz Hills, his main post), and the roads open for his heavy-footed +friends. + +In Nicolstadt, a march from Wahlstadt, 16th August, there are 60,000 +Russians in front of Friedrich, 72,000 Austrians in rear: what can he, +with at the very utmost 57,000, do against them? Now was the time to +have fallen upon the King, and have consumed him between two fires, as +it is thought might have been possible, had they been simultaneous, and +both of them done it with a will. But simultaneity was difficult, and +the will itself was wanting, or existed only on Loudon's side. Nothing +of the kind was attempted on the confederate part, still less on +Friedrich's,--who stands on his guard, and, from the Heights about, has +at last, to witness what he cannot hinder. Sees both Armies on march; +Austrians from the southeast or Kunzendorf-Freyberg side, Russians from +the northeast or Kleinerwitz side, wending in many columns by the back +of Jauer and the back of Liegnitz respectively; till (August 18th) they +"join hands," as it is termed, or touch mutually by their light +troops; and on the 19th (Friedrich now off on another scheme, and not +witnessing), fall into one another's arms, ranked all in one line of +posts. [Tempelhof, v. 58-150.] "Can the Reichshofrath say our junction +is not complete?" And so ends what we call the Prefatory part; and the +time of Close Grips seems to be come!--Friedrich has now nothing for +it but to try if he cannot possibly get hold of Kunzendorf (readers may +look in their Map), and cut off Loudon's staff of bread; Loudon's, and +Butturlin's as well; for the whole 130,000 are now to be fed by Loudon, +and no slight task he will find it. By rushing direct on Kunzendorf with +such a velocity as Friedrich is capable of, it is thought he might have +managed Kunzendorf; but he had to mask his design, and march by the rear +or east side of Schweidnitz, not by the west side: "They will think I +am making off in despair, intending for the strong post of Pilzen there, +with Schweidnitz to shelter me in front!" hoped Friedrich (morning of +the 19th), as he marched off on that errand. But on approaching in that +manner, by the bow, he found that Loudon had been quite sceptical +of such despair, and at any rate had, by the string, made sure of +Kunzendorf and the food-sources. August 20th, at break of day, scouts +report the Kunzendorf ground thoroughly beset again, and Loudon in +his place there. No use marching thitherward farther:--whither now, +therefore? + +Friedrich knows Pilzen, what an admirable post it really is; except only +that Schweidnitz will be between the enemy and him, and liable to be +besieged by them; which will never do! Friedrich, on the moment of that +news from Kunzendorf, gets on march, not by the east side (as +intended till the scouts came in), but by the west or exposed side of +Schweidnitz:--he stood waiting, ready for either route, and lost not a +moment on his scouts coming in. All upon the road by 3 A.M. August 20th; +and encamps, still at an early hour, midway between Schweidnitz and +Striegau: right wing of him at Zedlitz (if the reader look on his +Map), left wing at Jauernik; headquarters, Bunzelwitz, a poor Village, +celebrated ever since in War-annals. And begins (that same evening, the +earlier or RESTED part of him begins) digging and trenching at a most +extraordinary rate, according to plan formed; no enemy taking heed of +him, or giving the least molestation. This is the world-famous Camp of +Bunzelwitz, upon which it is worth while to dwell for a little. + +To common eyes the ground hereabouts has no peculiar military strength: +a wavy champaign, with nothing of abrupt or high, much of it actual +plain, excellent for cavalry and their work;--this latter, too, is an +advantage, which Friedrich has well marked, and turns to use in his +scheme. The area he takes in is perhaps some seven or eight miles long, +by as many broad. On the west side runs the still-young Striegau Water, +defensive more or less; and on the farther bank of it green little +Hills, their steepest side stream-ward. Inexpugnable Schweidnitz, with +its stores of every kind, especially with its store of cannon and of +bread, is on the left or east part of the circuit; in the intervening +space are peaceable farm-villages, spots of bog; knolls, some of them +with wood. Not a village, bog, knoll, but Friedrich has caught up, and +is busy profiting by. "Swift, BURSCHE, dig ourselves in here, and be +ready for any quotity and quantity of them, if they dare attack!" + +And 25,000 spades and picks are at work, under such a Field-Engineer +as there is not in the world when he takes to that employment. At all +hours, night and day, 25,000 of them: half the Army asleep, other half +digging, wheeling, shovelling; plying their utmost, and constant as +Time himself: these, in three days, will do a great deal of spade-work. +Batteries, redoubts, big and little; spare not for digging. Here is +ground for Cavalry, too; post them here, there, to bivouac in readiness, +should our Batteries be unfortunate. Long Trenches there are, and also +short; Batteries commanding every ingate, and under them are Mines: "We +will blow you and our Batteries both into the air, in case of capture!" +think the Prussians, the common men at least, if Friedrich do not. +"Mines, and that of being blown into the air," says Tempelhof, "are +always very terrible to the common man." In places there are "Trenches +16 feet broad, by 16 deep," says an admiring Archenholtz, who was in +it: "and we have two of those FLATTERMINEN (scatter-mines," blowing-up +apparatuses) "to each battery." [Archenholtz, ii. 262 &c.] + +"Bunzelwitz, Jauernik, Tschechen and Peterwitz, all fortified," +continues Archenholtz; "Wurben, in the centre, is like a citadel, +looking down upon Striegau Water. Heavy cannon, plenty of them, we have +brought from Schweidnitz: we have 460 pieces of cannon in all and +182 mines. Wurben, our citadel and centre, is about five miles from +Schweidnitz. Our intrenchments"--You already heard what gulfs some of +them were!" Before the lines are palisades, storm-posts, the things we +call Spanish Horse (CHEVAUX-DE-FRISE);--woods we have in abundance in +our Circuit, and axes busy for carpentries of that kind. There are four +intrenched knolls; 24 big batteries, capable of playing beautifully, all +like pieces in a concert." Four knolls elaborately intrenched, clothed +with cannon; founded upon FLATTER-mines: try where you will to enter, +such torrents of death-shot will converge on you, and a concert of 24 +big batteries begin their music!-- + +On the third day, Loudon, looking into this thing, which he has not +minded hitherto, finds it such a thing as he never dreamt of before. +A thing strong as Gibraltar, in a manner;--which it will be terribly +difficult to attack with success! For eight days more Friedrich did not +rest from his spadework; made many changes and improvements, till he had +artificially made a very Stolpen of it, a Plauen, or more. Cogniazzo, +the AUSTRIAN VETERAN, says: "Plauen, and Daun's often ridiculed +precautions there, were nothing to it. Not as if Bunzelwitz had been so +inaccessible as our sheer rocks there; but because it is a masterpiece +of Art, in which the principles of tactics are combined with those of +field-fortification, as never before." Tielke grows quite eloquent on +it: "A masterpiece of judgment in ground," says he; "and the treatment +of it a model of sound, true and consummate field-engineering." +[Tielke, iii. BUNZELWITZ (which is praised as an attractive Piece); +OESTERREICHISCHER VETERAN, iv. 79: cited in PREUSS, ii. 285.] + +Ziethen, appointed to that function, watches on the Heights of Wurben, +the citadel of the place: keeps a sharp eye to the southwest. All round, +in huge half-moon on the edge of the Hills over there, six or more miles +from Ziethen, lie the angry Enemies; Austrians south and nearest, about +Kunzendorf and Freyberg. Russians are on the top of Striegau +Hills, which are well known to some of us; Russian head-quarter is +Hohenfriedberg,--who would have thought it, Herr General von Ziethen? +Sixteen years ago, we have seen these Heights in other tenancy: Austrian +field-music and displayed banners coming down; a thousand and a thousand +Austrian watch-fires blazing out yonder, in the silent June night, eve +of such a Day! Baireuth Dragoons and their No. 67;--you will find the +Baireuth Dragoons still here in a sense, but also in a sense not. Their +fencing Chasot is gone to Lubeck long since; will perhaps pay Friedrich +a visit by and by: their fiery Gessler is gone much farther, and will +never visit anybody more! Many were the reapers then, and they are +mostly gone to rest. Here is a new harvest; the old SICKLES are still +here; but the hands that wielded them--! "Steady!" answers the Herr +General; profoundly aware of all that, but averse to words upon it. + +Fancy Loudon's astonishment, on the third day: "While we have sat +consulting how to attack him, there is he,--unattackable, shall we say?" +Unattackable, Loudon will not consent to think him, though Butturlin has +quite consented. "Difficult, murderous," thinks Loudon; "but possible, +certain, could Butturlin but be persuaded!" And tries all his rhetoric +on Butturlin: "Shame on us!" urges the ardent Loudon: "Imperial and +Czarish Majesties; Kriegshofrath, Russian Senate; Vienna, Petersburg, +Versailles and all the world,--what are they expecting of us? To +ourselves it seemed certain, and here we sit helplessly gazing!" Loudon +is very diligent upon Butturlin: "Do but believe that it is possible. +A plan can be made; many plans: the problem is solved, if only your +Excellency will believe." Which Butturlin never quite will. + +Nobody knows better than Friedrich in what perilous crisis he now +stands: beaten here, what army or resource has he left? Silesia is gone +from him; by every likelihood, the game is gone. This of Bunzelwitz is +his last card; this is now his one stronghold in the world:--we need not +say if he is vigilant in regard to this. From about the fourth day, when +his engineering was only complete in outline, he particularly expects +to be attacked. On the fifth night he concludes it will be; knowing +Loudon's way. Towards sunset, that evening (August 25th), all the tents +are struck: tents, cookeries, every article of baggage, his own among +the rest, are sent to Wurben Heights (to Schweidnitz, Archenholtz says; +but has misremembered): the ground cleared for action. And horse and +foot, every man marches out, and stands ready under arms. + +Contrary to everybody's expectation, not a shot was heard, that night. +Nor the next night, nor the next: but the practice of vigilance was +continued. Punctual as mathematics: at a given hour of the afternoon, +tents are all struck; tents and furnitures, field swept clear; and the +50,000 in their places wait under arms. Next morning, nothing having +fallen out, the tents come back; the Army (half of it at once, or almost +the whole of it, according to aspects) rests, goes to sleep if it can. +By night there is vigilance, is work, and no sleep. It is felt to be a +hard life, but a necessary. + +Nor in these labors of detail is the King wanting; far from it; the King +is there, as ear and eye of the whole. For the King alone there is, +near the chief Battery, "on the Pfarrberg, namely, in the clump of trees +there," a small Tent, and a bundle of straw where he can lie down, if +satisfied to do so. If all is safe, he will do so; but perhaps even +still he soon awakens again; and strolls about among his guard-parties, +or warms himself by their fires. One evening, among the orders, is heard +this item: "And remember, a lock of straw, will you,--that I may not +have to sleep on the ground, as last night!" [Seyfarth, ii. 16 n.] Many +anecdotes are current to this day, about his pleasant homely ways and +affabilities with the sentry people, and the rugged hospitalities they +would show him at their watch-fires. "Good evening, children." "The +same to thee, Fritz." "What is that you are cooking?"--and would try a +spoonful of it, in such company; while the rough fellows would forbid +smoking, "Don't you know he dislikes it?" "No, smoke away!" the King +would insist. + +Mythical mainly, these stories; but the dialect of them true; and very +strange to us. Like that of an Arab Sheik among his tribesmen; like that +of a man whose authority needs no keeping up, but is a Law of Nature to +himself and everybody. He permits a little bantering even; a rough joke +against himself, if it spring sincerely from the complexion of the fact. +The poor men are terribly tired of this work: such bivouacking, packing, +unpacking; and continual waiting for the tug of battle, which never +comes. Biscuits, meal are abundant enough; but flesh-meat wearing low; +above all, no right sleep to be had. Friedrich's own table, I should +think, is very sparingly beset ("A cup of chocolate is my dinner +on marching-days," wrote he once, this Season); certainly his +Lodging,--damp ground, and the straw sometimes forgotten,--is none of +the best. And thus it has to last, night after night and day after day. +On September 8th, General Bulow went out for a little butcher's-meat; +did bring home "200 head of neat cattle [I fear, not very fat] and 300 +sheep." [Tempelhof, v. 172.] + +Loudon, all this while, is laboring, as man seldom did, to bring +Butturlin to the striking place; who continues flaccid, Loudon screwing +and rescrewing, altogether in vain. Loudon does not deny the difficulty; +but insists on the possibility, the necessity: Councils of War are +bid, remonstrances, encouragements. "We will lend you a Corps," answers +Butturlin; "but as to our Army cooperating,--except in that far-off way, +it is too dangerous!" Meanwhile provisions are running low; the time +presses. A formal Plan, presented by the ardent Loudon,--Loudon himself +to take the deadlier part,--"Mark it, noble Russian gentlemen; and you +to have the easier!"--surely that is loyal, and not in the old cat's-paw +way? But in that, too, there is an offence. Butturlin and the Russians +grumble to themselves: "And you to take all the credit, as you did +at Kunersdorf? A mere adjunct, or auxiliary, we: and we are a +Feldmarschall; and you, what is your rank and seniority?" In short, they +will not do it; and in the end coldly answer: "A Corps, if you like; but +the whole Army, positively no." Upon which Loudon goes home half mad; +and has a colic for eight-and-forty hours. This was September 2d; the +final sour refusal;--nearly heart-breaking to Loudon. Provisions are run +so low withal: the Campaign season all but done; result, nothing: not +even an attempt at a result. + +No Prussian, from Friedrich downwards, had doubted but the attack would +be: the grand upshot and fiery consummation of these dark continual +hardships and nocturnal watchings. Thrice over, on different nights, the +Prussians imagined Loudon to have drawn out, intending actual business; +and thrice over to have drawn in again,--instead of once only, as was +the fact, and then taken colic. [Tempelhof, v. 170.] Friedrich's own +notion, that "over dinner, glass in hand," the two Generals had, in the +enthusiasm of such a moment, agreed to do it, but on sober inspection +found it too dubious, [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 125.] appears to be +ungrounded. Whether they could in reality have stormed him, had they +all been willing, is still a question; and must continue one. Wednesday +evening, 9th September, there was much movement noticeable in the +Russian camp; also among the Austrian, there are regiments, foot +and horse, coming down hitherward. "Meaning to try it then?" thought +Friedrich, and got at once under arms. Suppositions were various; but +about 10 at night, the whole Russian Camp went up in flame; and, next +morning, the Russians were not there. + +Russian main Army clean gone; already got to Jauer, as we hear; and Beck +with a Division to see them safe across the Oder;--only Czernichef and +20,000 being left, as a Corps of Loudon's. Who, with all Austrians, are +quiet in their Heights of Kunzendorf again. And thus, on the twentieth +morning, September 10th, this strange Business terminated. Shot of those +batteries is drawn again; powder of those mines lifted out again: no +firing of your heavy Artillery at all, nor even of your light, after +such elaborate charging and shoving of it hither and thither for +the last three weeks. The Prussians cease their bivouacking, nightly +striking of tents; and encamp henceforth in a merely human manner; their +"Spanish Riders" (FRISIAN Horse, CHEVAUX-DE-FRISE, others of us call +them), their Storm-pales and elaborate wooden Engineerings, they +gradually burn as fuel in the cold nights; finding Loudon absolutely +quiescent, and that the thing is over, for the present. One huge peril +handsomely staved away, though so many others impend. + +By way of accelerating Butturlin, Friedrich, next day, September 11th, +despatched General Platen with some 8,000 (so I will guess them from +Tempelhof's enumeration by battalions), to get round the flank of +Butturlin, and burn his Magazines. Platen, a valiant skilful person, did +this business, as he was apt to do, in a shining style; shot dexterously +forward by the skirts of Butturlin; heard of a big WAGENBURG or +Travelling Magazine of his, at Gostyn over the Polish Frontier; in fact, +his travelling bread-basket, arranged as "Wagon-fortress" in and round +some Convent there, with trenches, brick walls, cannon and defence +considered strong enough for so important a necessary of the road. +September 15th, Platen, before cock-crow, burst out suddenly on this +Wagon-fortress, with its cannons, trenches, brick walls and defensive +Russians; stormed into it with extraordinary fury: "Fixed bayonets," +ordered he at the main point of their defence, "not a shot till they are +tumbled out!"--tumbled them out accordingly, into flight and ruin; took +of prisoners 1,845, seven cannon, and burnt the 5,000 provender wagons, +which was the soul of the adventure; and directly got upon the road +again. [Tempelhof, v. 281-293; _Helden-Geschichte,_ vi. 643-649.] +Detachments of him then fell on Posen, on Posen and other small Russian +repositories in those parts,--hay-magazines, biscuit-stores soldiers' +uniforms; distributed or burnt the same;--completely destroying the +travelling haversack or general road-bag of Butturlin; a Butturlin that +will have to hasten forward or starve. + +Which done, Platen (not waiting the King's new orders, but anticipating +them, to the King's great contentment) marched instantly, with his best +speed and skilfulest contrivance of routes and methods, not back to the +King, but onward towards Colberg,--(which he knows, as readers shall +anon, to be much in need of him at present);--and without injury, though +begirt all the way by a hurricane of Cossacks and light people doing +their utmost upon him, arrived there September 25th; victoriously +cutting in across the Besieging Party: and will again be visible enough +when we arrive there. Indignant Butturlin chased violently, eager to +punish Platen; but could get no hold: found Platen was clear off, to +Pommern,--on what errand Butturlin knew well, if not so well what to do +in consequence. "Reinforce our poor Besiegers there, and again reinforce +[to enormous amounts, 40,000 of them in the end];--get bread from +them withal:--and, before long, flow bodily thitherward, for bread +to ourselves and for their poor sake!" That, on the whole, was what +Butturlin did. + +Friedrich stayed at Bunzelwitz above a fortnight after Butturlin. +"Why did not Friedrich stay altogether, and wait here?" said some, +triumphantly soon after. That was not well possible. His Schweidnitz +Magazine is worn low; not above a month's provision now left for so +many of us. The rate of sickness, too, gets heavier and heavier in this +Bunzelwitz Circuit. In fine, it is greatly desirable that Loudon, who +has nothing but Bohemia for outlook, should be got to start thither +as soon as possible, and be quickened homeward. September 25th-26th, +Friedrich will be under way again. + +And, in the mean while, may not we employ this fortnight of quiescence +in noting certain other things of interest to him and us which have +occurred, or are occurring, in other parts of the Field of War? Of Henri +in Saxony we undertook to say nothing; and indeed hitherto,--big +Daun with his Lacys and Reichsfolk, lying so quiescent, tethered by +considerations (Daun continually detaching, watching, for support of his +Loudon and Russians and their thrice-important operation, which has +just had such a finish),--there could almost nothing be said. Nothing +hitherto, or even henceforth, as it proves, except mutual vigilances, +multifarious bickerings, manoeuvrings, affairs of posts: sharp bits of +cutting (Seidlitz, Green Kleist and other sharp people there); which +must not detain us in such speed. But there are two points, the +Britannic-French Campaign, and the Third Siege of Colberg; which in no +rate of speed could be quite omitted. + + + + +OF FERDINAND'S BATTLE OF VELLINGHAUSEN (15th-16th July); AND THE +CAMPAIGN 1761. + +Vellinghausen is a poor little moory Hamlet in Paderborn Country, +near the south or left bank of the Lippe River; lies to the north of +Soest,--some 15 miles to your left-hand there, as you go by rail from +Aachen to Paderborn;--but nobody now has ever heard of it at Soest or +elsewhere, famous as it once became a hundred years ago. Ferdinand had +taken a singular position there, in the early days of July, 1761. Here +is brief Notice of that Affair, and of some results, or adjuncts, still +more important, which it had:-- + +"This Year, Ferdinand's Campaign is more difficult than ever; Choiseul +having made a quite spasmodic effort towards Hanover, while negotiating +for Peace. Two Armies, counting together 160,000 men, in great +completeness of equipment, Choiseul has got on foot, against Ferdinand's +of 95,000. Had a fine dashing plan, too;--devised by himself (something +of a Soldier he too, and full of what the mess-rooms call 'dash');--not +so bad a Plan of the dashing kind, say judges. But it was marred sadly +in one point: That Broglio, on issuing from his Hessian Winter-quarters, +is not to be sole General; that Soubise, from the Lower-Rhine Country, +is to be Co-General;--such the inexorable will of Pompadour. This clause +of the business Ferdinand, at an early stage, appears to have guessed or +discerned might, for him, be the saving clause. + +"Now, as formerly, Ferdinand's first grand business is to guard +Lippstadt,--guard it now from these two Generals:--and, singular to see, +instead of opposing the junction of them, he has submitted cheerfully +to let them join. And in the course of a week or two after taking +the field, is found to be on the western or outmost flank of Soubise, +crushing him up towards Broglio, not otherwise! And has, partly by +accident, taken a position at Vellinghausen which infinitely puzzles +Broglio and Soubise, when they rush into junction at Soest (July 6th) +and study the thing, with their own eyes, for eight whole days, in +concert.' What continual reconnoitring, galloping about of high-plumed +gentlemen together or apart; what MEMOIR-ing, mutual consulting, beating +of brains, to little purpose, during those eight days!-- + +"Ferdinand stands in moory difficult ground, length of him about eight +miles, looking eastward; with his left at Vellinghausen and the Lippe; +centre of him is astride of the Ahse (centre partly, and right wing +wholly, are on the south side of Ahse), which is a branch of Lippe; and +in front, he has various little Hamlets, Kirch-Denkern [KIRCH-Denkern, +for there are three or four other Denkerns thereabouts], Scheidingen, +Wambeln and others; and his right wing is covered farther by a quaggy +brook, which runs into the above-said Ahse, and is a SUB-branch of +Lippe. At most of these Villages Ferdinand has thrown up something +of earthworks: there are bogs, rough places, woods; all are turned to +advantage. Ferdinand is in a strongish, but yet a dangerous position; +and will give difficulties, and does give endless dubieties, to these +high-plumed gentlemen galloping about with their spy-glasses for eight +days. One possibility they pretty soon discern in him: His left flank +rests on Lippe, yes; but his right flank is in the air, has nothing to +rest on;--here surely is some possibility for us? A strong Position, +that of his; but if driven out of it by any method, he has no retreat; +is tumbled back into the ANGLE where Ahse and Lippe meet, and into the +little Town of Hamm there, where his Magazine is. What a fate for him, +if we succeed!-- + +"Ferdinand, by the incessant reconnoitring and other symptoms, judges +what is coming; concludes he will be attacked in this posture of his; +and on the whole, what critics now reckon very wise and very courageous +of him, determines to stand his chance in it. The consultations of +Broglio and Soubise are a thing unique to look upon; spread over volumes +of Official Record, and about a volume and a half even of BOURCET, where +it is still almost amusing to read; [_Memoires Historiques_ (that is to +say, for most part, Selection of Official Papers) _sur la Guerre que les +Francais ont soutenue en Allemagne depuis 1757 jusqu'au 1762_: par +M. de Bourcet, Lieutenant-General des Armees du Roi (3 tomes, Paris, +1792);--worthily done; but occupied, two-thirds of it, with this +Vellinghausen and the paltry "Campaign of 1761"!] and ending in helpless +downbreak on both parts. Of strategic faculty nobody supposes they +had much, and nearly all of it is in Broglio; Soubise being strong in +Court-favor only. Exquisitely polite they both strive to be; and +under the exquisite politeness, what infirmities of temper, splenetic +suspicions, and in fact mutual hatred lay hidden, could never be +accurately known. 'Attack him, Sunday next; on the 13th!' so, at the +long last, both of them had said. And then, on more reflection, Broglio +afterwards: 'Or not till the 15th, M. le Prince; till I reconnoitre ye + and drive in his outposts?' 'M. le Marechal's will is always mine: +Tuesday, 15th, reconnoitre him, drive him in; be it so, then!' answers +Soubise, with extreme politeness,--but thinking in his own mind (or +thought to be thinking), 'Wants to do it himself, or to get the credit +of doing it, as in former cases; and bring me into disgrace!' Not quite +an insane notion either, on Soubise's part, say some who have looked +into the Broglio-Soubise Controversy;--which far be it from any of us, +at this or at any time, to do. Here are the facts that ensued. + +"TUESDAY, JULY 15th, 1761, Broglio reconnoitred with intensity all day, +drove in all Ferdinand's outposts; and about six in the evening, +seeing hope of surprise, or spurred by some notion of doing the feat +by himself, suddenly burst into onslaught on Ferdinand's Position: +'Vellinghausen yonder, and the woody strengths about,--could not we get +hold of that; it would be so convenient to-morrow morning!' Granby and +the English are in camp about Vellinghausen; and are taken quite on the +sudden: but they drew out rapidly, in a state of bottled indignation, +and fought, all of them,--Pembroke's Brigade of Horse, Cavendish's +of Foot, BERG-SCHOTTEN, Maxwell's Brigade and the others, in a highly +satisfactory way,--'MIT UNBESCHREIBLICHER TAPFERKEIT,' says Mauvillon +on this occasion again. Broglio truly has burst out into enormous +cannonade, musketade and cavalry-work, in this part; and struggles at +it, almost four hours,--a furious, and especially a very noisy business, +charging, recharging through the woods there;--but, met in this manner, +finds he can make nothing of it; and about 10 at night, leaves off till +a new morning. + +"Next morning, about 4, Broglio, having diligently warned Soubise +overnight, recommenced; again very fiercely, and with loud cannonading; +but with result worse than before. Ferdinand overnight, while Broglio +was warning Soubise, had considerably strengthened his left wing +here,--by detachments from the right or Anti-Soubise wing; judging, +with good foresight, how Soubise would act. And accordingly, while poor +Broglio kept storming forward with his best ability, and got always +hurled back again, Soubise took matters easy; 'had understood the hour +of attack to be' so-and-so, 'had understood' this and that; and on the +whole, except summoning or threatening, in the most languid way, one +outlying redoubt ('redoubt of Scheidingen') on Ferdinand's right wing, +did nothing, or next to nothing, for behoof of his Broglio. Who, hour +after hour, finds himself ever worse bested;--those Granby people +proving 'indescribable' once more [their Wutgenau also with his +Hanoverians NOT being absent, as they rather were last night];--and +about 10 in the morning gives up the bad job; and sets about retiring. +If retiring be now permissible; which it is not altogether. Ferdinand, +watching intently through his glass the now silent Broglio, discerns +'Some confusion in the Marechal yonder!'--and orders a general charge +of the left wing upon Broglio; which considerably quickened his retreat; +and broke it into flight, and distressful wreck and capture, in some +parts,--Regiment ROUGE, for one item, falling wholly, men, cannon, flags +and furniture, to that Maxwell and his Brigade. + +"Ferdinand lost, by the indistinct accounts, 'from 1,500 to 2,000:' +Broglio's loss was 'above 5,000; 2,000 of them prisoners.' Soubise, for +his share, 'had of killed 24,'--O you laggard of a Soubise! [Mauvillon, +ii. 171-189; Tempelhof, v. 207-221; Bourcet, ii. 75 et seq. In +_Helden-Geschichte_ (vi. 770-782-792) the French Account, and the +English (or Allied), with LISTS, and the like. Slight LETTER from +Sir Robert Murray Keith to his Excellency Papa, now at Petersburg, +"Excellency first," as we used to define him, stands in the miserably +edited _Memoirs and Correspondence_ (London, 1849), i. 104-105; and may +tempt you to a reading; but alters nothing, adds little or nothing. +Sir R. fights here as a Colonel of Highlanders, but afterwards became +"Excellency second" of his name.] And it is a Battle lost to Choiseul's +grand Pair of Armies; a Campaign checked in mid volley; and nothing +but recriminations, courts-martial, shrieky jargonings,--and plain +incompatibility between the two Marechaux de France; so that they had to +part company, and go each his own road henceforth. Choiseul remonstrates +with them, urges, encourages; writes the 'admirablest Despatches;' to +no purpose. 'How ridiculous and humiliating would it be for us, if, +with Two Armies of such strength, we accomplished nothing, and the whole +Campaign were lost!' writes he once to them. + +"Which was in fact the result arrived at; the two Generals parting +company for this Campaign (and indeed for all others); and each, in his +own way, proving futile. Soubise, with some 30,000, went gasconading +about, in the Westphalian, or extreme western parts; taking Embden (from +two Companies of Chelsea Pensioners; to whom he broke his word, poor old +souls;--to whom, and much more to the Populations there [LETTER FROM +A FRENCH PROTESTANT GENTLEMAN AT GRONINGEN; followed by confirmatory +LETTER FROM &c. &c. (copied into _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1761), give +special details of the altogether ULTRA-Soltikof atrocities perpetrated +by Soubise's people (doubtless against his will) on the recalcitrant +or disaffected Peasants, on the &c. &c.]),--taking Embden, not taking +Bremen; and in fact doing nothing, except keep the Gazetteers in vain +noise: a Soubise not in force, by himself, to shake Ferdinand; and +who, it is remarked, now and formerly, always prefers to be at a +good distance from that Gentleman. Broglio, on the other hand, keeps +violently pulsing out, round Ferdinand's flanks; taking Wolfenbuttel +(Broglio's for two days), besieging Brunswick (for one day);-and, +in short, leaving, he too, the matter as he had found it. A man of +difficult, litigious temper, I should judge; but clearly has something +of generalship: 'does understand tactic, if strategy NOT,' said +everybody; 'while Soubise, in both capacities, is plain zero!' +[Excellency Stanley (see INFRA) to Pitt, "Paris, 30th July, 1761:" in +THACKERAY, ii. 561-562.] The end, however, was: next Winter, Broglio +got dismissed, in favor of Soubise;--rest from shrieky jargon having its +value to some of us; and 'hold of Hanover' being now plainly a matter +hopeless to France and us." + +In this Battle a fine young Prince of Brunswick got killed; Erbprinz's +second Brother;--leading on a Regiment of BERG-SCHOTTEN, say the +accounts. [_"The Life of Prince Albert Henry_ [had lived only 19 years, +poor youth, not much of a "Life"!--but the account of his Education is +worth reading, from a respectable Eye-witness] _of Brunswick-Luneburg, +Brother to the Hereditary Prince; who so eminently &c. at Fellinghausen_ +&c. &c. (London, Printed for &c. 1763). _Written originally in German +by the Rev. Mr. Hierusalem"_ (Father of the "Young Jerusalem" who +killed himself afterwards, and became, in a sense, Goethe's WERTHER +and SORROWS). Price, probably, Twopence).] Berg-Schotten, and English +generally, Pembroke's Horse, Cavendish's Brigade,--we have mentioned +their behavior; and how Maxwell's Brigade took one whole regiment +prisoners, in that final charge on Broglio. "What a glorious set of +fellows!" said the English people over their beer at home. Beer let us +fancy it; at the sign of THE MARQUIS OF GRANBY, which is now everywhere +prevalent and splendent;--the beer, we will hope, good. And as this is +a thing still said, both over beer and higher liquors, and perhaps +is liable to be too much insisted on, I will give, from a caudid +By-stander, who knows the matter well, what probably is a more solid +and circumstantially correct opinion. Speaking of Ferdinand's skill +of management, and of how very composite a kind his Army was, Major +Mauvillon has these words:-- + +"The first in rank," of Ferdinand's Force, "were the English; about +a fourth part of the whole Army. Braver troops, when on the field of +battle and under arms against the enemy, you will nowhere find in the +world: that is a truth;--and with that the sum of their military merits +ends. In the first place, their Infantry consists of such an unselected +hand-over-head miscellany of people, that it is highly difficult to +preserve among them even a shadow of good discipline,"--of MANNSZUCHT, +in regard to plunder, drinking and the like; does not mean KRIEGSZUCHT, +or drill. "Their Cavalry indeed is not so constituted; but a foolish +love for their horses makes them astonishingly plunderous of forage; +and thus they exhaust a district far faster in that respect than do the +Germans. + +"Officers' Commissions among them are all had by purchase: from which +it follows that their Officers do not trouble their heads about the +service; and understand of it, very VERY few excepted, absolutely +nothing whatever [what a charming set of "Officers"!]--and this goes +from the Ensign up to the General. Their home-customs incline them to +the indulgences of life; and, nearly without exception, they all expect +to have ample and comfortable means of sleep. [Hear, hear!] This leads +them often into military negligences, which would sound incredible, +were they narrated to a soldier. To all this is added a quiet natural +arrogance (UEBERMUTH),"--very quiet, mostly unconscious, and as if +inborn and coming by discernment of mere facts,--"which tempts them to +despise the enemy as well as the danger; and as they very seldom think +of making any surprisal themselves, they generally take it for granted +that the enemy will as little. + +"This arrogance, however, had furthermore a very bad consequence for +their relation to the rest of the Army. It is well known how much these +people despise all Foreigners. This of itself renders their co-operating +with Troops of other Nations very difficult. But in this case there +was the circumstance that, as the Army was in English pay, they felt a +strong tendency to regard their fellow-soldiers and copartners as a +sort of subordinate war-valets, who must be ready to put up with +anything:--which was far indeed from being the opinion of the others +concerned! The others had not the smallest notion of consenting to any +kind of inferior treatment or consideration in respect of them. To the +Hanoverians especially, from known political feelings, they were at +heart, for most part, specially indisposed; and this mode of thinking +was capable of leading to very dangerous outbreaks. The Hanoverians, a +dull steady people, brave as need be, but too slow for anything but foot +service, considered silently this War to be their War, and that all +the rest, English as well, were here on their [and Britannic Majesty's] +account. + +"Think what difficulties Ferdinand's were, and what his merit in quietly +subduing them; while to the cursory observer they were invisible, and +nobody noticed them but himself!" [Mauvillon, ii. 270-272.] + +Yes, doubtless. He needed to know his kinds of men; to regard +intensely the chemic affinities and natural properties, to keep his +phosphorescents his nitres and charcoals well apart; to get out of +these English what they were capable of giving him, namely, heavy +strokes,--and never ask them for what they had not: them or the others; +but treat each according to his kind. Just, candid, consummately +polite: an excellent manager of men, as well as of war-movements, though +Voltaire found him shockingly defective in ESPRIT. The English, I think, +he generally quartered by themselves; employed them oftenest under the +Hereditary Prince,--a man of swift execution and prone to strokes like +themselves. "Oftenest under the Erbprinz," says Mauvillon: "till, after +the Fight of Kloster Kampen, it began to be noticed that there was a +change in that respect; and the mess-rooms whispered, 'By accident or +not?'"--which shall remain mysterious to me. In Battle after Battle he +got the most unexceptionable sabring and charging from Lord Granby and +the difficult English element; and never was the least discord heard +in his Camp;--nor could even Sackville at Minden tempt him into a loud +word. + +But enough of English soldiering, and battling with the French. For +about two months prior to this of Vellinghausen, and for more than two +months after, there is going on, by special Envoys between Pitt and +Choiseul, a lively Peace-Negotiation, which is of more concernment to +us than any Battle. "Congress at Augsburg" split upon formalities, +preliminaries, and never even tried to meet: but France and England are +actually busy. Each Country has sent its Envoy: the Sieur de Bussy, a +tricky gentleman, known here of old, is Choiseul's, whom Pitt is on his +guard against; "Mr. Hans Stanley," a lively, clear-sighted person, of +whom I could never hear elsewhere, is Pitt's at Paris: and it is in +that City between Choiseul and Stanley, with Pitt warily and loftily +presiding in the distance, that the main stress of the Negotiation lies. +Pitt is lofty, haughty, but very fine and noble; no King or Kaiser +could be more. Sincere, severe, though most soft-shining; high, earnest, +steady, like the stars. Artful Choiseul, again, flashes out in a +cheerily exuberant way; and Stanley's Despatches about Choiseul ("CE FOU +PLEIN D'ESPRIT," as Friedrich once christens him), about Choiseul and +the France then round him, and the effects of Vellinghausen in society +and the like,--are the liveliest reading one almost anywhere meets with +in that kind. [In THACKERAY, i. 505-579, and especially ii. 520-626, is +the Stanley-and-Pitt Correspondence: Stanley went "23d May;" returned +(got his passports for returning) "September 20th."] Choiseul frankly +admits that he has come to the worst: ready for concessions, but the +question is, What? Canada is gone, for instance; of Canada you +will allow us nothing: but our poor Fisher-people, toiling in the +Newfoundland waters, cannot they have a rock to dry their fish on; "Isle +of Miquelon, or the like?" "Not the breadth of a blanket,"--that is +Pitt's private expression, I believe; and for certain, that, in polite +official language, is his inexorable determination. "You shall go home +out of those Countries, Messieurs; America is to be English or YANkee, +not FRANGcee: that has turned out to be the Decree of Heaven; and we +will stand by that." + +So that Choiseul soon satisfies himself it will be a hard bargain, this +with Pitt; and turns the more assiduously to the Majesty of Spain (Baby +Carlos, our old friend, who has sore grudges of his own against the +English, standing grievance of Campeachy Logwood, of bitter Naples +reminiscences, and enough else), turns to Baby Carlos, time after +time, with his pathetic "See, your Most Catholic Majesty!" And by rapid +degrees induces Most Catholic Majesty to go wholly into the adventure +with Most Christian Ditto;--and to say, at length, or to let Choiseul +say for him, by way of cautious first-step (15th July, a date worth +remembering, if the reader please): "Might not Most Catholic Majesty be +allowed perhaps to mediate a little in this Business?" "Most Catholic +Majesty!" answers Pitt, with a flash as if from the empyrean: "Who +sent for Most Catholic Majesty?"--and the matter catches fire, totally +explodes, and Spain too declares War; in what way is generally known. + +Details are not permitted us. The Catastrophe we shall give afterwards, +and can here say only: FIRST, That old Earl Marischal, Friedrich's +Spanish Envoy, is a good deal in England, coming and going, at this +time,--on that interesting business of the Kintore Inheritance, +doubtless,--and has been beautifully treated. Been pardoned, +disattainted, permitted to inherit,--by the King on the instant, by the +Parliament so soon as possible; [King's Patent is of "30th April, 1760 +[DATED 29th May, 1759], Act of Parliament to follow shortly;" "August +16th, 1760, Act having passed, is Marischal's public Presentation to +his Majesty (late Majesty);" Old GAZETTES in _Gentleman's Magazine_ (for +1760), xxx. 201, 392.]--and is of a naturally grateful turn. SECONDLY, +That in the profoundest secrecy, penetrable only to eyes near at hand +and that see in the dark, a celebrated Bourbon Family Compact was signed +(August 15th, 1761, ten days before the digging at Bunzelwitz began), of +which the first news to the Olympian man (conveyed by Marischal, as is +thought) was like--like news of dead Pythons pretending to revive upon +him. And THIRDLY, That, postponing the Catastrophe, and recommending +the above two dates, 15th JULY, 15th AUGUST, to careful readers, we must +hasten to Colberg for the present. + + + + +THIRD SIEGE OF COLBERG. + +Readers had, some while ago, a flying Note, which we promised to take +up again; about Tottleben's procedures, and a Third Siege of Colberg +coming. Siege, we have chanced to see, there accordingly is, and +a Platen gone to help against it. Siege, after infinite delays and +haggles, has at length come,--uncommonly vivid during the final days +of Bunzelwitz;--and is, and has been, and continues to be, much in the +King's thoughts. Probably a matter of more concernment to him, before, +during and after Bunzelwitz (though the Pitt Catastrophe, going on +simultaneously, is still more important, if he knew it), than +anything else befalling in the distance. Let us now give a few farther +indications on that matter. + +Truce between Werner and Tottleben expired May 12th; but for five +weeks more nothing practical followed; except diligent reinforcing, +revictualling and extraordinary fortifying of Colberg and its environs, +on the Prussian part,--Eugen of Wurtemberg, direct from Restock and his +Anti-Swede business, Eugen 12,000 strong, with a Werner and other such +among them, taking head charge outside the walls; old Heyde again as +Commandant within: while on the Russian part, under General Romanzow, +there is a most tortoise-like advance,--except that the tortoise carries +all his resources with him, and Romanzow's, multifarious and enormous, +are scattered over seas and lands, and need endless waiting for, in the +intervals of crawling. + +This is the Romanzow who failed at Colherg once already (on the heel +of Zorndorf in 1758, if readers recollect); and is the more bound to be +successful now. From sea and from land, for five weeks, there is rumor +of a Romanzow in overwhelming force, and with intentions very furious +upon Colberg,--upon the outposts, under Werner, as first point. Five +weeks went, before anything of Romanzow was visible even to Werner (22d +June, at Coslin, forty miles to eastward); after which his advance (such +waiting for the ships, for the artilleries, the this and the that) +was slower than ever; and for about eight weeks more, he haggles along +through Coslin, through Corlin, Belgard again, flowing slowly forward +upon Werner's outposts, like a summer glacier with its rubbishes; or +like a slow lava-tide,--a great deal of smoke on each side of him (owing +to the Cossacks), as usual. Romanzow's progress is of the slowest; +and it is not till August 19th that he practically gets possession of +Corlin, Belgard and those outposts on the Persante River, and comes +within sight of Colberg and his problem. By which time, he finds Eugen +of Wurtemberg encamped and intrenched still ahead of him, still nearer +Colberg, and likely to give him what they call "DE LA TABLATURE," or +extremely difficult music to play. + +"It was on AUGUST 19th [very eve of Friedrich's going into Bunzelwitz] +that Romanzow,--Werner, for the sake of those poor Towns he holds, +generally retiring without bombardment or utter conflagration,--had got +hold of Corlin and of the River Persante [with "Quetzin and Degow," if +anybody knew them, as his main posts there]: and was actually now within +sight of Colberg,--only 7 or 8 miles west of him, and a river more or +less in his way:--when, singular to see, Eugen of Wurtemberg has rooted +himself into the ground farther inward, environing Colberg with a +fortified Camp as with a second wall; and it will be a difficult problem +indeed! + +"But Sea Armaments, Swedish-Russian, with endless siege-material and +red-hot balls, are finally at hand; and this pitiful Colberg must be +done, were it only by falling flat, on it, and smothering it by weight +of numbers and of red-hot iron. The day before yesterday, August 17th, +after such rumoring and such manoeuvring as there has been, six Russian +ships-of-war showed themselves in Colberg Roads, and three of them tried +some shooting on Heyde's workpeople, busy at a redoubt on the beach; but +hit nothing, and went away till Romanzow himself should come. Romanzow +come, there is utmost despatch; and within the eight days following, +the Russian ships, and then the Swedish as well, have all got to their +moorings,--12 sail of the line, with 42 more of the frigate and gunboat +kind, 54 ships in all;--and from August 24th, especially from August +28th, bombardment to the very uttermost is going on. [Tempelhof, v. +311.] Bombardment by every method, from sea and from land, continues +diligent for the next fortnight,--with little or no result; so diligent +are Eugen and veteran Heyde. + +"SEPTEMBER 4th. The Swedish-Russian gunboats have been much shot down +by Heyde's batteries on the beach; no success had, owing to Heyde and +Eugen: paltry little Colberg as impossible as Bunzelwitz, it seems? +'Double our diligence, therefore!' That is Romanzow's and everybody's +sentiment here. Romanzow comes closer in, September 4th; besieges in +form, since not Colberg, Eugen's CAMP, or brazen wall of Colberg; and +there rises in and round this poor little Colberg (a 2,000 balls daily, +red-hot and other) such a volcano as attracts the eyes of all the world +thither. + +"SEPTEMBER 12th. News yesterday of reinforcement, men and provender, +coming from Stettin; is to be at Treptow on the 13th. Werner, night of +the 11th, stealthily sets out to meet it, IT in the first place; then, +joined with it, to take by rearward a certain inconvenient battery, +which Romanzow is building to westward of us, out that way; to demolish +said battery, and be generally distressful to the rear of Romanzow. At +Treptow, after his difficult night's march, Werner is resting, secure +now of the adventure;--too contemptuous of his slow Russians, as +appeared! Who, for once, surprise HIM; and, at and round Treptow, next +morning, Werner finds himself suddenly in a most awkward predicament. +Werner, one of the rapidest and stormiest of skilful men, plunged +valiantly into the affair; would still have managed it, they say, had +not, in some sudden swoop,--charge, or something of critical or vital +nature,--rapid Werner's horse got shot, and fallen with him; whereby not +only the charge failed, but Werner himself was taken prisoner. A loss of +very great importance, and grievous to everybody: though, I believe, +the reinforcement and supply, for this time, got mostly through, and +the dangerous battery was got demolished by other means. [Seyfarth, +_Beylagen,_ iii. 238; Tempelhof, v. 314.] This is Romanzow's first item +of success, this of getting such a Werner snatched out of the game [and +sent to Petersburg instead as we shall hear]; and other items fell to +Romanzow thenceforth by the aid of time and hunger. + +"In the way of storming, battering or otherwise capturing Eugen's Camp, +not to speak of Heyde's town, Romanzow finds, on trial after trial, that +he can do as good as nothing; and his unwieldy sea-comrades (equinoctial +gales coming on them, too) are equally worthless. September 19th [a week +after this of Werner, tenth day after Bunzelwitz had ended], Romanzow +made his fiercest attempt that way; fiercest and last: furious +extremely, from 2 in the morning onwards; had for some time hold of the +important 'Green Redoubt;' but was still more furiously battered and +bayoneted out again, with the loss of above 3,000 men; and tried that +no farther. Impossible by that method. But he can stand between the +Eugen-Heyde people and supplies; and by obstinacy hunger them out: this, +added to the fruitless bombardment, is now his more or less fruitful +industry. + +"In the end of September, the effects of Bunzelwitz are felt: Platen, +after burning the Butturlin Magazine at Gostyn, has hastened hither; in +what style we know. Blaten arrives 25th September; cuts his way through +Romanzow into Eugen's Camp, raises Eugen to about 15,000; [Tempelhof, v. +350.] renders Eugen, not to speak of Heyde, more impossible than ever. +Butturlin did truly send reinforcements, a 10,000, a 12,000, 'As many as +you like, my Romanzow!' And, in the beginning of October, came rolling +thitherward bodily; hoping, they say, to make a Maxen of it upon those +Eugens and Platens: but after a fortnight's survey of them, found there +was not the least feasibility;--and that he himself must go home, on the +score of hunger. Which he did, November 2d; leaving Romanzow reinforced +at discretion [40,000, but with him too provisions are fallen low], +and the advice, 'Cut off their supplies: time and famine are our sole +chances here!' Butturlin's new Russians, endless thousands of them, +under Fermor and others, infesting the roads from Stettin, are a great +comfort to Romanzow. Nor could any Eugen--with his Platens, Thaddens, +and utmost expenditure of skill and of valor and endurance, which are +still memorable in soldier-annals, [_Tagebuch der Unternehmungen +des Platenschen Corps vom September bis November 1761_ (Seyfarth, +_Beylagen,_ iii. 32-76). _Bericht von der Unternehmungen des +Thaddenschen Corps vom Jenner bis zum December 1761_ (ibid. +77-147).]--suffice to convey provisions through that disastrous +Wilderness of distances and difficulties. + +"From Stettin, which lies southwest, through Treptow Gollnow and other +wild little Prussian Towns is about 100 miles; from Landsberg south, +150: Friedrich himself is well-nigh 300 miles away; in Stettin alone is +succor, could we hold the intervening Country. But it is overrun with +Russians, more and ever more. A Country of swamps and moors, winter +darkness stealing over it,--illuminated by such a volcano as we see: a +very gloomy waste scene; and traits of stubborn human valor and military +virtue plentiful in it with utter hardship as a constant quantity; +details not permissible here only the main features and epochs, if they +could be indicated. + +"The King is greatly interested for Colberg; sends orders to collect +from every quarter supplies at Stettin, and strain every nerve for the +relief of that important little Haven. Which is done by the diligent +Bevern, the collecting part; could only the conveying be accomplished. +But endless Russians are afield, Fermor with a 15,000 of them waylaying; +the conveyance is the difficulty." [_Bericht von den Unternehmungen +der Wurtembergischen Corps in Pommern, vom May 1761 bis December +1761_ (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii. 147-258). Tempelhof, v. 313-326. +_Helden-Geschichte,_ vi. 669-708.] + +But now we must return to Bunzelwitz, and September 25th, in +Head-quarters there. + + + + +Chapter VIII.--LOUDON POUNCES UPON SCHWEIDNITZ ONE NIGHT (LAST OF +SEPTEMBER, 1761). + +It was September 25th, more properly 26th, [Tempelhof, v. 327.] when +Friedrich quitted Bunzelwitz; we heard on what errand. Early that +morning he marches with all his goods, first to Pilzen (that +fine post on the east side of Schweidnitz); and from that, +straightway,--southwestward, two marches farther,--to Neisse +neighborhood (Gross-Nossen the name of the place); Loudon making little +dispute or none. In Neisse are abundant Magazines: living upon these, +Friedrich intends to alarm Loudon's rearward country, and draw +him towards Bohemia. As must have gradually followed; and would at +once,--had Loudon been given to alarms, which he was not. Loudon, very +privately, has quite different game afield. Loudon merely detaches this +and the other small Corps to look after Friedrich's operations, which +probably he believes to be only a feint:--and, before a week passes, +Friedrich will have news he little expects! + +Friedrich, pausing at Gross-Nossen, and perhaps a little surprised to +find no Loudon meddling with him, pushes out, first one party and then +another,--Dalwig, Bulow, towards Landshut Hill-Country, to threaten +Loudon's Bohemian roads;--who, singular to say, do not hear the least +word of Loudon thereabouts. A Loudon strangely indifferent to this new +Enterprise of ours. On the third day of Gross-Nossen (Friday, October +2d), Friedrich detaches General Lentulus to rearward, or the way we +came, for news of Loudon. Rearward too, Lentulus sees nothing whatever +of Loudon: but, from the rumor of the country, and from two Prussian +garrison-soldiers, whom he found wandering about,--he hears, with horror +and amazement, That Loudon, by a sudden panther-spring, the night before +last, has got hold of Schweidnitz: now his wholly, since 5 A.M. of +yesterday; and a strong Austrian garrison in it by this time! That was +the news Lentulus brought home to his King; the sorest Job's-post of all +this War. + +Truly, a surprising enterprise this of Loudon's; and is allowed by +everybody to have been admirably managed. Loudon has had it in his head +for some time;--ever since that colic of forty-eight hours, I should +guess; upon the wrecks of which it might well rise as a new daystar. +He kept it strictly in his own head; nobody but Daun and the Kaiser had +hint of it, both of whom assented, and agreed to keep silence. + +"On Friedrich's removal towards Neisse and threatening of Bohemia," +says my Note on this subject, "Loudon's time had come. Friedrich +had disappeared to southwestward, Saturday, September 26th: 'Gone to +Pilzen,' reported Loudon's scouts; 'rests there over Sunday. Gone +to Sigeroth, 28th; gone to Gross-Nossen, Tuesday, September 29th.' +[Tempelhof, v. 330.] That will do, thinks Loudon; who has sat immovable +at Kunzendorf all this while;--and, WEDNESDAY, 30th, instantly proceeds +to business. + +"Draws out, about 10 A.M. of Wednesday, all round Schweidnitz at some +miles distance, a ring, or complete girdle, of Croat-Cossack people; +blocking up every path and road: 'Nobody to pass, this day, towards +Schweidnitz, much less into it, on any pretext.' That is the duty of +the Croat people. To another active Officer he intrusts the task of +collecting from the neighboring Villages (outside the Croat girdle) as +many ladders, planks and the like, as will be requisite; which also is +punctually done. For the Attack itself, which is to be Fourfold, our +picked Officers are chosen, with the 20 best Battalions in the Army: +Czernichef is apprised; who warmly assents, and offers every help:--'800 +of your Grenadiers,' answers Loudon; 'no more needed.' Loudon's +arrangements for management of the ladders, for punctuality about the +routes, the times, the simultaneity, are those of a perfect artist; no +Friedrich could have done better. + +"About 4 in the afternoon, all the Captains and Battalions, with their +ladders and furnitures, everybody with Instruction very pointed and +complete, are assembled at Kunzendorf: Loudon addresses the Troops in +a few fiery words; assures himself of victory by them; promises them +10,060 pounds in lieu of plunder, which he strictly prohibits. Officers +had better make themselves acquainted with the Four Routes they are +to take in the dark: proper also to set all your watches by the chief +General's, that there be no mistake as to time. [In TEMPELHOF (v. +332-349) and ARCHENHOLTZ (ii. 272-280) all these details.] At 9, all +being now dark, and the Croat girdle having gathered itself closer round +the place since nightfall, the Four Divisions march to their respective +starting-places; will wait there, silent; and about 2 in the morning, +each at its appointed minute, step forward on their business. With fixed +bayonets all of them; no musketry permitted till the works are +won. Loudon will wait at the Village of Schonbrunn [not WARKOTSCH'S +Schonbrunn, of which by and by, and which also is not far [See +ARCHENHOLTZ, ii. 287; and correct his mistake of the two places.]]--at +Schonbrunn, within short distance; give Loudon notice when you are +within 600 yards;--there shall, if desirable, be reinforcements, farther +orders. Loudon knows Schweidnitz like his own bedroom. He was personally +there, in Leuthen time, improving the Works. By nocturnal Croat parties, +in the latter part of Bunzelwitz time; and since then, by deserters and +otherwise,--he knows the condition of the Garrison, of the Commandant, +and of every essential point. Has calculated that the Garrison is hardly +third part of what it ought to be,--3,800 in whole, and many of them +loose deserter fellows; special artillery-men, instead of about 400, +only 191;--most important of all, that Commandant Zastrow is no wizard +in his trade; and, on the whole, that the Enterprise is likely to +succeed. + +"Zastrow has been getting married lately; and has many things to +think of, besides Schweidnitz. Some accounts say this was his +wedding-night,--which is not true, but only that he had meant to give a +Ball this last night of September; and perhaps did give it, dancing +over BEFORE 2, let us hope! Something of a jolter-head seemingly, though +solid and honest. I observe he is a kind of butt, or laughing-stock, of +Friedrich's, and has yielded some gleams of momentary fun, he and this +marriage of his, between Prince Henri and the King, in the tragic gloom +all round. [Schoning, ii. SOEPIUS.] Nothing so surprises me in Friedrich +as his habitual inattention to the state of his Garrisons. He has the +best of Commandants and also the worst: Tauentzien in Breslau, Heyde in +Colberg, unsurpassable in the world; in Glatz a D'O, in Schweidnitz a +Zastrow, both of whom cost him dear. Opposition sneers secretly, 'It is +as they happen to have come to hand.' Which has not much truth, though +some. Tauentzien he chose; D'O was Fouquet's choice, not his; Zastrow he +did choose; Heyde he had by accident; of Heyde he had never heard till +the defence of Colberg began to be a world's wonder. And in regard +to his Garrisons, it is indisputable they were often left palpably +defective in quantity and quality; and, more than once, fatally gave way +at the wrong moment. We can only say that Friedrich was bitterly in want +of men for the field; that 'a Garrison-Regiment' was always reckoned an +inferior article; and that Friedrich, in the press of his straits, had +often had to say: 'Well, these [plainly Helots, not Spartans], +these will have to do!' For which he severely suffered: and perhaps +repented,--who knows? + +"Zastrow, in spite of Loudon's precautionary Girdle of Croats, and the +cares of a coming Ball, had got sufficient inkling of something being +in the wind. And was much on the Walls all day, he and his Officers; +scanning with their glasses and their guesses the surrounding phenomena, +to little purpose. At night he sent out patrols; kept sputtering with +musketry and an occasional cannon into the vacant darkness ('We are +alert, you see, Herr Loudon!'). In a word, took what measures he could, +poor man;--very stupid measures, thinks Tempelhof, and almost worse than +none, especially this of sputtering with musketry;--and hoped always +there would be no Attack, or none to speak of. Till, in fine, between 2 +and 3 in the morning, his patrols gallop in, 'Austrians on march!' +and Zastrow, throwing out a rocket or two, descries in momentary +illumination that the Fact is verily here. + +"His defence (four of the Five several Forts attacked at once) was of a +confused character; but better than could have been expected. Loudon's +Columns came on with extraordinary vigor and condensed impetuosity; +stormed the Outworks everywhere, and almost at once got into the shelter +of the Covered-way: but on the Main Wall, or in the scaling part of +their business, were repulsed, in some places twice or thrice; and had +a murderous struggle, of very chaotic nature, in the dark element. No +picture of it in the least possible or needful here. In one place, a +Powder-Magazine blew up with about 400 of them,--blown (said rumor, with +no certainty) by an indignant Prussian artillery-man to whom they had +refused quarter: in another place, the 800 Russian Grenadiers came +unexpectedly upon a chasm or bridgeless interstice between two ramparts; +and had to halt suddenly,--till (says rumor again, with still less +certainty) their Officers insisting with the rearward part, 'Forward, +forward!' enough of front men were tumbled in to make a roadway! This +was the story current; [Archenholtz, ii. 275.] greatly exaggerated, +I have no doubt. What we know is, That these Russians did scramble +through, punctually perform their part of the work;--and furthermore, +that, having got upon the Town-Wall, which was finis to everything, they +punctually sat down there; and, reflectively leaning on their muskets, +witnessed with the gravity and dignity of antique sages, superior to +money or money's worth, the general plunder which went on in spite of +Loudon's orders. + +"For, in fine, between 5 and 6, that is in about three hours and a half, +Loudon was everywhere victorious; Zastrow, Schweidnitz Fortress, and all +that it held, were Loudon's at discretion; Loudon's one care now was +to stop the pillage of the poor Townsfolk, as the most pressing thing. +Which was not done without difficulty, nor completely till after +hours of exertion by cavalry regiments sent in. The captors had fought +valiantly; but it was whispered there had been a preliminary of brandy +in them; certainly, except those poor Russians, nobody's behavior was +unexceptionable." + +The capture of Schweidnitz cost Loudon about 1,400 men; he found in +Schweidnitz, besides the Garrison all prisoners or killed, some 240 +pieces of artillery,--"211 heavy guns, 135 hand-mortars," say the +Austrian Accounts, "with stores and munitions" in such quantities; +"89,760 musket-cartridges, 1,300,000 flints," [In _Helden-Geschichte,_ +(vi. 651-665) the Austrian Account, with LISTS &c.] for two items:--and +all this was a trifle compared to the shock it has brought on +Friedrich's Silesian affairs. For, in present circumstances, it amounts +to the actual conquest of a large portion of Silesia; and, for the first +time, to a real prospect of finishing the remainder next Year. It is +judged to have been the hardest stroke Friedrich had in the course of +this War. "Our strenuous Campaign on a sudden rendered wind, and of +no worth! The Enemy to winter in Silesia, after all; Silesia to go +inevitably,--and life along with it!" What Friedrich's black meditations +were, "In the following weeks [not close following, but poor Kuster does +not date], the King fell ill of gout, saw almost nobody, never came out; +and, it was whispered, the inflexible heart of him was at last breaking; +that is to say, the very axis of this Prussian world giving way. And for +certain, there never was in his camp and over his dominions such a gloom +as in this October, 1761; till at length he appeared on horseback again, +with a cheerful face; and everybody thought to himself, 'Ha, the world +will still roll, then!'" [Kuster, _Lebens-Rettungen Friedrichs des +Zweyten_ (Berlin, 1797), p. 59 &c. It is the same innocent reliable +Kuster whom we cited, in SALDERN'S case, already.] + +This is what Loudon had done, without any Russians, except Russians to +give him eight-and-forty hours colic, and put him on his own shifts. +And the way in which the Kriegshofrath, and her Imperial Majesty the +Kaiserinn, received it, is perhaps still worth a word. The Kaiser, +who had alone known of Loudon's scheme, and for good reason (absolute +secrecy being the very soul of it) had whispered nothing of it farther +to any mortal, was naturally overjoyed. But the Olympian brow of Maria +Theresa, when the Kaiser went radiant to her with this news, did +not radiate in response; but gloomed indignantly: "No order +from Kriegshofrath, or me!" Indignant Kriegshofrath called it a +CROATEN-STREICH (Croat's-trick); and Loudon, like Prince Eugen long +since, was with difficulty excused this act of disobedience. Great is +Authority;--and ought to be divinely rigorous, if (as by no means always +happens) it is otherwise of divine quality! + +Friedrich's treatment of Zastrow was in strong contrast of style. Here +is his Letter to that unlucky Gentleman, who is himself clear that he +deserves no blame: "My dear Major-General von Zastrow,--The misfortune +that has befallen me is very grievous; but what consoles me in it is, to +see by your Letter that you have behaved like a brave Officer, and +that neither you nor the Garrison have brought disgrace or reproach +on yourselves. I am your well-affectioned King,--FRIEDRICH." And in +Autograph this Postscript: "You may, in this occurrence, say what +Francis I., after the Battle of Pavia, wrote to his Mother: 'All is +lost except honor.' As I do not yet completely understand the affair, +I forbear to judge of it; for it is altogether extraordinary.--F." [_ +Militair-Lexikon,_ iv. 305, 306 (Letter undated there; date probably, +"Gross-Nossen, October 3d").] + +And never meddled farther with Zastrow; only left him well alone for the +future. "Grant me a Court-Martial, then!" said Zastrow, finding himself +fallen so neglected, after the Peace. "No use," answered Friedrich: "I +impute nothing of crime to you; but after such a mishap, it would be +dangerous to trust you with any post or command;"--and in 1766, granted +him, on demand, his demission instead. The poor man then retired to +Cassel, where he lived twenty years longer, and was no more heard of. He +was half-brother of the General Zastrow who got killed by a Pandour +of long range (bullet through both temples, from brushwood, across the +Elbe), in the first year of this War. + + + +Chapter IX.--TRAITOR WARKOTSCH. + +Friedrich's Army was to have cantoned itself round Neisse, October 3d: +but on the instant of this fatal Schweidnitz news proceeded (3d-6th +October) towards Strehlen instead,--Friedrich personally on the +5th;--and took quarters there and in the villages round. General +cantonment at Strehlen, in guard of Breslau and of Neisse both; Loudon, +still immovable at Kunzendorf, attempting nothing on either of those +places, and carefully declining the risk of a Battle, which would +have been Friedrich's game: all this continued till the beginning of +December, when both parties took Winter-quarters; [Tempelhof, v. 349.] +cantoned themselves in the neighboring localities,--Czernichef, with his +Russians, in Glatz Country; Friedrich in Breslau as headquarter;--and +the Campaign had ended. Ended in this part, without farther event of the +least notability;--except the following only, which a poor man of the +name of Kappel has recorded for us. Of which, and the astounding Sequel +to which, we must now say something. + +Kappel is a Gentleman's Groom of those Strehlen parts; and shall, in his +own words, bring us face to face with Friedrich in that neighborhood, +directly after Schweidnitz was lost. It is October 5th, day, or rather +night of the day, of Friedrich's arrival thereabouts; most of his +Army ahead of him, and the remainder all under way. Friedrich and the +rearward part of his Army are filing about, in that new Strehlen-ward +movement of theirs, under cloud of night, in the intricate Hill-and-Dale +Country; to post themselves to the best advantage for their double +object, of covering Breslau and Neisse both; Kappel LOQUITUR; abridged +by Kuster, whom we abridge:-- + +"MONDAY NIGHT, OCTOBER 5th, 1761, The King, with two or three +attendants, still ahead of his Army, appeared at Schonbrunn, a Schloss +and Village, five or six miles south from Strehlen; [THIS is the +Warkotsch Schonbrunn; not the other near Schweidnitz, as Archenholtz +believes: see ARCHENHOLTZ, ii. 287, and the bit of myth he has gone into +in consequence.] and did the owner, Baron von Warkotsch, an acquaintance +of his, the honor of lodging there. Before bedtime,--if indeed the King +intended bed at all, meaning to be off in four hours hence,--Friedrich +inquired of Warkotsch for 'a trusty man, well acquainted with the roads +in this Country.' Warkotsch mentioned Kappel, his own Groom; one who +undoubtedly knew every road of the Country; and who had always behaved +as a trusty fellow in the seven years he had been with him. 'Let me +see him,' said the King. Kappel was sent up, about midnight, King still +dressed; sitting on a sofa, by the fire; Kappel's look was satisfactory; +Kappel knows several roads to Strehlen, in the darkest night. 'It is +the footpath which goes so-and-so that I want' (for Friedrich knows this +Country intimately: readers remember his world-famous Camp of Strehlen, +with all the diplomacies of Europe gathered there, through summer, in +the train of Mollwitz). 'JA, IHRO MAJESTAT, I know it!' 'Be ready, then, +at 4.' + +"Before the stroke of 4, Kappel was at the door, on Master's best horse; +the King's Groom too, and led horse, a nimble little gray, were waiting. +As 4 struck, Friedrich came down, Warkotsch with him. 'Unspeakable the +honor you have done my poor house!' Besides the King's Groom, there were +a Chamberlain, an Adjutant and two mounted Chasers (REITENDE JAGER), +which latter had each a lighted lantern: in all seven persons, including +Kappel and the King. 'Go before us on foot with your lanterns,' said the +King. Very dark it was. And overnight the Army had arrived all about; +some of them just coming in, on different roads and paths. The King +walked above two miles, and looked how the Regiments were, without +speaking a word. At last, as the cannons came up, and were still in +full motion, the King said: 'Sharp, sharp, BURSCHE; it will be MARCH +directly.' 'March? The Devil it will: we are just coming into Camp!' +said a cannonier, not knowing it was the King. + +"The King said nothing. Walked on still a little while; then ordered, +'Blow out the lanterns; to horseback now!' and mounted, as we all did. +Me he bade keep five steps ahead, five and not more, that he might see +me; for it was very dark. Not far from the Lordship Casserey, where +there is a Water-mill, the King asked me, 'Have n't you missed the +Bridge here?' (a King that does not forget roads and topographies which +may come to concern him!)--and bade us ride with the utmost silence, and +make no jingle. As day broke, we were in sight of Strehlen, near by the +Farm of Treppendorf. 'And do you know where the Kallenberg lies?' said +the King: 'It must be to left of the Town, near the Hills; bring us +thither!' + +"When we got on the Kallenberg, it was not quite day; and we had to halt +for more light. After some time the King said to his Groom, 'Give me my +perspective!' looked slowly all round for a good while, and then said, +'I see no Austrians!'--(ground all at our choice, then; we know where +to choose!) The King then asked me if I knew the road to"--in fact, +to several places, which, in a Parish History of those parts, would be +abundantly interesting; but must be entirely omitted here.... "The +King called his Chamberlain; gave some sign, which meant 'Beer-money to +Kappel!'--and I got four eight-groschen pieces [three shillings odd; a +rich reward in those days]; and was bid tell my Master, 'That the King +thanked him for the good quarters, and assured him of his favor.' + +"Riding back across country, Kappel, some four or five miles homeward, +came upon the 'whole Prussian Army,' struggling forward in their various +Columns. Two Generals,--one of them Krusemark, King's Adjutant [Colonel +Krusemark, not General, as Kappel thinks, who came to know him some +weeks after],--had him brought up: to whom he gave account of himself, +how he had been escorting the King, and where he had left his Majesty. +'Behind Strehlen, say you? Breslau road? Devil knows whither we shall +all have to go yet!' observed Krusemark, and left Kappel free." [Kuster, +_ Lebens-Rettungen,_ pp. 66-76.] + +In those weeks, Colberg Siege, Pitt's Catastrophe and high things are +impending, or completed, elsewhere: but this is the one thing noticeable +hereabouts. In regard to Strehlen, and Friedrich's history there, what +we have to say turns all upon this Kappel and Warkotsch: and,--after +mentioning only that Friedrich's lodging is not in Strehlen proper, +but in Woiselwitz, a village or suburb almost half a mile off, and very +negligently guarded,--we have to record an Adventure which then made a +great deal of noise in the world. + +Warkotsch is a rich lord; Schonbrunn only one of five or six different +Estates which he has in those parts; though, not many years ago, being +younger brother, he was a Captain in the Austrian service (Regiment +BOTTA, if you are particular); and lay in Olmutz,--with very dull +oulooks; not improved, I should judge, by the fact that Silesia and the +Warkotsch connections were become Prussian since this junior entered +the Austrian Army. The junior had sown his wild oats, and was already +getting gray in the beard, in that dull manner, when, about seven years +ago, his Elder Brother, to whom Friedrich had always been kind, fell +unwell; and, in the end of 1755, died: whereupon the junior saw himself +Heir; and entered on a new phase of things. Quitted his Captaincy, +quitted his allegiance; and was settled here peaceably under his +new King in 1756, a little while before this War broke out. And, at +Schonbrunn, October 5th, 1761, has had his Majesty himself for guest. + +Warkotsch was not long in riding over to Strehlen to pay his court, +as in duty bound, for the honor of such a Visit; and from that time, +Kappel, every day or two, had to attend him thither. The King had always +had a favor for Warkotsch's late Brother, as an excellent Silesian +Landlord and Manager, whose fine Domains were in an exemplary condition; +as, under the new Warkotsch too, they have continued to be. Always +a gracious Majesty to this Warkotsch as well; who is an old soldier +withal, and man of sense and ingenuity; acceptable to Friedrich, and +growing more and more familiar among Friedrich's circle of Officers now +at Strehlen. + +To Strehlen is Warkotsch's favorite ride; in the solitary country, quite +a charming adjunct to your usual dull errand out for air and exercise. +Kappel, too, remarks about this time that he (Kappel) gets once and +again, and ever more frequently, a Letter to carry over to Siebenhuben, +a Village three or four miles off; the Letter always to one Schmidt, +who is Catholic Curate there; Letter under envelope, well sealed,--and +consisting of two pieces, if you finger it judiciously. And, what +is curious, the Letter never has any address; Master merely orders, +"Punctual; for Curatus Schmidt, you know!" What can this be? thinks +Kappel. Some secret, doubtless; perhaps some intrigue, which Madam must +not know of,--"ACH, HERR BARON; and at your age,--fifty, I am sure!" +Kappel, a solid fellow, concerned for groom-business alone, punctually +carries his Letters; takes charge of the Responses too, which never have +any Address; and does not too much trouble himself with curiosities of +an impertinent nature. + +To these external phenomena I will at present only add this internal +one: That an old Brother Officer of Warkotsch's, a Colonel Wallis, with +Hussars, is now lying at Heinrichau,--say, 10 miles from Strehlen, and +about 10 from Schonbrunn too, or a mile more if you take the Siebenhuben +way; and that all these missives, through Curatus Schmidt, are for +Wallis the Hussar Colonel, and must be a secret not from Madam alone! +How a Baron, hitherto of honor, could all at once become TURPISSIMUS, +the Superlative of Scoundrels? This is even the reason,--the prize is so +superlative. + +"MONDAY NIGHT, NOVEMBER 30th, 1761 [night bitter cold], Kappel finds +himself sitting mounted, and holding Master's horse, in Strehlen, +more exactly in Woiselwitz, a suburb of Strehlen, near the King's +door,--Majesty's travelling-coach drawn out there, symbol that Strehlen +is ending, general departure towards Breslau now nigh. Not to Kappel's +sorrow perhaps, waiting in the cold there. Kappel waits, hour after +hour; Master taking his ease with the King's people, regardless of the +horses and me, in this shivery weather;--and one must not walk about +either, for disturbing the King's sleep! Not till midnight does Master +emerge, and the freezing Kappel and quadrupeds get under way. Under way, +Master breaks out into singular talk about the King's lodging: Was ever +anything so careless; nothing but two sentries in the King's anteroom; +thirteen all the soldiers that are in Woiselwitz; Strehlen not available +in less than twenty minutes: nothing but woods, haggly glens and hills, +all on to Heinrichau: How easy to snatch off his Majesty! "UM GOTTES +WILLEN, my Lord, don't speak so: think if a patrolling Prussian were to +hear it, in the dark!" Pooh, pooh, answers the Herr Baron. + +"At Schonbrunn, in the short hours, Kappel finds Frau Kappel in state +of unappeasable curiosity: 'What can it be? Curatus Schmidt was here +all afternoon; much in haste to see Master; had to go at last,--for the +Church-service, this St. Andrew's Eve. And only think, though he sat +with My Lady hours and hours, he left this Letter with ME: "Give it to +your Husband, for my Lord, the instant they come; and say I must have an +Answer to-morrow morning at 7." Left it with me, not with My Lady;--My +Lady not to know of it!' 'Tush, woman!' But Frau Kappel has been, +herself, unappeasably running about, ever since she got this Letter; +has applied to two fellow-servants, one after the other, who can read +writing, 'Break it up, will you!' But they would not. Practical Kappel +takes the Letter up to Master's room; delivers it, with the Message. +'What, Curatus Schmidt!' interrupts My Lady, who was sitting there: +'Herr Good-man, what is that?' 'That is a Letter to me,' answers the +Good-man: 'What have you to do with it?' Upon which My Lady flounces out +in a huff, and the Herr Baron sets about writing his Answer, whatever it +may be. + +"Kappel and Frau are gone to bed, Frau still eloquent upon the mystery +of Curatus Schmidt, when his Lordship taps at their door; enters in the +dark: 'This is for the Curatus, at 7 o'clock to-morrow; I leave it on +the table here: be in time, like a good Kappel!' Kappel promises his +Unappeasable that he will actually open this Piece before delivery of +it; upon which she appeases herself, and they both fall asleep. Kappel +is on foot betimes next morning. Kappel quietly pockets his Letter; +still more quietly, from a neighboring room, pockets his Master's big +Seal (PETSCHAFT), with a view to resealing: he then steps out; giving +his BURSCH [Apprentice or Under-Groom] order to be ready in so many +minutes, 'You and these two horses' (specific for speed); and, in the +interim, walks over, with Letter and PETSCHAFT, to the Reverend Herr +Gerlach's, for some preliminary business. Kappel is Catholic; Warkotsch, +Protestant; Herr Gerlach is Protestant preacher in the Village of +Schonbrunn,--much hated by Warkotsch, whose standing order is: 'Don't +go near that insolent fellow;' but known by Kappel to be a just man, +faithful in difficulties of the weak against the strong. Gerlach, not +yet out of bed, listens to the awful story: reads the horrid missive; +Warkotsch to Colonel Wallis: 'You can seize the King, living or dead, +this night!'--hesitates about copying it (as Kappel wishes, for a good +purpose]; but is encouraged by his Wife, and soon writes a Copy. This +Copy Kappel sticks into the old cover, seals as usual; and, with the +Original safe in his own pocket, returns to the stables now. His Bursch +and he mount; after a little, he orders his Bursch: 'Bursch, ride you to +Siebenhuben and Curatus Schmidt, with this sealed Letter; YOU, and say +nothing. I was to have gone myself, but cannot; be speedy, be discreet!' +And the Bursch dashes off for Siebenhuben with the sealed Copy, for +Schmidt, Warkotsch, Wallis and Company's behoof; Kappel riding, at a +still better pace, to Strehlen with the Original, for behoof of the +King's Majesty. + +"At Strehlen, King's Majesty not yet visible, Kappel has great +difficulties in the anteroom among the sentry people. But he persists, +insists: 'Read my Letter, then!' which they dare not do; which only +Colonel Krusemark, the Adjutant, perhaps dare. They take him to +Krusemark. Krusemark reads, all aghast; locks up Kappel; runs to the +King; returns, muffles Kappel in soldier's cloak and cap, and leads him +in. The King, looking into Kappel's face, into Kappel's clear story +and the Warkotsch handwriting, needed only a few questions; and the +fit orders, as to Warkotsch and Company, were soon given: dangerous +engineers now fallen harmless, blown up by their own petard. One of the +King's first questions was: 'But how have I offended Warkotsch?' Kappel +does not know; Master is of strict wilful turn;--Master would grumble +and growl sometimes about the peasant people, and how a nobleman has +now no power over them, in comparison. 'Are you a Protestant?' 'No, your +Majesty, Catholic.' 'See, IHR HERREN,' said the King to those about him; +'Warkotsch is a Protestant; his Curatus Schmidt is a Catholic; and this +man is a Catholic: there are villains and honest people in every creed!' + +"At noon, that day, Warkotsch had sat down to dinner, comfortably in +his dressing-gown, nobody but the good Baroness there; when Rittmeister +Rabenau suddenly descended on the Schloss and dining-room with dragoons: +'In arrest, Herr Baron; I am sorry you must go with me to Brieg!' +Warkotsch, a strategic fellow, kept countenance to Wife and Rittmeister, +in this sudden fall of the thunder-bolt: 'Yes, Herr Rittmeister; it is +that mass of Corn I was to furnish [showing him an actual order of that +kind], and I am behind my time with it! Nobody can help his luck. Take +a bit of dinner with us, anyway!' Rittmeister refused; but the Baroness +too pressed him; he at length sat down. Warkotsch went 'to dress;' first +of all, to give orders about his best horse; but was shocked to find +that the dragoons were a hundred, and that every outgate was beset. +Returning half-dressed, with an air of baffled hospitality: 'Herr +Rittmeister, our Schloss must not be disgraced; here are your brave +fellows waiting, and nothing of refreshment ready for them. I have given +order at the Tavern in the Village; send them down; there they shall +drink better luck to me, and have a bit of bread and cheese.' Stupid +Rabenau again consents:--and in few minutes more, Warkotsch is in the +Woods, galloping like Epsom, towards Wallis; and Rabenau can only arrest +Madam (who knows nothing), and return in a baffled state. + +"Schmidt too got away. The party sent after Schmidt found him in the +little Town of Nimptsch, half-way home again from his Wallis errand; +comfortably dining with some innocent hospitable people there. Schmidt +could not conceal his confusion; but pleading piteously a necessity of +nature, was with difficulty admitted to the--to the ABTRITT so called; +and there, by some long pole or rake-handle, vanished wholly through a +never-imagined aperture, and was no more heard of in the upper world. +The Prussian soldiery does not seem expert in thief-taking. + +"Warkotsch came back about midnight that same Tuesday, 500 Wallis +Hussars escorting him; and took away his ready moneys, near 5,000 +pounds in gold, reports Frau Kappel, who witnessed the ghastly operation +(Hussars in great terror, in haste, and unconscionably greedy as to +sharing);--after which our next news of him, the last of any clear +authenticity, is this Note to his poor Wife, which was read in the Law +Procedures on him six months hence: 'My Child (MEIN KIND),--The accursed +thought I took up against my King has overwhelmed me in boundless +misery. From the top of the highest hill I cannot see the limits of it. +Farewell; I am in the farthest border of Turkey.--WARKOTSCH.'" [Kuster, +_Lebens-Rettungen,_ p. 88: Kuster, pp. 65-188 (for the general +Narrative); Tempelhof, v. 346, &c. &c.] + +Schmidt and he, after patient trial, were both of them beheaded and +quartered,--in pasteboard effigy,--in the Salt Ring (Great Square) of +Breslau, May, 1762:--in pasteboard, Friedrich liked it better than the +other way. "MEINETWEGEN," wrote he, sanctioning the execution, +"For aught I care; the Portraits will likely be as worthless as the +Originals." Rittmeister Rabenau had got off with a few days' arrest, +and the remark, "ER IST EIN DUMMER TEUFEL (You are a stupid devil)!" +Warkotsch's Estates, all and sundry, deducting the Baroness's jointure, +which was punctually paid her, were confiscated to the King,--and by him +were made over to the Schools of Breslau and Glogau, which, I doubt +not, enjoy them to this day. Reverend Gerlach in Schonbrunn, Kappel and +Kappel's Bursch, were all attended to, and properly rewarded, though +there are rumors to the contrary. Hussar-Colonel Wallis got no public +promotion, though it is not doubted the Head People had been well +cognizant of his ingenious intentions. Official Vienna, like mankind +in general, shuddered to own him; the great Counts Wallis at Vienna +published in the Newspapers, "Our House has no connection with that +gentleman;"--and, in fact, he was of Irish breed, it seems, the name of +him WallISCH (or Walsh), if one cared. Warkotsch died at Raab (THIS side +the farthest corner of Turkey), in 1769: his poor Baroness had vanished +from Silesia five years before, probably to join him. He had some +pension or aliment from the Austrian Court; small or not so small is a +disputed point. + +And this is, more minutely than need have been, in authentic form only +too diffuse, the once world-famous Warkotsch Tragedy or Wellnigh-Tragic +Melodrama; which is still interesting and a matter of study, of pathos +and minute controversy, to the patriot and antiquary in Prussian +Countries, though here we might have been briefer about it. It would, +indeed, have "finished the War at once;" and on terms delightful to +Austria and its Generals near by. But so would any unit of the million +balls and bullets which have whistled round that same Royal Head, and +have, every unit of them, missed like Warkotsch! Particular Heads, royal +and other, meant for use in the scheme of things, are not to be hit on +any terms till the use is had. + +Friedrich settled in Breslau for the Winter, December 9th. From +Colberg bad news meet him in Breslau; bad and ever worse: Colberg, +not Warkotsch, is the interesting matter there, for a fortnight +coming,--till Colberg end, it also irremediable. The Russian hope +on Colberg is, long since, limited to that of famine. We said the +conveyance of Supplies, across such a Hundred Miles of wilderness, +from Stettin thither, with Russians and the Winter gainsaying, was the +difficulty. Our short Note continues:-- + +"In fact, it is the impossibility: trial after trial goes on, in a +strenuous manner, but without success. October 13th, Green Kleist tries; +October 22d, Knobloch and even Platen try. For the next two months there +is trial on trial made (Hussar Kleist, Knobloch, Thadden, Platen), not +without furious fencing, struggling; but with no success. There are, +in wait at the proper places, 15,000 Russians waylaying. Winter comes +early, and unusually severe: such marchings, such endeavorings and +endurances,--without success! For darkness, cold, grim difficulty, +fierce resistance to it, one reads few things like this of Colberg. 'The +snow lies ell-deep,' says Archenholtz; 'snow-tempests, sleet, frost: a +country wasted and hungered out; wants fuel-wood; has not even salt. The +soldier's bread is a block of ice; impracticable to human teeth till you +thaw it,--which is only possible by night.' The Russian ships disappear +(17th October); November 2d, Butturlin, leaving reinforcements without +stint, vanishes towards Poland. The day before Butturlin went, there had +been solemn summons upon Eugen, 'Surrender honorably, we once more bid +you; never will we leave this ground, till Colberg is ours!' 'Vain to +propose it!' answers Eugen, as before. The Russians too are clearly +in great misery of want; though with better roads open for them; and +Romanzow's obstinacy is extreme. + +"Night of November 14th-15th, Eugen, his horse-fodder being entirely +done, and Heyde's magazines worn almost out, is obliged to glide +mysteriously, circuitously from his Camp, and go to try the task +himself. The most difficult of marches, gloriously executed; which +avails to deliver Eugen, and lightens the pressure on Heyde's small +store. Eugen, in a way Tempelhof cannot enough admire, gets clear away. +Joins with Platen, collects Provision; tries to send Provision in, +but without effect. By the King's order, is to try it himself in a +collective form. Had Heyde food, he would care little. + +"Romanzow, who is now in Eugen's old Camp, summons the Veteran; they +say, it is 'for the twenty-fifth time,'--not yet quite the last. Heyde +consults his people: 'KAMERADEN, what think you should I do?' 'THUN +SIE'S DURCHAUS NICHT, HERR OBRIST, Do not a whit of it, Herr Colonel: we +will defend ourselves as long as we have bread and powder.' [Seyfarth, +iii. 28; Archenholtz, ii. 304.] It is grim frost; Heyde pours water on +his walls. Romanzow tries storm; the walls are glass; the garrison has +powder, though on half rations as to bread: storm is of no effect. By +the King's order, Eugen tries again. December 6th, starts; has again a +march of the most consummate kind; December 12th, gets to the Russian +intrenchment; storms a Russian redoubt, and fights inexpressibly; but it +will not do. Withdraws; leaves Colberg to its fate. Next morning, +Heyde gets his twenty-sixth summons; reflects on it two days; and then +(December 16th), his biscuit done, decides to 'march out, with music +playing, arms shouldered and the honors of war."' [Tempelhof, v. +351-377; Archenholtz, ii. 294-307; especially the Seyfarth _Beylagen_ +above cited.] Adieu to the old Hero; who, we hope, will not stay long in +Russian prison. + +"What a Place of Arms for us!" thinks Romanzow;--"though, indeed, for +Campaign 1762, at this late time of year, it will not so much avail us." +No;--and for 1763, who knows if you will need it then! + +Six weeks ago, Prince Henri and Daun had finished their Saxon Campaign +in a much more harmless manner. NOVEMBER 5th, Daun, after infinite +rallying, marshalling, rearranging, and counselling with Loudon, who +has sat so long quiescent on the Heights at Kunzendorf, ready to aid and +reinforce, did at length (nothing of "rashness" chargeable on Daun) +make "a general attack on Prince Henri's outposts", in the Meissen +or Mulda-Elbe Country, "from Rosswein all across to Siebeneichen;" +simultaneous attack, 15 miles wide, or I know not how wide, but done +with vigor; and, after a stiff struggle in the small way, drove them +all in;--in, all of them, more or less;--and then did nothing farther +whatever. Henri had to contract his quarters, and stand alertly on his +guard: but nothing came. "Shall have to winter in straiter quarters, +behind the Mulda, not astride of it as formerly; that is all." And so +the Campaign in Saxony had ended, "without, in the whole course of it", +say the Books, "either party gaining any essential advantage over the +other." [Seyfarth, iii. 54; Tempelhof, v. 275 et seq. (ibid. pp. 263-280 +for the Campaign at large, in all breadth of detail).] + + + + +Chapter X.--FRIEDRICH IN BRESLAU; HAS NEWS FROM PETERSBURG. + +Since December 9th, Friedrich is in Breslau, in some remainder of his +ruined Palace there; and is represented to us, in Books, as sitting +amid ruins; no prospect ahead of him but ruin. Withdrawn from Society; +looking fixedly on the gloomiest future. Sees hardly anybody; speaks, +except it be on business, nothing. "One day," I have read somewhere, +"General Lentulus dined with him; and there was not a word uttered at +all." The Anecdote-Books have Dialogues with Ziethen; Ziethen still +trusting in Divine Providence; King trusting only in the iron Destinies, +and the stern refuge of Death with honor: Dialogues evidently symbolical +only. In fact, this is not, or is not altogether, the King's common +humor. He has his two Nephews with him (the elder, old enough to learn +soldiering, is to be of next Campaign under him); he is not without +society when he likes,--never without employment whether he like or +not; and, in the blackest murk of despondencies, has his Turk and other +Illusions, which seem to be brighter this Year than ever. [LETTERS to +Henri: in SCHONING, iii. (SOEPIUS).] + +For certain, the King is making all preparation, as if victory might +still crown him: though of practical hope he, doubtless often enough, +has little or none. England seems about deserting him; a most sad and +unexpected change has befallen there: great Pitt thrown out; perverse +small Butes come in, whose notions and procedures differ far from +Pitt's! At home here, the Russians are in Pommern and the Neumark; +Austrians have Saxony, all but a poor strip beyond the Mulda; Silesia, +all but a fraction on the Oder: Friedrich has with himself 30,000; with +Prince Henri, 25,000; under Eugen of Wurtemberg, against the Swedes, +5,000; in all his Dominions, 60,000 fighting men. To make head against +so many enemies, he calculates that 60,000 more must be raised this +Winter. And where are these to come from; England and its help having +also fallen into such dubiety? Next Year, it is calculated by everybody, +Friedrich himself hardly excepted (in bad moments), must be the finis +of this long agonistic tragedy. On the other hand, Austria herself is in +sore difficulties as to cash; discharges 20,000 men,--trusting she may +have enough besides to finish Friedrich. France is bankrupt, starving, +passionate for Peace; English Bute nothing like so ill to treat with +as Pitt: to Austria no more subsidies from France. The War is waxing +feeble, not on Friedrich's side only, like a flame short of fuel. This +Year it must go out; Austria will have to kill Friedrich this Year, if +at all. + +Whether Austria's and the world's prophecy would have been fulfilled? +Nobody can say what miraculous sudden shifts, and outbursts of fiery +enterprise, may still lie in this man. Friedrich is difficult to kill, +grows terribly elastic when you compress him into a corner. Or Destiny, +perhaps, may have tried him sufficiently; and be satisfied? Destiny does +send him a wonderful star-of-day, bursting out on the sudden, as will +be seen!--Meanwhile here is the English calamity; worse than any +Schweidnitz, Colberg or other that has befallen in this blackest, of the +night. + + + + +THE PITT CATASTROPHE: HOW THE PEACE-NEGOTIATION WENT OFF BY EXPLOSION; +HOW PITT WITHDREW (3d October, 1761), AND THERE CAME A SPANISH WAR +NEVERTHELESS. + +In St. James's Street, "in the Duke of Cumberland's late lodgings," +on the 2d of October, 1761, there was held one of the most remarkable +Cabinet-Councils known in English History: it is the last of Pitt's +Cabinet-Councils for a long time,--might as well have been his last of +all;--and is of the highest importance to Friedrich through Pitt. We +spoke of the Choiseul Peace-Negotiation; of an offer indirectly from +King Carlos, "Could not I mediate a little?"--offer which exploded said +Negotiation, and produced the Bourbon Family Compact and an additional +War instead. Let us now look, slightly for a few moments, into that +matter and its sequences. + +It was JULY 15th, when Bussy, along with something in his own French +sphere, presented this beautiful Spanish Appendix,--"apprehensive that +War may break out again with Spain, when we Two have got settled." By +the same opportunity came a Note from him, which was reckoned important +too: "That the Empress Queen would and did, whatever might become of the +Congress of Augsburg, approve of this Separate Peace between France +and England,--England merely undertaking to leave the King of Prussia +altogether to himself in future with her Imperial Majesty and her +Allies." "Never, Sir!" answered Pitt, with emphasis, to this latter +Proposition; and to the former about Spain's interfering, or whispering +of interference, he answered--by at once returning the Paper, as a +thing non-extant, or which it was charitable to consider so. "Totally +inadmissible, Sir; mention it no more!"--and at once called upon the +Spanish Ambassador to disavow such impertinence imputed to his Master. +Fancy the colloquies, the agitated consultations thereupon, between +Bussy and this Don, in view suddenly of breakers ahead! + +In about a week (July 23d), Bussy had an Interview with Pitt himself on +this high Spanish matter; and got some utterances out of him which are +memorable to Bussy and us. "It is my duty to declare to you, Sir, in the +name of his Majesty," said Pitt, "that his Majesty will not suffer +the disputes with Spain to be blended, in any manner whatever, in the +Negotiation of Peace between the Two Crowns. To which I must add, that +it will be considered as an affront to his Majesty's dignity, and as +a thing incompatible with the sincerity of the Negotiation, to make +farther mention of such a circumstance." [In THACKERAY, ii. 554;--Pitt +next day putting it in writing, "word for word," at Bussy's request.] +Bussy did not go at once, after this deliverance; but was unable, by +his arguments and pleadings, by all his oil and fire joined together, to +produce the least improvement on it: "Time enough to treat of all that, +Sir, when the Tower of London is taken sword in hand!" [Beatson, ii. +434. Archenholtz (ii. 245) has heard of this expression, in a slightly +incorrect way.] was Pitt's last word. An expression which went over the +world; and went especially to King Carlos, as fast as it could fly, or +as his Choiseul could speed it: and, in about three weeks: produced--it +and what had gone before it, by the united industry of Choiseul and +Carlos, finally produced--the famed BOURBON FAMILY COMPACT (August +15th, 1761), and a variety of other weighty results, which lay in embryo +therein. + +Pitt, in the interim, had been intensely prosecuting, in Spain and +everywhere, his inquiry into the Bussy phenomenon of July 15th; which +he, from the first glimpse of it, took to mean a mystery of treachery +in the pretended Peace-Negotiation, on the part of Choiseul and Catholic +Majesty;--though other long heads, and Pitt's Ambassador at Madrid +investigating on the spot, considered it an inadvertence mainly, and +of no practical meaning. On getting knowledge of the Bourbon Family +Compact, Pitt perceived that his suspicion was a certainty;--and +likewise that the one clear course was, To declare War on the Spanish +Bourbon too, and go into him at once: "We are ready; fleets, soldiers, +in the East, in the West; he not ready anywhere. Since he wants War, let +him have it, without loss of a moment!" That is Pitt's clear view of +the case; but it is by no means Bute and Company's,--who discern in +it, rather, a means of finishing another operation they have long been +secretly busy upon, by their Mauduits and otherwise; and are clear +against getting into a new War with Spain or anybody: "Have not we +enough of Wars?" say they. + +Since September 18th, there had been three Cabinet-Councils held on this +great Spanish question: "Mystery of treachery, meaning War from Spain? +Or awkward Inadvertence only, practically meaning little or nothing?" +Pitt, surer of his course every time, every time meets the same +contradiction. Council of October 2d was the third of the series, and +proved to be the last. + +"Twelve Seventy-fours sent instantly to Cadiz", had been Pitt's +proposal, on the first emergence of the Bussy phenomenon. Here are his +words, October 2d, when it is about to get consummated: "This is now the +time for humbling the whole House of Bourbon: and if this opportunity is +let slip, we shall never find another! Their united power, if suffered +to gather strength, will baffle our most vigorous efforts, and possibly +plunge us in the gulf of ruin. We must not allow them a moment to +breathe. Self-preservation bids us crush them before they can combine or +recollect themselves."--"No evidence that Spain means war; too many wars +on our hands; let us at least wait!" urge all the others,--all but one, +or one and A HALF, of whom presently. Whereupon Pitt: "If these views +are to be followed, this is the last time I can sit at this Board. I was +called to the Administration of Affairs by the voice of the People: to +them I have always considered myself as accountable for my conduct; and +therefore cannot remain in a situation which makes me responsible for +measures I am no longer allowed to guide." [Beatson, ii. 438.] + +Carteret Granville, President of said Council for ten years past, [Came +in "17th June, 1751",--died "2d January, 1763."] now an old red-nosed +man of seventy-two, snappishly took him up,--it is the last public thing +poor Carteret did in this world,--in the following terms: "I find the +Gentleman is determined to leave us; nor can I say I am sorry for it, +since otherwise he would have certainly compelled us to leave him [Has +ruled us, may not I say, with a rod of iron!] But if he be resolved to +assume the office of exclusively advising his Majesty and directing the +operations of the War, to what purpose are we called to this Council? +When he talks of being responsible to the People, he talks the language +of the House of Commons; forgets that, at this Board, he is only +responsible to the King. However, though he may possibly have convinced +himself of his infallibility, still it remains that we should be equally +convinced, before we can resign our understandings to his direction, or +join with him in the measure he proposes." [BIOG. BRITANNICA (Kippis's; +London, 1784), iii. 278. See Thackeray, i. 589-592.] + +Who, besides Temple (Pitt's Brother-in-law) confirmatory of Pitt, Bute +negatory, and Newcastle SILENT, the other beautiful gentlemen were, +I will not ask; but poor old Carteret,--the wine perhaps sour on his +stomach (old age too, with German memories of his own, "A biggish Life +once mine, all futile for want of this same Kingship like Pitt's!")--I +am sorry old Carteret should have ended so! He made the above Answer; +and Pitt resigned next day. [Thackeray, i. 592 n. "October 5th" +(ACCEPTANCE of the resignation, I suppose?) is the date commonly given.] +"The Nation was thunderstruck, alarmed and indignant," says Walpole: +[_ Memoirs of the Reign of George the Third,_ i. 82 et seq.] yes, no +wonder;--but, except a great deal of noisy jargoning in Parliament +and out of it, the Nation gained nothing for itself by its indignant, +thunderstricken and other feelings. Its Pitt is irrecoverable; and it +may long look for another such. These beautiful recalcitrants of the +Cabinet-Council had, themselves, within three months (think under what +noises and hootings from a non-admiring Nation), to declare War on +Spain, ["2d January, 1762," the English; "18th January," the Spaniard +(ANNUAL REGISTER for 1762, p. 50; or better, Beatson, ii. 443).] NOT on +better terms than when Pitt advised; and, except for the "readiness" in +which Pitt had left all things, might have fared indifferently in it. + +To Spain and France the results of the Family Compact (we may as well +give them at once, though they extend over the whole next year and +farther, and concern Friedrich very little) were: a War on England +(chiefly on poor Portugal for England's sake); with a War BY England in +return, which cost Spain its Havana and its Philippine Islands. + +"From 1760 and before, the Spanish Carlos, his orthodox mind perhaps +shocked at Pombal and the Anti-Jesuit procedures, had forbidden trade +with Portugal; had been drawing out dangerous 'militia forces on the +Frontier;' and afflicting and frightening the poor Country. But on +the actual arrival of War with England, Choiseul and he, as the first +feasibility discernible, make Demand (three times over, 16th March-18th +April, 1762, each time more stringently) on poor Portuguese Majesty: +'Give up your objectionable Heretic Ally, and join with us against him; +will you, or will you not?' To which the Portuguese Majesty, whose very +title is Most Faithful, answered always: 'You surprise me! I cannot; how +can I? He is my Ally, and has always kept faith with me! For certain, +No!' [_London Gazette,_ 5th May, 1762, &c. (in _Gentleman's Magazine_ +for 1762, xxxii. 205, 321, 411).] So that there is English reinforcement +got ready, men, money; an English General, Lord Tyrawley, General +and Ambassador; with a 5 or 6,000 horse and foot, and many volunteer +officers besides, for the Portuguese behoof. [List of all this in +Beatson, ii. 491, iii. 323;--"did not get to sea till 12th May, +1762" (_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1762, p. 239).] In short, every +encouragement to poor Portugal: 'Pull, and we will help you by tracing.' + +"The poor Portuguese pulled very badly: were disgusting to Tyrawley, he +to them; and cried passionately, 'Get us another General;'--upon which, +by some wise person's counsel, that singular Artillery Gentleman, the +Graf von der Lippe Buckeburg, who gave the dinner in his Tent with +cannon firing at the pole of it, was appointed; and Tyrawley came home +in a huff. [Varnhagen van Ense, GRAF WILHELM ZUR LIPPE (Berlin, +1845), in _Vermischte Schriften,_ i. 1-118: pp. 33-54, his Portuguese +operations.] Which was probably a favorable circumstance. Buckeburg +understands War, whether Tyrawley do or not. Duke Ferdinand has +agreed to dispense with his Ordnance-Master; nay I have heard the +Ordnance-Master, a man of sharp speech on occasion, was as good as +idle; and had gone home to Buckeburg, this Winter: indignant at the many +imperfections he saw, and perhaps too frankly expressing that feeling +now and then. What he thought of the Portuguese Army in comparison +is not on record; but, may be judged of by this circumstance, That on +dining with the chief Portuguese military man, he found his Portuguese +captains and lieutenants waiting as valets behind the chairs. [VARNHAGEN +(gives no date anywhere).] + +"The improvements he made are said to have been many;--and Portuguese +Majesty, in bidding farewell, gave him a park of Miniature Gold Cannon +by way of gracious symbol. But, so far as the facts show, he seems to +have got from his Portuguese Army next to no service whatever: and, but +for the English and the ill weather, would have fared badly against his +French and Spaniards,--42,000 of them, advancing in Three Divisions, by +the Douro and the Tagus, against Oporto and Lisbon. + +"His War has only these three dates of event. 1. May 9th, The northmost +of the Three Divisions [ANNUAL REGISTER for 1762, p. 30.] crosses the +Portuguese Frontier on the Douro; summons Miranda, a chief Town of +theirs; takes it, before their first battery is built; takes Braganza, +takes Monte Corvo; and within a week is master of the Douro, in that +part, 'Will be at Oporto directly!' shriek all the Wine people (no +resistance anywhere, except by peasants organized by English Officers in +some parts); upon which Seventy-fours were sent. + +"2. Division Second of the 42,000 came by Beira Country, between Tagus +and Douro, by Tras-os-Montes; and laid siege to a place called Almeida +[northwest some 20 odd miles from CUIDAD RODRIGO, a name once known to +veterans of us still living], which Buckeburg had tried to repair into +strength, and furnish with a garrison. Garrison defended itself well; +but could not be relieved;--had to surrender, August 25th: whereby +it seems the Tagus is now theirs! All the more, as Division Three is +likewise got across from Estremadura, invading Alemtejo: what is to keep +these Two from falling on Lisbon together? + +"3. Against this, Buckeburg does find a recipe. Despatches Brigadier +Burgoyne with an English party upon a Town called Valencia d'Alcantara +[not Alcantara Proper, but Valencia of ditto, not very far from +Badajoz], where the vanguard of this Third Division is, and their +principal Magazine. Burgoyne and his English did perfectly: broke into +the place, stormed it sword in hand (August 27th); kept the Magazine and +it, though 'the sixteen Portuguese Battalions' could not possibly get up +in time. In manner following (say the Old Newspapers):-- + +"'The garrison of Almeida, before which place the whole Spanish Army had +been assembled, surrendered to the Spaniards on the 25th [August 25th, +as we have just heard], having capitulated on condition of not serving +against Spain for six months. + +"'As a counterbalance to this advantage, the Count de Lippe caused +Valencia d'Alcantara to be attacked, sword in hand, by the British +troops; who carried it, after an obstinate resistance. The loss of the +British troops, who had the principal share in this affair, is +luckily but inconsiderable: and consists in Lieutenant Burk of Colonel +Frederick's, one sergeant and three privates killed; two sergeants, one +drummer, 18 privates wounded; 10 horses killed and 2 wounded [loss not +at all considerable, in a War of such dimensions!]. The British troops +behaved upon this occasion with as much generosity as courage; and it +deserves admiration, that, in an affair of this kind, the town and +the inhabitants suffered very little; which is owing to the good order +Brigadier Burgoyne kept up even in the heat of the action. This success +would probably have been attended with more, if circumstances, that +could not well be expected, had not retarded the march of sixteen +Portuguese battalions, and three regiments of cavalry.' [Old Newspapers +(in _Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1762, p, 443).] + +"Upon which--upon which, in fact, the War had to end. Rainy weather +came, deluges of rain; Burgoyne, with or without the sixteen battalions +of Portuguese, kept the grip he had. Valencia d'Alcantara and its +Magazine a settled business, roads round gone all to mire,--this Third +Division, and with it the 42,000 in general, finding they had nothing +to live upon, went their ways again." NOTE, The Burgoyne, who begins +in this pretty way at Valencia d'Alcantara, is the same who ended +so dismally at Saratoga, within twenty years:--perhaps, with other +War-Offices, and training himself in something suitabler than +Parliamentary Eloquence, he might have become a kind of General, and +have ended far otherwise than there?-- + +"Such was the credit account on Carlos's side: By gratuitous assault +on Portugal, which had done him no offence; result zero, and pay your +expenses. On the English, or PER CONTRA side, again, there were these +three items, two of them specifically on Carlos: FIRST, Martinique +captured from the French this Spring (finished 4th February, 1762): +[_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1762, p. 127.]--was to have been done in any +case, Guadaloupe and it being both on Pitt's books for some time, and +only Guadaloupe yet got. SECONDLY, King Carlos, for Family Compact and +fruitless attempt at burglary on an unoffending neighbor, Debtor: 1. To +Loss of the Havana (6th June-13th August, 1762), [Ib. pp. 408-459, &c.] +which might easily have issued in loss of all his West Indies together, +and total abolition of the Pope's meridian in that Western Hemisphere; +and 2. To Loss of Manilla, with his Philippine Islands (23d +September-6th October, 1762), [_Gentleman's Magazine_ for 1762, xxxiii. +171-177.] which was abolition of it in the Eastern. After which, happily +for Carlos, Peace came,--Peace, and no Pitt to be severe upon his Indies +and him. Carlos's War of ten months had stood him uncommonly high." + +All these things the English Public, considerably sullen about the +Cabinet-Council event of October 3d, ascribed to the real owner of +them. The Public said: "These are, all of them, Pitt's bolts, not +yours,--launched, or lying ready for launching, from that Olympian +battery which, in the East and in the West, had already smitten down all +Lallys and Montcalms; and had force already massed there, rendering your +Havanas and Manillas easy for you. For which, indeed, you do not seem +to care much; rather seem to be embarrassed with them, in your eagerness +for Peace and a lazy life!"--Manilla was a beautiful work; [A JOURNAL +OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF HIS MAJESTY'S FORCES IN THE EXPEDITION TO MANILLA +(_London Gazette,_ April 19th, 1763; _Gentleman's Magazine,_ xxxiii. +171 et seq.). Written by Colonel or Brigadier General Draper (suggester, +contriver and performer of the Enterprise; an excellent Indian Officer, +of great merit with his pen as well,--Bully JUNIUS'S Correspondent +afterwards).] but the Manilla Ransom; a million sterling, half of it +in bills,--which the Spaniards, on no pretext at all but the +disagreeableness, refused to pay! Havana, though victorious, cost a good +many men: was thought to be but badly managed. "What to do with it?" +said Bute, at the Peace: "Give us Florida in lieu of it",--which proved +of little benefit to Bute. Enough, enough of Bute and his performances. + +Pitt being gone, Friedrich's English Subsidy lags: this time Friedrich +concludes it is cut off;--silent on the subject; no words will express +one's thoughts on it. Not till April 9th has poor Mitchell the sad +errand of announcing formally That such are our pressures, Portuguese +War and other, we cannot afford it farther. Answered by I know not what +kind of glance from Friedrich; answered, I find, by words few or none +from the forsaken King: "Good; that too was wanting," thought the proud +soul: "Keep your coin, since you so need it; I have still copper, and my +sword!" The alloy this Year became as 3 to 1:--what other remedy? + +From the same cause, I doubt not, this Year, for the first time in human +memory, came that complete abeyance of the Gift-moneys (DOUCEUR-GELDER), +which are become a standing expectation, quasi-right, and necessary item +of support to every Prussian Officer, from a Lieutenant upwards: not a +word, in the least official, said of them this Year; still less a penny +of them actually forthcoming to a wornout expectant Army. One of the +greatest sins charged upon Friedrich by Prussian or Prussian-Military +public opinion: not to be excused at all;--Prussian-Military and even +Prussian-Civil opinion having a strange persuasion that this King has +boundless supply of money, and only out of perversity refuses it for +objects of moment. In the Army as elsewhere much has gone awry; [See +Mollendorf's two or three LETTERS (Preuss, iv. 407-411).] many rivets +loose after such a climbing of the Alps as there has been, through dense +and rare. + +It will surprise everybody that Friedrich, with his copper and other +resources, actually raised his additional 60,000; and has for himself +70,000 to recover Schweidnitz, and bring Silesia to its old state; +40,000 for Prince Henri and Saxony, with a 10,000 of margin for Sweden +and accidental sundries. This is strange, but it is true. [Stenzel, +v. 297, 286; Tempelhof, vi. 2, 10, 63.] And has not been done without +strivings and contrivings, hard requisitions on the places liable; and +has involved not a little of severity and difficulty,--especially a +great deal of haggling with the collecting parties, or at least with +Prince Henri, who presides in Saxony, and is apt to complain and +mourn over the undoable, rather than proceed to do it. The King's +Correspondence with Henri, this Winter, is curious enough; like a +Dialogue between Hope on its feet, and Despair taking to its bed. "You +know there are Two Doctors in MOLIERE," says Friedrich to him once; "a +Doctor TANT-MIEUX (So much the Better) and a Doctor TANT-PIS (So much +the Worse): these two cannot be expected to agree!"--Instead of infinite +arithmetical details, here is part of a Letter of Friedrich's to +D'Argens; and a Passage, one of many, with Prince Henri;--which command +a view into the interior that concerns us. + + +THE KING TO D'ARGENS (at Berlin). + +"BRESLAU, 18th January, 1762. + +... "You have lifted the political veil which covered horrors and +perfidies meditated and ready to burst out [Bute's dismal procedures, I +believe; who is ravenous for Peace, and would fain force Friedrich +along with him on terms altogether disgraceful and inadmissible [See +D'Argens's Letter (to which this is Answer), _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. +281, 282.]]: you judge correctly of the whole situation I am in, of the +abysses which surround me; and, as I see by what you say, of the kind of +hope that still remains to me. It will not be till the month of February +[Turks, probably, and Tartar Khan; great things coming then!] that +we can speak of that; and that is the term I contemplate for deciding +whether I shall hold to CATO [Cato,--and the little Glass Tube I have!] +or to CAESAR'S COMMENTARIES," and the best fight one can make. + +"The School of patience I am at is hard, long-continued, cruel, nay +barbarous. I have not been able to escape my lot: all that human +foresight could suggest has been employed, and nothing has succeeded. If +Fortune continues to pursue me, doubtless I shall sink; it is only she +that can extricate me from the situation I am in. I escape out of it by +looking at the Universe on the great scale, like an observer from some +distant Planet; all then seems to me so infinitely small, and I could +almost pity my enemies for giving themselves such trouble about so +very little. What would become of us without philosophy, without this +reasonable contempt of things frivolous, transient and fugitive, about +which the greedy and ambitious make such a pother, fancying them to be +solid! This is to become wise by stripes, you will tell me; well, if one +do become wise, what matters it how?--I read a great deal; I devour my +Books, and that brings me useful alleviation. But for my Books, I think +hypochondria would have had me in bedlam before now. In fine, dear +Marquis, we live in troublous times and in desperate situations:--I +have all the properties of a Stage-Hero; always in danger, always on the +point of perishing. One must hope the conclusion will come; and if the +end of the piece be lucky, we will forget the rest. Patience then, +MON CHER, till February 20th [By which time, what far other veritable +star-of-day will have risen on me!]. ADIEU, MON CHER.--F." [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ xix. 282, 283.] + + + + +TIFF OF QUARREL BETWEEN KING AND HENRI (March-April, 1762). + +In the Spring months Prince Henri is at Hof in Voigtland, on the extreme +right of his long line of "Quarters behind the Mulda;" busy enough, +watching the Austrians and Reich; levying the severe contributions; +speeding all he can the manifold preparatives;--conscious to himself of +the greatest vigilance and diligence, but wrapt in despondency and black +acidulent humors; a "Doctor SO MUCH THE WORSE," who is not a comforting +Correspondent. From Hof, towards the middle of March, he becomes +specially gloomy and acidulous; sends a series of Complaints; also of +News, not important, but all rather in YOUR favor, my dearest Brother, +than in mine, if you will please to observe! As thus:-- + +HENRI (at Hof, 10th-13th March).... "Sadly off here, my dearest +Brother.! Of our '1,284 head of commissariat horses,' only 180 are come +in; of our '287 drivers,' not one. Will be impossible to open Campaign +at that rate."--"Grenadier Battalions ROTHENBURG and GRANT demand +to have picked men to complete them [of CANTONIST, or sure Prussian +sort].... I find [NOTA BENE, Reader!] there are eight Austrian regiments +going to Silesia [off my hands, and upon YOURS, in a sense], eight +instead of four that I spoke of: intending, probably, for Glatz, +to replace Czernichef [a Czernichef off for home lately, in a most +miraculous way; as readers shall hear!]--to replace Czernichef, and +the blank he has left there? Eight of them: Your Majesty can have no +difficulty; but I will detach Platen or somebody, if you order it; +though I am myself perilously ill off here, so scattered into parts, not +capable of speedy junction like your Majesty." + +FRIEDRICH (14th-16th March). "Commissariat horses, drivers? I arranged +and provided where everything was to be got. But if my orders are not +executed, nor the requisitions brought in, of course there is failure. +I am despatching Adjutant von Anhalt to Saxony a second time, to enforce +matters. If I could be for three weeks in Saxony, myself, I believe I +could put all on its right footing; but, as I must not stir two steps +from here, I will send you Anhalt, with orders to the Generals, to +compel them to their duty." [Schoning, iii. 301, 302.] "As to Grenadier +Battalions GRANT and ROTHENBURG, it is absurd." (Henri falls silent +for about a week, brooding his gloom;--not aware that still worse is +coming.) King continues:-- + +KING (22d March). "Eight regiments, you said? Here, by enclosed List, +are seventeen of them, names and particulars all given", which is rather +a different view of the account against Silesia! Seventeen of them, +going, not for Glatz, I should say, but to strengthen our Enemies +hereabouts. + +HENRI. "Hm, hah [answers only in German; dry military reports, official +merely;--thinks of writing to Chief-Clerk Eichel, who is factotum in +these spheres].... Artillery recruits are scarce in the extreme; demand +bounty: five thalers, shall we say?" + +KING. "Seventeen regiments of them, beyond question, instead of eight, +coming on us: strange that you did n't warn me better. I have therefore +ordered your Major-General Schmettau hitherward at once. As he has not +done raising the contributions in the Lausitz, you must send another +to do it, and have them ready when General Platen passes that way +hither."--"'Five thalers bounty for artillery men" say you? It is not to +be thought of. Artillery men can be had by conscription where you +are." Henri (in silence, still more indignant) sends military reports +exclusively. March 26th, Henri's gloom reaches the igniting point; he +writes to Chief-Clerk Eichel:-- + +"Monsieur, you are aware that Adjutant von Anhalt is on the way hither. +To judge by his orders, if they correspond to the Letters I have had +from the King, Adjutant von Anhalt's appearance here will produce +an embarrassment, from which I am resolved to extricate myself by a +voluntary retirement from office. My totally ruined (ABIMEE) health, +the vexations I have had, the fatigues and troubles of war, leave in +me little regret to quit the employment. I solicit only, from your +attentions and skill of management, that my retreat be permitted to take +place with the decency observed towards those who have served the State. +I have not a high opinion of my services; but perhaps I am not mistaken +in supposing that it would be more a shame to the King than to me if +he should make me endure all manner of chagrins during my retirement." +[Schoning, iii. 307.] + +Eichel sinks into profound reflection; says nothing. How is this fire to +be got under? Where is the place to trample on it, before opening door +or window, or saying a word to the King or anybody? + +HENRI (same day, 26th March). "My dearest Brother,--In the List you send +me of those seventeen Austrian regiments, several, I am informed, are +still in Saxony; and by all the news that I get, there are only eight +gone towards Silesia."--"From Leipzig my accounts are, the Reichs Army +is to make a movement in advance, and Prince Xavier with the Saxons was +expected at Naumburg the 20th ult. I know not if you have arranged +with Duke Ferdinand for a proportionate succor, in case his French also +should try to penetrate into Saxony upon me? I am, with the profoundest +attachment, your faithful and devoted servant and Brother." + +KING (30th March). "Seventeen of them, you may depend; I am too well +informed to be allowed to doubt in any way. What you report of the +Reichsfolk and Saxons moving hither, thither; that seems to me a bit +of game on their part. They will try to cut one post from you, then +another, unless you assemble a corps and go in upon them. Till +you decide for this resolution, you have nothing but chicanes and +provocations to expect there. As to Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick, I don't +imagine that his Orders [from England] would permit him what you propose +[for relief of yourself]: at any rate, you will have to write at least +thrice to him,--that is to say, waste three weeks, before he will answer +No or Yes. You yourself are in force enough for those fellows: but +so long as you keep on the defensive alone, the enemy gains time, and +things will always go a bad road." Henri's patience is already out; this +same day he is writing to the King. + +HENRI (30th March).... "You have hitherto received proofs enough of my +ways of thinking and acting to know that if in reality I was mistaken +about those eight regiments, it can only have been a piece of ignorance +on the part of my spy: meanwhile you are pleased to make me responsible +for what misfortune may come of it. I think I have my hands full with +the task laid on me of guarding 4,000 square miles of country with fewer +troops than you have, and of being opposite an enemy whose posts touch +upon ours, and who is superior in force. Your preceding Letters [from +March 16th hitherto], on which I have wished to be silent, and this last +proof of want of affection, show me too clearly to what fortune I have +sacrificed these Six Years of Campaigning." + +KING (3d April: Official Orders given in Teutsch; at the tail of which). +"Spare your wrath and indignation at your servant, Monseigneur! You, who +preach indulgence, have a little of it for persons who have no intention +of offending you, or of failing in respect for you; and deign to receive +with more benignity the humble representations which the conjunctures +sometimes force from me. F."--Which relieves Eichel of his difficulties, +and quenches this sputter. [Plucked up from the waste imbroglios of +SCHONING (iii. 296-311), by arranging and omitting.] + +Prince Henri, for all his complaining, did beautifully this Season +again (though to us it must be silent, being small-war merely;--and +in particular, MAY 12th) early in the morning, simultaneously in many +different parts, burst across the Mulda, ten or twenty miles long (or +BROAD rather, from his right hand to his left), sudden as lightning, +upon the supine Serbelloni and his Austrians and Reichsfolk. And hurled +them back, one and all, almost to the Plauen Chasm and their old haunts; +widening his quarters notably. [_Bericht von dem Uebergang uber die +Mulde, den der Prinz Heinrich den 12ten May 1762 glucklich ausgefuhrt_ +(in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii, 280-291).] A really brilliant thing, +testifies everybody, though not to be dwelt on here. Seidlitz was of it +(much fine cutting and careering, from the Seidlitz and others, we +have to omit in these two Saxon Campaigns!)--Seidlitz was of it; he and +another still more special acquaintance of ours, the learned Quintus +Icilius; who also did his best in it, but lost his "AMUSETTE" (small bit +of cannon, "Plaything," so called by Marechal de Saxe, inventor of the +article), and did not shine like Seidlitz. + +Henri's quarters being notably widened in this way, and nothing but +torpid Serbellonis and Prince Stollbergs on the opposite part, Henri +"drew himself out thirty-five miles long;" and stood there, almost +looking into Plauen region as formerly. And with his fiery Seidlitzes, +Kleists, made a handsome Summer of it. And beat the Austrians and +Reichsfolk at Freyberg (OCTOBER 29th) a fine Battle, and his sole +one),--on the Horse which afterwards carried Gellert, as is pleasantly +known. + +But we are omitting the news from Petersburg,--which came the very day +after that gloomy LETTER TO D'ARGENS; months before the TIFF OF QUARREL +with Henri, and the brilliant better destinies of that Gentleman in his +Campaign. + + + + +BRIGHT NEWS FROM PETERSBURG (certain, Jan. 19th); WHICH GROW EVER +BRIGHTER; AND BECOME A STAR-OF-DAY FOR FRIEDRICH. + +To Friedrich, long before all this of Henri, indeed almost on the very +day while he was writing so despondently to D'Argens, a new phasis +had arisen. Hardly had he been five weeks at Breslau, in those gloomy +circumstances, when,--about the middle of January, 1762 (day not given, +though it is forever notable),--there arrive rumors, arrive news,--news +from Petersburg; such as this King never had before! "Among the thousand +ill strokes of Fortune, does there at length come one pre-eminently +good? The unspeakable Sovereign Woman, is she verily dead, then, and +become peaceable to me forevermore?" We promised Friedrich a wonderful +star-of-day; and this is it,--though it is long before he dare quite +regard it as such. Peter, the Successor, he knows to be secretly his +friend and admirer; if only, in the new Czarish capacity and its chaotic +environments and conditions, Peter dare and can assert these feelings? +What a hope to Friedrich, from this time onward! Russia may be counted +as the bigger half of all he had to strive with; the bigger, or at least +the far uglier, more ruinous and incendiary;--and if this were at once +taken away, think what a daybreak when the night was at the blackest! + +Pious people say, The darkest hour is often nearest the dawn. And a dawn +this proved to be for Friedrich. And the fact grew always the longer the +brighter;--and before Campaign time, had ripened into real daylight and +sunrise. The dates should have been precise; but are not to be had so: +here is the nearest we could come. January 14th, writing to Henri, +the King has a mysterious word about "possibilities of an uncommon +sort,"--rumors from Petersburg, I could conjecture; though perhaps they +are only Turk or Tartar-Khan affairs, which are higher this year +than ever, and as futile as ever. But, on JANUARY 19th, he has heard +plainly,--with what hopes (if one durst indulge them)!--that the +implacable Imperial Woman, INFAME CATIN DU NORD, is verily dead. Dead; +and does not hate me any more. Deliverance, Peace and Victory lie in the +word!--Catin had long been failing, but they kept it religiously secret +within the Court walls: even at Petersburg nobody knew till the Prayers +of the Church were required: Prayers as zealous as you can,--the Doctors +having plainly intimated that she is desperate, and that the thing is +over. On CHRISTMAS-DAY, 1761, by Russian Style, 5th JANUARY, 1762, +by European, the poor Imperial Catin lay dead;--a death still more +important than that of George II. to this King. + +Peter III., who succeeded has lang been privately a sworn friend and +admirer of the King; and hastens, not too SLOWLY as the King had feared, +but far the reverse, to make that known to all mankind. That, and much +else,--in a far too headlong manner, poor soul! Like an ardent, violent, +totally inexperienced person (enfranchised SCHOOL-BOY, come to the +age of thirty-four), who has sat hitherto in darkness, in intolerable +compression; as if buried alive! He is now Czar Peter, Autocrat, not +of Himself only, but of All the Russias;--and has, besides the complete +regeneration of Russia, two great thoughts: FIRST, That of avenging +native Holstein, and his poor martyr of a Father now with God, against +the Danes;--and, + +SECOND, what is scarcely second in importance to the first, and indeed +is practically a kind of preliminary to it, That of delivering the +Prussian Pattern of Heroes from such a pattern of foul combinations, and +bringing Peace to Europe, while he settles the Holstein-Danish business. +Peter is Russian by the Mother's side; his Mother was Sister of the late +Catin, a Daughter, like her, of Czar Peter called the Great, and of the +little brown Catharine whom we saw transiently long ago. His Holstein +Business shall concern us little; but that with Friedrich, during the +brief Six Months allowed him for it,--for it, and for all his remaining +businesses in this world,--is of the highest importance to Friedrich and +us. + +Peter is one of the wildest men; his fate, which was tragical, is now +to most readers rather of a ghastly grotesque than of a lamentable and +pitiable character. Few know, or have ever considered, in how wild an +element poor Peter was born and nursed; what a time he has had, since +his fifteenth year especially, when Cousin of Zerbst and he were +married. Perhaps the wildest and maddest any human soul had, during that +Century. I find in him, starting out from the Lethean quagmires where +he had to grow, a certain rash greatness of idea; traces of veritable +conviction, just resolution; veritable and just, though rash. That of +admiration for King Friedrich was not intrinsically foolish, in the +solitary thoughts of the poor young fellow; nay it was the reverse; +though it was highly inopportune in the place where he stood. Nor was +the Holstein notion bad; it was generous rather, noble and natural, +though, again, somewhat impracticable in the circumstances. + +The summary of the Friedrich-Peter business is perhaps already known to +most readers, and can be very briefly given; nor is Peter's tragical Six +Months of Czarship (5th JANUARY-9th JULY, 1762) a thing for us to dwell +on beyond need. But it is wildly tragical; strokes of deep pathos in +it, blended with the ghastly and grotesque: it is part of Friedrich's +strange element and environment: and though the outer incidents are +public enough, it is essentially little known. Had there been an +AEschylus, had there been a Shakspeare!--But poor Peter's shocking Six +Months of History has been treated by a far different set of hands, +themselves almost shocking to see: and, to the seriously inquiring +mind, it lies, and will long lie, in a very waste, chaotic, enigmatic +condition. Here, out of considerable bundles now burnt, are some rough +jottings, Excerpts of Notes and Studies,--which, I still doubt rather, +ought to have gone in AUTO DA FE along with the others. AUTO DA FE I +called it; Act of FAITH, not Spanish-Inquisitional, but essentially +Celestial many times, if you reflect well on the poisonous consequences, +on the sinfulness and deadly criminality, of Human Babble,--as +nobody does nowadays! I label the different Pieces, and try to make +legible;--hasty readers have the privilege of skipping, if they like. +The first Two are of preliminary or prefatory nature,--perhaps still +more skippable than those that will by and by follow. + +1. GENEALOGY OF PETER. "His grandfather was Friedrich IV., Duke of +Holstein-Gottorp and Schleswig, Karl XII.'s brother-in-law; on whose +score it was (Denmark finding the time opportune for a stroke of robbery +there) that Karl XII., a young lad hardly eighteen, first took arms; and +began the career of fighting that astonished Denmark and certain other +Neighbors who had been too covetous on a young King. This his young +Brother-in-law, Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp (young he too, though +Karl's senior by ten years), had been reinstated in his Territory, and +the Danes sternly forbidden farther burglary there, by the victorious +Karl; but went with Karl in his farther expeditions. Always Karl's +intimate, and at his right hand for the next two years: fell in the +Battle of Clissow, 19th July, 1702; age not yet thirty-one. + +"He left as Heir a poor young Boy, at this time only two years old. His +young Widow Hedwig survived him six years. [Michaelis, ii. 618-629.] Her +poor child grew to manhood; and had tragic fortunes in this world; +Danes again burglarious in that part, again robbing this poor Boy at +discretion, so soon as Karl XII. became unfortunate; and refusing to +restore (have not restored Schleswig at all [A.D. 1864, HAVE at last had +to do it, under unexpected circumstances!]):--a grimly sad story to the +now Peter, his only Child! This poor Duke at last died, 18th June, 1739, +age thirty-nine; the now Peter then about 11,--who well remembers tragic +Papa; tragic Mamma not, who died above ten years before. [Michaelis, ii. +617; Hubner, tt. 227, 229.] + +"Czar Peter called the Great had evidently a pity for this unfortunate +Duke, a hope in his just hopes; and pleaded, as did various others, and +endeavored with the unjust Danes, mostly without effect. Did, however, +give him one of his Daughters to wife;--the result of whom is this new +Czar Peter, called the Third: a Czar who is Sovereign of Holstein, and +has claims of Sovereignty in Sweden, right of heirship in Schleswig, +and of damages against Denmark, which are in litigation to this day. The +Czarina CATIN, tenderly remembering her Sister, would hear of no Heir to +Russia but this Peter. Peter, in virtue of his paternal affinities, was +elected King of Sweden about the same time; but preferred Russia,--with +an eye to his Danes, some think. For certain, did adopt the Russian +Expectancy, the Greek religion so called; and was," in the way we saw +long years ago, "married (or to all appearance married) to Catharina +Alexiewna of Anhalt-Zerbst, born in Stettin; [Herr Preuss knows the +house: "Now Dr. Lehmann's [at that time the Governor of Stettin's], +in which also Czar Paul's second Spouse [Eugen of Wurtemberg a NEW +Governor's Daughter], who is Mother of the Czars that follow, was born:" +Preuss, ii. 310, 311. Catharine, during her reign, was pious in a +small way to the place of her cradle; sent her successive MEDALS &c. to +Stettin, which still has them to show.] a Lady who became world-famous +as Czarina of the Russias. + +"Peter is an abstruse creature; has lived, all this while, with his +Catharine an abstruse life, which would have gone altogether mad except +for Catharine's superior sense. An awkward, ardent, but helpless kind of +Peter, with vehement desires, with a dash of wild magnanimity even: but +in such an inextricable element, amid such darkness, such +provocations of unmanageable opulence, such impediments, imaginary and +real,--dreadfully real to poor Peter,--as made him the unique of +mankind in his time. He 'used to drill cats,' it is said, and to do the +maddest-looking things (in his late buried-alive condition);--and fell +partly, never quite, which was wonderful, into drinking, as the solution +of his inextricabilities. Poor Peter: always, and now more than ever, +the cynosure of vulturous vulpine neighbors, withal; which infinitely +aggravated his otherwise bad case!-- + +"For seven or eight years, there came no progeny, nor could come; about +the eighth or ninth, there could, and did: the marvellous Czar Paul that +was to be. Concerning whose exact paternity there are still calumnious +assertions widely current; to this individual Editor much a matter of +indifference, though on examining, his verdict is: 'Calumnies, to all +appearance; mysteries which decent or decorous society refuses to speak +of, and which indecent is pretty sure to make calumnies out of.' Czar +Paul may be considered genealogically genuine, if that is much an object +to him. Poor Paul, does not he father himself, were there nothing more? +Only that Peter and this Catharine could have begotten such a Paul. +Genealogically genuine enough, my poor Czar,--that needed to be garroted +so very soon! + +2. OF CATHARINE AND THE BOOKS UPON PETER AND HER. "Catharine too had an +intricate time of it under the Catin; which was consoled to her only by +a tolerably rapid succession of lovers, the best the ground yielded. +In which department it is well known what a Thrice-Greatest she became: +superior to any Charles II.; equal almost to an August the Strong! Of +her loves now and henceforth, which are heartily uninteresting to me, +I propose to say nothing farther; merely this, That in extent they +probably rivalled the highest male sovereign figures (and are to be +put in the same category with these, and damned as deep, or a little +deeper);--and cost her, in gifts, in magnificent pensions to the EMERITI +(for she did things always in a grandiose manner, quietly and +yet inexorably dismissing the EMERITUS with stores of gold), the +considerable sum of 20 millions sterling, in the course of her long +reign. One, or at most two, were off on pension, when Hanbury Williams +brought Poniatowski for her, as we transiently saw. Poniatowski will be +King of Poland in the course of events.... + +"Russia is not a publishing country; the Books about Catharine are few, +and of little worth. TOOKE, an English Chaplain; CASTERA, an unknown +French Hanger-on, who copies from Tooke, or Tooke from him: these are +to be read, as the bad-best, and will yield little satisfactory insight; +Castera, in particular, a great deal of dubious backstairs gossip and +street rumor, which are not delightful to a reader of sense. In fine, +there has been published, in these very years, a FRAGMENT of early +AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Catharine herself,--a credible and highly remarkable +little Piece: worth all the others, if it is knowledge of Catharine +you are seeking. [_Memoires de l'Imperatrice Catharine II., ecrits par +elle-meme_ (A. Herzen editing; London, 1859)];--which we already cited, +on occasion of Catharine's marriage. + +Anonymous (Castera), _Vie de Catharine II., Imperatrice de Russie_ a +Paris, 1797; or reprinted, most of it, enough of it, A VARSOVIE, 1798) 2 +tomes, 8vo. Tooke, _Life of Catharine II._ (4th edition, London, 1800), +3 vols. 8vo; _View of the Russian Empire during &c._ (London, 1799), 3 +vols. 8vo.-Hermann, _Geschichte des Russischen Staats_ (Hamburg, 1853 +ET ANTEA), v. 241-308 et seq.; is by much the most solid Book, though a +dull and heavy. Stenzel cites, as does Hermann, a _Biographie Peters des +IIIten;_ which no doubt exists, in perhaps 3 volumes; but where, when, +by whom, or of what quality, they do not tell me. A most placid, +solid, substantial young Lady comes to light there; dropped into such +an element as might have driven most people mad. But it did not her; it +only made her wiser and wiser in her generation. Element black, hideous, +dirty, as Lapland Sorcery;--in which the first clear duty is, to hold +one's tongue well, and keep one's eyes open. Stars,--not very heavenly, +but of fixed nature, and heavenly to Catharine,--a star or two, shine +through the abominable murk: Steady, patient; steer silently, in all +weathers, towards these! + +"Young Catharine's immovable equanimity in this distracted environment +strikes us very much. Peter is careering, tumbling about, on all manner +of absurd broomsticks, driven too surely by the Devil; terrific-absurd +big Lapland Witch, surrounded by multitudes smaller, and some of them +less ugly. Will be Czar of Russia, however;--and is one's so-called +Husband. These are prospects for an observant, immovably steady-going +young Woman! The reigning Czarina, old CATIN herself, is silently +the Olympian Jove to Catharine, who reveres her very much. Though +articulately stupid as ever, in this Book of Catharine's, she comes out +with a dumb weight, of silence, of obstinacy, of intricate abrupt rigor, +which--who knows but it may savor of dumb unconscious wisdom in the fat +old blockhead? The Book says little of her, and in the way of criticism, +of praise or of blame, nothing whatever; but one gains the notion of +some dark human female object, bigger than one had fancied it before. + +"Catharine steered towards her stars. Lovers were vouchsafed her, of +a kind (her small stars, as we may call them); and, at length, +through perilous intricacies, the big star, Autocracy of All the +Russias,--through what horrors of intricacy, that last! She had hoped +always it would be by Husband Peter that she, with the deeper steady +head, would be Autocrat: but the intricacies kept increasing, grew at +last to the strangling pitch; and it came to be, between Peter and her, +'Either you to Siberia (perhaps FARTHER), or else I!' And it was Peter +that had to go;--in what hideous way is well enough known; no Siberia, +no Holstein thought to be far enough for Peter:--and Catharine, merely +weeping a little for him, mounted to the Autocracy herself. And then, +the big star of stars being once hers, she had, not in the lover kind +alone, but in all uncelestial kinds, whole nebulae and milky-ways of +small stars. A very Semiramis, the Louis-Quatorze of those Northern +Parts. 'Second Creatress of Russia,' second Peter the Great in a +sense. To me none of the loveliest objects; yet there are uglier, +how infinitely uglier: object grandiose, if not great."--We return to +Friedrich and the Death of Catin. + +Colonel Hordt, I believe, was the first who credibly apprised Friedrich +of the great Russian Event. Colonel Hordt, late of the Free-Corps HORDT, +but captive since soon after the Kunersdorf time; and whose doleful +quasi-infernal "twenty-five months and three days" in the Citadel of +Petersburg have changed in one hour into celestial glories in the Court +of that City;--as readers shall themselves see anon. By Hordt or by +whomsoever, the instant Friedrich heard, by an authentic source, of the +new Czar's Accession, Friedrich hastened to turn round upon him with the +friendliest attitude, with arms as if ready to open; dismissing all his +Russian Prisoners; and testifying, in every polite and royal way, how +gladly he would advance if permitted. To which the Czar, by Hordt and +by other channels, imperially responded; rushing forward, he, as if with +arms flung wide. + +January 31st is Order from the King, [In SCHONING, iii. 275 ("Breslau, +31st January, 1762").] That our Russian Prisoners, one and all, shod, +clad and dieted, be forthwith set under way from Stettin: in return +for which generosity the Prussians, from Siberia or wherever they were +buried, are, soon after, hastening home in like manner. Gudowitsh, +Peter's favorite Adjutant, who had been sent to congratulate at Zerbst, +comes round by Breslau (February 20th), and has joyfully benign audience +next day; directly on the heel of whom, Adjutant Colonel von Goltz, who +KAMMERHERR as well as Colonel, and understands things of business, goes +to Petersburg. February 23d, Czarish Majesty, to the horror of Vienna +and glad astonishment of mankind, emits Declaration (Note to all the +Foreign Excellencies in Petersburg), "That there ought to be Peace +with this King of Prussia; that Czarish Majesty, for his own part, +is resolved on the thing; gives up East Preussen and the so-called +conquests made; Russian participation in such a War has ceased." And +practically orders Czernichef, who is wintering with his 20,000 in +Glatz, to quit Glatz and these Austrian Combinations, and march homeward +with his 20,000. Which Czernichef, so soon as arrangements of proviant +and the like are made, hastens to do;--and does, as far as Thorn; but +no farther, for a reason that will be seen. On the last day of March, +Czernichef--off about a week ago from Glatz, and now got into the +Breslau latitude--came across, with a select Suite of Four, to pay his +court there; and had the honor to dine with his Majesty, and to be, +personally too, a Czernichef agreeable to his Majesty. + +The vehemency of Austrian Diplomacies at Petersburg; and the horror of +Kaiserinn and Kriegshofrath in Vienna,--who have just discharged 20,000 +of their own people, counting on this Czernichef, and being dreadfully +tight for money,--may be fancied. But all avails nothing. The ardent +Czar advances towards Friedrich with arms flung wide. Goltz and +Gudowitsh are engaged on Treaty of Peace; Czar frankly gives up East +Preussen, "Yours again; what use has Russia for it, Royal Friend?" +Treaty of Peace goes forward like the drawing of a Marriage-settlement +(concluded MAY 5th); and, in a month more, has changed into Treaty of +Alliance;--Czernichef ordered to stop short at Thorn; to turn back, and +join himself to this heroic King, instead of fighting against him. +Which again Czernichef, himself an admirer of this King, joyfully +does;--though, unhappily, not with all the advantage he expected to the +King. + +Swedish Peace, Queen Ulrique and the Anti-French Party now getting the +upper hand, had been hastening forward in the interim (finished, at +Hamburg, MAY 2d): a most small matter in comparison to the Russian; but +welcome enough to Friedrich;--though he said slightingly of it, when +first mentioned: "Peace? I know not hardly of any War there has been +with Sweden;--ask Colonel Belling about it!" Colonel Belling, a most +shining swift Hussar Colonel, who, with a 2,000 sharp fellows, hanging +always on the Swedish flanks, sharp as lightning, "nowhere and yet +everywhere," as was said of him, has mainly, for the last year or two, +had the management of this extraordinary "War." Peace over all the +North, Peace and more, is now Friedrich's. Strangling imbroglio, wide +as the world, has ebbed to man's height; dawn of day has ripened into +sunrise for Friedrich; the way out is now a thing credible and visible +to him. Peter's friendliness is boundless; almost too boundless! Peter +begs a Prussian Regiment,--dresses himself in its uniform, Colonel of +ITZENPLITZ; Friedrich begs a Russian Regiment, Colonel of SCHUWALOF: +and all is joyful, hopeful; marriage-bells instead of dirge ditto and +gallows ditto,--unhappily not for very long. + +In regard to Friedrich's feelings while all this went on, take the +following small utterances of his, before going farther. JANUARY 27th, +1762 (To Madam Camas,--eight days after the Russian Event): "I rejoice, +my good Mamma, to find you have such courage; I exhort you to redouble +it! All ends in this world; so we may hope this accursed War will not be +the only thing eternal there. Since death has trussed up a certain CATIN +of the Hyperborean Countries, our situation has advantageously changed, +and becomes more supportable than it was. We must hope that some other +events [favor of the new Czar mainly] will happen; by which we may +profit to arrive at a good Peace." + +JANUARY 31st (To Minister Finkenstein) "Behold the first gleam of light +that rises;--Heaven be praised for it! We must hope good weather will +succeed these storms. God grant it!" [Preuss, ii. 312.] + +END OF MARCH (To D'Argens):... "All that [at Paris; about the +Pompadourisms, the EXILE of Broglio and Brother, and your other news] is +very miserable; as well as that discrepancy between King's Council and +Parlement for and against the Jesuits! But, MON CHER MARQUIS, my head is +so ill, I can tell you nothing more,--except that the Czar of Russia is +a divine man; to whom I ought to erect altars." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ +xix. 301.] + +MAY 25th (To the same,--Russian PEACE three weeks ago): "It is very +pleasant to me, dear Marquis, that Sans-Souci could afford you an +agreeable retreat during the beautiful Spring days. If it depended only +on me, how soon should I be there beside you! But to the Six Campaigns +there is a Seventh to be added, and will soon open; either because the +Number 7 had once mystic qualities, or because in the Book of Fate from +all eternity the"--... "Jesuits banished from France? Ah, yes:--hearing +of that, I made my bit of plan for them [mean to have my pick of them as +schoolmasters in Silesia here]; and am waiting only till I get Silesia +cleared of Austrians as the first thing. You see we must not mow the +corn till it is ripe." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. p. 321.] + +MAY 28th (To the same):... Tartar Khan actually astir, 10,000 men of +his in Hungary (I am told); Turk potentially ditto, with 200,000 (futile +both, as ever): "All things show me the sure prospect of Peace by the +end of this Year; and, in the background of it, Sans-Souci and my dear +Marquis! A sweet calm springs up again in my soul; and a feeling of +hope, to which for six years I had got unused, consoles me for all I +have come through. Think only what a coil I shall be in, before a month +hence [Campaign opened by that time, horrid Game begun again]; and +what a pass we had come to, in December last: Country at its last gasp +(AGONISAIT), as if waiting for extreme unction: and now--!" [Ib. xix. +323.]... + +JUNE 8th (To Madame Camas,--Russian ALLIANCE now come): "I know well, +my good Mamma, the sincere part you take in the lucky events that befall +us. The mischief is, we are got so low, that we want at present all +manner of fortunate events to raise us again; and Two grand conclusions +of Peace [the Russian, the Swedish], which might re-establish Peace +throughout, are at this moment only a step towards finishing the War +less unfortunately." [Ib. xviii. 146, 147.]* + +Same day, JUNE 8th (To D'Argens): "Czernichef is on march to join us. +Our Campaign will not open till towards the end of this month [did +open July 1st]; but think then what a pretty noise in this poor Silesia +again! In fine, my dear Marquis, the job ahead of me is hard and +difficult; and nobody can say positively how it will all go. Pray for +us; and don't forget a poor devil who kicks about strangely in his +harness, who leads the life of one damned; and who nevertheless loves +you sincerely.--Adieu." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xix. 327.] D'Argens (May +24th) has heard, by Letters from very well-informed persons in Vienna, +that "Imperial Majesty, for some time past, spends half of her time in +praying to the Virgin, and the other half in weeping." "I wish her," +adds the ungallant D'Argens, "as punishment for the mischiefs her +ambition has cost mankind these seven years past, the fate of Phaethon's +Sisters, and that she melt altogether into water!" [Ib. xix. 320 ("24th +May, 1762").]--Take one other little utterance; and then to Colonel +Hordt and the Petersburg side of things. + +JUNE 19th (still to D'Argens); "What is now going on in Russia no Count +Kaunitz could foresee: what has come to pass in England,--of which +the hatefulest part [Bute's altogether extraordinary attempts, in the +Kaunitz, in the Czar Peter direction, to FORCE a Peace upon me] is not +yet known to you,--I had no notion of, in forming my plans! The Governor +of a State, in troublous times, never can be sure. This is what disgusts +me with the business, in comparison. A Man of Letters operates on +something certain; a Politician can have almost no data of that kind." +[Ib. xix. p. 329.] (How easy everybody's trade but one's own!) + +Readers know what a tragedy poor Peter's was. His Czernichef did join +the King; but with far less advantage than Czernichef or anybody had +anticipated!--It is none of our intention to go into the chaotic Russian +element, or that wildly blazing sanguinary Catharine-and-Peter +business; of which, at any rate, there are plentiful accounts in common +circulation, more or less accurate,--especially M. Rulhiere's, [Histoire +ou Anecdotes sur la Revolution de Russie en l'annes 1762 (written 1768; +first printed Paris, 1797: English Translation, London, 1797).] the most +succinct, lucid and least unsatisfactory, in the accessible languages. +Only so far as Friedrich was concerned are we. But readers saw this +Couple married, under Friedrich's auspices,--a Marriage which he thought +important twenty years ago; and sure enough the Dissolution of it did +prove important to him, and is a necessary item here! + +Readers, even those that know RULHIERE, will doubtless consent to a +little supplementing from Two other Eye-witnesses of credit. The first +and principal is a respectable Ex-Swedish Gentleman, whom readers used +to hear of; the Colonel Hordt above mentioned, once of the Free-Corps +HORDT, but fallen Prisoner latterly;--whose experiences and reports are +all the more interesting to us, as Friedrich himself had specially to +depend on them at present; and doubtless, in times long afterwards, now +and then heard speech of them from Hordt. Our second Eye-witness is the +Reverend Herr Doctor Busching (of the ERDBESCHREIBUNG, of the BEITRAGE, +and many other Works, an invaluable friend to us all along); who, in +his wandering time, had come to be "Pastor of the GERMAN CHURCH AT +PETERSBURG," some years back. + + + + +WHAT COLONEL HORDT AND THE OTHERS SAW AT PETERSBURG (January-July, +1762). + +Autumn, 1759, in the sequel to KUNERSDORF,--when the Russians and Daun +lay so long torpid, uncertain what to do except keep Friedrich and +Prince Henri well separate, and Friedrich had such watchings, campings +and marchings about on the hither skirt of them (skirt always veiled in +Cossacks, and producing skirmishes as you marched past),--we did mention +Hordt's capture; [Supra, vol. x. p. 315.] not much hoping that readers +could remember it in such a press of things more memorable. It was in, +or as prelude to, one of those skirmishes (one of the earliest, and a +rather sharp one, "at Trebatsch," in Frankfurt-Lieberose Country, +"4th September, 1759"), that Hordt had his misfortune: he had been out +reconnoitring, with an Orderly or two, before the skirmish began, was +suddenly "surrounded by 200 Cossacks," and after desperate plunging into +bogs, desperate firing of pistols and the like, was taken prisoner. Was +carted miserably to Petersburg,--such a journey for dead ennui as Hordt +never knew; and was then tumbled out into solitary confinement in the +Citadel, a place like the Spanish Inquisition; not the least notice +taken of his request for a few Books, for leave to answer his poor +Wife's Letter, merely by the words, "Dear one, I am alive;"--and was +left there, to the company of his own reflections, and a life as if in +vacant Hades, for twenty-five months and three days. After the lapse +of that period, he has something to say to us again, and we transiently +look in upon him there. + +The Book we excerpt from is _Memoires du Comte de Hordt_ (second +edition, 2 volumes 12mo, Berlin, 1789). This is Bookseller Pitra's +redaction of the Hordt Autobiography (Berlin, 1788, was Pitra's first +edition): several years after, how many is not said, nor whether Hordt +(who had become a dignitary in Berlin society before Pitra's feat) was +still living or not, a "M. Borelly, Professor in the Military School," +undertook a second considerably enlarged and improved redaction;--of +which latter there is an English Translation; easy enough to read; but +nearly without meaning, I should fear, to readers unacquainted with the +scene and subject. [_Memoirs of the Count de Hordt:_ London, 1806: 2 +vols. 12mo,--only the FIRST volume of which (unavailable here) is in my +possession.] Hordt was reckoned a perfectly veracious, intelligent kind +of man: but he seldom gives the least date, specification or precise +detail; and his Book reads, not like the Testimony of an Eye-witness, +which it is, and valuable when you understand it; but more like some +vague Forgery, compiled by a destitute inventive individual, regardless +of the Ten Commandments (sparingly consulting even his file of Old +Newspapers), and writing a Book which would deserve the tread-mill, were +there any Police in his trade!-- + +WEDNESDAY, 6th JANUARY, 1762, Hordt's vacant Hades of an existence in +the Citadel of Petersburg was broken by a loud sound: three minute-guns +went off from different sides, close by; and then whole salvos, peal +after peal: "Czarina gone overnight, Peter III. Czar in her stead!" +said the Officer, rushing in to tell Hordt; to whom it was as news of +resurrection from the dead. "Evening of same day, an Aide-de-Camp of +the new Czar came to announce my liberty; equipage waiting to take me +at once to his Russian Majesty. Asked him to defer it till the following +day--so agitated was I." And indeed the Czar, busy taking acclamations, +oaths of fealty, riding about among his Troops by torchlight, could have +made little of me that evening. [Hermann, _Geschichte des Russischen +Staats,_ v. 241.] "Ultimately, my presentation was deferred till Sunday" +January 10th, "that it might be done with proper splendor, all the +Nobility being then usually assembled about his Majesty." + +"JANUARY 10th, Waited, amid crowds of Nobility, in the Gallery, +accordingly. Was presented in the Gallery, through which the Czar, +followed by Czarina and all the Court, were passing on their way to +Chapel. Czar made a short kind speech ('Delighted to do you an act of +justice, Monsieur, and return a valuable servant to the King I esteem'); +gave me his hand to kiss: Czarina did the same. General Korf," an +excellent friend, so kind to me at Konigsberg, while I was getting +carted hither, and a General now in high office here, "who had been +my introducer, led me into Chapel, to the Court's place (TRIBUNE DE LA +COUR). Czar came across repeatedly [while public worship was going on; a +Czar perhaps too regardless that way!] to talk to me; dwelt much on his +attachment to the King. On coming out, the Head Chamberlain whispered +me, 'You dine with the Court.'" Which, of course, I did. + +"Table was of sixty covers; splendid as the Arabian Tales. Czar and +Czarina sat side by side; Korf and I had the honor to be placed opposite +them. Hardly were we seated when the Czar addressed me: 'You have had +no Prussian news this long while. I am glad to tell you that the King +is well, though he has had such fighting to right and left;--but I hope +there will soon be an end to all that.' Words which everybody listened +to like prophecy! [Peter is nothing of a Politician.] 'How long have you +been in prison?' continued the Czar. 'Twenty-five months and three days, +your Majesty.' 'Were you well treated?' Hordt hesitated, knew not what +to say; but, the Czar urging him, confessed, 'He had been always rather +badly used; not even allowed to buy a few books to read.' At which the +Czarina was evidently shocked: 'CELA EST BIEN BARBARE!' she exclaimed +aloud.--I wished much to return home at once; and petitioned the Czar on +that subject, during coffee, in the withdrawing rooms; but he answered, +'No, you must not,--not till an express Prussian Envoy arrive!' I had +to stay, therefore; and was thenceforth almost daily at Court",--but +unluckily a little vague, and altogether DATELESS as to what I saw +there! + +BIEREN AND MUNNICH, BOTH OF THEM JUST HOME FROM SIBERIA, ARE TO DRINK +TOGETHER (No date: Palace of Petersburg, Spring, 1762).--Peter had begun +in a great way: all for liberalism, enlightenment, abolition of abuses, +general magnanimity on his own and everybody's part. Rulhiere did not +see the following scene; but it seems to be well enough vouched for, and +Rulhiere heard it talked of in society. "As many as 20,000 persons, +it is counted, have come home from Siberian Exile:" the L'Estocs, the +Munnichs, Bierens, all manner of internecine figures, as if risen +from the dead. "Since the night when Munnich arrested Bieren [readers +possibly remember it, and Mannstein's account of it [Supra, vol. vii. p. +363.]], the first time these two met was in the gay and tumultuous crowd +which surrounded the new Czar. 'Come, bygones be bygones,' said Peter, +noticing them; 'let us three all drink together, like friends!'--and +ordered three glasses of wine. Peter was beginning his glass to show the +others an example, when somebody came with a message to him, which was +delivered in a low tone; Peter listening drank out his wine, set down +the glass, and hastened off; so that Bieren and Munnich, the two old +enemies, were left standing, glass in hand, each with his eyes on the +Czar's glass;--at length, as the Czar did not return, they flashed each +his eyes into the other's face; and after a moment's survey, set +down their glasses untasted, and walked off in opposite directions." +[Rulhiere, p. 33.] Won't coalesce, it seems, in spite of the Czar's high +wishes. An emblem of much that befell the poor Czar in his present high +course of good intentions and headlong magnanimities!--We return to +Hordt:-- + +THE CZAR WEARS A PORTRAIT OF FRIEDRICH ON HIS FINGER. "Czar Peter never +disguised his Prussian predilections. One evening he said, 'Propose to +your friend Keith [English Excellency here, whom we know] to give me a +supper at his house to-morrow night. The other Foreign Ministers will +perhaps be jealous; but I don't care!' Supper at the English Embassy +took place. Only ten or twelve persons, of the Czar's choosing, were +present. Czar very gay and in fine spirits. Talked much of the King +of Prussia. Showed me a signet-ring on his finger, with Friedrich's +Portrait in it; ring was handed round the table." [Hordt, ii. 118, 124, +129.] This is a signet-ring famous at Court in these months. One day +Peter had lost it (mislaid somewhere), and got into furious explosion +till it was found for him again. [Hermann, v. 258.] Let us now hear +Busching, our Geographical Friend, for a moment:-- + +HERR PASTOR BUSCHING DOES THE HOMAGING FOR SELF AND PEOPLE.... "In most +Countries, it is Official or Military People that administer the Oath of +Homage, on a change of Sovereigns. But in Petersburg, among the German +population, it is the Pastors of their respective Churches. At the +accession of Peter III., I, for the first time [being still a young +hand rather than an old], took the Oath from several thousands in my +Church,"--and handed it over, with my own, in the proper quarter. + +"As to the Congratulatory Addresses, the new Czar received the +Congratulations of all classes, and also of the Pastors of the Foreign +Churches, in the following manner. He came walking slowly through +a suite of rooms, in each of which a body of Congratulators were +assembled. Court-officials preceded, State-officials followed him. Then +came the Czarina, attended in a similar way. And always on entering a +new room they received a new Congratulation from the spokesman of the +party there. The spokesman of us Protestant Pastors was my colleague, +Senior Trefurt; but the General-in-Chief and Head-of-Police, Baron von +Korf [Hordt's friend, known to us above, German, we perceive, by creed +and name], thinking it was I that had to make the speech, and intending +to present me at the same time to the Czar, motioned to me from his +place behind the Czar to advance. But I did not push forward; thinking +it inopportune and of no importance to me."--"Neither did I share the +great expectations which Baron von Korf and everybody entertained of +this new reign. All people now promised themselves better times, without +reflecting [as they should have done!] that the better men necessary +to produce these were nowhere forthcoming!" [Busching's _Beitrage,_ vi. +("Author's own Biography") 462 et seq.] + +For the first two or three months, Peter was the idol of all the world: +such generosities and magnanimities; Such zeal and diligence, one +magnanimous improvement following another! He had at once abolished +Torture in his Law-Courts: resolved to have a regular Code of Laws,--and +Judges to be depended on for doing justice. He "destroyed monopolies;" +"lowered the price of salt." To the joy of everybody, he had hastened +(January 18th, second week of reign) to abolish the SECRET CHANCERY,--a +horrid Spanish-Inquisition engine of domestic politics. His Nobility he +had determined should be noble: January 28th (third week of reign just +beginning), he absolved the Nobility from all servile duties to him: +"You can travel when and where you please; you are not obliged to serve +in my Armies; you may serve in anybody's not at war with me!" under +plaudits loud and universal from that Order of men. And was petitioned +by a grateful Petersburg world: "Permit us, magnanimous Czar, to raise +a statue of your Majesty in solid Gold!" "Don't at all!" answered +Peter: "Ah, if by good governing I could raise a memorial in my People's +hearts; that would be the Statue for me!" [Hermann, v. 248.] Poor +headlong Peter!--It was a less lucky step that of informing the Clergy +(date not given), That in the Czarship lay Spiritual Sovereignty as well +as Temporal, and that HE would henceforth administer their rich Abbey +Lands and the like:--this gave a sad shock to the upper strata of +Priesthood, extending gradually to the lower, and ultimately raising an +ominous general thought (perhaps worse than a general cry) of "Church in +Danger! Alas, is our Czar regardless of Holy Religion, then? Perhaps, at +heart still Lutheran, and has no Religion?" This, and his too headlong +Prussian tendencies, are counted to have done him infinite mischief. + +HERR BUSCHING SEES THE CZAR ON HORSEBACK. "When the Czar's own Regiment +of Cuirassiers came to Petersburg, the Czar, dressed in the uniform +of the regiment, rode out to meet it; and returning at its head, rode +repeatedly through certain quarters of the Town. His helmet was buckled +tight with leather straps under the chin; he sat his horse as upright +and stiff as a wooden image; held his sabre in equally stiff manner; +turned fixedly his eyes to the right; and never by a hair's-breadth +changed that posture. In such attitude he twice passed my house with his +regiment, without changing a feature at sight of the many persons who +crowded the windows. To me [in my privately austere judgment] he seemed +so KLEINGEISTISCH, so small-minded a person, that I"--in fact, knew not +what to think of it. [Busching, _Beitrage,_ vi. 464.] + +HORDT SEES THE DECEASED CZARINA LYING IN STATE. "One day, after dining +at Court, General Korf proposed that we should go and see the LIT DE +PARADE" (Parade-bed) of the late Czarina, which is in another Palace, +not far off. "Count Schuwalof [NOT her old lover, who has DIED since +her, poor old creature; but his Son, a cultivated man, afterwards +Voltaire's friend] accompanied us; and, his rooms being contiguous to +those of the dead Lady, he asked us to take coffee with him afterwards. +The Imperial Bier stood in the Grand Saloon, which was hung all round +with black, festooned and garlanded with cloth-of-silver; the glare of +wax-lights quite blinding. Bier, covered with cloth-of-gold trimmed with +silver lace, was raised upon steps. A rich Crown was on the head of the +dead Czarina. Beside the bier stood Four Ladies, two on each hand, in +grand mourning; immense crape training on the ground behind them. Two +Officers of the Life-Guard occupied the lowest steps: on the topmost, at +the foot of the bier, was an Archimandrite (superior kind of ABBOT), +who had a Bible before him, from which he read aloud,--continuously till +relieved by another. This went on day and night without interruption. +All round the bier, on stools (TABOURETS), were placed different Crowns, +and the insignia of various Orders,--those of Prussia, among others. It +being established usage, I had, to my great repugnance, to kiss the hand +of the corpse! We then talked a little to the Ladies in attendance (with +their crape trains), joking about the article of hand-kissing; finally +we adjourned for coffee to Count Schuwalof's apartments, which were of +an incredible magnificence." That same evening, farther on,-- + +"I supped with the Czar in his PETIT APPARTEMENT, Private Rooms [a +fine free-and-easy nook of space!]. The company there consisted of the +Countess Woronzow, a creature without any graces, bodily or mental, whom +the Czar had chosen for his Mistress [snub-nosed, pock-marked, fat, and +with a pert tongue at times], whom I liked the less, as there were +one or two other very handsome women there. Some Courtiers too; and no +Foreigners but the English Envoy and myself. The supper was very gay, +and was prolonged late into the night. These late orgies, however, did +not prevent his Majesty from attending to business in good time next +morning. He would appear unexpectedly, at an early hour, at the Senate, +at the Synod [Head CONSISTORY], making them stand to their duties,"--or +pretend to do it. His Majesty is not understood to have got much real +work out of either of these Governing Bodies; the former, the Senate, or +SECULAR one, which had fallen very torpid latterly, was, not long after +this, suffered to die out altogether. Peter himself was a violently +pushing man, and never shrank from labor; always in a plunge of hurries, +and of irregular hours. In his final time, people whispered, "The +Czar is killing himself; sits smoking, tippling, talking till 2 in the +morning; and is overhead in business again by 7!" + +CZARINA ELIZABETH'S FUNERAL, AS SEEN BY HORDT (much abridged). "At 10 +in the morning all the bells in Petersburg broke out; and tolled +incessantly [day or month not hinted at,--nor worth seeking; grim +darkness of universal frost perceptible enough; clangor of bells; +and procession seemingly of miles long,--on this extremely high +errand!]--Minute-guns were fired from the moment the procession set +out from the Castle till it arrived at the Citadel, a distance of two +English miles and a half. Planks were laid all the way; forming a sort +of bridge through the streets, and over the ice of the Neva. All the +soldiers of the Garrison were ranked in espalier on each side. Three +hundred grenadiers opened the march; after them, three hundred priests, +in sacerdotal costume; walking two-and-two, singing hymns. All +the Crowns and Orders, above mentioned by me, were carried by high +Dignitaries of the Court, walking in single file, each a chamberlain +behind him. Hearse was followed by the Czar, skirt of his black cloak +held up by Twelve Chamberlains, each a lighted taper in the OTHER hand. +Prince George of Holstein [Czar's Uncle] came next, then Holstein-Beck +[Czar's Cousin]. Czarina Catharine followed, also on foot, with +a lighted taper; her cloak borne by all her Ladies. Three hundred +grenadiers closed the procession. Bells tolling, minute-guns firing, +seas of people crowding."--Thus the Russians buried their Czarina. Day +and its dusky frost-curtains sank; and Bootes, looking down from the +starry deeps, found one Telluric Anomaly forever hidden from him. She +had left of unworn Dresses, the richest procurable in Nature (five a day +her usual allowance, and never or seldom worn twice), "15,000 and some +hundreds." [Hermann, v. 176.] + +HORDT IS OF THE NEW CZARINA CATHARINE'S EVENING PARTIES. "The Czarina +received company every morning. She received everybody with great +affability and grace. But notwithstanding her efforts to appear gay, one +could perceive a deep background of sadness in her. She knew better than +anybody the violent (ARDENTE) character of her husband; and perhaps +she then already foresaw what would come. She also had her circle every +evening, and always asked the company to stay supper. One evening, when +I was of her party, a confidential Equerry of the Czar came in, and +whispered me That I had been searched for all over Town, to come +to supper at the COUNTESS'S (that was the usual designation of the +Sultana,"--DAS FRAULEIN, spelt in Russian ways, is the more usual). +"I begged to be excused for this time, being engaged to sup with the +Czarina, to whom I could not well state the reason for which I was to +leave. The Equerry had not gone long, when suddenly a great noise was +heard, the two wings of the door were flung open, and the Czar entered. +He saluted politely the Czarina and her circle; called me with that +smiling and gracious air which he always had; took me by the arm, and +said to the Czarina: 'Excuse me, Madam, if to-night I carry off one of +your guests; it is this Prussian I had searched for all over the Town.' +The Czarina laughed; I made her a deep bow, and went away with my +conductor. Next morning I went to the Czarina; who, without mentioning +what had passed last night, said smiling, 'Come and sup with me always +when there is nothing to prevent it.'" + +FEBRUARY 21st, HORDT AT ZARSKOE-ZELOE. "On occasion of the Czar's +birthday [which gives us a date, for once], [Michaelis, ii. 627: "Peter +born, 21st February, 1728."] there were great festivities, lasting a +week. It began with a grand TE DEUM, at which the Czar was present, but +not the Czarina. She had, that morning, in obedience to her husband's +will, decorated 'the Countess' with the cordon of the Order of St. +Catharine. She was now detained in her Apartment 'by indisposition;' +and did not leave it during the eight days the festivities lasted." This +happened at the Country Palace, Zarskoe-Zeloe; and is a turning-point in +poor Peter's History. [Hermann, p. 253.] From that day, his Czarina saw +that, by the medium of her Peter, it was not she that would ever come to +be Autocrat; not she, but a pock-marked, unbeautiful Person, with Cordon +of the Order of St. Catharine,--blessings on it! From that day the +Czarina sat brooding her wrongs and her perils,--wrongs DONE, very +many, and now wrongs to be SUFFERED, who can say how many! She perceives +clearly that the Czar is gone from her, fixedly sullen at her (not +without cause);--and that Siberia, or worse, is possible by and by. The +Czarina was helplessly wretched for some time; and by degrees entered +on a Plot;--assisted by Princess Dashkof (Sister of the Snub-nosed), by +Panin (our Son's Tutor, "a genuine Son, I will swear, whatever the +Papa may think in his wild moments!"), by Gregory Orlof (one's present +Lover), and others of less mark;--and it ripened exquisitely within the +next four months!-- + +HORDT HEARS THE PRAISES OF HIS KING. "Next day [nobody can guess what +DAY] I dined at Court. I sat opposite the Czar, who talked of nothing +but of his 'good friend the King of Prussia.' He knew all the smallest +details of his Campaigns; all his military arrangements; the dress +and strength of all his Regiments; and he declared aloud that he would +shortly put all his troops upon the same footing [which he did shortly, +to the great disgust of his troops].--Rising from table, the Czar +himself did me the honor to say, 'Come to-morrow; dine with me EN PETIT +APPARTEMENT [on the SNUG, where we often play high-jinks, and go to +great lengths in liquor and tobacco]; I will show you something +curious, which you will like.' I went at the accustomed hour; I +found--Lieutenant-General Werner [hidden since his accident at Colberg +last winter, whom a beneficent Czar has summoned again into the light +of noon]! I made a great friendship with this distinguished General, who +was a charming man; and went constantly about with him, till he left me +here,"--Czarish kindness letting Werner home, and detaining me, to my +regret. [HORDT, i. 133-145, 151.] + +The Prussian Treaties, first of Peace (May 5th), with all our Conquests +flung back, and then of Alliance, with yourself and ourselves, as it +were, flung into the bargain,--were by no means so popular in Petersburg +as in Berlin! From May 5th onwards, we can suppose Peter to be, perhaps +rather rapidly, on the declining hand. Add the fatal element, "Church +in Danger" (a Czar privately Apostate); his very Guardsmen indignant +at their tight-fitting Prussian uniforms, and at their no less tight +Prussian DRILL (which the Czar is uncommonly urgent with); and a Czarina +Plot silently spreading on all sides, like subterranean mines filled +with gunpowder!-- + +HERR BUSCHING SEES THE CATASTROPHE (Friday, 9th July, 1762). "This being +the day before Peter-and-Paul, which is a great Holiday in Petersburg, I +drove out, between 9 and 10 in the morning, to visit the sick. On my way +from the first house where I had called, I heard a distant noise like +that of a rising thunder-storm, and asked my people what it was. +They did not know; but it appeared to them like the Shouting of a Mob +(VOLKSGESCHREI), and there were all sorts of rumors afloat. Some said, +'The Czar had suddenly resolved to get himself crowned at Petersburg, +before setting out for the War on Denmark.' Others said, 'He had named +the Czarina to be Regent during his absence, and that she was to be +crowned for this purpose.' These rumors were too silly: meanwhile the +noise perceptibly drew nearer; and I ordered my coachman to proceed no +farther, but to turn home. + +"On getting home, I called my Wife; and told her, That something +extraordinary was then going on, but that I could not learn what; that +it appeared to me like some popular Tumult, which was coming nearer to +us every moment. We hurried to the corner room of our house; threw open +the window, which looks to the Church of St. Mary of Casan [where an +Act of Thanksgiving has just been consummated, of a very peculiar +kind!]--and we then saw, near this Church, an innumerable crowd of +people; dressed and half-dressed soldiers of the foot-regiments of the +Guards mixed with the populace. We perceived that the crowd pressed +round a common two-seated Hackney Coach drawn by two horses; in which, +after a few minutes, a Lady dressed in black, and wearing the Order +of St. Catharine, coming out of the church, took a seat. Whereupon +the church-bells began ringing, and the priests, with their assistants +carrying crosses, got into procession, and walked before the Coach. We +now recognized that it was the Czarina Catharine saluting the multitude +to right and left, as she fared along." [_Beitrage,_ vi. 465: compare +RULHIERE, p. 95; HERMANN, v. 287.] + +Yes, Doctor, that Lady in black is the Czarina; and has come a drive +of twenty miles this morning; and done a great deal of business in +Town,--one day before the set time. In her remote Apartment at Peterhof, +this morning, between 2 and 3, she awoke to see Alexei Orlof, called +oftener SCARRED Orlof (Lover GREGORY'S Brother), kneeling at her +bedside, with the words, "Madam, you must come: there is not a moment to +lose!"--who, seeing her awake, vanished to get the vehicles ready. About +7, she, with the Scarred and her maid and a valet or two, arrived at the +Guards' Barracks here,--Gregory Orlof, and others concerned, waiting to +receive her, in the fit temper for playing at sharps. She has spoken a +little, wept a little, to the Guards (still only half-dressed, many of +them): "Holy religion, Russian Empire thrown at the feet of Prussia; my +poor Son to be disinherited: Alack, ohoo!" Whereupon the Guards (their +Officers already gained by Orlof) have indignantly blazed up into the +fit Hurra-hurra-ing:--and here, since about 9 A.M., we have just been in +the "Church of St. Mary of Casan" ("Oh, my friends, Orthodox Religion, +first of all!") doing TE-DEUMS and the other Divine Offices, for the +thrice-happy Revolution and Deliverance now vouchsafed us and you! And +the Herr Doctor, under outburst of the chimes of St. Mary, and of the +jubilant Soldieries and Populations, sees the Czarina saluting to right +and left; and Priests, with their assistants and crucifixes ("Behold +them, ye Orthodox; is there anything equal to true Religion?"), walking +before her Hackney Coach. + +"On the one step of her Coach," continues the Herr Doctor, "stood +Grigorei Grigorjewitsh Orlow," so he spells him, "and in front of +it, with drawn sword, rode the Field-marshal and Hetman Count +Kirila Grigorjewitsh Rasomowski, Colonel of the Ismailow Guard. +Lieutenant-General (soon to be General-Ordnance-Master) Villebois came +galloping up; leapt from his horse under our windows, and placed himself +on the other step of the Coach. The procession passed before our house; +going first to the New stone Palace, then to the Old wooden Winter +Palace. Common Russians shouted mockingly up to us, 'Your god [meaning +the Czar] is dead!' And others, 'He is gone; we will have no more of +him!'"-- + +About this hour of the day, at Oranienbaum (ORANGE-TREE, some twenty +miles from here, and from Peterhof guess ten or twelve), Czar Peter is +drilling zealously his brave Holsteiners (2,000 or more, "the flower of +all my troops"); and has not, for hours after, the least inkling of all +this. Catharine had been across to visit him on Wednesday, no farther +back; and had kindled Oranienbaum into opera, into illumination and +what not. Thursday (yesterday), Czar and Czarina met at some Grandee's +festivity, who lives between their two Residences. This day the Czar +is appointed for Peterhof; to-morrow, July 10th (Peter-and-Paul's +grand Holiday), Czar, Czarina and united Court were to have done the +Festivities together there,--with Czarina's powder-mine of Plot laid +under them; which latter has exploded one day sooner, in the present +happy manner! The poor Czar, this day, on getting to Peterhof, and +finding Czarina vanished, understood too well; he saw "big smoke-clouds +rise suddenly over Petersburg region," withal,--"Ha, she has cannon +going for her yonder; salvoing and homaging!"--and rushed back to +Oranienbaum half mad. Old Munnich undertook to save him, by one, by two +or even three different methods, "Only order me, and stand up to it with +sword bare!"--but Peter's wits were all flying miscellaneously about, +and he could resolve on nothing. + +Peter and his Czarina never met more. Saturday (to-morrow), he +abdicates; drives over to Peterhof, expecting, as per bargain, interview +with his Wife; freedom to retire to Holstein, and "every sort of +kindness compatible with his situation:" but is met there instead, on +the staircase, by brutal people, who tear the orders off his coat, at +length the very clothes off his back,--and pack him away to Ropscha, a +quiet Villa some miles off, to sit silent there till Orlof and Company +have considered. Consideration is: "To Holstein? He has an Anti-Danish +Russian Army just now in that neighborhood; he will not be safe in +Holstein;--where will he be safe?" Saturday, 17th, Peter's seventh day +in Ropscha, the Orlofs (Scarred Orlof and Four other miscreants, one of +them a Prince, one a Play-actor) came over, and murdered poor Peter, in +a treacherous, and even bungling and disgusting, and altogether hideous +manner. "A glass of burgundy [poisoned burgundy], your Highness?" +said they, at dinner with his poor Highness. On the back of which, the +burgundy having failed and been found out, came grappling and hauling, +trampling, shrieking, and at last strangulation. Surely the Devil will +reward such a Five of his Elect?--But we detain Herr Busching: it is +still only Friday morning, 9th of the month; and the Czarina's Hackney +Coach, in the manner of a comet and tail, has just gone into other +streets:-- + +"After this terrible uproar had left our quarter, I hastened to the +Danish Ambassador, Count Haxthausen, who lived near me, to bring him +the important news that the Czar was said to be dead. The Count was just +about to burn a mass of Papers, fearing the mob would plunder his house; +but he did not proceed with it now, and thanked Heaven for saving his +Country. His Secretary of Legation, my friend Schumacher, gave me all +the money he had in his pockets, to distribute amongst the poor; and I +returned home. Directly after, there passed our house, at a rate as if +the horses were running away, a common two-horse coach, in which sat +Head-Tutor (OBER-HOFMEISTER) von Panin with the Grand Duke [famous Czar +Paul that is to be], who was still in his nightgown," poor frightened +little boy!-- + +"Not long after, I saw some of the Foot-guards, in the public street +near the Winter Palace, selling, at rates dog-cheap, their new uniforms +after the Prussian cut, which they had stript off; whilst others, +singing merrily, carried about, stuck on the top of their muskets, or +on their bayonets, their new grenadier caps of Prussian fashion. [See +in HERMANN (v. 291) the Saxon Ambassador's Report.] I saw several +soldiers, out on errand or otherwise, seizing the coaches they met in +the streets, and driving on in them. Others appropriated the eatables +which hucksters carried about in baskets. But in all this wild tumult, +nobody was killed; and only at Oranienbaum a few Holstein soldiers got +wounded by some low Russians, in their wantonness. + +"July 11th, the disorder amongst the soldiers was at its height; yet +still much less than might have been expected. Many of them entered the +houses of Foreigners, and demanded money. Seeing a number of them come +into my house, I hastily put a quantity of roubles and half-roubles in +my pocket, and went out with a servant, especially with a cheerful face, +to meet them,"--and no harm was done. + +"SATURDAY, JULY 17th, was the day of the Czar's death; on the same 17th, +the Empress was informed of it; and next day, his body was brought from +Ropscha to the Convent of St. Alexander Newski, near Petersburg. Here +it lay in state three days; nay, an Imperial Manifesto even ordered that +the last honors and duty be paid to it. July 20th, I drove thither with +my Wife; and to be able to view the body more minutely, we passed twice +through the room where it lay. [An uncommonly broad neckcloth on it, did +you observe?] Owing to the rapid dissolution, it had to be interred +on the following day:--and it was a touching circumstance, that this +happened to be the very day on which the Czar had fixed to start from +Petersburg on his Campaign against Denmark." [Busching, vi. 464-467.] + +Catharine, one must own with a shudder, has not attained the Autocracy +of All the Russias gratis. Let us hope she would once--till driven upon +a dire alternative--have herself shuddered to purchase at such a price. +A kind of horror haunts one's notion of her red-handed brazen-faced +Orlofs and her, which all the cosmetics of the world will never quite +cover. And yet, on the spot, in Petersburg at the moment--! Read this +Clipping from Smelfungus, on a collateral topic:-- + +"In BUSCHING'S MAGAZINE are some Love-letters from the old Marshal +Munnich to Catharine just after this event, which are psychologically +curious. Love-letters, for they partake of that character; though the +man is 82, and has had such breakages and vicissitudes in this Earth. +Alive yet, it would seem; and full of ambitions. Unspeakably beautiful +is this young Woman to him; radiant as ox-eyed Juno, as Diana of the +silver bow,--such a power in her to gratify the avarices, ambitions, +cupidities of an insatiable old fellow: O divine young Empress, Aurora +of bright Summer epochs, rosy-fingered daughter of the Sun,--grant me +the governing of This, the administering of That: and see what a thing +I will make of it (I, an inventive old gentleman), for your Majesty's +honor and glory, and my own advantage! [Busching, _Magazin fur die neue +Historie und Geographie_ (Halle, Year 1782), xvi. 413-477 (22 LETTERS, +and only thrice or so a word of RESPONSE from "MA DIVINITE:" +dates, "Narva, 4th August, 1762"... "Petersburg, 3d October, +1762").]--Innumerable persons of less note than Munnich have +their Biographies, and are known to the reading public and in all +barbers'-shops, if that were an advantage to them. Very considerable, +this Munnich, as a soldier, for one thing. And surely had very strange +adventures; an original German character withal:--about the stature of +Belleisle, for example; and not quite unlike Belleisle in some of his +ways? Came originally from the swamps of Oldenburg, or Lower Weser +Country,--son of a DEICHGRAFE (Ditch-Superintendent) there. REQUIESCANT +in oblivious silence, Belleisle and he; it is better than being lied of, +and maundered of, and blotched and blundered of. + +"Biographies were once rhythmic, earnest as death or as life, earnest as +transcendent human Insight risen to the Singing pitch; some Homer, nay +some Psalmist or Evangelist, spokesman of reverent Populations, was the +Biographer. Rhythmic, WITH exactitude, investigation to the very marrow; +this, or else oblivion, Biography should now, and at all times, be; but +is not,--by any manner of means. With what results is visible enough, +if you will look! Human Stupor, fallen into the dishonest, lazy and +UNflogged condition, is truly an awful thing." + +Catharine did not persist in her Anti-Prussian determination. July 9th, +the Manifesto had been indignantly emphatic on Prussia; July 22d, in a +Note to Goltz from the Czarina, it was all withdrawn again. [Rodenbeck, +ii. 171.] Looking into the deceased Czar's Papers, she found that +Friedrich's Letters to him had contained nothing of wrong or offensive; +always excellent advices, on the contrary,--advice, among others, To be +conciliatory to his clever-witted Wife, and to make her his ally, not +his opponent, in living and reigning. In Konigsberg (July 16th, seven +days after July 9th), the Russian Governor, just on the point of +quitting, emitted Proclamation, to everybody's horror: "No; altered, all +that; under pain of death, your Oath to Russia still valid!" Which for +the next ten days, or till his new proclamation, made such a Konigsberg +of it as may be imagined. The sight of those Letters is understood to +have turned the scale; which had hung wavering till July 22d in the +Czarina's mind. "Can it be good," she might privately think withal, "to +begin our reign by kindling a foolish War again?" How Friedrich received +the news of July 9th, and into what a crisis it threw him, we shall soon +see. His Campaign had begun July 1st;--and has been summoning us home, +into ITS horizon, for some time. + + + + +Chapter XI.--SEVENTH CAMPAIGN OPENS. + +Freidrich's plan of Campaign is settled long since: Recapture +Schweidnitz; clear Silesia of the enemy; Silesia and all our own +Dominions clear, we can then stand fencible against the Austrian +perseverances. Peace, one day, they must grant us. The general tide +of European things is changed by these occurrences in Petersburg and +London. Peace is evidently near. France and England are again beginning +to negotiate; no Pitt now to be rigorous. The tide of War has been +wavering at its summit for two years past; and now, with this of Russia, +and this of Bute instead of Pitt, there is ebb everywhere, and all +Europe determining for peace. Steady at the helm, as heretofore, a +Friedrich, with the world-current in his favor, may hope to get home +after all. + +Austrian Head-quarters had been at Waldenburg, under Loudon or his +Lieutenants, all Winter. Loudon returned thither from Vienna April 7th; +but is not to command in chief, this Year,--Schweidnitz still sticking +in some people's throats: "Dangerous; a man with such rash practices, +rapidities and Pandour tendencies!" Daun is to command in Silesia; +Loudon, under him, obscure to us henceforth, and inoffensive to Official +people. Reichs Army shall take charge of Saxony; nominally a Reichs +Army, though there are 35,000 Austrians in it, as the soul of it, under +some Serbelloni, some Stollberg as Chief--(the fact, I believe, is: +Serbelloni got angrily displaced on that "crossing of the Mulda by +Prince Henri, May 13th;" Prince of Zweibruck had angrily abdicated a +year before; and a Prince von Stollberg is now Generalissimo of +Reich and Allies: but it is no kind of matter),--some Stollberg, +with Serbelloni, Haddick, Maguire and such like in subaltern places. +Cunctator Daun, in spite of his late sleepy ways, is to be Head-man +again: this surely is a cheering circumstance to Friedrich; Loudon, not +Daun, being the only man he ever got much ill of hitherto. + +Daun arrives in Waldenburg, May 9th; and to show that he is not +cunctatory, steps out within a week after. May 15th, he has descended +from his Mountains; has swept round by the back and by the front of +Schweidnitz, far and wide, into the Plain Country, and encamped himself +crescent-wise, many miles in length, Head-quarter near the Zobtenberg. +Bent fondly round Schweidnitz; meaning, as is evident, to defend +Schweidnitz against all comers,--his very position symbolically +intimating: "I will fight for it, Prussian Majesty, if you like!" + +Prussian Majesty, however, seemed to take no notice of him; and, what +was very surprising, kept his old quarters: "a Cantonment, or Chain of +Posts, ten miles long; Schweidnitz Water on his right flank, Oder on his +left;" perfectly safe, as he perceives, being able to assemble in four +hours, if Daun try anything. [Tempelhof, vi. 66.] And, in fact, +sat there, and did not come into the Field at all for five weeks or +more;--waiting till Czernichef's 20,000 arrive, who are on march from +Thorn since June 2d. Mere small-war goes on in the interim; world +getting all greener and flowerier; the Glatz Highlands, to one's left +yonder (Owl-Mountains, EULENGEBIRGE so called), lying magically blue +and mysterious:--on the Plain in front of them, ten miles from the +final peaks of them, is Schweidnitz Fortress, lying full in view, with +a picked Garrison of 12,000 under a picked Captain, and all else of +defence or impregnability; and Friedrich privately determined to take +it, though by methods of his own choosing, and which cannot commence +till Czernichef come. Daun, with his right wing, has hold of those +Highland Regions, and cautiously guards them; can, when he pleases, +wend back to Waldenburg Country; and at once, with his superior numbers, +block all passages, and sit there impregnable. The methods of dislodging +him are obscure to Friedrich himself; but methods there must be, +dislodged he must be, and sent packing. Without that, all siege of +Schweidnitz is flatly impossible. + +June 27th, Friedrich's Head-quarter is Tintz, Czernichef now nigh: +[Tempelhof, vi. 76.] two days ago (June 25th), Czernichef's Cossacks +"crossed the Oder at Auras,"--with how different objects from those they +used to have! JULY 1st, Czernichef himself is here, in full tale and +equipment. Had encamped, a day ago, on the Field of Lissa; where +Majesty reviewed him, inspected and manoeuvred him, with great mutual +satisfaction. "Field of Lissa;" it is where our poor Prussian people +encamped on the night of Leuthen, with their "NUN DANKET ALLE GOTT," +five years ago, in memorable circumstances: to what various uses are +Earth's Fields liable! + +Friedrich, by degrees, has considerably changed his opinion, and bent +towards the late Keith's, about Russian Soldiery: a Soldiery of most +various kinds; from predatory Cossacks and Calmucks to those noble +Grenadiers, whom we saw sit down on the Walls of Schweidnitz when their +work was done. A perfectly steady obedience is in these men; at any and +all times obedient, to the death if needful, and with a silence, with +a steadfastness as of rocks and gravitation. Which is a superlative +quality in soldiers. Good in Nations too, within limits; and much a +distinction in the Russian Nation: rare, or almost unique, in these +unruly Times. The Russians have privately had their admirations +of Friedrich, all this while; and called him by I forget what +unpronounceable vernacular epithet, signifying "Son of Lightning," +or some such thing. [Buchholz, _Neueste Preussisch-Brandenburgische +Geschichte_ (1775), vol ii. (page irrecoverable).] No doubt they are +proud to have a stroke of service under such a one, since Father Peter +Feodorowitsh graciously orders it: the very Cossacks show an alertness, +a vivacity; and see cheery possibilities ahead, in Countries not yet +plundered out. They stayed with Friedrich only Three Weeks,--Russia +being an uncertain Country. As we have seen above; though Friedrich, who +is vitally concerned, has not yet seen! But their junction with him, and +review by him in the Field of Lissa, had its uses by and by; and may be +counted an epoch in Russian History, if nothing more. The poor Russian +Nation, most pitiable of loyal Nations,--struggling patiently ahead, on +those bad terms, under such CATINS and foul Nightmares,--has it, shall +we say, quite gone without conquest in this mad War? Perhaps, not quite. +It has at least shown Europe that it possesses fighting qualities: a +changed Nation, since Karl XII. beat them easily, at Narva, 8,000 to +80,000, in the snowy morning, long since!-- + +Czernichef once come, and in his place in the Camp of Tintz, business +instantly begins,--business, and a press of it, in right earnest;--upon +the hitherto idle Daun. July 1st, there is general complex Advance +everywhere on Friedrich's part; general attempt towards the Mountains. +Upon which Daun, well awake, at once rolls universally thitherward +again; takes post in front of the Mountains,--on the Heights of +Kunzendorf, to wit (Loudon's old post in Bunzelwitz time);-and +elaborately spreads himself out in defence there. "Take him +multifariously by the left flank, get between him and his Magazine at +Braunau!" thinks Friedrich. Discovering which, Daun straightway hitches +back into the Mountains altogether, leaving Kunzendorf to Friedrich's +use as main camp. His outmost Austrians, on the edge of the Mountain +Country, and back as far as suitable, Daun elaborately posts; +and intrenches himself behind them in all the commanding +points,--Schweidnitz still well in sight; and Braunau and the roads to +it well capable of being guarded. Daun's Head-quarter is Tannhausen; +Burkersdorf, Ludwigsdorf, if readers can remember them, are frontward +posts:--in his old imperturbable way Daun sits there waiting events. + +And for near three weeks there ensues a very multiplex series of rapid +movements, and alarming demonstrations, on Daun's front, on Daun's right +flank; with serious extensive effort (masked in that way) to turn Daun's +left flank, and push round by Landshut Country upon Bohemia and Braunau. +Effort very serious indeed on that Landshut side: conducted at first by +Friedrich in person, with General Wied (called also NEUwied, a man of +mark since Liegnitz time) as second under him; latterly by Wied himself, +as Friedrich found it growing dubious or hopeless. That was Friedrich's +first notion of the Daun problem. There are rapid marches here, there, +round that western or left flank of Daun; sudden spurts of fierce +fighting, oftenest with a stiff climb as preliminary: but not the +least real success on Daun. Daun perfectly comprehends what is on foot; +refuses to take shine for substance; stands massed, or grouped, at his +own skilful judgment, in the proper points for Braunau, still more for +Schweidnitz; and is very vigilant and imperturbable. + +Kunzendorf Heights, which are not of the Hills, but in front of them, +with a strip of flat still intervening;--these, we said, Daun had at +once quitted: and these are now Friedrich's;--but yield him a very +complex prospect at present. A line of opposing Heights, Burkersdorf, +Ludwigsdorf, Leuthmannsdorf, bristling with abundant cannon; behind is +the multiplex sea of Hills, rising higher and higher, to the ridge of +the Eulenberg in Glatz Country 10 or 12 miles southward: Daun, with +forces much superior, calmly lord of all that; infinitely needing to be +ousted, could one but say how! Friedrich begins to perceive that Braunau +will not do; that he must contrive some other plan. General Wied he +still leaves to prosecute the Braunau scheme: perhaps there is still +some chance in it; at lowest it will keep Daun's attention thitherward. +And Wied perseveres upon Braunau; and Braunau proving impossible, pushes +past it deeper into Bohemia, Daun loftily regardless of him. Wied's +marches and attempts were of approved quality; though unsuccessful in +the way of stirring Daun. Wied's Light troops went scouring almost as +far as Prag,--especially a 500 Cossacks that were with him, following +their old fashion, in a new Country. To the horror of Austria; who +shrieked loudly, feeling them in her own bowels; though so quiet while +they were in other people's on her score. This of the 500 Cossacks under +Wied, if this were anything, was all of actual work that Friedrich had +from his Czernichef Allies;--nothing more of real or actual while +they stayed, though something of imaginary or ostensible which had its +importance, as we shall see. + +Friedrich, in the third week, recalls Wied: "Braunau clearly impossible; +only let us still keep up appearances!" July 18th, Wied is in Kunzendorf +Country again; on an important new enterprise, or method with the Daun +Problem, in which Wied is to bear a principal hand. That is to say, The +discomfiture and overturn of Daun's right wing, if we can,--since +his left has proved impossible. This was the STORMING OF BURKERSDORF +HEIGHTS; Friedrich's new plan. Which did prove successful, and is still +famous in the Annals of War: reckoned by all judges a beautiful plan, +beautifully executed, and once more a wonderful achieving of what seemed +the impossible, when it had become the indispensable. One of Friedrich's +prettiest feats; and the last of his notable performances in this War. +Readers ought not to be left without some shadowy authentic notion of +it; though the real portraiture or image (which is achievable too, after +long study) is for the professional soldier only,--for whom TEMPELHOF, +good maps and plenty of patience are the recipe. + +"The scene is the Wall of Heights, running east and west, parallel to +Friedrich's Position at Kunzendorf; which form the Face, or decisive +beginning, of that Mountain Glacis spreading up ten miles farther, +towards Glatz Country. They, these Heights called of Burkersdorf, are in +effect Daun's right wing; vitally precious to Daun, who has taken every +pains about them. Burkersdorf Height (or Heights, for there are two, +divided by the Brook Weistritz; but we shall neglect the eastern or +lower, which is ruled by the other, and stands or falls along with it), +Burkersdorf Height is the principal: a Hill of some magnitude (short way +south of the Village of Burkersdorf, which also is Daun's); Hill falling +rather steep down, on two of its sides, namely on the north side, +which is towards Friedrich and Kunzendorf, and on the east side, +where Weistritz Water, as yet only a Brook, gushes out from the +Mountains,--hastening towards Schweidnitz or Schweidnitz Water; towards +Lissa and Leuthen Country, where we have seen it on an important night. +Weistritz, at this part, has scarped the eastern flank of Burkersdorf +Height; and made for itself a pleasant little Valley there: this is the +one Pass into the Mountains. A Valley of level bottom; where Daun has +a terrific trench and sunk battery level with the ground, capable of +sweeping to destruction whoever enters there without leave. + +"East from Burkersdorf Lesser Height (which we neglect for the +present), and a little farther inwards or south, are Two other Heights: +Ludwigsdorf and Leuthmannsdorf; which also need capture, as adjuncts +of Burkersdorf, or second line to Burkersdorf; and are abundantly +difficult, though not so steep as Burkersdorf. + +"The Enterprise, therefore, divides itself into two. Wied is to do +the Ludwigsdorf-Leuthmannsdorf part; Mollendorf, the Burkersdorf. The +strength of guns in these places, especially on Burkersdorf,--we know +Daun's habit in that particular; and need say nothing. Man-devouring +batteries, abatis; battalions palisaded to the teeth, 'the pales strong +as masts, and room only for a musket-barrel between;' nay, they are +'furnished with a lath or cross-strap all along, for resting your +gun-barrel on and taking aim:'--so careful is Daun. The ground itself +is intricate, in parts impracticably steep; everywhere full of bushes, +gnarls and impediments. Seldom was there such a problem altogether! +Friedrich's position, as we say, is Kunzendorf Heights, with Schweidnitz +and his old ground of Bunzelwitz to rear, Czernichef and others lying +there, and Wurben and the old Villages and Heights again occupied as +posts:--what a tale of Egyptian bricks has one to bake, your Majesty, +on certain fields of this world; and with such insufficiency of +raw-material sometimes!" + +By the 16th of July, Friedrich's plans are complete. Contrived, I must +say, with a veracity and opulent potency of intellect, flashing clear +into the matter, and yet careful of the smallest practical detail. +FRIDAY, 17th, Mollendorf, with men and furnitures complete, circles off +northwestward by Wurben (for the benefit of certain on-lookers), but +will have circled round to Burkersdorf neighborhood two days hence; by +which time also Wied will be quietly in his place thereabouts, with a +view to business on the 20th and 21st. Mollendorf, Wied and everything, +are prosperously under way in this manner,--when, on the afternoon of +that same Friday, 17th, [Compare Tempelhof, vi. 99, and Rodenbeck, ii. +164.] Czernichef steps over, most privately, to head-quarters: with what +a bit of news! "A Revolution in Petersburg [JULY 9th, as we saw above, or +as Herr Busching saw]; Czar Peter,--your Majesty's adorer, is dethroned, +perhaps murdered; your Majesty's enemies, in the name of Czarina +Catharine, order me instantly homeward with my 20,000!" This is true +news, this of Czernichef. A most unexpected, overwhelming Revolution in +those Northern Parts;--not needing to be farther touched upon in this +place. + +What here concerns us is, Friedrich's feelings on hearing of it; which +no reader can now imagine. Horror, amazement, pity, very poignant; grief +for one's hapless friend Peter, for one's still more hapless self! "The +Sisyphus stone, which we had got dragged to the top, the chains all +beautifully slack these three months past,--has it leapt away again? +And on the eve of Burkersdorf, and our grand Daun problem!" Truly, the +Destinies have been quite dramatic with this King, and have contrived +the moment of hitting him to the heart. He passionately entreats +Czernichef to be helpful to him,--which Czernichef would fain be, only +how can he? To be helpful; at least to keep the matter absolutely secret +yet for some hours: this the obliging Czernichef will do. And Friedrich +remains, Czernichef having promised this, in the throes of desperate +consideration and uncertainty, hour after hour,--how many hours I do +not know. It is confidently said, [Retzow, ii. 415.] Friedrich had the +thought of forcibly disarming Czernichef and his 20,000:--in which case +he must have given up the Daun Enterprise; for without Czernichef as +a positive quantity, much more with Czernichef as a negative, it is +impossible. But, at any rate, most luckily for himself, he came upon a +milder thought: "Stay with us yet three days, merely in the semblance +of Allies, no service required of you, but keeping the matter a dead +secret;--on the fourth day go, with my eternal thanks!" This is +his milder proposal; urged with his best efforts upon the obliging +Czernichef: who is in huge difficulty, and sees it to be at peril of his +head, but generously consents. It is the same Czernichef who got lodged +in Custrin cellars, on one occasion: know, O King,--the King, before +this, does begin to know,--that Russians too can have something of +heroic, and can recognize a hero when they see him! In this fine way +does Friedrich get the frightful chasm, or sudden gap of the ground +under him, bridged over for the moment; and proceeds upon Burkersdorf +all the same. + +Of the Attack itself we propose to say almost nothing. It consists of +Two Parts, Wied and Mollendorf, which are intensely Real; and of a great +many more which are Scenic chiefly,--some of them Scenic to the degree +of Drury-Lane itself, as we perceive;--all cunningly devised, and +beautifully playing into one another, both the real and the scenic. +EVENING OF THE 20th, Friedrich is on his ground, according to Program. +Friedrich--who has now his Mollendorf and Wied beside him again, near +this Village of Burkersdorf; and has his completely scenic Czernichef, +and partly scenic Ziethen and others, all in their places behind +him--quietly crushes Daun's people out of Burkersdorf Village; and +furthermore, so soon as Night has fallen, bursts up, for his own uses, +Burkersdorf old Castle, and its obstinate handful of defenders, which +was a noisier process. Which done, he diligently sets to trenching, +building batteries in that part; will have forty formidable guns, +howitzers a good few of them, ready before sunrise. And so, + +WEDNESDAY, 21st JULY, 1762, All Prussians are in motion, far and +wide; especially Mollendorf and Wied (VERSUS O'Kelly and Prince de +Ligne),--which Pair of Prussians may be defined rather as near and +close; these Two being, in fact, the soul of the matter, and all else +garniture and semblance. About 4 in the morning, Friedrich's Battery +of 40 has begun raging; the howitzers diligent upon O'Kelly and his +Burkersdorf Height,--not much hurting O'Kelly or his Height, so high was +it, but making a prodigious noise upon O'Kelly;--others of the cannon +shearing home on those palisades and elaborations, in the Weistritz +Valley in particular, and quite tearing up a Cavalry Regiment which was +drawn out there; so that O'Kelly had instantly to call it home, in a +very wrecked condition. Why O'Kelly ever put it there--except that +he saw no place for it in his rugged localities, or no use for it +anywhere--is still a mystery to the intelligent mind. [Tempelhof, +vi. 107.] The howitzers, their shells bursting mostly in the air, did +O'Kelly little hurt, nor for hours yet was there any real attack +on Burkersdorf or him; but the noise, the horrid death-blaze was +prodigious, and kept O'Kelly, like some others, in an agitated, occupied +condition till their own turn came. + +For it had been ordered that Wied and Mollendorf were not to attack +together: not together, but successively,--for the following reasons. +TOGETHER; suppose Mollendorf to prosper on O'Kelly (whom he is to storm, +not by the steep front part as O'Kelly fancies, but to go round by +the western flank and take him in rear); suppose Mollendorf to be near +prospering on Burkersdorf Height,--unless Wied too have prospered, +Ludwigsdorf batteries and forces will have Mollendorf by the right +flank, and between two fires he will be ruined; he and everything! On +the other hand, let Wied try first: if Wied can manage Ludwigsdorf, +well: if Wied cannot, he comes home again with small damage; and the +whole Enterprise is off for the present. That was Friedrich's wise +arrangement, and the reason why he so bombards O'Kelly with thunder, +blank mostly. + +And indeed, from 4 this morning and till 4 in the afternoon, there is +such an outburst and blazing series of Scenic Effect, and thunder mostly +blank, going on far and near all over that District of Country: General +This ostentatiously speeding off, as if for attack on some important +place; General That, for attack on some other; all hands busy,--the +20,000 Russians not yet speeding, but seemingly just about to do +it,--and blank thunder so mixed with not blank, and scenic effect with +bitter reality, [Tempelhof, vi. 105-111.]--as was seldom seen before. +And no wisest Daun, not to speak of his O'Kellys and lieutenants, can, +for the life of him, say where the real attack is to be, or on what hand +to turn himself. Daun in person, I believe, is still at Tannhausen, +near the centre of this astonishing scene; five or six miles from any +practical part of it. And does order forward, hither, thither, masses of +force to support the De Ligne, the O'Kelly, among others,--but who can +tell what to support? Daun's lieutenants were alert some of them, others +less: General Guasco, for instance, who is in Schweidnitz, an alert +Commandant, with 12,000 picked men, was drawing out, of his own will, +with certain regiments to try Friedrich's rear: but a check was put on +him (some dangerous shake of the fist from afar), when he had to draw +in again. In general the O'Kelly supports sat gazing dubiously, and did +nothing for O'Kelly but roll back along with him, when the time came. +But let us first attend to Wied, and the Ludwigsdorf-Leuthmannsdorf +part. + +Wied, divided into Three, is diligently pushing up on Ludwigsdorf by the +slacker eastern ascents; meets firm enough battalions, potent, dangerous +and resolute in their strong posts; but endeavors firmly to be more +dangerous than they. Dislodges everything, on his right, on his left; +comes in sight of the batteries and ranked masses atop, which seem to +him difficult indeed; flatly impossible, if tried on front; but always +some Colonel Lottum, or quick-eyed man, finds some little valley, little +hollow; gets at the Enemy side-wise and rear-wise; rushes on with fixed +bayonets, double-quick, to co-operate with the front: and, on the whole, +there are the best news from Wied, and we perceive he sees his way +through the affair. + +Upon which, Mollendorf gets in motion, upon his specific errand. +Mollendorf has been surveying his ground a little, during the leisure +hour; especially examining what mode of passage there may be, and +looking for some road up those slacker western parts: has found no road, +but a kind of sheep track, which he thinks will do. Mollendorf, with all +energy, surmounting many difficulties, pushes up accordingly; gets into +his sheep-track; finds, in the steeper part of this track, that horses +cannot draw his cannon; sets his men to do it; pulls and pushes, he +and they, with a right will;--sees over his left shoulder, at a certain +point, the ranked Austrians waiting for him behind their cannon (which +must have been an interesting glimpse of scenery for some moments); tugs +along, till he is at a point for planting his cannon; and then, under +help of these, rushes forward,--in two parts, perhaps in three, but with +one impetus in all,--to seize the Austrian fruit set before him. +Surely, if a precious, a very prickly Pomegranate, to clutch hold of +on different sides, after such a climb! The Austrians make stiff fight; +have abatis, multiplex defences; and Mollendorf has a furious wrestle +with this last remnant, holding out wonderfully,--till at length the +abatis itself catches fire, in the musketry, and they have to surrender. +This must be about noon, as I collect: and Feldmarschall Daun himself +now orders everybody to fall back. And the tug of fight is over;--though +Friedrich's scenic effects did not cease; and in particular his big +battery raged till 5 in the afternoon, the more to confirm Daun's +rearward resolutions and quicken his motions. On fall of night, Daun, +everybody having had his orders, and been making his preparations for +six hours past, ebbed totally away; in perfect order, bag and baggage. +Well away to southward; and left Friedrich quit of him. [Tempelhof. vi. +100-115: compare _Bericht von der bey Leutmannsdorf den 21sten Julius +1762 vorgefallenen Action_ (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii. 302-308); +_Anderweiter Bericht von der &c._ (ib. 308-314); Archenholtz, &c. &c.] + +Quit of Daun forevermore, as it turned out. Plainly free, at any rate, +to begin upon Schweidnitz, whenever he sees good. Of the behavior of +Wied, Mollendorf, and their people, indeed of the Prussians one and all, +what can be said, but that it was worthy of their Captain and of the +Plannings he had made? Which is saying a great deal. "We got above 14 +big guns," report they; "above 1,000 prisoners, and perhaps twice as +many that deserted to us in the days following." Czernichef was full of +admiration at the day's work: he marched early next morning,--I trust +with lasting gratitude on the part of an obliged Friedrich. + +Some three weeks before this of Burkersdorf, Duke Ferdinand, near a +place called Wilhelmsthal, in the neighborhood of Cassel, in woody +broken country of Hill and Dale, favorable for strategic contrivances, +had organized a beautiful movement from many sides, hoping to overwhelm +the too careless or too ignorant French, and gain a signal victory over +them: BATTLE, so called, OF WILHELMSTHAL, JUNE 24th, 1762, being the +result. Mauvillon never can forgive a certain stupid Hanoverian, who +mistook his orders; and on getting to his Hill-top, which was the centre +of all the rest,--formed himself with his BACK to the point of attack; +and began shooting cannon at next to nothing, as if to warn the French, +that they had better instantly make off! Which they instantly set about, +with a will; and mainly succeeded in; nothing all day but mazes +of intricate marching on both sides, with spurts of fight here and +there,--ending in a truly stiff bout between Granby and a Comte de +Stainville, who covered the retreat, and who could not be beaten without +a great deal of trouble. The result a kind of victory to Ferdinand; but +nothing like what he expected. [Mauvillon, ii. 227-236; Tempelhof, vi. +&c. &c.] + +Soubise leads the French this final Year; but he has a D'Estrees with +him (our old D'Estrees of HASTENBECK), who much helps the account +current; and though generally on the declining hand (obliged to give +up Gottingen, to edge away farther and farther out of Hessen itself, to +give up the Weser, and see no shift but the farther side of Fulda, +with Frankfurt to rear),--is not often caught napping as here at +Wilhelmsthal. There ensued about the banks of the Fulda, and the +question, Shall we be driven across it sooner or not so soon? a great +deal of fighting and pushing (Battle called of LUTTERNBERG, Battle of +JOHANNISBERG, and others): but all readers will look forward rather +to the CANNONADE OF AMONEBURG, more precisely Cannonade of the +BRUCKEN-MUHLE (September 2lst), which finishes these wearisome +death-wrestlings. Peace is coming; all the world can now count on that! + +Bute is ravenous for Peace; has been privately taking the most +unheard-of steps:--wrote to Kaunitz, "Peace at once and we will vote for +your HAVING Silesia;" to which Kaunitz, suspecting trickery in artless +Bute, answered, haughtily sneering, "No help needed from your Lordship +in that matter!" After which repulse, or before it, Bute had applied to +the Czar's Minister in London: "Czarish Majesty to have East Preussen +guaranteed to him, if he will insist that the King of Prussia DISPENSE +with Silesia;" which the indignant Czar rejected with scorn, and at once +made his Royal Friend aware of; with what emotion on the Royal Friend's +part we have transiently seen. "Horrors and perfidies!" ejaculated he, +in our hearing lately; and regarded Bute, from that time, as a knave and +an imbecile both in one; nor ever quite forgave Bute's Nation either, +which was far from being Bute's accomplice in this unheard-of procedure. +"No more Alliances with England!" counted he: "What Alliance can there +be with that ever-fluctuating People? To-day they have a thrice-noble +Pitt; to-morrow a thrice-paltry Bute, and all goes heels-over-head on +the sudden!" [Preuss, ii. 308; Mitchell, ii. 286.] + +Bute, at this rate of going, will manage to get hold of Peace before +long. To Friedrich himself, a Siege of Schweidnitz is now free; +Schweidnitz his, the Austrians will have to quit Silesia. "Their cash +is out: except prayer to the Virgin, what but Peace can they attempt +farther? In Saxony things will have gone ill, if there be not enough +left us to offer them in return for Glatz. And Peace and AS-YOU-WERE +must ensue!" + +Let us go upon Schweidnitz, therefore; pausing on none of these +subsidiary things; and be brief upon Schweidnitz too. + + + +Chapter XII.--SIEGE OF SCHWEIDNITZ: SEVENTH CAMPAIGN ENDS. + +Daun being now cleared away, Friedrich instantly proceeds upon +Schweidnitz. Orders the necessary Siege Materials to get under way +from Neisse; posts his Army in the proper places, between Daun and the +Fortress,--King's head-quarter Dittmannsdorf, Army spread in fine large +crescent-shape, to southwest of Schweidnitz some ten miles, and as far +between Daun and it;--orders home to him his Upper-Silesia Detachments, +"Home, all of you, by Neisse Country, to make up for Czernichef's +departure; from Neisse onwards you can guard the Siege-Ammunition +wagons!" Naturally he has blockaded Schweidnitz, from the first; he +names Tauentzien Siege-Captain, with a 10 or 12,000 to do the Siege: +"Ahead, all of you!"--and in short, AUGUST 7th, with the due adroitness +and precautions, opens his first parallel; suffering little or nothing +hitherto by a resistance which is rather vehement. [Tempelhof, vi. +126.] He expects to have the place in a couple of weeks--"one week (HUIT +JOUR)" he sometimes counts it, but was far out in his reckoning as to +time. + +The Siege of Schweidnitz occupied two most laborious, tedious +months;--and would be wearisome to every reader now, as it was to +Friedrich then, did we venture on more than the briefest outline. The +resistance is vehement, very skilful:--Commandant is Guasco (the same +who was so truculent to Schmettau in the Dresden time); his Garrison +is near 12,000, picked from all regiments of the Austrian Army; his +provisions, ammunitions, are of the amplest; and he has under him as +chief Engineer a M. Gribeauval, who understands "counter-mining" like +no other. After about a fortnight of trial, and one Event in +the neighborhood which shall be mentioned, this of Mining and +Counter-mining--though the External Sap went restlessly forward too, and +the cannonading was incessant on both sides--came to be regarded more +and more as the real method, and for six or seven weeks longer was +persisted in, with wonderful tenacity of attempt and resistance. +Friedrich's chief Mining Engineer is also a Frenchman, one Lefebvre; who +is personally the rival of Gribeauval (his old class-fellow at College, +I almost think); but is not his equal in subterranean work,--or +perhaps rather has the harder task of it, that of Mining, instead of +COUNTER-mining, or SPOILING Mines. Tempelhof's account of these +two people, and their underground wrestle here, is really curious +reading;--clear as daylight to those that will study, but of endless +expansion (as usual in Tempelhof), and fit only to be indicated here. +[Tempelhof, vi. 122-219; _Bericht und Tagebuch von der Belagerung von +Schweidnitz vom 7ten August bis 9 October, 1762_ (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ +iii. 376-479); Archenholtz, Retzow, &c.] + +The external Event I promised to mention is an attempt on Daun's part +(August 16th) to break in upon Friedrich's position, and interrupt +the Siege, or render it still impossible. Event called the BATTLE OF +REICHENBACH, though there was not much of battle in it;--in which our +old friend the Duke of Brunswick-Bevern (whom we have seen in abeyance, +and merely a Garrison Commandant, for years back, till the Russians left +Stettin to itself) again played a shining part. + +Daun--at Tannhausen, 10 miles to southwest of Friedrich, and spread +out among the Hills, with Loudons, Lacys, Becks, as lieutenants, and +in plenty of force, could he resolve on using it--has at last, after +a month's meditation, hit upon a plan. Plan of flowing round by +the southern skirt of Friedrich, and seizing certain Heights to the +southeastern or open side of Schweidnitz,--Koltschen Height the key one; +from which he may spread up at will, Height after Height, to the +very Zobtenberg on that eastern side, and render Schweidnitz an +impossibility. The plan, people say, was good; but required rapidity of +execution,--a thing Daun is not strong in. + +Bevern's behavior, too, upon whom the edge of the matter fell, was very +good. Bevern, coming on from Neisse and Upper Silesia, had been much +manoeuvred upon for various days by Beck; Beck, a dangerous, alert +man, doing his utmost to seize post after post, and bar Bevern's +way,--meaning especially, as ultimate thing, to get hold of a Height +called Fischerberg, which lies near Reichenbach (in the southern +Schweidnitz vicinities), and is preface to Koltschen Height and to the +whole Enterprise of Daun. In most of which attempts, especially in this +last, Bevern, with great merit, not of dexterity alone (for the King's +Orders had often to be DISobeyed in the letter, and only the spirit of +them held in view), contrived to outmanoeuvre Beck; and be found (August +13th) already firm on the Fischerberg, when Beck, in full confidence, +came marching towards it. "The Fischerberg lost to us!" Beck had to +report, in disappointment. "Must be recovered, and my grand Enterprise +no longer put off!" thinks Daun to himself, in still more disappointment +("Laggard that I am!").--And on the third day following, the BATTLE OF +REICHENBACH ensued. Lacy, as chief, with abundant force, and Beck and +Brentano under him: these are to march, "Recover me that Fischerberg; it +is the preface to Koltschen and all else!" [Tempelhof, vi. 144.] + +MONDAY, AUGUST 16th, pretty early in the day, Lacy, with his Becks and +Brentanos, appeared in great force on the western side of Fischerberg; +planted themselves there, about the three Villages of Peilau (Upper, +Nether and Middle Peilau, a little way to south of Reichenbach), within +cannon-shot of Bevern; their purpose abundantly clear. Behind them, in +the gorges of the Mountains, what is not so clear, lay Daun and most of +his Army; intending to push through at once upon Koltschen and seize the +key, were this of Fischerberg had. Lacy, after reconnoitring a little, +spreads his tents (which it is observable Beck does not); and all +Austrians proceed to cooking their dinner. "Nothing coming of them till +to-morrow!" said Friedrich, who was here; and went his way home, on this +symptom of the Austrian procedures;--hardly consenting to regard them +farther, even when he heard their cannonade begin. + +Lacy, the general composure being thus established, and dinner well +done, suddenly drew out about five in the evening, in long strong line, +before these Hamlets of Peilau, on the western side of the Fischerberg; +Beck privately pushing round by woods to take it on the eastern side: +and there ensued abundant cannonading on the part of Lacy and Brentano, +and some idle flourishing about of horse, responded to by Bevern; and, +on the part of Lacy and Brentano, nothing else whatever. More like a +theatre fight than a real one, says Tempelhof. Beck, however, is in +earnest; has a most difficult march through the tangled pathless woods; +does arrive at length, and begin real fighting, very sharp for some +time; which might have been productive, had Lacy given the least help to +it, as he did NOT. [Tempelhof, vi. 146-151.] Beck did his fieriest; but +got repulsed everywhere. Beck tries in various places; finds swamps, +impediments, fierce resistance from the Bevern people;--finds, at +length, that the King is awake, and that reinforcements, horse, foot, +riding-artillery, are coming in at the gallop; and that he, Beck, cannot +too soon get away. + +None of the King's Foot people could get in for a stroke, though they +came mostly running (distance five miles); but the Horse-charges were +beautifully impressive on Lacy's theatrical performers, as was the +Horse-Artillery to a still more surprising degree; and produced an +immediate EXEUNT OMNES on the Lacy part. All off; about 7 P.M.,--Sun +just going down in the autumn sky;--and the Battle of Reichenbach a +thing finished. Seeing which, Daun also immediately withdrew, through +the gorges of the Mountains again. And for seven weeks thenceforth +sat contemplative, without the least farther attempt at relief of +Schweidnitz. It was during those seven weeks, some time after this, +that poor Madam Daun, going to a Levee at Schonbrunn one day, had her +carriage half filled with symbolical nightcaps, successively flung +in upon her by the Vienna people;--symbolical; in lieu of Slashing +Articles, and Newspapers the best Instructors, which they as yet have +not. + +Next day the Joy-fire of the Prussians taught Guasco what disaster had +happened; and on the fifth day afterwards (August 22d), hearing nothing +farther of Daun, Guasco offered to surrender, on the principle of Free +Withdrawal. "No, never," answered Tauentzien, by the King's order: "As +Prisoners of War it must be!" Upon which Guasco stood to his defences +again; and maintained himself,--Gribeauval and he did,--with an +admirable obstinacy: the details of which would be very wearisome +to readers. Gribeauval and he, I said; for from this time, Engineer +Lefebvre, though he tried (with bad skill, thinks Tempelhof) some bits +of assault above ground, took mainly to mining, and a grand underground +invention called GLOBES DE COMPRESSION; which he reckoned to be the +real sovereign method,--unlucky that he was! I may at least explain what +GLOBE DE COMPRESSION is; for it becomes famous on this occasion, and +no name could be less descriptive of the thing. Not a GLOBE at all, for +that matter, nor intended to "compress," but to EXpress, and shatter +to pieces in a transcendent degree: it is, in fact, a huge cubical +mine-chamber, filled by a wooden box (till Friedrich, in his hurry, +taught Lefebvre that a sack would do as well), loaded with, say, five +thousand-weight of powder. Sufficient to blow any horn-work, bastion, +bulwark, into the air,--provided you plant it in the right place; which +poor Lefebre never can. He tried, with immense labor, successively some +four or almost five of these "PRESS BALLS" so called (or Volcanoes in +Little); mining on, many yards, 15 or 20 feet underground (tormented +by Gribeauval all the way); then at last, exploding his five +thousand-weight,--would produce a "Funnel," or crater, of perhaps "30 +yards in diameter," but, alas, "150 yards OFF any bastion." Funnel of +no use to him;--mere sign to him that he must go down into it, and +begin there again; with better aim, if possible. And then Gribeauval's +tormentings; never were the like! Gribeauval has, all round under the +Glacis, mine-galleries, or main-roads for Counter-mining, ready to his +hand (mine-galleries built by Friedrich while lately proprietor); there +Gribeauval is hearkening the beat of Lefebvre's picks: "Ten yards from +us, think you? Six yards? Get a 30 hundredweight of chamber ready for +him!" And will, at the right moment, blow Lefebvre's gallery about his +ears;--sometimes bursts in upon him bodily with pistol and cutlass, or +still worse, with explosive sulphur-balls, choke-pots and infinitudes of +mal-odor instantaneously developed on Lefebvre,--which mean withal, "You +will have to begin again, Monsieur!" Enough to drive a Lefebvre out +of his wits. Twice, or oftener, Lefebvre, a zealous creature but a +thin-skinned, flew out into open paroxysm; wept, invoked the gods, +threatened suicide: so that Friedrich had to console him, "Courage, you +will manage it; make chicanes on Gribeauval, as he does on you,"--and +suggested that powder-SACK instead of deal-box, which we just mentioned. + +Friedrich's patience seems to have been great; but in the end he began +to think the time long. He was in three successive head-quarters, +Dittmannsdorf, Peterswaldau, Bogendorf, nearer and nearer; at length +quite near (Bogendorf within a couple of miles); and wondering +Gazetteers reported him on horseback, examining minutely the parallels +and siege-works,--with a singular indifference to the cannon-balls +flying about ("Not easy to hit a small object with cannon!"), and intent +only on giving Tauentzien suggestions, admonitions and new orders. Here, +prior to Bogendorf, are three snatches of writing, which successively +have indications for us. KING TO PRINCE HENRI:-- + +PETERSWALDAU, AUGUST 13th, 1762 (King has just shifted hither, August +10th, on the Bevern-REICHENBACH score; continues here till September +23d).... "You are right to say, 'We ourselves are our best Allies.' I +am of the same opinion; nevertheless, it is a clear duty and call of +prudence to try and alleviate the burden as much as possible: and I own +to you, that if, after all I have written, the thing fails this time [as +it does], I shall be obliged to grant + +MAP GOES HERE--FACING PAGE 152, CHAP XII, BOOK 20---- + +that there is nothing to be made of those Turks."--"We are now in the +press of our crisis as to Schweidnitz. The Siege advances beautifully: +but Beck is come hereabouts, Lacy masked behind him; and I cannot yet +tell you [not till REICHENBACH and the 16th] whether the Enemy intends +some big adventure for disengaging Schweidnitz, or will content himself +with disturbing and annoying us." + +PETERSWALDAU, 9th SEPTEMBER. Springs, water-threads coming into our +mines delay us a little: "by the 12th [in 3 days' time, little thinking +it would be 30 days!] I still hope to despatch you a courier with +the news, All is over! Your Nephew [Prince of Prussia] is out to-day +assisting in a forage; he begins to kindle into fine action. We are +nothing but pygmies in comparison to him [in point of physical stature]; +imagine to yourself Prince Franz [of Brunswick; killed, poor fellow, at +Hochkirch], only taller still: this is the figure of him at present." + +PETERSWALDAU, SEPTEMBER 19th.... "Our Siege wearies all the world; +people persecute me to know the end of it; I never get a Berlin Letter +without something on that head;--and I have no resource myself but +patience. We do all we can: but I cannot hinder the enemy from defending +himself, and Gribeauval from being a clever fellow:--soon, however, +surely soon, soon, we shall see the end. Our weather here is like +December; the Seasons are as mad as the Politics of Europe. Finally, my +dear Brother, one must shove Time on; day follows day, and at last we +shall catch the one that ends our labors. Adieu; JE VOUS EMBRASSE." +[Schoning, iii. 403, 430, 446.]--Here farther, from the Siege-ground +itself, are some traceries, scratchings by a sure hand, which yield us +something of image. Date is still only "BEFORE Schweidnitz," far on in +the eighth week:-- + +SEPTEMBER 23d. "This morning, before 9, the King [direct from +Peterswaldau, where he has been lodging hitherto,--must have breakfasted +rather early] came into the Lines here:--his quarter is now to be at +Bogendorf near hand, in a Farm house there. The Prince of Prussia was +riding with him, and Lieutenant-Colonel von Anhalt [the Adjutant whom we +have heard of]: he looked at the Battery" lately ordered by him; "looked +at many things; rode along, a good 100 yards inside of the vedettes; +so that the Enemy noticed him, and fired violently,"--King decidedly +ignoring. "To Captain Beauvrye [Captain of the Miners] he paid a +gracious compliment; Major Lefebvre he rallied a little for losing +heart, for bungling his business; but was not angry with him, consoled +him rather; bantered him on the shabbiness of his equipments, and +made him a gift of 400 thalers (60 pounds), to improve them. Lefebvre, +Tauentzien and" another General "dined with him at Bogendorf to-day." +["Captain Gotz's NOTE-book" (a conspicuous Captain here, Note-book still +in manuscript, I think): cited in SCHONING, iii. 453 et seq.] + +SEPTEMBER 24th, EARLY. "The King on horseback viewed the trenches, rode +close behind the first parallel, along the mid-most communication-line: +the Enemy cannonaded at us horribly (ERSCHRECKLICH); a ball struck down +the Page von Pirch's horse [Pirch lay writhing, making moan,--plainly +overmuch, thought the King]: on Pirch's accident, too, the Prince of +Prussia's horse made a wild plunge, and pitched its rider aloft out of +the saddle; people thought the Prince was shot, and everybody was in +horror: great was the commotion; only the King was heard calling with a +clear voice, 'PIRCH, VERGISS ER SEINEN SATTEL NICHT,--Pirch, bring your +saddle with you!'" + +This of Pirch and the saddle is an Anecdote in wide circulation; taken +sometimes as a proof of Royal thrift; but is mainly the Royal mode of +rebuking Pirch for his weak behavior in the accident that had befallen. +Pirch, an ingenious handy kind of fellow, famed for his pranks and +trickeries in those Page-days, had many adventures in the world;--was, +for one while, something of a notability among the French; will "teach +you the Prussian mode of drill," and actually got leave to try it "on +the German Regiments in our service:" [Voltaire's wondering Report +of him ("Ferney, 7th December, 1774"), and Friedrich's quiet Answer +("Berlin, 28th Dec. 1774"): in _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xxiii. 297, 301. +Rodenbeck (ii. 198-200) has a slight "BIOGRAPHY" of Pirch.]--died, +finally, as Colonel of one of these, at the Siege of Gibraltar, in 1783. + +SEPTEMBER 25th. "Morning and noon, each time two hours, the King was in +his new batteries; and, with great satisfaction, watched the working of +them. This day there dined with him the Prince of Bernburg [General +of Brigade here], Tauentzien, Lefebvre and Dieskau" (head of the +Artillery). + +The King is always riding about; has now, virtually, taken charge of the +Siege himself. "In Bogendorf, the first night, he dismissed the Guard +sent for him; would have nothing there but six chasers (JAGER):" an +alarming case! "After a night or two, there came always, without his +knowledge, a dragoon party of 30 horse; took post behind Bogendorf +Church, patrolled towards Kunzendorf, Giesdorf, and had three pickets." + +SEPTEMBER 28th. "Gribeauval has sprung a mine last night;" totally blown +up Lefebvre again! "Engineer-Lieutenants Gerhard and Von Kleist were +wounded by our own people; Captain Guyon was shot:" things all going +wrong,--weather, I suspect also, bad. "The King was in dreadful humor +(SEHR UNGNADIG); rated and rebuked to right and left: 'If it should last +till January, the Attack must go on. Nobody seems to be able for his +business; Lefebvre a blockhead (DUMMER TEUFEL), who knows nothing of +mining: the Generals, too, where are they? Every General henceforth +is to take his place in the third parallel, at the head of his +Covering-Party [most exposed place of all], and stay his whole +twenty-four hours there [Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg is Covering-Party +today; I hope, in his post during this thunder!]: Taken the Place can +and must be! We have the misfortune, That a stupid Engineer who knows +nothing of his art has the direction; and a General without sense in +Sieging has the command. Everybody is at a NON PLUS, it appears! Not +all our Artillery can silence that Front-fire; not in a single place can +Thirty stupid Miners get into the Fort.' To-day and yesterday the +King spoke neither to General Tauentzien nor to Major Lefebvre; +Lieutenant-Colonel von Anhalt had to give all the Orders." An electric +kind of day! + +The weather is becoming wet. In fact, there ensue whole weeks of +rain,--the trenches swimming, service very hard. Guasco's guns are +many of them dismounted; no Daun to be heard of. Guasco again and again +proposes modified capitulations; answer always, "Prisoners of War on the +common terms." Guasco is wearing low: OCTOBER 7th (Lefebvre sweating +and puffing at his last Globe of Expression, hoping to hit the mark this +last time), an accidental grenade from Tauentzien, above ground, rolled +into one of Guasco's powder-vaults; blew it, and a good space of Wall +along with it, into wreck; two days after which, Guasco had finished his +Capitulating;--and we get done with this wearisome affair. [Tempelhof, +vi. 122-220; _Tagebuch von der Belagerung von Schweidnitz vom 7ten +August bis 9ten October, 1762_ (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii. 376-497); +Tielke, &c. &c.] Guasco was invited to dine with the King; praised for +his excellent defence. Prisoners of War his Garrison and he; about 9,000 +of them still on their feet; their entire loss had been 3,552 killed and +wounded; that of the Prussians 3,033. Poor Guasco died, in Konigsberg, +still prisoner, before the Peace came. + +Of Austrian fighting in Silesia, this proved to be the last, in the +present Controversy which has endured so long. No thought of fighting +is in Daun; far the reverse. Daun is getting ill off for horse-forage +in his Mountains; the weather is bad upon him; we hear "he has had, for +some time past, 12,000 laborers" palisading and fortifying at the Passes +of Bohemia: "Truce for the Winter" is what he proposes. To which the +King answers, "No; unless you retire wholly within Bohemia and Glatz +Country:" this at present Daun grudged to do; but was forced to it, some +weeks afterwards, by the sleets and the snows, had there been no other +pressure. In about three weeks hence, Friedrich, leaving Bevern in +command here, and a Silesia more or less adjusted, made for Saxony; +whither important reinforcements had preceded him,--reinforcements under +General Wied, the instant it was possible. Saxony he had long regarded +as the grand point, were Schweidnitz over: "Recapture Dresden, and +they will have to give us Peace this very Winter!" Daun, also with +reinforcements, followed him to Saxony, as usual; but never quite +arrived, or else found matters settled on arriving;--and will not +require farther mention in this History. He died some three years hence, +age 60; ["5th February, 1766;" "born 24th September, 1705" +(Hormayr _OEster-reichischer Plutarch,_ ii. 80-111).] an honorable, +imperturbable, eupeptic kind of man, sufficiently known to readers by +this time. + +Friedrich did not recapture Dresden; far enough from that,--though Peace +came all the same. Hardly a week after our recovery of Schweidnitz, +Stollberg and his Reichsfolk, especially his Austrians, became +unexpectedly pert upon Henri; pressed forward (October 15th), in +overpowering force, into his Posts about Freyberg, Pretschendorf and +that southwestern Reich-ward part: "No more invadings of Bohemia from +you, Monseigneur; no more tormentings of the Reich; here is other work +for you, my Prince!"--and in spite of all Prince Henri could do, drove +him back, clear out of Freyberg; northwestward, towards Hulsen and his +reserves. [_Bericht von dem Angriff so am 15ten October, 1762, van der +Reichs-Armee auf die Kongilich-Preussischen unter dem Prinzen Heinrich +geschehen_ (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii. 362-364). _Ausfuhrlicher Bericht +von der den 15ten October, 1762, bey Brand vorgefallenen Action_ (Ib. +iii. 350-362). Tempelhof, vi. 238.] Giving him, in this manner, what +soldiers call a slap; slap which might have been more considerable, had +those Stollberg people followed it up with emphasis. But they did not; +so alert was Henri. Henri at once rallied beautifully from his slap +(King's reinforcements coming too, as we have said); and, in ten +days' time, without any reinforcement, paid Stollberg and Company by +a stunning blow: BATTLE OF FREYBERG (October 29th),--which must not go +without mention, were it only as Prince Henri's sole Battle, and the +last of this War. Preparatory to which and its sequel, let us glance +again at Duke Ferdinand and the English-French posture,--also for the +last time. + +CANNONADE AT AMONEBURG (21st September, 1762). "The controversies +about right or left bank of the Fulda have been settled long since in +Ferdinand's favor; who proceeded next to blockade the various French +strongholds in Hessen; Marburg, Ziegenhayn, especially Cassel; with an +eye to besieging the same, and rooting the French permanently out. To +prevent or delay which, what can Soubise and D'Estrees do but send for +their secondary smaller Army, which is in the Lower-Rhine Country under +a Prince de Conde, mostly idle at present, to come and join them in the +critical regions here. Whereupon new Controversy shifting westward to +the Mayn and Nidda-Lahn Country, to achieve said Junction and to hinder +it. Junction was not to be hindered. The D'Estrees-Soubise people and +young Conde made good manoeuvring, handsome fight on occasion; so that +in spite of all the Erbprinz could do, they got hands joined; far too +strong for the Erbprinz thenceforth; and on the last night of August +were all fairly together, head-quarter Friedberg in Frankfurt Country (a +thirty miles north of Frankfurt); and were earnestly considering the +now not hopeless question, 'How, or by what routes and methods, push +to northwestward, get through to those blockaded Hessian Strong-places, +Cassel especially; and hinder Ferdinand's besieging them, and quite +outrooting us there?' + +"This is a difficult question, but a vital. 'Sweep rapidly past +Ferdinand,--cannot we? Well frontward or eastward of him, dexterously +across the Lahn and its Branches (our light people are to rear of him, +on this side of the Fulda, between the Fulda and him): once joined with +those light people by such methods, we have Cassel ahead, Ferdinand to +rear, and will make short work with the blockades,--the blockades will +have to rise in a hurry!' This was the plan devised by D'Estrees; +and rapidly set about; but it was seen into, at the first step, +by Ferdinand, who proved still more rapid upon it. Campings, +counter-campings, crossings of the Lahn by D'Estrees people, then +recrossings of it, ensued for above a fortnight; which are not for +mention here: in fine, about the middle of September, the D'Estrees +Enterprise had plainly become impossible, unless it could get across +the Ohm,--an eastern, or wide-circling northeastern Branch of the +Lahn,--where, on the right or eastern bank of which, as better for him +than the Lahn itself in this part, Ferdinand now is. 'Across the Ohm: +and that, how can that be done, the provident Ferdinand having laid hold +of Ohm, and secured every pass of it, several days ago! Perhaps by a +Surprisal; by extreme despatch?' + +"Amoneburg is a pleasant little Town, about thirty miles east of +Marburg,--in which latter we have been, in very old times; looking +after St. Elizabeth, Teutsch Ritters, Philip the Magnanimous and other +objects. Amoneburg stands on the left or western bank of the Ohm, with +an old Schloss in it, and a Bridge near by; both of which, Ferdinand, +the left or southmost wing of whose Position on the other bank of Ohm +is hereabouts, has made due seizure of. Seizure of the Bridge, first +of all,--Bridge with a Mill at it (which, in consequence, is called +BRUCKEN-MUHLE, Bridge-Mill),--at the eastern end of this there is a +strong Redoubt, with the Bridge-way blocked and rammed ahead of it; +there Ferdinand has put 200 men; 500 more are across in Amoneburg and +its old Castle. Unless by surprisal and extreme despatch, there is +clearly no hope! Ferdinand's head-quarter is seven or eight miles +to northwest of this his Brucken-Muhle and extreme left; next to +Brucken-Muhle is Zastrow's Division; next, again, is Granby's; several +Divisions between Ferdinand and it; 'Do it by surprisal, by utmost force +of vehemency!' say the French. And accordingly, + +"SEPTEMBER 21st [day of the Equinox, 1762], An hour before sunrise, +there began, quite on the sudden, a vivid attack on the Brucken-Muhle +and on Amoneburg, by cannon, by musketry, by all methods; and, in spite +of the alert and completely obstinate resistance, would not cease; but, +on the contrary, seemed to be on the increasing hand, new cannon, new +musketries; and went on, hour after hour, ever the more vivid. So that, +about 8 in the morning, after three hours of this, Zastrow, with his +Division, had to intervene: to range himself on the Hill-top behind this +Brucken-Muhle; replace the afflicted 200 (many of them hurt, not a +few killed) by a fresh 200 of his own; who again needed to be relieved +before long. For the French, whom Zastrow had to imitate in that +respect, kept bringing up more cannon, ever more, as if they would bring +up all the cannon of their Army: and there rose between Zastrow and +them such a cannonade, for length and loudness together, as had not been +heard in this War. Most furious cannonading, musketading; and seemingly +no end to it. Ferdinand himself came over to ascertain; found it a hot +thing indeed. Zastrow had to relieve his 200 every hour: 'Don't go down +in rank, you new ones,' ordered he--'slide, leap, descend the hill-face +in scattered form: rank at the bottom!'--and generally about half of the +old 200 were left dead or lamed by their hour's work. 'They intend to +have this Bridge from us at any cost,' thinks Ferdinand; 'and at any +cost they shall not!' And, in the end, orders Granby forward in room of +Zastrow, who has had some eight hours of it now; and rides home to look +after his main quarters. + +"It was about 4 in the afternoon when Granby and his English came into +the fire; and I rather think the French onslaught was, if anything, more +furious than ever:--Despair striding visibly forward on it, or something +too like Despair. Amoneburg they had battered to pieces, Wall and +Schloss, so that the 500 had to ground arms: but not an inch of way had +they made upon the Bridge, nor were like to make. Granby continued on +the old plan, plying all his diligences and artilleries; needing them +all. Fierce work to a degree: '200 of you go down on wings' (in an hour +about 100 will come back)! In English Families you will still hear some +vague memory of Amoneburg, How we had built walls of the dead, and +fired from behind them,--French more and more furious, we more and more +obstinate. Granby had still four hours of it; sunset, twilight, dusk; +about 8, the French, in what spirits I can guess, ceased, and went their +ways. Bridge impossible; game up. They had lost, by their own account, +1,100 killed and wounded; Ferdinand probably not fewer." [Mauvillon, ii. +251; _Helden-Geschichte,_ vii. 432-439.] + +And in this loud peal, what none could yet know, the French-English part +of the Seven-Years War had ended. The French attempted nothing farther; +hutted themselves where they were, and waited in the pouring rains: +Ferdinand also hutted himself, in guard of the Ohm; while his people +plied their Siege-batteries on Cassel, on Ziegenhayn, cannonading their +best in the bad weather;--took Cassel, did not quite take Ziegenhayn, +had it been of moment;--and for above six weeks coming (till November +7th-14th [Preliminaries of Peace SIGNED, "Paris, November 3d;" known +to French Generals "November 7th;" not, OFFICIALLY, to Ferdinand till +"November 14th" (Mauvillon, ii. 257).]), nothing more but skirmishings +and small scuffles, not worth a word from us, fell out between the Two +Parties there. That Cannonade of the Brucken-Muhle had been finis. + +For supreme Bute, careless of the good news coming in on him from West +and from East, or even rather embarrassed by them, had some time ago +started decisively upon the Peace Negotiation. "September 5th," +three weeks before that of Amoneburg, "the Duke of Bedford, Bute's +Plenipotentiary, set out towards Paris,--considerably hissed on the +street here by a sulky population," it would seem;--"but sure of success +in Paris. Bute shared in none of the national triumphs of this Year. The +transports of rejoicing which burst out on the news of Havana" were a +sorrow and distress to him. [Walpole's _George the Third,_ ii. 191.] +"Havana, what shall we do with it?" thought he; and for his own share +answered stiffly, "Nothing with it; fling it back to them!"--till some +consort of his persuaded him Florida would look better. [Thackeray, ii. +11.] Of Manilla and the Philippines he did not even hear till Peace +was concluded; had made the Most Catholic Carlos a present of that +Colony,--who would not even pay our soldiers their Manilla Ransom, +as too disagreeable. Such is the Bute, such and no other, whom the +satirical Fates have appointed to crown and finish off the heroic +Day's-work of such a Pitt. Let us, if we can help it, speak no more of +him! Friedrich writes before leaving for Saxony: "The Peace between the +English and the French is much farther off than was thought;--so many +oppositions do the Spaniards raise, or rather do the French,--busy +duping this buzzard of an English Minister, who has not common sense." +[Schoning, iii. 480 (To Henri: "Peterswaldau, 17th October, 1762").] +Never fear, your Majesty: a man with Havanas and Manillas of that kind +to fling about at random, is certain to bring Peace, if resolved on +it!-- + +We said, Prince Henri rallied beautifully from his little slap and loss +of Freyberg (October 15th), and that the King was sending Wied with +reinforcements to him. In fact, Prince Henri of himself was all +alertness, and instantly appeared on the Heights again; seemingly quite +in sanguinary humor, and courting Battle, much more than was yet really +the case. Which cowed Stollberg from meddling with him farther, as +he might have done. Not for some ten days had Henri finished his +arrangements; and then, under cloud of night (28th-29th OCTOBER, 1762), +he did break forward on those Spittelwalds and Michael's Mounts, and +multiplex impregnabilities about Freyberg, in what was thought a very +shining manner. The BATTLE OF FREYBERG, I think, is five or six miles +long, all on the west, and finally on the southwest side of Freyberg +(north and northwest sides, with so many batteries and fortified +villages, are judged unattackable); and the main stress, very heavy +for some time, lay in the abatis of the Spittelwald (where Seidlitz +was sublime), and about the roots of St. Michael's Mount (the TOP of +it Stollberg, or some foolish General of Stollberg's, had left empty; +nobody there when we reached the top),--down from which, Freyberg now +lying free ahead of us, and the Spittelwald on our left now also ours, +we take Stollberg in rear, and turn him inside out. The Battle lasted +only three hours, till Stollberg and his Maguires, Campitellis and +Austrians (especially his Reichsfolk, who did no work at all, except at +last running), were all under way; and the hopes of some Saxon +Victory to balance one's disgraces in Silesia had altogether vanished. +[_Beschreibung der am 29sten October, 1762, bey Freyberg vorgefallenen +Schlacht_ (Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii. 365-376). Tempelhof, vi. 235-258; +_Helden-Geschichte,_ vii. 177-181.] + +Of Austrians and Reichsfolk together I dimly count about 40,000 in +this Action; Prince Henri seems to have been well under 30,000. +["29 battalions, 60 squadrons," VERSUS "49 battalions, 68 squadrons" +(Schoning, iii. 499).] I will give Prince Henri's DESPATCH to his +Brother (a most modest Piece); and cannot afford to say more of the +matter,--except that "Wegfurth," where Henri gets on march the +night before, lies 8 or more miles west-by-north of Freyberg and +the Spittelwald, and is about as far straight south from Hainichen, +Gellert's birthplace, who afterwards got the War-horse now coming into +action,--I sometimes think, with what surprise to that quadruped! + + +PRINCE HENRI TO THE KING (Battle just done; King on the road from +Silesia hither, Letter meets him at Lowenberg). + +"FREYBERG, 29th October, 1762. + +"MY DEAREST BROTHER,--It is a happiness for me to send you the agreeable +news, That your Army has this day gained a considerable advantage over +the combined Austrian and Reichs Army. I marched yesternight; I had +got on through Wegfurth, leaving Spittelwald [Tempelhof, p. 237.] to +my left, with intent to seize [storm, if necessary] the Height of St. +Michael,--when I came upon the Enemy's Army. I made two true attacks, +and two false: the Enemy resisted obstinately; but the sustained valor +of your troops prevailed: and, after three hours in fire, the Enemy was +obliged to yield everywhere. I don't yet know the number of Prisoners; +but there must be above 4,000:--the Reichs Army has lost next to +nothing; the stress of effort fell to the Austrian share. We have got +quantities of Cannon and Flags; Lieutenant-General Roth of the Reichs +Army is among our Prisoners. I reckon we have lost from 2 to 3,000 men; +among them no Officer of mark. Lieutenant-General von Seidlitz rendered +me the highest services; in a place where the Cavalry could not act +[border of the Spittelwald, and its impassable entanglements and +obstinacies], he put himself at the head of the Infantry, and did signal +services [his Battle mainly, scheming and all, say some ill-natured +private accounts]; Generals Belling and Kleist [renowned Colonels known +to us, now become Major-Generals] did their very best. All the Infantry +was admirable; not one battalion yielded ground. My Aide-de-Camp +[Kalkreuth, a famous man in the Napoleon times long after], who brings +you this, had charge of assisting to conduct the attack through the +Spittelwald [and did it well, we can suppose]: if, on that ground, you +pleased to have the goodness to advance him, I should have my +humble thanks to give you. There are a good many Officers who have +distinguished themselves and behaved with courage, for whom I shall +present similar requests. You will permit me to pay those who have taken +cannons and flags (100 ducats per cannon, 50 per flag, or whatever the +tariff was)--"By all manner of means!" his Majesty would answer]. + +"The Enemy is retiring towards Dresden and Dippoldiswalde. I am sending +at his heels this night, and shall hear the result. My Aide-de-Camp +is acquainted with all, and will be able to render you account of +everything you may wish to know in regard to our present circumstances. +General Wied, I believe, will cross Elbe to-morrow [General Wied, with +10,000 to help us,--for whom it was too dangerous to wait, or perhaps +there was a spur on one's own mind?]; his arrival would be [not "would +have been:" CELA VIENDRAIT, not even VIENDRA] very opportune for me. I +am, with all attachment, my dearest Brother,--your most devoted Servant +and Brother,--HENRI." [Schoning, iii. 491, 492.] + +To-morrow, in cipher, goes the following Despatch:-- + +"FREYBERG, 30th October, 1762. + +"General Wied [not yet come to hand, or even got across Elbe] informs +me, That Prince Albert of Saxony [pushing hither with reinforcement, +sent by Daun] must have crossed Elbe yesterday at Pirna [did not show +face here, with his large reinforcements to them, or what would have +become of us!];--and that for this reason he, Wied, must himself +cross; which he will to-morrow. The same day I am to be joined by +some battalions from General Hulsen; and the day after to-morrow, when +General Wied [coming by Meissen Bridge, it appears] shall have reached +the Katzenhauser, the whole of General Hulsen's troops will join me. +Directly thereupon I shall--" [Schoning, p. 493.] Or no more of +that second Despatch; Friedrich's LETTER IN RESPONSE is better worth +giving:-- + +"LOWENBERG, 2d November, 1762. + +"MY DEAR BROTHER,--The arrival of Kalkreuter [so he persists in calling +him], and of your Letter, my dear Brother, has made me twenty [not to +say forty] years younger: yesterday I was sixty, to-day hardly eighteen. +I bless Heaven for preserving you in health (BONNE SANTE," so we term +escape of lesion in fight); "and that things have passed so happily! You +took the good step of attacking those who meant to attack you; and, by +your good and solid measures (DISPOSITIONS), you have overcome all the +difficulties of a strong Post and a vigorous resistance. It is a service +so important rendered by you to the State, that I cannot enough express +my gratitude, and will wait to do it in person. + +"Kalkreuter will explain what motions I--... If Fortune favor our views +on Dresden [which it cannot in the least, at this late season], we shall +indubitably have Peace this Winter or next Spring,--and get honorably +out of a difficult and perilous conjuncture, where we have often seen +ourselves within two steps of total destruction. And, by this which you +have now done, to you alone will belong the honor of having given the +final stroke to Austrian Obstinacy, and laid the foundations of the +Public Happiness, which will be the consequence of Peace.--F." [Ib. iii. +495, 496.] + +Two days after this, November 4th, Friedrich is in Meissen; November +9th, he comes across to Freyberg; has pleasant day,--pleasant survey +of the Battle-field, Henri and Seidlitz escorting as guides. Henri, +in furtherance of the Dresden project, has Kleist out on the Bohemian +Magazines,--"That is the one way to clear Dresden neighborhood of +Enemies!" thinks Henri always. Kleist burns the considerable magazine of +Saatz; finds the grand one of Leitmeritz too well guarded for him:--upon +which, in such snowdrifts and sleety deluges, is not Dresden plainly +impossible, your Majesty? Impossible, Friedrich admits,--the rather as +he now sees Peace to be coming without that. Freyberg has at last broken +the back of Austrian Obstinacy. "Go in upon the Reich," Friedrich now +orders Kleist, the instant Kleist is home from his Bohemian inroad: "In +upon the Reich, with 6,000, in your old style! That will dispose the +Reichs Principalities to Peace." + +Kleist marched November 3d; kept the Reich in paroxysm till December +13th;--Plotho, meanwhile, proclaiming in the Reichs Diet: "Such Reichs +Princes as wish for Peace with my King can have it; those that prefer +War, they too can have it!" Kleist, dividing himself in the due artistic +way, flew over the Voigtland, on to Bamberg, on to Nurnberg itself +(which he took, by sounding rams'-horns, as it were, having no gun +heavier than a carbine, and held for a week); [_Helden-Geschichte,_ +vii. 186-194.]--fluttering the Reichs Diet not a little, and disposing +everybody for Peace. The Austrians saw it with pleasure, "We solemnly +engaged to save these poor people harmless, on their joining us;--and, +behold, it has become thrice and four times impossible. Let them fall +off into Peace, like ripe pears, of themselves; we can then turn round +and say, 'Save you harmless? Yes; if you had n't fallen off!'" + +NOVEMBER 24th, all Austrians make truce with Friedrich, Truce till March +1st;--all Austrians, and what is singular, with no mention of the Reich +whatever. The Reich is defenceless, at the feet of Kleist and his 6,000. +Stollberg is still in Prussian neighborhood; and may be picked up any +day! Stollberg hastens off to defend the Reich; finds the Reich quite +empty of enemies before his arrival;--and at least saves his own skin. A +month or two more, and Stollberg will lay down his Command, and the last +Reichs-Execution Army, playing Farce-Tragedy so long, make its exit from +the Theatre of this World. + + + + +Chapter XIII.--PEACE OF HUBERTSBURG. + +The Prussian troops took Winter-quarters in the Meissen-Freyberg region, +the old Saxon ground, familiar to them for the last three years: room +enough this Winter, "from Plauen and Zwickau, round by Langensalza +again;" Truce with everybody, and nothing of disturbance till March 1st +at soonest. The usual recruiting went on, or was preparing to go on,--a +part of which took immediate effect, as we shall see. Recruiting, +refitting, "Be ready for a new Campaign, in any case: the readier we +are, the less our chance of having one!" Friedrich's head-quarter is +Leipzig; but till December 5th he does not get thither. "More business +on me than ever!" complains he. At Leipzig he had his Nephews, his +D'Argens; for a week or two his Brother Henri; finally, his Berlin +Ministers, especially Herzberg, when actual Peace came to be the +matter in hand. Henri, before that, had gone home: "Peace being now +the likelihood;--Home; and recruit one's poor health, at Berlin, among +friends!" + +Before getting to Leipzig, the King paid a flying Visit at +Gotha;--probably now the one fraction of these manifold Winter movements +and employments, in which readers could take interest. Of this, as there +happens to be some record left of it, here is what will suffice. From +Meissen, Friedrich writes to his bright Grand-Duchess, always a bright, +high and noble creature in his eyes: "Authorized by your approval [has +politely inquired beforehand], I shall have the infinite satisfaction of +paying my duties on December 3d [four days hence], and of reiterating +to you, Madam, my liveliest and sincerest assurances of esteem and +friendship.... Some of my Commissariat people have been misbehaving? +Strict inquiry shall be had," [To the Grand-Duchess, "Meissen, 29th +November" (_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xviii. 199).]--and we soon find WAS. +But the Visit is our first thing. + +The Visit took place accordingly; Seidlitz, a man known in Gotha ever +since his fine scenic-military procedures there in 1757, accompanied +the King. Of the lucent individualities invited to meet him, all are +now lost to me, except one Putter, a really learned Gottingen Professor +(deep in REICHS-HISTORY and the like), whom the Duchess has summoned +over. By the dim lucency of Putter, faint to most of us as a rushlight +in the act of going out, the available part of our imagination must +try to figure, in a kind of Obliterated-Rembrandt way, this glorious +Evening; for there was but one,--December 3d-4th,--Friedrich having +to leave early on the 4th. Here is Putter's record, given in the third +person:-- + +"During dinner, Putter, honorably present among the spectators of this +high business, was beckoned by the Duchess to step near the King [right +hand or left, Putter does not say]; but the King graciously turned +round, and conversed with Putter." The King said:-- + +KING. "In German History much is still buried; many important Documents +lie hidden in Monasteries." Putter answered "schicklich--fitly;" that is +all we know of Putter's answer. + +KING (thereupon). "Of Books on Reichs-History I know only the PERE +BARRI." [_Barri de Beaumarchais,_ 10 vols. 4to, Paris, 1748: I believe, +an extremely feeble Pillar of Will-o'-Wisps by Night;--as I can +expressly testify Pfeffel to be (Pfeffel, _Abrege Chronologique de +l'Histoire d'Allemagne,_ 2 vols. 4to, Paris, 1776), who has succeeded +Barri as Patent Guide through that vast SYLVA SYLVARUM and its pathless +intricacies, for the inquiring French and English.] + +PUTTER.... "Foreigners have for most part known only, in regard to our +History, a Latin work written by Struve at Jena." [Burkhard Gotthelf +Struve, _Syntagma Historiae Germanicus_ (1730, 2 vols. folio).] + +KING. "Struv, Struvius; him I don't know." + +PUTTER. "It is a pity Barri had not known German." + +KING. "Barri was a Lorrainer; Barri must have known German!"--Then +turning to the Duchess, on this hint about the German Language, he told +her, "in a ringing merry tone, How, at Leipzig once, he had talked with +Gottsched [talk known to us] on that subject, and had said to him, That +the French had many advantages; among others, that a word could often be +used in a complex signification, for which you had in German to scrape +together several different expressions. Upon which Gottsched had said, +'We will have that mended (DAS WOLLEN WIR NOCH MACHEN)!' These words the +King repeated twice or thrice, with such a tone that you could well +see how the man's conceit had struck him;"--and in short, as we know +already, what a gigantic entity, consisting of wind mainly, he took this +elevated Gottsched to be. + +Upon which, Putter retires into the honorary ranks again; silent, at +least to us, and invisible; as the rest of this Royal Evening at Gotha +is. ["Putter's _Selbstbiographie_ (Autobiography), p. 406:" cited in +Preuss, ii. 277 n.] Here, however, is the Letter following on it two +days after:-- + + +FRIEDRICH TO THE DUCHESS OF SACHSEN-GOTHA. + +"LEIPZIG, 6th December, 1762. + +"MADAM,--I should never have done, my adorable Duchess, if I rendered +you account of all the impressions which the friendship you lavished +on me has made on my heart. I could wish to answer it by entering into +everything that can be agreeable to you [conduct of my Recruiters or +Commissariat people first of all]. I take the liberty of forwarding +the ANSWERS which have come in to the Two MEMOIRES you sent me. I am +mortified, Madam, if I have not been able to fulfil completely your +desires: but if you knew the situation I am in, I flatter myself you +would have some consideration for it. + +"I have found myself here [in Leipzig, as elsewhere] overwhelmed with +business, and even to a degree I had not expected. Meanwhile, if I ever +can manage again to run over and pay you in person the homage of a +heart which is more attached to you than that of your near relations, +assuredly I will not neglect the first opportunity that shall present +itself. + +"Messieurs the English [Bute, Bedford and Company, with their +Preliminaries signed, and all my Westphalian Provinces left in a +condition we shall hear of] continue to betray. Poor M. Mitchell has +had a stroke of apoplexy on hearing it. It is a hideous thing (CHOSE +AFFREUSE); but I will speak of it no more. May you, Madam, enjoy all the +prosperities that I wish for you, and not forget a Friend, who will +be till his death, with sentiments of the highest esteem and the most +perfect consideration,--Madam, your Highness's most faithful Cousin and +Servant, FRIEDRICH." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ xzvii. 201.] + +For a fortnight past, Friedrich has had no doubt that general Peace is +now actually at hand. November 25th, ten days before this visit, a Saxon +Privy-Councillor, Baron von Fritsch, who, by Order from his Court, had +privately been at Vienna on the errand, came privately next, with all +speed, to Friedrich (Meissen, November 25th): [Rodenbeck, ii. 193.] +"Austria willing for Treaty; is your Majesty willing?" "Thrice-willing, +I; my terms well known!" Friedrich would answer,--gladdest of mankind to +see general Pacification coming to this vexed Earth again. The Dance of +the Furies, waltzing itself off, HOME out of this upper sunlight: the +mad Bellona steeds plunging down, down, towards their Abysses again, for +a season!-- + +This was a result which Friedrich had foreseen as nearly certain ever +since the French and English signed their Preliminaries. And there was +only one thing which gave him anxiety; that of his Rhine Provinces and +Strong Places, especially Wesel, which have been in French hands for six +years past, ever since Spring, 1757. Bute stipulates That those places +and countries shall be evacuated by his Choiseul, as soon as weather and +possibility permit; but Bute, astonishing to say, has not made the least +stipulation as to whom they are to be delivered to,--allies or enemies, +it is all one to Bute. Truly rather a shameful omission, Pitt might +indignantly think,--and call the whole business steadily, as he +persisted to do, "a shameful Peace," had there been no other article +in it but this;--as Friedrich, with at least equal emphasis thought and +felt. And, in fact, it had thrown him into very great embarrassment, on +the first emergence of it. + +For her Imperial Majesty began straightway to draw troops into those +neighborhoods: "WE will take delivery, our Allies playing into our +hand!" And Friedrich, who had no disposable troops, had to devise some +rapid expedient; and did. Set his Free-Corps agents and recruiters in +motion: "Enlist me those Light people of Duke Ferdinand's, who are all +getting discharged; especially that BRITANNIC LEGION so called. All to +be discharged; re-enlist them, you; Ferdinand will keep them till you do +it. Be swift!" And it is done;--a small bit of actual enlistment among +the many prospective that were going on, as we noticed above. Precise +date of it not given; must have been soon after November 3d. There were +from 5 to 6,000 of them; and it was promptly done. Divided into various +regiments; chief command of them given to a Colonel Bauer, under whom +a Colonel Beckwith whose name we have heard: these, to the surprise of +Imperial Majesty, and alarm of a pacific Versailles, suddenly appeared +in the Cleve Countries, handy for Wesel, for Geldern; in such posts, and +in such force and condition as intimated, "It shall be we, under favor, +that take delivery!" Snatch Wesel from them, some night, sword in +hand: that had been Bauer's notion; but nothing of that kind was found +necessary; mere demonstration proved sufficient. To the French Garrisons +the one thing needful was to get away in peace; Bauer with his brows +gloomy is a dangerous neighbor. Perhaps the French Officers themselves +rather favored Friedrich than his enemies. Enough, a private agreement, +or mutual understanding on word of honor, was come to: and, very +publicly, at length, on the 11th and 12th days of March, 1763 (Peace now +settled everywhere), Wesel, in great gala, full of field-music, military +salutations and mutual dining, saw the French all filing out, and Bauer +and people filing in, to the joy of that poor Town. [Preuss, ii. 342.] + +Soon after which, painful to relate, such the inexorable pressure +of finance, Bauer and people were all paid off, flung loose again: +ruthlessly paid off by a necessitous King! There were about 6,000 +of those poor fellows,--specimens of the bastard heroic, under +difficulties, from every country in the world; Beckwith and I know +not what other English specimens of the lawless heroic; who were all +cashiered, officer and man, on getting to Berlin. As were the earlier +Free-Corps, and indeed the subsequent, all and sundry, "except seven," +whose names will not be interesting to you. Paid off, with or without +remorse, such the exhaustion of finance; Kleist, Icilius, Count +Hordt and others vainly repugning and remonstrating; the King himself +inexorable as Arithmetic. "Can maintain 138,000 of regular, 12,000 +of other sorts; not a man more!" Zealous Icilius applied for some +consideration to his Officers: "partial repayment of the money they +have spent from their own pocket in enlistment of their people now +discharged!" Not a doit. The King's answer is in autograph, still +extant; not in good spelling, but with sense clear as light: "SEINE +OFFICIERS HABEN WIE DIE RABEN GESTOLLEN SIE KRIGEN NICHTS, Your Officers +stole like ravens;--they get Nothing." [Preuss, ii. 320.] Lessing's fine +play of MINNA VON BARNHELM testifies to considerable public sympathy for +these impoverished Ex-Military people. Pathetic truly, in a degree; but +such things will happen. Irregular gentlemen, to whom the world 's their +oyster,--said oyster does suddenly snap to on them, by a chance. And +they have to try it on the other side, and say little!--But we are +forgetting the Peace-Treaty itself, which still demands a few words. + +Kleist's raid into the Reich had a fine effect on the Potentates there; +and Plotho's Offer was greedily complied with; the Kaiser, such his +generosity, giving "free permission." We spoke of Privy-Councillor +von Fritsch, and his private little word with Friedrich at Meissen, on +November 25th. The Electoral-Prince of Saxony, it seems, was author of +that fine stroke; the history of it this. Since November 3d, the French +and English have had their preliminaries signed; and all Nations are +longing for the like. "Let us have a German Treaty for general Peace," +said the Kurprinz of Saxony, that amiable Heir-Apparent whom we have +seen sometimes, who is rather crooked of back, but has a sprightly Wife. +"By all means," answered Polish Majesty: "and as I am in the distance, +do you in every way further it, my Son!" Whereupon despatch of Fritsch +to Vienna, and thence to Meissen; with "Yes" to him from both parties. +Plenipotentiaries are named: "Fritsch shall be ours: they shall have my +Schloss of Hubertsburg for Place of Congress," said the Prince. And on +Thursday, December 30th, 1762, the Three Dignitaries met at Hubertsburg, +and began business. + +This is the Schloss in Torgau Country which Quintus Icilius's people, +Saldern having refused the job, willingly undertook spoiling; and, as is +well known, did it, January 22d, 1761; a thing Quintus never heard the +end of. What the amount of profit, or the degree of spoil and mischief, +Quintus's people made of it, I could not learn; but infer from this new +event that the wreck had not been so considerable as the noise was; at +any rate, that the Schloss had soon been restored to its pristine state +of brilliancy. The Plenipotentiaries,--for Saxony, Fritsch; for Austria, +a Von Collenbach, unknown to us; for Prussia, one Hertzberg, a man +experienced beyond his years, who is of great name in Prussian History +subsequently,--sat here till February 15th, 1763, that is for six weeks +and five days. Leaving their Protocols to better judges, who report them +good, we will much prefer a word or two from Friedrich himself, while +waiting the result they come to. + + +FRIEDRICH TO PRINCE HENRI (home at Berlin). + +"LEIPZIG, 14th JANUARY, 1763.... Am not surprised you find Berlin +changed for the worse: such a train of calamities must, in the end, +make itself felt in a poor and naturally barren Country, where continual +industry is needed to second its fecundity and keep up production. +However, I will do what I can to remedy this dearth (LA DISETTE), at +least as far as my small means permit.... + +"No fear of Geldern and Wesel; all that has been cared for by Bauer and +the new Free-Corps. By the end of February Peace will be signed; at the +beginning of April everybody will find himself at home, as in 1756. + +"The Circles are going to separate: indifferent to me, or nearly so; +but it is good to be plucking out tiresome burning sticks, stick after +stick. I hope you amuse yourself at Berlin: at Leipzig nothing but balls +and redouts; my Nephews diverting themselves amazingly. Madam Friedrich, +lately Garden-maid at Seidlitz [Village in the Neumark, with this Beauty +plucking weeds in it,--little prescient of such a fortune], now Wife +to an Officer of the Free Hussars, is the principal heroine of these +Festivities." [Schoning, iii. 528.] + +LEIPZIG, 25th JANUARY, 1763. "Thanks for your care about my existence. I +am becoming very old, dear Brother; in a little while I shall be useless +to the world and a burden to myself: it is the lot of all creatures +to wear down with age,--but one is not, for all that, to abuse one's +privilege of falling into dotage. + +"You still speak without full confidence of our Negotiation business +[going on at Hubertsburg yonder]. Most certainly the chapter of +accidents is inexhaustible; and it is still certain there may happen +quantities of things which the limited mind of man cannot foresee: but, +judging by the ordinary course, and such degrees of probability as human +creatures found their hopes on, I believe, before the month of February +entirely end, our Peace will be completed. In a permanent Arrangement, +many things need settling, which are easier to settle now than they ever +will be again. Patience; haste without speed is a thriftless method." +[Ib. iii. 529.] + +February 5th, the trio at Hubertsburg got their Preliminaries signed. On +the tenth day thereafter, the Treaty itself was signed and sealed. +All other Treaties on the same subject had been guided towards a +contemporary finis: England and France, ready since the 3d of November +last, signed and ended February 10th. February 11th, the Reich signed +and ended; February 15th, Prussia, Austria, Saxony; and the THIRD +SILESIAN or SEVEN-YEARS WAR was completely finished. [Copy of the treaty +in _Helden-Geschichte,_ vii. 624 et seq.; in Seyfarth, _Beylagen,_ iii. +479-495; in ROUSSET, in WENCK, in &c. &c.] + +It had cost, in loss of human lives first of all, nobody can say what: +according to Friedrich's computation, there had perished of actual +fighters, on the various fields, of all the nations, 853,000; of which +above the fifth part, or 180,000, is his own share: and, by misery and +ravage, the general Population of Prussia finds itself 500,000 fewer; +nearly the ninth man missing. This is the expenditure of Life. Other +items are not worth enumerating, in comparison; if statistically given, +you can find the most approved guesses at them by the same Head, who +ought to be an authority. [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ v. 230-234; Preuss, +iii. 349-351.] It was a War distinguished by--Archenholtz will tell you, +with melodious emphasis, what a distinguished, great and thrice-greatest +War it was. There have since been other far bigger Wars,--if size were +a measure of greatness; which it by no means is! I believe there was +excellent Heroism shown in this War, by persons I could name; by one +person, Heroism really to be called superior, or, in its kind, almost +of the rank of supreme;--and that in regard to the Military Arts and +Virtues, it has as yet, for faculty and for performance, had no rival; +nor is likely soon to have. The Prussians, as we once mentioned, still +use it as their school-model in those respects. And we--O readers, do +not at least you and I thank God to have now done with it!-- + +Of the Peace-Treaties at Hubertsburg, Paris and other places, it is +not necessary that we say almost anything. They are to be found in +innumerable Books, dreary to the mind; and of the 158 Articles to be +counted there, not one could be interesting at present. The substance of +the whole lies now in Three Points, not mentioned or contemplated at +all in those Documents, though repeatedly alluded to and intimated by us +here. + +The issue, as between Austria and Prussia, strives to be, in all points, +simply AS-YOU-WERE; and, in all outward or tangible points, strictly +is so. After such a tornado of strife as the civilized world had not +witnessed since the Thirty-Years War. Tornado springing doubtless from +the regions called Infernal; and darkening the upper world from south to +north, and from east to west for Seven Years long;--issuing in general +AS-YOU-WERE! Yes truly, the tornado was Infernal; but Heaven too had +silently its purposes in it. Nor is the mere expenditure of men's +diabolic rages, in mutual clash as of opposite electricities, with +reduction to equipoise, and restoration of zero and repose again after +seven years, the one or the principal result arrived at. Inarticulately, +little dreamt of at the time by any by-stander, the results, on survey +from this distance, are visible as Threefold. Let us name them one other +time:-- + +1. There is no taking of Silesia from this man; no clipping of him down +to the orthodox old limits; he and his Country have palpably outgrown +these. Austria gives up the Problem: "We have lost Silesia!" Yes; and, +what you hardly yet know,--and what, I perceive, Friedrich himself still +less knows,--Teutschland has found Prussia. Prussia, it seems, cannot be +conquered by the whole world trying to do it; Prussia has gone through +its Fire-Baptism, to the satisfaction of gods and men; and is a Nation +henceforth. In and of poor dislocated Teutschland, there is one of the +Great Powers of the World henceforth; an actual Nation. And a Nation +not grounding itself on extinct Traditions, Wiggeries, Papistries, +Immaculate Conceptions; no, but on living Facts,--Facts of Arithmetic, +Geometry, Gravitation, Martin Luther's Reformation, and what it really +can believe in:--to the infinite advantage of said Nation and of poor +Teutschland henceforth. To be a Nation; and to believe as you are +convinced, instead of pretending to believe as you are bribed or bullied +by the devils about you; what an advantage to parties concerned! +If Prussia follow its star--As it really tries to do, in spite of +stumbling! For the sake of Germany, one hopes always Prussia will; +and that it may get through its various Child-Diseases, without death: +though it has had sad plunges and crises,--and is perhaps just now in +one of its worst Influenzas, the Parliamentary-Eloquence or Ballot-Box +Influenza! One of the most dangerous Diseases of National Adolescence; +extremely prevalent over the world at this time,--indeed unavoidable, +for reasons obvious enough. "SIC ITUR AD ASTRA;" all Nations certain +that the way to Heaven is By voting, by eloquently wagging the tongue +"within those walls"! Diseases, real or imaginary, await Nations like +individuals; and are not to be resisted, but must be submitted to, and +got through the best you can. Measles and mumps; you cannot prevent them +in Nations either. Nay fashions even; fashion of Crinoline, for instance +(how infinitely more, that of Ballot-Box and Fourth-Estate!),--are you +able to prevent even that? You have to be patient under it, and keep +hoping! + +2. In regard to England. Her JENKINS'S-EAR CONTROVERSY is at last +settled. Not only liberty of the Seas, but, if she were not wiser, +dominion of them; guardianship of liberty for all others whatsoever: +Dominion of the Seas for that wise object. America is to be English, +not French; what a result is that, were there no other! Really a +considerable Fact in the History of the World. Fact principally due to +Pitt, as I believe, according to my best conjecture, and comparison of +probabilities and circumstances. For which, after all, is not +everybody thankful, less or more? O my English brothers, O my Yankee +half-brothers, how oblivious are we of those that have done us +benefit!-- + +These are the results for England. And in the rear of these, had these +and the other elements once ripened for her, the poor Country is to +get into such merchandisings, colonizings, foreign-settlings, +gold-nuggetings, as lay beyond the drunkenest dreams of Jenkins +(supposing Jenkins addicted to liquor);--and, in fact, to enter on a +universal uproar of Machineries, Eldorados, "Unexampled Prosperities," +which make a great noise for themselves in the very days now come. +Prosperities evidently not of a sublime type: which, in the mean while, +seem to be covering the at one time creditably clean and comely face +of England with mud-blotches, soot-blotches, miscellaneous squalors and +horrors; to be preaching into her amazed heart, which once knew better, +the omnipotence of + +SHODDY; filling her ears and soul with shriekery and metallic clangor, +mad noises, mad hurries mostly no-whither;--and are awakening, I +suppose, in such of her sons as still go into reflection at all, +a deeper and more ominous set of Questions than have ever risen in +England's History before. As in the foregoing case, we have to be +patient and keep hoping. + +3. In regard to France. It appears, noble old Teutschland, with such +pieties and unconquerable silent valors, such opulences human and +divine, amid its wreck of new and old confusions, is not to be cut in +Four, and made to dance to the piping of Versailles or another. Far the +contrary! To Versailles itself there has gone forth, Versailles may read +it or not, the writing on the wall: "Thou art weighed in the balance, +and found wanting" (at last even "FOUND wanting")! France, beaten, +stript, humiliated; sinful, unrepentant, governed by mere sinners +and, at best, clever fools (FOUS PLEINS D'ESPRIT),--collapses, like +a creature whose limbs fail it; sinks into bankrupt quiescence, into +nameless fermentation, generally into DRY-ROT. Rotting, none +guesses whitherward;--rotting towards that thrice-extraordinary +Spontaneous-Combustion, which blazed out in 1789. And has kindled, over +the whole world, gradually or by explosion, this unexpected Outburst +of all the chained Devilries (among other chained things), this roaring +Conflagration of the Anarchies; under which it is the lot of these poor +generations to live,--for I know not what length of Centuries yet. "Go +into Combustion, my pretty child!" the Destinies had said to this +BELLE FRANCE, who is always so fond of shining and outshining: +"Self-Combustion;--in that way, won't you shine, as none of them yet +could?" Shine; yes, truly,--till you are got to CAPUT MORTUUM, my pretty +child (unless you gain new wisdom!)--But not to wander farther:-- + +WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16th, Friedrich, all Saxon things being now +settled,--among the rest, "eight Saxon Schoolmasters" to be a model in +Prussia,--quitted Leipzig, with the Seven-Years War safe in his pocket, +as it were. Drove to Moritzburg, to dinner with the amiable Kurprinz +and still more amiable Wife: "It was to your Highness that we owe this +Treaty!" A dinner which readers may hear of again. At Moritzburg; where, +with the Lacys, there was once such rattling and battling. After which, +rapidly on to Silesia, and an eight days of adjusting and inspecting +there. + +WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30th, Friedrich arrives in Frankfurt-on-Oder, on the +way homeward from Silesia: "takes view of the Field of Kunersdorf" +(reflections to be fancied); early in the afternoon speeds forward +again; at one of the stages (place called Tassdorf) has a Dialogue, +which we shall hear of; and between 8 and 9 in the evening, not through +the solemn receptions and crowded streets, drives to the Schloss of +Berlin. "Goes straight to the Queen's Apartment," Queen, Princesses and +Court all home triumphantly some time ago; sups there with the Queen's +Majesty and these bright creatures,--beautiful supper, had it consisted +only of cresses and salt; and, behind it, sound sleep to us under our +own roof-tree once more. [Rodenbeck, ii. 211, 212; Preuss, ii. 345, 346; +&c. &c.] Next day, "the King made gifts to," as it were, to everybody; +"to the Queen about 5,000 pounds, to the Princess Amelia 1,000 pounds," +and so on; and saw true hearts all merry round him,--merrier, perhaps, +than his own was. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, +Vol. XX. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + +***** This file should be named 2120.txt or 2120.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/2120/ + +Produced by D.R. 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