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XX. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle

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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.





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