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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2668-h.zip b/2668-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d2fba9 --- /dev/null +++ b/2668-h.zip diff --git a/2668-h/2668-h.htm b/2668-h/2668-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3780c9a --- /dev/null +++ b/2668-h/2668-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5809 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.headingsummary { margin-left: 5%;} + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck, by Baron Trenck</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck, by +Baron Trenck, Edited by Henry Morley, Translated by Thomas Holcroft + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck + Vol. 1 (of 2) + + +Author: Baron Trenck + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: October 16, 2007 [eBook #2668] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF BARON +TRENCK*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1892 Cassell & Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org, proofed by Bridie, Rab Hughes and +Roland Chapman.</p> +<h1><span class="smcap">the</span><br /> +LIFE AND ADVENTURES<br /> +<span class="smcap">of</span><br /> +BARON TRENCK</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">translated +by</span><br /> +THOMAS HOLCROFT.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">Vol.</span> +I.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">CASSELL & COMPANY, <span +class="smcap">Limited</span>:<br /> +<span class="smcap"><i>london</i></span>, <span +class="smcap"><i>paris & melbourne</i></span>.<br /> +1892.</p> +<h2>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<p>There were two cousins Von der Trenck, who were barons +descended from an ancient house in East Prussia, and were +adventurous soldiers, to whom, as to the adventurous, there were +adventures that lost nothing in the telling, for they were told +by the authors’ most admiring +friends—themselves. Franz, the elder, was born in +1711, the son of an Austrian general; and Frederick, whose +adventures are here told, was the son of a Prussian +major-general. Franz, at the age of seventeen, fought +duels, and cut off the head of a man who refused to lend him +money. He stood six feet three inches in his shoes, knocked +down his commanding officer, was put under arrest, offered to pay +for his release by bringing in three Turks’ heads within an +hour, was released on that condition, and actually brought in +four Turks’ heads. When afterwards cashiered, he +settled on his estates in Croatia, and drilled a thousand of his +tenantry to act as “Pandours” against the +banditti. In 1740, he served with his Pandours under Maria +Theresa, and behaved himself as one of the more brutal sort of +banditti. He offered to capture Frederick of Prussia, and +did capture his tent. Many more of his adventures are +vaingloriously recounted by himself in the <i>Mémoires du +Baron Franz de Trenck</i>, published at Paris in 1787. This +Trenck took poison when imprisoned at Grätz, and died in +October, 1747, at the age of thirty-six.</p> +<p>His cousin Frederick is the Trenck who here tells a story of +himself that abounds in lively illustration of the days of +Frederick the Great. He professes that Frederick the King +owed him a grudge, because Frederick the Trenck had, when +eighteen years old, fascinated the Princess Amalie at a +ball. But as Frederick the Greater was in correspondence +with his cousin Franz at the time when that redoubtable personage +was planning the seizure of Frederick the Great, there may have +been better ground for the Trenck’s arrest than he allows +us to imagine. Mr. Carlyle shows that Frederick von der +Trenck had been three months in prison, and was still in prison, +at the time of the battle of the Sohr, in which he professes to +have been engaged. Frederick von der Trenck, after his +release from imprisonment in 1763, married a burgomaster’s +daughter, and went into business as a wine merchant. Then +he became adventurous again. His adventures, published in +German in 1786-7, and in his own French version in 1788, formed +one of the most popular books of its time. Seven plays were +founded on them, and ladies in Paris wore their bonnets à +la Trenck. But the French finally guillotined the author, +when within a year of threescore and ten, on the 26th of July, +1794. He had gone to Paris in 1792, and joined there in the +strife of parties. At the guillotine he struggled with the +executioner.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">H.M.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> +<p>I was born at Königsberg in Prussia, February 16, 1726, +of one of the most ancient families of the country. My +father, who was lord of Great Scharlach, Schakulack, and Meichen, +and major-general of cavalry, died in 1740, after receiving +eighteen wounds in the Prussian service. My mother was +daughter of the president of the high court at +Königsberg. After my father’s death she married +Count Lostange, lieutenant-colonel in the Kiow regiment of +cuirassiers, with whom she went and resided at Breslau. I +had two brothers and a sister; my youngest brother was taken by +my mother into Silesia; the other was a cornet in this last-named +regiment of Kiow; and my sister was married to the only son of +the aged General Valdow.</p> +<p>My ancestors are famous in the Chronicles of the North, among +the ancient Teutonic knights, who conquered Courland, Prussia, +and Livonia.</p> +<p>By temperament I was choleric, and addicted to pleasure and +dissipation; my tutors found this last defect most difficult to +overcome; happily, they were aided by a love of knowledge +inherent in me, an emulative spirit, and a thirst for fame, which +disposition it was my father’s care to cherish. A too +great consciousness of innate worth gave me a too great degree of +pride, but the endeavours of my instructor to inspire humility +were not all lost; and habitual reading, well-timed praise, and +the pleasures flowing from science, made the labours of study at +length my recreation.</p> +<p>My memory became remarkable; I am well read in the Scriptures, +the classics, and ancient history; was acquainted with geography; +could draw; learnt fencing, riding, and other necessary +exercises.</p> +<p>My religion was Lutheran; but morality was taught me by my +father, and by the worthy man to whose care he committed the +forming of my heart, whose memory I shall ever hold in +veneration. While a boy, I was enterprising in all the +tricks of boys, and exercised my wit in crafty excuses; the +warmth of my passions gave a satiric, biting cast to my writings, +whence it has been imagined, by those who knew but little of me, +I was a dangerous man; though, I am conscious, this was a false +judgment.</p> +<p>A soldier himself, my father would have all his sons the same; +thus, when we quarrelled, we terminated our disputes with wooden +sabres, and, brandishing these, contested by blows for victory, +while our father sat laughing, pleased at our valour and +address. This practice, and the praises he bestowed, +encouraged a disposition which ought to have been +counteracted.</p> +<p>Accustomed to obtain the prize, and be the hero of scholastic +contentions, I acquired the bad habit of disputation, and of +imagining myself a sage when little more than a boy. I +became stubborn in argument; hasty to correct others, instead of +patiently attentive: and, by presumption, continually liable to +incite enmity. Gentle to my inferiors, but impatient of +contradiction, and proud of resisting power, I may hence date, +the origin of all my evils.</p> +<p>How might a man, imbued with the heroic principles of liberty, +hope for advancement and happiness, under the despotic and iron +Government of Frederic? I was taught neither to know nor to +avoid, but to despise the whip of slavery. Had I learnt +hypocrisy, craft, and meanness, I had long since become +field-marshal, had been in possession of my Hungarian estates, +and had not passed the best years of my life in the dungeons of +Magdeburg. I was addicted to no vice: I laboured in the +cause of science, honour, and virtue; kept no vicious company; +was never in the whole of my life intoxicated; was no gamester, +no consumer of time in idleness nor brutal pleasures; but devoted +many hundred laborious nights to studies that might make me +useful to my country; yet was I punished with a severity too +cruel even for the most worthless, or most villanous.</p> +<p>I mean, in my narrative, to make candour and veracity my +guides, and not to conceal my failings; I wish my work may remain +a moral lesson to the world. Yet it is an innate +satisfaction that I am conscious of never having acted with +dishonour, even to the last act of this distressful tragedy.</p> +<p>I shall say little of the first years of my life, except that +my father took especial care of my education, and sent me, at the +age of thirteen, to the University of Königsberg, where, +under the tuition of Kowalewsky, my progress was rapid. +There were fourteen other noblemen in the same house, and under +the same master.</p> +<p>In the year following, 1740, I quarrelled with one young +Wallenrodt, a fellow-student, much stronger than myself, and who, +despising my weakness, thought proper to give me a blow. I +demanded satisfaction. He came not to the appointed place, +but treated my demand with contempt; and I, forgetting all +further respect, procured a second, and attacked him in open +day. We fought, and I had the fortune to wound him twice; +the first time in the arm, the second in the hand.</p> +<p>This affair incited inquiry:—Doctor Kowalewsky, our +tutor, laid complaints before the University, and I was condemned +to three hours’ confinement; but my grandfather and +guardian, President Derschau, was so pleased with my courage, +that he took me from this house and placed me under Professor +Christiani.</p> +<p>Here I first began to enjoy full liberty, and from this worthy +man I learnt all I know of experimental philosophy and +science. He loved me as his own son, and continued +instructing me till midnight. Under his auspices, in 1742, +I maintained, with great success, two public theses, although I +was then but sixteen; an effort and an honour till then +unknown.</p> +<p>Three days after my last public exordium, a contemptible +fellow sought a quarrel with me, and obliged me to draw in my own +defence, whom, on this occasion, I wounded in the groin.</p> +<p>This success inflated my valour, and from that time I began to +assume the air and appearance of a Hector.</p> +<p>Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed before I had another with a +lieutenant of the garrison, whom I had insulted, who received two +wounds in the contest.</p> +<p>I ought to remark, that at this time, the University of +Königsberg was still highly privileged. To send a +challenge was held honourable; and this was not only permitted, +but would have been difficult to prevent, considering the great +number of proud, hot-headed, and turbulent nobility from Livonia, +Courland, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, who came thither to study, +and of whom there were more than five hundred. This brought +the University into disrepute, and endeavours have been made to +remedy the abuse. Men have acquired a greater extent of +true knowledge, and have begun to perceive that a University +ought to be a place of instruction, and not a field of battle; +and that blood cannot be honourably shed, except in defence of +life or country.</p> +<p>In November, 1742, the King sent his adjutant-general, Baron +Lottum, who was related to my mother, to Königsberg, with +whom I dined at my grandfather’s. He conversed much +with me, and, after putting various questions, purposely, to +discover what my talents and inclinations were, he demanded, as +if in joke, whether I had any inclination to go with him to +Berlin, and serve my country, as my ancestors had ever done: +adding that, in the army, I should find much better opportunities +of sending challenges than at the University. Inflamed with +the desire of distinguishing myself, I listened with rapture to +the proposition, and in a few days we departed for Potzdam.</p> +<p>On the morrow after my arrival, I was presented to the King, +as indeed I had before been in the year 1740, with the character +of being, then, one of the most hopeful youths of the +University. My reception was most flattering; the justness +of my replies to the questions he asked, my height, figure, and +confidence, pleased him; and I soon obtained permission to enter +as a cadet in his body guards, with a promise of quick +preferment.</p> +<p>The body guards formed, at this time, a model and school for +the Prussian cavalry; they consisted of one single squadron of +men selected from the whole army, and their uniform was the most +splendid in all Europe. Two thousand rix-dollars were +necessary to equip an officer: the cuirass was wholly plated with +silver; and the horse, furniture, and accoutrements alone cost +four hundred rix-dollars.</p> +<p>This squadron only contained six officers and a hundred and +forty-four men; but there were always fifty or sixty +supernumeraries, and as many horses, for the King incorporated +all the most handsome men he found in the guards. The +officers were the best taught of any the army contained; the King +himself was their tutor, and he afterwards sent them to instruct +the cavalry in the manoeuvres they had learnt. Their rise +was rapid if they behaved well; but they were broken for the +least fault, and punished by being sent to garrison +regiments. It was likewise necessary they should be +tolerably rich, as well as possess such talents as might be +successfully employed, both at court and in the army.</p> +<p>There are no soldiers in the world who undergo so much as this +body guard; and during the time I was in the service of Frederic, +I often had not eight hours’ sleep in eight days. +Exercise began at four in the morning, and experiments were made +of all the alterations the King meant to introduce in his +cavalry. Ditches of three, four, five, six feet, and still +wider, were leaped, till that someone broke his neck; hedges, in +like manner, were freed, and the horses ran careers, meeting each +other full speed in a kind of lists of more than half a league in +length. We had often, in these our exercises, several men +and horses killed or wounded.</p> +<p>It happened more frequently than otherwise that the same +experiments were repeated after dinner with fresh horses; and it +was not uncommon, at Potzdam, to hear the alarm sounded twice in +a night. The horses stood in the King’s stables; and +whoever had not dressed, armed himself, saddled his horse, +mounted, and appeared before the palace in eight minutes, was put +under arrest for fourteen days.</p> +<p>Scarcely were the eyes closed before the trumpet again +sounded, to accustom youth to vigilance. I lost, in one +year, three horses, which had either broken their legs, in +leaping ditches, or died of fatigue.</p> +<p>I cannot give a stronger picture of this service than by +saying that the body guard lost more men and horses in one +year’s peace than they did, during the following year, in +two battles.</p> +<p>We had, at this time, three stations; our service, in the +winter, was at Berlin, where we attended the opera, and all +public festivals: in the spring we were exercised at +Charlottenberg; and at Potzdam, or wherever the King went, during +the summer. The six officers of the guard dined with the +King, and, on gala days, with the Queen. It may be presumed +there was not at that time on earth a better school to form an +officer and a man of the world than was the court of Berlin.</p> +<p>I had scarcely been six weeks a cadet before the King took me +aside, one day, after the parade, and having examined me near +half an hour, on various subjects, commanded me to come and speak +to him on the morrow.</p> +<p>His intention was to find whether the accounts that had been +given him of my memory had not been exaggerated; and that he +might be convinced, he first gave me the names of fifty soldiers +to learn by rote, which I did in five minutes. He next +repeated the subjects of two letters, which I immediately +composed in French and Latin; the one I wrote, the other I +dictated. He afterwards ordered me to trace, with +promptitude, a landscape from nature, which I executed with equal +success; and he then gave me a cornet’s commission in his +body guards.</p> +<p>Each mark of bounty from the monarch increased an ardour +already great, inspired me with gratitude, and the first of my +wishes was to devote my whole life to the service of my King and +country. He spoke to me as a Sovereign should speak, like a +father, like one who knew well how to estimate the gifts bestowed +on me by nature; and perceiving, or rather feeling, how much he +might expect from me, became at once my instructor and my +friend.</p> +<p>Thus did I remain a cadet only six weeks, and few Prussians +can vaunt, under the reign of Frederic, of equal good +fortune.</p> +<p>The King not only presented me with a commission, but equipped +me splendidly for the service. Thus did I suddenly find +myself a courtier, and an officer in the finest, bravest, and +best disciplined corps in Europe. My good fortune seemed +unlimited, when, in the month of August, 1743, the King selected +me to go and instruct the Silesian cavalry in the new manoeuvres: +an honour never before granted to a youth of eighteen.</p> +<p>I have already said we were garrisoned at Berlin during +winter, where the officers’ table was at court: and, as my +reputation had preceded me, no person whatever could be better +received there, or live more pleasantly.</p> +<p>Frederic commanded me to visit the literati, whom he had +invited to his court: Maupertuis, Jordan, La Mettrie, and +Pollnitz, were all my acquaintance. My days were employed +in the duties of an officer, and my nights in acquiring +knowledge. Pollnitz was my guide, and the friend of my +heart. My happiness was well worthy of being envied. +In 1743, I was five feet eleven inches in height, and Nature had +endowed me with every requisite to please. I lived, as I +vainly imagined, without inciting enmity or malice, and my mind +was wholly occupied by the desire of earning well-founded +fame.</p> +<p>I had hitherto remained ignorant of love, and had been +terrified from illicit commerce by beholding the dreadful objects +of the hospital at Potzdam. During the winter of 1743, the +nuptials of his Majesty’s sister were celebrated, who was +married to the King of Sweden, where she is at present Queen +Dowager, mother of the reigning Gustavus. I, as officer of +my corps, had the honour to mount guard and escort her as far as +Stettin. Here first did my heart feel a passion of which, +in the course of my history, I shall have frequent occasion to +speak. The object of my love was one whom I can only +remember at present with reverence; and, as I write not romance, +but facts, I shall here briefly say, ours were mutually the +first-fruits of affection, and that to this hour I regret no +misfortune, no misery, with which, from a stock so noble, my +destiny was overshadowed.</p> +<p>Amid the tumult inseparable to occasions like these, on which +it was my duty to maintain order, a thief had the address to +steal my watch, and cut away part of the gold fringe which hung +from the waistcoat of my uniform, and afterwards to escape +unperceived. This accident brought on me the raillery of my +comrades; and the lady alluded to thence took occasion to console +me, by saying it should be her care that I should be no +loser. Her words were accompanied by a look I could not +misunderstand, and a few days after I thought myself the happiest +of mortals. The name, however, of this high-born lady is a +secret, which must descend with me to the grave; and, though my +silence concerning this incident heaves a void in my life, and +indeed throws obscurity over a part of it, which might else be +clear, I would much rather incur this reproach than become +ungrateful towards my best friend and benefactress. To her +conversation, to her prudence, to the power by which she fixed my +affections wholly on herself, am I indebted for the improvement +and polishing of my bodily and mental qualities. She never +despised, betrayed, or abandoned me, even in the deepest of my +distress; and my children alone, on my death-bed, shall be taught +the name of her to whom they owe the preservation of their +father, and consequently their own existence.</p> +<p>I lived at this time perfectly happy at Berlin, and highly +esteemed. The King took every opportunity to testify his +approbation; my mistress supplied me with more money than I could +expend; and I was presently the best equipped, and made the +greatest figure, of any officer in the whole corps. The +style in which I lived was remarked, for I had only received from +my father’s heritage the estate of Great Scharlach; the +rent of which was eight hundred dollars a year, which was far +from sufficient to supply my then expenses. My amour, in +the meantime, remained a secret from my best and most intimate +friends. Twice was my absence from Potzdam and +Charlottenberg discovered, and I was put under arrest; but the +King seemed satisfied with the excuse I made, under the pretext +of having been hunting, and smiled as he granted my pardon.</p> +<p>Never did the days of youth glide away with more apparent +success and pleasure than during these my first years at +Berlin. This good fortune was, alas, of short +duration. Many are the incidents I might relate, but which +I shall omit. My other adventures are sufficiently +numerous, without mingling such as may any way seem foreign to +the subject. In this gloomy history of my life, I wish to +paint myself such as I am; and, by the recital of my sufferings, +afford a memorable example to the world, and interest the heart +of sensibility. I would also show how my fatal destiny has +deprived my children of an immense fortune; and, though I want a +hundred thousand men to enforce and ensure my rights, I will +leave demonstration to my heirs that they are incontestable.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> +<p>In the beginning of September, 1744, war again broke out +between the Houses of Austria and Prussia. We marched with +all speed towards Prague, traversing Saxony without +opposition. I will not relate in this place what the great +Frederic said to us, with evident emotion, when surrounded by all +his officers, on the morning of our departure from Potzdam.</p> +<p>Should any one be desirous of writing the lives of him and his +opponent, Maria Theresa, without flattery and without fear, let +him apply to me, and I will relate anecdotes most surprising on +this subject, unknown to all but myself, and which never must +appear under my own name.</p> +<p>All monarchs going to war have reason on their side; and the +churches of both parties resound with prayers, and appeals to +Divine Justice, for the success of their arms. Frederic, on +this occasion, had recourse to them with regret, of which I was a +witness.</p> +<p>If I am not mistaken, the King’s army came before Prague +on the 14th of September, and that of General Schwerin, which had +passed through Silesia, arrived the next day on the other side of +the Moldau. In this position we were obliged to wait some +days for pontoons, without which we could not establish a +communication between the two armies.</p> +<p>The height called Zischka, which overlooks the city, being +guarded only by a few Croats, was instantly seized, without +opposition, by some grenadiers, and the batteries, erected at the +foot of that mountain, being ready on the fifth day, played with +such success on the old town with bombs and red-hot balls that it +was set on fire. The King made every effort to take the +city before Prince Charles could bring his army from the Rhine to +its relief.</p> +<p>General Harsh thought proper to capitulate, after a siege of +twelve days, during which not more than five hundred men of the +garrison, at the utmost, were killed and wounded, though eighteen +thousand men were made prisoners.</p> +<p>Thus far we had met with no impediment. The Imperial +army, however, under the command of Prince Charles of Lorraine, +having quitted the banks of the Rhine, was advancing to save +Bohemia.</p> +<p>During this campaign we saw the enemy only at a distance; but +the Austrian light troops being thrice as numerous as ours, +prevented us from all foraging. Winter was approaching, +dearth and hunger made Frederic determine to retreat, without the +least hope from the countries in our rear, which we had entirely +laid waste as we had advanced. The severity of the season, +in the month of November, rendered the soldiers excessively +impatient of their hardships; and, accustomed to conquer, the +Prussians were ashamed of and repined at retreat: the +enemy’s light troops facilitated desertion, and we lost, in +a few weeks, above thirty thousand men. The pandours of my +kinsman, the Austrian Trenck, were incessantly at our heels, gave +us frequent alarms, did us great injury, and, by their alertness, +we never could make any impression upon them with our +cannon. Trenck at length passed the Elbe, and went and +burnt and destroyed our magazines at Pardubitz: it was therefore +resolved wholly to evacuate Bohemia.</p> +<p>The King hoped to have brought Prince Charles to the battle +between Benneschan and Kannupitz, but in vain: the Saxons, during +the night, had entered a battery of three-and-twenty cannon on a +mound which separated two ponds: this was the precise road by +which the King meant to make the attack.</p> +<p>Thus were we obliged to abandon Bohemia. The dearth, +both for man and horse, began to grow extreme. The weather +was bad; the roads and ruts were deep; marches were continual, +and alarms and attacks from the enemy’s light troops became +incessant. The discontent all these inspired was universal, +and this occasioned the great loss of the army.</p> +<p>Under such circumstances, had Prince Charles continued to +harass us, by persuading us into Silesia, had he made a winter +campaign, instead of remaining indolently at ease in Bohemia, we +certainly should not have vanquished him, the year following, at +Strigau; but he only followed at a distance, as far as the +Bohemian frontiers. This gave Frederic time to recover, and +the more effectually because the Austrians had the imprudence to +permit the return of deserters.</p> +<p>This was a repetition of what had happened to Charles XII. +when he suffered his Russian prisoners to return home, who +afterwards so effectually punished his contempt of them at the +battle of Pultawa.</p> +<p>Prague was obliged to be abandoned, with considerable loss; +and Trenck seized on Tabor, Budweis, and Frauenberg, where he +took prisoners the regiments of Walrabe Kreutz.</p> +<p>No one would have been better able to give a faithful history +of this campaign than myself, had I room in this place, and had I +at that time been more attentive to things of moment; since I not +only performed the office of adjutant to the King, when he went +to reconnoitre, or choose a place of encampment, but it was, +moreover, my duty to provide forage for the headquarters. +The King having only permitted me to take six volunteers from the +body guard, to execute this latter duty, I was obliged to add to +them horse chasseurs, and hussars, with whom I was continually in +motion. I was peculiarly fortunate on two occasions, by +happening to come after the enemy when they had left loaded +waggons and forage bundles.</p> +<p>I seldom passed the night in my tent during this campaign, and +my indefatigable activity obtained the favour and entire +confidence of Frederic. Nothing so much contributed to +inspire me with emulation as the public praises I received, and +my enthusiasm wished to perform wonders. The campaign, +however, but ill supplied me with opportunities to display my +youthful ardour.</p> +<p>At length no one durst leave the camp, notwithstanding the +extremity of the dearth, because of the innumerable clouds of +pandours and hussars that hovered everywhere around.</p> +<p>No sooner were we arrived in Silesia, than the King’s +body guard were sent to Berlin, there to remain in winter +quarters.</p> +<p>I should not here have mentioned the Bohemian war, but that, +while writing time history of my life, I ought not to omit +accidents by which my future destiny was influenced.</p> +<p>One day, while at Bennaschen, I was commanded out, with a +detachment of thirty hussars and twenty chasseurs, on a foraging +party. I had posted my hussars in a convent, and gone +myself, with the chasseurs, to a mansion-house, to seize the +carts necessary for the conveyance of the hay and straw from a +neighbouring farm. An Austrian lieutenant of hussars, +concealed with thirty-six horsemen in a wood, having remarked the +weakness of my escort, taking advantage of the moment when my +people were all employed in loading the carts, first seized our +sentinel, and then fell suddenly upon them, and took them all +prisoners in the very farm-yard. At this moment I was +seated at my ease, beside the lady of the mansion-house, and was +a spectator of the whole transaction through the window.</p> +<p>I was ashamed of and in despair at my negligence. The +kind lady wished to hide me when the firing was heard in the +farm-yard. By good fortune, the hussars, whom I had +stationed in the convent, had learnt from a peasant that there +was an Austrian detachment in the wood: they had seen us at a +distance enter the farmyard, hastily marched to our aid, and we +had not been taken more than two minutes before they +arrived. I cannot express the pleasure with which I put +myself at their head. Some of the enemy’s party +escaped through a back door, but we made two-and-twenty +prisoners, with a lieutenant of the regiment of +Kalnockichen. They had two men killed, and one wounded; and +two also of my chasseurs were hewn down by the sabre, in the +hay-loft, where they were at work.</p> +<p>We continued our forage with more caution after this accident: +the horses we had taken served, in part, to draw the carts; and, +after raising a contribution of one hundred and fifty ducats on +the convent, which I distributed among the soldiers to engage +them to silence, we returned to the army, from which we were +distant about two leagues.</p> +<p>We heard firing as we marched, and the foragers on all sides +were skirmishing with the enemy. A lieutenant and forty +horse joined me; yet, with this reinforcement, I durst not return +to the camp, because I learned we were in danger from more than +eight hundred pandours and hussars, who were in the plain. +I therefore determined to take a long, winding, but secret route, +and had the good fortune to come safe to quarters with my +prisoners and five-and-twenty loaded carts. The King was at +dinner when I entered his tent. Having been absent all +night, it was imagined I had been taken, that accident having +happened the same day to many others.</p> +<p>The instant I entered, the King demanded if I returned +singly. “No, please your Majesty,” answered I; +“I have brought five-and-twenty loads of forage, and +two-and-twenty prisoners, with their officer and +horses.”</p> +<p>The King then commanded me to sit down, and turning himself +towards the English ambassador, who was near him, said, laying +his hand on my shoulder, “<i>C’est un Matador de ma +jeunesse</i>.”</p> +<p>A reconnoitring party was, at the same moment, in waiting +before his tent: he consequently asked me few questions, and to +those he did ask, I replied trembling. In a few minutes he +rose from the table, gave a glance at the prisoners, hung the +Order of Merit round my neck, commanded me to go and take repose, +and set off with his party.</p> +<p>It is easy to conceive the embarrassment of my situation; my +unpardonable negligence deserved that I should have been broken, +instead of which I was rewarded; an instance, this, of the great +influence of chance on the affairs of the world. How many +generals have gained victories by their very errors, which have +been afterwards attributed to their genius! It is evident the +sergeant of hussars, who retook me and my men by bringing up his +party, was much better entitled than myself to the recompense I +received. On many occasions have I since met with disgrace +and punishment when I deserved reward. My inquietude lest +the truth should be discovered, was extreme, especially +recollecting how many people were in the secret: and my +apprehensions were incessant.</p> +<p>As I did not want money, I gave the sergeants twenty ducats +each, and the soldiers one, in order to insure their silence, +which, being a favourite with them, they readily promised. +I, however, was determined to declare the truth the very first +opportunity, and this happened a few days after.</p> +<p>We were on our march, and I, as cornet, was at the head of my +company, when the King, advancing, beckoned me to come to him, +and bade me tell him exactly how the affair I had so lately been +engaged in happened.</p> +<p>The question at first made me mistrust I was betrayed, but +remarking the King had a mildness in his manner, I presently +recovered myself, and related the exact truth. I saw the +astonishment of his countenance, but I at the same time saw he +was pleased with my sincerity. He spoke to me for half an +hour, not as a King, but as a father, praised my candour, and +ended with the following words, which, while life remains, I +shall never forget: “Confide in the advice I give you; +depend wholly upon me, and I will make you a man.” +Whoever can feel, may imagine how infinitely my gratitude towards +the King was increased, by this his great goodness; from that +moment I had no other desire than to live and die for his +service.</p> +<p>I soon perceived the confidence the King had in me after this +explanation, of which I received very frequent marks, the +following winter, at Berlin. He permitted me to be present +at his conversations with the literati of his court, and my state +was truly enviable.</p> +<p>I received this same winter more than five hundred ducats as +presents. So much happiness could not but excite jealousy, +and this began to be manifest on every side. I had too +little disguise for a courtier, and my heart was much too open +and frank.</p> +<p>Before I proceed, I will here relate an incident which +happened during the last campaign, and which will, no doubt, be +read in the history of Frederic.</p> +<p>On the rout while retreating through Bohemia, the King came to +Kollin, with his horse-guards, the cavalry piquets of the +head-quarters, and the second and third battalions of +guards. We had only four field pieces, and our squadron was +stationed in one of the suburbs. Our advance posts, towards +evening, were driven back into the town, and the hussars entered +pell-mell: the enemy’s light troops swarmed over the +country, and my commanding officer sent me immediately to receive +the King’s orders. After much search, I found him at +the top of a steeple, with a telescope in his hand. Never +did I see him so disturbed or undecided as on this +occasion. Orders were immediately given that we should +retreat through the city, into the opposite suburb, where we were +to halt, but not unsaddle.</p> +<p>We had not been here long before a most heavy rain fell, and +the night became exceedingly dark. My cousin Trenck made +his approach about nine in the evening, with his pandour and +janissary music, and set fire to several houses. They found +we were in the suburb, and began to fire upon us from the city +windows. The tumult became extreme: the city was too full +for us to re-enter: the gate was shut, and they fired from above +at us with our field-pieces. Trenck had let in the waters +upon us, and we were up to the girths by midnight, and almost in +despair. We lost seven men, and my horse was wounded in the +neck.</p> +<p>The King, and all of us, had certainly been made prisoners had +my cousin, as he has since told me, been able to continue the +assault he had begun: but a cannon ball having wounded him in the +foot, he was carried off, and the pandours retired. The +corps of Nassau arrived next day to our aid; we quitted Kollin, +and during the march the King said to me, “Your cousin had +nearly played us a malicious prank last night, but the deserters +say he is killed.” He then asked what our +relationship was, and there our conversation ended.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> +<p>It was about the middle of December when we came to Berlin, +where I was received with open arms. I became less cautious +than formerly, and, perhaps, more narrowly observed. A +lieutenant of the foot guards, who was a public Ganymede, and +against whom I had that natural antipathy and abhorrence I have +for all such wretches, having indulged himself in some very +impertinent jokes on the secret of my amour, I bestowed on him +the epithet he deserved: we drew our swords, and he was +wounded. On the Sunday following I presented myself to pay +my respects to his Majesty on the parade, who said to me as he +passed, “The storm and the thunder shall rend your heart; +beware!” <a name="citation1"></a><a href="#footnote1" +class="citation">[1]</a> He added nothing more.</p> +<p>Some little time after I was a few minutes too late on the +parade; the King remarked it, and sent me, under arrest, to the +foot-guard at Potzdam. When I had been here a fortnight, +Colonel Wartensleben came, and advised me to petition for +pardon. I was then too much a novice in the modes of the +court to follow his counsel, nor did I even remark the person who +gave it me was himself a most subtle courtier. I complained +bitterly that I had so long been deprived of liberty, for a fault +which was usually punished by three, or, at most, six days’ +arrest. Here accordingly I remained.</p> +<p>Eight days after, the King being come to Potzdam, I was sent +by General Bourke to Berlin, to carry some letters, but without +having seen the King. On my return I presented myself to +him on the parade; and as our squadron was garrisoned at Berlin, +I asked, “Does it please your Majesty that I should go and +join my corps?” “Whence came you?” +answered he. “From Berlin.” “And +where were you before you went to Berlin?” +“Under arrest.” “Then under arrest you +must remain!”</p> +<p>I did not recover my liberty till three days before our +departure for Silesia, towards which we marched, with the utmost +speed, in the beginning of May, to commence our second +campaign.</p> +<p>Here I must recount an event which happened that winter, which +became the source of all my misfortunes, and to which I must +entreat my readers will pay the utmost attention; since this +error, if innocence can be error, was the cause that the most +faithful and the best of subjects became bewildered in scenes of +wretchedness, and was the victim of misery, from his nineteenth +to the sixtieth year of his age. I dare presume that this +true narrative, supported by testimonies the most authentic, will +fully vindicate my present honour and my future memory.</p> +<p>Francis, Baron of Trenck, was the son of my father’s +brother, consequently my cousin german. I shall speak, +hereafter, of the singular events of his life. Being a +commander of pandours in the Austrian service, and grievously +wounded at Bavaria, in the year 1743, he wrote to my mother, +informing her he intended me, her eldest son, for his universal +legatee. This letter, to which I returned no answer, was +sent to me at Potzdam. I was so satisfied with my +situation, and had such numerous reasons so to be, considering +the kindness with which the King treated me, that I would not +have exchanged my good fortune for all the treasures of the Great +Mogul.</p> +<p>On the 12th of February, 1744, being at Berlin, I was in +company with Captain Jaschinsky, commander of the body guard, the +captain of which ranks as colonel in the army, together with +Lieutenant Studnitz, and Cornet Wagnitz. The latter was my +field comrade, and is at present commander-general of the cavalry +of Hesse Cassel. The Austrian Trenck became the subject of +conversation, and Jaschinsky asked if I were his kinsman. I +answered, yes, and immediately mentioned his having made me his +universal heir. “And what answer have you +returned?” said Jaschinsky.—“None at +all.”</p> +<p>The whole company then observed that, in a case like the +present, I was much to blame not to answer; that the least I +could do would be to thank him for his good wishes, and entreat a +continuance of them. Jaschinsky further added, +“Desire him to send you some of his fine Hungarian horses +for your own use, and give me the letter; I will convey it to +him, by means of Mr. Bossart, legation counsellor of the Saxon +embassy; but on condition that you will give me one of the +horses. This correspondence is a family, and not a state +affair; I will make myself responsible for the +consequences.”</p> +<p>I immediately took my commander’s advice, and began to +write; and had those who suspected me thought proper to make the +least inquiry into these circumstances, the four witnesses who +read what I wrote could have attested my innocence, and rendered +it indubitable. I gave my letter open to Jaschinsky, who +sealed and sent it himself.</p> +<p>I must omit none of the incidents concerning this letter, it +being the sole cause of all my sufferings. I shall +therefore here relate an event which was the first occasion of +the unjust suspicions entertained against me.</p> +<p>One of my grooms, with two led horses, was, among many others, +taken by the pandours of Trenck. When I returned to the +camp, I was to accompany the King on a reconnoitring party. +My horse was too tired, and I had no other: I informed him of my +embarrassment, and his Majesty immediately made me a present of a +fine English courser.</p> +<p>Some days after, I was exceedingly astonished to see my groom +return, with my two horses, and a pandour trumpeter, who brought +me a letter, containing nearly the following words:—</p> +<p>“The Austrian Trenck is not at war with the Prussian +Trenck, but, on the contrary, is happy to have recovered his +horses from his hussars, and to return them to whom they first +belonged,” &c.</p> +<p>I went the same day to pay my respects to the King, who, +receiving me with great coldness, said, “Since your cousin +has returned your own horses, you have no more need of +mine.”</p> +<p>There were too many who envied me to suppose these words would +escape repetition. The return of the horses seems +infinitely to have increased that suspicion Frederic entertained +against me, and therefore became one of the principal causes of +my misfortunes: it is for this reason that I dwell upon this and +suchlike small incidents, they being necessary for my own +justification, and, were it possible, for that of the King. +My innocence is, indeed, at present universally acknowledged by +the court, the army, and the whole nation; who all mention the +injustice I suffered with pity, and the fortitude with which it +was endured with surprise.</p> +<p>We marched for Silesia, to enter on our second campaign: +which, to the Prussians, was as bloody and murderous as it was +glorious.</p> +<p>The King’s head-quarters were fixed at the convent of +Kamentz, where we rested fourteen days, and the army remained in +cantonments. Prince Charles, instead of following us into +Bohemia, had the imprudence to occupy the plain of Strigau, and +we already concluded his army was beaten. Whoever is well +acquainted with tactics, and the Prussian manoeuvres, will easily +judge, without the aid of calculation or witchcraft, whether a +well or ill-disciplined army, in an open plain, ought to be +victorious.</p> +<p>The army hastily left its cantonments, and in twenty-four +hours was in order of battle; and on the 14th of June, eighteen +thousand bodies lay stretched on the plain of Strigau. The +allied armies of Austria and Saxony were totally defeated.</p> +<p>The body guard was on the right; and previous to the attack, +the King said to our squadron, “Prove today, my children, +that you are my body guard, and give no Saxon quarter.”</p> +<p>We made three attacks on the cavalry, and two on the +infantry. Nothing could withstand a squadron like this, +which for men, horses, courage, and experience, was assuredly the +first in the world. Our corps alone took seven standards +and five pairs of colours, and in less than an hour the affair +was over.</p> +<p>I received a pistol shot in my right hand, my horse was +desperately wounded, and I was obliged to change him on the third +charge. The day after the battle all the officers were +rewarded with the Order of Merit. For my own part, I +remained four weeks among the wounded, at Schweidnitz, where +there were sixteen thousand men under the torture of the army +surgeons, many of whom had not their wounds dressed till the +third day.</p> +<p>I was near three months before I recovered the use of my hand: +I nevertheless rejoined my corps, continued to perform my duty, +and as usual accompanied the King when he went to +reconnoitre. For some time past he had placed confidence in +me, and his kindness towards me continually increased, which +raised my gratitude even to enthusiasm.</p> +<p>I also performed the service of adjutant during this campaign, +a circumstantial account of which no person is better enabled to +write than myself, I having been present at all that +passed. I was the scholar of the greatest master the art of +war ever knew, and who believed me worthy to receive his +instructions; but the volume I am writing would be insufficient +to contain all that personally relates to myself.</p> +<p>I must here mention an adventure that happened at this time, +and which will show the art of the great Frederic in forming +youth for his service, and devotedly attaching them to his +person.</p> +<p>I was exceedingly fond of hunting, in which, notwithstanding +it was severely forbidden, I indulged myself. I one day +returned, laden with pheasants; but judge my astonishment and +fears when I saw the army had decamped, and that it was with +difficulty that I could overtake the rear-guard.</p> +<p>In this my distress, I applied to an officer of hussars, who +instantly lent me his horse, by the aid of which I rejoined my +corps, which always marched as the vanguard. Mounting my +own horse, I tremblingly rode to the head of my division, which +it was my duty to precede. The King, however, had remarked +my absence, or rather had been reminded of it by my superior +officer, who, for some time past, had become my enemy.</p> +<p>Just as the army halted to encamp, the King rode towards me, +and made a signal for me to approach, and, seeing my fears in my +countenance, said, “What, are you just returned from +hunting?” “Yes, your Majesty. I +hope—” Here interrupting me, he added, +“Well, well, for this time, I shall take no further notice, +remembering Potzdam; but, however, let me find you more attentive +to your duty.”</p> +<p>So ended this affair, for which I deserved to have been +broken. I must remind my readers that the King meant by the +words remembering Potzdam, he remembered I had been punished too +severely the winter before, and that my present pardon was +intended as a compensation.</p> +<p>This was indeed to think and act greatly; this was indeed the +true art of forming great men: an art much more effectual than +that of ferocious generals, who threaten subalterns with +imprisonment and chains on every slight occasion; and, while +indulging all the rigours of military law, make no distinction of +minds or of men. Frederic, on the contrary, sometimes +pardoned the failings of genius, while mechanic souls he +mechanically punished, according to the very letter of the laws +of war.</p> +<p>I shall further remark, the King took no more notice of my +late fault, except that sometimes, when I had the honour to dine +with him, he would ridicule people who were too often at the +chase, or who were so choleric that they took occasion to quarrel +for the least trifle.</p> +<p>The campaign passed in different manoeuvres, marches, and +countermarches. Our corps was the most fatigued, as being +encamped round the King’s tent, the station of which was +central, and as likewise having the care of the vanguard; we were +therefore obliged to begin our march two hours sooner than the +remainder of the army, that we might be in our place. We +also accompanied the King whenever he went to reconnoitre, traced +the lines of encampment, led the horse to water, inspected the +head-quarters, and regulated the march and encampment, according +to the King’s orders; the performance of all which robbed +us of much rest, we being but six officers to execute so many +different functions.</p> +<p>Still further, we often executed the office of couriers, to +bear the royal commands to detachments. The King was +particularly careful that the officers of his guards, whom he +intended should become excellent in the art of tactics, should +not be idle in his school. It was necessary to do much in +order that much might be learnt. Labour, vigilance, +activity, the love of glory and the love of his country, animated +all his generals; into whom, it may be said, he infused his +spirit.</p> +<p>In this school I gained instruction, and here already was I +selected as one designed to instruct others; yet, in my fortieth +year, a great general at Vienna told me, “My dear Trenck, +our discipline would be too difficult for you to learn; for +which, indeed, you are too far advanced in life.” +Agreeable to this wise decision was I made an Austrian invalid, +and an invalid have always remained; a judgment like this would +have been laughed at, most certainly, at Berlin.</p> +<p>If I mistake not, the famous battle of Soor, or Sorau, was +fought on the 14th day of September. The King had sent so +many detachments into Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia, that the main +army did not consist of more than twenty-five thousand men. +Neglecting advice, and obstinate in judging his enemy by numbers, +and not according to the excellence of discipline, and other +accidents, Prince Charles, blind to the real strength of the +Prussian armies, had enclosed this small number of Pomeranian and +Brandenburg regiments, with more than eighty-six thousand men, +intending to take them all prisoners.</p> +<p>It will soon be seen from my narrative with what kind of +secrecy his plan was laid and executed.</p> +<p>The King came into my tent about midnight; as he also did into +that of all the officers, to awaken them; his orders were, +“Secretly to saddle, leave the baggage in the rear, and +that the men should stand ready to mount at the word of +command.”</p> +<p>Lieutenant Studnitz and myself attended the King, who went in +person, and gave directions through the whole army; meantime, +break of day was expected with anxiety.</p> +<p>Opposite the defile through which the enemy was to march to +the attack eight field-pieces were concealed behind a hill. +The King must necessarily have been informed of the whole plan of +the Austrian general, for he had called in the advanced posts +from the heights, that he might lull him into security, and make +him imagine we should be surprised in the midst of sleep.</p> +<p>Scarcely did break of day appear before the Austrian +artillery, situated upon the heights, began to play upon our +camp, and their cavalry to march through the defile to the +attack.</p> +<p>As suddenly were we in battle array; for in less than ten +minutes we ourselves began the attack, notwithstanding the +smallness of our number, the whole army only containing five +regiments of cavalry. We fell with such fury upon the enemy +(who at this time were wholly employed in forming their men at +the mouth of the defile, and that slowly, little expecting so +sudden and violent a charge), that we drove them back into the +defile, where they pressed upon each other in crowds; the King +himself stood ready to unmask his eight field-pieces, and a +dreadful and bloody slaughter ensued in this narrow place; from +which the enemy had not the power to retreat. This single +incident gained the battle, and deceived all time hopes of Prince +Charles.</p> +<p>Nadasti, Trenck, and the light troops, sent to attack our +rear, were employed in pillaging the camp. The ferocious +Croats met no opposition, while this their error made our victory +more secure. It deserves to be noticed that, when advice +was brought to the King that the enemy had fallen upon and were +plundering the camp, his answer was, “So much the better; +they have found themselves employment, and will be no impediment +to our main design.”</p> +<p>Our victory was complete, but all our baggage was lost; the +headquarters, utterly undefended, were totally stripped; and +Trenck had, for his part of the booty, the King’s tent and +his service of plate.</p> +<p>I have mentioned this circumstance here, because that, in the +year 1740, my cousin Trenck, having fallen into the power of his +enemies, who had instituted a legal, process against him, was +accused, by some villanous wretches, of having surprised the King +in bed at the battle of Sorau, and of having afterwards released +him for a bribe.</p> +<p>What was still worse, they hired a common woman, a native of +Brünn, who pretended she was the daughter of Marshal +Schwerin, to give in evidence that she herself was with the King +when Trenck entered his tent, whom he immediately made prisoner, +and as immediately released.</p> +<p>To this part of the prosecution I myself, an eye-witness, can +answer: the thing was false and impossible. He was informed +of the intended attack. I accompanied the watchful King +from midnight till four in the morning, which time he employed in +riding through the camp, and making the necessary preparations to +receive the enemy; and the action began at five. Trenck +could not take the King in bed, for the battle was almost gained +when he and his pandours entered the camp and plundered the +head-quarters.</p> +<p>As for the tale of Miss Schwerin, it is only fit to be told by +schoolboys, or examined by the Inquisition, and was very unworthy +of making part of a legal prosecution against an innocent man at +Vienna.</p> +<p>This incident, however, is so remarkable that I shall give in +this work a farther account of my kinsman, and what was called +his criminal process, at reading which the world will be +astonished. My own history is so connected with his that +this is necessary, and the more so because there are many +ignorant or wicked people at Vienna, who believe, or affirm, +Trenck had actually taken the King of Prussia prisoner.</p> +<p>Never yet was there a traitor of the name of Trenck; and I +hope to prove, in the clearest manner, the Austrian Trenck as +faithfully served the Empress-Queen as the Prussian Trenck did +Frederic, his King. Maria Theresa, speaking to me of him +some time after his death, and the snares that had been laid for +him, said, “Your kinsman has made a better end than will be +the fate of his accusers and judges.”</p> +<p>Of this more hereafter: I approach that epoch when my +misfortunes began, and when the sufferings of martyrdom attended +me from youth onward till my hairs grew grey.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<p>A few days after the battle of Sorau, the usual camp postman +brought me a letter from my cousin Trenck, the colonel of +pandours, antedated at Effek four months, of which the following +is a copy:—</p> +<p>“Your letter, of the 12th of February, from Berlin, +informs me you desire to have some Hungarian horses. On +these you would come and attack me and my pandours. I saw +with pleasure, during the last campaign, that the Prussian Trenck +was a good soldier; and that I might give you some proofs of my +attachment, I then returned the horses which my men had +taken. If, however, you wish to have Hungarian horses, you +must take mine in like manner from me in the field of battle: or, +should you so think fit, come and join one who will receive you +with open arms, like his friend and son, and who will procure you +every advantage you can desire,” &c.</p> +<p>At first I was terrified at reading this letter, yet could not +help smiling. Cornet Wagenitz, now general in chief of the +Hesse Cassel forces, and Lieutenant Grotthausen, both now alive, +and then present, were my camp comrades. I gave them the +letter to read, and they laughed at its contents. It was +determined to show it to our superior officer, Jaschinsky, on a +promise of secrecy, and it was accordingly shown him within an +hour after it was received.</p> +<p>The reader will be so kind as to recollect that, as I have +before said, it was this Colonel Jaschinsky who on the 12th of +February, the same year, at Berlin, prevailed on me to write to +the Austrian Trenck, my cousin; that he received the letter open, +and undertook to send it according to its address; also that, in +this letter, I in jest had asked him to send me some Hungarian +horses, and, should they come, had promised one to +Jaschinsky. He read the letter with an air of some +surprise; we laughed, and, it being whispered through the army +that, in consequence of our late victory, detached corps would be +sent into Hungary, Jaschinsky said, “We shall now go and +take Hungarian horses for ourselves.” Here the +conversation ended, and I, little suspecting future consequences, +returned to my tent.</p> +<p>I must here remark the following observations:—</p> +<p>1st. I had not observed the date of the letter brought +by the postman, which, as I have said, was antedated four months: +this, however, the colonel did not fail to remark.</p> +<p>2ndly. The probability is that this was a net, spread +for me by this false and wicked man. The return of my +horses, during the preceding campaign, had been the subject of +much conversation. It is possible he had the King’s +orders to watch me; but more probably he only prevailed on me to +write that he might entrap me by a fictitious answer. +Certain it is, my cousin Trenck, at Vienna, affirmed to his death +he never received any letter from me, consequently never could +send any answer. I must therefore conclude this letter was +forged.</p> +<p>Jaschinsky was at this time one of the King’s +favourites; his spy over the army; a tale-bearer; an inventor of +wicked lies and calumnies. Some years after the event of +which I am now speaking, the King was obliged to break and banish +him the country.</p> +<p>He was then also the paramour of the beauteous Madame +Brossart, wife of the Saxon resident at Berlin, and there can be +little doubt but that this false letter was, by her means, +conveyed to some Saxon or Austrian post-office, and thence, +according to its address, sent to me. He had daily +opportunities of infusing suspicions into the King’s mind +concerning me; and, unknown to me, of pursuing his diabolical +plan.</p> +<p>I must likewise add he was four hundred ducats indebted to +me. At that time I had always a plentiful supply of +money. This booty became his own when I, unexamined, was +arrested, and thrown into prison. In like manner he seized +on the greatest part of my camp equipage.</p> +<p>Further, we had quarrelled during our first campaign, because +he had beaten one of my servants; we even were proceeding to +fight with pistols, had not Colonel Winterfield interfered, and +amicably ended our quarrel. The Lithuanian is, by nature, +obstinate and revengeful; and, from that day, I have reason to +believe he sought my destruction.</p> +<p>God only knows what were the means he took to excite the +King’s suspicious; for it is incredible that Frederic, +considering his <i>well-known professions</i> of public justice, +should treat me in the manner he did, without a hearing, without +examination, and without a court-martial. This to me has +ever remained a mystery, which the King alone was able to +explain; he afterwards was convinced I was innocent: but my +sufferings had been too cruel, and the miseries he had inflicted +too horrible, for me ever to hope for compensation.</p> +<p>In an affair of this nature, which will soon he known to all +Europe, as it long has been in Prussia, the weakest is always +guilty. I have been made a terrible example to this our +age, how true that maxim is in despotic States.</p> +<p>A man of my rank, having once unjustly suffered, and not +having the power of making his sufferings known, must ever be +highly rewarded or still more unjustly punished. My name +and injuries will ever stain the annals of Frederic <i>the +Great</i>; even those who read this book will perhaps suppose +that I, from political motives of hope or fear, have sometimes +concealed truth by endeavouring to palliate his conduct.</p> +<p>It must ever remain incomprehensible that a monarch so +clear-sighted, himself the daily witness of my demeanour, one +well acquainted with mankind, and conscious I wanted neither +money, honour, nor hope of future preferment; I say it is +incomprehensible that he should really suppose me guilty. I +take God to witness, and all those who knew me in prosperity and +misfortune, I never harboured a thought of betraying my +country. How was it possible to suspect me? I was +neither madman nor idiot. In my eighteenth year I was a +cornet of the body guard, adjutant to the King, and possessed his +favour and confidence in the highest degree. His presents +to me, in one year, amounted to fifteen hundred dollars. I +kept seven horses, four men in livery; I was valued, +distinguished, and beloved by the mistress of my soul. My +relations held high offices, both civil and military; I was even +fanatically devoted to my King and country, and had nothing to +wish.</p> +<p>That I should become thus wretched, in consequence of this +unfortunate letter, is equally wonderful: it came by the public +post. Had there been any criminal correspondence, my +kinsman certainly would not have chosen this mode of conveyance; +since, it is well known, all such letters are opened; nor could I +act more openly. My colonel read the letter I wrote; and +also that which I received, immediately after it was brought.</p> +<p>The day after the receipt of this letter I was, as I have +before said, unheard, unaccused, unjudged, conducted like a +criminal from the army, by fifty hussars, and imprisoned in the +fortress of Glatz. I was allowed to take three horses, and +my servants, but my whole equipage was left behind, which I never +saw more, and which became the booty of Jaschinsky. My +commission was given to Cornet Schatzel, and I cashiered without +knowing why. There were no legal inquiries made: all was +done by the King’s command.</p> +<p>Unhappy people! where power is superior to law, and where the +innocent and the virtuous meet punishment instead of +reward. Unhappy land! where the omnipotent “<span +class="smcap">such is our will</span>” supersedes all legal +sentence, and robs the subject of property, life, and honour.</p> +<p>I once more repeat I was brought to the citadel of Glatz; I +was not, however, thrown into a dungeon, but imprisoned in a +chamber of the officer of the guard; was allowed my servants to +wait on me, and permitted to walk on the ramparts.</p> +<p>I did not want money, and there was only a detachment from the +garrison regiment in the citadel of Glatz, the officers of which +were all poor. I soon had both friends and freedom, and the +rich prisoner every day kept open table.</p> +<p>He only who had known me in this the ardour of my youth, who +had witnessed how high I aspired, and the fortune that attended +me at Berlin, can imagine what my feelings were at finding myself +thus suddenly cast from my high hopes.</p> +<p>I wrote submissively to the King, requesting to be tried by a +court-martial, and not desiring any favour should I be found +guilty. This haughty tone, in a youth, was displeasing, and +I received no answer, which threw me into despair, and induced me +to use every possible means to obtain my liberty.</p> +<p>My first care was to establish, by the intervention of an +officer, a certain correspondence with the object of my +heart. She answered, she was far from supposing I had ever +entertained the least thought treacherous to my country; that she +knew, too well, I was perfectly incapable, of +dissimulation. She blamed the precipitate anger and unjust +suspicions of the King; promised me speedy aid, and sent me a +thousand ducats.</p> +<p>Had I, at this critical moment, possessed a prudent and +intelligent friend, who could have calmed my impatience, nothing +perhaps might have been more easy than to have obtained pardon +from the King, by proving my innocence; or, it may be, than to +have induced him to punish my enemies.</p> +<p>But the officers who then were at Glatz fed the flame of +discontent. They supposed the money I so freely distributed +came all from Hungary, furnished by the pandour chest; and +advised me not to suffer my freedom to depend upon the will of +the King, but to enjoy it in his despite.</p> +<p>It was not more easy to give this advice than to persuade a +man to take it, who, till then, had never encountered anything +but good fortune, and who consequently supported the reverse with +impatience. I was not yet, however, determined; because I +could not yet resolve to abandon my country, and especially +Berlin.</p> +<p>Five months soon passed away in prison: peace was concluded; +the King was returned to his capital; my commission in the guards +was bestowed on another, when Lieutenant Piaschky, of the +regiment of Fouquet, and Ensign Reitz, who often mounted guard +over me, proposed that they and I should escape together. I +yielded; our plan was fixed, and every preparatory step +taken.</p> +<p>At that time there was another prisoner at Glatz, whose name +was Manget, by birth a Swiss, and captain of cavalry in the +Natzmerschen hussars; he had been broken, and condemned by a +court-martial to ten years’ imprisonment, with an allowance +of only four rix-dollars per month.</p> +<p>Having done this man kindness, I was resolved to rescue him +from bondage, at the same time that I obtained freedom for +myself. I communicated my design, and made the proposal, +which was accepted by him, and measures were taken; yet were we +betrayed by this vile man, who thus purchased pardon and +liberty.</p> +<p>Piaschky, who had been informed that Reitz was arrested, saved +himself by deserting. I denied the fact in presence of +Manget, with whom I was confronted, and bribed the Auditor with a +hundred ducats. By this means Reitz only suffered a +year’s imprisonment, and the loss of his commission. +I was afterwards closely confined in a chamber, for having +endeavoured to corrupt the King’s officers, and was guarded +with greater caution.</p> +<p>Here I will interrupt my narrative, for a moment, to relate an +adventure which happened between me and this Captain Manget, +three years after he had thus betrayed me—that is to say, +in 1749, at Warsaw.</p> +<p>I there met him by chance, and it is not difficult to imagine +what was the salutation he received. I caned him; he took +this ill, and challenged me to fight with pistols. Captain +Heucking, of the Polish guards, was my second. We both +fired together; I shot him through the neck at the first shot, +and he fell dead on the field.</p> +<p>He alone, of all my enemies, ever died by my own hand; and he +well merited his end, for his cowardly treachery towards the two +brave fellows of whom I have spoken; and still more so with +respect to myself, who had been his benefactor. I own, I +have never reproached myself for this duel, by which I sent a +rascal out of the world.</p> +<p>I return to my tale. My destiny at Glatz was now become +more untoward and severe. The King’s suspicions were +increased, as likewise was his anger, by this my late attempt to +escape.</p> +<p>Left to myself, I considered my situation in the worst point +of view, and determined either on flight or death. The +length and closeness of my confinement became insupportable to my +impatient temper.</p> +<p>I had always had the garrison on my side, nor was it possible +to prevent my making friends among them. They knew I had +money, and, in a poor garrison regiment, the officers of which +are all dissatisfied, having most of them been drafted from other +corps, and sent thither as a punishment, there was nothing that +might not be undertaken.</p> +<p>My scheme was as follows:—My window looked towards the +city, and was ninety feet from the ground in the tower of the +citadel, out of which I could not get, without having found a +place of refuge in the city.</p> +<p>This an officer undertook to procure me, and prevailed on an +honest soap-boiler to grant me a hiding place. I then +notched my pen-knife, and sawed through three iron bars; but this +mode was too tedious, it being necessary to file away eight bars +from my window, before I could pass through; another officer +therefore procured me a file, which I was obliged to use with +caution, lest I should be overheard by the sentinels.</p> +<p>Having ended this labour, I cut my leather portmanteau into +thongs, sewed them end to end, added the sheets of my bed, and +descended safely from this astonishing height.</p> +<p>It rained, the night was dark, and all seemed fortunate, but I +had to wade through moats full of mud, before I could enter the +city, a circumstance I had never once considered. I sank up +to the knees, and after long struggling, and incredible efforts +to extricate myself, I was obliged to call the sentinel, and +desire him to go and tell the governor, Trenck was stuck fast in +the moat.</p> +<p>My misfortune was the greater on this occasion, because that +General Fouquet was then governor of Glatz. He was one of +the cruellest of men. He had been wounded by my father in a +duel; and the Austrian Trenck had taken his baggage in 1744, and +had also laid the country of Glatz under contribution. He +was, therefore, an enemy to the very name of Trenck; nor did he +lose any opportunity of giving proofs of his enmity, and +especially on the present occasion, when he left me standing in +the mire till noon, the sport of the soldiers. I was then +drawn out, half dead, only again to be imprisoned, and shut up +the whole day, without water to wash me. No one can imagine +how I looked, exhausted and dirty, my long hair having fallen +into the mud, with which, by my struggling, it was loaded.</p> +<p>I remained in this condition till the next day, when two +fellow-prisoners were sent to assist and clean me.</p> +<p>My imprisonment now became more intolerable. I had still +eighty louis-d’ors in my purse, which had not been taken +from me at my removal into another dungeon, and these afterwards +did me good service.</p> +<p>The passions soon all assailed me at once, and impetuous, +boiling, youthful blood overpowered reason; hope disappeared; I +thought myself the most unfortunate of men, and my King an +irreconcileable judge, more wrathful and more fortified in +suspicion by my own rashness. My nights were sleepless, my +days miserable; my soul was tortured by the desire of fame; a +consciousness of innocence was a continued stimulus inciting me +to end my misfortunes. Youth, inexperienced in woe and +disastrous fate, beholds every evil magnified, and desponds on +every new disappointment, more especially after having failed in +attempting freedom. Education had taught me to despise +death, and these opinions had been confirmed by my friend La +Mettrie, author of the famous work, “L’Homme +Machine,” or “Man a Machine.”</p> +<p>I read much during my confinement at Glatz, where books were +allowed me; time was therefore less tedious; but when the love of +liberty awoke, when fame and affection called me to Berlin, and +my baulked hopes painted the wretchedness of my situation; when I +remembered that my loved country, judging by appearances, could +not but pronounce me a traitor; then was I hourly impelled to +rush on the naked bayonets of my guards, by whom, to me, the road +of freedom was barred.</p> +<p>Big with such-like thoughts, eight days had not elapsed since +my last fruitless attempt to escape, when an event happened which +would appear incredible, were I, the principal actor in the +scene, not alive to attest its truth, and might not all Glatz and +the Prussian garrison be produced as eye and ear witnesses. +This incident will prove that adventurous, and even rash, daring +will render the most improbable undertakings possible, and that +desperate attempts may often make a general more fortunate and +famous than the wisest and best concerted plans.</p> +<p>Major Doo <a name="citation2"></a><a href="#footnote2" +class="citation">[2]</a> came to visit me, accompanied by an +officer of the guard, and an adjutant. After examining +every corner of my chamber, he addressed me, taxing me with a +second crime in endeavouring to obtain my liberty; adding this +must certainly increase the anger of the King.</p> +<p>My blood boiled at the word crime; he talked of patience; I +asked him how long the King had condemned me to imprisonment; he +answered, a traitor to his country, who has correspondence with +the enemy, cannot be condemned for a certain time, but must +depend for grace and pardon on the King.</p> +<p>At that instant I snatched his sword from his side, on which +my eyes had some time been fixed, sprang out of the door, tumbled +the sentinel from the top to the bottom of the stairs, passed the +men who happened to be drawn up before the prison door to relieve +the guard, attacked them sword in hand, threw them suddenly into +surprise by the manner in which I laid about me, wounded four of +them, made way through the rest, sprang over the breastwork of +the ramparts, and, with my sword drawn in my hand, immediately +leaped this astonishing height without receiving the least +injury. I leaped the second wall with equal safety and good +fortune. None of their pieces were loaded; no one durst +leap after me, and in order to pursue, they must go round through +the town and gate of the citadel; so that I had the start full +half an hour.</p> +<p>A sentinel, however, in a narrow passage, endeavoured to +oppose my flight, but I parried his fixed bayonet, and wounded +him in the face. A second sentinel, meantime, ran from the +outworks, to seize me behind, and I, to avoid him, made a spring +at the palisadoes; there I was unluckily caught by the foot, and +received a bayonet wound in the upper lip; thus entangled, they +beat me with the butt-end of their muskets, and dragged me back +to prison, while I struggled and defended myself like a man grown +desperate.</p> +<p>Certain it is, had I more carefully jumped the palisadoes, and +despatched the sentinel who opposed me, I might have escaped, and +gained the mountains. Thus might I have fled to Bohemia, +after having, at noonday, broken from the fortress of Glatz, +sprung past all its sentinels, over all its walls, and passed +with impunity, in despite of the guard, who were under arms, +ready to oppose me. I should not, having a sword, have +feared any single opponent, and was able to contend with the +swiftest runners.</p> +<p>That good fortune which had so far attended me forsook me at +the palisadoes, where hope was at an end. The severities of +imprisonment were increased; two sentinels and an under officer +were locked in with me, and were themselves guarded by sentinels +without; I was beaten and wounded by the butt-ends of their +muskets, my right foot was sprained, I spat blood, and my wounds +were not cured in less than a month.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> +<p>I was now first informed that the King had only condemned me +to a year’s imprisonment, in order to learn whether his +suspicions were well founded. My mother had petitioned for +me, and was answered, “Your son must remain a year +imprisoned, as a punishment for his rash +correspondence.”</p> +<p>Of this I was ignorant, and it was reported in Glatz that my +imprisonment was for life. I had only three weeks longer to +repine for the loss of liberty, when I made this rash +attempt. What must the King think? Was he not obliged +to act with this severity? How could prudence excuse my +impatience, thus to risk a confiscation, when I was certain of +receiving freedom, justification, and honour, in three +weeks? But, such was my adverse fate, circumstances all +tended to injure and persecute me, till at length I gave reason +to suppose I was a traitor, notwithstanding the purity of my +intentions.</p> +<p>Once more, then, was I in a dungeon, and no sooner was I there +than I formed new projects of flight. I first gained the +intimacy of my guards. I had money, and this, with the +compassion I had inspired, might effect anything among +discontented Prussian soldiers. Soon had I gained +thirty-two men, who were ready to execute, on the first signal, +whatever I should command. Two or three excepted, they were +unacquainted with each other; they consequently could not all be +betrayed at a time: had chosen the sub-officer Nicholai to head +them.</p> +<p>The garrison consisted only of one hundred and twenty men from +the garrison regiment, the rest being dispersed in the county of +Glatz, and four officers, their commanders, three of whom were in +my interest. Everything was prepared; swords and pistols +were concealed in the oven which was in my prison. We +intended to give liberty to all the prisoners, and retire with +drums beating into Bohemia.</p> +<p>Unfortunately, an Austrian deserter, to whom Nicholai had +imparted our design, went and discovered our conspiracy. +The governor instantly sent his adjutant to the citadel, with +orders that the officer on guard should arrest Nicholai, and, +with his men, take possession of the casement.</p> +<p>Nicholai was on the guard, and the lieutenant was my friend, +and being in the secret, gave the signal that all was +discovered. Nicholai only knew all the conspirators, +several of whom that day were on guard. He instantly formed +his resolution, leaped into the casement, crying, +“Comrades, to arms, we are betrayed!” All +followed to the guard-house, where they seized on the cartridges, +the officer having only eight men, and threatening to fire on +whoever should offer resistance, came to deliver me from prison; +but the iron door was too strong, and the time too short for that +to be demolished. Nicholai, calling to me, bid me aid them, +but in vain: and perceiving nothing more could be done for me, +this brave man, heading nineteen others, marched to the gate of +the citadel, where there was a sub-officer and ten soldiers, +obliged these to accompany him, and thus arrived safely at +Braunau, in Bohemia; for, before the news was spread through the +city, and men were collected for the pursuit, they were nearly +half-way on their journey.</p> +<p>Two years after I met with this extraordinary man at +Ofenbourg, where hue was a writer: he entered immediately into my +service, and became my friend, but died some months after of a +burning fever, at my quarters in Hungary, at which I was deeply +grieved, for his memory will be ever dear to me.</p> +<p>Now was I exposed to all the storms of ill-fortune: a +prosecution was entered against me as a conspirator, who wanted +to corrupt the officers and soldiers of the King. They +commanded me to name the remaining conspirators; but to these +questions I made no answer, except by steadfastly declaring I was +an innocent prisoner, an officer unjustly broken; unjustly, +because I had never been brought to trial; that consequently I +was released from all my engagements; nor could it be thought +extraordinary that I should avail myself of that law of nature +which gives every man a right to defend his honour defamed, and +seek by every possible means to regain his liberty: that such had +been my sole purpose in every enterprise I had formed, and such +should still continue to be, for I was determined to persist, +till I should either be crowned with success, or lose my life in +the attempt.</p> +<p>Things thus remained: every precaution was taken except that I +was not put in irons; it being a law in Prussia that no gentleman +or officer can be loaded with chains, unless he has first for +some crime been delivered over to the executioner; and certainly +this had not been my case.</p> +<p>The soldiers were withdrawn from my chamber; but the greatest +ill was I had expended all my money, and my kind mistress, at +Berlin, with whom I had always corresponded, and which my +persecutors could not prevent, at last wrote—</p> +<blockquote><p>“My tears flow with yours; the evil is +without remedy—I dare no more—escape if you +can. My fidelity will ever be the same, when it shall be +possible for me to serve you.—Adieu, unhappy friend: you +merit a better fate.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>This letter was a thunderbolt:—my comfort, however, +still was that the officers were not suspected, and that it was +their duty to visit my chamber several times a day, and examine +what passed: from which circumstance I felt my hopes somewhat +revive. Hence an adventure happened which is almost +unexampled in tales of knight-errantry.</p> +<p>A lieutenant, whose name was Bach, a Dane by nation, mounted +guard every fourth day, and was the terror of the whole garrison; +for, being a perfect master of arms, he was incessantly involved +in quarrels, and generally left his marks behind him. He +had served in two regiments, neither of which would associate +with him for this reason, and he had been sent to the garrison +regiment at Glatz as punishment.</p> +<p>Bach one day, sitting beside me, related how, the evening +before, he had wounded a lieutenant, of the name of Schell, in +the arm. I replied, laughing, “Had I my liberty, I +believe you would find some trouble in wounding me, for I have +some skill in the sword.” The blood instantly flew in +his face; we split off a kind of pair of foils from an old door, +which had served me as a table, and at the first lunge I hit him +on the breast.</p> +<p>His rage became ungovernable, and he left the prison. +What was my astonishment when, a moment after, I saw him return +with two soldiers’ swords, which he had concealed under his +coat.—“Now, then, boaster, prove,” said he, +giving me one of them, “what thou art able to +do.” I endeavoured to pacify him, by representing the +danger, but ineffectually. He attacked me with the utmost +fury, and I wounded him in the arm.</p> +<p>Throwing his sword down, he fell upon my neck, kissed me, and +wept. At length, after some convulsive emotions of +pleasure, he said, “Friend, thou art my master; and thou +must, thou shalt, by my aid, obtain thy liberty, as certainly as +my name is Bach.” We bound up his arm as well as we +could. He left me, and secretly went to a surgeon, to have +it properly dressed, and at night returned.</p> +<p>He now remarked, that it was humanly impossible I should +escape, unless the officer on guard should desert with +me;—that he wished nothing more ardently than to sacrifice +his life in my behalf, but that he could not resolve so far to +forget his honour and duty to desert, himself, while on guard: he +notwithstanding gave me his word of honour he would find me such +a person in a few days; and that, in the meantime, he would +prepare everything for my flight.</p> +<p>He returned the same evening, bringing with him Lieutenant +Schell, and as he entered said, “Here is your +man.” Schell embraced me, gave his word of honour, +and thus was the affair settled, and as it proved, my liberty +ascertained.</p> +<p>We soon began to deliberate on the means necessary to obtain +our purpose. Schell was just come from garrison at +Habelchwert to the citadel of Glatz, and in two days was to mount +guard over me, till when our attempt was suspended. I have +before said, I received no more supplies from my beloved +mistress, and my purse at that time only contained some six +pistoles. It was therefore resolved that Bach should go to +Schweidnitz, and obtain money of a sure friend of mine in that +city.</p> +<p>Here must I inform the reader that at this period the officers +and I all understood each other, Captain Roder alone excepted, +who was exact, rigid, and gave trouble on all occasions.</p> +<p>Major Quaadt was my kinsman, by my mother’s side, a +good, friendly man, and ardently desirous I should escape, seeing +my calamities were so much increased. The four lieutenants +who successively mounted guard over me were Bach, Schroeder, +Lunitz, and Schell. The first was the grand projector, and +made all preparations; Schell was to desert with me; and +Schroeder and Lunitz three days after were to follow.</p> +<p>No one ought to be surprised that officers of garrison +regiments should be so ready to desert. They are, in +general, either men of violent passions, quarrelsome, overwhelmed +with debts, or unfit for service. They are usually sent to +the garrison as a punishment, and are called the refuse of the +army. Dissatisfied with their situation, their pay much +reduced, and despised by the troops, such men, expecting +advantage, may be brought to engage in the most desperate +undertaking. None of them can hope for their discharge, and +they live in the utmost poverty. They all hoped by my means +to better their fortune, I always having had money enough; and, +with money, nothing is more easy than to find friends, in places +where each individual is desirous of escaping from slavery.</p> +<p>The talents of Schell were of a superior order; he spoke and +wrote six languages, and was well acquainted with all the fine +arts. He had served in the regiment of Fouquet, had been +injured by his colonel, who was a Pomeranian; and Fouquet, who +was no friend to well-informed officers, had sent him to a +garrison regiment. He had twice demanded his dismissal, but +the King sent him to this species of imprisonment; he then +determined to avenge himself by deserting, and was ready to aid +me in recovering my freedom, that he might, by that means, spite +Fouquet.</p> +<p>I shall speak more hereafter of this extraordinary man, that I +must not in this place interrupt my story. We determined +everything should be prepared against the first time Schell +mounted guard, and that our project should be executed on our +next. Thus, as he mounted guard every four days, the eighth +was to be that of our flight.</p> +<p>The governor meantime had been informed how familiar I was +become with the officers, at which taking offence, he sent orders +that my door should no more be opened, but that I should receive +my food through a small window that had been made for the +purpose. The care of the prison was committed to the major, +and he was forbidden to eat with me, under pain of being +broken.</p> +<p>His precautions were ineffectual; the officers procured a +false key, and remained with me half the day and night.</p> +<p>Captain Damnitz was imprisoned in an apartment by the side of +mine. This man had deserted from the Prussian service, with +the money belonging to his company, to Austria, where he obtained +a commission in his cousin’s regiment, who having prevailed +on him to serve as a spy, during the campaign of 1744, he was +taken in the Prussian territories, known, and condemned to be +hanged.</p> +<p>Some Swedish volunteers, who were then in the army, interested +themselves in his behalf, and his sentence was changed to +perpetual imprisonment, with a sentence of infamy.</p> +<p>This wretch, who two years after, by the aid of his +protectors, not only obtained his liberty but a +lieutenant-colonel’s commission, was the secret spy of the +major over the prisoners; and he remarked that, notwithstanding +the express prohibition laid on the officers, they still passed +the greater part of their time in my company.</p> +<p>The 24th of December came, and Schell mounted guard. He +entered my prison immediately, where he continued a long time, +and we made our arrangements for flight when he next should mount +guard.</p> +<p>Lieutenant Schroeder that day dined with the governor, and +heard orders given to the adjutant that Schell should be taken +from the guard, and put under arrest.</p> +<p>Schroeder, who was in the secret, had no doubt but that we +were betrayed, not knowing that the spy Damnitz had informed the +governor that Schell was then in my chamber.</p> +<p>Schroeder, full of terror, came running to the citadel, and +said to Schell, “Save thyself, friend; all is discovered, +and thou wilt instantly be put under arrest.”</p> +<p>Schell might easily have provided for his own safety, by +flying singly, Schroeder having prepared horses, on one of which +he himself offered to accompany him into Bohemia. How did +this worthy man, in a moment so dangerous, act toward his +friend?</p> +<p>Running suddenly into my prison, he drew a corporal’s +sabre from under his coat, and said, “Friend, we are +betrayed; follow me, only do not suffer me to fall alive into the +hands of my enemies.”</p> +<p>I would have spoken: but interrupting me, and taking me by the +hand, he added, “Follow me; we have not a moment to +lose.” I therefore slipped on my coat and boots, +without having time to take the little money I had left; and, as +we went out of the prison, Schell said to the sentinel, “I +am taking the prisoner into the officer’s apartment; stand +where you are.”</p> +<p>Into this room we really went, but passed out at the other +door. The design of Schell was to go under the arsenal, +which was not far off, to gain the covered way, leap the +palisadoes, and afterwards escape after the best manner we +might.</p> +<p>We had scarcely gone a hundred paces before we met the +adjutant and Major Quaadt.</p> +<p>Schell started back, sprang upon the rampart, and leaped from +the wall, which was there not very high. I followed, and +alighted unhurt, except having grazed my shoulder. My poor +friend was not so fortunate; having put out his ankle. He +immediately drew his sword, presented it to me, and begged me to +despatch him, and fly. He was a small, weak man: but, far +from complying with his request, I took him in my arms, threw him +over the palisadoes, afterwards got him on my back, and began to +run, without very well knowing which way I went.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> +<p>It may not be unnecessary to remark those fortunate +circumstances that favoured our enterprise.</p> +<p>The sun had just set as we took to flight; the hoar frost +fell. No one would run the risk that we had done, by making +so dangerous a leap. We heard a terrible noise behind +us. Everybody knew us; but before they could go round the +citadel, and through the town, in order to pursue us, we had got +a full half league.</p> +<p>The alarm guns were fired before we were a hundred paces +distant; at which my friend was very much terrified, knowing that +in such cases it was generally impossible to escape from Glatz, +unless the fugitives had got the start full two hours before the +alarm guns were heard; the passes being immediately all stopped +by the peasants and hussars, who are exceedingly vigilant. +No sooner is a prisoner missed than the gunner runs from the +guard-house, and fires the cannon on the three sides of the +fortress, which are kept loaded day and night for that +purpose.</p> +<p>We were not five hundred paces from the walls, when all before +us and behind us were in motion. It was daylight when we +leaped, yet was our attempt as fortunate as it was wonderful: +this I attributed to my presence of mind, and the reputation I +had already acquired, which made it thought a service of danger +for two or three men to attack me.</p> +<p>It was besides imagined we were well provided with arms for +our defence; and it was little suspected that Schell had only his +sword, and I an old corporal’s sabre.</p> +<p>Among the officers commanded to pursue us was Lieutenant Bart, +my intimate friend. Captain Zerbst, of the regiment of +Fouquet, who had always testified the kindness of a brother +towards me, met us on the Bohemian frontiers, and called to me, +“Make to time left, brother, and you will see some lone +houses, which are on the Bohemian confines: the hussars have +ridden straight forward.” He then passed on as if he +had not seen us.</p> +<p>We had nothing to fear from the officers; for the intimacy +between the Prussian officers was at that time so great, and the +word of honour so sacred, that during my rigorous detention at +Glatz I had been once six-and-thirty hours hunting at Neurode, at +the seat of Baron Stillfriede; Lunitz had taken my place in the +prison, which the major knew when he came to make his +visit. Hence may be conjectured how great was the +confidence in which the word of the unfortunate Trenck was held +at Glatz, since they did not fear letting him leave his dungeon, +and hunt on the very confines of Bohemia. This, too, shows +the governor was deceived, in despite of his watchfulness and +order, and that a man of honour, with money, and a good head and +heart, will never want friends.</p> +<p>These my memoirs will be the picture of what the national +character then was; and will prove that, with officers who lived +like brothers, and held their words so sacred, the great +Frederick well might vanquish his enemies.</p> +<p>Arbitrary power has now introduced the whip of slavery, and +mechanic subordination has eradicated those noble and rational +incitements to concord and honour. Instead of which, +mistrust and slavish fear having arisen, the enthusiastic spirit +of the Brandenburg warrior declines, and into this error have +most of the other European States fallen.</p> +<p>Scarcely had I borne my friend three hundred paces before I +set him down, and I looked round me, but darkness came on so fast +that I could see neither town nor citadel; consequently, we +ourselves could not be seen.</p> +<p>My presence of mind did not forsake me: death or freedom was +my determination. “Where are we, Schell?” said +I to my friend. “Where does Bohemia lie? on which +side is the river Neiss?” The worthy man could make +no answer: his mind was all confusion, and he despaired of our +escape: he still, however, entreated I would not let him be taken +alive, and affirmed my labour was all in vain.</p> +<p>After having promised, by all that was sacred, I would save +him from an infamous death, if no other means were left, and thus +raised his spirits, he looked round, and knew, by some trees, we +were not far from the city gates. I asked him, “Where +is the Neiss?” He pointed sideways—“All +Glatz has seen us fly towards the Bohemian mountains; it is +impossible we should avoid the hussars, the passes being all +guarded, and we beset with enemies.” So saying, I +took him on my shoulders, and carried him to the Neiss; here we +distinctly heard the alarm sounded in the villages, and the +peasants, who likewise were to form the line of desertion, were +everywhere in motion, and spreading the alarm. As it may +not be known to all my readers in what manner they proceed on +these occasions in Prussia, I will here give a short account of +it.</p> +<p>Officers are daily named on the parade whose duty it is to +follow fugitives as soon as the alarm-guns are fired.</p> +<p>The peasants in the villages, likewise, are daily appointed to +rim to the guard of certain posts. The officers immediately +fly to these posts to see that the peasants do their duty, and +prevent the prisoner’s escape. Thus does it seldom +happen that a soldier can effect his escape unless he be, at the +very least, an hour on the road before the alarm-guns are +fired.</p> +<p>I now return to my story.</p> +<p>I came to the Neiss, which was a little frozen, entered it +with my friend, and carried him as long as I could wade, and when +I could not feel the bottom, which did not continue for more than +a space of eighteen feet, he clung round me, and thus we got +safely to the other shore.</p> +<p>My father taught all his sons to swim, for which I have often +had to thank him; since by means of this art, which is easily +learnt in childhood, I had on various occasions preserved my +life, and was more bold in danger. Princes who wish to make +their subjects soldiers, should have them educated so as to fear +neither fire nor water. How great would be the advantage of +being able to cross a river with whole battalions, when it is +necessary to attack or retreat before the enemy, and when time +will not permit to prepare bridges!</p> +<p>The reader will easily suppose swimming in the midst of +December, and remaining afterwards eighteen hours in the open +air, was a severe hardship. About seven o’clock the +hoar-fog was succeeded by frost and moonlight. The carrying +of my friend kept me warm, it is true, but I began to be tired, +while he suffered everything that frost, the pain of a dislocated +foot (which I in vain endeavoured to reset), and the danger of +death from a thousand hands, could inflict.</p> +<p>We were somewhat more tranquil, however, having reached the +opposite shore of the Neiss, since nobody would pursue us on the +road to Silesia. I followed the course of the river for +half an hour, and having once passed the first villages that +formed the line of desertion, with which Schell was perfectly +acquainted, we in a lucky moment found a fisherman’s boat +moored to the shore; into this we leaped, crossed the river +again, and soon gained the mountains.</p> +<p>Here being come, we sat ourselves down awhile on the snow; +hope revived in our hearts, and we held council concerning how it +was best to act. I cut a stick to assist Schell in hopping +forward as well as he could when I was tired of carrying him; and +thus we continued our route, the difficulties of which were +increased by the mountain snows.</p> +<p>Thus passed the night; during which, up to the middle in snow, +we made but little way. There were no paths to be traced in +the mountains, and they were in many places impassable. Day +at length appeared: we thought ourselves near the frontiers, +which are twenty English miles from Glatz, when we suddenly, to +our great terror, heard the city clock strike.</p> +<p>Overwhelmed, as we were, by hunger, cold, fatigue, and pain, +it was impossible we should hold out through the day. After +some consideration, and another half-hour’s labour, we came +to a village at the foot of the mountain, on the side of which, +about three hundred paces from us, we perceived two separate +houses, which inspired us with a stratagem that was +successful.</p> +<p>We lost our hats in leaping the ramparts; but Schell had +preserved his scarf and gorget, which would give him authority +among the peasants.</p> +<p>I then cut my finger, rubbed the blood over my face, my shirt, +and my coat, and bound up my head, to give myself the appearance +of a man dangerously wounded.</p> +<p>In this condition I carried Schell to the end of the wood not +far from these houses; here he tied my hands behind my back, but +so that I could easily disengage them in ease of need: and +hobbled after me, by aid of his staff, calling for help.</p> +<p>Two old peasants appeared, and Schell commanded them to run to +the village, and tell a magistrate to come immediately with a +cart. “I have seized this knave,” added he, +“who has killed my horse, and in the struggle I have put +out my ankle; however, I have wounded and bound him; fly quickly, +bring a cart, lest he should die before he is hanged.”</p> +<p>As for me, I suffered myself to be led, as if half-dead, into +the house. A peasant was despatched to the village. +An old woman and a pretty girl seemed to take great pity on me, +and gave me some bread and milk: but how great was our +astonishment when the aged peasant called Schell by his name, and +told him he well knew we were deserters, having the night before +been at a neighbouring alehouse where the officer in pursuit of +us came, named and described us, and related the whole history of +our flight. The peasant knew Schell, because his son served +in his company, and had often spoken of him when he was quartered +at Habelschwert.</p> +<p>Presence of mind and resolution were all that were now +left. I instantly ran to the stable, while Schell detained +the peasant in the chamber. He, however, was a worthy man, +and directed him to the road toward Bohemia. We were still +about some seven miles from Glatz, having lost ourselves among +the mountains, where we had wandered many miles. The +daughter followed me: I found three horses in the stable, but no +bridles. I conjured her, in the most passionate manner, to +assist me: she was affected, seemed half willing to follow me, +and gave me two bridles. I led the horses to the door, +called Schell, and helped him, with his lame leg, on +horseback. The old peasant then began to weep, and beg I +would not take his horses; but he luckily wanted courage, and +perhaps the will to impede us; for with nothing more than a +dung-fork, in our then feeble condition, he might have stopped us +long enough to have called in assistance from the village.</p> +<p>And now behold us on horseback, without hats or saddles; +Schell with his uniform scarf and gorget, and I in my red +regimental coat. Still we were in danger of seeing all our +hopes vanish, for my horse would not stir from the stable; +however, at last, good horseman-like, I made him move: Schell led +the way, and we had scarcely gone a hundred paces, before we +perceived the peasants coming in crowds from the village.</p> +<p>As kind fortune would have it, the people were all at church, +it being a festival: the peasants Schell had sent were obliged to +call aid out of church. It was but nine in the morning; and +had the peasants been at home, we had been lost past +redemption.</p> +<p>We were obliged to take the road to Wunshelburg, and pass +through the town where Schell had been quartered a month before, +and in which he was known by everybody. Our dress, without +hats or saddles, sufficiently proclaimed we were deserters: our +horses, however, continued to go tolerably well, and we had the +good luck to get through the town, although there was a garrison +of one hundred and eighty infantry, and twelve horse, purposely +to arrest deserters. Schell knew the road to Brummem, where +we arrived at eleven o’clock, after having met, as I before +mentioned, Captain Zerbst.</p> +<p>He who has been in the same situation only can imagine, though +he never can describe, all the joy we felt. An innocent +man, languishing in a dungeon, who by his own endeavours, has +broken his chains, and regained his liberty, in despite of all +the arbitrary power of princes, who vainly would oppose him, +conceives in moments like these such an abhorrence of despotism, +that I could not well comprehend how I ever could resolve to live +under governments where wealth, content, honour, liberty, and +life all depend upon a master’s will, and who, were his +intentions the most pure, could not be able, singly, to do +justice to a whole nation.</p> +<p>Never did I, during life, feel pleasure more exquisite than at +this moment. My friend for me had risked a shameful death, +and now, after having carried him at least twelve hours on my +shoulders, I had saved both him and myself. We certainly +should not have suffered any man to bring us, alive, back to +Glatz. Yet this was but the first act of the tragedy of +which I was doomed the hero, and the mournful incidents of which +all arose out of, and depended on, each other.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> +<p>Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty +years’ fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly +should not have rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz. One +year’s patience might have appeased the irritated monarch, +and, taking a retrospect of all that has passed, I now find it +would have been a fortunate circumstance, had the good and +faithful Schell and I never met, since he also fell into a train +of misfortunes, which I shall hereafter relate, and from which he +could never extricate himself, but by death. The sufferings +which I have since undergone will be read with astonishment.</p> +<p>It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature +justify the action. I may serve as an example of the +fortitude with which danger ought to be encountered, and show +monarchs that in Germany, as well as in Rome, there are men who +refuse to crouch beneath the yoke of despotism, and that +philosophy and resolution are stronger than even those lords of +slaves, with all their threats, whips, tortures, and instruments +of death.</p> +<p>In Prussia, where my sufferings might have made me supposed +the worst of traitors, is my innocence universally acknowledged; +and instead of contempt, there have I gained the love of the +whole nation, which is the best compensation for all the ills I +have suffered, and for having persevered in the virtuous +principles taught me in my youth, persecuted as I have been by +envy and malicious power. I have not time further to +moralise; the numerous incidents of my life would otherwise swell +this volume to too great an extent.</p> +<p>Thus in freedom at Braunau, on the Bohemian frontiers, I sent +the two horses, with the corporal’s sword, back to General +Fouquet, at Glatz. The letter accompanying them was so +pleasing to him that all the sentinels before my prison door, as +well as the guard under arms, and all those we passed, were +obliged to run the gauntlet, although the very day before he had +himself declared my escape was now rendered impossible. He, +however, was deceived; and thus do the mean revenge themselves on +the miserable, and the tyrant on the innocent.</p> +<p>And now for the first time did I quit my country, and fly like +Joseph from the pit into which his false brethren had cast him; +and in this the present moment of joy for my escape, the loss +even of friends and country appeared to me the excess of good +fortune.</p> +<p>The estates which had been purchased by the blood of my +forefathers were confiscated; and thus was a youth, of one of the +noblest families in the land, whose heart was all zeal for the +service of his King and country, and who was among those most +capable to render them service, banished by his unjust and misled +King, and treated like the worst of miscreants, malefactors, and +traitors.</p> +<p>I wrote to the King, and sent him a true state of my case; +sent indubitable proofs of my innocence, and supplicated justice, +but received no answer.</p> +<p>In this the monarch may be justified, at least in my +apprehension. A wicked man had maliciously and falsely +accused me; Colonel Jaschinsky had made him suspect me for a +traitor, and it was impossible he should read my heart. The +first act of injustice had been hastily committed; I had been +condemned unheard, unjudged; and the injustice that had been done +me was known too late; Frederic the Great found he was not +infallible. Pardon I would not ask, for I had committed no +offence; and the King would not probably own, by a reverse of +conduct, he had been guilty of injustice. My resolution +increased his obstinacy: but, in the discussion of the cause, our +power was very unequal.</p> +<p>The monarch once really loved me; he meant my punishment +should only be temporary, and as a trial of my fidelity. +That I had been condemned to no more than a year’s +imprisonment had never been told me, and was a fact I did not +learn till long after.</p> +<p>Major Doo, who, as I have said, was the creature of Fouquet, a +mean and covetous man, knowing I had money, had always acted the +part of a protector as he pretended to me, and continually told +me I was condemned for life. He perpetually turned the +conversation on the great credit of his general with the King, +and his own great credit with the general. For the present +of a horse, on which I rode to Glatz, he gave me freedom of +walking about the fortress; and for another, worth a hundred +ducats, I rescued Ensign Reitz from death, who had been betrayed +when endeavouring to effect our escape. I have been assured +that on that very day on which I snatched his sword from his +side, desperately passed through the garrison, and leaped the +walls of the rampart, he was expressly come to tell me, after +some prefatory threats, that by his general’s intercession, +my punishment was only to be a year’s imprisonment, and +that consequently I should be released in a few days.</p> +<p>How vile were means like these to wrest money from the +unfortunate! The King, after this my mad flight, certainly +was never informed of the major’s base cunning; he could +only be told that, rather than wait a few days, I had chosen, in +this desperate manner, to make my escape, and go over to the +enemy.</p> +<p>Thus deceived and strengthened in his suspicion, must he not +imagine my desire to forsake my country, and desert to the enemy, +was unbounded? How could he do otherwise than imprison a +subject who thus endeavoured to injure him and aid his +foes? Thus, by the calumnies of wicked men, did my cruel +destiny daily become more severe; and at length render the +deceived monarch irreconcilable and cruel.</p> +<p>Yet how could it be supposed that I would not willingly have +remained three weeks longer in prison, to have been honourably +restored to liberty, to have prevented the confiscation of my +estate, and to have once more returned to my beloved mistress at +Berlin.</p> +<p>And now was I in Bohemia, a fugitive stranger without money, +protector, or friend, and only twenty years of age.</p> +<p>In the campaign of 1744 I had been quartered at Braunau with a +weaver, whom I advised and assisted to bury his effects, and +preserve them from being plundered. The worthy man received +us with joy and gratitude. I had lived in this same house +but two years before as absolute master of him and his +fate. I had then nine horses and five servants, with the +highest and most favourable hopes of futurity; but now I came a +fugitive, seeking protection, and having lost all a youth like me +had to lose.</p> +<p>I had but a single louis-d’or in my purse, and Schell +forty kreutzers, or some three shillings; with this small sum, in +a strange country, we had to cure his sprain, and provide for all +our wants.</p> +<p>I was determined not to go to my cousin Trenck at Vienna, +fearful this should seem a justification of all my imputed +treasons; I rather wished to embark for the East Indies, than to +have recourse to this expedient. The greater my delicacy +was the greater became my distress. I wrote to my mistress +at Berlin, but received no answer; possibly because I could not +indicate any certain mode of conveyance. My mother believed +me guilty, and abandoned me; my brothers were still minors, and +my friend at Schweidnitz could not aid me, being gone to +Königsberg.</p> +<p>After three weeks’ abode at Braunau, my friend recovered +of his lameness. We had been obliged to sell my watch, with +his scarf and gorget, to supply our necessities, and had only +four florins remaining.</p> +<p>From the public papers I learned my cousin, the Austrian +Trenck, was at this time closely confined, and under criminal +prosecution. It will easily be imagined what effect this +news had upon me.</p> +<p>Never till now had I felt any inconvenience from poverty; my +wants had all been amply supplied, and I had ever lived among, +and been highly loved and esteemed by, the first people of the +land. I was destitute, without aid, and undetermined how to +seek employment, or obtain fame.</p> +<p>At length I determined to travel on foot to Prussia to my +mother, and obtain money from her, and afterwards enter into the +Russian service. Schell, whose destiny was linked to mine, +would not forsake me. We assumed false names: I called +myself Knert, and Schell, Lesch; then, obtaining passports, like +common deserters, we left Braunau on the 21st of January, in the +evening, unseen of any person, and proceeded towards Bielitz in +Poland. A friend I had at Neurode gave me a pair of pocket +pistols, a musket, and three ducats; the money was spent at +Braunau. Here let me take occasion to remark I had lent +this friend, in urgent necessity, a hundred ducats, which he +still owed me; and when I sent to request payment, he returned me +three, as if I had asked charity.</p> +<p>Though a circumstantial description of our travels alone would +fill a volume, I shall only relate the most singular accidents +which happened to us; I shall also insert the journal of our +route, which Schell had preserved, and gave me in 1776, when he +came to see me at Aix-la-Chapelle, after an absence of thirty +years.</p> +<p>This may be called the first scene in which I appeared as an +adventurer, and perhaps my good fortune may even have +overbalanced the bad, since I have escaped death full thirty +times when the chances were a hundred to one against me; certain +it is I undertook many things in which I seemed to have owed my +preservation to the very rashness of the action, and in which +others equally brave would have found death.</p> +<h3>JOURNAL OF TRAVELS ON FOOT.</h3> +<p>From Braunau, in Bohemia, through Bielitz, in Poland, to +Meseritsch, and from Meseritsch, by Thorn, to Ebling; in the +whole 169 miles, <a name="citation3"></a><a href="#footnote3" +class="citation">[3]</a> performed without begging or +stealing.</p> +<p>January 18th, 1747.—From Braunau, by Politz, to Nachod, +three miles, we having three florins forty-five kreutzers in our +purse.</p> +<p>Jan. 19.—To Neustadt. Here Schell bartered his +uniform for an old coat, and a Jew gave him two florins fifteen +kreutzers in exchange; from hence we went to Reichenau; in all, +three miles.</p> +<p>Jan. 20.—We went to Leitomischl, five miles. Here +I bought a loaf hot out of the oven, which eating greedily, had +nearly caused my death. This obliged us to rest a day, and +the extravagant charge of the landlord almost emptied our +purse.</p> +<p>Jan. 22.—From Trübau, to Zwittau, in Moravia, four +miles.</p> +<p>Jan. 23.—To Sternberg, six miles. This day’s +journey excessively fatigued poor Schell, his sprained ankle +being still extremely weak.</p> +<p>Jan. 24.—To Leipnik, four miles, in a deep snow, and +with empty stomachs. Here I sold my stock-buckle for four +florins.</p> +<p>Jan. 25.—To Freiberg, by Weiskirch, to Drahotusch, five +miles. Early in the morning we found a violin and case on +the road; the innkeeper in Weiskirch gave us two florins for it, +on condition that he should return it to the owner on proving his +right, it being worth at least twenty.</p> +<p>Jan. 26.—To Friedek, in Upper Silesia, two miles.</p> +<p>Jan. 27.—To a village, four miles and a half.</p> +<p>Jan. 28.—Through Skotschau, to Bielitz, three +miles. This was the last Austrian town on the frontiers of +Poland, and Captain Capi, of the regiment of Marischall, who +commanded the garrison, demanded our passports. We had +false names, and called ourselves common Prussian deserters; but +a drummer, who had deserted from Glatz, knew us, and betrayed us +to the captain, who immediately arrested us very rudely, and sent +us on foot to Teschin (refusing us a hearing), four miles +distant.</p> +<p>Here we found Lieut.-Colonel Baron Schwarzer, a perfectly +worthy man, who was highly interested in our behalf, and who +blamed the irregular arbitrary conduct of Captain Capi. I +frankly related my adventures, and he used every possible +argument to persuade me, instead of continuing my journey through +Poland to go to Vienna, but in vain; my good genius, this time, +preserved me—would to God it ever had! How many +miseries had I then avoided, and how easily might I have escaped +the snares spread for me by the powerful, who have seized on my +property, and in order to secure it, have hitherto rendered me +useless to the state by depriving me of all post or +preferment.</p> +<p>I returned, therefore, a second time to Beilitz, travelling +these four miles once more. Schwarzer lent us his own horse +and four ducats, which I have since repaid, but which I shall +never forget, as they were of signal service to me, and procured +me a pair of new boots.</p> +<p>Irritated against Captain Capi, we passed through Beilitz +without stopping, went immediately to Biala, the first town in +Poland, and from thence sent Capi a challenge to fight me, with +sword or pistol, but received no answer; and his non-appearance +has ever confirmed him in my opinion a rascal.</p> +<p>And here suffer me to take a retrospective view of what was my +then situation. By the orders of Capi I was sent prisoner +as a contemptible common deserter, and was unable to call him to +account. In Poland, indeed, I had that power, but was +despised as a vagabond because of my poverty. What, alas! +are the advantages which the love of honour, science, courage, or +desire of fame can bestow, wanting the means that should +introduce us to, and bid us walk erect in the presence of our +equals? Youth depressed by poverty, is robbed of the +society of those who best can afford example and +instruction. I had lived familiar with the great, men of +genius had formed and enlightened me; I had been enumerated among +the favourites of a court; and now was I a stranger, unknown, +unesteemed, nay, condemned, obliged to endure the extremes of +cold, hunger, and thirst; to wander many a weary mile, suffering +both in body and mind, while every step led me farther from her +whom most I loved, and dearest; yet had I no fixed plan, no +certain knowledge in what these my labours and sufferings should +end.</p> +<p>I was too proud to discover myself; and, indeed, to whom could +I discover myself in a strange land? My name might have +availed me in Austria, but in Austria, where this name was known, +would I not remain; rather than seek my fortune there, I was +determined to shun whatever might tend to render me suspicious in +the eyes of my country. How liable was a temper so ardent +as mine, in the midst of difficulties, fatigues, and +disappointments, hard to endure, to betray me into all those +errors of which rash youth, unaccustomed to hardship, impatient +of contrariety, are so often guilty! But I had taken my +resolution, and my faithful Schell, to whom hunger or ease, +contempt or fame, for my sake, were become indifferent, did +whatever I desired.</p> +<p>Once more to my journal.</p> +<p>Feb. 1.—We proceeded four miles from Biala to Oswintzen, +I having determined to ask aid from my sister, who had married +Waldow, and lived much at her case on a fine estate at Hanmer, in +Brandenburg, between Lansberg, on the Warta and Meseritsch, a +frontier town of Poland. For this reason we continued our +route all along the Silesian confines to Meseritsch.</p> +<p>Feb. 2.—To Bobrek and Elkusch, five miles. We +suffered much this day because of the snow, and that the +lightness of our dress was ill suited to such severe +weather. Schell, negligently, lost our purse, in which were +nine florins. I had still, however, nineteen grosch in my +pocket (about half-a-crown).</p> +<p>Feb. 3.—To Crumelew, three miles; and</p> +<p>Feb. 4.—To Wladowiegud Joreck, three miles more; and +from thence, on.</p> +<p>Feb. 5.—To Czenstochowa, where there is a magnificent +convent, concerning which, had I room, I might write many +remarkable things, much to the disgrace of its inhabitants.</p> +<p>We slept at an inn kept by a very worthy man, whose name was +Lazar. He had been a lieutenant in the Austrian service, +where he had suffered much, and was now become a poor innkeeper +in Poland. We had not a penny in our purse, and requested a +bit of bread. The generous man had compassion on us, and +desired us to sit down and eat with himself. I then told +him who we were, and trusted him with the motives of our +journey. Scarcely had we supped, before a carriage arrived +with three people. They had their own horses, a servant and +a coachman.</p> +<p>This is a remarkable incident, and I must relate it +circumstantially, though as briefly as possible.</p> +<p>We had before met this carriage at Elkusch, and one of these +people had asked Schell where we were going; he had replied, to +Czenstochowa; we therefore had not the least suspicion of them, +notwithstanding the danger we ran.</p> +<p>They lay at the inn, saluted us, but with indifference, not +seeming to notice us, and spoke little. We had not been +long in bed, before our host came to awaken us, and told us with +surprise, these pretended merchants were sent to arrest us from +Prussia; that they had offered, first, fifty, afterwards, a +hundred ducats, if he would permit them to take us in his house, +and carry us into Silesia: that he had firmly rejected the +proposal, though they had increased their promises: and that at +last they had given him six ducats to engage his silence.</p> +<p>We clearly saw these were an officer and under-officers sent +by General Fouquet, to recover us. We conjectured by what +means they had discovered our route, and imagined the information +they had received could only come from one Lieutenant Molinie, of +the garrison of Habelschwert, who had come to visit Schell, as a +friend, during our stay at Braunau. He had remained with us +two days, and had asked many questions concerning the road we +should take, and he was the only one who knew it. He was +probably the spy of Fouquet, and the cause of what happened +afterwards, which, however, ended in the defeat of our +enemies.</p> +<p>The moment I heard of this infamous treachery, I was for +entering with my pistols primed, into the enemy’s chamber, +but was prevented by Schell and Lazar: the latter entreated me, +in the strongest manner, to remain at his house till I should +receive a supply from my mother, that I might be enabled to +continue my journey with more ease and less danger: but his +entreaties were ineffectual; I was determined to see her, +uncertain as I was of what effect my letter had produced. +Lazar assured me, we should, most infallibly, be attacked on the +road. “So much the better,” retorted I; +“that will give me an opportunity of despatching them, +sending them to the other world, and shooting them as I would +highwayman.” They departed at break of day, and took +the road to Warsaw.</p> +<p>We would have been gone, likewise, but Lazar, in some sort, +forcibly detained us, and gave us the six ducats he had received +from the Prussians, with which we bought us each a shirt, another +pair of pocket pistols, and other urgent necessaries; then took +an affectionate leave of our host, who directed us on our way, +and we testified our gratitude for the great services done +us.</p> +<p>Feb. 6.—From Czenstochowa to Dankow, two miles. +Here we expected an attack. Lazar had told us our enemies +had one musket: I also had a musket, and an excellent sabre, and +each of us was provided with a pair of pistols. They knew +not we were so well armed, which perhaps was the cause of their +panic, when they came to engage.</p> +<p>Feb. 7.—We took the road to Parsemechi: we had not been +an hour on the road, before we saw a carriage; as we drew near, +we knew it to be that of our enemies, who pretended it was set in +the snow. They were round it, and when they saw us +approach, began to call for help. This, we guessed, was an +artifice to entrap us. Schell was not strong; they would +all have fallen upon me, and we should easily have been carried +off, for they wanted to take us alive.</p> +<p>We left the causeway about thirty paces, +answering—“we had not time to give them help;” +at which they all ran to their carriage, drew out their pistols, +and returning full speed after us, called, “Stop, +rascals!” We began to run, but I suddenly turning +round, presented my piece, and shot the nearest dead on the +spot. Schell fired his pistols; our oppressors did the +same, and Schell received a ball in the neck at this +discharge. It was now my turn; I took out my pistols, one +of the assailants fled, and I enraged, pursued him three hundred +paces, overtook him, and as he was defending himself with his +sword, perceiving he bled, and made a feeble resistance, pressed +upon him, and gave him a stroke that brought him down. I +instantly returned to Schell, whom I found in the power of two +others that were dragging him towards the carriage, but when they +saw me at their heels, they fled over the fields. The +coachman, perceiving which way the battle went, leaped on his +box, and drove off full speed.</p> +<p>Schell, though delivered, was wounded with a ball in the neck, +and by a cut in the right hand, which had made him drop his +sword, though he affirmed he had run one of his adversaries +through.</p> +<p>I took a silver watch from the man I had killed, and was going +to make free with his purse, when Schell called, and showed me a +coach and six coming down a hill. To stay would have +exposed us to have been imprisoned as highwaymen; for the two +fugitives who had escaped us would certainly have borne witness +against us. Safety could only be found in flight. I, +however, seized the musket and hat of him I had first killed, and +we then gained the copse, and after that the forest. The +road was round about, and it was night before we reached +Parsemechi.</p> +<p>Schell was besmeared with blood; I had bound up his wound the +best I could; but in Polish villages no surgeons are to be found: +and he performed his journey with great difficulty. We met +with two Saxon under-officers here, who were recruiting for the +regiment of guards at Dresden. My six feet height and +person pleased them, and they immediately made themselves +acquainted with me. I found them intelligent, and entrusted +them with our secret, told them who we were, related the battle +we had that day had with our pursuers, and I had not reason to +repent of my confidence in them. Schell had his wounds +dressed, and we remained seven days with these good Saxons, who +faithfully kept us company.</p> +<p>I learned, meantime, that of the four men by whom we had been +assaulted, one only, and the coachman, returned to Glatz. +The name of the officer who undertook this vile business was +Gersdorf; he had a hundred and fifty ducats in his pocket when +found dead. How great would our good fortune have been, had +not that cursed coach and six, by its appearance, made us take to +flight; since the booty would have been most just! Fortune, +this time, did not favour the innocent; and though treacherously +attacked, I was obliged to escape like a guilty wretch. We +sold the watch to a Jew for four ducats, the hat for three +florins and a half, and the musket for a ducat, Schell being +unable to carry it farther. We left most of this money +behind us at Parsemechi. A Jew surgeon sold us some dear +plaisters, which we took with us and departed.</p> +<p>Feb. 15.—From Parsemechi, through Vielum, to Biala, four +miles.</p> +<p>Feb. 16.—Through Jerischow to Misorcen, four miles and a +half.</p> +<p>Feb. 17.—To Osterkow and Schwarzwald, three miles.</p> +<p>Feb. 18.—To Sdune, four miles.</p> +<p>Feb. 19.—To Goblin two miles.</p> +<p>Here we arrived wholly destitute of money. I sold my +coat to a Jew, who gave me four florins and a coarse +waggoner’s frock, in exchange, which I did not think I +should long need, as we now drew nearer to where my sister lived, +and where I hoped I should be better equipped. Schell, +however, grew weaker and weaker; his wounds healed slowly, and +were expensive; the cold was also injurious to him, and, as he +was not by nature cleanly in his person, his body soon became the +harbour of every species of vermin to be picked up in +Poland. We often arrived wet and weary, to our smoky, +reeking stove-room. Often were we obliged to lie on straw, +or bare boards; and the various hardships we suffered are almost +incredible. Wandering as we did, in the midst of winter, +through Poland, where humanity, hospitality, and gentle pity, are +scarcely so much as known by name; where merciless Jews deny the +poor traveller a bed, and where we disconsolately strayed, +without bread, and almost naked: these were sufferings, the full +extent of which he only can conceive by whom they have been +felt. My musket now and then procured us an occasional meal +of tame geese, and cocks and hens, when these were to be had; +otherwise, we never took or touched anything that was not our +own. We met with Saxon and Prussian recruiters at various +places; all of whom, on account of my youth and stature, were +eager to inveigle me. I was highly diverted to hear them +enumerate all the possibilities of future greatness, and how +liable I was hereafter to become a corporal: nor was I less merry +with their mead, ale, and brandy, given with an intent to make me +drunk. Thus we had many artifices to guard against; but +thus had we likewise, very luckily for us, many a good meal +gratis.</p> +<p>Feb. 21.—We went from Goblin to Pugnitz, three miles and +a half.</p> +<p>Feb. 22.—Through Storchnest to Schmiegel, four +miles.</p> +<p>Here happened a singular adventure. The peasants at this +place were dancing to a vile scraper on the violin: I took the +instrument myself, and played while they continued their +hilarity. They were much pleased with my playing: but when +I was tired, and desired to have done, they obliged me, first by +importunities, and afterwards by threats, to play on all +night. I was so fatigued, I thought I should have fainted; +at length they quarrelled among themselves. Schell was +sleeping on a bench, and some of them fell upon his wounded hand: +he rose furious: I seized our arms, began to lay about me, and +while all was in confusion, we escaped, without further +ill-treatment.</p> +<p>What ample subject of meditation on the various turns of fate +did this night afford! But two years before I danced at +Berlin with the daughters and sisters of kings: and here was I, +in a Polish hut, a ragged, almost naked musician, playing for the +sport of ignorant rustics, whom I was at last obliged to +fight.</p> +<p>I was myself the cause of the trifling misfortune that befell +me on this occasion. Had not my vanity led me to show these +poor peasants I was a musician, I might have slept in peace and +safety. The same vain desire of proving I knew more than +other men, made me through life the continued victim of envy and +slander. Had nature, too, bestowed on me a weaker or a +deformed body, I had been less observed, less courted, less +sought, and my adventures and mishaps had been fewer. Thus +the merits of the man often become his miseries; and thus the +bear, having learned to dance, must live and die in chains.</p> +<p>This ardour, this vanity, or, if you please, this emulation, +has, however, taught me to vanquish a thousand difficulties, +under which others of cooler passions and more temperate desires +would have sunk. May my example remain a warning; and thus +may my sufferings become somewhat profitable to the world, cruel +as they have been to myself! Cruel they were, and cruel +they must continue; for the wounds I have received are not, will +not, cannot be healed.</p> +<p>Feb. 23.—From Schmiegel to Rakonitz, and from thence to +Karger Holland, four miles and a half. Here we sold, to +prevent dying of hunger, a shirt and Schell’s waistcoat for +eighteen grosch, or nine schostacks. I had shot a pullet +the day before, which necessity obliged us to eat raw. I +also killed a crow, which I devoured alone, Schell refusing to +taste. Youth and hard travelling created a voracious +appetite, and our eighteen grosch were soon expended.</p> +<p>Feb. 24.—We came through Benzen to Lettel, four +miles. Here we halted a day, to learn the road to Hammer, +in Brandenburg, where my sister lived. I happened luckily +to meet with the wife of a Prussian soldier who lived at Lettel, +and belonged to Kolschen, where she was born a vassal of my +sister’s husband. I told her who I was, and she +became our guide.</p> +<p>Feb. 26.—To Kurschen and Falkenwalde.</p> +<p>Feb. 27.—Through Neuendorf and Oost, and afterwards +through a pathless wood, five miles and a half to Hammer, and +here I knocked at my sister’s door at nine o’clock in +the evening.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> +<p>A maidservant came to the door, whom I knew; her name was +Mary, and she had been born and brought up in my father’s +house. She was terrified at seeing a sturdy fellow in a +beggar’s dress; which perceiving, I asked, “Molly, do +not you know me?” She answered, “No;” and +I then discovered myself to her. I asked whether my +brother-in-law was at home. Mary replied, “Yes; but +he is sick in bed.” “Tell my sister, +then,” said I, “that I am here.” She +showed me into a room, and my sister presently came.</p> +<p>She was alarmed at seeing me, not knowing that I had escaped +from Glatz, and ran to inform her husband, but did not +return.</p> +<p>A quarter of an hour after the good Mary came weeping, and +told us her master commanded us to quit the premises instantly, +or he should be obliged to have us arrested, and delivered up as +prisoners. My sister’s husband forcibly detained her, +and I saw her no more.</p> +<p>What my feelings must be, at such a moment, let the reader +imagine. I was too proud, too enraged, to ask money; I +furiously left the house, uttering a thousand menaces against its +inhabitants, while the kind-hearted Mary, still weeping, slipped +three ducats into my hand, which I accepted.</p> +<p>And, now behold us once more in the wood, which was not above +a hundred paces from the house, half dead with hunger and +fatigue, not daring to enter any habitation, while in the states +of Brandenburg, and dragging our weary steps all night through +snow and rain, until our guide at length brought us back, at +daybreak, once again to the town of Lettel.</p> +<p>She herself wept in pity at our fate, and I could only give +her two ducats for the danger she had run; but I bade her hope +more in future; and I afterwards sent for her to Vienna, in 1751, +where I took great care of her. She was about fifty years +of age, and died my servant in Hungary, some weeks before my +unfortunate journey to Dantzic, where I fell into my +enemies’ hands, and remained ten years a prisoner at +Magdeburg.</p> +<p>We had scarcely reached the wood, before, in the anguish of my +heart, I exclaimed to Schell, “Does not such a sister, my +friend, deserve I should fire her house over her +head?” The wisdom of moderation, and calm +forbearance, was in Schell a virtue of the highest order; he was +my continual mentor; my guide, whenever my choleric temperament +was disposed to violence. I therefore honour his ashes; he +deserved a better fate.</p> +<p>“Friend,” said he, on this occasion, +“reflect that your sister may be innocent, may be withheld +by her husband; besides, should the King discover we had entered +her doors, and she had not delivered us again into his power, she +might become as miserable as we were. Be more noble minded, +and think that even should your sister be wrong, the time may +come when her children may stand in need of your assistance, and +you may have the indescribable pleasure of returning good for +evil.”</p> +<p>I never shall forget this excellent advice, which in reality +was a prophecy. My rich brother-in-law died, and, during +the Russian war, his lands and houses were laid desolate and in +ruins; and, nineteen years afterwards, when released from my +imprisonment at Magdeburg, I had an opportunity of serving the +children of my sister. Such are the turns of fate; and thus +do improbabilities become facts.</p> +<p>My sister justified her conduct; Schell had conjectured the +truth; for ten years after I was thus expelled her house, she +showed, during my imprisonment, she was really a sister. +She was shamefully betrayed by Weingarten, secretary to the +Austrian ambassador at Berlin; lost a part of her property, and +at length her life fell an innocent sacrifice to her brother.</p> +<p>This event, which is interwoven with my tragical history, will +be related hereafter: my heart bleeds, my very soul shudders, +when I recollect this dreadful scene.</p> +<p>I have not the means fully to recompense her children; and +Weingarten, the just object of vengeance, is long since in the +grave; for did he exist, the earth should not hide him from my +sword.</p> +<p>I shall now continue my journal: deceived in the aid I +expected, I was obliged to change my plan, and go to my mother, +who lived in Prussia, nine miles beyond Königsberg.</p> +<p>Feb. 28.—We continued, tired, anxious, and distressed, +at Lettel.</p> +<p>March 1.—We went three miles to Pleese, and on the 2nd, +a mile and a half farther to Meseritz.</p> +<p>March 3.—Through Wersebaum to Birnbaum, three miles.</p> +<p>March 4.—Through Zircke, Wruneck, Obestchow, to +Stubnitz, seven miles, in one day, three of which we had the good +fortune to ride.</p> +<p>March 5.—Three miles to Rogosen, where we arrived +without so much as a heller to pay our lodgings. The Jew +innkeeper drove us out of his house; we were obliged to wander +all night, and at break of day found we had strayed two miles out +of the road.</p> +<p>We entered a peasant’s cottage, where an old woman was +drawing bread hot out of the oven. We had no money to +offer, and I felt, at this moment, the possibility even of +committing murder, for a morsel of bread, to satisfy the +intolerable cravings of hunger. Shuddering, with torment +inexpressible, at the thought, I hastened out of the door, and we +walked on two miles more to Wongrofze.</p> +<p>Here I sold my musket for a ducat, which had procured us many +a meal: such was the extremity of our distress. We then +satiated our appetites, after having been forty hours without +food or sleep, and having travelled ten miles in sleet and +snow.</p> +<p>March 6.—We rested, and came, on the 7th, through Genin, +to a village in the forest, four miles.</p> +<p>Here we fell in with a gang of gipsies (or rather banditti) +amounting to four hundred men, who dragged me to their +camp. They were mostly French and Prussian deserters, and +thinking me their equal, would force me to become one of their +hand. But, venturing to tell my story to their leader, he +presented me with a crown, gave us a small provision of bread and +meat, and suffered us to depart in peace, after having been four +and twenty hours in their company.</p> +<p>March 9.—We proceeded to Lapuschin, three miles and a +half; and the 10th to Thorn, four miles.</p> +<p>A new incident here happened, which showed I was destined, by +fortune, to a variety of adventures, and continually to struggle +with new difficulties.</p> +<p>There was a fair held at Thorn on the day of our +arrival. Suspicions might well arise, among the crowd, on +seeing a strong tall young man, wretchedly clothed, with a large +sabre by his side, and a pair of pistols in his girdle, +accompanied by another as poorly apparelled as himself, with his +hand and neck bound up, and armed likewise with pistols, so that +altogether he more resembled a spectre than a man.</p> +<p>We went to an inn, but were refused entertainment: I then +asked for the Jesuits’ college, where I inquired for the +father rector. They supposed at first I was a thief, come +to seek an asylum. After long waiting and much entreaty his +jesuitical highness at length made his appearance, and received +me as the Grand Mogul would his slave. My case certainly +was pitiable: I related all the events of my life, and the +purport of my journey; conjured him to save Schell, who was +unable to proceed further, and whose wounds grew daily worse; and +prayed him to entertain him at the convent till I should have +been to my mother, have obtained money, and returned to Thorn, +when I would certainly repay him whatever expense he might have +been at, with thanks and gratitude.</p> +<p>Never shall I forget the haughty insolence of this +priest. Scarcely would he listen to my humble request; +thou’d and interrupted me continually, to tell me, +“Be brief, I have more pressing affairs than +thine.” In fine, I was turned away without obtaining +the least aid; and here I was first taught jesuitical pride; God +help the poor and honest man who shall need the assistance of +Jesuits! They, like all other monks, are seared to every +sentiment of human pity, and commiserate the distressed by taunts +and irony.</p> +<p>Four times in my life I have sought assistance and advice from +convents, and am convinced it is the duty of every honest man to +aid in erasing them from the face of the earth.</p> +<p>They succour rascals and murderers, that their power may be +idolised by the ignorant, and ostentatiously exert itself to +impede the course of law and justice; but in vain do the poor and +needy virtuous apply to them for help.</p> +<p>The reader will pardon my native hatred of hypocrisy and +falsehood, especially when he hears I have to thank the Jesuits +for the loss of all my great Hungarian estates. Father +Kampmuller, the bosom friend of the Count Grashalkowitz, was +confessor to the court of Vienna, and there was no possible kind +of persecution I did not suffer from priestcraft. Far from +being useful members of society, they take advantage of the +prejudices of superstition, exist for themselves alone, and +sacrifice every duty to the support of their own hierarchy, and +found a power, on error and ignorance, which is destructive of +all moral virtue.</p> +<p>Let us proceed. Mournful and angry, I left the college, +and went to my lodging-house, where I found a Prussian +recruiting-officer waiting for me, who used all his arts to +engage me to enlist; offering me five hundred dollars, and to +make me a corporal, if I could write. I pretended I was a +Livonian, who had deserted from the Austrians, to return home, +and claim an inheritance left me by my father. After much +persuasion, he at length told me in confidence, it was very well +known in the town that I was a robber; that I should soon be +taken before a magistrate, but that if I would enlist he would +ensure my safety.</p> +<p>This language was new to me; my passion rose instantaneously; +I remembered my name was Trenck, I struck him, and drew my sword; +but, instead of defending himself, he sprang out of the chamber, +charging the host not to let me quit the house. I knew the +town of Thorn had agreed with the King of Prussia, secretly, to +deliver up deserters, and began to fear the consequences. +Looking through the window, I presently saw two under Prussian +officers enter the house. Schell and I instantly flew to +our arms, and met the Prussians at the chamber door. +“Make way,” cried I, presenting my pistols. The +Prussian soldiers drew their swords, but retired with fear. +Going out of the house, I saw a Prussian lieutenant, in the +street, with the town-guard. These I overawed, likewise, by +the same means, and no one durst oppose me, though every one +cried, “Stop thief!” I came safely, however, to +the Jesuits’ convent; but poor Schell was taken, and +dragged to prison like a malefactor.</p> +<p>Half mad at not being able to rescue him, I imagined he must +soon be delivered up to the Prussians. My reception was +much better at the convent than it had been before, for they no +longer doubted but I was really a thief, who sought an +asylum. I addressed myself to one of the fathers, who +appeared to be a good kind of a man, relating briefly what had +happened, and entreated he would endeavour to discover why they +sought to molest us.</p> +<p>He went out, and returning in an hour after, told me, +“Nobody knows you: a considerable theft was yesterday +committed at the fair: all suspicious persons are seized; you +entered the town accoutred like banditti. The man where you +put up is employed as a Prussian enlister, and has announced you +as suspicious people. The Prussian lieutenant therefore +laid complaint against you, and it was thought necessary to +secure your persons.”</p> +<p>My joy, at hearing this, was great. Our Moravian +passport, and the journal of our route, which I had in my pocket, +were full proofs of our innocence. I requested they would +send and inquire at the town where we lay the night before. +I soon convinced the Jesuit I spoke truth; he went, and presently +returned with one of the syndics, to whom I gave a more full +account of myself. The syndic examined Schell, and found +his story and mine agreed; besides which, our papers that they +had seized, declared who we were. I passed the night in the +convent without closing my eyes, revolving in my mind all the +rigours of my fate. I was still more disturbed for Schell, +who knew not where I was, but remained firmly persuaded we should +be conducted to Berlin; and, if so, determined to put a period to +his life.</p> +<p>My doubts were all ended at ten in the morning when my good +Jesuit arrived, and was followed by my friend Schell. The +judges, he said, had found us innocent, and declared us free to +go where we pleased; adding, however, that he advised us to be +upon our guard, we being watched by the Prussian enlisters; that +the lieutenant had hoped, by having us committed as thieves, to +oblige me to enter, and that he would account for all that had +happened.</p> +<p>I gave Schell a most affectionate welcome, who had been very +ill-used when led to prison, because he endeavoured to defend +himself with his left hand, and follow me. The people had +thrown mud at him, and called him a rascal that would soon be +hanged. Schell was little able to travel farther. The +father-rector sent us a ducat, but did not see us; and the chief +magistrate gave each of us a crown, by way of indemnification for +false imprisonment. Thus sent away, we returned to our +lodging, took our bundles, and immediately prepared to leave +Thorn.</p> +<p>As we went, I reflected that, on the road to Elbing, we must +pass through several Prussian villages, and inquired for a shop +where we might purchase a map. We were directed to an old +woman who sat at the door across the way, and were told she had a +good assortment, for that her son was a scholar. I +addressed myself to her, and my question pleased her, I having +added we were unfortunate travellers, who wished to find, by the +map, the road to Russia. She showed us into a chamber, laid +an atlas on the table, and placed herself opposite me, while I +examined the map, and endeavoured to hide a bit of a ragged +ruffle that had made its appearance. After steadfastly +looking at me, she at length exclaimed, with a sad and mournful +tone—“Good God! who knows what is now become of my +poor son! I can see, sir, you too are of a good +family. My son would go and seek his fortune, and for these +eight years have I had no tidings of him. He must now be in +the Austrian cavalry.” I asked in what +regiment. “The regiment of Hohenhem; you are his very +picture.” “Is he not of my height?” +“Yes, nearly.” “Has he not light +hair?” “Yes, like yours, sir.” +“What is his name?” “His name is +William.” “No, my dear mother,” cried I, +“William is not dead; he was my best friend when I was with +the regiment.” Here the poor woman could not contain +her joy. She threw herself round my neck, called me her +good angel who brought her happy tidings: asked me a thousand +questions which I easily contrived to make her answer herself, +and thus, forced by imperious necessity, bereft of all other +means, did I act the deceiver.</p> +<p>The story I made was nearly as follows:—I told her I was +a soldier in the regiment of Hohenhem, that I had a furlough to +go and see my father, and that I should return in a month, would +then take her letters, and undertake that, if she wished it, her +son should purchase his discharge, and once more come and live +with his mother. I added that I should be for ever and +infinitely obliged to her, if she would suffer my comrade, +meantime, to live at her house, he being wounded by the Prussian +recruiters, and unable to pursue his journey; that I would send +him money to come to me, or would myself come back and fetch him, +thankfully paying every expense. She joyfully consented, +told me her second husband, father-in-law to her dear William, +had driven him from home, that he might give what substance they +had to the younger son; and that the eldest had gone to +Magdeburg. She determined Schell should live at the house +of a friend, that her husband might know nothing of the matter; +and, not satisfied with this kindness, she made me eat with her, +gave me a new shirt, stockings, sufficient provisions for three +days, and six Lunenburg florins. I left Thorn, and my +faithful Schell, the same night, with the consolation that he was +well taken care of; and having parted from him with regret, went +on the 13th two miles further to Burglow.</p> +<p>I cannot describe what my sensations were, or the despondence +of my mind, when I thus saw myself wandering alone, and leaving, +forsaking, as it were, the dearest of friends. These may +certainly be numbered among the bitterest moments of my +life. Often was I ready to return, and drag him along with +me, though at last reason conquered sensibility. I drew +near the end of my journey, and was impelled forward by hope.</p> +<p>March 14.—I went to Schwetz, and</p> +<p>March 15.—To Neuburg and Mowe. In these two days I +travelled thirteen miles. I lay at Mowe, on some straw, +among a number of carters, and, when I awoke, perceived they had +taken my pistols, and what little money I had left, even to my +last penny. The gentlemen, however, were all gone.</p> +<p>What could I do? The innkeeper perhaps was privy to the +theft. My reckoning amounted to eighteen Polish +grosch. The surly landlord pretended to believe I had no +money when I entered his house, and I was obliged to give him the +only spare shirt I had, with a silk handkerchief, which the good +woman of Thorn had made me a present of, and to depart without a +single holler.</p> +<p>March 16.—I set off for Marienburg, but it was +impossible I should reach this place, and not fall into the hands +of the Prussians, if I did not cross the Vistula, and, +unfortunately, I had no money to pay the ferry, which would cost +two Polish schellings.</p> +<p>Full of anxiety, not knowing how to act, I saw two fishermen +in a boat, went to them, drew my sabre, and obliged them to land +me on the other side; when there, I took the oars from these +timid people, jumped out of the boat, pushed it off the shore, +and left it to drive with the stream.</p> +<p>To what dangers does not poverty expose man! These two +Polish schellings were not worth more than half a kreutzer, or +some halfpenny, yet was I driven by necessity to commit violence +on two poor men, who, had they been as desperate in their defence +as I was obliged to be in my attack, blood must have been spilled +and lives lost; hence it is evident that the degrees of guilt +ought to be strictly and minutely inquired into, and the degree +of punishment proportioned. Had I hewn them down with my +sabre, I should surely have been a murderer; but I should +likewise surely have been one of the most innocent of +murderers. Thus we see the value of money is not to be +estimated by any specific sum, small or great, but according to +its necessity and use. How little did I imagine when at +Berlin, and money was treated by me with luxurious neglect, I may +say, with contempt, I should be driven to the hard necessity, for +a sum so apparently despicable, of committing a violence which +might have had consequences so dreadful, and have led to the +commission of an act so atrocious!</p> +<p>I found Saxon and Prussian recruiters at Marion-burgh, with +whom, having no money, I ate, drank, listened to their proposals, +gave them hopes for the morrow, and departed by daybreak.</p> +<p>March 17.—To Elbing, four miles.</p> +<p>Here I met with my former worthy tutor, Brodowsky, who was +become a captain and auditor in the Polish regiment of +Golz. He met me just as I entered the town. I +followed triumphantly to his quarters; and here at length ended +the painful, long, and adventurous journey I had been obliged to +perform.</p> +<p>This good and kind gentleman, after providing me with +immediate necessaries, wrote so affectionately to my mother, that +she came to Elbing in a week, and gave me every aid of which I +stood in need.</p> +<p>The pleasure I had in meeting once more this tender mother, +whose qualities of heart and mind were equally excellent, was +inexpressible. She found a certain mode of conveying a +letter to my dear mistress at Berlin, who a short time after sent +me a bill of exchange for four hundred ducats upon Dantzic. +To this my mother added a thousand rix-dollars, and a diamond +cross worth nearly half as much, remained a fortnight with me, +and persisted, in spite of all remonstrance, in advising me to go +to Vienna. My determination had been fixed for Petersburg; +all my fears and apprehensions being awakened at the thought of +Vienna, and which indeed afterwards became the source of all my +cruel sufferings and sorrows. She would not yield in +opinion, and promised her future assistance only in case of my +obedience; it was my duty not to continue obstinate. Here +she left me, and I have never seen her since. She died in +1751, and I have ever held her memory in veneration. It was +a happiness for this affectionate mother that she did not hive to +be a witness of my afflictions in the year 1754.</p> +<p>An adventure, resembling that of Joseph in Egypt, happened to +me in Elbing. The wife of the worthy Brodowsky, a woman of +infinite personal attraction, grew partial to me; but I durst not +act ungratefully by my benefactor. Never to see me more was +too painful to her, and she even proposed to follow me, secretly, +to Vienna. I felt the danger of my situation, and doubted +whether Potiphar’s wife offered temptations so strong as +Madame Brodowsky. I owned I had an affection for this lady, +but my passions were overawed. She preferred me to her +husband, who was in years, and very ordinary in person. Had +I yielded to the slightest degree of guilt, that of the present +enjoyment, a few days of pleasure must have been followed by +years of bitter repentance.</p> +<p>Having once more assumed my proper name and character, and +made presents of acknowledgment to the worthy tutor of my youth, +I became eager to return to Thorn.</p> +<p>How great was my joy at again meeting my honest Schell! +The kind old woman had treated him like a mother. She was +surprised, and half terrified, at seeing me enter in an +officer’s uniform, and accompanied by two servants. I +gratefully and rapturously kissed her hand, repaid, with +thankfulness, every expense (for Schell had been nurtured with +truly maternal kindness), told her who I was, acknowledged the +deceit I had put upon her concerning her son, but faithfully +promised to give a true, and not fictitious account of him, +immediately on my arrival at Vienna. Schell was ready in +three days, and we left Thorn, came to Warsaw, and passed thence, +through Crakow, to Vienna.</p> +<p>I inquired for Captain Capi, at Bilitz, who had before given +me so kind a reception, and refused me satisfaction; but he was +gone, and I did not meet with him till some years after, when the +cunning Italian made me the most humble apologies for his +conduct. So goes the world.</p> +<p>My journey from Dantzic to Vienna would not furnish me with an +interesting page, though my travels on foot thither would have +afforded thrice as much as I have written, had I not been fearful +of trifling with the reader’s patience.</p> +<p>In poverty one misfortune follows another. The +foot-passenger sees the world, becomes acquainted with it, +converses with men of every class. The lord luxuriously +lolls and slumbers in his carriage, while his servants pay +innkeepers and postillions, and passes rapidly over a kingdom, in +which he sees some dozen houses, called inns; and this he calls +travelling. I met with more adventures in this my journey +of 169 miles, than afterwards in almost as many thousand, when +travelling at ease, in a carriage.</p> +<p>Here, then, ends my journal, in which, from the hardships +therein related, and numerous others omitted, I seem a kind of +second Robinson Crusoe, and to have been prepared, by a gradual +increase and repetition of sufferings, to endure the load of +affliction which I was afterwards destined to bear.</p> +<p>Arrived at Vienna in the month of April, 1747.</p> +<p>And now another act of the tragedy is going to begin.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> +<p>After having defrayed the expenses of travelling for me and my +friend Schell, for whose remarkable history I will endeavour to +find a few pages in due course, I divided the three hundred +ducats which remained with him, and, having stayed a month at +Vienna, he went to join the regiment of Pallavicini, in which he +had obtained a lieutenant-colonel’s commission, and which +was then in Italy.</p> +<p>Here I found my cousin, Baron Francis Trenck, the famous +partisan and colonel of pandours, imprisoned at the arsenal, and +involved in a most perplexing prosecution.</p> +<p>This Trenck was my father’s brother’s son. +His father had been a colonel and governor of Leitschau, and had +possessed considerable lordships in Sclavonia, those of +Pleternitz, Prestowacz, and Pakratz. After the siege of +Vienna, in 1683, he had left the Prussian service for that of +Austria, in which he remained sixty years.</p> +<p>That I may not here interrupt my story, I shall give some +account of the life of my cousin Baron Francis Trenck, so +renowned in the war of 1741, in another part, and who fell, at +last, the shameful sacrifice of envy and avarice, and received +the reward of all his great and faithful services in the prison +of the Spielberg.</p> +<p>The vindication of the family of the Trencks requires I should +speak of him; nor will I, in this, suffer restraint from the fear +of any man, however powerful. Those indeed who sacrificed a +man most ardent in his country’s service to their own +private and selfish views, are now in their graves.</p> +<p>I shall insert no more of his history here than what is +interwoven with my own, and relate the rest in its proper +place.</p> +<p>A revision of his suit was at this time instituted. +Scarcely was I arrived in Vienna before his confidential agent, +M. Leber, presented me to Prince Charles and the Emperor; both +knew the services of Trenck, and the malice of his enemies; +therefore, permission for me to visit him in his prison, and +procure him such assistance as he might need, was readily +granted. On my second audience, the Emperor spoke so much +in my persecuted cousin’s favour that I became highly +interested; he commanded me to have recourse to him on all +occasions; and, moreover, owned the president of the council of +war was a man of a very wicked character, and a declared enemy of +Trenck. This president was the Count of Lowenwalde, who, +with his associates, had been purposely selected as men proper to +oppress the best of subjects.</p> +<p>The suit soon took another face; the good Empress Queen, who +had been deceived, was soon better informed, and Trenck’s +innocence appeared, on the revision of the process most +evidently. The trial, which had cost them twenty-seven +thousand florins, and the sentence which followed, were proved to +have been partial and unjust; and that sixteen of Trenck’s +officers, who most of them had been broken for different +offences, had perjured themselves to insure his destruction.</p> +<p>It is a most remarkable circumstance that public notice was +given, in the <i>Vienna Gazette</i>, to the following +purport.</p> +<p>“All those who have any complaints to make against +Trenck, let them appear, and they shall receive a ducat per day, +so long as the prosecution continues.”</p> +<p>It will readily be imagined how fast his accusers would +increase, and what kind of people they were. The pay of +these witnesses alone amounted to fifteen thousand florins. +I now began the labour in concurrence with Doctor Gerhauer, and +the cause soon took another turn; but such was the state of +things, it would have been necessary to have broken all the +members of the council of war, as well as counsellor Weber, a man +of great power. Thus, unfortunately, politics began to +interfere with the course of justice.</p> +<p>The Empress Queen gave Trenck to understand she required he +should ask her pardon; and on that condition all proceedings +should be stopped, and he immediately set at liberty. +Prince Charles, who knew the court of Vienna, advised me also to +persuade my cousin to comply; but nothing could shake his +resolution. Feeling his right and innocence, he demanded +strict justice; and this made ruin more swift.</p> +<p>I soon learned Trenck must fall a sacrifice—he was +rich—his enemies already had divided among them more than +eighty thousand florins of his property, which was all +sequestered, and in their hands. They had treated him too +cruelly, and knew him too well, not to dread his vengeance the +moment he should recover his freedom.</p> +<p>I was moved to the soul at his sufferings, and as he had +vented public threats, at the prospect of approaching victory +over his enemies, they gained over the Court Confessor: and, +dreading him as they did, put every wily art in practice to +insure his destruction. I therefore, in the fulness of my +heart, made him the brotherly proposition of escaping, and, +having obtained his liberty, to prove his innocence to the +Empress Queen. I told him my plan, which might easily have +been put in execution, and which he seemed perfectly decided to +follow.</p> +<p>Some days after, I was ordered to wait on field-marshal Count +Konigseck, governor of Vienna. This respectable old +gentleman, whose memory I shall ever revere, behaved to me like a +father and the friend of humanity, advised me to abandon my +cousin, who he gave me clearly to understand had betrayed me by +having revealed my proposed plan of escape, willing to sacrifice +me to his ambition in order to justify the purity of his +intentions to the court, and show that, instead of wishing to +escape, he only desired justice.</p> +<p>Confounded at the cowardly action of one for whom I would +willingly have sacrificed my life, and whom I only sought to +deliver, I resolved to leave him to his fate, and thought myself +exceedingly happy that the worthy field-marshal would, after a +fatherly admonition, smother all farther inquiry into this +affair.</p> +<p>I related this black trait of ingratitude to Prince Charles of +Lorraine, who prevailed on me to again see my cousin, without +letting him know I knew what had passed, and still to render him +every service in my power.</p> +<p>Before I proceed I will here give the reader a +per-’trait of this Trenck.</p> +<p>He was a man of superior talents and unbounded ambition; +devoted, even fanatically, to his sovereign; his boldness +approached temerity; he was artful of mind, wicked of heart, +vindictive and unfeeling. His cupidity equalled the utmost +excess of avarice, even in his thirty-third year, in which he +died. He was too proud to receive favours or obligations +from any man, and was capable of ridding himself of his best +friend if he thought he had any claims on his gratitude or could +get possession of his fortune.</p> +<p>He knew I had rendered him very important services, supposed +his cause already won, having bribed the judges, who were to +revise the sentence, with thirty thousand florins, which money I +received from his friend Baron Lopresti, and conveyed to these +honest counsellors. I knew all his secrets, and nothing +more was necessary to prompt his suspicious and bad heart to seek +my destruction.</p> +<p>Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed, after his having first +betrayed me, before the following remarkable event happened.</p> +<p>I left him one evening to return home, taking under my coat a +bag with papers and documents relating to the prosecution, which +I had been examining for him, and transcribing. There were +at this time about five-and-twenty officers in Vienna who had +laid complaints against him, and who considered me as their +greatest enemy because I had laboured earnestly in his +defence. I was therefore obliged, on all occasions, to be +upon my guard. A report had been propagated through Vienna +that I was secretly sent by the King of Prussia to free my cousin +from imprisonment; he, however, constantly denied, to the hour of +his death, his ever having written to me at Berlin; hence also it +will follow the letter I received had been forged by +Jaschinsky.</p> +<p>Leaving the Arsenal, I crossed the court, and perceived I was +closely followed by two men in grey roquelaures, who, pressing +upon my heels, held loud and insolent conversation concerning the +runaway Prussian Trenck. I found they sought a quarrel, +which was a thing of no great difficulty at that moment, for a +man is never more disposed to duelling than when he has nothing +to lose, and is discontented with his condition. I supposed +they were two of the accusing officers broken by Trenck, and +endeavoured to avoid them, and gain the Jew’s place.</p> +<p>Scarcely had I turned down the street that leads thither +before they quickened their pace. I turned round, and in a +moment received a thrust with a sword in the left side, where I +had put my bag of papers, which accident alone saved my life; the +sword pierced through the papers and slightly grazed the +skin. I instantly drew, and the heroes ran. I +pursued, one of them tripped and fell. I seized him; the +guard came up: he declared he was an officer of the regiment of +Kollowrat, showed his uniform, was released, and I was taken to +prison. The Town Major came the next day, and told me I had +intentionally sought a quarrel with two officers, Lieutenants +F---g and K---n. These kind gentlemen did not reveal their +humane intention of sending me to the other world.</p> +<p>I was alone, could produce no witness, they were two. I +must necessarily be in the wrong, and I remained six days in +prison. No sooner was I released, than these my good +friends sent to demand satisfaction for the said pretended +insult. The proposal was accepted, and I promised to be at +the Scotch gate, the place appointed by them, within an +hour. Having heard their names, I presently knew them to be +two famous swaggerers, who were daily exercising themselves in +fencing at the Arsenal, and where they often visited +Trenck. I went to my cousin to ask his assistance, related +what had happened, and, as the consequences of this duel might be +very serious, desired him to give me a hundred ducats, that I +might be able to fly if either of them should fall.</p> +<p>Hitherto I had expended my own money on his account, and had +asked no reimbursement; but what was my astonishment when this +wicked man said to me, with a sneer, “Since, good cousin, +you have got into a quarrel without consulting me, you will also +get out of it without my aid!” As I left him, he +called me back to tell me, “I will take care and pay your +undertaker;” for he certainly believed I should never +return alive.</p> +<p>I ran now, half-despairing, to Baron Lopresti, who gave me +fifty ducats and a pair of pistols, provided with which I +cheerfully repaired to the field of battle.</p> +<p>Here I found half a dozen officers of the garrison. As I +had few acquaintances in Vienna, I had no second, except an old +Spanish invalid captain, named Pereyra, who met me going in all +haste, and, having learned whither, would not leave me.</p> +<p>Lieutenant K---n was the first with whom I fought, and who +received satisfaction by a deep wound in the right arm. +Hereupon I desired the spectators to prevent farther mischief; +for my own part I had nothing more to demand. Lieutenant +F---g next entered the lists, with threats, which were soon +quieted by a lunge in the belly. Hereupon Lieutenant M-f, +second to the first wounded man, told me very +angrily—“Had I been your man, you would have found a +very different reception.” My old Spaniard of eighty +proudly and immediately advanced, with his long whiskers and +tottering frame, and cried—“Hold! Trenck has +proved himself a brave fellow, and if any man thinks proper to +assault him further, he must first take a breathing with +me.” Everybody laughed at this bravado from a man who +scarcely could stand or hold a sword. I +replied—“Friend, I am safe, unhurt, and want not aid; +should I be disabled, you then, if you think proper, may take my +place; but, as long as I can hold a sword, I shall take pleasure +in satisfying all these gentlemen one after another.” +I would have rested myself a moment, but the haughty M-f, enraged +at the defeat of his friend, would not give me time, but +furiously attacked me, and, having been wounded twice, once in +the hand and again in the groin, he wanted to close and sink me +to the grave with himself, but I disarmed and threw him.</p> +<p>None of the others had any desire to renew the contest. +My three enemies were sent bleeding to town; and, as M---f +appeared to be mortally wounded, and the Jesuits and Capuchins of +Vienna refused me an asylum, I fled to the convent of +Keltenberg.</p> +<p>I wrote from the convent to Colonel Baron Lopresti, who came +to me. I told him all that had passed, and by his good +offices had liberty, in a week, to appear once more at +Vienna.</p> +<p>The blood of Lieutenant F---g was in a corrupt state, and his +wound, though not in itself dangerous, made his life +doubtful. He sent to entreat I would visit him, and, when I +went, having first requested I would pardon him, gave me to +understand I ought to beware of my cousin. I afterwards +learned the traitorous Trenck had promised Lieutenant F---g a +company and a thousand ducats if he would find means to quarrel +with me and rid the world of me. He was deeply in debt, and +sought the assistance of Lieutenant K-n; and had not the papers +luckily preserved me, I had undoubtedly been despatched by his +first lunge. To clear themselves of the infamy of such an +act, these two worthy gentlemen had pretended I had assaulted +them in the streets.</p> +<p>I could no more resolve to see my ungrateful and dangerous +kinsman, who wished to have me murdered because I knew all his +secrets, and thought he should be able to gain his cause without +obligation to me or my assistance. Notwithstanding all his +great qualities, his marked characteristic certainly was that of +sacrificing everything to his private views, and especially to +his covetousness, which was so great that, even at his time of +life, though his fortune amounted to a million and a half, he did +not spend per day more than thirty kreutzers.</p> +<p>No sooner was it known that I had forsaken Trenck than General +Count Lowenwalde, his most ardent enemy, and president of the +first council of war, by which he had been condemned, desired to +speak to me, promised every sort of good fortune and protection, +if I would discover what means had secretly been employed in the +revision of the process; and went so far as to offer me four +thousand florins if I would aid the prosecution against my +cousin. Here I learned the influence of villains in power, +and the injustice of judges at Vienna. The proposal I +rejected with disdain, and rather determined to seek my fortune +in the East Indies than continue in a country where, under the +best of Queens, the most loyal of subjects, and first of +soldiers, might be rendered miserable by interested, angry, and +corrupt courtiers. Certain it is, as I now can prove, +though the bitterest of my enemies, and whose conduct towards me +merited my whole resentment, he was the best soldier in the +Austrian army, had been liberal of his blood and fortune in the +Imperial service, and would still so have continued had not his +wealth, and his contempt for Weber and Lowenwalde put him in the +power of those wretches who were the avowed enemies of courage +and patriotism, and who only could maintain their authority, and +sate their thirst of gain, by the base and wicked arts of +courts. Had my cousin shared the plunder of the war among +these men, he had not fallen the martyr of their intrigues, and +died in the Spielberg. His accusers were, generally, +unprincipled men of ruined fortunes, and so insufficient were +their accusations that a useful member of society ought not, for +any or all of them, to have suffered an hour’s +imprisonment. Being fully informed, both of all the +circumstances of the prosecution and the inmost secrets of his +heart, justice requires I should thus publicly declare this truth +and vindicate his memory. While living he was my bitterest +enemy, and even though dead, was the cause of all my future +sufferings; therefore the account I shall give of him will +certainly be the less liable to suspicion, where I shall show +that he, as well as myself, deserved better of Austria.</p> +<p>I was resolved forever to forsake Vienna. The friends of +Trenck all became distrustful of him because of his ingratitude +to me. Prince Charles still endeavoured to persuade me to a +reconciliation, and gave me a letter of recommendation to General +Brown, who then commanded the Imperial army in Italy. But +more anxious of going to India, I left Vienna in August, 1748, +desirous of owing no obligation to that city or its inhabitants, +and went for Holland. Meantime, the enemies of Trenck found +no one to oppose their iniquitous proceedings, and obtained a +sentence of imprisonment, in the Spielberg, where he too late +repented having betrayed his faithful adviser, and prudent +friend. I pitied him, and his judges certainly deserved the +punishment they inflicted: yet to his last moments he showed his +hatred towards me was rooted, and, even in the grave, strove by +his will to involve me in misfortune, as will hereafter be +seen.</p> +<p>I fled from Vienna, would to God it had been for ever; but +fate by strange ways, and unknown means, brought me back where +Providence thought proper I should become a vessel of wrath and +persecution: I was to enact my part in Europe, and not in +Asia. At Nuremberg I met with a body of Russians, commanded +by General Lieuwen, my mother’s relation, who were marching +to the Netherlands, and were the peace-makers of Europe. +Major Buschkow, whom I had known when Russian resident at Vienna, +prevailed on me to visit him, and presented me to the +General. I pleased him, and may say, with truth, he behaved +to me like a friend and a father. He advised me to enter +into the Russian service, and gave me a company of dragoons, in +the regiment of Tobolski, on condition I should not leave him, +but employ myself in his cabinet: and his confidence and esteem +for me were unbounded.</p> +<p>Peace followed; the army returned to Moravia, without firing a +musket, and the head-quarters were fixed at Prosnitz.</p> +<p>In this town a public entertainment was given, by General +Lieuwen, on the coronation day of the Empress Elizabeth; and here +an adventure happened to me, which I shall ever remember, as a +warning to myself, and insert as a memento to others.</p> +<p>The army physician, on this day, kept a Faro bank for the +entertainment of the guests. My stock of money consisted of +two and twenty ducats. Thirst of gain, or perhaps example, +induced me to venture two of these, which I immediately lost, and +very soon, by venturing again to regain them, the whole two and +twenty. Chagrined at my folly, I returned home: I had +nothing but a pair of pistols left, for which, because of their +workmanship, General Woyekow had offered me twenty ducats. +These I took, intending by their aid to attempt to retrieve my +loss. Firing of guns and pistols was heard throughout the +town, because of the festival, and I, in imitation of the rest, +went to the window and fired mine. After a few discharges, +one of my pistols burst, and endangered my own hand, and wounded +my servant. I felt a momentary despondency, stronger than I +ever remember to have experienced before; insomuch that I was +half induced, with the remaining pistol, to shoot myself through +the head. I however, recovered my spirits, asked my servant +what money he had, and received from him three ducats. With +these I repaired, like a desperate gamester, once more to the +Faro table, at the General’s, again began to play, and so +extraordinary was my run of luck, I won at every venture. +Having recovered my principal, I played on upon my winnings, till +at last I had absolutely broke the Doctor’s bank: a new +bank was set up, and I won the greatest part of this likewise, so +that I brought home about six hundred ducats.</p> +<p>Rejoiced at my good fortune, but recollecting my danger, I had +the prudence to make a solemn resolution never more to play at +any game of chance, to which I have ever strictly adhered.</p> +<p>It were to be wished young men would reflect upon the effects +of gaming, remembering that the love of play has made the most +promising and virtuous, miserable; the honest, knaves; and the +sincere, deceivers and liars. Officers, having first lost +all their own money, being entrusted with the soldiers’ +pay, have next lost that also; and thus been cashiered, and +eternally disgraced. I might, at Prosnitz, have been +equally rash and culpable. The first venture, whether the +gamester wins or loses, ensures a second; and, with that, too +often destruction. My good fortune was almost miraculous, +and my subsequent resolution very uncommon; and I entreat and +conjure my children, when I shall no longer be living to advise +and watch for their welfare, most determinedly to avoid +play. I seemed preserved by Providence from this evil but +to endure much greater.</p> +<p>General Lieuwen, my kind patron, sent me, from Crakow, to +conduct a hundred and forty sick men down the Vistula to Dantzic, +where there were Russian vessels to receive and transport them to +Riga.</p> +<p>I requested permission of the General to proceed forward and +visit my mother and sister, whom I was very desirous to see: at +Elbing, therefore, I resigned the command to Lieutenant Platen, +and, attended by a servant, rode to the bishopric of Ermeland, +where I appointed an interview with them in a frontier +village.</p> +<p>Here an incident happened that had nearly cost me my +life. The Prussians, some days before, had carried off a +peasant’s son from this village, as a recruit. The +people were all in commotion. I wore leathern breeches, and +the blue uniform of the Russian cavalry. They took me for a +Prussian, at the door, and fell upon me with every kind of +weapon. A chasseur, who happened to be there, and the +landlord, came to my assistance, while I, battling with the +peasants, had thrown two of them down. I was delivered, but +not till I had received two violent bruises, one on the left arm, +and another which broke the bridge of my nose. The landlord +advised me to escape as fast as possible, or that the village +would rise and certainly murder me; my servant, therefore, who +had retired for defence, with a pair of pistols, into the oven, +got ready the horses and we rode off.</p> +<p>I had my bruises dressed at the next village; my hand and eyes +were exceedingly swelled, but I was obliged to ride two miles +farther, to the town of Ressel, before I could find an able +surgeon, and here I so far recovered in a week, that I was able +to return to Dantzic. My brother visited me while at +Ressel, but my good mother had the misfortune, as she was coming +to me, to be thrown out of her carriage, by which her arm was +broken, so that she and my sister were obliged to return, and I +never saw her more.</p> +<p>I was now at Dantzic, with my sick convoy, where another most +remarkable event happened, which I, with good reason, shall ever +remember.</p> +<p>I became acquainted with a Prussian officer, whose name I +shall conceal out of respect to his very worthy family; he +visited me daily, and we often rode out together in the +neighbourhood of Dantzic.</p> +<p>My faithful servant became acquainted with his, and my +astonishment was indeed great when he one day said to me, with +anxiety, “Beware, sir, of a snare laid for you by +Lieutenant N-; he means to entice you out of town and deliver you +up to the Prussians.” I asked him where he learned +this. “From the lieutenant’s servant,” +answered he, “who is my friend, and wishes to save me from +misfortune.”</p> +<p>I now, with the aid of a couple of ducats, discovered the +whole affair, and learned it was agreed, between the Prussian +resident, Reimer, and the lieutenant, that the latter should +entice me into the suburb of Langfuhr, where there was an inn on +the Prussian territories. Here eight recruiting +under-officers were to wait concealed, and seize me the moment I +entered the house, hurry me into a carriage, and drive away for +Lauenberg in Pomerania. Two under-officers were to escort +me, on horseback, as far as the frontiers, and the remainder to +hold and prevent me from calling for help, so long as we should +remain on the territories of Dantzic.</p> +<p>I farther learned my enemies were only to be armed with +sabres, and that they were to wait behind the door. The two +officers on horseback were to secure my servant, and prevent him +from riding off and raising an alarm.</p> +<p>These preparations might easily have been rendered fruitless, +by my refusing to accept the proposal of the lieutenant, but +vanity gave me other advice, and resentment made me desirous of +avenging myself for such detestable treachery.</p> +<p>Lieutenant N--- came, about noon, to dine with me as usual, +was more pensive and serious than I had ever observed him before, +and left me at four in the afternoon, after having made a promise +to ride early next day with him as far as Langfuhr. I +observed my consent gave him great pleasure, and my heart then +pronounced sentence on the traitor. The moment he had left +me I went to the Russian resident, M. Scheerer, an honest Swiss, +related the whole conspiracy, and asked whether I might not take +six of the men under my command for my own personal +defence. I told him my plan, which he at first opposed; but +seeing me obstinate, he answered at last, “Do as you +please; I must know nothing of the matter, nor will I make myself +responsible.”</p> +<p>I immediately joined my soldiers, selected six men, and took +them, while it was dark, opposite the Prussian inn, hid them in +the corn, with an order to run to my help with their firelocks +loaded the first discharge they should hear, to seize all who +should fall into their power, and only to fire in case of +resistance. I provided them with fire-arms, by concealing +them in the carriage which brought them to their +hiding-place.</p> +<p>Notwithstanding all these precautions, I still thought it +necessary to prevent surprise, by informing myself what were the +proceedings of my enemies, lest my intelligence should have been +false; and I learned from my spies that, at four in the morning, +the Prussian resident, Reimer, had left the city with post +horses.</p> +<p>I loaded mine and my servant’s horse and pocket pistols, +prepared my Turkish sabre, and, in gratitude to the +lieutenant’s man, promised to take him into my service, +being convinced of his honesty.</p> +<p>The lieutenant cheerfully entered about six in the morning, +expatiated on the fineness of the weather, and jocosely told me I +should be very kindly received by the handsome landlady of +Langfuhr.</p> +<p>I was soon ready; we mounted, and left the town, attended by +our servants. Some three hundred paces from the inn, my +worthy friend proposed that we should alight and let our servants +lead the horses, that we might enjoy the beauty of the +morning. I consented, and having dismounted, observed his +treacherous eyes sparkle with pleasure.</p> +<p>The resident, Reimer, was at the window of the inn, and called +out, as soon as he saw me, “Good-morrow, captain, +good-morrow; come, come in, your breakfast is +waiting.” I, sneering, smiled, and told him I had not +time at present. So saying, I continued my walk, but my +companion would absolutely force me to enter, took me by the arm, +and partly struggled with me, on which, losing all patience, I +gave him a blow which almost knocked him down, and ran to my +horses as if I meant to fly.</p> +<p>The Prussians instantly rushed from behind their door, with +clamour, to attack me. I fired at the first; my Russians +sprang from their hiding-place, presented their pieces, and +called, <i>Stuy</i>, <i>stuy</i>, <i>yebionnamat</i>.</p> +<p>The terror of the poor Prussians may well be supposed. +All began to run. I had taken care to make sure of my +lieutenant, and was next running to seize the resident, but he +had escaped out of the back door, with the loss only of his white +periwig. The Russians had taken four prisoners, and I +commanded them to bestow fifty strokes upon each of them in the +open street. An ensign, named Casseburg, having told me his +name, and that he had been my brother’s schoolfellow, +begged remission, and excused himself on the necessity which he +was under to obey his superiors. I admitted his excuses and +suffered him to go. I then drew my sword and bade the +lieutenant defend himself; but he was so confused, that, after +drawing his sword, he asked my pardon, laid the whole blame upon +the resident, and had not the power to put himself on his +guard. I twice jerked his sword out of his hand, and, at +last, taking the Russian corporal’s cane, I exhausted my +strength with beating him, without his offering the least +resistance. Such is the meanness of detected +treachery. I left him kneeling, saying to him, “Go, +rascal, now, and tell your comrades the manner in which Trenck +punishes robbers on the highway.”</p> +<p>The people had assembled round us during the action, to whom I +related the affair, and the attack having happened on the +territories of Dantzic, the Prussians were in danger of being +stoned by the populace. I and my Russians marched off +victorious, proceeded to the harbour, embarked, and three or four +days after, set sail for Riga.</p> +<p>It is remarkable that none of the public papers took any +notice of this affair; no satisfaction was required. The +Prussians, no doubt, were ashamed of being defeated in an attempt +so perfidious.</p> +<p>I since have learnt that Frederic, no doubt by the false +representations of Reimer, was highly irritated, and what +afterwards happened proves his anger pursued me through every +corner of the earth, till at last I fell into his power at +Dantzic, and suffered a martyrdom most unmerited and +unexampled.</p> +<p>The Prussian envoy, Goltz, indeed, made complaints to Count +Bestuchef, concerning this Dantzic skirmish, but received no +satisfaction. My conduct was justified in Russia, I having +defended myself against assassins, as a Russian captain +ought.</p> +<p>Some dispassionate readers may blame me for not having avoided +this rencontre, and demanded personal satisfaction of Lieutenant +N---. But I have through life rather sought than avoided +danger. My vanity and revenge were both roused. I was +everywhere persecuted by the Prussians, and I was therefore +determined to show that, far from fearing, I was able to defend +myself.</p> +<p>I hired the servant of the lieutenant, whom I found honest and +faithful, and whom I comfortably settled in marriage, at Vienna, +in 1753. After my ten years’ imprisonment, I found +him poor, and again took him into my service, in which he died, +at Zwerbach, in 1779.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> +<p>And now behold me at sea, on my voyage to Riga. I had +eaten heartily before I went on board; a storm came on; I worked +half the night, to aid the crew, but at length became sea-sick, +and went to lie down. Scarcely had I closed my eyes before +the master came with the joyful tidings, as he thought, that we +were running for the port of Pillau. Far from pleasing, +this, to me, was dreadful intelligence. I ran on deck, saw +the harbour right before me, and a pilot coming off. The +sea must now be either kept in a storm, or I fall into the hands +of the Prussians; for I was known to the whole garrison of +Pillau.</p> +<p>I desired the captain to tack about and keep the sea, but he +would not listen to me. Perceiving this, I flew to my +cabin, snatched my pistols, returned, seized the helm, and +threatened the captain with instant death if he did not +obey. My Russians began to murmur; they were averse to +encountering the dangers of the storm, but luckily they were +still more averse to meet my anger, overawed, as they were, by my +pistols, and my two servants, who stood by me faithfully.</p> +<p>Half an hour after, the storm began to subside, and we +fortunately arrived the next day in the harbour of Riga. +The captain, however, could not be appeased, but accused me +before the old and honourable Marshal Lacy, then governor of +Riga. I was obliged to appear, and reply to the charge by +relating the truth. The governor answered, my obstinacy +might have occasioned the death of a hundred and sixty persons; +I, smiling, retorted, “I have brought them all safe to +port, please your Excellency; and, for my part, my fate would +have been much more merciful by falling into the hands of my God +than into the hands of my enemies. My danger was so great +that I forgot the danger of others; besides, sir, I knew my +comrades were soldiers, and feared death as little as I +do.” My answer pleased the fine grey-headed general, +and he gave me a recommendation to the chancellor Bestuchef at +Moscow.</p> +<p>General Lieuwen had marched from Moravia, for Russia, with the +army, and was then at Riga. I went to pay him my respects; +he kindly received me, and took me to one of his seats, named +Annaburg, four miles from Riga. Here I remained some days, +and he gave me every recommendation to Moscow, where the court +then was. It was intended I should endeavour to obtain a +company in the regiment of cuirassiers, the captains of which +then ranked as majors, and he advised me to throw up my +commission in the Siberian regiment of Tobolski dragoons. +Peace be to the names and the memory of this worthy man! +May God reward this benevolence! From Riga I departed, in +company with M. Oettinger, lieutenant-colonel of engineers, and +Lieutenant Weismann, for Moscow. This is the same Weismann +who rendered so many important services to Russia, during the +last war with the Turks.</p> +<p>On my arrival, after delivering in my letters of +recommendation, I was particularly well received by Count +Bestuchef. Oettinger, whose friendship I had gained, was +exceedingly intimate with the chancellor, and my interest was +thereby promoted.</p> +<p>I had not been long at Moscow before I met Count Hamilton, my +former friend during my abode at Vienna. He was a captain +of cavalry, in the regiment of General Bernes, who had been sent +as imperial ambassador to Russia.</p> +<p>Bernes had been ambassador at Berlin in 1743, where he had +consequently known me during the height of my favour at the court +of Frederic. Hamilton presented me to him, and I had the +good fortune so far to gain his friendship, that, after a few +visits, he endeavoured to detach me from the Russian service, +offering me the strongest recommendations to Vienna, and a +company in his own regiment. My cousin’s misfortunes, +however, had left too deep an impression on my mind to follow his +advice. The Indies would then have been preferred by me to +Austria.</p> +<p>Bernes invited me to dine with him in company with his bosom +friend, Lord Hyndford, the English ambassador. How great +was the pleasure I that day received! This eminent +statesman had known me at Berlin, and was present when Frederic +had honoured me with saying, <i>C’est un matador de ma +jeunesse</i>. He was well read in men, conceived a good +opinion of my abilities, and became a friend and father to +me. He seated me by his side at table, and asked me, +“Why came you here, Trenck?” “In search +of bread and honour, my lord,” answered I, “having +unmeritedly lost them both in my own country.” He +further inquired the state of my finances; I told him my whole +store might be some thirty ducats.</p> +<p>“Take my counsel,” said he; “you have the +necessary qualifications to succeed in Russia, but the people +here despise poverty, judge from the exterior only, and do not +include services or talents in the estimate; you must have the +appearance of being wealthy. I and Bernes will introduce +you into the best families, and will supply you with the +necessary means of support. Splendid liveries, led horses, +diamond rings, deep play, a bold front, undaunted freedom with +statesmen, and gallantry among the ladies, are the means by which +foreigners must make their way in this country. Avail +yourself of them, and leave the rest to us.” This +lesson lasted some time. Bernes entered in the interim, and +they determined mutually to contribute towards my promotion.</p> +<p>Few of the young men who seek their fortune in foreign +countries meet incidents so favourable. Fortune for a +moment seemed willing to recompense my past sufferings, and again +to raise me to the height from which I had fallen. These +ambassadors, here again by accident met, had before been +witnesses of my prosperity when at Berlin. The talents I +possessed, and the favour I then enjoyed, attracted the notice of +all foreign ministers. They were bosom friends, equally +well read in the human heart, and equally benevolent and +noble-minded; their recommendation at court was decisive; the +nations they represented were in alliance with Russia, and the +confidence Bestuchef placed in them was unbounded.</p> +<p>I was now introduced into all companies, not as a foreigner +who came to entreat employment, but as the heir of the house of +Trenck, and its rich Hungarian possessions, and as the former +favourite of the Prussian monarch.</p> +<p>I was also admitted to the society of the first literati, and +wrote a poem on the anniversary of the coronation of the Empress +Elizabeth. Hyndford took care she should see it, and, in +conjunction with the chancellor, presented me to the +sovereign. My reception was most gracious. She +herself recommended me to the chancellor, and presented me with a +gold-hilted sword, worth a thousand roubles. This raised me +highly in the esteem of all the houses of the Bestuchef +party.</p> +<p>Manners were at that time so rude in Russia, that every +foreigner who gave a dinner, or a ball, must send notice to the +chancellor Bestuchef, that he might return a list of the guests +allowed to be invited. Faction governed everything; and +wherever Bestuchef was, no friend of Woranzow durst appear. +I was the intimate of the Austrian and English ambassadors; +consequently, was caressed and esteemed in all companies. I +soon became the favourite of the chancellor’s lady, as I +shall hereafter notice; and nothing more was wanting to obtain +all I could wish.</p> +<p>I was well acquainted with architectural design, had free +access to the house and cabinet of the chancellor, where I drew +in company with Colonel Oettinger, who was then the head +architect of Russia, and made the perspective view of the new +palace, which the chancellor intended to build at Moscow, by +which I acquired universal honour. I had gained more +acquaintance in, and knowledge of, Russia in one month, than +others, wanting my means, have done in twelve.</p> +<p>As I was one day relating my progress to Lord Hyndford, he, +like a friend, grown grey in courts, kindly took the trouble to +advise me. From him I obtained a perfect knowledge of +Russia; he was acquainted with all the intrigues of European +courts, their families, party cabals, the foibles of the +monarchs, the principles of their government, the plots of the +great Peter, and had also made the peace of Breslau. Thus, +having been the confidential friend of Frederic, he was +intimately acquainted with his heart, as well as the sources of +his power. Hyndford was penetrating, noble-minded, had the +greatness of the Briton, without his haughtiness; and the +principles, by which he combined the past, the present, and the +future, were so clear, that I, his scholar, by adhering to them, +have been enabled to foretell all the most remarkable revolutions +that have happened, during the space of six-and-thirty years, in +Europe. By these I knew, when any minister was disgraced, +who should be his successor. I daily passed some hours +improving by his kind conversation; and to him I am indebted for +most of that knowledge of the world I happen to possess.</p> +<p>He took various opportunities of cautioning me against the +effects of an ardent, sanguine temper; and my hatred of arbitrary +power warned me to beware of the determined persecution of +Frederic, of his irreconcilable anger, his intrigues and +influence in the various courts of Europe, which he would +certainly exert to prevent my promotion, lest I should impede his +own projects, and lamented my future sufferings, which he plainly +foresaw. “Despots,” said he, “always are +suspicious, and abhor those who have a consciousness of their own +worth, of the rights of mankind, and hold the lash in +detestation. The enlightened are by them called the +restless spirits, turbulent and dangerous; and virtue there, +where virtue is unnecessary for the humbling and trampling upon +the suffering subject, is accounted a crime, of all others the +most to be dreaded.”</p> +<p>Hyndford taught me to know, and highly to value freedom: to +despise tyrants, to endure the worst of miseries, to emulate true +greatness of mind, to despise danger, and to honour only those +whose elevation of soul had taught them equally to oppose bigotry +and despotism.</p> +<p>Bernes was a philosopher; but with the penetration of an +Italian, more cautious than Hyndford, yet equally honest and +worthy. His friendship for me was unbounded, and the time +passed in their company was esteemed by me most precious. +The liberality of my sentiments, thirst after knowledge and +scientific acquirements gained their favour; our topics of +conversation were inexhaustible, and I acquired more real +information at Moscow than at Berlin, under the tuition of La +Metri, Maupertuis, and Voltaire.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> +<p>Scarcely had I been six weeks in this city before I had an +adventure which I shall here relate; for, myself excepted, all +the persons concerned in it are now dead. Intrigues +properly belong to novels. This book is intended for a more +serious purpose, and they are therefore here usually +suppressed. It cannot be supposed I was a +woman-hater. Most of the good or bad fortune I experienced +originated in love. I was not by nature inconstant, and was +incapable of deceit even in amours. In the very ardour of +youth I always shunned mere sensual pleasures. I loved for +more exalted reasons, and for such sought to be beloved +again. Love and friendship were with me always united; and +these I was capable of inciting, maintaining, and +deserving. The most difficult of access, the noblest, and +the fairest, were ever my choice: and my veneration for these +always deterred me from grosser gratifications. By woman I +was formed; by the faith of woman supported under misfortunes; in +the company of woman enjoyed the few hours of delight my life of +sorrows has experienced. Woman, beautiful and well +instructed, even now, lightens the burden of age, the +world’s tediousness and its woes; and, when these are +ended, I would rather wish mine eyes might be closed by fair and +virgin hands, than, when expiring, fixed on a hypocritical +priest.</p> +<p>My adventures with women would amply furnish a romance: but +enough of this, I should not relate the present, were it not +necessary to my story.</p> +<p>Dining one public day with Lord Hyndford, I was seated beside +a charming young lady of one of the best families in Russia, who +had been promised in marriage, though only seventeen, to an old +invalid minister. Her eyes soon told me she thought me +preferable to her intended bridegroom. I understood them, +lamented her hard fate, and was surprised to hear her exclaim, +“Oh, heavens! that it were possible you could deliver me +from my misfortune: I would engage to do whatever you would +direct.”</p> +<p>The impression such an appeal must make on a man of four and +twenty, of a temperament like mine, may easily be supposed. +The lady was ravishingly beautiful; her soul was candour itself, +and her rank that of a princess; but the court commands had +already been given in favour of the marriage; and flight, with +all its inseparable dangers, was the only expedient. A +public table was no place for long explanations. Our hearts +were already one. I requested an interview, and the next +day was appointed, the place the Trotzer garden, where I passed +three rapturous hours in her company: thanks to her woman, who +was a Georgian.</p> +<p>To escape, however, from Moscow, was impossible. The +distance thence to any foreign country was too great. The +court was not to remove to Petersburg till the next spring, and +her marriage was fixed for the first of August. The +misfortune was not to be remedied, and nothing was left us but +patience perforce. We could only resolve to fly from +Petersburg when there, the soonest possible, and to take refuge +in some corner of the earth, where we might remain unknown of +all. The marriage, therefore, was celebrated with pomp, +though I, in despite of forms, was the true husband of the +princess. Such was the state of the husband imposed upon +her, that to describe it, and not give disgust, were +impossible.</p> +<p>The princess gave me her jewels, and several thousand roubles, +which she had received as a nuptial present, that I might +purchase every thing necessary for flight; my evil destiny, +however, had otherwise determined. I was playing at ombre +with her, one night, at the house of the Countess of Bestuchef, +when she complained of a violent headache, appointed me to meet +her on the morrow, in the Trotzer gardens, clasped my hand with +inexpressible emotion, and departed. Alas! I never +beheld her more, till stretched upon the bier!</p> +<p>She grew delirious that very night, and so continued till her +death, which happened on the sixth day, when the small-pox began +to appear. During her delirium she discovered our love, and +incessantly called on me to deliver her from her tyrant. +Thus, in the flower of her age, perished one of the most lovely +women I ever knew, and with her fled all I held most dear.</p> +<p>All my plans were now to be newly arranged. Lord +Hyndford alone was in the secret, for I hid no secrets from him: +he strengthened me in my first resolution, and owned that he +himself, for such a mistress, might perhaps have been weak enough +to have acted as I had done. Almost as much moved as +myself, he sympathised with me as a friend, and his advice +deterred me from ending my miseries, and descending with her, +whom I have loved and lost, to the grave. This was the +severest trial I had ever felt. Our affection was +unbounded, and such only as noble hearts can feel. She +being gone, the whole world became a desert. There is not a +man on earth, whose life affords more various turns of fate than +mine. Swiftly raised to the highest pinnacle of hope, as +suddenly was I cast headlong down, and so remarkable were these +revolutions that he who has read my history will at last find it +difficult to say whether he envies or pities me most. And +yet these were, in reality, but preparatory to the evils that +hovered over my devoted head. Had not the remembrance of +past joys soothed and supported me under my sufferings, I +certainly should not have endured the ten years’ torture of +the Magdeburg dungeon, with a fortitude that might have been +worthy even of Socrates.</p> +<p>Enough of this. My blood again courses swifter through +my veins as I write! Rest, gentle maiden, noble and lovely +as thou wert! For thee ought Heaven to have united a form +so fair, animated as it was, by a soul so pure, to ever-blooming +youth and immortality.</p> +<p>My love for this lady became well-known in Moscow; yet her +corpulent overgrown husband had not understanding enough to +suppose there was any meaning in her rhapsodies during her +delirium.</p> +<p>Her gifts to me amounted in value to about seven thousand +ducats. Lord Hyndford and Count Bernes both adjudged them +legally mine, and well am I assured her heart had bequeathed me +much more.</p> +<p>To this event succeeded another, by which my fortune was +greatly influenced. The Countess of Bestuchef was then the +most amiable and witty woman at Court. Her husband, +cunning, selfish, and shallow, had the name of minister, while +she, in reality, governed with a genius, at once daring and +comprehensive. The too pliant Elizabeth carelessly left the +most important things to the direction of others. Thus the +Countess was the first person of the Empire, and on whom the +attention of the foreign ministers was fixed.</p> +<p>Haughty and majestic in her demeanour, she was supposed to be +the only woman at court who continued faithful to her husband; +which supposition probably originated in her art and education, +she being a German born: for I afterwards found her virtue was +only pride, and a knowledge of the national character. The +Russian lover rules despotic over his mistress: requires money, +submission, and should he meet opposition, threatens her with +blows, and the discovery of her secret.</p> +<p>During Elizabeth’s reign foreigners could neither appear +at court, nor in the best company, without the introduction of +Bestuchef. I and Sievers, gentlemen of the chamber, were at +that time the only Germans who had free egress and regress in all +houses of fashion; my being protected by the English and Austrian +ambassadors gave me very peculiar advantages, and made my company +everywhere courted.</p> +<p>Bestuchef had been resident, during the late reign, at +Hamburg, in which inferior station he married the countess, at +that time, though young and handsome, only the widow of the +merchant Boettger. Under Elizabeth, Bestuchef rose to the +summit of rank and power, and the widow Boettger became the first +lady of the empire. When I knew her she was eight and +thirty, consequently no beauty, though a woman highly endowed in +mind and manners, of keen discernment, disliking the Russians, +protecting the Prussians, and at whose aversions all +trembled.</p> +<p>Her carriage towards the Russians was, what it must be in her +situation, lofty, cautious, and ironical, rather than kind. +To me she showed the utmost esteem on all occasions, welcomed me +at her table, and often admitted me to drink coffee in company +with herself alone and Colonel Oettinger. The countess +never failed giving me to understand she had perceived my love +for the princess N---; and, though I constantly denied the fact, +she related circumstances which she could have known, as I +thought, only from my mistress herself; my silence pleased her; +for the Russians, when a lady had a partiality for them, never +fail to vaunt of their good fortune. She wished to persuade +me she had observed us in company, had read the language of our +eyes, and had long penetrated our secret. I was ignorant at +that time that she had then, and long before, entertained the +maid of my mistress as a spy in her pay.</p> +<p>About a week after the death of the princess, the countess +invited me to take coffee with her, in her chamber; lamented my +loss, and the violence of that passion which had deprived me of +all my customary vivacity, and altered my very appearance. +She seemed so interested in my behalf, and expressed so many +wishes, and so ardent to better my fate, that I could no longer +doubt. Another opportunity soon happened, which confirmed +these my suspicions: her mouth confessed her sentiments. +Discretion, secrecy, and fidelity, were the laws she imposed, and +never did I experience a more ardent passion from woman. +Such was her understanding and penetration, she knew how to rivet +my affections.</p> +<p>Caution was the thing most necessary. She contrived, +however, to make opportunity. The chancellor valued, +confided in me, and employed me in his cabinet; so that I +remained whole days in his house. My captainship of cavalry +was now no longer thought of: I was destined to political +employment. My first was to be gentleman of the chamber, +which in Russia is an office of importance, and the prospect of +futurity became to me most resplendent. Lord Hyndford, ever +the repository of my secrets, counselled me, formed plans for my +conduct, rejoiced at my success, and refused to be reimbursed the +expense he had been at, though now my circumstances were +prosperous.</p> +<p>The degree of credit I enjoyed was soon noticed: foreign +ministers began to pay their court to me: Goltz, the Prussian +minister, made every effort to win me, but found me +incorruptible.</p> +<p>The Russian alliance was at this time highly courted by +foreign powers; the humbling of Prussia was the thing generally +wished and planned: and nobody was better informed than myself of +ministerial and family factions at this court.</p> +<p>My mistress, a year after my acquaintance with her, fell into +her enemies’ power, and with her husband, was delivered +over to the executioner. Chancellor Bestuchef, in the year +1756, was forced to confession by the knout. Apraxin, +minister of war, had a similar fate. The wife of his +brother, then envoy in Poland, was, by the treachery of a certain +Lieutenant Berger, with three others of the first ladies of the +court, knouted, branded, and had their tongues cut out. +This happened in the year 1741, when Elizabeth ascended the +throne. Her husband, however, faithfully served: I knew him +as Russian envoy, at Vienna, 1751. This may indeed be +called the love of our country, and thus does it happen to the +first men of the state: what then can a foreigner hope for, if +persecuted, and in the power of those in authority?</p> +<p>No man, in so short a space of time, had greater opportunities +than I, to discover the secrets of state; especially when guided +by Hyndford and Bernes, under the reign of a well-meaning but +short-sighted Empress, whose first minister was a weak man, +directed by the will of an able and ambitious wife, and which +wife loved me, a stranger, an acquaintance of only a few months, +so passionately that to this passion she would have sacrificed +every other object. She might, in fact, be considered as +Empress of Russia, disposing of peace or war, and had I been more +prudent or less sincere, I might in such a situation, have +amassed treasures, and deposited them in full security. Her +generosity was boundless; and, though obliged to pay above a +hundred thousand roubles, in one year, to discharge her +son’s debts, yet might I have saved a still larger sum; but +half of the gifts she obliged me to receive, I lent to this son, +and lost. So far was I from selfish, and so negligent of +wealth, that by supplying the wants of others, I often, on a +reverse of fortune, suffered want myself.</p> +<p>This my splendid success in Russia displeased the great +Frederic, whose persecution everywhere attended me, and who +supposed his interest injured by my success in Russia. The +incident I am going to relate was, at the time it happened, well +known to, and caused much agitation among all the foreign +ambassadors.</p> +<p>Lord Hyndford desired I would make him a fair copy of a plan +of Cronstadt, for which he furnished the materials, with three +additional drawings of the various ships in the harbour, and +their names. There was neither danger nor suspicion +attending this; the plan of Cronstadt being no secret, but +publicly sold in the shops of Petersburg. England was +likewise then in the closest alliance with Russia. Hyndford +showed the drawing to Funk, the Saxon envoy, his intimate friend, +who asked his permission to copy it himself. Hyndford gave +him the plan signed with my name; and after Funk had been some +days employed copying it, the Prussian minister, Goltz, who lived +in his neighbourhood, came in, as he frequently paid him friendly +visits. Funk, unsuspectingly, showed him my drawing, and +both lamented that Frederic had lost so useful a subject. +Goltz asked to borrow it for a couple of days, in order to +correct his own; and Funk, one of the worthiest, most honest, and +least suspicious of men, who loved me like a brother, accordingly +lent the plan.</p> +<p>No sooner was Goltz in possession of it than he hurried to the +chancellor, with whose weakness he was well acquainted, told him +his intent in coming was to prove that a man, who had once been +unfaithful to his king and country, where he had been loaded with +favours, would certainly betray, for his own private interest, +every state where he was trusted. He continued his preface, +by speaking of the rapid progress I had made in Russia, and the +free entrance I had found in the chancellor’s house, where +I was received as a son, and initiated in the secrets of the +cabinet.</p> +<p>The chancellor defended me: Goltz then endeavoured to incite +his jealousy, and told him my private interviews with his wife, +especially in the palace-garden, were publicly spoken of. +This he had learned from his spies, he having endeavoured, by the +snares he laid, to make my destruction certain.</p> +<p>He likewise led Bestuchef to suspect his secretary, S-n, was a +party in the intrigue; till at last the chancellor became very +angry; Goltz then took my plan of Cronstadt from his pocket, and +added, “Your excellency is nourishing a serpent in your +bosom. This drawing have I received from Trenck, copied +from your cabinet designs, for two hundred ducats.” +He knew I was employed there sometimes with Oettinger, whose +office it was to inspect the buildings and repairs of the Russian +fortifications. Bestuchef was astonished; his anger became +violent, and Goltz added fuel to the flame, by insinuating, I +should not be so powerfully protected by Bernes, the Austrian +ambassador, were it not to favour the views of his own +court. Bestuchef mentioned prosecution and the knout; Goltz +replied my friends were too powerful, my pardon would be +procured, and the evil this way increased. They therefore +determined to have me secretly secured, and privately conveyed to +Siberia.</p> +<p>Thus, while I unsuspectingly dreamed of nothing but happiness, +the gathering storm threatened destruction, which only was +averted by accident, or God’s good providence.</p> +<p>Goltz had scarcely left the place triumphant, when the +chancellor entered, with bitterness and rancour in his heart, +into his lady’s apartment, reproached her with my conduct, +and while she endeavoured to soothe him, related all that had +passed. Her penetration was much deeper than her +husband’s: she perceived there was a plot against me: she +indeed knew my heart better than any other, and particularly that +I was not in want of a poor two hundred ducats. She could +not, however, appease him, and my arrest was determined. +She therefore instantly wrote me a line to the following +purport.</p> +<p>“You are threatened, dear friend, by a very imminent +danger. Do not sleep to-night at home, but secure yourself +at Lord Hyndford’s till you hear farther from +me.”</p> +<p>Secretary S-n, her confidant (the same who, not long since, +was Russian envoy at Ratisbon) was sent with the note. He +found me, after dinner, at the English ambassador’s, and +called me aside. I read the billet, was astonished at its +contents, and showed it Lord Hyndford. My conscience was +void of reproach, except that we suspected my secret with the +countess had been betrayed to the chancellor, and fearing his +jealousy, Hyndford commanded me to remain in his house till we +should make further discovery.</p> +<p>We placed spies round the house where I lived; I was inquired +for after midnight, and the lieutenant of the police came himself +and searched the house.</p> +<p>Lord Hyndford went, about ten in the morning, to visit the +chancellor, that he might obtain some intelligence, who +immediately reproached him for having granted an asylum to a +traitor. “What has this traitor done?” said +Hyndford. “Faithlessly copied a plan of Cronstadt, +from my cabinet drawings,” said the chancellor; +“which he has sold to the Prussian minister for two hundred +ducats.”</p> +<p>Hyndford was astonished; he knew me well, and also knew that +he had then in money and jewels, more than eight thousand ducats +of mine in his own hands: nor was he less ignorant of the value I +set on money, or of the sources whence I could obtain it, when I +pleased. “Has your excellency actually seen this +drawing of Trenck’s?”—“Yes, I have been +shown it by Goltz.”—“I wish I might likewise be +permitted to see it; I know Trenck’s drawing, and make +myself responsible that he is no traitor. Here is some +mystery; be so kind as to desire M. Goltz will come and bring his +plan of Cronstadt. Trenck is at my house, shall be +forthcoming instantly, and I will not protect him if he proves +guilty.”</p> +<p>The Chancellor wrote to Goltz; but he, artful as he was, had +no doubt taken care to be informed that the lieutenant of the +police had missed his prey. He therefore sent an excuse, +and did not appear. In the meantime I entered; Hyndford +then addressed me, with the openness of an Englishman, and asked, +“Are you a traitor, Trenck? If so, you do not merit +my protection, but stand here as a state prisoner. Have you +sold a plan of Cronstadt to M. Goltz?” My answer may +easily be supposed. Hyndford rehearsed what the chancellor +had told him; I was desired to leave the room, and Funk was sent +for. The moment he came in, Hyndford said, “Sir, +where is that plan of Cronstadt which Trenck copied?” +Funk, hesitating, replied, “I will go for it.” +“Have you it,” continued Hyndford, “at +home? Speak, upon your honour.”—“No, my +Lord, I have lent it, for a few days, to M. Goltz, that he may +take a copy.”</p> +<p>Hyndford immediately then saw the whole affair, told the +chancellor the history of this plan, which belonged to him, and +which he had lent to Funk, and requested a trusty person might be +sent with him to make a proper search. Bestuchef named his +first secretary, and to him were added Funk and the Dutch envoy, +Schwart, who happened then to enter. All went together to +the house of Goltz. Funk demanded his plan of Cronstadt; +Goltz gave it him, and Funk returned it to Lord Hyndford.</p> +<p>The secretary and Hyndford both then desired he would produce +the plan of Cronstadt which he had bought of Trenck for two +hundred ducats. His confusion now was great, and Hyndford +firmly insisted this plan should be forthcoming, to vindicate the +honour of Trenck, whom he held to be an honest man. On +this, Goltz answered, “I have received my king’s +commands to prevent the preferment of Trenck in Russia, and I +have only fulfilled the duty of a minister.”</p> +<p>Hyndford spat on the ground, and said more than I choose to +repeat; after which the four gentlemen returned to the +chancellor, and I was again called. Everybody complimented +me, related to me what had passed, and the chancellor promised I +should be recompensed; strictly, however, forbidding me to take +any revenge on the Prussian ambassador, I having sworn, in the +first transports of anger, to punish him wherever I should find +him, even were it at the altar’s foot.</p> +<p>The chancellor soothed me, kept me to dine with him, and +endeavoured to assuage my boiling passions. The countess +affected indifference, and asked me if suchlike actions +characterised the Prussian nation. Funk and Schwart were at +table. All present congratulated me on my victory, but none +knew to whom I was indebted for my deliverance from the hasty and +unjust condemnation of the chancellor, although my protectress +was one of the company. I received a present of two +thousand roubles the next day from the chancellor, with orders to +thank the Empress for this mark of her bounty, and accept it as a +sign of her special favour. I paid these my thanks some +days after. The money I disregarded, but the amiable +Empress, by her enchanting benevolence, made me forget the +past. The story became public, and Goltz appeared neither +in public, nor at court. The manner in which the countess +personally reproached him, I shall out of respect pass +over. Bernes, the crafty Piedmontese, assured me of +revenge, without my troubling myself in the matter, +and—what happened after I know not; Goltz appeared but +little in company, fell ill when I had left Russia, and died soon +after of a consumption.</p> +<p>This vile man was, no doubt, the cause of all the calamities +which fell upon me. I should have become one of the first +men in Russia: the misfortune that befel Bestuchef and his family +some years afterward might have been averted: I should never have +returned to Vienna, a city so fatal to the name of Trenck: by the +mediation of the Russian Court, I should have recovered my great +Sclavonian estates; my days of persecution at Vienna would have +passed in peace and pleasure: nor should I have entered the +dungeon of Magdeburg.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> +<p>How little did the Great Frederic know my heart. Without +having offended, he had rendered me miserable, had condemned me +to imprisonment at Glatz on mere suspicion, and on my flying +thence, naked and destitute, had confiscated my paternal +inheritance. Not contented with inflicting all these +calamities, he would not suffer me peaceably to seek my fortune +in a foreign land.</p> +<p>Few are the youths who, in so short a time, being expelled +their native country with disgrace, by their own efforts, merits, +and talents, have obtained honour and favour so great, acquired +such powerful friends, or been entrusted with confidence equally +unlimited in transactions so important. Enraged as I was at +the treachery of Goltz, had opportunity offered, I might have +been tempted even to turn my native country into a desert; nor do +I deny that I afterwards promoted the views of the Austrian +envoy, who knew well how to cherish the flame that had been +kindled, and turn it to his own use. Till this moment I +never felt the least enmity either to my country or king, nor did +I suffer myself, on any occasion, to be made the agent of their +disadvantage.</p> +<p>No sooner was I entrusted more intimately with cabinet +secrets, than I discovered the state of factions, and that +Bestuchef and Apraxin were even then in Prussian pay; that a +counterpoise, by their means, might be formed to the prevalence +of the Austrian party.</p> +<p>Hence we may date the change of Russian politics in the year +1762. Here also we may find a clue to the contradictory +orders, artifices, positions, retreats and disappointments of the +Russian army, in the seven years’ war, beginning in +1756. The countess, who was obliged to act with greater +caution, foresaw the consequence of the various intrigues in +which her husband was engaged: her love for me naturally drew her +from her former party; she confided every secret to me, and ever +remained till her fall, which happened in 1758, during my +imprisonment, my best friend and correspondent. Hence was I +so well informed of all the plans against Prussia, to the years +1754 and 1756; much more so than many ministers of the interested +courts, who imagined they alone were in the secret. How +many after events could I then have foretold! Such was the +perverseness of my destiny, that where I should most have been +sought for, and best known, there was I least valued.</p> +<p>No man, in my youth, would have believed I should live to my +sixtieth year, untitled and obscure. In Berlin, Petersburg, +London, and Paris, have I been esteemed by the greatest +statesmen, and now am I reduced to the invalid list. How +strange are the caprices of fortune! I ought never to have +left Russia: this was my great error, which I still live to +repent.</p> +<p>I have never been accustomed to sleep more than four or five +hours, so that through life I have allowed time for paying visits +and receiving company. I have still had sufficient for +study and improvement. Hyndford was my instructor in +politics; Boerhaave, then physician to the court, my bosom +friend, my tutor in physic and literary subjects. Women +formed me for court intrigues, though these, as a philosopher, I +despised.</p> +<p>The chancellor had greatly changed his carriage towards me +since the incident of the plan. He observed my looks, +showed he was distrustful, and desirous of revenge. His +lady, as well as myself, remarked this, and new measures became +necessary. I was obliged to act an artful, but, at the same +time, a very dangerous part.</p> +<p>My cousin, Baron Trenck, died in the Spielberg, October 4, +1749, and left me his heir, on condition I should only serve the +house of Austria. In March, 1750, Count Bernes received the +citation sent me to enter on this inheritance. I would hear +nothing of Vienna; the abominable treatment of my cousin +terrified me. I well knew the origin of his prosecution, +the services he had rendered his country, and had been an +eye-witness of the injustice by which he was repaid. Bernes +represented to me that the property left me was worth much above +a million: that the empress would support me in pursuit of +justice, and that I had no personal enemy at Vienna, that a +million of certain property in Hungary was much superior to the +highest expectations in Russia, where I myself had beheld so many +changes of fortune, and the effects of family cabals. +Russia he painted as dangerous, Vienna as secure, and promised me +himself effectual assistance, as his embassy would end within the +year. Were I once rich, I might reside in what country I +pleased; nor could the persecutions of Frederic anywhere pursue +me so ineffectually as in Austria. Snares would be laid for +me everywhere else, as I had experienced in Russia. +“What,” said he, “would have been the +consequence, had not the countess warned you of the impending +danger? You, like many other honest and innocent men, would +have been sent to Siberia. Your innocence must have +remained untested, and yourself, in the universal opinion, a +villain and a traitor.”</p> +<p>Hyndford spoke to me in the same tone, assured me of his +eternal protection, and described London as a certain asylum, +should I not find happiness at Vienna. He spoke of slavery +as a Briton ought to speak, reminded me of the fate of Munich and +Osterman, painted the court such as I knew it to be, and asked me +what were my expectations, even were I fortunate enough to become +general or minister in such a country.</p> +<p>These reasonings at length determined me; but having plenty of +money, I thought proper to take Stockholm, Copenhagen, and +Holland in my way, and Barnes was in the meantime to prepare me a +favourable reception at Vienna. He desired, also, I would +give him authority to get possession of the estates to which I +was heir. My mistress strongly endeavoured to detain me, +but yielded at length to the force of reason. I tore myself +away, and promised, on my honour, to return as soon as I had +arranged my affairs at Vienna. She made the proposition of +investing me within some foreign embassy, by which I might render +the most effectual services to the court at Vienna. In this +hope we parted with heavy hearts: she presented me with her +portrait, and a snuffbox set with diamonds; the first of these, +three years after was torn from my bosom by the officers in my +first dungeon at Magdeburg, as I shall hereafter relate. +The chancellor embraced me, at parting, with friendship. +Apraxin wept, and clasped me in his arms, prophesying at the same +time, I should never be so happy as in Russia. I myself +foreboded misfortune, and quitted Russia with regret, but still +followed the advice of Hyndford and Bernes.</p> +<p>From Moscow I travelled to Petersburg, where I found a letter, +at the house of Baron Wolf, the banker, from the countess, which +rent my very heart, and almost determined me to return. She +endeavoured to terrify me from proceeding to Vienna, yet inclosed +a bill for four thousand roubles, to aid me on my journey, were I +absolutely bent to turn my back on fortune.</p> +<p>My effects, in money and jewels, amounted to about thirty-six +thousand florins; I therefore returned the draft, intreated her +eternal remembrance, and that she would reserve her favour and +support to times in which they might become needful. After +remaining a few days at Petersburg, I journeyed, by land, to +Stockholm; taking with me letters of recommendation from all the +foreign envoys.</p> +<p>I forgot to mention that Funk was inconsolable for my +departure; his imprudence had nearly plunged me into misery, and +destroyed all my hopes in Russia. Twenty-two years after +this I met the worthy man, once more in Dresden. He, there, +considered himself as the cause of all the evils inflicted on me, +and assured me the recital of my sufferings had been so many +bitter reproaches to his soul. Our recapitulation of former +times gave us endless pleasure, and it was the sweetest of joys +to meet and renew my friendship with such a man, after having +weathered so many storms of fate.</p> +<p>At Stockholm I wanted for no recommendation; the Queen, sister +to the great Frederic, had known me at Berlin, when I had the +honour, as an officer of the body guard, of accompanying her to +Stettin. I related my whole history to her without +reserve. She, from political motives, advised me not to +make any stay at Stockholm, and to me continued till death, an +ever-gracious lady. I proceeded to Copenhagen, where I had +business to transact for M. Chaise, the Danish envoy at Moscow: +from whom also I had letters of recommendation. Here I had +the pleasure of meeting my old friend, Lieutenant Bach, who had +aided me in my escape from my imprisonment at Glatz. He was +poor and in debt, and I procured him protection, by relating the +noble manner in which he behaved I also presented him with five +hundred ducats, by the aid of which he pushed his fortune. +He wrote to me in the year 1776, a letter of sincere thanks, and +died a colonel of hussars in the Danish service in 1776.</p> +<p>I remained in Copenhagen but a fortnight, and then sailed in a +Dutch ship, from Elsineur to Amsterdam. Scarcely had we put +to sea, before a storm arose, by which we lost a mast and +bowsprit, had our sails shattered, and were obliged to cast +anchor among the rocks of Gottenburg, where our deliverance was +singularly fortunate.</p> +<p>Here we lay nine days before we could make the open sea, and +here I found a very pleasant amusement, by going daily in the +ship’s boat from rock to rock, attended by two of my +servants, to shoot wild ducks, and catch shell-fish; whence I +every evening returned with provisions, and sheep’s milk, +bought of the poor inhabitants, for the ship’s crew.</p> +<p>There was a dearth among these poor people. Our vessel +was laden with corn; some of this I purchased, to the amount of +some hundreds of Dutch florins, and distributed wherever I +went. I also gave one of their ministers a hundred florins +for his poor congregation, who was himself in want of bread, and +whose annual stipend amounted to one hundred and fifty +florins.</p> +<p>Here in the sweet pleasure of doing good, I left behind me +much of that money I had so easily acquired in Russia; and +perhaps had we stayed much longer should myself have left the +place in poverty. A thousand blessings followed me, and the +storm-driven Trenck was long remembered and talked of at +Gottenburg.</p> +<p>In this worthy employment, however, I had nearly lost my +life. Returning from carrying corn, the wind rose, and +drove the boat to sea. I not understanding the management +of the helm, and the servants awkwardly handling the sails, the +boat in tacking was overset. The benefit of learning to +swim, I again experienced, and my faithful servant, who had +gained the rock, aided me when almost spent. The good +people who had seen the shallop overset, came off in their boats +to my assistance. An honest Calmuc, whom I had brought from +Russia, and another of my servants perished. I saw the +first sink after I had reached the shore.</p> +<p>The kind Swedes brought me on board, and also righted and +returned with the shallop. For some days I was +sea-sick. We weighed anchor, and sailed for the Texel, the +mouth of which we saw, and the pilots coming off, when another +storm arose, and drove us to the port of Bahus, in Norway, into +which we ran, without farther damage. In some few days we +again set sail, with a fair wind, and at length reached +Amsterdam.</p> +<p>Here I made no long stay; for the day after my arrival, an +extraordinary adventure happened, in which I was engaged chiefly +by my own rashness.</p> +<p>I was a spectator while the harpooners belonging to the whale +fishery were exercising themselves in darting their harpoons, +most of whom were drunk. One of them, Herman Rogaar by +name, a hero among these people, for his dexterity with his +snickasnee, came up, and passed some of his coarse jests upon my +Turkish sabre, and offered to fillip me on the nose. I +pushed him from me, and the fellow threw down his cap, drew his +snickasnee, challenged me, called me monkey-tail, and asked +whether I chose a straight, a circular, or a cross cut.</p> +<p>Thus here was I, in this excellent company, with no choice but +that of either fighting or running away. The robust, +Herculean fellow grew more insolent, and I, turning round to the +bystanders, asked them to lend me a snickasnee. “No, +no,” said the challenger, “draw your great knife from +your side, and, long as it is, I will lay you a dozen ducats you +get a gash in the cheek.” I drew; he confidently +advanced with his snickasnee, and, at the first stroke of my +sabre, that, and the hand that held it, both dropped to the +ground, and the blood spouted in my face.</p> +<p>I now expected the people would, indubitably, tear me to +pieces; but my fear was changed into astonishment at hearing a +universal shout applauding the vanquisher of the redoubted Herman +Rogaar who, so lately feared for his strength and dexterity, +became the object of their ridicule. A Jew spectator +conducted me out of the crowd, and the people clamorously +followed me to my inn. This kind of duel, by which I gained +honour, would anywhere else have brought me to the highest +disgrace. A man who knew the use of the sabre, in a single +day, might certainly have disabled a hundred Herman +Rogaars. This story may instruct and warn others. He +that is quarrelsome shall never want an enemy. My temerity +often engaged me in disputes which, by timely compliance and +calmness, might easily have been avoided; but my evil genius +always impelled me into the paths of perplexity, and I seldom saw +danger till it was inevitable</p> +<p>I left Amsterdam for the Hague, where I had been recommended +to Lord Holderness, the English ambassador, by Lord Hyndford; to +Baron Reisbach, by Bernes; to the Grand Pensionary Fagel, by +Schwart; and from the chancellor I had a letter to the Prince of +Orange himself I could not, therefore, but be everywhere received +with all possible distinction. Within these +recommendations, and the knowledge I possessed, had I had the +good fortune to have avoided Vienna, and gone to India, where my +talents would have insured me wealth, how many tears of +affliction had I been spared! My ill fortune, however, had +brought me letters from Count Bernes, assuring me that heaven was +at Vienna, and including a citation from the high court, +requiring me to give in my claim of inheritance. Bernes +further informed me the Austrian court had assured him I should +meet with all justice and protection, and advised me to hasten my +journey, as the executorship of the estates of Trenck was +conducted but little to my advantage.</p> +<p>This advice I took, proceeded to Vienna, and from that moment +all my happiness had an end. I became bewildered in +lawsuits, and the arts of wicked men, and all possible calamities +assaulted me at once, the recital of which would itself afford +subject matter for a history. They began by the following +incidents:—</p> +<p>One M. Schenck sought my acquaintance at the Hague. I +met with him at my hotel, where he intreated I would take him to +Nuremberg, whence he was to proceed to Saxony. I complied, +and bore his expenses; but at Hanau, waking in the morning, I +found my watch, set with diamonds, a ring worth two thousand +roubles, a diamond snuff-box, with my mistress’s picture, +and my purse, containing about eighty ducats, stolen from my +bed-side, and Schenck become invisible. Little affected by +the loss of money, at any time, I yet was grieved for my +snuff-box. The rascal, however, had escaped, and it was +fortunate that the remainder of my ready money, with my bills of +exchange, were safely locked up.</p> +<p>I now pursued my journey without company, and arrived in +Vienna. I cannot exactly recollect in what month, but I had +been absent about two years; and the reader will allow that it +was barely possible for any man, in so short a time, to have +experienced more various changes of fate, though many smaller +incidents have been suppressed. The places, where my +pledged fidelity required discretion will be easily supposed, as +likewise will the concealment of court intrigues, and artifices, +the publication of which might even yet subject me to more +persecutions. All writers are not permitted to speak truth +of monarchs and ministers. I am the father of eight +children, and parental love and duty vanquish the inclination of +the author; and this duty, this affection, have made me +particularly cautious in relating what happened to me at Vienna, +that I might, thereby, serve them more effectually than by +indulging the pride of the writer, or the vengeance of the +man.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> +<p>Since accounts so various, contradictory, and dishonourable to +the name of Trenck, have been circulated in Vienna, concerning +facts which happened thirty-seven years ago, I will here give a +short abstract of them, and such as may he verified by the +records of the court. I pledge my honour to the truth of +the statement, and were I so allowed, would prove it, to the +conviction of any unprejudiced court of justice: but this I +cannot hope, as princes are much more disposed to bestow +unmerited favours than to make retribution to those whom they +have unjustly punished.</p> +<p>Francis Baron Trenck died in the Spielberg, October 4th, +1749. It has been erroneously believed in Vienna that his +estates were confiscated by the sentence which condemned him to +the Spielberg. He had committed no offence against the +state, was accused of none, much less convicted. The court +sentence was that the administration of his estate should be +committed to Counsellor Kempf and Baron Peyaczewitz, who were +selected by himself, and the accounts of his stewards and farmers +were to be sent him yearly. He continued, till his death, +to have the free and entire disposal of his property.</p> +<p>Although, before his death, he sent for his advocate, Doctor +Berger, and by him petitioned the Empress she would issue the +necessary orders to the Governor of the Spielberg, to permit the +entrance of witnesses, and all things necessary to make a legal +will, it by no means follows that he petitioned her for +permission to make this will. The case is too clear to +admit of doubt. The royal commands were given, that he +should enjoy all freedom of making his will. Permission was +also given that, during his sickness, he might be removed to the +capuchin convent, which was equal to liberty, but this he refused +to accept.</p> +<p>Neither was his ability to make a will questioned. The +advocate was only to request the Queen’s permission to +supply some formalities, which had been neglected, when he +purchased the lordships of Velika and Nustar, which petition was +likewise granted. The royal mandate still exists, which +commissioned the persons therein named as trustees to the estate +and effects of Trenck, and this mandate runs thus: “Let the +last will of Trenck be duly executed: let dispatch be used, and +the heir protected in all his rights.” Confiscation, +therefore, had never been thought of, nor his power to make a +will questioned.</p> +<p>I will now show how I have been deprived of this valuable +inheritance, while I have been obliged to pay above sixty +thousand florins, to defray legacies he had left; and when this +narrative is read, it will no longer be affirmed at Vienna, that +by the favours of the court I inherited seventy-six thousand +florins, or the lordship of Zwerbach from Trenck, I shall proceed +to my proofs.</p> +<p>The father of Baron Trenck, who died in the year 1743, +governor of Leitschau, in Hungary, named me in his will the +successor of his son, should he die without heirs male.</p> +<p>This will was sent to be proved, according to form, at Vienna, +after having been authenticated in the most legal manner in +Hungary. The court called Hofkriegsrath, at Vienna, +neglected to provide a curator for the security of the next heir; +yet this could not annul my right of succession. When +Trenck succeeded his father, he entered no protest to this, his +father’s will; therefore, dying without children, in the +year 1749, my claim was indisputable. I was heir had he +made no will: and even in case of confiscation, my title to his +father’s estates still remained valid.</p> +<p>Trenck knew this but too well: he, as I have before related, +was my worst enemy, and even attempted my life. I will +therefore proceed to show the real intent of this his crafty +testament.</p> +<p>Determined no longer to live in confinement, or to ask +forgiveness, by which, it is well known, he might have obtained +his freedom, having lost all hopes of reimbursing his losses, his +avarice was reduced to despair. His desire of fame was +unbounded, and this could no way be gratified but by having +himself canonized for a saint, after spending his life in +committing all the ravages of a pandour. Hence originated +the following facts:—</p> +<p>He knew I was the legal claimant to his father’s +estates. His father had bought with the family money, +remitted from Prussia, the lordships of Prestowacz and +Pleternitz, in Sclavonia, and he himself, during his +father’s life, and with his father’s money, had +purchased the lordship of Pakratz, for forty thousand florins: +this must therefore descend also to me, he having no more power +to will this from me, than he had the remainder of his paternal +inheritance. The property he himself had gained was +consigned to administrators, but a hundred thousand florins had +been expended in lawsuits, and sixty-three suits continued +actually pending against him in court; the legacies he bequeathed +amounted to eighty thousand florins. These, he saw, could +not be paid, should I claim nothing more than the paternal +inheritance; he, therefore, to render me unfortunate after his +death, craftily named me his universal heir, without mentioning +his father’s will, but endeavoured, by his mysterious +death, and the following conditions, to enforce the execution of +his own will.</p> +<p>First,—I was to become a Catholic.</p> +<p>Secondly,—I was to serve only the house of Austria; +and,</p> +<p>Lastly,—He made his whole estate, without excepting the +paternal inheritance, a <i>Fidei commissum</i>.</p> +<p>Hence arose all my misfortunes, as indeed was his intention; +for, but a short time before his death, he said to the Governor, +Baron Kottulinsky, “I shall now die contented, since I have +been able to trick my cousin, and render him wretched.”</p> +<p>His death, believed in Vienna to be miraculous, happened after +the following manner; and by this he had induced many weak +people, who really believed him a saint, to further his +views.</p> +<p>Three days before his death, while in perfect health, he +desired the governor of the Spielberg would send for his +confessor, for that St. Francis had revealed to him he should be +removed into life everlasting on his birth-day at twelve +o’clock. The capuchin was sent for, but the +prediction laughed at.</p> +<p>The day, however, after the departure of his confessor, he +said, “Praise be to God, my end approaches; my confessor is +dead, and has appeared to me.” Strange as it may +seem; it was actually found to be true that the priest was +dead. He now had all the officers of the garrison of Brunn +assembled, tonsured his head like a capuchin, took the habit of +the order, publicly confessed himself in a sermon of an +hour’s length, exhorted them all to holiness, acted the +part of a most exemplary penitent, embraced all present, spoke +with a smile of the insignificance of all earthly possessions, +took his leave, knelt down to prayers, slept calmly, rose, prayed +again, and about eleven in the forenoon, October 4th, taking his +watch in his hand, said, “Thanks be to my God, my last hour +approaches.” All laughed at such a farce from a man +of such a character; yet they remarked that the left side of his +face grew pale. He then leaned his arm on the table, +prayed, and remained motionless, with his eyes closed. The +clock struck twelve—no signs of life or motion could be +discovered; they spoke to him, and found he was really dead.</p> +<p>The word miracle was echoed through the whole country, and the +transmigration of the Pandour Trenck, from earth to heaven, by +St. Francis, proclaimed. The clue to this labyrinth of +miracles, known only to me, is truly as follows:—He +possessed the secret of what is called the <i>aqua tofana</i>, +and had determined on death. His confessor had been +entrusted with all his secrets, and with promissory notes, which +he wished to invalidate. I am perfectly certain that he had +returned a promissory note of a great prince, given for two +hundred thousand florins, which has never been brought to +account. The confessor, therefore, was to be provided for, +that Trenck might not be betrayed, and a dose of poison was given +him before he set off for Vienna: his death was the +consequence. He took similar means with himself, and thus +knew the hour of his exit; finding he could not become the first +on earth, he wished to be adored as a saint in heaven. He +knew he should work miracles when dead, because he ordered a +chapel to be built, willed a perpetual mass, and bequeathed the +capuchins sixty thousand florins.</p> +<p>Thus died this most extraordinary man, in the thirty-fourth +year of his age, to whom nature had denied none of her gifts; who +had been the scourge of Bavaria; the terror of France; and who +had, with his supposed contemptible pandours, taken above six +thousand Prussian prisoners. He lived a tyrant and enemy of +men, and died a sanctified impostor.</p> +<p>Such was the state of affairs, as willed by Trenck, when I +came to Vienna, in 1759, where I arrived with money and jewels to +the amount of twenty thousand florins.</p> +<p>Instead of profiting by the wealth Trenck had acquired, I +expended a hundred and twenty thousand florins of my own money, +including what devolved to me from my uncle, his father, in the +prosecution of his suits. Trenck had paid two hundred +ducats to the tribunal of Vienna, in the year 1743, to procure +its very reprehensible silence concerning a curator, to which I +was sacrificed, as the new judges of this court refused to +correct the error of their predecessors. Such are the +proceedings of courts of justice in Vienna!</p> +<p>On my first audience, no one could be received more kindly +than I was, by the Empress Queen. She spoke of my deceased +cousin with much emotion and esteem, promised me all grace and +favour, and informed me of the particular recommendations she had +received, on my behalf, from Count Bernes. Finding +sixty-three cases hang over my head, in consequence of the +inheritance of Trenck, to obtain justice in any one of which in +Vienna, would have employed the whole life of an honest man, I +determined to renounce this inheritance, and claim only under the +will and as the heir of my uncle.</p> +<p>With this view I applied for and obtained a copy of that will, +with which I personally appeared, and declared to the court that +I renounced the inheritance of Francis Trenck, would undertake +none of his suits, nor be responsible for his legacies, and +required only his father’s estates, according to the legal +will, which I produced; that is to say, the three lordships of +Pakratz, Prestowacz, and Pleneritz, without chattels or personal +effects. Nothing could be more just or incontrovertible +than this claim. What was my astonishment, to be told, in +open court, that Her Majesty had declared I must either wholly +perform the articles of the will of Trenck, or be excluded the +entire inheritance, and have nothing further to hope. What +could be done? I ventured to remonstrate, but the will of +the court was determined and absolute: I must become a Roman +Catholic.</p> +<p>In this extremity I bribed a priest, who gave me a signed +attestation, “That I had abjured the accursed heresy of +Lutheranism.” My religion, however, remained what it +had ever been. General Bernes about this time returned from +his embassy, and I related to him the lamentable state in which I +found my affairs. He spoke to the Empress in my behalf, and +she promised everything. He advised me to have patience, to +perform all that was required of me, and to make myself +responsible for the depending suits. Some family concerns +obliged him, as he informed me, to make a journey to Turin, but +his return would be speedy: he would then take the management of +my affairs upon himself, and insure my good fortune in +Austria. Bernes loved me as his son, and I had reason to +hope, from his assurance, I should be largely remembered in his +will, which was the more probable, as he had neither child nor +relations. He parted from me, like a father, with tears in +his eyes; but he had scarcely been absent six weeks before the +news arrived of his death, which, if report may be credited, was +effected by poison, administered by <i>a friend</i>. Ever +the sport of fortune, thus were my supporters snatched from me at +the very moment they became most necessary.</p> +<p>The same year was I, likewise, deprived by death of my friend +and protector, Field-marshal Konigseck, Governor of Vienna, when +he had determined to interest himself in my behalf. I have +been beloved by the greatest men Austria ever produced, but +unfortunately have been persecuted by the chicanery of +pettifoggers, fools, fanatics, and priests, who have deprived me +of the favour of my Empress, guiltless as I was of crime or +deceit, and left my old age in poverty.</p> +<p>My ills were increased by a new accident. Soon after the +departure of Bernes, the Prussian minister, taking me aside, in +the house of the Palatine envoy, M. Becker, proposed my return to +Berlin, assured me the King had forgotten all that was past, was +convinced of my innocence, that my good fortune would there be +certain, and be pledged his honour to recover the inheritance of +Trenck. I answered, the favour came too late; I had +suffered injustice too flagrant, in my own country, and that I +would trust no prince on earth whose will might annihilate all +the rights of men. My good faith to the King had been too +ill repaid; my talents might gain me bread in any part of the +world, and I would not again subject myself to the danger of +unmerited imprisonment.</p> +<p>His persuasions were strong, but ineffectual. “My +dear Trenck,” said he, “God is my judge that my +intentions are honest; I will pledge myself, that my sovereign +will insure your fortune: you do not know Vienna; you will lose +all by the suits in which you are involved, and will be +persecuted because you do not carry a rosary.”</p> +<p>How often have I repented I did not then return to +Berlin! I should have escaped ten years’ +imprisonment; should have recovered the estates of Trenck: should +not have wasted the prime of life in the litigation of suits, and +the writing of memorials; and should have certainly been ranked +among the first men in my native country. Vienna was no +place for a man who could not fawn and flatter: yet here was I +destined to remain six-and-thirty years, unrewarded, unemployed; +and through youth and age, to continue on the list of invalid +majors.</p> +<p>Having rejected the proposition of the Prussian envoy, all my +hopes in Vienna were ruined; for Frederic, by his residents and +emissaries, knew how to effect whatever he pleased in foreign +courts, and determined that the Trenck who would no longer serve +or confide in him should at least find no opportunity of serving +against him: I soon became painted to the Empress as an arch +heretic who never would be faithful to the house of Austria, and +only endeavoured to obtain the inheritance of Trenck that he +might devote himself to Prussia. This I shall hereafter +prove; and display a scene that shall be the disgrace of many, by +whom the Empress was induced to harbour unjust suspicions of an +able and honest man. I here stand erect and confident +before the world; publish the truth, and take everlasting shame +to myself, if any man on earth can prove me guilty of one +treacherous thought. I owe no thanks; but so far from +having received favours, I have six and thirty years remained +unable to obtain justice, though I have all the while been +desirous of shedding my blood in defence of the monarchy where I +have thus been treated. Till the year 1746, I was equally +zealous and faithful to Prussia; yet my estates there, though +confiscated, were liable to recovery: in Hungary, on the +contrary, the sentence of confiscation is irrevocable. This +is a remarkable proof in favour of my honour, and my +children’s claims.</p> +<p>Surely no reader will be offended at these digressions; my +mind is agitated, my feelings roused, remembering that my age and +grey hairs deprive me of the sweet hope of at length vanquishing +opposition, either by patience, or forcing justice, by eminent +services, or noble efforts.</p> +<p>This my history will never reach a monarch’s eye, +consequently no monarch, by perceiving, will be induced to +protect truth. It may, indeed, be criticised by literati; +it will certainly be decried by my persecutors, who, through +life, have been my false accusers, and will probably, therefore, +be prohibited by the priests. All Germany, however, will +read, and posterity perhaps may pity, should my book escape the +misfortune of being classed among improbable romances; to which +it is the more liable, because that the biographers of Frederic +and Maria Theresa, for manifest reasons, have never so much as +mentioned the name of Trenck.</p> +<p>Once more to my story: I was now obliged to declare myself +heir, but always <i>cum reservatione juris mei</i>, not as simply +claiming under the will of Francis Trenck I was obliged to take +upon myself the management of the sixty-three suits, and the +expenses attending any one of these are well known in +Vienna. My situation may be imagined, when I inform the +reader I only received, from the whole estate of Trenck, 3,600 +florins in three years, which were scarcely sufficient to defray +the expenses of new year’s gifts to the solicitors and +masters in chancery. How did I labour in stating and +transcribing proofs for the court! The money I possessed +soon vanished. My Prussian relations supported me, and the +Countess Bestuchef sent me the four thousand roubles I had +refused at Petersburg. I had also remittances from my +faithful mistress in Prussia; and, in addition, was obliged to +borrow money at the usurious rate of sixty per cent. +Bewildered as I was among lawyers and knaves, my ambition still +prompted me to proceed, and all things are possible to labour and +perseverance; but my property was expended: and, at length, I +could only obtain that the contested estates should be made a +<i>Fidei commissum</i>, or put under trust; whereby, though they +were protected from being the further prey of others, I did not +inherit them as mine. In this pursuit was my prime of life +wasted, which might have been profitably and honourably +spent.</p> +<p>In three years, however, I brought my sixty-three suits to a +kind of conclusion; the probabilities were this could not have +been effected in fifty. Exclusive of my assiduity, the +means I took must not be told; it is sufficient that I here +learnt what judges were, and thus am enabled to describe them to +others.</p> +<p>For a few ducats, the president’s servant used to admit +me into a closet where I could see everything as perfectly as if +I had myself been one of the council. This often was +useful, and taught me to prevent evil; and often was I scarcely +able to refrain bursting in upon this court.</p> +<p>Their appointed hour of meeting was nine in the morning, but +they seldom assembled before eleven. The president then +told his beads, and muttered his prayers. Someone got up +and harangued, while the remainder, in pairs, amused themselves +with talking instead of listening, after which the news of the +day became the common topic of conversation, and the council +broke up, the court being first adjourned some three weeks, +without coming to any determination. This was called +<i>judicium delegatum in causis Trenkiansis</i>; and when at last +they came to a conclusion, the sentence was such as I shall ever +shudder at and abhor.</p> +<p>The real estates of Trenck consisted in the great Sclavonian +manors, called the lordships of Pakratz, Prestowatz, and +Pleternitz, which he had inherited from his father, and were the +family property, together with Velika and Nustak, which he +himself had purchased: the annual income of these was 60,000 +florins, and they contained more than two hundred villages and +hamlets. The laws of Hungary require—</p> +<p>1st. That those who purchase estates shall obtain the +<i>consensus regius</i> (royal consent).</p> +<p>2nd. That the seller shall possess, and make over the +right of property, together with that of transferring or +alienating, and</p> +<p>3dly. That the purchaser shall be a native born, or have +bought his naturalisation.</p> +<p>In default of all, or any of these, the Fiscus, on the death +of the purchaser, takes possession, repaying the <i>summa +emptitia</i>, or purchase-money, together within what can be +shown to have been laid out in improvements, or the <i>summa +inscriptitia</i>, the sum at which it stands rated in the fiscal +register.</p> +<p>Without form or notice, the Hungarian Fiscal President, Count +Grassalkowitz, took possession of all the Trenck estates on his +decease, in the name of the Fiscus. The prize was great, +not so much because of the estates themselves, as of the personal +property upon them. Trenck had sent loads of merchandise to +his estates, of linen, ingots of gold and silver from Bavaria, +Alsatia, and Silesia. He had a vast storehouse of arms, and +of saddles; also the great silver service of the Emperor Charles +VII., which he had brought from Munich, with the service of plate +of the King of Prussia; and the personal property on these +estates was affirmed considerably to exceed in value the estates +themselves.</p> +<p>I was not long since informed by one of the first generals, +whose honour is undoubted, that several waggons were laden with +these rich effects and sent to Mihalefze. His testimony was +indubitable; he knew the two pandours, who were the confidants of +Trenck, and the keepers of his treasures; and these, during the +general plunder, each seized a bag of pearls, and fled to Turkey, +where they became wealthy merchants. His rich stud of +horses were taken, and the very cows driven off the farms. +His stand of arms consisted of more than three thousand rare +pieces. Trenck had affirmed he had sent linen to the amount +of fifty thousand florins, in chests from Dunnhausen and +Cersdorf, in the county of Glatz, to his estates. The +pillage was general; and when orders came to send all the +property of Trenck and deliver it to his universal heir, nothing +remained that any person would accept. I have myself seen, +in a certain Hungarian nobleman’s house, some valuable +arms, which I knew I had been robbed of! and I bought at Esseck +some silver plates on which were the arms of Prussia, that had +been sold by Counsellor D-n, who had been empowered to take +possession of these estates, and had thus rendered himself +rich. Of this I procured an attestation, and proved the +theft: I complained aloud at Vienna, but received an order from +the court to be silent, under pain of displeasure, and also to go +no more into Sclavonia. The principal reason of my loss of +the landed property in Hungary was my having dared to make +inquiries concerning the personal, not one guinea of which was +ever brought to account. I then proved my right to the +family estates, left by my uncle, beyond all dispute, and also of +those purchased by my cousin. The commissions appointed to +inquire into these rights even confirmed them; yet after they had +been thus established, I received the following order from the +court, in the hand of the Empress herself:—“The +president, Count Grassalkowitz, takes it upon his conscience that +the Sclavonian estates do not descend to Trenck, <i>in +natura</i>; he must therefore receive the <i>summa emptitia et +inscriptitia</i>, together with the money he can show to have +been expended in improvements.”</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> +<p>And herewith ended my pleadings and my hopes. I had +sacrificed my property, laboured through sixty-three inferior +suits, and lost this great cause without a trial. I could +have remained satisfied with the loss of the personal property: +the booty of a soldier, like the wealth amassed by a minister, +appears to me little better than a public robbery; but the +acquirements of my ancestors, my birth-right by descent, of these +I could not be deprived without excessive cruelty. Oh +patience! patience!—Yet shall my children never become the +footmen, nor grooms, of those who have robbed them of their +inheritance; and to them I bequeathed my rights in all their +power: nor shall any man prevent my crying aloud, so long as +justice shall not be done.</p> +<p>The president, it is true, did not immediately possess himself +of the estates, but he took good care his friends should have +them at such rates that the sale of them did not bring the fiscal +treasury 150,000 florins, while I, in real and personal property, +lost a million and a half; nay, probably a sum equal to this in +personal property alone.</p> +<p>The summa <i>inscriptitia et emptitia</i> for all these great +estates only amounted to 149,000 florins, and this was to be paid +by the chamber, but the president thought proper to deduct 10,000 +on pretence the cattle had been driven off the estate of Pakratz; +and, further, 36,000 more, under the shameful pretence that +Trenck, to recruit his pandours, had drained the estates of 3,600 +vassals, who had never returned; the estates, therefore, must +make them good at the rate of thirty florins per head, which +would have amounted to 108,000 florins; but, with much +difficulty, this sum was reduced, as above stated, to 36,000 +florins, each vassal reckoned at ten florins per head. Thus +was I obliged, from the property of my family, to pay for 3,600 +men who had gloriously died in war, in defence of the contested +rights of the great Maria Theresa; who had raised so many +millions of contributions for her in the countries of her +enemies; who, sword in hand, had stormed and taken so many towns, +and dispersed, or taken prisoners, so many thousands of her +foes. Would this be believed by listening nations?</p> +<p>All deductions made for legacies, fees, and formalities, there +remained to me 63,000 florins, with which I purchased the +lordship of Zwerbach, and I was obliged to pay 6,000 florins for +my naturalisation. Thus, when the sums are enumerated which +I expended on the suits of Trenck, received from my friends at +Berlin and Petersburg, it will be found that I cannot, at least, +have been a gainer by having been made the universal heir of the +immensely rich Trenck. With regret I write these truths in +support of my children’s claims, that they may not, in my +grave, reproach me for having neglected the duty of a father.</p> +<p>I will mere add a few particulars which may afford the reader +matter for meditation, cause him to commiserate my fate, and give +a picture of the manner in which the prosecution was carried on +against Trenck.</p> +<p>One Schygrai, a silly kind of beggarly baron, who was treated +as a buffoon, was invited in the year 1743 to dine with Baron +Pejaczewitz, when Trenck happened to be present. The +conversation happened to turn on a kind of brandy made in this +country, and Trenck jocularly said he annually distilled this +sort of brandy from cow-dung to the value of thirty thousand +florins. Schygrai supposed him serious, and wished to learn +the art, which Trenck promised to teach him Pejaczewitz told him +he could give him thirty thousand load of dung.</p> +<p>“But where shall I get the wood?” said +Schygrai. “I will give you thirty thousand +klafters,” answered Trenck. The credulous baron, +thinking himself very fortunate, desired written promises, which +they gave him; and that of Trenck ran thus:</p> +<blockquote><p>“I hereby permit and empower Baron Schygrai +to sell gratis, in the forest of Tscherra Horra, thirty thousand +klafters of wood.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: right">“Witness my hand,<br /> +“<span class="smcap">Trenck</span>.”</p> +<p>Trenck was no sooner dead than the Baron brought his note, and +made application to the court. His attorney was the noted +Bussy, and the court decreed the estates of Trenck should pay at +the rate of one form thirty kreutzers per klafter, or forty-five +thousand florins, with all costs, and an order was given to the +administrators to pay the money.</p> +<p>Just at this time I arrived at Vienna, from Petersburg. +Doctor Berger, the advocate of Trenck, told me the affair would +admit of no delay. I hastened to the Empress, and obtained +an order to delay payment. An inquiry was instituted, and +this forest of Tscherra Horra was found to be situated in +Turkey. The absurdity and injustice were flagrant, and it +was revoked. I cannot say how much of these forty-five +thousand florins the Baron had promised to the noble judge and +the attorney. I only know that neither of them was +punished. Had not some holidays luckily intervened, or had +the attorney expected my arrival, the money would have been paid, +and an ineffectual attempt to obtain retribution would have been +the consequence, as happened in many similar instances.</p> +<p>I have before mentioned the advertisement inviting all who had +any demands or complaints against Trenck to appear, with the +promise of a ducat a day; and it is mere proper to add that the +sum of fifteen thousand florins was brought to account, and paid +out of the estates of Trenck. For this shameful purpose +some thousand of florins were paid besides to this species of +claimants and though, after examination, their pretensions all +proved to be futile, and themselves were cast in damages, yet was +none of this money ever refunded, or the false claimants +punished. Among these the pretended daughter of General +Schwerin received two thousand florins, notorious as was her +character. Again, Trenck was accused of having appropriated +the money to his own use, and treated as if convicted. +After his death a considerable demand was accordingly made. +I happening, however, to meet with Ruckhardt, his quarter-master, +he with asseverations declared that, instead of being indebted to +the regiment, the regiment was more than a hundred thousand +florins indebted to him, advised me to get attestations from the +captains, and assured me he himself would give in a clear +statement of the regiment’s accounts.</p> +<p>I followed his advice, hastened to the regiment, and obtained +so many proofs, that the quarter-master of the regiment, who, +with the major, had in reality pocketed the money, was imprisoned +and put in irons. What became of the thief or the false +witness afterward I know not; I only know that nothing was +refunded, that the quarter-master found protectors, detained the +money, and, some years after this vile action, purchased a +commission. One instance more.</p> +<p>Trenck, to the corps of infantry he commanded, added a corps +of hussars, which he raised and provided with horses and +accoutrements sold by auction. My demand on this account +was upwards of sixty thousand florins, to which I received +neither money nor reply. He had also expended a hundred +thousand florins for the raising and equipping his three thousand +pandours; in consequence of which a signed agreement had been +given by the Government that these hundred thousand florins +should be repaid to his heir, or he, the heir, should receive the +command of the regiment. The regiment, however, at his +decease, was given to General Simschen; and as for the agreement, +care was taken it should never come into my hands. Thus +these hundred thousand florins were lost.</p> +<p>Yet it has been wickedly affirmed he was imprisoned in the +Spielberg for having embezzled the regiment’s money; +whereas, I would to God I only was in possession of the sums he +expended on this regiment; for he considered the regiment as his +own; and great as was his avarice, still greater was his desire +of fame, and greater still his love for his Empress, for whom he +would gladly have yielded both property and life.</p> +<p>Within respect to the money that was to have been repaid for +improvement of the estates, I must add, these estates were bought +at a time when the country had been left desolate by the Turks, +and the reinstalment of such places as had fallen into their +hands, and the erecting of farmhouses, mills, stocking them with +horses, cattle, and seed corn, according to my poor estimate, +could not amount to less than eighty thousand florins; but I was +forbidden to go into Sclavonia, and the president offered, as an +indemnification, four thousand florins. Everybody was +astonished, but he, within the utmost coolness, told me I must +either accept this or nothing. The hearers of this sentence +cast their eyes up to heaven and pitied me. I remonstrated, +and thereby only made the matter worse. Grief and anxiety +occasioned me to take a journey into Italy, passing through +Venice, Rome, and Florence.</p> +<p>On my return to Vienna, I, by a friendly interference in +behalf of a woman whose fears rather than guilt had brought her +into danger, became suspected myself; and the very officious +officers of the police had me imprisoned as a coiner without the +least grounds for any such accusation except their own +surmises. I was detained unheard nine days, and when, +having been heard, I had entirely justified myself, was again +restored to liberty; public declaration was then made in the +Gazette that the officers of the police had acted too +precipitately.</p> +<p>This was the satisfaction granted, but this did not content +me. I threatened the counsellor by whom my character had +been so aspersed, and the Empress, condescending to mediate, +bestowed on me a captainship of cavalry in the Cordova +cuirassiers.</p> +<p>Such was the recompense I received for wounds so deep, and +such the neglect into which I was thrown at Vienna. +Discontent led me to join my regiment in Hungary.</p> +<p>Here I gained the applause of my colonel, Count Bettoni, who +himself told the Empress I, more than any other, had contributed +to the forming of the regiment. It may well be imagined how +a man like me, accustomed, as I had been, to the first company of +the first courts, must pass my time among the Carpathian +mountains, where neither society nor good books were to be found, +nor knowledge, of which I was enamoured, improved. The +conversation of Count Bettoni, and the chase, together with the +love of the general of the regiment, old Field-marshal Cordova, +were my only resources; the persecutions, neglect, and even +contempt, I received at Vienna, were still the same.</p> +<p>In the year 1754, in the month of March, my mother died in +Prussia, and I requested the permission of the court that held +the inheritance of Trenck, as a <i>fidei commissum</i>, to make a +journey to Dantzic to settle some family affairs with my brothers +and sister, my estates being confiscated. This permission +was granted, and thither I went in May, where I once more fell +into the hands of the Prussians; which forms the second great and +still more gloomy epoch in my life. All who read what +follows will shudder, will commiserate him who, feeling himself +innocent, relates afflictions he has miserably encountered and +gloriously overcome.</p> +<p>I left Hungary, where I was in garrison, for Dantzic, where I +had desired my brothers and sister to meet me that we might +settle our affairs. My principal intent, however, was a +journey to Petersburg, there to seek the advice and aid of my +friends, for law and persecution were not yet ended at Vienna; +and my captain’s pay and small income scarcely sufficed to +defray charges of attorneys and counsellors.</p> +<p>It is here most worthy of remark that I was told by Prince +Ferdinand of Brunswick, governor of Magdeburg, he had received +orders to prepare my prison at Magdeburg before I set out from +Hungary.</p> +<p>Nay, more; it had been written from Vienna to Berlin that the +King must beware of Trenck, for that he would be at Dantzic at +the time when the King was to visit his camp in Prussia.</p> +<p>What thing more vile, what contrivance more abominable, could +the wickedest wretch on earth find to banish a man his country, +that he might securely enjoy the property of which the other had +been robbed? That this was done I have living witnesses in +his highness Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick and the Berlin +ministry, from whose mouths I learned this artifice of +villainy. It is the more necessary to establish this truth, +because no one can comprehend why the <i>Great Frederic</i> +should have proceeded against me in a manner so cruel that, when +it comes to be related, must raise the indignation of the just, +and move hearts of iron to commiserate.</p> +<p>Men so vile, so wicked, as I have described them, in +conjunction with one Weingarten, secretary to Count Puebla, then +Austrian minister at Berlin, have brought on me these my +misfortunes.</p> +<p>This was the Weingarten who, as is now well known, betrayed +all the secrets of the Austrian court to Frederic, who at length +was discovered in the year 1756, and who, when the war broke out, +remained in the service of Prussia. This same Weingarten, +also, not only caused my wretchedness, but my sister’s ruin +and death, as he likewise did the punishment and death of three +innocent men, which will hereafter be shown.</p> +<p>It is an incontrovertible truth that I was betrayed and sold +by men in Vienna whose interest it was that I should be eternally +silenced.</p> +<p>I was immediately visited by my brothers and sister on my +arrival at Dantzic, where we lived happy in each other’s +company during a fortnight, and an amicable partition was made of +my mother’s effects; my sister perfectly justified herself +concerning the manner in which I was obliged to fly from her +house an the year 1746: our parting was kind, and as brother and +sister ought to part.</p> +<p>Our only acquaintance in Dantzic was the Austrian resident, M. +Abramson, to whom I brought letters of recommendation from +Vicuna, and whose reception of us was polite even to +extravagance.</p> +<p>This Abramson was a Prussian born, and had never seen Vienna, +but obtained his then office by the recommendation of Count +Bestuchef, without security for his good conduct, or proof of his +good morals, heart, or head. He was in close connection +with the Prussian resident, Reimer; and was made the instrument +of my ruin.</p> +<p>Scarcely had my brothers and sister departed before I +determined to make a voyage by sea to Russia. Abramson +contrived a thousand artifices, by which he detained me a week +longer in Dantzic, that, he in conjunction with Reimer, might +make the necessary preparations.</p> +<p>The King of Prussia had demanded that the magistrates of +Dantzic should deliver me up; but this could not be done without +offending the Imperial court, I being a commissioned officer in +that service, with proper passports; it was therefore probable +that this negotiation required letters should pass and repass; +and for this reason Abramson was employed to detain me some days +longer, till, by the last letters from Berlin, the magistrates of +Dantzic were induced to violate public safety and the laws of +nations. Abramson, I considered as my best friend, and my +person as in perfect security; he had therefore no difficulty in +persuading me to stay.</p> +<p>The day of supposed departure on board a Swedish ship for Riga +approached, and the deceitful Abramson promised me to send one of +his servants to the port to know the hour. At four in the +afternoon he told me he had himself spoken to the captain, who +said he would not sail till the next day; adding that he, +Abramson, would expect me to breakfast, and would then accompany +me to the vessel. I felt a secret inquietude which made me +desirous of leaving Dantzic, and immediately to send all my +luggage, and to sleep on board. Abramson prevented me, +dragging me almost forcibly along with him, telling me he had +much company, and that I must absolutely dine and sup at his +house; accordingly I did not return to my inn till eleven at +night.</p> +<p>I was but just in bed when I heard a tremendous knocking at my +chamber door, which was not shut, and two of the city magistrates +with twenty grenadiers entered my chamber, and surrounded my bed +so suddenly that I had not time to take to my arms and defend +myself. My three servants had been secured and I was told +that the most worthy magistracy of Dantzic was obliged to deliver +me up as a delinquent to his majesty the King of Prussia.</p> +<p>What were my feelings at seeing myself thus betrayed! +They silently conducted me to the city prison, where I remained +twenty-four hours. About noon Abramson came to visit me, +affected to be infinitely concerned and enraged, and affirmed he +had strongly protested against the illegality of this proceeding +to the magistracy, as I was actually in the Austrian service; but +that they had answered him the court of Vienna had afforded them +a precedent, for that, in 1742, they had done the same by the two +sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, of Dantzic, and that, +therefore, they were justified in making reprisal; and likewise, +they durst not refuse the most earnest request accompanied with +threats, of the King of Prussia.</p> +<p>Their plea of retaliation originated as follows:—There +was a kind of club at Vienna, the members of which were seized +for having committed the utmost extravagance and debauchery, two +of whom were the sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, and who were +sentenced to the pillory. Great sums were offered by the +father to avoid this public disgrace, but +ineffectually—they were punished, their punishment was +legal, and had no similarity whatever to my case, nor could it +any way justly give pretence of reprisal.</p> +<p>Abramson, who had in reality entered no protest whatever, but +rather excited the magistracy, and acted in concert with Reimer, +advised me to put my writings and other valuable effects into his +hands, otherwise they would be seized. He knew I had +received letters of exchange from my brothers and sister, about +seven thousand florins, and these I gave him, but kept my ring, +worth about four thousand, and some sixty guineas, which I had in +my purse. He then embraced me, declared nothing should be +neglected to effect my immediate deliverance; that even he would +raise the populace for that purpose; that I could not be given up +to the Prussians in less than a week, the magistracy being still +undetermined in an affair so serious, and he left me, shedding +abundance of crocodile tears, like the most affectionate of +friends.</p> +<p>The next night two magistrates, with their posse, came to my +prison, attended by resident Reimer, a Prussian officer and under +officers, and into their hands I was delivered. The pillage +instantly began; Reimer tore off my ring, seized my watch, +snuff-box, and all I had, not so much as sending me a coat or +shirt from my effects; after which, they put me into a close +coach with three Prussians. The Dantzic guard accompanied +the carriage to the city gate, that was opened to let me pass; +after which the Dantzic dragoons escorted me as far as Lauenburg +in Pomerania.</p> +<p>I have forgotten the date of this miserable day; but to the +best of my memory, it must have been in the beginning of +June. Thirty Prussian hussars, commanded by a lieutenant, +relieved the dragoons at Lauenburg, and thus was I escorted from +garrison to garrison, till I arrived at Berlin.</p> +<p>Hence it was evidently falsely affirmed, by the magistracy of +Dantzic, and the conspirator Abramson, who wrote in his own +excuse to Vienna, that my seizure must be attributed wholly to my +own imprudence, and that I had exposed myself to this arrest by +going without the city gates, where I was taken and carried off; +nor was it less astonishing that the court of Vienna should not +have demanded satisfaction for the treachery of the Dantzickers +toward an Austrian officer. I have incontrovertibly proved +this treachery, after I had regained my liberty Abramson indeed +they could not punish, for during my imprisonment he had quitted +the Austrian for the Prussian service, where he gradually became +so contemptible, that in the year 1764, when I was released from +my imprisonment, he was himself imprisoned in the house of +correction; and his wife, lately so rich, was obliged to beg her +bread. Thus have I generally lived to see the fall of my +betrayers; and thus have I found that, without indulging personal +revenge, virtue and fortitude must at length triumph over the +calumniator and the despot.</p> +<p>This truth will be further proved hereafter, nor can I behold, +unmoved, the open shame in which my persecutors live, and how +they tremble in my presence, their wicked deeds now being known +to the world Nay, monarchs may yet punish their +perfidy:—Yet not so!—May they rather die in +possession of wealth they have torn from me! I only wish +the pity and respect of the virtuous and the wise.</p> +<p>But, though Austria has never resented the affront commenced +on the person of an officer in its service, still have I a claim +on the city of Dantzic, where I was thus treacherously delivered +up, for the effects I there was robbed of, the amount of which is +between eleven and twelve thousand florins. This is a case +too clear to require argument, and the publication of this +history will make it known to the world. This claim also, +among others, I leave to the children of an unfortunate +father.</p> +<p>Enough of digression; let us attend to the remarkable events +which happened on the dismal journey to Berlin. I was +escorted from garrison to garrison, which were distant from each +other two, three, or at most five miles; wherever I came, I found +compassion and respect. The detachment of hussars only +attended me two days; it consisted of twelve men and an officer, +who rode with me in the carriage.</p> +<p>The fourth day I arrived at ---, where the Duke of Wirtemberg, +father of the present Grand Duchess of Russia, was commander, and +where his regiment was in quarters. The Duke conversed with +me, was much moved, invited me to dine, and detained me all the +day, where I was not treated as a prisoner. I so far gained +his esteem that I was allowed to remain there the next day; the +chief persons of the place were assembled, and the Duchess, whom +he had lately married, testified every mark of pity and +consideration. I dined with him also on the third day, +after which I departed in an open carriage, without escort, +attended only by a lieutenant of his regiment.</p> +<p>I must relate this, event circumstantially for it not only +proves the just and noble character of the Duke, but likewise +that there are moments in which the brave may appear cowards, the +clear-sighted blind, and the wise foolish; nay, one might almost +be led to conclude, from this, that my imprisonment at Magdeburg, +was the consequence of predestination, since I remained riveted +in stupor, in despite of suggestions, forebodings, and favourable +opportunities. Who but must be astonished, having read the +daring efforts I made at Glatz, at this strange insensibility now +in the very crisis of my fate? I afterwards was convinced +it was the intention of the noble-minded Duke that I should +escape, and that he must have given particular orders to the +successive officers. He would probably have willingly +subjected himself to the reprimands of Frederic if I would have +taken to fight. The journey through the places where his +regiment was stationed continued five days, and I everywhere +passed the evenings in the company of the officers, the kindness +of whom was unbounded I slept in their quarters without sentinel, +and travelled in their carriages, without other guard than a +single officer in the carriage. In various places the high +road was not more than two, and sometimes one mile from the +frontier road; therefore nothing could have been easier than to +have escaped; yet did the same Trenck, who in Glatz had cut his +way through thirty men to obtain his freedom, that Trenck, who +had never been acquainted with fear, now remain four days +bewildered, and unable to come to any determination.</p> +<p>In a small garrison town, I lodged in the house of a captain +of cavalry, and continually was treated by him with every mark of +friendship. After dinner he rode at the head of his +squadron to water the horse, unsaddled. I remained alone in +the house, entered the stable, saw three remaining horses, with +saddles and bridles; in my chamber was my sword and a pair of +pistols. I had but to mount one of the horses and fly to +the opposite gate. I meditated on the project, and almost +resolved to put it in execution, but presently became +undetermined by some secret impulse. The captain returned +some time after, and appeared surprised to find me still +there. The next day he accompanied me alone in his +carriage; we came to a forest, he saw some champignons, stopped, +asked me to alight, and help him to gather them; he strayed more +than a hundred paces from me, and gave me entire liberty to fly; +yet notwithstanding all this, I voluntarily returned, suffering +myself to be led like a sheep to the slaughter.</p> +<p>I was treated so well, during my stay at this place, and +escorted with so much negligence, that I fell into a gross +error. Perceiving they conveyed me straight to Berlin, I +imagined the King wished to question me concerning the plan +formed for the war, which was then on the point of breaking +out. This plan I perfectly knew, the secret correspondence +of Bestuchef having all passed through my hands, which +circumstance was much better known at Berlin than at +Vienna. Confirmed in this opinion, and far from imagining +the fate that awaited me, I remained irresolute, insensible, and +blind to danger. Alas, how short was this hope! How +quickly was it succeeded by despair! when, after four days’ +march, I quitted the district under the command of the Duke of +Wirtemberg, and was delivered up to the first garrison of +infantry at Coslin! The last of the Wirtemberg officers, +when taking leave of me, appeared to be greatly affected; and +from this moment till I came to Berlin, I was under a strong +escort, and the given orders were rigorously observed.</p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> +<p>Arrived here, I was lodged over the grand guardhouse, with two +sentinels in my chamber, and one at the door. The King was +at Potzdam, and here I remained three days; on the third, some +staff-officers made their appearance, seated themselves at a +table, and put the following questions to me:—</p> +<p>First. What was my business at Dantzic?</p> +<p>Secondly. Whether I was acquainted with M. Goltz, +Prussian ambassador to Russia?</p> +<p>Thirdly. Who was concerned with me in the conspiracy at +Dantzic?</p> +<p>When I perceived their intention, by these interrogations, I +absolutely refused to reply, only saying I had been imprisoned in +the fortress of Glatz, without hearing, or trial by +court-martial; that, availing myself of the laws of nature, I had +by my own exertions procured my liberty, and that I was now a +captain of cavalry in the imperial service; that I demanded a +legal trial for my first unknown offence, after which I engaged +to answer all interrogatories, and prove my innocence; but that +at present, being accused of new crimes, without a hearing +concerning my former punishment, the procedure was illegal. +I was told they had no orders concerning this, and I remained +dumb to all further questions.</p> +<p>They wrote some two hours, God knows what; a carriage came up; +I was strictly searched, to find whether I had any weapons; +thirteen or fourteen ducats, which I had concealed, were taken +from me, and I was conducted under a strong escort, through +Spandau to Magdeburg. The officer here delivered me to the +captain of the guard at the citadel; the town major came, and +brought me to the dungeon, expressly prepared for me; a small +picture of the Countess of Bestuchef, set with diamonds, which I +had kept concealed in my bosom, was now taken from me; the door +was shut, and here was I left.</p> +<p>My dungeon was in a casemate, the fore part of which, six feet +wide and ten feet long, was divided by a party wall. In the +inner wall were two doors, and a third at the entrance of the +casemate itself. The window in the seven-feet-thick wall +was so situated that, though I had light, I could see neither +heaven nor earth; I could only see the roof of the magazine; +within and without this window were iron bars, and in the space +between an iron grating, so close and so situated, by the rising +of the walls, that it was impossible I should see any parson +without the prison, or that any person should see me. On +the outside was a wooden palisade, six feet from the wall, by +which the sentinels were prevented from conveying anything to +me. I had a mattress, and a bedstead, but which was +immovably ironed to the floor, so that it was impossible I should +drag it, and stand up to the window; beside the door was a small +iron stove and a night table, in like manner fixed to the +floor. I was not yet put in irons, and my allowance was a +pound and a half per day of ammunition bread, and a jug of +water.</p> +<p>From my youth I had always had a good appetite, and my bread +was so mouldy I could scarcely at first eat the half of it. +This was the consequence of Major Reiding’s avarice, who +endeavoured to profit even by this, so great was the number of +unfortunate prisoners; therefore, it is impossible I should +describe to my readers the excess of tortures that, during eleven +months, I felt from ravenous hunger. I could easily every +day have devoured six pounds of bread; and every twenty-four +hours after having received and swallowed my small portion, I +continued as hungry as before I began, yet must wait another +twenty-four hours for a new morsel. How willingly would I +have signed a bill of exchange for a thousand ducats, on my +property at Vienna, only to have satiated my hunger on dry +bread! For, so extreme was it, that scarcely had I dropt +into a sweet sleep. Therefore I dreamed I was feasting at +some table luxuriously loaded, where, eating like a glutton, the +whole company were astonished to see me, while my imagination was +heated by the sensation of famine. Awakened by the pains of +hunger, the dishes vanished, and nothing remained but the reality +of my distress; the cravings of nature were but inflamed, my +tortures prevented sleep, and, looking into futurity, the cruelty +of my fate suffered, if possible, increase, from imagining that +the prolongation of pangs like these was insupportable. God +preserve every honest man from sufferings like mine! They +were not to be endured by the villain most obdurate. Many +have fasted three days, many have suffered want for a week, or +more; but certainly no one, beside myself, ever endured it in the +same excess for eleven months. Some have supposed that to +eat little might become habitual, but I have experienced the +contrary. My hunger increased every day; and of all the +trials of fortitude my whole life has afforded, this, of eleven +months, was the most bitter.</p> +<p>Petitions, remonstrances, were of no avail; the answer +was—“We must give no more, such is the King’s +command.” The Governor, General Borck, born the enemy +of man, replied, when I entreated, at least, to have my fill of +bread, “You have feasted often enough out of the service of +plate taken from the King, by Trenck, at the battle of Sorau; you +must now eat ammunition bread in your dirty kennel. Your +Empress makes no allowance for your maintenance, and you are +unworthy of the bread you eat, or the trouble taken about +you.” Judge, reader, what pangs such insolence, added +to such sufferings must inflict. Judge what were my +thoughts, foreseeing, as I did, an endless duration to this +imprisonment and these torments.</p> +<p>My three doors were kept ever shut, and I was left to such +meditations as such feelings and such hopes might inspire. +Daily, about noon, once in twenty-four hours, my pittance of +bread and water was brought. The keys of all the doors were +kept by the governor; the inner door was not opened, but my bread +and water were delivered through an aperture. The prison +doors were opened only once a week, on a Wednesday, when the +governor and town major, my hole having been first cleaned, paid +their visit.</p> +<p>Having remained thus two months, and observed this method was +invariable, I began to execute a project I had formed, of the +possibility of which I was convinced.</p> +<p>Where the night-table and stove stood, the floor was bricked, +and this paving extended to the wall that separated my casemate +from the adjoining one, in which was no prisoner. My window +was only guarded by a single sentinel; I therefore soon found, +among those who successively relieved guard, two kind-hearted +fellows, who described to me the situation of my prison; hence I +perceived I might effect my escape, could I but penetrate into +the adjoining casemate, the door of which was not shut. +Provided I had a friend and a boat waiting for me at the Elbe, or +could I swim across that river, the confines of Saxony were but a +mile distant.</p> +<p>To describe my plan at length would lead to prolixity, yet I +must enumerate some of its circumstances, as it was remarkably +intricate and of gigantic labour.</p> +<p>I worked through the iron, eighteen inches long, by which the +night-table was fastened, and broke off the clinchings of the +nails, but preserved their heads, that I might put them again in +their places, and all might appear secure to my weekly +visitors. This procured me tools to raise up the brick +floor, under which I found earth. My first attempt was to +work a hole through the wall, seven feet thick behind, and +concealed by the night-table. The first layer was of +brick. I afterwards came to large hewn stones. I +endeavoured accurately to number and remember the bricks, both of +the flooring and the wall, so that I might replace them and all +might appear safe. This having accomplished, I +proceeded.</p> +<p>The day preceding visitation all was carefully replaced, and +the intervening mortar as carefully preserved; the whole had, +probably, been whitewashed a hundred times; and, that I might +fill up all remaining interstices, I pounded the white stuff this +afforded, wetted it, made a brush of my hair, then applied this +plaster, washed it over, that the colour might be uniform, and +afterwards stripped myself, and sat with my naked body against +the place, by the heat of which it was dried.</p> +<p>While labouring, I placed the stones and bricks upon my +bedstead, and had they taken the precaution to come at any other +time in the week, the stated Wednesday excepted, I had inevitably +been discovered; but, as no such ill accident befell me, in six +months my Herculean labours gave me a prospect of success.</p> +<p>Means were to be found to remove the rubbish from my prison; +all of which, in a wall so thick, it was impossible to replace; +mortar and stone could not be removed. I therefore took the +earth, scattered it about my chamber, and ground it under my feet +the whole day, till I had reduced it to dust; this dust I strewed +in the aperture of my window, making use of the loosened +night-table to stand upon, I tied splinters from my bedstead +together, with the ravelled yarn of an old stocking, and to this +I affixed a tuft of my hair. I worked a large hole under +the middle grating, which could not be seen when standing on the +ground, and through this I pushed my dust with the tool I had +prepared in the outer window, then, waiting till the wind should +happen to rise, during the night I brushed it away, it was blown +off, and no appearance remained on the outside. By this +simple expedient I rid myself of at least three hundred weight of +earth, and thus made room to continue my labours; yet, this being +still insufficient, I had recourse to another artifice, which was +to knead up the earth in the form of sausages, to resemble the +human fæces: these I dried, and when the prisoner came to +clean my dungeon, hastily tossed them into the night-table, and +thus disencumbered myself of a pound or two more of earth each +week. I further made little balls, and, when the sentinel +was walking, blew them, through a paper tube, out of the +window. Into the empty space I put my mortar and stones, +and worked on successfully.</p> +<p>I cannot, however, describe my difficulties after having +penetrated about two feet into the hewn stone. My tools +were the irons I had dug out, which fastened may bedstead and +night-table. A compassionate soldier also gave me an old +iron ramrod and a soldier’s sheath knife, which did me +excellent service, more especially the latter, as I shall +presently more fully show. With these two I cut splinters +from my bedstead, which aided me to pick the mortar from the +interstices of the stone; yet the labour of penetrating through +this seven-feet wall was incredible; the building was ancient, +and the mortar occasionally quite petrified, so that the whole +stone was obliged to be reduced to dust. After continuing +my work unremittingly for six months, I at length approached the +accomplishment of my hopes, as I knew by coming to the facing of +brick, which now was only between me and the adjoining +casemate.</p> +<p>Meantime I found opportunity to speak to some of the +sentinels, among whom was an old grenadier called Gelfhardt, whom +I here name because he displayed qualities of the greatest and +most noble kind. From him I learned the precise situation +of my prison, and every circumstance that might best conduce to +my escape.</p> +<p>Nothing was wanting but money to buy a boat, and crossing the +Elbe with Gelfhardt, to take refuge in Saxony. By +Gelfhardt’s means I became acquainted with a kind-hearted +girl, a Jewess, and a native of Dessau, Esther Heymannin by name, +and whose father had been ten years in prison. This good, +compassionate maiden, whom I had never seen, won over two other +grenadiers, who gave her an opportunity of speaking to me every +time they stood sentinel. By tying my splinters together, I +made a stick long enough to reach beyond the palisades that were +before my window, and thus obtained paper, another knife, and a +file.</p> +<p>I now wrote to my sister, the wife of the before-mentioned +only son of General Waldow; described my awful situation, and +entreated her to remit three hundred rix-dollars to the Jewess, +hoping, by this means, I might escape from my prison. I +then wrote another affecting letter to Count Puebla, the Austrian +ambassador at Berlin, in which was enclosed a draft for a +thousand florins on my effects at Vienna, desiring him to remit +these to the Jewess, having promised her that sum as a reward for +her fidelity. She was to bring the three hundred +rix-dollars my sister should send to me, and take measures with +the grenadiers to facilitate my flight, which nothing seemed able +to prevent, I having the power either to break into the casemate +or, aided by the grenadiers and the Jewess’ to cut the +locks from the doors and that way escape from my dungeon. +The letters were open, I being obliged to roll them round the +stick to convey them to Esther.</p> +<p>The faithful girl diligently proceeded to Berlin, where she +arrived safe, and immediately spoke to Count Puebla. The +Count gave her the kindest reception, received the letter, with +the letter of exchange, and bade her go and speak to Weingarten, +the secretary of the embassy, and act entirely as he should +direct. She was received by Weingarten in the most friendly +manner, who, by his questions, drew from her the whole secret, +and our intended plan of flight, aided by the two grenadiers, and +also that she had a letter for my sister, which she must carry to +Hammer, near Custrin. He asked to see this letter; read it, +told her to proceed on her Journey, gave her two ducats to bear +her expenses, ordered her to come to him on her return, said that +during this interval he would endeavour to obtain her the +thousand florins for my draft, and would then give her further +instructions.</p> +<p>Esther cheerfully departed for Hammer, where my sister, then a +widow, and no longer, as in 1746, in dread of her husband, joyful +to hear I was still living, immediately gave her three hundred +rix-dollars, exhorting her to exert every possible means to +obtain my deliverance. Esther hastened back with the letter +from my sister to Berlin, and told all that passed to Weingarten, +who read the letter, and inquired the names of the two +grenadiers. He told her the thousand florins from Vienna +were not yet come, but gave her twelve ducats; bade her hasten +back to Magdeburg, to carry me all this good news, and then +return to Berlin, where he would pay her the thousand +florins. Esther came to Magdeburg, went immediately to the +citadel, and, most luckily, met the wife of one of the +grenadiers, who told her that her husband and his comrade had +been taken and put in irons the day before. Esther had +quickness of perception, and suspected we had been betrayed; she +therefore instantly again began her travels, and happily came +safe to Dessau.</p> +<p>Here I must interrupt my narrative, that I may explain this +infernal enigma to my readers, an account of which I received +after I had obtained my freedom, and still possess, in the +handwriting of this Jewess. Weingarten, as was afterwards +discovered, was a traitor, and too much trusted by Count Puebla, +he being a spy in the pay of Prussia, and one who had revealed, +in the court of Berlin, not only the secrets of the Imperial +embassy, but also the whole plan of the projected war. For +this reason he afterwards, when war broke out, remained at Berlin +in the Prussian service. His reason for betraying me was +that he might secure the thousand florins which I had drawn for +on Vienna; for the receipt of the 24th of May, 1755, attests that +the sum was paid, by the administrators of my effects, to Count +Puebla, and has since been brought to account; nor can I believe +that Weingarten did not appropriate this sum to himself, since I +cannot be persuaded the ambassador would commit such an action, +although the receipt is in his handwriting, as may easily be +demonstrated, it being now in my possession. Thus did +Weingarten, that he might detain a thousand florins with +impunity, bring new evils upon me and upon my sister, which +occasioned her premature death; caused one grenadier to run the +gauntlet three successive days, and another to be hung.</p> +<p>Esther alone escaped, and since gave me an elucidation of the +whole affair. The report at Magdeburg was, that a Jewess +had obtained money from my sister and bribed two grenadiers, and +that one of these had trusted and been betrayed by his +comrade. Indeed, what other story could be told at +Magdeburg, or how could it be known I had been betrayed to the +Prussian ministry by the Imperial secretary? The truth, +however, is as I have stated: my account-book exists, and the +Jewess is still alive.</p> +<p>Her poor imprisoned father was punished with more than a +hundred blows to make him declare whether his daughter had +entrusted him with the plot, or if he knew whither she was fled, +and miserably died in fetters. Such was the mischief +occasioned by a rascal! And who might be blamed but the +imprudent Count Puebla?</p> +<p>In the year 1766, this said Jewess demanded of me a thousand +florins; and I wrote to Count Puebla, that, having his receipt +for the sum, which never had been repaid, I begged it might be +restored. He received my agent with rudeness, returned no +answer, and seemed to trouble himself little concerning my +loss. Whether the heirs of the Count be, or be not, +indebted to me these thousand florins and the interest, I leave +the world to determine. Thrice have I been betrayed at +Vienna and sold to Berlin, like Joseph to the Egyptians. My +history proves the origin of my persuasion that residents, +envoys, and ambassadors must be men of known worth and honesty, +and not the vilest of rascals and miscreants. But, alas! +the effects and money they have robbed me of have never been +restored; and for the miseries they have brought upon me, they +could not be recompensed by the wealth of any or all the monarchs +on earth. Estates they may, but truth they cannot +confiscate; and of the villainy of Abramson and Weingarten I have +documents and proofs that no court of justice could +disannul. Stop, reader, if thou hast a heart, and in that +heart compassion for the unfortunate! Stop and imagine what +my sensations are while I remember and recount a part only of the +injustice that has been done me, a part only of the tyranny I +have endured! By this last act of treachery of Weingarten +was I held in chains, the most horrible, for nine succeeding +years! By him was an innocent man brought to the +gallows! By him, too, my sister, my beloved, my unfortunate +sister, was obliged to build a dungeon at her own expense! +besides being amerced in a fine, the extent of which I never +could learn. Her goods were plundered, her estates made a +desert, her children fell into extreme poverty, and she herself +expired in her thirty-third year, the victim of cruelty, +persecution, her brother’s misfortunes, and the treachery +of the Imperial embassy!</p> +<h2>Footnotes:</h2> +<p><a name="footnote1"></a><a href="#citation1" +class="footnote">[1]</a> A common expression with Frederic +when he was angry, and which has since become proverbial among +the Prussian and other German officers. See Critical +<i>Review</i>, <i>April</i>, 1755.</p> +<p><a name="footnote2"></a><a href="#citation2" +class="footnote">[2]</a> The same Doo who was governor of +Glatz during the Seven Years’ war, and who, having been +surprised by General Laudohu, was made prisoner, which occasioned +the loss of Glatz. The King broke him with infamy, and +banished him with contempt. In 1764 he came to Vienna, +where I gave him alms. He was, by birth, an Italian, a +selfish, wicked man; and, while major under the government of +Fouquet, at Glatz, brought many people to misery. He was +the creature of Fouquet, without birth or merit; crafty, +malignant, but handsome, and, having debauched his patron’s +daughter, afterwards married her; whence at first his good, and +at length his ill fortune. He wanted knowledge to defend a +fortress against the enemy, and his covetousness rendered him +easy to corrupt.</p> +<p><a name="footnote3"></a><a href="#citation3" +class="footnote">[3]</a> The German mile contains from four +to seven English miles, and this variation appears to depend on +the ignorance of the people and on the roads being in some places +but little frequented. It seems probable the Baron and his +friend might travel about 809 English miles.—<span +class="smcap">Translator</span>.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF BARON +TRENCK***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 2668-h.htm or 2668-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/6/2668 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Life and Adventures of Baron Trenck + Vol. 1 (of 2) + + +Author: Baron Trenck + +Editor: Henry Morley + +Release Date: October 16, 2007 [eBook #2668] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF BARON +TRENCK*** + + +Transcribed from the 1892 Cassell & Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org, proofed by Bridie, Rab Hughes and Roland Chapman. + + + + + +THE +LIFE AND ADVENTURES +OF +BARON TRENCK + + +TRANSLATED BY +THOMAS HOLCROFT. + +VOL. I. + +CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED: +_LONDON_, _PARIS & MELBOURNE_. +1892. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +There were two cousins Von der Trenck, who were barons descended from an +ancient house in East Prussia, and were adventurous soldiers, to whom, as +to the adventurous, there were adventures that lost nothing in the +telling, for they were told by the authors' most admiring +friends--themselves. Franz, the elder, was born in 1711, the son of an +Austrian general; and Frederick, whose adventures are here told, was the +son of a Prussian major-general. Franz, at the age of seventeen, fought +duels, and cut off the head of a man who refused to lend him money. He +stood six feet three inches in his shoes, knocked down his commanding +officer, was put under arrest, offered to pay for his release by bringing +in three Turks' heads within an hour, was released on that condition, and +actually brought in four Turks' heads. When afterwards cashiered, he +settled on his estates in Croatia, and drilled a thousand of his tenantry +to act as "Pandours" against the banditti. In 1740, he served with his +Pandours under Maria Theresa, and behaved himself as one of the more +brutal sort of banditti. He offered to capture Frederick of Prussia, and +did capture his tent. Many more of his adventures are vaingloriously +recounted by himself in the _Memoires du Baron Franz de Trenck_, +published at Paris in 1787. This Trenck took poison when imprisoned at +Gratz, and died in October, 1747, at the age of thirty-six. + +His cousin Frederick is the Trenck who here tells a story of himself that +abounds in lively illustration of the days of Frederick the Great. He +professes that Frederick the King owed him a grudge, because Frederick +the Trenck had, when eighteen years old, fascinated the Princess Amalie +at a ball. But as Frederick the Greater was in correspondence with his +cousin Franz at the time when that redoubtable personage was planning the +seizure of Frederick the Great, there may have been better ground for the +Trenck's arrest than he allows us to imagine. Mr. Carlyle shows that +Frederick von der Trenck had been three months in prison, and was still +in prison, at the time of the battle of the Sohr, in which he professes +to have been engaged. Frederick von der Trenck, after his release from +imprisonment in 1763, married a burgomaster's daughter, and went into +business as a wine merchant. Then he became adventurous again. His +adventures, published in German in 1786-7, and in his own French version +in 1788, formed one of the most popular books of its time. Seven plays +were founded on them, and ladies in Paris wore their bonnets a la Trenck. +But the French finally guillotined the author, when within a year of +threescore and ten, on the 26th of July, 1794. He had gone to Paris in +1792, and joined there in the strife of parties. At the guillotine he +struggled with the executioner. + +H.M. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +I was born at Konigsberg in Prussia, February 16, 1726, of one of the +most ancient families of the country. My father, who was lord of Great +Scharlach, Schakulack, and Meichen, and major-general of cavalry, died in +1740, after receiving eighteen wounds in the Prussian service. My mother +was daughter of the president of the high court at Konigsberg. After my +father's death she married Count Lostange, lieutenant-colonel in the Kiow +regiment of cuirassiers, with whom she went and resided at Breslau. I +had two brothers and a sister; my youngest brother was taken by my mother +into Silesia; the other was a cornet in this last-named regiment of Kiow; +and my sister was married to the only son of the aged General Valdow. + +My ancestors are famous in the Chronicles of the North, among the ancient +Teutonic knights, who conquered Courland, Prussia, and Livonia. + +By temperament I was choleric, and addicted to pleasure and dissipation; +my tutors found this last defect most difficult to overcome; happily, +they were aided by a love of knowledge inherent in me, an emulative +spirit, and a thirst for fame, which disposition it was my father's care +to cherish. A too great consciousness of innate worth gave me a too +great degree of pride, but the endeavours of my instructor to inspire +humility were not all lost; and habitual reading, well-timed praise, and +the pleasures flowing from science, made the labours of study at length +my recreation. + +My memory became remarkable; I am well read in the Scriptures, the +classics, and ancient history; was acquainted with geography; could draw; +learnt fencing, riding, and other necessary exercises. + +My religion was Lutheran; but morality was taught me by my father, and by +the worthy man to whose care he committed the forming of my heart, whose +memory I shall ever hold in veneration. While a boy, I was enterprising +in all the tricks of boys, and exercised my wit in crafty excuses; the +warmth of my passions gave a satiric, biting cast to my writings, whence +it has been imagined, by those who knew but little of me, I was a +dangerous man; though, I am conscious, this was a false judgment. + +A soldier himself, my father would have all his sons the same; thus, when +we quarrelled, we terminated our disputes with wooden sabres, and, +brandishing these, contested by blows for victory, while our father sat +laughing, pleased at our valour and address. This practice, and the +praises he bestowed, encouraged a disposition which ought to have been +counteracted. + +Accustomed to obtain the prize, and be the hero of scholastic +contentions, I acquired the bad habit of disputation, and of imagining +myself a sage when little more than a boy. I became stubborn in +argument; hasty to correct others, instead of patiently attentive: and, +by presumption, continually liable to incite enmity. Gentle to my +inferiors, but impatient of contradiction, and proud of resisting power, +I may hence date, the origin of all my evils. + +How might a man, imbued with the heroic principles of liberty, hope for +advancement and happiness, under the despotic and iron Government of +Frederic? I was taught neither to know nor to avoid, but to despise the +whip of slavery. Had I learnt hypocrisy, craft, and meanness, I had long +since become field-marshal, had been in possession of my Hungarian +estates, and had not passed the best years of my life in the dungeons of +Magdeburg. I was addicted to no vice: I laboured in the cause of +science, honour, and virtue; kept no vicious company; was never in the +whole of my life intoxicated; was no gamester, no consumer of time in +idleness nor brutal pleasures; but devoted many hundred laborious nights +to studies that might make me useful to my country; yet was I punished +with a severity too cruel even for the most worthless, or most villanous. + +I mean, in my narrative, to make candour and veracity my guides, and not +to conceal my failings; I wish my work may remain a moral lesson to the +world. Yet it is an innate satisfaction that I am conscious of never +having acted with dishonour, even to the last act of this distressful +tragedy. + +I shall say little of the first years of my life, except that my father +took especial care of my education, and sent me, at the age of thirteen, +to the University of Konigsberg, where, under the tuition of Kowalewsky, +my progress was rapid. There were fourteen other noblemen in the same +house, and under the same master. + +In the year following, 1740, I quarrelled with one young Wallenrodt, a +fellow-student, much stronger than myself, and who, despising my +weakness, thought proper to give me a blow. I demanded satisfaction. He +came not to the appointed place, but treated my demand with contempt; and +I, forgetting all further respect, procured a second, and attacked him in +open day. We fought, and I had the fortune to wound him twice; the first +time in the arm, the second in the hand. + +This affair incited inquiry:--Doctor Kowalewsky, our tutor, laid +complaints before the University, and I was condemned to three hours' +confinement; but my grandfather and guardian, President Derschau, was so +pleased with my courage, that he took me from this house and placed me +under Professor Christiani. + +Here I first began to enjoy full liberty, and from this worthy man I +learnt all I know of experimental philosophy and science. He loved me as +his own son, and continued instructing me till midnight. Under his +auspices, in 1742, I maintained, with great success, two public theses, +although I was then but sixteen; an effort and an honour till then +unknown. + +Three days after my last public exordium, a contemptible fellow sought a +quarrel with me, and obliged me to draw in my own defence, whom, on this +occasion, I wounded in the groin. + +This success inflated my valour, and from that time I began to assume the +air and appearance of a Hector. + +Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed before I had another with a lieutenant +of the garrison, whom I had insulted, who received two wounds in the +contest. + +I ought to remark, that at this time, the University of Konigsberg was +still highly privileged. To send a challenge was held honourable; and +this was not only permitted, but would have been difficult to prevent, +considering the great number of proud, hot-headed, and turbulent nobility +from Livonia, Courland, Sweden, Denmark, and Poland, who came thither to +study, and of whom there were more than five hundred. This brought the +University into disrepute, and endeavours have been made to remedy the +abuse. Men have acquired a greater extent of true knowledge, and have +begun to perceive that a University ought to be a place of instruction, +and not a field of battle; and that blood cannot be honourably shed, +except in defence of life or country. + +In November, 1742, the King sent his adjutant-general, Baron Lottum, who +was related to my mother, to Konigsberg, with whom I dined at my +grandfather's. He conversed much with me, and, after putting various +questions, purposely, to discover what my talents and inclinations were, +he demanded, as if in joke, whether I had any inclination to go with him +to Berlin, and serve my country, as my ancestors had ever done: adding +that, in the army, I should find much better opportunities of sending +challenges than at the University. Inflamed with the desire of +distinguishing myself, I listened with rapture to the proposition, and in +a few days we departed for Potzdam. + +On the morrow after my arrival, I was presented to the King, as indeed I +had before been in the year 1740, with the character of being, then, one +of the most hopeful youths of the University. My reception was most +flattering; the justness of my replies to the questions he asked, my +height, figure, and confidence, pleased him; and I soon obtained +permission to enter as a cadet in his body guards, with a promise of +quick preferment. + +The body guards formed, at this time, a model and school for the Prussian +cavalry; they consisted of one single squadron of men selected from the +whole army, and their uniform was the most splendid in all Europe. Two +thousand rix-dollars were necessary to equip an officer: the cuirass was +wholly plated with silver; and the horse, furniture, and accoutrements +alone cost four hundred rix-dollars. + +This squadron only contained six officers and a hundred and forty-four +men; but there were always fifty or sixty supernumeraries, and as many +horses, for the King incorporated all the most handsome men he found in +the guards. The officers were the best taught of any the army contained; +the King himself was their tutor, and he afterwards sent them to instruct +the cavalry in the manoeuvres they had learnt. Their rise was rapid if +they behaved well; but they were broken for the least fault, and punished +by being sent to garrison regiments. It was likewise necessary they +should be tolerably rich, as well as possess such talents as might be +successfully employed, both at court and in the army. + +There are no soldiers in the world who undergo so much as this body +guard; and during the time I was in the service of Frederic, I often had +not eight hours' sleep in eight days. Exercise began at four in the +morning, and experiments were made of all the alterations the King meant +to introduce in his cavalry. Ditches of three, four, five, six feet, and +still wider, were leaped, till that someone broke his neck; hedges, in +like manner, were freed, and the horses ran careers, meeting each other +full speed in a kind of lists of more than half a league in length. We +had often, in these our exercises, several men and horses killed or +wounded. + +It happened more frequently than otherwise that the same experiments were +repeated after dinner with fresh horses; and it was not uncommon, at +Potzdam, to hear the alarm sounded twice in a night. The horses stood in +the King's stables; and whoever had not dressed, armed himself, saddled +his horse, mounted, and appeared before the palace in eight minutes, was +put under arrest for fourteen days. + +Scarcely were the eyes closed before the trumpet again sounded, to +accustom youth to vigilance. I lost, in one year, three horses, which +had either broken their legs, in leaping ditches, or died of fatigue. + +I cannot give a stronger picture of this service than by saying that the +body guard lost more men and horses in one year's peace than they did, +during the following year, in two battles. + +We had, at this time, three stations; our service, in the winter, was at +Berlin, where we attended the opera, and all public festivals: in the +spring we were exercised at Charlottenberg; and at Potzdam, or wherever +the King went, during the summer. The six officers of the guard dined +with the King, and, on gala days, with the Queen. It may be presumed +there was not at that time on earth a better school to form an officer +and a man of the world than was the court of Berlin. + +I had scarcely been six weeks a cadet before the King took me aside, one +day, after the parade, and having examined me near half an hour, on +various subjects, commanded me to come and speak to him on the morrow. + +His intention was to find whether the accounts that had been given him of +my memory had not been exaggerated; and that he might be convinced, he +first gave me the names of fifty soldiers to learn by rote, which I did +in five minutes. He next repeated the subjects of two letters, which I +immediately composed in French and Latin; the one I wrote, the other I +dictated. He afterwards ordered me to trace, with promptitude, a +landscape from nature, which I executed with equal success; and he then +gave me a cornet's commission in his body guards. + +Each mark of bounty from the monarch increased an ardour already great, +inspired me with gratitude, and the first of my wishes was to devote my +whole life to the service of my King and country. He spoke to me as a +Sovereign should speak, like a father, like one who knew well how to +estimate the gifts bestowed on me by nature; and perceiving, or rather +feeling, how much he might expect from me, became at once my instructor +and my friend. + +Thus did I remain a cadet only six weeks, and few Prussians can vaunt, +under the reign of Frederic, of equal good fortune. + +The King not only presented me with a commission, but equipped me +splendidly for the service. Thus did I suddenly find myself a courtier, +and an officer in the finest, bravest, and best disciplined corps in +Europe. My good fortune seemed unlimited, when, in the month of August, +1743, the King selected me to go and instruct the Silesian cavalry in the +new manoeuvres: an honour never before granted to a youth of eighteen. + +I have already said we were garrisoned at Berlin during winter, where the +officers' table was at court: and, as my reputation had preceded me, no +person whatever could be better received there, or live more pleasantly. + +Frederic commanded me to visit the literati, whom he had invited to his +court: Maupertuis, Jordan, La Mettrie, and Pollnitz, were all my +acquaintance. My days were employed in the duties of an officer, and my +nights in acquiring knowledge. Pollnitz was my guide, and the friend of +my heart. My happiness was well worthy of being envied. In 1743, I was +five feet eleven inches in height, and Nature had endowed me with every +requisite to please. I lived, as I vainly imagined, without inciting +enmity or malice, and my mind was wholly occupied by the desire of +earning well-founded fame. + +I had hitherto remained ignorant of love, and had been terrified from +illicit commerce by beholding the dreadful objects of the hospital at +Potzdam. During the winter of 1743, the nuptials of his Majesty's sister +were celebrated, who was married to the King of Sweden, where she is at +present Queen Dowager, mother of the reigning Gustavus. I, as officer of +my corps, had the honour to mount guard and escort her as far as Stettin. +Here first did my heart feel a passion of which, in the course of my +history, I shall have frequent occasion to speak. The object of my love +was one whom I can only remember at present with reverence; and, as I +write not romance, but facts, I shall here briefly say, ours were +mutually the first-fruits of affection, and that to this hour I regret no +misfortune, no misery, with which, from a stock so noble, my destiny was +overshadowed. + +Amid the tumult inseparable to occasions like these, on which it was my +duty to maintain order, a thief had the address to steal my watch, and +cut away part of the gold fringe which hung from the waistcoat of my +uniform, and afterwards to escape unperceived. This accident brought on +me the raillery of my comrades; and the lady alluded to thence took +occasion to console me, by saying it should be her care that I should be +no loser. Her words were accompanied by a look I could not +misunderstand, and a few days after I thought myself the happiest of +mortals. The name, however, of this high-born lady is a secret, which +must descend with me to the grave; and, though my silence concerning this +incident heaves a void in my life, and indeed throws obscurity over a +part of it, which might else be clear, I would much rather incur this +reproach than become ungrateful towards my best friend and benefactress. +To her conversation, to her prudence, to the power by which she fixed my +affections wholly on herself, am I indebted for the improvement and +polishing of my bodily and mental qualities. She never despised, +betrayed, or abandoned me, even in the deepest of my distress; and my +children alone, on my death-bed, shall be taught the name of her to whom +they owe the preservation of their father, and consequently their own +existence. + +I lived at this time perfectly happy at Berlin, and highly esteemed. The +King took every opportunity to testify his approbation; my mistress +supplied me with more money than I could expend; and I was presently the +best equipped, and made the greatest figure, of any officer in the whole +corps. The style in which I lived was remarked, for I had only received +from my father's heritage the estate of Great Scharlach; the rent of +which was eight hundred dollars a year, which was far from sufficient to +supply my then expenses. My amour, in the meantime, remained a secret +from my best and most intimate friends. Twice was my absence from +Potzdam and Charlottenberg discovered, and I was put under arrest; but +the King seemed satisfied with the excuse I made, under the pretext of +having been hunting, and smiled as he granted my pardon. + +Never did the days of youth glide away with more apparent success and +pleasure than during these my first years at Berlin. This good fortune +was, alas, of short duration. Many are the incidents I might relate, but +which I shall omit. My other adventures are sufficiently numerous, +without mingling such as may any way seem foreign to the subject. In +this gloomy history of my life, I wish to paint myself such as I am; and, +by the recital of my sufferings, afford a memorable example to the world, +and interest the heart of sensibility. I would also show how my fatal +destiny has deprived my children of an immense fortune; and, though I +want a hundred thousand men to enforce and ensure my rights, I will leave +demonstration to my heirs that they are incontestable. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +In the beginning of September, 1744, war again broke out between the +Houses of Austria and Prussia. We marched with all speed towards Prague, +traversing Saxony without opposition. I will not relate in this place +what the great Frederic said to us, with evident emotion, when surrounded +by all his officers, on the morning of our departure from Potzdam. + +Should any one be desirous of writing the lives of him and his opponent, +Maria Theresa, without flattery and without fear, let him apply to me, +and I will relate anecdotes most surprising on this subject, unknown to +all but myself, and which never must appear under my own name. + +All monarchs going to war have reason on their side; and the churches of +both parties resound with prayers, and appeals to Divine Justice, for the +success of their arms. Frederic, on this occasion, had recourse to them +with regret, of which I was a witness. + +If I am not mistaken, the King's army came before Prague on the 14th of +September, and that of General Schwerin, which had passed through +Silesia, arrived the next day on the other side of the Moldau. In this +position we were obliged to wait some days for pontoons, without which we +could not establish a communication between the two armies. + +The height called Zischka, which overlooks the city, being guarded only +by a few Croats, was instantly seized, without opposition, by some +grenadiers, and the batteries, erected at the foot of that mountain, +being ready on the fifth day, played with such success on the old town +with bombs and red-hot balls that it was set on fire. The King made +every effort to take the city before Prince Charles could bring his army +from the Rhine to its relief. + +General Harsh thought proper to capitulate, after a siege of twelve days, +during which not more than five hundred men of the garrison, at the +utmost, were killed and wounded, though eighteen thousand men were made +prisoners. + +Thus far we had met with no impediment. The Imperial army, however, +under the command of Prince Charles of Lorraine, having quitted the banks +of the Rhine, was advancing to save Bohemia. + +During this campaign we saw the enemy only at a distance; but the +Austrian light troops being thrice as numerous as ours, prevented us from +all foraging. Winter was approaching, dearth and hunger made Frederic +determine to retreat, without the least hope from the countries in our +rear, which we had entirely laid waste as we had advanced. The severity +of the season, in the month of November, rendered the soldiers +excessively impatient of their hardships; and, accustomed to conquer, the +Prussians were ashamed of and repined at retreat: the enemy's light +troops facilitated desertion, and we lost, in a few weeks, above thirty +thousand men. The pandours of my kinsman, the Austrian Trenck, were +incessantly at our heels, gave us frequent alarms, did us great injury, +and, by their alertness, we never could make any impression upon them +with our cannon. Trenck at length passed the Elbe, and went and burnt +and destroyed our magazines at Pardubitz: it was therefore resolved +wholly to evacuate Bohemia. + +The King hoped to have brought Prince Charles to the battle between +Benneschan and Kannupitz, but in vain: the Saxons, during the night, had +entered a battery of three-and-twenty cannon on a mound which separated +two ponds: this was the precise road by which the King meant to make the +attack. + +Thus were we obliged to abandon Bohemia. The dearth, both for man and +horse, began to grow extreme. The weather was bad; the roads and ruts +were deep; marches were continual, and alarms and attacks from the +enemy's light troops became incessant. The discontent all these inspired +was universal, and this occasioned the great loss of the army. + +Under such circumstances, had Prince Charles continued to harass us, by +persuading us into Silesia, had he made a winter campaign, instead of +remaining indolently at ease in Bohemia, we certainly should not have +vanquished him, the year following, at Strigau; but he only followed at a +distance, as far as the Bohemian frontiers. This gave Frederic time to +recover, and the more effectually because the Austrians had the +imprudence to permit the return of deserters. + +This was a repetition of what had happened to Charles XII. when he +suffered his Russian prisoners to return home, who afterwards so +effectually punished his contempt of them at the battle of Pultawa. + +Prague was obliged to be abandoned, with considerable loss; and Trenck +seized on Tabor, Budweis, and Frauenberg, where he took prisoners the +regiments of Walrabe Kreutz. + +No one would have been better able to give a faithful history of this +campaign than myself, had I room in this place, and had I at that time +been more attentive to things of moment; since I not only performed the +office of adjutant to the King, when he went to reconnoitre, or choose a +place of encampment, but it was, moreover, my duty to provide forage for +the headquarters. The King having only permitted me to take six +volunteers from the body guard, to execute this latter duty, I was +obliged to add to them horse chasseurs, and hussars, with whom I was +continually in motion. I was peculiarly fortunate on two occasions, by +happening to come after the enemy when they had left loaded waggons and +forage bundles. + +I seldom passed the night in my tent during this campaign, and my +indefatigable activity obtained the favour and entire confidence of +Frederic. Nothing so much contributed to inspire me with emulation as +the public praises I received, and my enthusiasm wished to perform +wonders. The campaign, however, but ill supplied me with opportunities +to display my youthful ardour. + +At length no one durst leave the camp, notwithstanding the extremity of +the dearth, because of the innumerable clouds of pandours and hussars +that hovered everywhere around. + +No sooner were we arrived in Silesia, than the King's body guard were +sent to Berlin, there to remain in winter quarters. + +I should not here have mentioned the Bohemian war, but that, while +writing time history of my life, I ought not to omit accidents by which +my future destiny was influenced. + +One day, while at Bennaschen, I was commanded out, with a detachment of +thirty hussars and twenty chasseurs, on a foraging party. I had posted +my hussars in a convent, and gone myself, with the chasseurs, to a +mansion-house, to seize the carts necessary for the conveyance of the hay +and straw from a neighbouring farm. An Austrian lieutenant of hussars, +concealed with thirty-six horsemen in a wood, having remarked the +weakness of my escort, taking advantage of the moment when my people were +all employed in loading the carts, first seized our sentinel, and then +fell suddenly upon them, and took them all prisoners in the very farm- +yard. At this moment I was seated at my ease, beside the lady of the +mansion-house, and was a spectator of the whole transaction through the +window. + +I was ashamed of and in despair at my negligence. The kind lady wished +to hide me when the firing was heard in the farm-yard. By good fortune, +the hussars, whom I had stationed in the convent, had learnt from a +peasant that there was an Austrian detachment in the wood: they had seen +us at a distance enter the farmyard, hastily marched to our aid, and we +had not been taken more than two minutes before they arrived. I cannot +express the pleasure with which I put myself at their head. Some of the +enemy's party escaped through a back door, but we made two-and-twenty +prisoners, with a lieutenant of the regiment of Kalnockichen. They had +two men killed, and one wounded; and two also of my chasseurs were hewn +down by the sabre, in the hay-loft, where they were at work. + +We continued our forage with more caution after this accident: the horses +we had taken served, in part, to draw the carts; and, after raising a +contribution of one hundred and fifty ducats on the convent, which I +distributed among the soldiers to engage them to silence, we returned to +the army, from which we were distant about two leagues. + +We heard firing as we marched, and the foragers on all sides were +skirmishing with the enemy. A lieutenant and forty horse joined me; yet, +with this reinforcement, I durst not return to the camp, because I +learned we were in danger from more than eight hundred pandours and +hussars, who were in the plain. I therefore determined to take a long, +winding, but secret route, and had the good fortune to come safe to +quarters with my prisoners and five-and-twenty loaded carts. The King +was at dinner when I entered his tent. Having been absent all night, it +was imagined I had been taken, that accident having happened the same day +to many others. + +The instant I entered, the King demanded if I returned singly. "No, +please your Majesty," answered I; "I have brought five-and-twenty loads +of forage, and two-and-twenty prisoners, with their officer and horses." + +The King then commanded me to sit down, and turning himself towards the +English ambassador, who was near him, said, laying his hand on my +shoulder, "_C'est un Matador de ma jeunesse_." + +A reconnoitring party was, at the same moment, in waiting before his +tent: he consequently asked me few questions, and to those he did ask, I +replied trembling. In a few minutes he rose from the table, gave a +glance at the prisoners, hung the Order of Merit round my neck, commanded +me to go and take repose, and set off with his party. + +It is easy to conceive the embarrassment of my situation; my unpardonable +negligence deserved that I should have been broken, instead of which I +was rewarded; an instance, this, of the great influence of chance on the +affairs of the world. How many generals have gained victories by their +very errors, which have been afterwards attributed to their genius! It is +evident the sergeant of hussars, who retook me and my men by bringing up +his party, was much better entitled than myself to the recompense I +received. On many occasions have I since met with disgrace and +punishment when I deserved reward. My inquietude lest the truth should +be discovered, was extreme, especially recollecting how many people were +in the secret: and my apprehensions were incessant. + +As I did not want money, I gave the sergeants twenty ducats each, and the +soldiers one, in order to insure their silence, which, being a favourite +with them, they readily promised. I, however, was determined to declare +the truth the very first opportunity, and this happened a few days after. + +We were on our march, and I, as cornet, was at the head of my company, +when the King, advancing, beckoned me to come to him, and bade me tell +him exactly how the affair I had so lately been engaged in happened. + +The question at first made me mistrust I was betrayed, but remarking the +King had a mildness in his manner, I presently recovered myself, and +related the exact truth. I saw the astonishment of his countenance, but +I at the same time saw he was pleased with my sincerity. He spoke to me +for half an hour, not as a King, but as a father, praised my candour, and +ended with the following words, which, while life remains, I shall never +forget: "Confide in the advice I give you; depend wholly upon me, and I +will make you a man." Whoever can feel, may imagine how infinitely my +gratitude towards the King was increased, by this his great goodness; +from that moment I had no other desire than to live and die for his +service. + +I soon perceived the confidence the King had in me after this +explanation, of which I received very frequent marks, the following +winter, at Berlin. He permitted me to be present at his conversations +with the literati of his court, and my state was truly enviable. + +I received this same winter more than five hundred ducats as presents. So +much happiness could not but excite jealousy, and this began to be +manifest on every side. I had too little disguise for a courtier, and my +heart was much too open and frank. + +Before I proceed, I will here relate an incident which happened during +the last campaign, and which will, no doubt, be read in the history of +Frederic. + +On the rout while retreating through Bohemia, the King came to Kollin, +with his horse-guards, the cavalry piquets of the head-quarters, and the +second and third battalions of guards. We had only four field pieces, +and our squadron was stationed in one of the suburbs. Our advance posts, +towards evening, were driven back into the town, and the hussars entered +pell-mell: the enemy's light troops swarmed over the country, and my +commanding officer sent me immediately to receive the King's orders. +After much search, I found him at the top of a steeple, with a telescope +in his hand. Never did I see him so disturbed or undecided as on this +occasion. Orders were immediately given that we should retreat through +the city, into the opposite suburb, where we were to halt, but not +unsaddle. + +We had not been here long before a most heavy rain fell, and the night +became exceedingly dark. My cousin Trenck made his approach about nine +in the evening, with his pandour and janissary music, and set fire to +several houses. They found we were in the suburb, and began to fire upon +us from the city windows. The tumult became extreme: the city was too +full for us to re-enter: the gate was shut, and they fired from above at +us with our field-pieces. Trenck had let in the waters upon us, and we +were up to the girths by midnight, and almost in despair. We lost seven +men, and my horse was wounded in the neck. + +The King, and all of us, had certainly been made prisoners had my cousin, +as he has since told me, been able to continue the assault he had begun: +but a cannon ball having wounded him in the foot, he was carried off, and +the pandours retired. The corps of Nassau arrived next day to our aid; +we quitted Kollin, and during the march the King said to me, "Your cousin +had nearly played us a malicious prank last night, but the deserters say +he is killed." He then asked what our relationship was, and there our +conversation ended. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +It was about the middle of December when we came to Berlin, where I was +received with open arms. I became less cautious than formerly, and, +perhaps, more narrowly observed. A lieutenant of the foot guards, who +was a public Ganymede, and against whom I had that natural antipathy and +abhorrence I have for all such wretches, having indulged himself in some +very impertinent jokes on the secret of my amour, I bestowed on him the +epithet he deserved: we drew our swords, and he was wounded. On the +Sunday following I presented myself to pay my respects to his Majesty on +the parade, who said to me as he passed, "The storm and the thunder shall +rend your heart; beware!" {1} He added nothing more. + +Some little time after I was a few minutes too late on the parade; the +King remarked it, and sent me, under arrest, to the foot-guard at +Potzdam. When I had been here a fortnight, Colonel Wartensleben came, +and advised me to petition for pardon. I was then too much a novice in +the modes of the court to follow his counsel, nor did I even remark the +person who gave it me was himself a most subtle courtier. I complained +bitterly that I had so long been deprived of liberty, for a fault which +was usually punished by three, or, at most, six days' arrest. Here +accordingly I remained. + +Eight days after, the King being come to Potzdam, I was sent by General +Bourke to Berlin, to carry some letters, but without having seen the +King. On my return I presented myself to him on the parade; and as our +squadron was garrisoned at Berlin, I asked, "Does it please your Majesty +that I should go and join my corps?" "Whence came you?" answered he. +"From Berlin." "And where were you before you went to Berlin?" "Under +arrest." "Then under arrest you must remain!" + +I did not recover my liberty till three days before our departure for +Silesia, towards which we marched, with the utmost speed, in the +beginning of May, to commence our second campaign. + +Here I must recount an event which happened that winter, which became the +source of all my misfortunes, and to which I must entreat my readers will +pay the utmost attention; since this error, if innocence can be error, +was the cause that the most faithful and the best of subjects became +bewildered in scenes of wretchedness, and was the victim of misery, from +his nineteenth to the sixtieth year of his age. I dare presume that this +true narrative, supported by testimonies the most authentic, will fully +vindicate my present honour and my future memory. + +Francis, Baron of Trenck, was the son of my father's brother, +consequently my cousin german. I shall speak, hereafter, of the singular +events of his life. Being a commander of pandours in the Austrian +service, and grievously wounded at Bavaria, in the year 1743, he wrote to +my mother, informing her he intended me, her eldest son, for his +universal legatee. This letter, to which I returned no answer, was sent +to me at Potzdam. I was so satisfied with my situation, and had such +numerous reasons so to be, considering the kindness with which the King +treated me, that I would not have exchanged my good fortune for all the +treasures of the Great Mogul. + +On the 12th of February, 1744, being at Berlin, I was in company with +Captain Jaschinsky, commander of the body guard, the captain of which +ranks as colonel in the army, together with Lieutenant Studnitz, and +Cornet Wagnitz. The latter was my field comrade, and is at present +commander-general of the cavalry of Hesse Cassel. The Austrian Trenck +became the subject of conversation, and Jaschinsky asked if I were his +kinsman. I answered, yes, and immediately mentioned his having made me +his universal heir. "And what answer have you returned?" said +Jaschinsky.--"None at all." + +The whole company then observed that, in a case like the present, I was +much to blame not to answer; that the least I could do would be to thank +him for his good wishes, and entreat a continuance of them. Jaschinsky +further added, "Desire him to send you some of his fine Hungarian horses +for your own use, and give me the letter; I will convey it to him, by +means of Mr. Bossart, legation counsellor of the Saxon embassy; but on +condition that you will give me one of the horses. This correspondence +is a family, and not a state affair; I will make myself responsible for +the consequences." + +I immediately took my commander's advice, and began to write; and had +those who suspected me thought proper to make the least inquiry into +these circumstances, the four witnesses who read what I wrote could have +attested my innocence, and rendered it indubitable. I gave my letter +open to Jaschinsky, who sealed and sent it himself. + +I must omit none of the incidents concerning this letter, it being the +sole cause of all my sufferings. I shall therefore here relate an event +which was the first occasion of the unjust suspicions entertained against +me. + +One of my grooms, with two led horses, was, among many others, taken by +the pandours of Trenck. When I returned to the camp, I was to accompany +the King on a reconnoitring party. My horse was too tired, and I had no +other: I informed him of my embarrassment, and his Majesty immediately +made me a present of a fine English courser. + +Some days after, I was exceedingly astonished to see my groom return, +with my two horses, and a pandour trumpeter, who brought me a letter, +containing nearly the following words:-- + +"The Austrian Trenck is not at war with the Prussian Trenck, but, on the +contrary, is happy to have recovered his horses from his hussars, and to +return them to whom they first belonged," &c. + +I went the same day to pay my respects to the King, who, receiving me +with great coldness, said, "Since your cousin has returned your own +horses, you have no more need of mine." + +There were too many who envied me to suppose these words would escape +repetition. The return of the horses seems infinitely to have increased +that suspicion Frederic entertained against me, and therefore became one +of the principal causes of my misfortunes: it is for this reason that I +dwell upon this and suchlike small incidents, they being necessary for my +own justification, and, were it possible, for that of the King. My +innocence is, indeed, at present universally acknowledged by the court, +the army, and the whole nation; who all mention the injustice I suffered +with pity, and the fortitude with which it was endured with surprise. + +We marched for Silesia, to enter on our second campaign: which, to the +Prussians, was as bloody and murderous as it was glorious. + +The King's head-quarters were fixed at the convent of Kamentz, where we +rested fourteen days, and the army remained in cantonments. Prince +Charles, instead of following us into Bohemia, had the imprudence to +occupy the plain of Strigau, and we already concluded his army was +beaten. Whoever is well acquainted with tactics, and the Prussian +manoeuvres, will easily judge, without the aid of calculation or +witchcraft, whether a well or ill-disciplined army, in an open plain, +ought to be victorious. + +The army hastily left its cantonments, and in twenty-four hours was in +order of battle; and on the 14th of June, eighteen thousand bodies lay +stretched on the plain of Strigau. The allied armies of Austria and +Saxony were totally defeated. + +The body guard was on the right; and previous to the attack, the King +said to our squadron, "Prove today, my children, that you are my body +guard, and give no Saxon quarter." + +We made three attacks on the cavalry, and two on the infantry. Nothing +could withstand a squadron like this, which for men, horses, courage, and +experience, was assuredly the first in the world. Our corps alone took +seven standards and five pairs of colours, and in less than an hour the +affair was over. + +I received a pistol shot in my right hand, my horse was desperately +wounded, and I was obliged to change him on the third charge. The day +after the battle all the officers were rewarded with the Order of Merit. +For my own part, I remained four weeks among the wounded, at Schweidnitz, +where there were sixteen thousand men under the torture of the army +surgeons, many of whom had not their wounds dressed till the third day. + +I was near three months before I recovered the use of my hand: I +nevertheless rejoined my corps, continued to perform my duty, and as +usual accompanied the King when he went to reconnoitre. For some time +past he had placed confidence in me, and his kindness towards me +continually increased, which raised my gratitude even to enthusiasm. + +I also performed the service of adjutant during this campaign, a +circumstantial account of which no person is better enabled to write than +myself, I having been present at all that passed. I was the scholar of +the greatest master the art of war ever knew, and who believed me worthy +to receive his instructions; but the volume I am writing would be +insufficient to contain all that personally relates to myself. + +I must here mention an adventure that happened at this time, and which +will show the art of the great Frederic in forming youth for his service, +and devotedly attaching them to his person. + +I was exceedingly fond of hunting, in which, notwithstanding it was +severely forbidden, I indulged myself. I one day returned, laden with +pheasants; but judge my astonishment and fears when I saw the army had +decamped, and that it was with difficulty that I could overtake the rear- +guard. + +In this my distress, I applied to an officer of hussars, who instantly +lent me his horse, by the aid of which I rejoined my corps, which always +marched as the vanguard. Mounting my own horse, I tremblingly rode to +the head of my division, which it was my duty to precede. The King, +however, had remarked my absence, or rather had been reminded of it by my +superior officer, who, for some time past, had become my enemy. + +Just as the army halted to encamp, the King rode towards me, and made a +signal for me to approach, and, seeing my fears in my countenance, said, +"What, are you just returned from hunting?" "Yes, your Majesty. I +hope--" Here interrupting me, he added, "Well, well, for this time, I +shall take no further notice, remembering Potzdam; but, however, let me +find you more attentive to your duty." + +So ended this affair, for which I deserved to have been broken. I must +remind my readers that the King meant by the words remembering Potzdam, +he remembered I had been punished too severely the winter before, and +that my present pardon was intended as a compensation. + +This was indeed to think and act greatly; this was indeed the true art of +forming great men: an art much more effectual than that of ferocious +generals, who threaten subalterns with imprisonment and chains on every +slight occasion; and, while indulging all the rigours of military law, +make no distinction of minds or of men. Frederic, on the contrary, +sometimes pardoned the failings of genius, while mechanic souls he +mechanically punished, according to the very letter of the laws of war. + +I shall further remark, the King took no more notice of my late fault, +except that sometimes, when I had the honour to dine with him, he would +ridicule people who were too often at the chase, or who were so choleric +that they took occasion to quarrel for the least trifle. + +The campaign passed in different manoeuvres, marches, and countermarches. +Our corps was the most fatigued, as being encamped round the King's tent, +the station of which was central, and as likewise having the care of the +vanguard; we were therefore obliged to begin our march two hours sooner +than the remainder of the army, that we might be in our place. We also +accompanied the King whenever he went to reconnoitre, traced the lines of +encampment, led the horse to water, inspected the head-quarters, and +regulated the march and encampment, according to the King's orders; the +performance of all which robbed us of much rest, we being but six +officers to execute so many different functions. + +Still further, we often executed the office of couriers, to bear the +royal commands to detachments. The King was particularly careful that +the officers of his guards, whom he intended should become excellent in +the art of tactics, should not be idle in his school. It was necessary +to do much in order that much might be learnt. Labour, vigilance, +activity, the love of glory and the love of his country, animated all his +generals; into whom, it may be said, he infused his spirit. + +In this school I gained instruction, and here already was I selected as +one designed to instruct others; yet, in my fortieth year, a great +general at Vienna told me, "My dear Trenck, our discipline would be too +difficult for you to learn; for which, indeed, you are too far advanced +in life." Agreeable to this wise decision was I made an Austrian +invalid, and an invalid have always remained; a judgment like this would +have been laughed at, most certainly, at Berlin. + +If I mistake not, the famous battle of Soor, or Sorau, was fought on the +14th day of September. The King had sent so many detachments into +Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia, that the main army did not consist of more +than twenty-five thousand men. Neglecting advice, and obstinate in +judging his enemy by numbers, and not according to the excellence of +discipline, and other accidents, Prince Charles, blind to the real +strength of the Prussian armies, had enclosed this small number of +Pomeranian and Brandenburg regiments, with more than eighty-six thousand +men, intending to take them all prisoners. + +It will soon be seen from my narrative with what kind of secrecy his plan +was laid and executed. + +The King came into my tent about midnight; as he also did into that of +all the officers, to awaken them; his orders were, "Secretly to saddle, +leave the baggage in the rear, and that the men should stand ready to +mount at the word of command." + +Lieutenant Studnitz and myself attended the King, who went in person, and +gave directions through the whole army; meantime, break of day was +expected with anxiety. + +Opposite the defile through which the enemy was to march to the attack +eight field-pieces were concealed behind a hill. The King must +necessarily have been informed of the whole plan of the Austrian general, +for he had called in the advanced posts from the heights, that he might +lull him into security, and make him imagine we should be surprised in +the midst of sleep. + +Scarcely did break of day appear before the Austrian artillery, situated +upon the heights, began to play upon our camp, and their cavalry to march +through the defile to the attack. + +As suddenly were we in battle array; for in less than ten minutes we +ourselves began the attack, notwithstanding the smallness of our number, +the whole army only containing five regiments of cavalry. We fell with +such fury upon the enemy (who at this time were wholly employed in +forming their men at the mouth of the defile, and that slowly, little +expecting so sudden and violent a charge), that we drove them back into +the defile, where they pressed upon each other in crowds; the King +himself stood ready to unmask his eight field-pieces, and a dreadful and +bloody slaughter ensued in this narrow place; from which the enemy had +not the power to retreat. This single incident gained the battle, and +deceived all time hopes of Prince Charles. + +Nadasti, Trenck, and the light troops, sent to attack our rear, were +employed in pillaging the camp. The ferocious Croats met no opposition, +while this their error made our victory more secure. It deserves to be +noticed that, when advice was brought to the King that the enemy had +fallen upon and were plundering the camp, his answer was, "So much the +better; they have found themselves employment, and will be no impediment +to our main design." + +Our victory was complete, but all our baggage was lost; the headquarters, +utterly undefended, were totally stripped; and Trenck had, for his part +of the booty, the King's tent and his service of plate. + +I have mentioned this circumstance here, because that, in the year 1740, +my cousin Trenck, having fallen into the power of his enemies, who had +instituted a legal, process against him, was accused, by some villanous +wretches, of having surprised the King in bed at the battle of Sorau, and +of having afterwards released him for a bribe. + +What was still worse, they hired a common woman, a native of Brunn, who +pretended she was the daughter of Marshal Schwerin, to give in evidence +that she herself was with the King when Trenck entered his tent, whom he +immediately made prisoner, and as immediately released. + +To this part of the prosecution I myself, an eye-witness, can answer: the +thing was false and impossible. He was informed of the intended attack. +I accompanied the watchful King from midnight till four in the morning, +which time he employed in riding through the camp, and making the +necessary preparations to receive the enemy; and the action began at +five. Trenck could not take the King in bed, for the battle was almost +gained when he and his pandours entered the camp and plundered the head- +quarters. + +As for the tale of Miss Schwerin, it is only fit to be told by +schoolboys, or examined by the Inquisition, and was very unworthy of +making part of a legal prosecution against an innocent man at Vienna. + +This incident, however, is so remarkable that I shall give in this work a +farther account of my kinsman, and what was called his criminal process, +at reading which the world will be astonished. My own history is so +connected with his that this is necessary, and the more so because there +are many ignorant or wicked people at Vienna, who believe, or affirm, +Trenck had actually taken the King of Prussia prisoner. + +Never yet was there a traitor of the name of Trenck; and I hope to prove, +in the clearest manner, the Austrian Trenck as faithfully served the +Empress-Queen as the Prussian Trenck did Frederic, his King. Maria +Theresa, speaking to me of him some time after his death, and the snares +that had been laid for him, said, "Your kinsman has made a better end +than will be the fate of his accusers and judges." + +Of this more hereafter: I approach that epoch when my misfortunes began, +and when the sufferings of martyrdom attended me from youth onward till +my hairs grew grey. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +A few days after the battle of Sorau, the usual camp postman brought me a +letter from my cousin Trenck, the colonel of pandours, antedated at Effek +four months, of which the following is a copy:-- + +"Your letter, of the 12th of February, from Berlin, informs me you desire +to have some Hungarian horses. On these you would come and attack me and +my pandours. I saw with pleasure, during the last campaign, that the +Prussian Trenck was a good soldier; and that I might give you some proofs +of my attachment, I then returned the horses which my men had taken. If, +however, you wish to have Hungarian horses, you must take mine in like +manner from me in the field of battle: or, should you so think fit, come +and join one who will receive you with open arms, like his friend and +son, and who will procure you every advantage you can desire," &c. + +At first I was terrified at reading this letter, yet could not help +smiling. Cornet Wagenitz, now general in chief of the Hesse Cassel +forces, and Lieutenant Grotthausen, both now alive, and then present, +were my camp comrades. I gave them the letter to read, and they laughed +at its contents. It was determined to show it to our superior officer, +Jaschinsky, on a promise of secrecy, and it was accordingly shown him +within an hour after it was received. + +The reader will be so kind as to recollect that, as I have before said, +it was this Colonel Jaschinsky who on the 12th of February, the same +year, at Berlin, prevailed on me to write to the Austrian Trenck, my +cousin; that he received the letter open, and undertook to send it +according to its address; also that, in this letter, I in jest had asked +him to send me some Hungarian horses, and, should they come, had promised +one to Jaschinsky. He read the letter with an air of some surprise; we +laughed, and, it being whispered through the army that, in consequence of +our late victory, detached corps would be sent into Hungary, Jaschinsky +said, "We shall now go and take Hungarian horses for ourselves." Here +the conversation ended, and I, little suspecting future consequences, +returned to my tent. + +I must here remark the following observations:-- + +1st. I had not observed the date of the letter brought by the postman, +which, as I have said, was antedated four months: this, however, the +colonel did not fail to remark. + +2ndly. The probability is that this was a net, spread for me by this +false and wicked man. The return of my horses, during the preceding +campaign, had been the subject of much conversation. It is possible he +had the King's orders to watch me; but more probably he only prevailed on +me to write that he might entrap me by a fictitious answer. Certain it +is, my cousin Trenck, at Vienna, affirmed to his death he never received +any letter from me, consequently never could send any answer. I must +therefore conclude this letter was forged. + +Jaschinsky was at this time one of the King's favourites; his spy over +the army; a tale-bearer; an inventor of wicked lies and calumnies. Some +years after the event of which I am now speaking, the King was obliged to +break and banish him the country. + +He was then also the paramour of the beauteous Madame Brossart, wife of +the Saxon resident at Berlin, and there can be little doubt but that this +false letter was, by her means, conveyed to some Saxon or Austrian post- +office, and thence, according to its address, sent to me. He had daily +opportunities of infusing suspicions into the King's mind concerning me; +and, unknown to me, of pursuing his diabolical plan. + +I must likewise add he was four hundred ducats indebted to me. At that +time I had always a plentiful supply of money. This booty became his own +when I, unexamined, was arrested, and thrown into prison. In like manner +he seized on the greatest part of my camp equipage. + +Further, we had quarrelled during our first campaign, because he had +beaten one of my servants; we even were proceeding to fight with pistols, +had not Colonel Winterfield interfered, and amicably ended our quarrel. +The Lithuanian is, by nature, obstinate and revengeful; and, from that +day, I have reason to believe he sought my destruction. + +God only knows what were the means he took to excite the King's +suspicious; for it is incredible that Frederic, considering his _well- +known professions_ of public justice, should treat me in the manner he +did, without a hearing, without examination, and without a court-martial. +This to me has ever remained a mystery, which the King alone was able to +explain; he afterwards was convinced I was innocent: but my sufferings +had been too cruel, and the miseries he had inflicted too horrible, for +me ever to hope for compensation. + +In an affair of this nature, which will soon he known to all Europe, as +it long has been in Prussia, the weakest is always guilty. I have been +made a terrible example to this our age, how true that maxim is in +despotic States. + +A man of my rank, having once unjustly suffered, and not having the power +of making his sufferings known, must ever be highly rewarded or still +more unjustly punished. My name and injuries will ever stain the annals +of Frederic _the Great_; even those who read this book will perhaps +suppose that I, from political motives of hope or fear, have sometimes +concealed truth by endeavouring to palliate his conduct. + +It must ever remain incomprehensible that a monarch so clear-sighted, +himself the daily witness of my demeanour, one well acquainted with +mankind, and conscious I wanted neither money, honour, nor hope of future +preferment; I say it is incomprehensible that he should really suppose me +guilty. I take God to witness, and all those who knew me in prosperity +and misfortune, I never harboured a thought of betraying my country. How +was it possible to suspect me? I was neither madman nor idiot. In my +eighteenth year I was a cornet of the body guard, adjutant to the King, +and possessed his favour and confidence in the highest degree. His +presents to me, in one year, amounted to fifteen hundred dollars. I kept +seven horses, four men in livery; I was valued, distinguished, and +beloved by the mistress of my soul. My relations held high offices, both +civil and military; I was even fanatically devoted to my King and +country, and had nothing to wish. + +That I should become thus wretched, in consequence of this unfortunate +letter, is equally wonderful: it came by the public post. Had there been +any criminal correspondence, my kinsman certainly would not have chosen +this mode of conveyance; since, it is well known, all such letters are +opened; nor could I act more openly. My colonel read the letter I wrote; +and also that which I received, immediately after it was brought. + +The day after the receipt of this letter I was, as I have before said, +unheard, unaccused, unjudged, conducted like a criminal from the army, by +fifty hussars, and imprisoned in the fortress of Glatz. I was allowed to +take three horses, and my servants, but my whole equipage was left +behind, which I never saw more, and which became the booty of Jaschinsky. +My commission was given to Cornet Schatzel, and I cashiered without +knowing why. There were no legal inquiries made: all was done by the +King's command. + +Unhappy people! where power is superior to law, and where the innocent +and the virtuous meet punishment instead of reward. Unhappy land! where +the omnipotent "SUCH IS OUR WILL" supersedes all legal sentence, and robs +the subject of property, life, and honour. + +I once more repeat I was brought to the citadel of Glatz; I was not, +however, thrown into a dungeon, but imprisoned in a chamber of the +officer of the guard; was allowed my servants to wait on me, and +permitted to walk on the ramparts. + +I did not want money, and there was only a detachment from the garrison +regiment in the citadel of Glatz, the officers of which were all poor. I +soon had both friends and freedom, and the rich prisoner every day kept +open table. + +He only who had known me in this the ardour of my youth, who had +witnessed how high I aspired, and the fortune that attended me at Berlin, +can imagine what my feelings were at finding myself thus suddenly cast +from my high hopes. + +I wrote submissively to the King, requesting to be tried by a +court-martial, and not desiring any favour should I be found guilty. This +haughty tone, in a youth, was displeasing, and I received no answer, +which threw me into despair, and induced me to use every possible means +to obtain my liberty. + +My first care was to establish, by the intervention of an officer, a +certain correspondence with the object of my heart. She answered, she +was far from supposing I had ever entertained the least thought +treacherous to my country; that she knew, too well, I was perfectly +incapable, of dissimulation. She blamed the precipitate anger and unjust +suspicions of the King; promised me speedy aid, and sent me a thousand +ducats. + +Had I, at this critical moment, possessed a prudent and intelligent +friend, who could have calmed my impatience, nothing perhaps might have +been more easy than to have obtained pardon from the King, by proving my +innocence; or, it may be, than to have induced him to punish my enemies. + +But the officers who then were at Glatz fed the flame of discontent. They +supposed the money I so freely distributed came all from Hungary, +furnished by the pandour chest; and advised me not to suffer my freedom +to depend upon the will of the King, but to enjoy it in his despite. + +It was not more easy to give this advice than to persuade a man to take +it, who, till then, had never encountered anything but good fortune, and +who consequently supported the reverse with impatience. I was not yet, +however, determined; because I could not yet resolve to abandon my +country, and especially Berlin. + +Five months soon passed away in prison: peace was concluded; the King was +returned to his capital; my commission in the guards was bestowed on +another, when Lieutenant Piaschky, of the regiment of Fouquet, and Ensign +Reitz, who often mounted guard over me, proposed that they and I should +escape together. I yielded; our plan was fixed, and every preparatory +step taken. + +At that time there was another prisoner at Glatz, whose name was Manget, +by birth a Swiss, and captain of cavalry in the Natzmerschen hussars; he +had been broken, and condemned by a court-martial to ten years' +imprisonment, with an allowance of only four rix-dollars per month. + +Having done this man kindness, I was resolved to rescue him from bondage, +at the same time that I obtained freedom for myself. I communicated my +design, and made the proposal, which was accepted by him, and measures +were taken; yet were we betrayed by this vile man, who thus purchased +pardon and liberty. + +Piaschky, who had been informed that Reitz was arrested, saved himself by +deserting. I denied the fact in presence of Manget, with whom I was +confronted, and bribed the Auditor with a hundred ducats. By this means +Reitz only suffered a year's imprisonment, and the loss of his +commission. I was afterwards closely confined in a chamber, for having +endeavoured to corrupt the King's officers, and was guarded with greater +caution. + +Here I will interrupt my narrative, for a moment, to relate an adventure +which happened between me and this Captain Manget, three years after he +had thus betrayed me--that is to say, in 1749, at Warsaw. + +I there met him by chance, and it is not difficult to imagine what was +the salutation he received. I caned him; he took this ill, and +challenged me to fight with pistols. Captain Heucking, of the Polish +guards, was my second. We both fired together; I shot him through the +neck at the first shot, and he fell dead on the field. + +He alone, of all my enemies, ever died by my own hand; and he well +merited his end, for his cowardly treachery towards the two brave fellows +of whom I have spoken; and still more so with respect to myself, who had +been his benefactor. I own, I have never reproached myself for this +duel, by which I sent a rascal out of the world. + +I return to my tale. My destiny at Glatz was now become more untoward +and severe. The King's suspicions were increased, as likewise was his +anger, by this my late attempt to escape. + +Left to myself, I considered my situation in the worst point of view, and +determined either on flight or death. The length and closeness of my +confinement became insupportable to my impatient temper. + +I had always had the garrison on my side, nor was it possible to prevent +my making friends among them. They knew I had money, and, in a poor +garrison regiment, the officers of which are all dissatisfied, having +most of them been drafted from other corps, and sent thither as a +punishment, there was nothing that might not be undertaken. + +My scheme was as follows:--My window looked towards the city, and was +ninety feet from the ground in the tower of the citadel, out of which I +could not get, without having found a place of refuge in the city. + +This an officer undertook to procure me, and prevailed on an honest soap- +boiler to grant me a hiding place. I then notched my pen-knife, and +sawed through three iron bars; but this mode was too tedious, it being +necessary to file away eight bars from my window, before I could pass +through; another officer therefore procured me a file, which I was +obliged to use with caution, lest I should be overheard by the sentinels. + +Having ended this labour, I cut my leather portmanteau into thongs, sewed +them end to end, added the sheets of my bed, and descended safely from +this astonishing height. + +It rained, the night was dark, and all seemed fortunate, but I had to +wade through moats full of mud, before I could enter the city, a +circumstance I had never once considered. I sank up to the knees, and +after long struggling, and incredible efforts to extricate myself, I was +obliged to call the sentinel, and desire him to go and tell the governor, +Trenck was stuck fast in the moat. + +My misfortune was the greater on this occasion, because that General +Fouquet was then governor of Glatz. He was one of the cruellest of men. +He had been wounded by my father in a duel; and the Austrian Trenck had +taken his baggage in 1744, and had also laid the country of Glatz under +contribution. He was, therefore, an enemy to the very name of Trenck; +nor did he lose any opportunity of giving proofs of his enmity, and +especially on the present occasion, when he left me standing in the mire +till noon, the sport of the soldiers. I was then drawn out, half dead, +only again to be imprisoned, and shut up the whole day, without water to +wash me. No one can imagine how I looked, exhausted and dirty, my long +hair having fallen into the mud, with which, by my struggling, it was +loaded. + +I remained in this condition till the next day, when two fellow-prisoners +were sent to assist and clean me. + +My imprisonment now became more intolerable. I had still eighty louis- +d'ors in my purse, which had not been taken from me at my removal into +another dungeon, and these afterwards did me good service. + +The passions soon all assailed me at once, and impetuous, boiling, +youthful blood overpowered reason; hope disappeared; I thought myself the +most unfortunate of men, and my King an irreconcileable judge, more +wrathful and more fortified in suspicion by my own rashness. My nights +were sleepless, my days miserable; my soul was tortured by the desire of +fame; a consciousness of innocence was a continued stimulus inciting me +to end my misfortunes. Youth, inexperienced in woe and disastrous fate, +beholds every evil magnified, and desponds on every new disappointment, +more especially after having failed in attempting freedom. Education had +taught me to despise death, and these opinions had been confirmed by my +friend La Mettrie, author of the famous work, "L'Homme Machine," or "Man +a Machine." + +I read much during my confinement at Glatz, where books were allowed me; +time was therefore less tedious; but when the love of liberty awoke, when +fame and affection called me to Berlin, and my baulked hopes painted the +wretchedness of my situation; when I remembered that my loved country, +judging by appearances, could not but pronounce me a traitor; then was I +hourly impelled to rush on the naked bayonets of my guards, by whom, to +me, the road of freedom was barred. + +Big with such-like thoughts, eight days had not elapsed since my last +fruitless attempt to escape, when an event happened which would appear +incredible, were I, the principal actor in the scene, not alive to attest +its truth, and might not all Glatz and the Prussian garrison be produced +as eye and ear witnesses. This incident will prove that adventurous, and +even rash, daring will render the most improbable undertakings possible, +and that desperate attempts may often make a general more fortunate and +famous than the wisest and best concerted plans. + +Major Doo {2} came to visit me, accompanied by an officer of the guard, +and an adjutant. After examining every corner of my chamber, he +addressed me, taxing me with a second crime in endeavouring to obtain my +liberty; adding this must certainly increase the anger of the King. + +My blood boiled at the word crime; he talked of patience; I asked him how +long the King had condemned me to imprisonment; he answered, a traitor to +his country, who has correspondence with the enemy, cannot be condemned +for a certain time, but must depend for grace and pardon on the King. + +At that instant I snatched his sword from his side, on which my eyes had +some time been fixed, sprang out of the door, tumbled the sentinel from +the top to the bottom of the stairs, passed the men who happened to be +drawn up before the prison door to relieve the guard, attacked them sword +in hand, threw them suddenly into surprise by the manner in which I laid +about me, wounded four of them, made way through the rest, sprang over +the breastwork of the ramparts, and, with my sword drawn in my hand, +immediately leaped this astonishing height without receiving the least +injury. I leaped the second wall with equal safety and good fortune. +None of their pieces were loaded; no one durst leap after me, and in +order to pursue, they must go round through the town and gate of the +citadel; so that I had the start full half an hour. + +A sentinel, however, in a narrow passage, endeavoured to oppose my +flight, but I parried his fixed bayonet, and wounded him in the face. A +second sentinel, meantime, ran from the outworks, to seize me behind, and +I, to avoid him, made a spring at the palisadoes; there I was unluckily +caught by the foot, and received a bayonet wound in the upper lip; thus +entangled, they beat me with the butt-end of their muskets, and dragged +me back to prison, while I struggled and defended myself like a man grown +desperate. + +Certain it is, had I more carefully jumped the palisadoes, and despatched +the sentinel who opposed me, I might have escaped, and gained the +mountains. Thus might I have fled to Bohemia, after having, at noonday, +broken from the fortress of Glatz, sprung past all its sentinels, over +all its walls, and passed with impunity, in despite of the guard, who +were under arms, ready to oppose me. I should not, having a sword, have +feared any single opponent, and was able to contend with the swiftest +runners. + +That good fortune which had so far attended me forsook me at the +palisadoes, where hope was at an end. The severities of imprisonment +were increased; two sentinels and an under officer were locked in with +me, and were themselves guarded by sentinels without; I was beaten and +wounded by the butt-ends of their muskets, my right foot was sprained, I +spat blood, and my wounds were not cured in less than a month. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +I was now first informed that the King had only condemned me to a year's +imprisonment, in order to learn whether his suspicions were well founded. +My mother had petitioned for me, and was answered, "Your son must remain +a year imprisoned, as a punishment for his rash correspondence." + +Of this I was ignorant, and it was reported in Glatz that my imprisonment +was for life. I had only three weeks longer to repine for the loss of +liberty, when I made this rash attempt. What must the King think? Was +he not obliged to act with this severity? How could prudence excuse my +impatience, thus to risk a confiscation, when I was certain of receiving +freedom, justification, and honour, in three weeks? But, such was my +adverse fate, circumstances all tended to injure and persecute me, till +at length I gave reason to suppose I was a traitor, notwithstanding the +purity of my intentions. + +Once more, then, was I in a dungeon, and no sooner was I there than I +formed new projects of flight. I first gained the intimacy of my guards. +I had money, and this, with the compassion I had inspired, might effect +anything among discontented Prussian soldiers. Soon had I gained thirty- +two men, who were ready to execute, on the first signal, whatever I +should command. Two or three excepted, they were unacquainted with each +other; they consequently could not all be betrayed at a time: had chosen +the sub-officer Nicholai to head them. + +The garrison consisted only of one hundred and twenty men from the +garrison regiment, the rest being dispersed in the county of Glatz, and +four officers, their commanders, three of whom were in my interest. +Everything was prepared; swords and pistols were concealed in the oven +which was in my prison. We intended to give liberty to all the +prisoners, and retire with drums beating into Bohemia. + +Unfortunately, an Austrian deserter, to whom Nicholai had imparted our +design, went and discovered our conspiracy. The governor instantly sent +his adjutant to the citadel, with orders that the officer on guard should +arrest Nicholai, and, with his men, take possession of the casement. + +Nicholai was on the guard, and the lieutenant was my friend, and being in +the secret, gave the signal that all was discovered. Nicholai only knew +all the conspirators, several of whom that day were on guard. He +instantly formed his resolution, leaped into the casement, crying, +"Comrades, to arms, we are betrayed!" All followed to the guard-house, +where they seized on the cartridges, the officer having only eight men, +and threatening to fire on whoever should offer resistance, came to +deliver me from prison; but the iron door was too strong, and the time +too short for that to be demolished. Nicholai, calling to me, bid me aid +them, but in vain: and perceiving nothing more could be done for me, this +brave man, heading nineteen others, marched to the gate of the citadel, +where there was a sub-officer and ten soldiers, obliged these to +accompany him, and thus arrived safely at Braunau, in Bohemia; for, +before the news was spread through the city, and men were collected for +the pursuit, they were nearly half-way on their journey. + +Two years after I met with this extraordinary man at Ofenbourg, where hue +was a writer: he entered immediately into my service, and became my +friend, but died some months after of a burning fever, at my quarters in +Hungary, at which I was deeply grieved, for his memory will be ever dear +to me. + +Now was I exposed to all the storms of ill-fortune: a prosecution was +entered against me as a conspirator, who wanted to corrupt the officers +and soldiers of the King. They commanded me to name the remaining +conspirators; but to these questions I made no answer, except by +steadfastly declaring I was an innocent prisoner, an officer unjustly +broken; unjustly, because I had never been brought to trial; that +consequently I was released from all my engagements; nor could it be +thought extraordinary that I should avail myself of that law of nature +which gives every man a right to defend his honour defamed, and seek by +every possible means to regain his liberty: that such had been my sole +purpose in every enterprise I had formed, and such should still continue +to be, for I was determined to persist, till I should either be crowned +with success, or lose my life in the attempt. + +Things thus remained: every precaution was taken except that I was not +put in irons; it being a law in Prussia that no gentleman or officer can +be loaded with chains, unless he has first for some crime been delivered +over to the executioner; and certainly this had not been my case. + +The soldiers were withdrawn from my chamber; but the greatest ill was I +had expended all my money, and my kind mistress, at Berlin, with whom I +had always corresponded, and which my persecutors could not prevent, at +last wrote-- + + "My tears flow with yours; the evil is without remedy--I dare no + more--escape if you can. My fidelity will ever be the same, when it + shall be possible for me to serve you.--Adieu, unhappy friend: you + merit a better fate." + +This letter was a thunderbolt:--my comfort, however, still was that the +officers were not suspected, and that it was their duty to visit my +chamber several times a day, and examine what passed: from which +circumstance I felt my hopes somewhat revive. Hence an adventure +happened which is almost unexampled in tales of knight-errantry. + +A lieutenant, whose name was Bach, a Dane by nation, mounted guard every +fourth day, and was the terror of the whole garrison; for, being a +perfect master of arms, he was incessantly involved in quarrels, and +generally left his marks behind him. He had served in two regiments, +neither of which would associate with him for this reason, and he had +been sent to the garrison regiment at Glatz as punishment. + +Bach one day, sitting beside me, related how, the evening before, he had +wounded a lieutenant, of the name of Schell, in the arm. I replied, +laughing, "Had I my liberty, I believe you would find some trouble in +wounding me, for I have some skill in the sword." The blood instantly +flew in his face; we split off a kind of pair of foils from an old door, +which had served me as a table, and at the first lunge I hit him on the +breast. + +His rage became ungovernable, and he left the prison. What was my +astonishment when, a moment after, I saw him return with two soldiers' +swords, which he had concealed under his coat.--"Now, then, boaster, +prove," said he, giving me one of them, "what thou art able to do." I +endeavoured to pacify him, by representing the danger, but ineffectually. +He attacked me with the utmost fury, and I wounded him in the arm. + +Throwing his sword down, he fell upon my neck, kissed me, and wept. At +length, after some convulsive emotions of pleasure, he said, "Friend, +thou art my master; and thou must, thou shalt, by my aid, obtain thy +liberty, as certainly as my name is Bach." We bound up his arm as well +as we could. He left me, and secretly went to a surgeon, to have it +properly dressed, and at night returned. + +He now remarked, that it was humanly impossible I should escape, unless +the officer on guard should desert with me;--that he wished nothing more +ardently than to sacrifice his life in my behalf, but that he could not +resolve so far to forget his honour and duty to desert, himself, while on +guard: he notwithstanding gave me his word of honour he would find me +such a person in a few days; and that, in the meantime, he would prepare +everything for my flight. + +He returned the same evening, bringing with him Lieutenant Schell, and as +he entered said, "Here is your man." Schell embraced me, gave his word +of honour, and thus was the affair settled, and as it proved, my liberty +ascertained. + +We soon began to deliberate on the means necessary to obtain our purpose. +Schell was just come from garrison at Habelchwert to the citadel of +Glatz, and in two days was to mount guard over me, till when our attempt +was suspended. I have before said, I received no more supplies from my +beloved mistress, and my purse at that time only contained some six +pistoles. It was therefore resolved that Bach should go to Schweidnitz, +and obtain money of a sure friend of mine in that city. + +Here must I inform the reader that at this period the officers and I all +understood each other, Captain Roder alone excepted, who was exact, +rigid, and gave trouble on all occasions. + +Major Quaadt was my kinsman, by my mother's side, a good, friendly man, +and ardently desirous I should escape, seeing my calamities were so much +increased. The four lieutenants who successively mounted guard over me +were Bach, Schroeder, Lunitz, and Schell. The first was the grand +projector, and made all preparations; Schell was to desert with me; and +Schroeder and Lunitz three days after were to follow. + +No one ought to be surprised that officers of garrison regiments should +be so ready to desert. They are, in general, either men of violent +passions, quarrelsome, overwhelmed with debts, or unfit for service. They +are usually sent to the garrison as a punishment, and are called the +refuse of the army. Dissatisfied with their situation, their pay much +reduced, and despised by the troops, such men, expecting advantage, may +be brought to engage in the most desperate undertaking. None of them can +hope for their discharge, and they live in the utmost poverty. They all +hoped by my means to better their fortune, I always having had money +enough; and, with money, nothing is more easy than to find friends, in +places where each individual is desirous of escaping from slavery. + +The talents of Schell were of a superior order; he spoke and wrote six +languages, and was well acquainted with all the fine arts. He had served +in the regiment of Fouquet, had been injured by his colonel, who was a +Pomeranian; and Fouquet, who was no friend to well-informed officers, had +sent him to a garrison regiment. He had twice demanded his dismissal, +but the King sent him to this species of imprisonment; he then determined +to avenge himself by deserting, and was ready to aid me in recovering my +freedom, that he might, by that means, spite Fouquet. + +I shall speak more hereafter of this extraordinary man, that I must not +in this place interrupt my story. We determined everything should be +prepared against the first time Schell mounted guard, and that our +project should be executed on our next. Thus, as he mounted guard every +four days, the eighth was to be that of our flight. + +The governor meantime had been informed how familiar I was become with +the officers, at which taking offence, he sent orders that my door should +no more be opened, but that I should receive my food through a small +window that had been made for the purpose. The care of the prison was +committed to the major, and he was forbidden to eat with me, under pain +of being broken. + +His precautions were ineffectual; the officers procured a false key, and +remained with me half the day and night. + +Captain Damnitz was imprisoned in an apartment by the side of mine. This +man had deserted from the Prussian service, with the money belonging to +his company, to Austria, where he obtained a commission in his cousin's +regiment, who having prevailed on him to serve as a spy, during the +campaign of 1744, he was taken in the Prussian territories, known, and +condemned to be hanged. + +Some Swedish volunteers, who were then in the army, interested themselves +in his behalf, and his sentence was changed to perpetual imprisonment, +with a sentence of infamy. + +This wretch, who two years after, by the aid of his protectors, not only +obtained his liberty but a lieutenant-colonel's commission, was the +secret spy of the major over the prisoners; and he remarked that, +notwithstanding the express prohibition laid on the officers, they still +passed the greater part of their time in my company. + +The 24th of December came, and Schell mounted guard. He entered my +prison immediately, where he continued a long time, and we made our +arrangements for flight when he next should mount guard. + +Lieutenant Schroeder that day dined with the governor, and heard orders +given to the adjutant that Schell should be taken from the guard, and put +under arrest. + +Schroeder, who was in the secret, had no doubt but that we were betrayed, +not knowing that the spy Damnitz had informed the governor that Schell +was then in my chamber. + +Schroeder, full of terror, came running to the citadel, and said to +Schell, "Save thyself, friend; all is discovered, and thou wilt instantly +be put under arrest." + +Schell might easily have provided for his own safety, by flying singly, +Schroeder having prepared horses, on one of which he himself offered to +accompany him into Bohemia. How did this worthy man, in a moment so +dangerous, act toward his friend? + +Running suddenly into my prison, he drew a corporal's sabre from under +his coat, and said, "Friend, we are betrayed; follow me, only do not +suffer me to fall alive into the hands of my enemies." + +I would have spoken: but interrupting me, and taking me by the hand, he +added, "Follow me; we have not a moment to lose." I therefore slipped on +my coat and boots, without having time to take the little money I had +left; and, as we went out of the prison, Schell said to the sentinel, "I +am taking the prisoner into the officer's apartment; stand where you +are." + +Into this room we really went, but passed out at the other door. The +design of Schell was to go under the arsenal, which was not far off, to +gain the covered way, leap the palisadoes, and afterwards escape after +the best manner we might. + +We had scarcely gone a hundred paces before we met the adjutant and Major +Quaadt. + +Schell started back, sprang upon the rampart, and leaped from the wall, +which was there not very high. I followed, and alighted unhurt, except +having grazed my shoulder. My poor friend was not so fortunate; having +put out his ankle. He immediately drew his sword, presented it to me, +and begged me to despatch him, and fly. He was a small, weak man: but, +far from complying with his request, I took him in my arms, threw him +over the palisadoes, afterwards got him on my back, and began to run, +without very well knowing which way I went. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +It may not be unnecessary to remark those fortunate circumstances that +favoured our enterprise. + +The sun had just set as we took to flight; the hoar frost fell. No one +would run the risk that we had done, by making so dangerous a leap. We +heard a terrible noise behind us. Everybody knew us; but before they +could go round the citadel, and through the town, in order to pursue us, +we had got a full half league. + +The alarm guns were fired before we were a hundred paces distant; at +which my friend was very much terrified, knowing that in such cases it +was generally impossible to escape from Glatz, unless the fugitives had +got the start full two hours before the alarm guns were heard; the passes +being immediately all stopped by the peasants and hussars, who are +exceedingly vigilant. No sooner is a prisoner missed than the gunner +runs from the guard-house, and fires the cannon on the three sides of the +fortress, which are kept loaded day and night for that purpose. + +We were not five hundred paces from the walls, when all before us and +behind us were in motion. It was daylight when we leaped, yet was our +attempt as fortunate as it was wonderful: this I attributed to my +presence of mind, and the reputation I had already acquired, which made +it thought a service of danger for two or three men to attack me. + +It was besides imagined we were well provided with arms for our defence; +and it was little suspected that Schell had only his sword, and I an old +corporal's sabre. + +Among the officers commanded to pursue us was Lieutenant Bart, my +intimate friend. Captain Zerbst, of the regiment of Fouquet, who had +always testified the kindness of a brother towards me, met us on the +Bohemian frontiers, and called to me, "Make to time left, brother, and +you will see some lone houses, which are on the Bohemian confines: the +hussars have ridden straight forward." He then passed on as if he had +not seen us. + +We had nothing to fear from the officers; for the intimacy between the +Prussian officers was at that time so great, and the word of honour so +sacred, that during my rigorous detention at Glatz I had been once six- +and-thirty hours hunting at Neurode, at the seat of Baron Stillfriede; +Lunitz had taken my place in the prison, which the major knew when he +came to make his visit. Hence may be conjectured how great was the +confidence in which the word of the unfortunate Trenck was held at Glatz, +since they did not fear letting him leave his dungeon, and hunt on the +very confines of Bohemia. This, too, shows the governor was deceived, in +despite of his watchfulness and order, and that a man of honour, with +money, and a good head and heart, will never want friends. + +These my memoirs will be the picture of what the national character then +was; and will prove that, with officers who lived like brothers, and held +their words so sacred, the great Frederick well might vanquish his +enemies. + +Arbitrary power has now introduced the whip of slavery, and mechanic +subordination has eradicated those noble and rational incitements to +concord and honour. Instead of which, mistrust and slavish fear having +arisen, the enthusiastic spirit of the Brandenburg warrior declines, and +into this error have most of the other European States fallen. + +Scarcely had I borne my friend three hundred paces before I set him down, +and I looked round me, but darkness came on so fast that I could see +neither town nor citadel; consequently, we ourselves could not be seen. + +My presence of mind did not forsake me: death or freedom was my +determination. "Where are we, Schell?" said I to my friend. "Where does +Bohemia lie? on which side is the river Neiss?" The worthy man could +make no answer: his mind was all confusion, and he despaired of our +escape: he still, however, entreated I would not let him be taken alive, +and affirmed my labour was all in vain. + +After having promised, by all that was sacred, I would save him from an +infamous death, if no other means were left, and thus raised his spirits, +he looked round, and knew, by some trees, we were not far from the city +gates. I asked him, "Where is the Neiss?" He pointed sideways--"All +Glatz has seen us fly towards the Bohemian mountains; it is impossible we +should avoid the hussars, the passes being all guarded, and we beset with +enemies." So saying, I took him on my shoulders, and carried him to the +Neiss; here we distinctly heard the alarm sounded in the villages, and +the peasants, who likewise were to form the line of desertion, were +everywhere in motion, and spreading the alarm. As it may not be known to +all my readers in what manner they proceed on these occasions in Prussia, +I will here give a short account of it. + +Officers are daily named on the parade whose duty it is to follow +fugitives as soon as the alarm-guns are fired. + +The peasants in the villages, likewise, are daily appointed to rim to the +guard of certain posts. The officers immediately fly to these posts to +see that the peasants do their duty, and prevent the prisoner's escape. +Thus does it seldom happen that a soldier can effect his escape unless he +be, at the very least, an hour on the road before the alarm-guns are +fired. + +I now return to my story. + +I came to the Neiss, which was a little frozen, entered it with my +friend, and carried him as long as I could wade, and when I could not +feel the bottom, which did not continue for more than a space of eighteen +feet, he clung round me, and thus we got safely to the other shore. + +My father taught all his sons to swim, for which I have often had to +thank him; since by means of this art, which is easily learnt in +childhood, I had on various occasions preserved my life, and was more +bold in danger. Princes who wish to make their subjects soldiers, should +have them educated so as to fear neither fire nor water. How great would +be the advantage of being able to cross a river with whole battalions, +when it is necessary to attack or retreat before the enemy, and when time +will not permit to prepare bridges! + +The reader will easily suppose swimming in the midst of December, and +remaining afterwards eighteen hours in the open air, was a severe +hardship. About seven o'clock the hoar-fog was succeeded by frost and +moonlight. The carrying of my friend kept me warm, it is true, but I +began to be tired, while he suffered everything that frost, the pain of a +dislocated foot (which I in vain endeavoured to reset), and the danger of +death from a thousand hands, could inflict. + +We were somewhat more tranquil, however, having reached the opposite +shore of the Neiss, since nobody would pursue us on the road to Silesia. +I followed the course of the river for half an hour, and having once +passed the first villages that formed the line of desertion, with which +Schell was perfectly acquainted, we in a lucky moment found a fisherman's +boat moored to the shore; into this we leaped, crossed the river again, +and soon gained the mountains. + +Here being come, we sat ourselves down awhile on the snow; hope revived +in our hearts, and we held council concerning how it was best to act. I +cut a stick to assist Schell in hopping forward as well as he could when +I was tired of carrying him; and thus we continued our route, the +difficulties of which were increased by the mountain snows. + +Thus passed the night; during which, up to the middle in snow, we made +but little way. There were no paths to be traced in the mountains, and +they were in many places impassable. Day at length appeared: we thought +ourselves near the frontiers, which are twenty English miles from Glatz, +when we suddenly, to our great terror, heard the city clock strike. + +Overwhelmed, as we were, by hunger, cold, fatigue, and pain, it was +impossible we should hold out through the day. After some consideration, +and another half-hour's labour, we came to a village at the foot of the +mountain, on the side of which, about three hundred paces from us, we +perceived two separate houses, which inspired us with a stratagem that +was successful. + +We lost our hats in leaping the ramparts; but Schell had preserved his +scarf and gorget, which would give him authority among the peasants. + +I then cut my finger, rubbed the blood over my face, my shirt, and my +coat, and bound up my head, to give myself the appearance of a man +dangerously wounded. + +In this condition I carried Schell to the end of the wood not far from +these houses; here he tied my hands behind my back, but so that I could +easily disengage them in ease of need: and hobbled after me, by aid of +his staff, calling for help. + +Two old peasants appeared, and Schell commanded them to run to the +village, and tell a magistrate to come immediately with a cart. "I have +seized this knave," added he, "who has killed my horse, and in the +struggle I have put out my ankle; however, I have wounded and bound him; +fly quickly, bring a cart, lest he should die before he is hanged." + +As for me, I suffered myself to be led, as if half-dead, into the house. +A peasant was despatched to the village. An old woman and a pretty girl +seemed to take great pity on me, and gave me some bread and milk: but how +great was our astonishment when the aged peasant called Schell by his +name, and told him he well knew we were deserters, having the night +before been at a neighbouring alehouse where the officer in pursuit of us +came, named and described us, and related the whole history of our +flight. The peasant knew Schell, because his son served in his company, +and had often spoken of him when he was quartered at Habelschwert. + +Presence of mind and resolution were all that were now left. I instantly +ran to the stable, while Schell detained the peasant in the chamber. He, +however, was a worthy man, and directed him to the road toward Bohemia. +We were still about some seven miles from Glatz, having lost ourselves +among the mountains, where we had wandered many miles. The daughter +followed me: I found three horses in the stable, but no bridles. I +conjured her, in the most passionate manner, to assist me: she was +affected, seemed half willing to follow me, and gave me two bridles. I +led the horses to the door, called Schell, and helped him, with his lame +leg, on horseback. The old peasant then began to weep, and beg I would +not take his horses; but he luckily wanted courage, and perhaps the will +to impede us; for with nothing more than a dung-fork, in our then feeble +condition, he might have stopped us long enough to have called in +assistance from the village. + +And now behold us on horseback, without hats or saddles; Schell with his +uniform scarf and gorget, and I in my red regimental coat. Still we were +in danger of seeing all our hopes vanish, for my horse would not stir +from the stable; however, at last, good horseman-like, I made him move: +Schell led the way, and we had scarcely gone a hundred paces, before we +perceived the peasants coming in crowds from the village. + +As kind fortune would have it, the people were all at church, it being a +festival: the peasants Schell had sent were obliged to call aid out of +church. It was but nine in the morning; and had the peasants been at +home, we had been lost past redemption. + +We were obliged to take the road to Wunshelburg, and pass through the +town where Schell had been quartered a month before, and in which he was +known by everybody. Our dress, without hats or saddles, sufficiently +proclaimed we were deserters: our horses, however, continued to go +tolerably well, and we had the good luck to get through the town, +although there was a garrison of one hundred and eighty infantry, and +twelve horse, purposely to arrest deserters. Schell knew the road to +Brummem, where we arrived at eleven o'clock, after having met, as I +before mentioned, Captain Zerbst. + +He who has been in the same situation only can imagine, though he never +can describe, all the joy we felt. An innocent man, languishing in a +dungeon, who by his own endeavours, has broken his chains, and regained +his liberty, in despite of all the arbitrary power of princes, who vainly +would oppose him, conceives in moments like these such an abhorrence of +despotism, that I could not well comprehend how I ever could resolve to +live under governments where wealth, content, honour, liberty, and life +all depend upon a master's will, and who, were his intentions the most +pure, could not be able, singly, to do justice to a whole nation. + +Never did I, during life, feel pleasure more exquisite than at this +moment. My friend for me had risked a shameful death, and now, after +having carried him at least twelve hours on my shoulders, I had saved +both him and myself. We certainly should not have suffered any man to +bring us, alive, back to Glatz. Yet this was but the first act of the +tragedy of which I was doomed the hero, and the mournful incidents of +which all arose out of, and depended on, each other. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty years' +fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly should not have +rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz. One year's patience might have +appeased the irritated monarch, and, taking a retrospect of all that has +passed, I now find it would have been a fortunate circumstance, had the +good and faithful Schell and I never met, since he also fell into a train +of misfortunes, which I shall hereafter relate, and from which he could +never extricate himself, but by death. The sufferings which I have since +undergone will be read with astonishment. + +It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature justify the +action. I may serve as an example of the fortitude with which danger +ought to be encountered, and show monarchs that in Germany, as well as in +Rome, there are men who refuse to crouch beneath the yoke of despotism, +and that philosophy and resolution are stronger than even those lords of +slaves, with all their threats, whips, tortures, and instruments of +death. + +In Prussia, where my sufferings might have made me supposed the worst of +traitors, is my innocence universally acknowledged; and instead of +contempt, there have I gained the love of the whole nation, which is the +best compensation for all the ills I have suffered, and for having +persevered in the virtuous principles taught me in my youth, persecuted +as I have been by envy and malicious power. I have not time further to +moralise; the numerous incidents of my life would otherwise swell this +volume to too great an extent. + +Thus in freedom at Braunau, on the Bohemian frontiers, I sent the two +horses, with the corporal's sword, back to General Fouquet, at Glatz. The +letter accompanying them was so pleasing to him that all the sentinels +before my prison door, as well as the guard under arms, and all those we +passed, were obliged to run the gauntlet, although the very day before he +had himself declared my escape was now rendered impossible. He, however, +was deceived; and thus do the mean revenge themselves on the miserable, +and the tyrant on the innocent. + +And now for the first time did I quit my country, and fly like Joseph +from the pit into which his false brethren had cast him; and in this the +present moment of joy for my escape, the loss even of friends and country +appeared to me the excess of good fortune. + +The estates which had been purchased by the blood of my forefathers were +confiscated; and thus was a youth, of one of the noblest families in the +land, whose heart was all zeal for the service of his King and country, +and who was among those most capable to render them service, banished by +his unjust and misled King, and treated like the worst of miscreants, +malefactors, and traitors. + +I wrote to the King, and sent him a true state of my case; sent +indubitable proofs of my innocence, and supplicated justice, but received +no answer. + +In this the monarch may be justified, at least in my apprehension. A +wicked man had maliciously and falsely accused me; Colonel Jaschinsky had +made him suspect me for a traitor, and it was impossible he should read +my heart. The first act of injustice had been hastily committed; I had +been condemned unheard, unjudged; and the injustice that had been done me +was known too late; Frederic the Great found he was not infallible. +Pardon I would not ask, for I had committed no offence; and the King +would not probably own, by a reverse of conduct, he had been guilty of +injustice. My resolution increased his obstinacy: but, in the discussion +of the cause, our power was very unequal. + +The monarch once really loved me; he meant my punishment should only be +temporary, and as a trial of my fidelity. That I had been condemned to +no more than a year's imprisonment had never been told me, and was a fact +I did not learn till long after. + +Major Doo, who, as I have said, was the creature of Fouquet, a mean and +covetous man, knowing I had money, had always acted the part of a +protector as he pretended to me, and continually told me I was condemned +for life. He perpetually turned the conversation on the great credit of +his general with the King, and his own great credit with the general. For +the present of a horse, on which I rode to Glatz, he gave me freedom of +walking about the fortress; and for another, worth a hundred ducats, I +rescued Ensign Reitz from death, who had been betrayed when endeavouring +to effect our escape. I have been assured that on that very day on which +I snatched his sword from his side, desperately passed through the +garrison, and leaped the walls of the rampart, he was expressly come to +tell me, after some prefatory threats, that by his general's +intercession, my punishment was only to be a year's imprisonment, and +that consequently I should be released in a few days. + +How vile were means like these to wrest money from the unfortunate! The +King, after this my mad flight, certainly was never informed of the +major's base cunning; he could only be told that, rather than wait a few +days, I had chosen, in this desperate manner, to make my escape, and go +over to the enemy. + +Thus deceived and strengthened in his suspicion, must he not imagine my +desire to forsake my country, and desert to the enemy, was unbounded? How +could he do otherwise than imprison a subject who thus endeavoured to +injure him and aid his foes? Thus, by the calumnies of wicked men, did +my cruel destiny daily become more severe; and at length render the +deceived monarch irreconcilable and cruel. + +Yet how could it be supposed that I would not willingly have remained +three weeks longer in prison, to have been honourably restored to +liberty, to have prevented the confiscation of my estate, and to have +once more returned to my beloved mistress at Berlin. + +And now was I in Bohemia, a fugitive stranger without money, protector, +or friend, and only twenty years of age. + +In the campaign of 1744 I had been quartered at Braunau with a weaver, +whom I advised and assisted to bury his effects, and preserve them from +being plundered. The worthy man received us with joy and gratitude. I +had lived in this same house but two years before as absolute master of +him and his fate. I had then nine horses and five servants, with the +highest and most favourable hopes of futurity; but now I came a fugitive, +seeking protection, and having lost all a youth like me had to lose. + +I had but a single louis-d'or in my purse, and Schell forty kreutzers, or +some three shillings; with this small sum, in a strange country, we had +to cure his sprain, and provide for all our wants. + +I was determined not to go to my cousin Trenck at Vienna, fearful this +should seem a justification of all my imputed treasons; I rather wished +to embark for the East Indies, than to have recourse to this expedient. +The greater my delicacy was the greater became my distress. I wrote to +my mistress at Berlin, but received no answer; possibly because I could +not indicate any certain mode of conveyance. My mother believed me +guilty, and abandoned me; my brothers were still minors, and my friend at +Schweidnitz could not aid me, being gone to Konigsberg. + +After three weeks' abode at Braunau, my friend recovered of his lameness. +We had been obliged to sell my watch, with his scarf and gorget, to +supply our necessities, and had only four florins remaining. + +From the public papers I learned my cousin, the Austrian Trenck, was at +this time closely confined, and under criminal prosecution. It will +easily be imagined what effect this news had upon me. + +Never till now had I felt any inconvenience from poverty; my wants had +all been amply supplied, and I had ever lived among, and been highly +loved and esteemed by, the first people of the land. I was destitute, +without aid, and undetermined how to seek employment, or obtain fame. + +At length I determined to travel on foot to Prussia to my mother, and +obtain money from her, and afterwards enter into the Russian service. +Schell, whose destiny was linked to mine, would not forsake me. We +assumed false names: I called myself Knert, and Schell, Lesch; then, +obtaining passports, like common deserters, we left Braunau on the 21st +of January, in the evening, unseen of any person, and proceeded towards +Bielitz in Poland. A friend I had at Neurode gave me a pair of pocket +pistols, a musket, and three ducats; the money was spent at Braunau. Here +let me take occasion to remark I had lent this friend, in urgent +necessity, a hundred ducats, which he still owed me; and when I sent to +request payment, he returned me three, as if I had asked charity. + +Though a circumstantial description of our travels alone would fill a +volume, I shall only relate the most singular accidents which happened to +us; I shall also insert the journal of our route, which Schell had +preserved, and gave me in 1776, when he came to see me at +Aix-la-Chapelle, after an absence of thirty years. + +This may be called the first scene in which I appeared as an adventurer, +and perhaps my good fortune may even have overbalanced the bad, since I +have escaped death full thirty times when the chances were a hundred to +one against me; certain it is I undertook many things in which I seemed +to have owed my preservation to the very rashness of the action, and in +which others equally brave would have found death. + + + +JOURNAL OF TRAVELS ON FOOT. + + +From Braunau, in Bohemia, through Bielitz, in Poland, to Meseritsch, and +from Meseritsch, by Thorn, to Ebling; in the whole 169 miles, {3} +performed without begging or stealing. + +January 18th, 1747.--From Braunau, by Politz, to Nachod, three miles, we +having three florins forty-five kreutzers in our purse. + +Jan. 19.--To Neustadt. Here Schell bartered his uniform for an old coat, +and a Jew gave him two florins fifteen kreutzers in exchange; from hence +we went to Reichenau; in all, three miles. + +Jan. 20.--We went to Leitomischl, five miles. Here I bought a loaf hot +out of the oven, which eating greedily, had nearly caused my death. This +obliged us to rest a day, and the extravagant charge of the landlord +almost emptied our purse. + +Jan. 22.--From Trubau, to Zwittau, in Moravia, four miles. + +Jan. 23.--To Sternberg, six miles. This day's journey excessively +fatigued poor Schell, his sprained ankle being still extremely weak. + +Jan. 24.--To Leipnik, four miles, in a deep snow, and with empty +stomachs. Here I sold my stock-buckle for four florins. + +Jan. 25.--To Freiberg, by Weiskirch, to Drahotusch, five miles. Early in +the morning we found a violin and case on the road; the innkeeper in +Weiskirch gave us two florins for it, on condition that he should return +it to the owner on proving his right, it being worth at least twenty. + +Jan. 26.--To Friedek, in Upper Silesia, two miles. + +Jan. 27.--To a village, four miles and a half. + +Jan. 28.--Through Skotschau, to Bielitz, three miles. This was the last +Austrian town on the frontiers of Poland, and Captain Capi, of the +regiment of Marischall, who commanded the garrison, demanded our +passports. We had false names, and called ourselves common Prussian +deserters; but a drummer, who had deserted from Glatz, knew us, and +betrayed us to the captain, who immediately arrested us very rudely, and +sent us on foot to Teschin (refusing us a hearing), four miles distant. + +Here we found Lieut.-Colonel Baron Schwarzer, a perfectly worthy man, who +was highly interested in our behalf, and who blamed the irregular +arbitrary conduct of Captain Capi. I frankly related my adventures, and +he used every possible argument to persuade me, instead of continuing my +journey through Poland to go to Vienna, but in vain; my good genius, this +time, preserved me--would to God it ever had! How many miseries had I +then avoided, and how easily might I have escaped the snares spread for +me by the powerful, who have seized on my property, and in order to +secure it, have hitherto rendered me useless to the state by depriving me +of all post or preferment. + +I returned, therefore, a second time to Beilitz, travelling these four +miles once more. Schwarzer lent us his own horse and four ducats, which +I have since repaid, but which I shall never forget, as they were of +signal service to me, and procured me a pair of new boots. + +Irritated against Captain Capi, we passed through Beilitz without +stopping, went immediately to Biala, the first town in Poland, and from +thence sent Capi a challenge to fight me, with sword or pistol, but +received no answer; and his non-appearance has ever confirmed him in my +opinion a rascal. + +And here suffer me to take a retrospective view of what was my then +situation. By the orders of Capi I was sent prisoner as a contemptible +common deserter, and was unable to call him to account. In Poland, +indeed, I had that power, but was despised as a vagabond because of my +poverty. What, alas! are the advantages which the love of honour, +science, courage, or desire of fame can bestow, wanting the means that +should introduce us to, and bid us walk erect in the presence of our +equals? Youth depressed by poverty, is robbed of the society of those +who best can afford example and instruction. I had lived familiar with +the great, men of genius had formed and enlightened me; I had been +enumerated among the favourites of a court; and now was I a stranger, +unknown, unesteemed, nay, condemned, obliged to endure the extremes of +cold, hunger, and thirst; to wander many a weary mile, suffering both in +body and mind, while every step led me farther from her whom most I +loved, and dearest; yet had I no fixed plan, no certain knowledge in what +these my labours and sufferings should end. + +I was too proud to discover myself; and, indeed, to whom could I discover +myself in a strange land? My name might have availed me in Austria, but +in Austria, where this name was known, would I not remain; rather than +seek my fortune there, I was determined to shun whatever might tend to +render me suspicious in the eyes of my country. How liable was a temper +so ardent as mine, in the midst of difficulties, fatigues, and +disappointments, hard to endure, to betray me into all those errors of +which rash youth, unaccustomed to hardship, impatient of contrariety, are +so often guilty! But I had taken my resolution, and my faithful Schell, +to whom hunger or ease, contempt or fame, for my sake, were become +indifferent, did whatever I desired. + +Once more to my journal. + +Feb. 1.--We proceeded four miles from Biala to Oswintzen, I having +determined to ask aid from my sister, who had married Waldow, and lived +much at her case on a fine estate at Hanmer, in Brandenburg, between +Lansberg, on the Warta and Meseritsch, a frontier town of Poland. For +this reason we continued our route all along the Silesian confines to +Meseritsch. + +Feb. 2.--To Bobrek and Elkusch, five miles. We suffered much this day +because of the snow, and that the lightness of our dress was ill suited +to such severe weather. Schell, negligently, lost our purse, in which +were nine florins. I had still, however, nineteen grosch in my pocket +(about half-a-crown). + +Feb. 3.--To Crumelew, three miles; and + +Feb. 4.--To Wladowiegud Joreck, three miles more; and from thence, on. + +Feb. 5.--To Czenstochowa, where there is a magnificent convent, +concerning which, had I room, I might write many remarkable things, much +to the disgrace of its inhabitants. + +We slept at an inn kept by a very worthy man, whose name was Lazar. He +had been a lieutenant in the Austrian service, where he had suffered +much, and was now become a poor innkeeper in Poland. We had not a penny +in our purse, and requested a bit of bread. The generous man had +compassion on us, and desired us to sit down and eat with himself. I +then told him who we were, and trusted him with the motives of our +journey. Scarcely had we supped, before a carriage arrived with three +people. They had their own horses, a servant and a coachman. + +This is a remarkable incident, and I must relate it circumstantially, +though as briefly as possible. + +We had before met this carriage at Elkusch, and one of these people had +asked Schell where we were going; he had replied, to Czenstochowa; we +therefore had not the least suspicion of them, notwithstanding the danger +we ran. + +They lay at the inn, saluted us, but with indifference, not seeming to +notice us, and spoke little. We had not been long in bed, before our +host came to awaken us, and told us with surprise, these pretended +merchants were sent to arrest us from Prussia; that they had offered, +first, fifty, afterwards, a hundred ducats, if he would permit them to +take us in his house, and carry us into Silesia: that he had firmly +rejected the proposal, though they had increased their promises: and that +at last they had given him six ducats to engage his silence. + +We clearly saw these were an officer and under-officers sent by General +Fouquet, to recover us. We conjectured by what means they had discovered +our route, and imagined the information they had received could only come +from one Lieutenant Molinie, of the garrison of Habelschwert, who had +come to visit Schell, as a friend, during our stay at Braunau. He had +remained with us two days, and had asked many questions concerning the +road we should take, and he was the only one who knew it. He was +probably the spy of Fouquet, and the cause of what happened afterwards, +which, however, ended in the defeat of our enemies. + +The moment I heard of this infamous treachery, I was for entering with my +pistols primed, into the enemy's chamber, but was prevented by Schell and +Lazar: the latter entreated me, in the strongest manner, to remain at his +house till I should receive a supply from my mother, that I might be +enabled to continue my journey with more ease and less danger: but his +entreaties were ineffectual; I was determined to see her, uncertain as I +was of what effect my letter had produced. Lazar assured me, we should, +most infallibly, be attacked on the road. "So much the better," retorted +I; "that will give me an opportunity of despatching them, sending them to +the other world, and shooting them as I would highwayman." They departed +at break of day, and took the road to Warsaw. + +We would have been gone, likewise, but Lazar, in some sort, forcibly +detained us, and gave us the six ducats he had received from the +Prussians, with which we bought us each a shirt, another pair of pocket +pistols, and other urgent necessaries; then took an affectionate leave of +our host, who directed us on our way, and we testified our gratitude for +the great services done us. + +Feb. 6.--From Czenstochowa to Dankow, two miles. Here we expected an +attack. Lazar had told us our enemies had one musket: I also had a +musket, and an excellent sabre, and each of us was provided with a pair +of pistols. They knew not we were so well armed, which perhaps was the +cause of their panic, when they came to engage. + +Feb. 7.--We took the road to Parsemechi: we had not been an hour on the +road, before we saw a carriage; as we drew near, we knew it to be that of +our enemies, who pretended it was set in the snow. They were round it, +and when they saw us approach, began to call for help. This, we guessed, +was an artifice to entrap us. Schell was not strong; they would all have +fallen upon me, and we should easily have been carried off, for they +wanted to take us alive. + +We left the causeway about thirty paces, answering--"we had not time to +give them help;" at which they all ran to their carriage, drew out their +pistols, and returning full speed after us, called, "Stop, rascals!" We +began to run, but I suddenly turning round, presented my piece, and shot +the nearest dead on the spot. Schell fired his pistols; our oppressors +did the same, and Schell received a ball in the neck at this discharge. +It was now my turn; I took out my pistols, one of the assailants fled, +and I enraged, pursued him three hundred paces, overtook him, and as he +was defending himself with his sword, perceiving he bled, and made a +feeble resistance, pressed upon him, and gave him a stroke that brought +him down. I instantly returned to Schell, whom I found in the power of +two others that were dragging him towards the carriage, but when they saw +me at their heels, they fled over the fields. The coachman, perceiving +which way the battle went, leaped on his box, and drove off full speed. + +Schell, though delivered, was wounded with a ball in the neck, and by a +cut in the right hand, which had made him drop his sword, though he +affirmed he had run one of his adversaries through. + +I took a silver watch from the man I had killed, and was going to make +free with his purse, when Schell called, and showed me a coach and six +coming down a hill. To stay would have exposed us to have been +imprisoned as highwaymen; for the two fugitives who had escaped us would +certainly have borne witness against us. Safety could only be found in +flight. I, however, seized the musket and hat of him I had first killed, +and we then gained the copse, and after that the forest. The road was +round about, and it was night before we reached Parsemechi. + +Schell was besmeared with blood; I had bound up his wound the best I +could; but in Polish villages no surgeons are to be found: and he +performed his journey with great difficulty. We met with two Saxon under- +officers here, who were recruiting for the regiment of guards at Dresden. +My six feet height and person pleased them, and they immediately made +themselves acquainted with me. I found them intelligent, and entrusted +them with our secret, told them who we were, related the battle we had +that day had with our pursuers, and I had not reason to repent of my +confidence in them. Schell had his wounds dressed, and we remained seven +days with these good Saxons, who faithfully kept us company. + +I learned, meantime, that of the four men by whom we had been assaulted, +one only, and the coachman, returned to Glatz. The name of the officer +who undertook this vile business was Gersdorf; he had a hundred and fifty +ducats in his pocket when found dead. How great would our good fortune +have been, had not that cursed coach and six, by its appearance, made us +take to flight; since the booty would have been most just! Fortune, this +time, did not favour the innocent; and though treacherously attacked, I +was obliged to escape like a guilty wretch. We sold the watch to a Jew +for four ducats, the hat for three florins and a half, and the musket for +a ducat, Schell being unable to carry it farther. We left most of this +money behind us at Parsemechi. A Jew surgeon sold us some dear +plaisters, which we took with us and departed. + +Feb. 15.--From Parsemechi, through Vielum, to Biala, four miles. + +Feb. 16.--Through Jerischow to Misorcen, four miles and a half. + +Feb. 17.--To Osterkow and Schwarzwald, three miles. + +Feb. 18.--To Sdune, four miles. + +Feb. 19.--To Goblin two miles. + +Here we arrived wholly destitute of money. I sold my coat to a Jew, who +gave me four florins and a coarse waggoner's frock, in exchange, which I +did not think I should long need, as we now drew nearer to where my +sister lived, and where I hoped I should be better equipped. Schell, +however, grew weaker and weaker; his wounds healed slowly, and were +expensive; the cold was also injurious to him, and, as he was not by +nature cleanly in his person, his body soon became the harbour of every +species of vermin to be picked up in Poland. We often arrived wet and +weary, to our smoky, reeking stove-room. Often were we obliged to lie on +straw, or bare boards; and the various hardships we suffered are almost +incredible. Wandering as we did, in the midst of winter, through Poland, +where humanity, hospitality, and gentle pity, are scarcely so much as +known by name; where merciless Jews deny the poor traveller a bed, and +where we disconsolately strayed, without bread, and almost naked: these +were sufferings, the full extent of which he only can conceive by whom +they have been felt. My musket now and then procured us an occasional +meal of tame geese, and cocks and hens, when these were to be had; +otherwise, we never took or touched anything that was not our own. We +met with Saxon and Prussian recruiters at various places; all of whom, on +account of my youth and stature, were eager to inveigle me. I was highly +diverted to hear them enumerate all the possibilities of future +greatness, and how liable I was hereafter to become a corporal: nor was I +less merry with their mead, ale, and brandy, given with an intent to make +me drunk. Thus we had many artifices to guard against; but thus had we +likewise, very luckily for us, many a good meal gratis. + +Feb. 21.--We went from Goblin to Pugnitz, three miles and a half. + +Feb. 22.--Through Storchnest to Schmiegel, four miles. + +Here happened a singular adventure. The peasants at this place were +dancing to a vile scraper on the violin: I took the instrument myself, +and played while they continued their hilarity. They were much pleased +with my playing: but when I was tired, and desired to have done, they +obliged me, first by importunities, and afterwards by threats, to play on +all night. I was so fatigued, I thought I should have fainted; at length +they quarrelled among themselves. Schell was sleeping on a bench, and +some of them fell upon his wounded hand: he rose furious: I seized our +arms, began to lay about me, and while all was in confusion, we escaped, +without further ill-treatment. + +What ample subject of meditation on the various turns of fate did this +night afford! But two years before I danced at Berlin with the daughters +and sisters of kings: and here was I, in a Polish hut, a ragged, almost +naked musician, playing for the sport of ignorant rustics, whom I was at +last obliged to fight. + +I was myself the cause of the trifling misfortune that befell me on this +occasion. Had not my vanity led me to show these poor peasants I was a +musician, I might have slept in peace and safety. The same vain desire +of proving I knew more than other men, made me through life the continued +victim of envy and slander. Had nature, too, bestowed on me a weaker or +a deformed body, I had been less observed, less courted, less sought, and +my adventures and mishaps had been fewer. Thus the merits of the man +often become his miseries; and thus the bear, having learned to dance, +must live and die in chains. + +This ardour, this vanity, or, if you please, this emulation, has, +however, taught me to vanquish a thousand difficulties, under which +others of cooler passions and more temperate desires would have sunk. May +my example remain a warning; and thus may my sufferings become somewhat +profitable to the world, cruel as they have been to myself! Cruel they +were, and cruel they must continue; for the wounds I have received are +not, will not, cannot be healed. + +Feb. 23.--From Schmiegel to Rakonitz, and from thence to Karger Holland, +four miles and a half. Here we sold, to prevent dying of hunger, a shirt +and Schell's waistcoat for eighteen grosch, or nine schostacks. I had +shot a pullet the day before, which necessity obliged us to eat raw. I +also killed a crow, which I devoured alone, Schell refusing to taste. +Youth and hard travelling created a voracious appetite, and our eighteen +grosch were soon expended. + +Feb. 24.--We came through Benzen to Lettel, four miles. Here we halted a +day, to learn the road to Hammer, in Brandenburg, where my sister lived. +I happened luckily to meet with the wife of a Prussian soldier who lived +at Lettel, and belonged to Kolschen, where she was born a vassal of my +sister's husband. I told her who I was, and she became our guide. + +Feb. 26.--To Kurschen and Falkenwalde. + +Feb. 27.--Through Neuendorf and Oost, and afterwards through a pathless +wood, five miles and a half to Hammer, and here I knocked at my sister's +door at nine o'clock in the evening. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +A maidservant came to the door, whom I knew; her name was Mary, and she +had been born and brought up in my father's house. She was terrified at +seeing a sturdy fellow in a beggar's dress; which perceiving, I asked, +"Molly, do not you know me?" She answered, "No;" and I then discovered +myself to her. I asked whether my brother-in-law was at home. Mary +replied, "Yes; but he is sick in bed." "Tell my sister, then," said I, +"that I am here." She showed me into a room, and my sister presently +came. + +She was alarmed at seeing me, not knowing that I had escaped from Glatz, +and ran to inform her husband, but did not return. + +A quarter of an hour after the good Mary came weeping, and told us her +master commanded us to quit the premises instantly, or he should be +obliged to have us arrested, and delivered up as prisoners. My sister's +husband forcibly detained her, and I saw her no more. + +What my feelings must be, at such a moment, let the reader imagine. I +was too proud, too enraged, to ask money; I furiously left the house, +uttering a thousand menaces against its inhabitants, while the +kind-hearted Mary, still weeping, slipped three ducats into my hand, +which I accepted. + +And, now behold us once more in the wood, which was not above a hundred +paces from the house, half dead with hunger and fatigue, not daring to +enter any habitation, while in the states of Brandenburg, and dragging +our weary steps all night through snow and rain, until our guide at +length brought us back, at daybreak, once again to the town of Lettel. + +She herself wept in pity at our fate, and I could only give her two +ducats for the danger she had run; but I bade her hope more in future; +and I afterwards sent for her to Vienna, in 1751, where I took great care +of her. She was about fifty years of age, and died my servant in +Hungary, some weeks before my unfortunate journey to Dantzic, where I +fell into my enemies' hands, and remained ten years a prisoner at +Magdeburg. + +We had scarcely reached the wood, before, in the anguish of my heart, I +exclaimed to Schell, "Does not such a sister, my friend, deserve I should +fire her house over her head?" The wisdom of moderation, and calm +forbearance, was in Schell a virtue of the highest order; he was my +continual mentor; my guide, whenever my choleric temperament was disposed +to violence. I therefore honour his ashes; he deserved a better fate. + +"Friend," said he, on this occasion, "reflect that your sister may be +innocent, may be withheld by her husband; besides, should the King +discover we had entered her doors, and she had not delivered us again +into his power, she might become as miserable as we were. Be more noble +minded, and think that even should your sister be wrong, the time may +come when her children may stand in need of your assistance, and you may +have the indescribable pleasure of returning good for evil." + +I never shall forget this excellent advice, which in reality was a +prophecy. My rich brother-in-law died, and, during the Russian war, his +lands and houses were laid desolate and in ruins; and, nineteen years +afterwards, when released from my imprisonment at Magdeburg, I had an +opportunity of serving the children of my sister. Such are the turns of +fate; and thus do improbabilities become facts. + +My sister justified her conduct; Schell had conjectured the truth; for +ten years after I was thus expelled her house, she showed, during my +imprisonment, she was really a sister. She was shamefully betrayed by +Weingarten, secretary to the Austrian ambassador at Berlin; lost a part +of her property, and at length her life fell an innocent sacrifice to her +brother. + +This event, which is interwoven with my tragical history, will be related +hereafter: my heart bleeds, my very soul shudders, when I recollect this +dreadful scene. + +I have not the means fully to recompense her children; and Weingarten, +the just object of vengeance, is long since in the grave; for did he +exist, the earth should not hide him from my sword. + +I shall now continue my journal: deceived in the aid I expected, I was +obliged to change my plan, and go to my mother, who lived in Prussia, +nine miles beyond Konigsberg. + +Feb. 28.--We continued, tired, anxious, and distressed, at Lettel. + +March 1.--We went three miles to Pleese, and on the 2nd, a mile and a +half farther to Meseritz. + +March 3.--Through Wersebaum to Birnbaum, three miles. + +March 4.--Through Zircke, Wruneck, Obestchow, to Stubnitz, seven miles, +in one day, three of which we had the good fortune to ride. + +March 5.--Three miles to Rogosen, where we arrived without so much as a +heller to pay our lodgings. The Jew innkeeper drove us out of his house; +we were obliged to wander all night, and at break of day found we had +strayed two miles out of the road. + +We entered a peasant's cottage, where an old woman was drawing bread hot +out of the oven. We had no money to offer, and I felt, at this moment, +the possibility even of committing murder, for a morsel of bread, to +satisfy the intolerable cravings of hunger. Shuddering, with torment +inexpressible, at the thought, I hastened out of the door, and we walked +on two miles more to Wongrofze. + +Here I sold my musket for a ducat, which had procured us many a meal: +such was the extremity of our distress. We then satiated our appetites, +after having been forty hours without food or sleep, and having travelled +ten miles in sleet and snow. + +March 6.--We rested, and came, on the 7th, through Genin, to a village in +the forest, four miles. + +Here we fell in with a gang of gipsies (or rather banditti) amounting to +four hundred men, who dragged me to their camp. They were mostly French +and Prussian deserters, and thinking me their equal, would force me to +become one of their hand. But, venturing to tell my story to their +leader, he presented me with a crown, gave us a small provision of bread +and meat, and suffered us to depart in peace, after having been four and +twenty hours in their company. + +March 9.--We proceeded to Lapuschin, three miles and a half; and the 10th +to Thorn, four miles. + +A new incident here happened, which showed I was destined, by fortune, to +a variety of adventures, and continually to struggle with new +difficulties. + +There was a fair held at Thorn on the day of our arrival. Suspicions +might well arise, among the crowd, on seeing a strong tall young man, +wretchedly clothed, with a large sabre by his side, and a pair of pistols +in his girdle, accompanied by another as poorly apparelled as himself, +with his hand and neck bound up, and armed likewise with pistols, so that +altogether he more resembled a spectre than a man. + +We went to an inn, but were refused entertainment: I then asked for the +Jesuits' college, where I inquired for the father rector. They supposed +at first I was a thief, come to seek an asylum. After long waiting and +much entreaty his jesuitical highness at length made his appearance, and +received me as the Grand Mogul would his slave. My case certainly was +pitiable: I related all the events of my life, and the purport of my +journey; conjured him to save Schell, who was unable to proceed further, +and whose wounds grew daily worse; and prayed him to entertain him at the +convent till I should have been to my mother, have obtained money, and +returned to Thorn, when I would certainly repay him whatever expense he +might have been at, with thanks and gratitude. + +Never shall I forget the haughty insolence of this priest. Scarcely +would he listen to my humble request; thou'd and interrupted me +continually, to tell me, "Be brief, I have more pressing affairs than +thine." In fine, I was turned away without obtaining the least aid; and +here I was first taught jesuitical pride; God help the poor and honest +man who shall need the assistance of Jesuits! They, like all other +monks, are seared to every sentiment of human pity, and commiserate the +distressed by taunts and irony. + +Four times in my life I have sought assistance and advice from convents, +and am convinced it is the duty of every honest man to aid in erasing +them from the face of the earth. + +They succour rascals and murderers, that their power may be idolised by +the ignorant, and ostentatiously exert itself to impede the course of law +and justice; but in vain do the poor and needy virtuous apply to them for +help. + +The reader will pardon my native hatred of hypocrisy and falsehood, +especially when he hears I have to thank the Jesuits for the loss of all +my great Hungarian estates. Father Kampmuller, the bosom friend of the +Count Grashalkowitz, was confessor to the court of Vienna, and there was +no possible kind of persecution I did not suffer from priestcraft. Far +from being useful members of society, they take advantage of the +prejudices of superstition, exist for themselves alone, and sacrifice +every duty to the support of their own hierarchy, and found a power, on +error and ignorance, which is destructive of all moral virtue. + +Let us proceed. Mournful and angry, I left the college, and went to my +lodging-house, where I found a Prussian recruiting-officer waiting for +me, who used all his arts to engage me to enlist; offering me five +hundred dollars, and to make me a corporal, if I could write. I +pretended I was a Livonian, who had deserted from the Austrians, to +return home, and claim an inheritance left me by my father. After much +persuasion, he at length told me in confidence, it was very well known in +the town that I was a robber; that I should soon be taken before a +magistrate, but that if I would enlist he would ensure my safety. + +This language was new to me; my passion rose instantaneously; I +remembered my name was Trenck, I struck him, and drew my sword; but, +instead of defending himself, he sprang out of the chamber, charging the +host not to let me quit the house. I knew the town of Thorn had agreed +with the King of Prussia, secretly, to deliver up deserters, and began to +fear the consequences. Looking through the window, I presently saw two +under Prussian officers enter the house. Schell and I instantly flew to +our arms, and met the Prussians at the chamber door. "Make way," cried +I, presenting my pistols. The Prussian soldiers drew their swords, but +retired with fear. Going out of the house, I saw a Prussian lieutenant, +in the street, with the town-guard. These I overawed, likewise, by the +same means, and no one durst oppose me, though every one cried, "Stop +thief!" I came safely, however, to the Jesuits' convent; but poor Schell +was taken, and dragged to prison like a malefactor. + +Half mad at not being able to rescue him, I imagined he must soon be +delivered up to the Prussians. My reception was much better at the +convent than it had been before, for they no longer doubted but I was +really a thief, who sought an asylum. I addressed myself to one of the +fathers, who appeared to be a good kind of a man, relating briefly what +had happened, and entreated he would endeavour to discover why they +sought to molest us. + +He went out, and returning in an hour after, told me, "Nobody knows you: +a considerable theft was yesterday committed at the fair: all suspicious +persons are seized; you entered the town accoutred like banditti. The +man where you put up is employed as a Prussian enlister, and has +announced you as suspicious people. The Prussian lieutenant therefore +laid complaint against you, and it was thought necessary to secure your +persons." + +My joy, at hearing this, was great. Our Moravian passport, and the +journal of our route, which I had in my pocket, were full proofs of our +innocence. I requested they would send and inquire at the town where we +lay the night before. I soon convinced the Jesuit I spoke truth; he +went, and presently returned with one of the syndics, to whom I gave a +more full account of myself. The syndic examined Schell, and found his +story and mine agreed; besides which, our papers that they had seized, +declared who we were. I passed the night in the convent without closing +my eyes, revolving in my mind all the rigours of my fate. I was still +more disturbed for Schell, who knew not where I was, but remained firmly +persuaded we should be conducted to Berlin; and, if so, determined to put +a period to his life. + +My doubts were all ended at ten in the morning when my good Jesuit +arrived, and was followed by my friend Schell. The judges, he said, had +found us innocent, and declared us free to go where we pleased; adding, +however, that he advised us to be upon our guard, we being watched by the +Prussian enlisters; that the lieutenant had hoped, by having us committed +as thieves, to oblige me to enter, and that he would account for all that +had happened. + +I gave Schell a most affectionate welcome, who had been very ill-used +when led to prison, because he endeavoured to defend himself with his +left hand, and follow me. The people had thrown mud at him, and called +him a rascal that would soon be hanged. Schell was little able to travel +farther. The father-rector sent us a ducat, but did not see us; and the +chief magistrate gave each of us a crown, by way of indemnification for +false imprisonment. Thus sent away, we returned to our lodging, took our +bundles, and immediately prepared to leave Thorn. + +As we went, I reflected that, on the road to Elbing, we must pass through +several Prussian villages, and inquired for a shop where we might +purchase a map. We were directed to an old woman who sat at the door +across the way, and were told she had a good assortment, for that her son +was a scholar. I addressed myself to her, and my question pleased her, I +having added we were unfortunate travellers, who wished to find, by the +map, the road to Russia. She showed us into a chamber, laid an atlas on +the table, and placed herself opposite me, while I examined the map, and +endeavoured to hide a bit of a ragged ruffle that had made its +appearance. After steadfastly looking at me, she at length exclaimed, +with a sad and mournful tone--"Good God! who knows what is now become of +my poor son! I can see, sir, you too are of a good family. My son would +go and seek his fortune, and for these eight years have I had no tidings +of him. He must now be in the Austrian cavalry." I asked in what +regiment. "The regiment of Hohenhem; you are his very picture." "Is he +not of my height?" "Yes, nearly." "Has he not light hair?" "Yes, like +yours, sir." "What is his name?" "His name is William." "No, my dear +mother," cried I, "William is not dead; he was my best friend when I was +with the regiment." Here the poor woman could not contain her joy. She +threw herself round my neck, called me her good angel who brought her +happy tidings: asked me a thousand questions which I easily contrived to +make her answer herself, and thus, forced by imperious necessity, bereft +of all other means, did I act the deceiver. + +The story I made was nearly as follows:--I told her I was a soldier in +the regiment of Hohenhem, that I had a furlough to go and see my father, +and that I should return in a month, would then take her letters, and +undertake that, if she wished it, her son should purchase his discharge, +and once more come and live with his mother. I added that I should be +for ever and infinitely obliged to her, if she would suffer my comrade, +meantime, to live at her house, he being wounded by the Prussian +recruiters, and unable to pursue his journey; that I would send him money +to come to me, or would myself come back and fetch him, thankfully paying +every expense. She joyfully consented, told me her second husband, +father-in-law to her dear William, had driven him from home, that he +might give what substance they had to the younger son; and that the +eldest had gone to Magdeburg. She determined Schell should live at the +house of a friend, that her husband might know nothing of the matter; +and, not satisfied with this kindness, she made me eat with her, gave me +a new shirt, stockings, sufficient provisions for three days, and six +Lunenburg florins. I left Thorn, and my faithful Schell, the same night, +with the consolation that he was well taken care of; and having parted +from him with regret, went on the 13th two miles further to Burglow. + +I cannot describe what my sensations were, or the despondence of my mind, +when I thus saw myself wandering alone, and leaving, forsaking, as it +were, the dearest of friends. These may certainly be numbered among the +bitterest moments of my life. Often was I ready to return, and drag him +along with me, though at last reason conquered sensibility. I drew near +the end of my journey, and was impelled forward by hope. + +March 14.--I went to Schwetz, and + +March 15.--To Neuburg and Mowe. In these two days I travelled thirteen +miles. I lay at Mowe, on some straw, among a number of carters, and, +when I awoke, perceived they had taken my pistols, and what little money +I had left, even to my last penny. The gentlemen, however, were all +gone. + +What could I do? The innkeeper perhaps was privy to the theft. My +reckoning amounted to eighteen Polish grosch. The surly landlord +pretended to believe I had no money when I entered his house, and I was +obliged to give him the only spare shirt I had, with a silk handkerchief, +which the good woman of Thorn had made me a present of, and to depart +without a single holler. + +March 16.--I set off for Marienburg, but it was impossible I should reach +this place, and not fall into the hands of the Prussians, if I did not +cross the Vistula, and, unfortunately, I had no money to pay the ferry, +which would cost two Polish schellings. + +Full of anxiety, not knowing how to act, I saw two fishermen in a boat, +went to them, drew my sabre, and obliged them to land me on the other +side; when there, I took the oars from these timid people, jumped out of +the boat, pushed it off the shore, and left it to drive with the stream. + +To what dangers does not poverty expose man! These two Polish schellings +were not worth more than half a kreutzer, or some halfpenny, yet was I +driven by necessity to commit violence on two poor men, who, had they +been as desperate in their defence as I was obliged to be in my attack, +blood must have been spilled and lives lost; hence it is evident that the +degrees of guilt ought to be strictly and minutely inquired into, and the +degree of punishment proportioned. Had I hewn them down with my sabre, I +should surely have been a murderer; but I should likewise surely have +been one of the most innocent of murderers. Thus we see the value of +money is not to be estimated by any specific sum, small or great, but +according to its necessity and use. How little did I imagine when at +Berlin, and money was treated by me with luxurious neglect, I may say, +with contempt, I should be driven to the hard necessity, for a sum so +apparently despicable, of committing a violence which might have had +consequences so dreadful, and have led to the commission of an act so +atrocious! + +I found Saxon and Prussian recruiters at Marion-burgh, with whom, having +no money, I ate, drank, listened to their proposals, gave them hopes for +the morrow, and departed by daybreak. + +March 17.--To Elbing, four miles. + +Here I met with my former worthy tutor, Brodowsky, who was become a +captain and auditor in the Polish regiment of Golz. He met me just as I +entered the town. I followed triumphantly to his quarters; and here at +length ended the painful, long, and adventurous journey I had been +obliged to perform. + +This good and kind gentleman, after providing me with immediate +necessaries, wrote so affectionately to my mother, that she came to +Elbing in a week, and gave me every aid of which I stood in need. + +The pleasure I had in meeting once more this tender mother, whose +qualities of heart and mind were equally excellent, was inexpressible. +She found a certain mode of conveying a letter to my dear mistress at +Berlin, who a short time after sent me a bill of exchange for four +hundred ducats upon Dantzic. To this my mother added a thousand +rix-dollars, and a diamond cross worth nearly half as much, remained a +fortnight with me, and persisted, in spite of all remonstrance, in +advising me to go to Vienna. My determination had been fixed for +Petersburg; all my fears and apprehensions being awakened at the thought +of Vienna, and which indeed afterwards became the source of all my cruel +sufferings and sorrows. She would not yield in opinion, and promised her +future assistance only in case of my obedience; it was my duty not to +continue obstinate. Here she left me, and I have never seen her since. +She died in 1751, and I have ever held her memory in veneration. It was +a happiness for this affectionate mother that she did not hive to be a +witness of my afflictions in the year 1754. + +An adventure, resembling that of Joseph in Egypt, happened to me in +Elbing. The wife of the worthy Brodowsky, a woman of infinite personal +attraction, grew partial to me; but I durst not act ungratefully by my +benefactor. Never to see me more was too painful to her, and she even +proposed to follow me, secretly, to Vienna. I felt the danger of my +situation, and doubted whether Potiphar's wife offered temptations so +strong as Madame Brodowsky. I owned I had an affection for this lady, +but my passions were overawed. She preferred me to her husband, who was +in years, and very ordinary in person. Had I yielded to the slightest +degree of guilt, that of the present enjoyment, a few days of pleasure +must have been followed by years of bitter repentance. + +Having once more assumed my proper name and character, and made presents +of acknowledgment to the worthy tutor of my youth, I became eager to +return to Thorn. + +How great was my joy at again meeting my honest Schell! The kind old +woman had treated him like a mother. She was surprised, and half +terrified, at seeing me enter in an officer's uniform, and accompanied by +two servants. I gratefully and rapturously kissed her hand, repaid, with +thankfulness, every expense (for Schell had been nurtured with truly +maternal kindness), told her who I was, acknowledged the deceit I had put +upon her concerning her son, but faithfully promised to give a true, and +not fictitious account of him, immediately on my arrival at Vienna. +Schell was ready in three days, and we left Thorn, came to Warsaw, and +passed thence, through Crakow, to Vienna. + +I inquired for Captain Capi, at Bilitz, who had before given me so kind a +reception, and refused me satisfaction; but he was gone, and I did not +meet with him till some years after, when the cunning Italian made me the +most humble apologies for his conduct. So goes the world. + +My journey from Dantzic to Vienna would not furnish me with an +interesting page, though my travels on foot thither would have afforded +thrice as much as I have written, had I not been fearful of trifling with +the reader's patience. + +In poverty one misfortune follows another. The foot-passenger sees the +world, becomes acquainted with it, converses with men of every class. The +lord luxuriously lolls and slumbers in his carriage, while his servants +pay innkeepers and postillions, and passes rapidly over a kingdom, in +which he sees some dozen houses, called inns; and this he calls +travelling. I met with more adventures in this my journey of 169 miles, +than afterwards in almost as many thousand, when travelling at ease, in a +carriage. + +Here, then, ends my journal, in which, from the hardships therein +related, and numerous others omitted, I seem a kind of second Robinson +Crusoe, and to have been prepared, by a gradual increase and repetition +of sufferings, to endure the load of affliction which I was afterwards +destined to bear. + +Arrived at Vienna in the month of April, 1747. + +And now another act of the tragedy is going to begin. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +After having defrayed the expenses of travelling for me and my friend +Schell, for whose remarkable history I will endeavour to find a few pages +in due course, I divided the three hundred ducats which remained with +him, and, having stayed a month at Vienna, he went to join the regiment +of Pallavicini, in which he had obtained a lieutenant-colonel's +commission, and which was then in Italy. + +Here I found my cousin, Baron Francis Trenck, the famous partisan and +colonel of pandours, imprisoned at the arsenal, and involved in a most +perplexing prosecution. + +This Trenck was my father's brother's son. His father had been a colonel +and governor of Leitschau, and had possessed considerable lordships in +Sclavonia, those of Pleternitz, Prestowacz, and Pakratz. After the siege +of Vienna, in 1683, he had left the Prussian service for that of Austria, +in which he remained sixty years. + +That I may not here interrupt my story, I shall give some account of the +life of my cousin Baron Francis Trenck, so renowned in the war of 1741, +in another part, and who fell, at last, the shameful sacrifice of envy +and avarice, and received the reward of all his great and faithful +services in the prison of the Spielberg. + +The vindication of the family of the Trencks requires I should speak of +him; nor will I, in this, suffer restraint from the fear of any man, +however powerful. Those indeed who sacrificed a man most ardent in his +country's service to their own private and selfish views, are now in +their graves. + +I shall insert no more of his history here than what is interwoven with +my own, and relate the rest in its proper place. + +A revision of his suit was at this time instituted. Scarcely was I +arrived in Vienna before his confidential agent, M. Leber, presented me +to Prince Charles and the Emperor; both knew the services of Trenck, and +the malice of his enemies; therefore, permission for me to visit him in +his prison, and procure him such assistance as he might need, was readily +granted. On my second audience, the Emperor spoke so much in my +persecuted cousin's favour that I became highly interested; he commanded +me to have recourse to him on all occasions; and, moreover, owned the +president of the council of war was a man of a very wicked character, and +a declared enemy of Trenck. This president was the Count of Lowenwalde, +who, with his associates, had been purposely selected as men proper to +oppress the best of subjects. + +The suit soon took another face; the good Empress Queen, who had been +deceived, was soon better informed, and Trenck's innocence appeared, on +the revision of the process most evidently. The trial, which had cost +them twenty-seven thousand florins, and the sentence which followed, were +proved to have been partial and unjust; and that sixteen of Trenck's +officers, who most of them had been broken for different offences, had +perjured themselves to insure his destruction. + +It is a most remarkable circumstance that public notice was given, in the +_Vienna Gazette_, to the following purport. + +"All those who have any complaints to make against Trenck, let them +appear, and they shall receive a ducat per day, so long as the +prosecution continues." + +It will readily be imagined how fast his accusers would increase, and +what kind of people they were. The pay of these witnesses alone amounted +to fifteen thousand florins. I now began the labour in concurrence with +Doctor Gerhauer, and the cause soon took another turn; but such was the +state of things, it would have been necessary to have broken all the +members of the council of war, as well as counsellor Weber, a man of +great power. Thus, unfortunately, politics began to interfere with the +course of justice. + +The Empress Queen gave Trenck to understand she required he should ask +her pardon; and on that condition all proceedings should be stopped, and +he immediately set at liberty. Prince Charles, who knew the court of +Vienna, advised me also to persuade my cousin to comply; but nothing +could shake his resolution. Feeling his right and innocence, he demanded +strict justice; and this made ruin more swift. + +I soon learned Trenck must fall a sacrifice--he was rich--his enemies +already had divided among them more than eighty thousand florins of his +property, which was all sequestered, and in their hands. They had +treated him too cruelly, and knew him too well, not to dread his +vengeance the moment he should recover his freedom. + +I was moved to the soul at his sufferings, and as he had vented public +threats, at the prospect of approaching victory over his enemies, they +gained over the Court Confessor: and, dreading him as they did, put every +wily art in practice to insure his destruction. I therefore, in the +fulness of my heart, made him the brotherly proposition of escaping, and, +having obtained his liberty, to prove his innocence to the Empress Queen. +I told him my plan, which might easily have been put in execution, and +which he seemed perfectly decided to follow. + +Some days after, I was ordered to wait on field-marshal Count Konigseck, +governor of Vienna. This respectable old gentleman, whose memory I shall +ever revere, behaved to me like a father and the friend of humanity, +advised me to abandon my cousin, who he gave me clearly to understand had +betrayed me by having revealed my proposed plan of escape, willing to +sacrifice me to his ambition in order to justify the purity of his +intentions to the court, and show that, instead of wishing to escape, he +only desired justice. + +Confounded at the cowardly action of one for whom I would willingly have +sacrificed my life, and whom I only sought to deliver, I resolved to +leave him to his fate, and thought myself exceedingly happy that the +worthy field-marshal would, after a fatherly admonition, smother all +farther inquiry into this affair. + +I related this black trait of ingratitude to Prince Charles of Lorraine, +who prevailed on me to again see my cousin, without letting him know I +knew what had passed, and still to render him every service in my power. + +Before I proceed I will here give the reader a per-'trait of this Trenck. + +He was a man of superior talents and unbounded ambition; devoted, even +fanatically, to his sovereign; his boldness approached temerity; he was +artful of mind, wicked of heart, vindictive and unfeeling. His cupidity +equalled the utmost excess of avarice, even in his thirty-third year, in +which he died. He was too proud to receive favours or obligations from +any man, and was capable of ridding himself of his best friend if he +thought he had any claims on his gratitude or could get possession of his +fortune. + +He knew I had rendered him very important services, supposed his cause +already won, having bribed the judges, who were to revise the sentence, +with thirty thousand florins, which money I received from his friend +Baron Lopresti, and conveyed to these honest counsellors. I knew all his +secrets, and nothing more was necessary to prompt his suspicious and bad +heart to seek my destruction. + +Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed, after his having first betrayed me, +before the following remarkable event happened. + +I left him one evening to return home, taking under my coat a bag with +papers and documents relating to the prosecution, which I had been +examining for him, and transcribing. There were at this time about five- +and-twenty officers in Vienna who had laid complaints against him, and +who considered me as their greatest enemy because I had laboured +earnestly in his defence. I was therefore obliged, on all occasions, to +be upon my guard. A report had been propagated through Vienna that I was +secretly sent by the King of Prussia to free my cousin from imprisonment; +he, however, constantly denied, to the hour of his death, his ever having +written to me at Berlin; hence also it will follow the letter I received +had been forged by Jaschinsky. + +Leaving the Arsenal, I crossed the court, and perceived I was closely +followed by two men in grey roquelaures, who, pressing upon my heels, +held loud and insolent conversation concerning the runaway Prussian +Trenck. I found they sought a quarrel, which was a thing of no great +difficulty at that moment, for a man is never more disposed to duelling +than when he has nothing to lose, and is discontented with his condition. +I supposed they were two of the accusing officers broken by Trenck, and +endeavoured to avoid them, and gain the Jew's place. + +Scarcely had I turned down the street that leads thither before they +quickened their pace. I turned round, and in a moment received a thrust +with a sword in the left side, where I had put my bag of papers, which +accident alone saved my life; the sword pierced through the papers and +slightly grazed the skin. I instantly drew, and the heroes ran. I +pursued, one of them tripped and fell. I seized him; the guard came up: +he declared he was an officer of the regiment of Kollowrat, showed his +uniform, was released, and I was taken to prison. The Town Major came +the next day, and told me I had intentionally sought a quarrel with two +officers, Lieutenants F---g and K---n. These kind gentlemen did not +reveal their humane intention of sending me to the other world. + +I was alone, could produce no witness, they were two. I must necessarily +be in the wrong, and I remained six days in prison. No sooner was I +released, than these my good friends sent to demand satisfaction for the +said pretended insult. The proposal was accepted, and I promised to be +at the Scotch gate, the place appointed by them, within an hour. Having +heard their names, I presently knew them to be two famous swaggerers, who +were daily exercising themselves in fencing at the Arsenal, and where +they often visited Trenck. I went to my cousin to ask his assistance, +related what had happened, and, as the consequences of this duel might be +very serious, desired him to give me a hundred ducats, that I might be +able to fly if either of them should fall. + +Hitherto I had expended my own money on his account, and had asked no +reimbursement; but what was my astonishment when this wicked man said to +me, with a sneer, "Since, good cousin, you have got into a quarrel +without consulting me, you will also get out of it without my aid!" As I +left him, he called me back to tell me, "I will take care and pay your +undertaker;" for he certainly believed I should never return alive. + +I ran now, half-despairing, to Baron Lopresti, who gave me fifty ducats +and a pair of pistols, provided with which I cheerfully repaired to the +field of battle. + +Here I found half a dozen officers of the garrison. As I had few +acquaintances in Vienna, I had no second, except an old Spanish invalid +captain, named Pereyra, who met me going in all haste, and, having +learned whither, would not leave me. + +Lieutenant K---n was the first with whom I fought, and who received +satisfaction by a deep wound in the right arm. Hereupon I desired the +spectators to prevent farther mischief; for my own part I had nothing +more to demand. Lieutenant F---g next entered the lists, with threats, +which were soon quieted by a lunge in the belly. Hereupon Lieutenant M- +f, second to the first wounded man, told me very angrily--"Had I been +your man, you would have found a very different reception." My old +Spaniard of eighty proudly and immediately advanced, with his long +whiskers and tottering frame, and cried--"Hold! Trenck has proved +himself a brave fellow, and if any man thinks proper to assault him +further, he must first take a breathing with me." Everybody laughed at +this bravado from a man who scarcely could stand or hold a sword. I +replied--"Friend, I am safe, unhurt, and want not aid; should I be +disabled, you then, if you think proper, may take my place; but, as long +as I can hold a sword, I shall take pleasure in satisfying all these +gentlemen one after another." I would have rested myself a moment, but +the haughty M-f, enraged at the defeat of his friend, would not give me +time, but furiously attacked me, and, having been wounded twice, once in +the hand and again in the groin, he wanted to close and sink me to the +grave with himself, but I disarmed and threw him. + +None of the others had any desire to renew the contest. My three enemies +were sent bleeding to town; and, as M---f appeared to be mortally +wounded, and the Jesuits and Capuchins of Vienna refused me an asylum, I +fled to the convent of Keltenberg. + +I wrote from the convent to Colonel Baron Lopresti, who came to me. I +told him all that had passed, and by his good offices had liberty, in a +week, to appear once more at Vienna. + +The blood of Lieutenant F---g was in a corrupt state, and his wound, +though not in itself dangerous, made his life doubtful. He sent to +entreat I would visit him, and, when I went, having first requested I +would pardon him, gave me to understand I ought to beware of my cousin. I +afterwards learned the traitorous Trenck had promised Lieutenant F---g a +company and a thousand ducats if he would find means to quarrel with me +and rid the world of me. He was deeply in debt, and sought the +assistance of Lieutenant K-n; and had not the papers luckily preserved +me, I had undoubtedly been despatched by his first lunge. To clear +themselves of the infamy of such an act, these two worthy gentlemen had +pretended I had assaulted them in the streets. + +I could no more resolve to see my ungrateful and dangerous kinsman, who +wished to have me murdered because I knew all his secrets, and thought he +should be able to gain his cause without obligation to me or my +assistance. Notwithstanding all his great qualities, his marked +characteristic certainly was that of sacrificing everything to his +private views, and especially to his covetousness, which was so great +that, even at his time of life, though his fortune amounted to a million +and a half, he did not spend per day more than thirty kreutzers. + +No sooner was it known that I had forsaken Trenck than General Count +Lowenwalde, his most ardent enemy, and president of the first council of +war, by which he had been condemned, desired to speak to me, promised +every sort of good fortune and protection, if I would discover what means +had secretly been employed in the revision of the process; and went so +far as to offer me four thousand florins if I would aid the prosecution +against my cousin. Here I learned the influence of villains in power, +and the injustice of judges at Vienna. The proposal I rejected with +disdain, and rather determined to seek my fortune in the East Indies than +continue in a country where, under the best of Queens, the most loyal of +subjects, and first of soldiers, might be rendered miserable by +interested, angry, and corrupt courtiers. Certain it is, as I now can +prove, though the bitterest of my enemies, and whose conduct towards me +merited my whole resentment, he was the best soldier in the Austrian +army, had been liberal of his blood and fortune in the Imperial service, +and would still so have continued had not his wealth, and his contempt +for Weber and Lowenwalde put him in the power of those wretches who were +the avowed enemies of courage and patriotism, and who only could maintain +their authority, and sate their thirst of gain, by the base and wicked +arts of courts. Had my cousin shared the plunder of the war among these +men, he had not fallen the martyr of their intrigues, and died in the +Spielberg. His accusers were, generally, unprincipled men of ruined +fortunes, and so insufficient were their accusations that a useful member +of society ought not, for any or all of them, to have suffered an hour's +imprisonment. Being fully informed, both of all the circumstances of the +prosecution and the inmost secrets of his heart, justice requires I +should thus publicly declare this truth and vindicate his memory. While +living he was my bitterest enemy, and even though dead, was the cause of +all my future sufferings; therefore the account I shall give of him will +certainly be the less liable to suspicion, where I shall show that he, as +well as myself, deserved better of Austria. + +I was resolved forever to forsake Vienna. The friends of Trenck all +became distrustful of him because of his ingratitude to me. Prince +Charles still endeavoured to persuade me to a reconciliation, and gave me +a letter of recommendation to General Brown, who then commanded the +Imperial army in Italy. But more anxious of going to India, I left +Vienna in August, 1748, desirous of owing no obligation to that city or +its inhabitants, and went for Holland. Meantime, the enemies of Trenck +found no one to oppose their iniquitous proceedings, and obtained a +sentence of imprisonment, in the Spielberg, where he too late repented +having betrayed his faithful adviser, and prudent friend. I pitied him, +and his judges certainly deserved the punishment they inflicted: yet to +his last moments he showed his hatred towards me was rooted, and, even in +the grave, strove by his will to involve me in misfortune, as will +hereafter be seen. + +I fled from Vienna, would to God it had been for ever; but fate by +strange ways, and unknown means, brought me back where Providence thought +proper I should become a vessel of wrath and persecution: I was to enact +my part in Europe, and not in Asia. At Nuremberg I met with a body of +Russians, commanded by General Lieuwen, my mother's relation, who were +marching to the Netherlands, and were the peace-makers of Europe. Major +Buschkow, whom I had known when Russian resident at Vienna, prevailed on +me to visit him, and presented me to the General. I pleased him, and may +say, with truth, he behaved to me like a friend and a father. He advised +me to enter into the Russian service, and gave me a company of dragoons, +in the regiment of Tobolski, on condition I should not leave him, but +employ myself in his cabinet: and his confidence and esteem for me were +unbounded. + +Peace followed; the army returned to Moravia, without firing a musket, +and the head-quarters were fixed at Prosnitz. + +In this town a public entertainment was given, by General Lieuwen, on the +coronation day of the Empress Elizabeth; and here an adventure happened +to me, which I shall ever remember, as a warning to myself, and insert as +a memento to others. + +The army physician, on this day, kept a Faro bank for the entertainment +of the guests. My stock of money consisted of two and twenty ducats. +Thirst of gain, or perhaps example, induced me to venture two of these, +which I immediately lost, and very soon, by venturing again to regain +them, the whole two and twenty. Chagrined at my folly, I returned home: +I had nothing but a pair of pistols left, for which, because of their +workmanship, General Woyekow had offered me twenty ducats. These I took, +intending by their aid to attempt to retrieve my loss. Firing of guns +and pistols was heard throughout the town, because of the festival, and +I, in imitation of the rest, went to the window and fired mine. After a +few discharges, one of my pistols burst, and endangered my own hand, and +wounded my servant. I felt a momentary despondency, stronger than I ever +remember to have experienced before; insomuch that I was half induced, +with the remaining pistol, to shoot myself through the head. I however, +recovered my spirits, asked my servant what money he had, and received +from him three ducats. With these I repaired, like a desperate gamester, +once more to the Faro table, at the General's, again began to play, and +so extraordinary was my run of luck, I won at every venture. Having +recovered my principal, I played on upon my winnings, till at last I had +absolutely broke the Doctor's bank: a new bank was set up, and I won the +greatest part of this likewise, so that I brought home about six hundred +ducats. + +Rejoiced at my good fortune, but recollecting my danger, I had the +prudence to make a solemn resolution never more to play at any game of +chance, to which I have ever strictly adhered. + +It were to be wished young men would reflect upon the effects of gaming, +remembering that the love of play has made the most promising and +virtuous, miserable; the honest, knaves; and the sincere, deceivers and +liars. Officers, having first lost all their own money, being entrusted +with the soldiers' pay, have next lost that also; and thus been +cashiered, and eternally disgraced. I might, at Prosnitz, have been +equally rash and culpable. The first venture, whether the gamester wins +or loses, ensures a second; and, with that, too often destruction. My +good fortune was almost miraculous, and my subsequent resolution very +uncommon; and I entreat and conjure my children, when I shall no longer +be living to advise and watch for their welfare, most determinedly to +avoid play. I seemed preserved by Providence from this evil but to +endure much greater. + +General Lieuwen, my kind patron, sent me, from Crakow, to conduct a +hundred and forty sick men down the Vistula to Dantzic, where there were +Russian vessels to receive and transport them to Riga. + +I requested permission of the General to proceed forward and visit my +mother and sister, whom I was very desirous to see: at Elbing, therefore, +I resigned the command to Lieutenant Platen, and, attended by a servant, +rode to the bishopric of Ermeland, where I appointed an interview with +them in a frontier village. + +Here an incident happened that had nearly cost me my life. The +Prussians, some days before, had carried off a peasant's son from this +village, as a recruit. The people were all in commotion. I wore +leathern breeches, and the blue uniform of the Russian cavalry. They +took me for a Prussian, at the door, and fell upon me with every kind of +weapon. A chasseur, who happened to be there, and the landlord, came to +my assistance, while I, battling with the peasants, had thrown two of +them down. I was delivered, but not till I had received two violent +bruises, one on the left arm, and another which broke the bridge of my +nose. The landlord advised me to escape as fast as possible, or that the +village would rise and certainly murder me; my servant, therefore, who +had retired for defence, with a pair of pistols, into the oven, got ready +the horses and we rode off. + +I had my bruises dressed at the next village; my hand and eyes were +exceedingly swelled, but I was obliged to ride two miles farther, to the +town of Ressel, before I could find an able surgeon, and here I so far +recovered in a week, that I was able to return to Dantzic. My brother +visited me while at Ressel, but my good mother had the misfortune, as she +was coming to me, to be thrown out of her carriage, by which her arm was +broken, so that she and my sister were obliged to return, and I never saw +her more. + +I was now at Dantzic, with my sick convoy, where another most remarkable +event happened, which I, with good reason, shall ever remember. + +I became acquainted with a Prussian officer, whose name I shall conceal +out of respect to his very worthy family; he visited me daily, and we +often rode out together in the neighbourhood of Dantzic. + +My faithful servant became acquainted with his, and my astonishment was +indeed great when he one day said to me, with anxiety, "Beware, sir, of a +snare laid for you by Lieutenant N-; he means to entice you out of town +and deliver you up to the Prussians." I asked him where he learned this. +"From the lieutenant's servant," answered he, "who is my friend, and +wishes to save me from misfortune." + +I now, with the aid of a couple of ducats, discovered the whole affair, +and learned it was agreed, between the Prussian resident, Reimer, and the +lieutenant, that the latter should entice me into the suburb of Langfuhr, +where there was an inn on the Prussian territories. Here eight +recruiting under-officers were to wait concealed, and seize me the moment +I entered the house, hurry me into a carriage, and drive away for +Lauenberg in Pomerania. Two under-officers were to escort me, on +horseback, as far as the frontiers, and the remainder to hold and prevent +me from calling for help, so long as we should remain on the territories +of Dantzic. + +I farther learned my enemies were only to be armed with sabres, and that +they were to wait behind the door. The two officers on horseback were to +secure my servant, and prevent him from riding off and raising an alarm. + +These preparations might easily have been rendered fruitless, by my +refusing to accept the proposal of the lieutenant, but vanity gave me +other advice, and resentment made me desirous of avenging myself for such +detestable treachery. + +Lieutenant N--- came, about noon, to dine with me as usual, was more +pensive and serious than I had ever observed him before, and left me at +four in the afternoon, after having made a promise to ride early next day +with him as far as Langfuhr. I observed my consent gave him great +pleasure, and my heart then pronounced sentence on the traitor. The +moment he had left me I went to the Russian resident, M. Scheerer, an +honest Swiss, related the whole conspiracy, and asked whether I might not +take six of the men under my command for my own personal defence. I told +him my plan, which he at first opposed; but seeing me obstinate, he +answered at last, "Do as you please; I must know nothing of the matter, +nor will I make myself responsible." + +I immediately joined my soldiers, selected six men, and took them, while +it was dark, opposite the Prussian inn, hid them in the corn, with an +order to run to my help with their firelocks loaded the first discharge +they should hear, to seize all who should fall into their power, and only +to fire in case of resistance. I provided them with fire-arms, by +concealing them in the carriage which brought them to their hiding-place. + +Notwithstanding all these precautions, I still thought it necessary to +prevent surprise, by informing myself what were the proceedings of my +enemies, lest my intelligence should have been false; and I learned from +my spies that, at four in the morning, the Prussian resident, Reimer, had +left the city with post horses. + +I loaded mine and my servant's horse and pocket pistols, prepared my +Turkish sabre, and, in gratitude to the lieutenant's man, promised to +take him into my service, being convinced of his honesty. + +The lieutenant cheerfully entered about six in the morning, expatiated on +the fineness of the weather, and jocosely told me I should be very kindly +received by the handsome landlady of Langfuhr. + +I was soon ready; we mounted, and left the town, attended by our +servants. Some three hundred paces from the inn, my worthy friend +proposed that we should alight and let our servants lead the horses, that +we might enjoy the beauty of the morning. I consented, and having +dismounted, observed his treacherous eyes sparkle with pleasure. + +The resident, Reimer, was at the window of the inn, and called out, as +soon as he saw me, "Good-morrow, captain, good-morrow; come, come in, +your breakfast is waiting." I, sneering, smiled, and told him I had not +time at present. So saying, I continued my walk, but my companion would +absolutely force me to enter, took me by the arm, and partly struggled +with me, on which, losing all patience, I gave him a blow which almost +knocked him down, and ran to my horses as if I meant to fly. + +The Prussians instantly rushed from behind their door, with clamour, to +attack me. I fired at the first; my Russians sprang from their hiding- +place, presented their pieces, and called, _Stuy_, _stuy_, _yebionnamat_. + +The terror of the poor Prussians may well be supposed. All began to run. +I had taken care to make sure of my lieutenant, and was next running to +seize the resident, but he had escaped out of the back door, with the +loss only of his white periwig. The Russians had taken four prisoners, +and I commanded them to bestow fifty strokes upon each of them in the +open street. An ensign, named Casseburg, having told me his name, and +that he had been my brother's schoolfellow, begged remission, and excused +himself on the necessity which he was under to obey his superiors. I +admitted his excuses and suffered him to go. I then drew my sword and +bade the lieutenant defend himself; but he was so confused, that, after +drawing his sword, he asked my pardon, laid the whole blame upon the +resident, and had not the power to put himself on his guard. I twice +jerked his sword out of his hand, and, at last, taking the Russian +corporal's cane, I exhausted my strength with beating him, without his +offering the least resistance. Such is the meanness of detected +treachery. I left him kneeling, saying to him, "Go, rascal, now, and +tell your comrades the manner in which Trenck punishes robbers on the +highway." + +The people had assembled round us during the action, to whom I related +the affair, and the attack having happened on the territories of Dantzic, +the Prussians were in danger of being stoned by the populace. I and my +Russians marched off victorious, proceeded to the harbour, embarked, and +three or four days after, set sail for Riga. + +It is remarkable that none of the public papers took any notice of this +affair; no satisfaction was required. The Prussians, no doubt, were +ashamed of being defeated in an attempt so perfidious. + +I since have learnt that Frederic, no doubt by the false representations +of Reimer, was highly irritated, and what afterwards happened proves his +anger pursued me through every corner of the earth, till at last I fell +into his power at Dantzic, and suffered a martyrdom most unmerited and +unexampled. + +The Prussian envoy, Goltz, indeed, made complaints to Count Bestuchef, +concerning this Dantzic skirmish, but received no satisfaction. My +conduct was justified in Russia, I having defended myself against +assassins, as a Russian captain ought. + +Some dispassionate readers may blame me for not having avoided this +rencontre, and demanded personal satisfaction of Lieutenant N---. But I +have through life rather sought than avoided danger. My vanity and +revenge were both roused. I was everywhere persecuted by the Prussians, +and I was therefore determined to show that, far from fearing, I was able +to defend myself. + +I hired the servant of the lieutenant, whom I found honest and faithful, +and whom I comfortably settled in marriage, at Vienna, in 1753. After my +ten years' imprisonment, I found him poor, and again took him into my +service, in which he died, at Zwerbach, in 1779. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +And now behold me at sea, on my voyage to Riga. I had eaten heartily +before I went on board; a storm came on; I worked half the night, to aid +the crew, but at length became sea-sick, and went to lie down. Scarcely +had I closed my eyes before the master came with the joyful tidings, as +he thought, that we were running for the port of Pillau. Far from +pleasing, this, to me, was dreadful intelligence. I ran on deck, saw the +harbour right before me, and a pilot coming off. The sea must now be +either kept in a storm, or I fall into the hands of the Prussians; for I +was known to the whole garrison of Pillau. + +I desired the captain to tack about and keep the sea, but he would not +listen to me. Perceiving this, I flew to my cabin, snatched my pistols, +returned, seized the helm, and threatened the captain with instant death +if he did not obey. My Russians began to murmur; they were averse to +encountering the dangers of the storm, but luckily they were still more +averse to meet my anger, overawed, as they were, by my pistols, and my +two servants, who stood by me faithfully. + +Half an hour after, the storm began to subside, and we fortunately +arrived the next day in the harbour of Riga. The captain, however, could +not be appeased, but accused me before the old and honourable Marshal +Lacy, then governor of Riga. I was obliged to appear, and reply to the +charge by relating the truth. The governor answered, my obstinacy might +have occasioned the death of a hundred and sixty persons; I, smiling, +retorted, "I have brought them all safe to port, please your Excellency; +and, for my part, my fate would have been much more merciful by falling +into the hands of my God than into the hands of my enemies. My danger +was so great that I forgot the danger of others; besides, sir, I knew my +comrades were soldiers, and feared death as little as I do." My answer +pleased the fine grey-headed general, and he gave me a recommendation to +the chancellor Bestuchef at Moscow. + +General Lieuwen had marched from Moravia, for Russia, with the army, and +was then at Riga. I went to pay him my respects; he kindly received me, +and took me to one of his seats, named Annaburg, four miles from Riga. +Here I remained some days, and he gave me every recommendation to Moscow, +where the court then was. It was intended I should endeavour to obtain a +company in the regiment of cuirassiers, the captains of which then ranked +as majors, and he advised me to throw up my commission in the Siberian +regiment of Tobolski dragoons. Peace be to the names and the memory of +this worthy man! May God reward this benevolence! From Riga I departed, +in company with M. Oettinger, lieutenant-colonel of engineers, and +Lieutenant Weismann, for Moscow. This is the same Weismann who rendered +so many important services to Russia, during the last war with the Turks. + +On my arrival, after delivering in my letters of recommendation, I was +particularly well received by Count Bestuchef. Oettinger, whose +friendship I had gained, was exceedingly intimate with the chancellor, +and my interest was thereby promoted. + +I had not been long at Moscow before I met Count Hamilton, my former +friend during my abode at Vienna. He was a captain of cavalry, in the +regiment of General Bernes, who had been sent as imperial ambassador to +Russia. + +Bernes had been ambassador at Berlin in 1743, where he had consequently +known me during the height of my favour at the court of Frederic. +Hamilton presented me to him, and I had the good fortune so far to gain +his friendship, that, after a few visits, he endeavoured to detach me +from the Russian service, offering me the strongest recommendations to +Vienna, and a company in his own regiment. My cousin's misfortunes, +however, had left too deep an impression on my mind to follow his advice. +The Indies would then have been preferred by me to Austria. + +Bernes invited me to dine with him in company with his bosom friend, Lord +Hyndford, the English ambassador. How great was the pleasure I that day +received! This eminent statesman had known me at Berlin, and was present +when Frederic had honoured me with saying, _C'est un matador de ma +jeunesse_. He was well read in men, conceived a good opinion of my +abilities, and became a friend and father to me. He seated me by his +side at table, and asked me, "Why came you here, Trenck?" "In search of +bread and honour, my lord," answered I, "having unmeritedly lost them +both in my own country." He further inquired the state of my finances; I +told him my whole store might be some thirty ducats. + +"Take my counsel," said he; "you have the necessary qualifications to +succeed in Russia, but the people here despise poverty, judge from the +exterior only, and do not include services or talents in the estimate; +you must have the appearance of being wealthy. I and Bernes will +introduce you into the best families, and will supply you with the +necessary means of support. Splendid liveries, led horses, diamond +rings, deep play, a bold front, undaunted freedom with statesmen, and +gallantry among the ladies, are the means by which foreigners must make +their way in this country. Avail yourself of them, and leave the rest to +us." This lesson lasted some time. Bernes entered in the interim, and +they determined mutually to contribute towards my promotion. + +Few of the young men who seek their fortune in foreign countries meet +incidents so favourable. Fortune for a moment seemed willing to +recompense my past sufferings, and again to raise me to the height from +which I had fallen. These ambassadors, here again by accident met, had +before been witnesses of my prosperity when at Berlin. The talents I +possessed, and the favour I then enjoyed, attracted the notice of all +foreign ministers. They were bosom friends, equally well read in the +human heart, and equally benevolent and noble-minded; their +recommendation at court was decisive; the nations they represented were +in alliance with Russia, and the confidence Bestuchef placed in them was +unbounded. + +I was now introduced into all companies, not as a foreigner who came to +entreat employment, but as the heir of the house of Trenck, and its rich +Hungarian possessions, and as the former favourite of the Prussian +monarch. + +I was also admitted to the society of the first literati, and wrote a +poem on the anniversary of the coronation of the Empress Elizabeth. +Hyndford took care she should see it, and, in conjunction with the +chancellor, presented me to the sovereign. My reception was most +gracious. She herself recommended me to the chancellor, and presented me +with a gold-hilted sword, worth a thousand roubles. This raised me +highly in the esteem of all the houses of the Bestuchef party. + +Manners were at that time so rude in Russia, that every foreigner who +gave a dinner, or a ball, must send notice to the chancellor Bestuchef, +that he might return a list of the guests allowed to be invited. Faction +governed everything; and wherever Bestuchef was, no friend of Woranzow +durst appear. I was the intimate of the Austrian and English +ambassadors; consequently, was caressed and esteemed in all companies. I +soon became the favourite of the chancellor's lady, as I shall hereafter +notice; and nothing more was wanting to obtain all I could wish. + +I was well acquainted with architectural design, had free access to the +house and cabinet of the chancellor, where I drew in company with Colonel +Oettinger, who was then the head architect of Russia, and made the +perspective view of the new palace, which the chancellor intended to +build at Moscow, by which I acquired universal honour. I had gained more +acquaintance in, and knowledge of, Russia in one month, than others, +wanting my means, have done in twelve. + +As I was one day relating my progress to Lord Hyndford, he, like a +friend, grown grey in courts, kindly took the trouble to advise me. From +him I obtained a perfect knowledge of Russia; he was acquainted with all +the intrigues of European courts, their families, party cabals, the +foibles of the monarchs, the principles of their government, the plots of +the great Peter, and had also made the peace of Breslau. Thus, having +been the confidential friend of Frederic, he was intimately acquainted +with his heart, as well as the sources of his power. Hyndford was +penetrating, noble-minded, had the greatness of the Briton, without his +haughtiness; and the principles, by which he combined the past, the +present, and the future, were so clear, that I, his scholar, by adhering +to them, have been enabled to foretell all the most remarkable +revolutions that have happened, during the space of six-and-thirty years, +in Europe. By these I knew, when any minister was disgraced, who should +be his successor. I daily passed some hours improving by his kind +conversation; and to him I am indebted for most of that knowledge of the +world I happen to possess. + +He took various opportunities of cautioning me against the effects of an +ardent, sanguine temper; and my hatred of arbitrary power warned me to +beware of the determined persecution of Frederic, of his irreconcilable +anger, his intrigues and influence in the various courts of Europe, which +he would certainly exert to prevent my promotion, lest I should impede +his own projects, and lamented my future sufferings, which he plainly +foresaw. "Despots," said he, "always are suspicious, and abhor those who +have a consciousness of their own worth, of the rights of mankind, and +hold the lash in detestation. The enlightened are by them called the +restless spirits, turbulent and dangerous; and virtue there, where virtue +is unnecessary for the humbling and trampling upon the suffering subject, +is accounted a crime, of all others the most to be dreaded." + +Hyndford taught me to know, and highly to value freedom: to despise +tyrants, to endure the worst of miseries, to emulate true greatness of +mind, to despise danger, and to honour only those whose elevation of soul +had taught them equally to oppose bigotry and despotism. + +Bernes was a philosopher; but with the penetration of an Italian, more +cautious than Hyndford, yet equally honest and worthy. His friendship +for me was unbounded, and the time passed in their company was esteemed +by me most precious. The liberality of my sentiments, thirst after +knowledge and scientific acquirements gained their favour; our topics of +conversation were inexhaustible, and I acquired more real information at +Moscow than at Berlin, under the tuition of La Metri, Maupertuis, and +Voltaire. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +Scarcely had I been six weeks in this city before I had an adventure +which I shall here relate; for, myself excepted, all the persons +concerned in it are now dead. Intrigues properly belong to novels. This +book is intended for a more serious purpose, and they are therefore here +usually suppressed. It cannot be supposed I was a woman-hater. Most of +the good or bad fortune I experienced originated in love. I was not by +nature inconstant, and was incapable of deceit even in amours. In the +very ardour of youth I always shunned mere sensual pleasures. I loved +for more exalted reasons, and for such sought to be beloved again. Love +and friendship were with me always united; and these I was capable of +inciting, maintaining, and deserving. The most difficult of access, the +noblest, and the fairest, were ever my choice: and my veneration for +these always deterred me from grosser gratifications. By woman I was +formed; by the faith of woman supported under misfortunes; in the company +of woman enjoyed the few hours of delight my life of sorrows has +experienced. Woman, beautiful and well instructed, even now, lightens +the burden of age, the world's tediousness and its woes; and, when these +are ended, I would rather wish mine eyes might be closed by fair and +virgin hands, than, when expiring, fixed on a hypocritical priest. + +My adventures with women would amply furnish a romance: but enough of +this, I should not relate the present, were it not necessary to my story. + +Dining one public day with Lord Hyndford, I was seated beside a charming +young lady of one of the best families in Russia, who had been promised +in marriage, though only seventeen, to an old invalid minister. Her eyes +soon told me she thought me preferable to her intended bridegroom. I +understood them, lamented her hard fate, and was surprised to hear her +exclaim, "Oh, heavens! that it were possible you could deliver me from my +misfortune: I would engage to do whatever you would direct." + +The impression such an appeal must make on a man of four and twenty, of a +temperament like mine, may easily be supposed. The lady was ravishingly +beautiful; her soul was candour itself, and her rank that of a princess; +but the court commands had already been given in favour of the marriage; +and flight, with all its inseparable dangers, was the only expedient. A +public table was no place for long explanations. Our hearts were already +one. I requested an interview, and the next day was appointed, the place +the Trotzer garden, where I passed three rapturous hours in her company: +thanks to her woman, who was a Georgian. + +To escape, however, from Moscow, was impossible. The distance thence to +any foreign country was too great. The court was not to remove to +Petersburg till the next spring, and her marriage was fixed for the first +of August. The misfortune was not to be remedied, and nothing was left +us but patience perforce. We could only resolve to fly from Petersburg +when there, the soonest possible, and to take refuge in some corner of +the earth, where we might remain unknown of all. The marriage, +therefore, was celebrated with pomp, though I, in despite of forms, was +the true husband of the princess. Such was the state of the husband +imposed upon her, that to describe it, and not give disgust, were +impossible. + +The princess gave me her jewels, and several thousand roubles, which she +had received as a nuptial present, that I might purchase every thing +necessary for flight; my evil destiny, however, had otherwise determined. +I was playing at ombre with her, one night, at the house of the Countess +of Bestuchef, when she complained of a violent headache, appointed me to +meet her on the morrow, in the Trotzer gardens, clasped my hand with +inexpressible emotion, and departed. Alas! I never beheld her more, +till stretched upon the bier! + +She grew delirious that very night, and so continued till her death, +which happened on the sixth day, when the small-pox began to appear. +During her delirium she discovered our love, and incessantly called on me +to deliver her from her tyrant. Thus, in the flower of her age, perished +one of the most lovely women I ever knew, and with her fled all I held +most dear. + +All my plans were now to be newly arranged. Lord Hyndford alone was in +the secret, for I hid no secrets from him: he strengthened me in my first +resolution, and owned that he himself, for such a mistress, might perhaps +have been weak enough to have acted as I had done. Almost as much moved +as myself, he sympathised with me as a friend, and his advice deterred me +from ending my miseries, and descending with her, whom I have loved and +lost, to the grave. This was the severest trial I had ever felt. Our +affection was unbounded, and such only as noble hearts can feel. She +being gone, the whole world became a desert. There is not a man on +earth, whose life affords more various turns of fate than mine. Swiftly +raised to the highest pinnacle of hope, as suddenly was I cast headlong +down, and so remarkable were these revolutions that he who has read my +history will at last find it difficult to say whether he envies or pities +me most. And yet these were, in reality, but preparatory to the evils +that hovered over my devoted head. Had not the remembrance of past joys +soothed and supported me under my sufferings, I certainly should not have +endured the ten years' torture of the Magdeburg dungeon, with a fortitude +that might have been worthy even of Socrates. + +Enough of this. My blood again courses swifter through my veins as I +write! Rest, gentle maiden, noble and lovely as thou wert! For thee +ought Heaven to have united a form so fair, animated as it was, by a soul +so pure, to ever-blooming youth and immortality. + +My love for this lady became well-known in Moscow; yet her corpulent +overgrown husband had not understanding enough to suppose there was any +meaning in her rhapsodies during her delirium. + +Her gifts to me amounted in value to about seven thousand ducats. Lord +Hyndford and Count Bernes both adjudged them legally mine, and well am I +assured her heart had bequeathed me much more. + +To this event succeeded another, by which my fortune was greatly +influenced. The Countess of Bestuchef was then the most amiable and +witty woman at Court. Her husband, cunning, selfish, and shallow, had +the name of minister, while she, in reality, governed with a genius, at +once daring and comprehensive. The too pliant Elizabeth carelessly left +the most important things to the direction of others. Thus the Countess +was the first person of the Empire, and on whom the attention of the +foreign ministers was fixed. + +Haughty and majestic in her demeanour, she was supposed to be the only +woman at court who continued faithful to her husband; which supposition +probably originated in her art and education, she being a German born: +for I afterwards found her virtue was only pride, and a knowledge of the +national character. The Russian lover rules despotic over his mistress: +requires money, submission, and should he meet opposition, threatens her +with blows, and the discovery of her secret. + +During Elizabeth's reign foreigners could neither appear at court, nor in +the best company, without the introduction of Bestuchef. I and Sievers, +gentlemen of the chamber, were at that time the only Germans who had free +egress and regress in all houses of fashion; my being protected by the +English and Austrian ambassadors gave me very peculiar advantages, and +made my company everywhere courted. + +Bestuchef had been resident, during the late reign, at Hamburg, in which +inferior station he married the countess, at that time, though young and +handsome, only the widow of the merchant Boettger. Under Elizabeth, +Bestuchef rose to the summit of rank and power, and the widow Boettger +became the first lady of the empire. When I knew her she was eight and +thirty, consequently no beauty, though a woman highly endowed in mind and +manners, of keen discernment, disliking the Russians, protecting the +Prussians, and at whose aversions all trembled. + +Her carriage towards the Russians was, what it must be in her situation, +lofty, cautious, and ironical, rather than kind. To me she showed the +utmost esteem on all occasions, welcomed me at her table, and often +admitted me to drink coffee in company with herself alone and Colonel +Oettinger. The countess never failed giving me to understand she had +perceived my love for the princess N---; and, though I constantly denied +the fact, she related circumstances which she could have known, as I +thought, only from my mistress herself; my silence pleased her; for the +Russians, when a lady had a partiality for them, never fail to vaunt of +their good fortune. She wished to persuade me she had observed us in +company, had read the language of our eyes, and had long penetrated our +secret. I was ignorant at that time that she had then, and long before, +entertained the maid of my mistress as a spy in her pay. + +About a week after the death of the princess, the countess invited me to +take coffee with her, in her chamber; lamented my loss, and the violence +of that passion which had deprived me of all my customary vivacity, and +altered my very appearance. She seemed so interested in my behalf, and +expressed so many wishes, and so ardent to better my fate, that I could +no longer doubt. Another opportunity soon happened, which confirmed +these my suspicions: her mouth confessed her sentiments. Discretion, +secrecy, and fidelity, were the laws she imposed, and never did I +experience a more ardent passion from woman. Such was her understanding +and penetration, she knew how to rivet my affections. + +Caution was the thing most necessary. She contrived, however, to make +opportunity. The chancellor valued, confided in me, and employed me in +his cabinet; so that I remained whole days in his house. My captainship +of cavalry was now no longer thought of: I was destined to political +employment. My first was to be gentleman of the chamber, which in Russia +is an office of importance, and the prospect of futurity became to me +most resplendent. Lord Hyndford, ever the repository of my secrets, +counselled me, formed plans for my conduct, rejoiced at my success, and +refused to be reimbursed the expense he had been at, though now my +circumstances were prosperous. + +The degree of credit I enjoyed was soon noticed: foreign ministers began +to pay their court to me: Goltz, the Prussian minister, made every effort +to win me, but found me incorruptible. + +The Russian alliance was at this time highly courted by foreign powers; +the humbling of Prussia was the thing generally wished and planned: and +nobody was better informed than myself of ministerial and family factions +at this court. + +My mistress, a year after my acquaintance with her, fell into her +enemies' power, and with her husband, was delivered over to the +executioner. Chancellor Bestuchef, in the year 1756, was forced to +confession by the knout. Apraxin, minister of war, had a similar fate. +The wife of his brother, then envoy in Poland, was, by the treachery of a +certain Lieutenant Berger, with three others of the first ladies of the +court, knouted, branded, and had their tongues cut out. This happened in +the year 1741, when Elizabeth ascended the throne. Her husband, however, +faithfully served: I knew him as Russian envoy, at Vienna, 1751. This +may indeed be called the love of our country, and thus does it happen to +the first men of the state: what then can a foreigner hope for, if +persecuted, and in the power of those in authority? + +No man, in so short a space of time, had greater opportunities than I, to +discover the secrets of state; especially when guided by Hyndford and +Bernes, under the reign of a well-meaning but short-sighted Empress, +whose first minister was a weak man, directed by the will of an able and +ambitious wife, and which wife loved me, a stranger, an acquaintance of +only a few months, so passionately that to this passion she would have +sacrificed every other object. She might, in fact, be considered as +Empress of Russia, disposing of peace or war, and had I been more prudent +or less sincere, I might in such a situation, have amassed treasures, and +deposited them in full security. Her generosity was boundless; and, +though obliged to pay above a hundred thousand roubles, in one year, to +discharge her son's debts, yet might I have saved a still larger sum; but +half of the gifts she obliged me to receive, I lent to this son, and +lost. So far was I from selfish, and so negligent of wealth, that by +supplying the wants of others, I often, on a reverse of fortune, suffered +want myself. + +This my splendid success in Russia displeased the great Frederic, whose +persecution everywhere attended me, and who supposed his interest injured +by my success in Russia. The incident I am going to relate was, at the +time it happened, well known to, and caused much agitation among all the +foreign ambassadors. + +Lord Hyndford desired I would make him a fair copy of a plan of +Cronstadt, for which he furnished the materials, with three additional +drawings of the various ships in the harbour, and their names. There was +neither danger nor suspicion attending this; the plan of Cronstadt being +no secret, but publicly sold in the shops of Petersburg. England was +likewise then in the closest alliance with Russia. Hyndford showed the +drawing to Funk, the Saxon envoy, his intimate friend, who asked his +permission to copy it himself. Hyndford gave him the plan signed with my +name; and after Funk had been some days employed copying it, the Prussian +minister, Goltz, who lived in his neighbourhood, came in, as he +frequently paid him friendly visits. Funk, unsuspectingly, showed him my +drawing, and both lamented that Frederic had lost so useful a subject. +Goltz asked to borrow it for a couple of days, in order to correct his +own; and Funk, one of the worthiest, most honest, and least suspicious of +men, who loved me like a brother, accordingly lent the plan. + +No sooner was Goltz in possession of it than he hurried to the +chancellor, with whose weakness he was well acquainted, told him his +intent in coming was to prove that a man, who had once been unfaithful to +his king and country, where he had been loaded with favours, would +certainly betray, for his own private interest, every state where he was +trusted. He continued his preface, by speaking of the rapid progress I +had made in Russia, and the free entrance I had found in the chancellor's +house, where I was received as a son, and initiated in the secrets of the +cabinet. + +The chancellor defended me: Goltz then endeavoured to incite his +jealousy, and told him my private interviews with his wife, especially in +the palace-garden, were publicly spoken of. This he had learned from his +spies, he having endeavoured, by the snares he laid, to make my +destruction certain. + +He likewise led Bestuchef to suspect his secretary, S-n, was a party in +the intrigue; till at last the chancellor became very angry; Goltz then +took my plan of Cronstadt from his pocket, and added, "Your excellency is +nourishing a serpent in your bosom. This drawing have I received from +Trenck, copied from your cabinet designs, for two hundred ducats." He +knew I was employed there sometimes with Oettinger, whose office it was +to inspect the buildings and repairs of the Russian fortifications. +Bestuchef was astonished; his anger became violent, and Goltz added fuel +to the flame, by insinuating, I should not be so powerfully protected by +Bernes, the Austrian ambassador, were it not to favour the views of his +own court. Bestuchef mentioned prosecution and the knout; Goltz replied +my friends were too powerful, my pardon would be procured, and the evil +this way increased. They therefore determined to have me secretly +secured, and privately conveyed to Siberia. + +Thus, while I unsuspectingly dreamed of nothing but happiness, the +gathering storm threatened destruction, which only was averted by +accident, or God's good providence. + +Goltz had scarcely left the place triumphant, when the chancellor +entered, with bitterness and rancour in his heart, into his lady's +apartment, reproached her with my conduct, and while she endeavoured to +soothe him, related all that had passed. Her penetration was much deeper +than her husband's: she perceived there was a plot against me: she indeed +knew my heart better than any other, and particularly that I was not in +want of a poor two hundred ducats. She could not, however, appease him, +and my arrest was determined. She therefore instantly wrote me a line to +the following purport. + +"You are threatened, dear friend, by a very imminent danger. Do not +sleep to-night at home, but secure yourself at Lord Hyndford's till you +hear farther from me." + +Secretary S-n, her confidant (the same who, not long since, was Russian +envoy at Ratisbon) was sent with the note. He found me, after dinner, at +the English ambassador's, and called me aside. I read the billet, was +astonished at its contents, and showed it Lord Hyndford. My conscience +was void of reproach, except that we suspected my secret with the +countess had been betrayed to the chancellor, and fearing his jealousy, +Hyndford commanded me to remain in his house till we should make further +discovery. + +We placed spies round the house where I lived; I was inquired for after +midnight, and the lieutenant of the police came himself and searched the +house. + +Lord Hyndford went, about ten in the morning, to visit the chancellor, +that he might obtain some intelligence, who immediately reproached him +for having granted an asylum to a traitor. "What has this traitor done?" +said Hyndford. "Faithlessly copied a plan of Cronstadt, from my cabinet +drawings," said the chancellor; "which he has sold to the Prussian +minister for two hundred ducats." + +Hyndford was astonished; he knew me well, and also knew that he had then +in money and jewels, more than eight thousand ducats of mine in his own +hands: nor was he less ignorant of the value I set on money, or of the +sources whence I could obtain it, when I pleased. "Has your excellency +actually seen this drawing of Trenck's?"--"Yes, I have been shown it by +Goltz."--"I wish I might likewise be permitted to see it; I know Trenck's +drawing, and make myself responsible that he is no traitor. Here is some +mystery; be so kind as to desire M. Goltz will come and bring his plan of +Cronstadt. Trenck is at my house, shall be forthcoming instantly, and I +will not protect him if he proves guilty." + +The Chancellor wrote to Goltz; but he, artful as he was, had no doubt +taken care to be informed that the lieutenant of the police had missed +his prey. He therefore sent an excuse, and did not appear. In the +meantime I entered; Hyndford then addressed me, with the openness of an +Englishman, and asked, "Are you a traitor, Trenck? If so, you do not +merit my protection, but stand here as a state prisoner. Have you sold a +plan of Cronstadt to M. Goltz?" My answer may easily be supposed. +Hyndford rehearsed what the chancellor had told him; I was desired to +leave the room, and Funk was sent for. The moment he came in, Hyndford +said, "Sir, where is that plan of Cronstadt which Trenck copied?" Funk, +hesitating, replied, "I will go for it." "Have you it," continued +Hyndford, "at home? Speak, upon your honour."--"No, my Lord, I have lent +it, for a few days, to M. Goltz, that he may take a copy." + +Hyndford immediately then saw the whole affair, told the chancellor the +history of this plan, which belonged to him, and which he had lent to +Funk, and requested a trusty person might be sent with him to make a +proper search. Bestuchef named his first secretary, and to him were +added Funk and the Dutch envoy, Schwart, who happened then to enter. All +went together to the house of Goltz. Funk demanded his plan of +Cronstadt; Goltz gave it him, and Funk returned it to Lord Hyndford. + +The secretary and Hyndford both then desired he would produce the plan of +Cronstadt which he had bought of Trenck for two hundred ducats. His +confusion now was great, and Hyndford firmly insisted this plan should be +forthcoming, to vindicate the honour of Trenck, whom he held to be an +honest man. On this, Goltz answered, "I have received my king's commands +to prevent the preferment of Trenck in Russia, and I have only fulfilled +the duty of a minister." + +Hyndford spat on the ground, and said more than I choose to repeat; after +which the four gentlemen returned to the chancellor, and I was again +called. Everybody complimented me, related to me what had passed, and +the chancellor promised I should be recompensed; strictly, however, +forbidding me to take any revenge on the Prussian ambassador, I having +sworn, in the first transports of anger, to punish him wherever I should +find him, even were it at the altar's foot. + +The chancellor soothed me, kept me to dine with him, and endeavoured to +assuage my boiling passions. The countess affected indifference, and +asked me if suchlike actions characterised the Prussian nation. Funk and +Schwart were at table. All present congratulated me on my victory, but +none knew to whom I was indebted for my deliverance from the hasty and +unjust condemnation of the chancellor, although my protectress was one of +the company. I received a present of two thousand roubles the next day +from the chancellor, with orders to thank the Empress for this mark of +her bounty, and accept it as a sign of her special favour. I paid these +my thanks some days after. The money I disregarded, but the amiable +Empress, by her enchanting benevolence, made me forget the past. The +story became public, and Goltz appeared neither in public, nor at court. +The manner in which the countess personally reproached him, I shall out +of respect pass over. Bernes, the crafty Piedmontese, assured me of +revenge, without my troubling myself in the matter, and--what happened +after I know not; Goltz appeared but little in company, fell ill when I +had left Russia, and died soon after of a consumption. + +This vile man was, no doubt, the cause of all the calamities which fell +upon me. I should have become one of the first men in Russia: the +misfortune that befel Bestuchef and his family some years afterward might +have been averted: I should never have returned to Vienna, a city so +fatal to the name of Trenck: by the mediation of the Russian Court, I +should have recovered my great Sclavonian estates; my days of persecution +at Vienna would have passed in peace and pleasure: nor should I have +entered the dungeon of Magdeburg. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +How little did the Great Frederic know my heart. Without having +offended, he had rendered me miserable, had condemned me to imprisonment +at Glatz on mere suspicion, and on my flying thence, naked and destitute, +had confiscated my paternal inheritance. Not contented with inflicting +all these calamities, he would not suffer me peaceably to seek my fortune +in a foreign land. + +Few are the youths who, in so short a time, being expelled their native +country with disgrace, by their own efforts, merits, and talents, have +obtained honour and favour so great, acquired such powerful friends, or +been entrusted with confidence equally unlimited in transactions so +important. Enraged as I was at the treachery of Goltz, had opportunity +offered, I might have been tempted even to turn my native country into a +desert; nor do I deny that I afterwards promoted the views of the +Austrian envoy, who knew well how to cherish the flame that had been +kindled, and turn it to his own use. Till this moment I never felt the +least enmity either to my country or king, nor did I suffer myself, on +any occasion, to be made the agent of their disadvantage. + +No sooner was I entrusted more intimately with cabinet secrets, than I +discovered the state of factions, and that Bestuchef and Apraxin were +even then in Prussian pay; that a counterpoise, by their means, might be +formed to the prevalence of the Austrian party. + +Hence we may date the change of Russian politics in the year 1762. Here +also we may find a clue to the contradictory orders, artifices, +positions, retreats and disappointments of the Russian army, in the seven +years' war, beginning in 1756. The countess, who was obliged to act with +greater caution, foresaw the consequence of the various intrigues in +which her husband was engaged: her love for me naturally drew her from +her former party; she confided every secret to me, and ever remained till +her fall, which happened in 1758, during my imprisonment, my best friend +and correspondent. Hence was I so well informed of all the plans against +Prussia, to the years 1754 and 1756; much more so than many ministers of +the interested courts, who imagined they alone were in the secret. How +many after events could I then have foretold! Such was the perverseness +of my destiny, that where I should most have been sought for, and best +known, there was I least valued. + +No man, in my youth, would have believed I should live to my sixtieth +year, untitled and obscure. In Berlin, Petersburg, London, and Paris, +have I been esteemed by the greatest statesmen, and now am I reduced to +the invalid list. How strange are the caprices of fortune! I ought +never to have left Russia: this was my great error, which I still live to +repent. + +I have never been accustomed to sleep more than four or five hours, so +that through life I have allowed time for paying visits and receiving +company. I have still had sufficient for study and improvement. Hyndford +was my instructor in politics; Boerhaave, then physician to the court, my +bosom friend, my tutor in physic and literary subjects. Women formed me +for court intrigues, though these, as a philosopher, I despised. + +The chancellor had greatly changed his carriage towards me since the +incident of the plan. He observed my looks, showed he was distrustful, +and desirous of revenge. His lady, as well as myself, remarked this, and +new measures became necessary. I was obliged to act an artful, but, at +the same time, a very dangerous part. + +My cousin, Baron Trenck, died in the Spielberg, October 4, 1749, and left +me his heir, on condition I should only serve the house of Austria. In +March, 1750, Count Bernes received the citation sent me to enter on this +inheritance. I would hear nothing of Vienna; the abominable treatment of +my cousin terrified me. I well knew the origin of his prosecution, the +services he had rendered his country, and had been an eye-witness of the +injustice by which he was repaid. Bernes represented to me that the +property left me was worth much above a million: that the empress would +support me in pursuit of justice, and that I had no personal enemy at +Vienna, that a million of certain property in Hungary was much superior +to the highest expectations in Russia, where I myself had beheld so many +changes of fortune, and the effects of family cabals. Russia he painted +as dangerous, Vienna as secure, and promised me himself effectual +assistance, as his embassy would end within the year. Were I once rich, +I might reside in what country I pleased; nor could the persecutions of +Frederic anywhere pursue me so ineffectually as in Austria. Snares would +be laid for me everywhere else, as I had experienced in Russia. "What," +said he, "would have been the consequence, had not the countess warned +you of the impending danger? You, like many other honest and innocent +men, would have been sent to Siberia. Your innocence must have remained +untested, and yourself, in the universal opinion, a villain and a +traitor." + +Hyndford spoke to me in the same tone, assured me of his eternal +protection, and described London as a certain asylum, should I not find +happiness at Vienna. He spoke of slavery as a Briton ought to speak, +reminded me of the fate of Munich and Osterman, painted the court such as +I knew it to be, and asked me what were my expectations, even were I +fortunate enough to become general or minister in such a country. + +These reasonings at length determined me; but having plenty of money, I +thought proper to take Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Holland in my way, and +Barnes was in the meantime to prepare me a favourable reception at +Vienna. He desired, also, I would give him authority to get possession +of the estates to which I was heir. My mistress strongly endeavoured to +detain me, but yielded at length to the force of reason. I tore myself +away, and promised, on my honour, to return as soon as I had arranged my +affairs at Vienna. She made the proposition of investing me within some +foreign embassy, by which I might render the most effectual services to +the court at Vienna. In this hope we parted with heavy hearts: she +presented me with her portrait, and a snuffbox set with diamonds; the +first of these, three years after was torn from my bosom by the officers +in my first dungeon at Magdeburg, as I shall hereafter relate. The +chancellor embraced me, at parting, with friendship. Apraxin wept, and +clasped me in his arms, prophesying at the same time, I should never be +so happy as in Russia. I myself foreboded misfortune, and quitted Russia +with regret, but still followed the advice of Hyndford and Bernes. + +From Moscow I travelled to Petersburg, where I found a letter, at the +house of Baron Wolf, the banker, from the countess, which rent my very +heart, and almost determined me to return. She endeavoured to terrify me +from proceeding to Vienna, yet inclosed a bill for four thousand roubles, +to aid me on my journey, were I absolutely bent to turn my back on +fortune. + +My effects, in money and jewels, amounted to about thirty-six thousand +florins; I therefore returned the draft, intreated her eternal +remembrance, and that she would reserve her favour and support to times +in which they might become needful. After remaining a few days at +Petersburg, I journeyed, by land, to Stockholm; taking with me letters of +recommendation from all the foreign envoys. + +I forgot to mention that Funk was inconsolable for my departure; his +imprudence had nearly plunged me into misery, and destroyed all my hopes +in Russia. Twenty-two years after this I met the worthy man, once more +in Dresden. He, there, considered himself as the cause of all the evils +inflicted on me, and assured me the recital of my sufferings had been so +many bitter reproaches to his soul. Our recapitulation of former times +gave us endless pleasure, and it was the sweetest of joys to meet and +renew my friendship with such a man, after having weathered so many +storms of fate. + +At Stockholm I wanted for no recommendation; the Queen, sister to the +great Frederic, had known me at Berlin, when I had the honour, as an +officer of the body guard, of accompanying her to Stettin. I related my +whole history to her without reserve. She, from political motives, +advised me not to make any stay at Stockholm, and to me continued till +death, an ever-gracious lady. I proceeded to Copenhagen, where I had +business to transact for M. Chaise, the Danish envoy at Moscow: from whom +also I had letters of recommendation. Here I had the pleasure of meeting +my old friend, Lieutenant Bach, who had aided me in my escape from my +imprisonment at Glatz. He was poor and in debt, and I procured him +protection, by relating the noble manner in which he behaved I also +presented him with five hundred ducats, by the aid of which he pushed his +fortune. He wrote to me in the year 1776, a letter of sincere thanks, +and died a colonel of hussars in the Danish service in 1776. + +I remained in Copenhagen but a fortnight, and then sailed in a Dutch +ship, from Elsineur to Amsterdam. Scarcely had we put to sea, before a +storm arose, by which we lost a mast and bowsprit, had our sails +shattered, and were obliged to cast anchor among the rocks of Gottenburg, +where our deliverance was singularly fortunate. + +Here we lay nine days before we could make the open sea, and here I found +a very pleasant amusement, by going daily in the ship's boat from rock to +rock, attended by two of my servants, to shoot wild ducks, and catch +shell-fish; whence I every evening returned with provisions, and sheep's +milk, bought of the poor inhabitants, for the ship's crew. + +There was a dearth among these poor people. Our vessel was laden with +corn; some of this I purchased, to the amount of some hundreds of Dutch +florins, and distributed wherever I went. I also gave one of their +ministers a hundred florins for his poor congregation, who was himself in +want of bread, and whose annual stipend amounted to one hundred and fifty +florins. + +Here in the sweet pleasure of doing good, I left behind me much of that +money I had so easily acquired in Russia; and perhaps had we stayed much +longer should myself have left the place in poverty. A thousand +blessings followed me, and the storm-driven Trenck was long remembered +and talked of at Gottenburg. + +In this worthy employment, however, I had nearly lost my life. Returning +from carrying corn, the wind rose, and drove the boat to sea. I not +understanding the management of the helm, and the servants awkwardly +handling the sails, the boat in tacking was overset. The benefit of +learning to swim, I again experienced, and my faithful servant, who had +gained the rock, aided me when almost spent. The good people who had +seen the shallop overset, came off in their boats to my assistance. An +honest Calmuc, whom I had brought from Russia, and another of my servants +perished. I saw the first sink after I had reached the shore. + +The kind Swedes brought me on board, and also righted and returned with +the shallop. For some days I was sea-sick. We weighed anchor, and +sailed for the Texel, the mouth of which we saw, and the pilots coming +off, when another storm arose, and drove us to the port of Bahus, in +Norway, into which we ran, without farther damage. In some few days we +again set sail, with a fair wind, and at length reached Amsterdam. + +Here I made no long stay; for the day after my arrival, an extraordinary +adventure happened, in which I was engaged chiefly by my own rashness. + +I was a spectator while the harpooners belonging to the whale fishery +were exercising themselves in darting their harpoons, most of whom were +drunk. One of them, Herman Rogaar by name, a hero among these people, +for his dexterity with his snickasnee, came up, and passed some of his +coarse jests upon my Turkish sabre, and offered to fillip me on the nose. +I pushed him from me, and the fellow threw down his cap, drew his +snickasnee, challenged me, called me monkey-tail, and asked whether I +chose a straight, a circular, or a cross cut. + +Thus here was I, in this excellent company, with no choice but that of +either fighting or running away. The robust, Herculean fellow grew more +insolent, and I, turning round to the bystanders, asked them to lend me a +snickasnee. "No, no," said the challenger, "draw your great knife from +your side, and, long as it is, I will lay you a dozen ducats you get a +gash in the cheek." I drew; he confidently advanced with his snickasnee, +and, at the first stroke of my sabre, that, and the hand that held it, +both dropped to the ground, and the blood spouted in my face. + +I now expected the people would, indubitably, tear me to pieces; but my +fear was changed into astonishment at hearing a universal shout +applauding the vanquisher of the redoubted Herman Rogaar who, so lately +feared for his strength and dexterity, became the object of their +ridicule. A Jew spectator conducted me out of the crowd, and the people +clamorously followed me to my inn. This kind of duel, by which I gained +honour, would anywhere else have brought me to the highest disgrace. A +man who knew the use of the sabre, in a single day, might certainly have +disabled a hundred Herman Rogaars. This story may instruct and warn +others. He that is quarrelsome shall never want an enemy. My temerity +often engaged me in disputes which, by timely compliance and calmness, +might easily have been avoided; but my evil genius always impelled me +into the paths of perplexity, and I seldom saw danger till it was +inevitable + +I left Amsterdam for the Hague, where I had been recommended to Lord +Holderness, the English ambassador, by Lord Hyndford; to Baron Reisbach, +by Bernes; to the Grand Pensionary Fagel, by Schwart; and from the +chancellor I had a letter to the Prince of Orange himself I could not, +therefore, but be everywhere received with all possible distinction. +Within these recommendations, and the knowledge I possessed, had I had +the good fortune to have avoided Vienna, and gone to India, where my +talents would have insured me wealth, how many tears of affliction had I +been spared! My ill fortune, however, had brought me letters from Count +Bernes, assuring me that heaven was at Vienna, and including a citation +from the high court, requiring me to give in my claim of inheritance. +Bernes further informed me the Austrian court had assured him I should +meet with all justice and protection, and advised me to hasten my +journey, as the executorship of the estates of Trenck was conducted but +little to my advantage. + +This advice I took, proceeded to Vienna, and from that moment all my +happiness had an end. I became bewildered in lawsuits, and the arts of +wicked men, and all possible calamities assaulted me at once, the recital +of which would itself afford subject matter for a history. They began by +the following incidents:-- + +One M. Schenck sought my acquaintance at the Hague. I met with him at my +hotel, where he intreated I would take him to Nuremberg, whence he was to +proceed to Saxony. I complied, and bore his expenses; but at Hanau, +waking in the morning, I found my watch, set with diamonds, a ring worth +two thousand roubles, a diamond snuff-box, with my mistress's picture, +and my purse, containing about eighty ducats, stolen from my bed-side, +and Schenck become invisible. Little affected by the loss of money, at +any time, I yet was grieved for my snuff-box. The rascal, however, had +escaped, and it was fortunate that the remainder of my ready money, with +my bills of exchange, were safely locked up. + +I now pursued my journey without company, and arrived in Vienna. I +cannot exactly recollect in what month, but I had been absent about two +years; and the reader will allow that it was barely possible for any man, +in so short a time, to have experienced more various changes of fate, +though many smaller incidents have been suppressed. The places, where my +pledged fidelity required discretion will be easily supposed, as likewise +will the concealment of court intrigues, and artifices, the publication +of which might even yet subject me to more persecutions. All writers are +not permitted to speak truth of monarchs and ministers. I am the father +of eight children, and parental love and duty vanquish the inclination of +the author; and this duty, this affection, have made me particularly +cautious in relating what happened to me at Vienna, that I might, +thereby, serve them more effectually than by indulging the pride of the +writer, or the vengeance of the man. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Since accounts so various, contradictory, and dishonourable to the name +of Trenck, have been circulated in Vienna, concerning facts which +happened thirty-seven years ago, I will here give a short abstract of +them, and such as may he verified by the records of the court. I pledge +my honour to the truth of the statement, and were I so allowed, would +prove it, to the conviction of any unprejudiced court of justice: but +this I cannot hope, as princes are much more disposed to bestow unmerited +favours than to make retribution to those whom they have unjustly +punished. + +Francis Baron Trenck died in the Spielberg, October 4th, 1749. It has +been erroneously believed in Vienna that his estates were confiscated by +the sentence which condemned him to the Spielberg. He had committed no +offence against the state, was accused of none, much less convicted. The +court sentence was that the administration of his estate should be +committed to Counsellor Kempf and Baron Peyaczewitz, who were selected by +himself, and the accounts of his stewards and farmers were to be sent him +yearly. He continued, till his death, to have the free and entire +disposal of his property. + +Although, before his death, he sent for his advocate, Doctor Berger, and +by him petitioned the Empress she would issue the necessary orders to the +Governor of the Spielberg, to permit the entrance of witnesses, and all +things necessary to make a legal will, it by no means follows that he +petitioned her for permission to make this will. The case is too clear +to admit of doubt. The royal commands were given, that he should enjoy +all freedom of making his will. Permission was also given that, during +his sickness, he might be removed to the capuchin convent, which was +equal to liberty, but this he refused to accept. + +Neither was his ability to make a will questioned. The advocate was only +to request the Queen's permission to supply some formalities, which had +been neglected, when he purchased the lordships of Velika and Nustar, +which petition was likewise granted. The royal mandate still exists, +which commissioned the persons therein named as trustees to the estate +and effects of Trenck, and this mandate runs thus: "Let the last will of +Trenck be duly executed: let dispatch be used, and the heir protected in +all his rights." Confiscation, therefore, had never been thought of, nor +his power to make a will questioned. + +I will now show how I have been deprived of this valuable inheritance, +while I have been obliged to pay above sixty thousand florins, to defray +legacies he had left; and when this narrative is read, it will no longer +be affirmed at Vienna, that by the favours of the court I inherited +seventy-six thousand florins, or the lordship of Zwerbach from Trenck, I +shall proceed to my proofs. + +The father of Baron Trenck, who died in the year 1743, governor of +Leitschau, in Hungary, named me in his will the successor of his son, +should he die without heirs male. + +This will was sent to be proved, according to form, at Vienna, after +having been authenticated in the most legal manner in Hungary. The court +called Hofkriegsrath, at Vienna, neglected to provide a curator for the +security of the next heir; yet this could not annul my right of +succession. When Trenck succeeded his father, he entered no protest to +this, his father's will; therefore, dying without children, in the year +1749, my claim was indisputable. I was heir had he made no will: and +even in case of confiscation, my title to his father's estates still +remained valid. + +Trenck knew this but too well: he, as I have before related, was my worst +enemy, and even attempted my life. I will therefore proceed to show the +real intent of this his crafty testament. + +Determined no longer to live in confinement, or to ask forgiveness, by +which, it is well known, he might have obtained his freedom, having lost +all hopes of reimbursing his losses, his avarice was reduced to despair. +His desire of fame was unbounded, and this could no way be gratified but +by having himself canonized for a saint, after spending his life in +committing all the ravages of a pandour. Hence originated the following +facts:-- + +He knew I was the legal claimant to his father's estates. His father had +bought with the family money, remitted from Prussia, the lordships of +Prestowacz and Pleternitz, in Sclavonia, and he himself, during his +father's life, and with his father's money, had purchased the lordship of +Pakratz, for forty thousand florins: this must therefore descend also to +me, he having no more power to will this from me, than he had the +remainder of his paternal inheritance. The property he himself had +gained was consigned to administrators, but a hundred thousand florins +had been expended in lawsuits, and sixty-three suits continued actually +pending against him in court; the legacies he bequeathed amounted to +eighty thousand florins. These, he saw, could not be paid, should I +claim nothing more than the paternal inheritance; he, therefore, to +render me unfortunate after his death, craftily named me his universal +heir, without mentioning his father's will, but endeavoured, by his +mysterious death, and the following conditions, to enforce the execution +of his own will. + +First,--I was to become a Catholic. + +Secondly,--I was to serve only the house of Austria; and, + +Lastly,--He made his whole estate, without excepting the paternal +inheritance, a _Fidei commissum_. + +Hence arose all my misfortunes, as indeed was his intention; for, but a +short time before his death, he said to the Governor, Baron Kottulinsky, +"I shall now die contented, since I have been able to trick my cousin, +and render him wretched." + +His death, believed in Vienna to be miraculous, happened after the +following manner; and by this he had induced many weak people, who really +believed him a saint, to further his views. + +Three days before his death, while in perfect health, he desired the +governor of the Spielberg would send for his confessor, for that St. +Francis had revealed to him he should be removed into life everlasting on +his birth-day at twelve o'clock. The capuchin was sent for, but the +prediction laughed at. + +The day, however, after the departure of his confessor, he said, "Praise +be to God, my end approaches; my confessor is dead, and has appeared to +me." Strange as it may seem; it was actually found to be true that the +priest was dead. He now had all the officers of the garrison of Brunn +assembled, tonsured his head like a capuchin, took the habit of the +order, publicly confessed himself in a sermon of an hour's length, +exhorted them all to holiness, acted the part of a most exemplary +penitent, embraced all present, spoke with a smile of the insignificance +of all earthly possessions, took his leave, knelt down to prayers, slept +calmly, rose, prayed again, and about eleven in the forenoon, October +4th, taking his watch in his hand, said, "Thanks be to my God, my last +hour approaches." All laughed at such a farce from a man of such a +character; yet they remarked that the left side of his face grew pale. He +then leaned his arm on the table, prayed, and remained motionless, with +his eyes closed. The clock struck twelve--no signs of life or motion +could be discovered; they spoke to him, and found he was really dead. + +The word miracle was echoed through the whole country, and the +transmigration of the Pandour Trenck, from earth to heaven, by St. +Francis, proclaimed. The clue to this labyrinth of miracles, known only +to me, is truly as follows:--He possessed the secret of what is called +the _aqua tofana_, and had determined on death. His confessor had been +entrusted with all his secrets, and with promissory notes, which he +wished to invalidate. I am perfectly certain that he had returned a +promissory note of a great prince, given for two hundred thousand +florins, which has never been brought to account. The confessor, +therefore, was to be provided for, that Trenck might not be betrayed, and +a dose of poison was given him before he set off for Vienna: his death +was the consequence. He took similar means with himself, and thus knew +the hour of his exit; finding he could not become the first on earth, he +wished to be adored as a saint in heaven. He knew he should work +miracles when dead, because he ordered a chapel to be built, willed a +perpetual mass, and bequeathed the capuchins sixty thousand florins. + +Thus died this most extraordinary man, in the thirty-fourth year of his +age, to whom nature had denied none of her gifts; who had been the +scourge of Bavaria; the terror of France; and who had, with his supposed +contemptible pandours, taken above six thousand Prussian prisoners. He +lived a tyrant and enemy of men, and died a sanctified impostor. + +Such was the state of affairs, as willed by Trenck, when I came to +Vienna, in 1759, where I arrived with money and jewels to the amount of +twenty thousand florins. + +Instead of profiting by the wealth Trenck had acquired, I expended a +hundred and twenty thousand florins of my own money, including what +devolved to me from my uncle, his father, in the prosecution of his +suits. Trenck had paid two hundred ducats to the tribunal of Vienna, in +the year 1743, to procure its very reprehensible silence concerning a +curator, to which I was sacrificed, as the new judges of this court +refused to correct the error of their predecessors. Such are the +proceedings of courts of justice in Vienna! + +On my first audience, no one could be received more kindly than I was, by +the Empress Queen. She spoke of my deceased cousin with much emotion and +esteem, promised me all grace and favour, and informed me of the +particular recommendations she had received, on my behalf, from Count +Bernes. Finding sixty-three cases hang over my head, in consequence of +the inheritance of Trenck, to obtain justice in any one of which in +Vienna, would have employed the whole life of an honest man, I determined +to renounce this inheritance, and claim only under the will and as the +heir of my uncle. + +With this view I applied for and obtained a copy of that will, with which +I personally appeared, and declared to the court that I renounced the +inheritance of Francis Trenck, would undertake none of his suits, nor be +responsible for his legacies, and required only his father's estates, +according to the legal will, which I produced; that is to say, the three +lordships of Pakratz, Prestowacz, and Pleneritz, without chattels or +personal effects. Nothing could be more just or incontrovertible than +this claim. What was my astonishment, to be told, in open court, that +Her Majesty had declared I must either wholly perform the articles of the +will of Trenck, or be excluded the entire inheritance, and have nothing +further to hope. What could be done? I ventured to remonstrate, but the +will of the court was determined and absolute: I must become a Roman +Catholic. + +In this extremity I bribed a priest, who gave me a signed attestation, +"That I had abjured the accursed heresy of Lutheranism." My religion, +however, remained what it had ever been. General Bernes about this time +returned from his embassy, and I related to him the lamentable state in +which I found my affairs. He spoke to the Empress in my behalf, and she +promised everything. He advised me to have patience, to perform all that +was required of me, and to make myself responsible for the depending +suits. Some family concerns obliged him, as he informed me, to make a +journey to Turin, but his return would be speedy: he would then take the +management of my affairs upon himself, and insure my good fortune in +Austria. Bernes loved me as his son, and I had reason to hope, from his +assurance, I should be largely remembered in his will, which was the more +probable, as he had neither child nor relations. He parted from me, like +a father, with tears in his eyes; but he had scarcely been absent six +weeks before the news arrived of his death, which, if report may be +credited, was effected by poison, administered by _a friend_. Ever the +sport of fortune, thus were my supporters snatched from me at the very +moment they became most necessary. + +The same year was I, likewise, deprived by death of my friend and +protector, Field-marshal Konigseck, Governor of Vienna, when he had +determined to interest himself in my behalf. I have been beloved by the +greatest men Austria ever produced, but unfortunately have been +persecuted by the chicanery of pettifoggers, fools, fanatics, and +priests, who have deprived me of the favour of my Empress, guiltless as I +was of crime or deceit, and left my old age in poverty. + +My ills were increased by a new accident. Soon after the departure of +Bernes, the Prussian minister, taking me aside, in the house of the +Palatine envoy, M. Becker, proposed my return to Berlin, assured me the +King had forgotten all that was past, was convinced of my innocence, that +my good fortune would there be certain, and be pledged his honour to +recover the inheritance of Trenck. I answered, the favour came too late; +I had suffered injustice too flagrant, in my own country, and that I +would trust no prince on earth whose will might annihilate all the rights +of men. My good faith to the King had been too ill repaid; my talents +might gain me bread in any part of the world, and I would not again +subject myself to the danger of unmerited imprisonment. + +His persuasions were strong, but ineffectual. "My dear Trenck," said he, +"God is my judge that my intentions are honest; I will pledge myself, +that my sovereign will insure your fortune: you do not know Vienna; you +will lose all by the suits in which you are involved, and will be +persecuted because you do not carry a rosary." + +How often have I repented I did not then return to Berlin! I should have +escaped ten years' imprisonment; should have recovered the estates of +Trenck: should not have wasted the prime of life in the litigation of +suits, and the writing of memorials; and should have certainly been +ranked among the first men in my native country. Vienna was no place for +a man who could not fawn and flatter: yet here was I destined to remain +six-and-thirty years, unrewarded, unemployed; and through youth and age, +to continue on the list of invalid majors. + +Having rejected the proposition of the Prussian envoy, all my hopes in +Vienna were ruined; for Frederic, by his residents and emissaries, knew +how to effect whatever he pleased in foreign courts, and determined that +the Trenck who would no longer serve or confide in him should at least +find no opportunity of serving against him: I soon became painted to the +Empress as an arch heretic who never would be faithful to the house of +Austria, and only endeavoured to obtain the inheritance of Trenck that he +might devote himself to Prussia. This I shall hereafter prove; and +display a scene that shall be the disgrace of many, by whom the Empress +was induced to harbour unjust suspicions of an able and honest man. I +here stand erect and confident before the world; publish the truth, and +take everlasting shame to myself, if any man on earth can prove me guilty +of one treacherous thought. I owe no thanks; but so far from having +received favours, I have six and thirty years remained unable to obtain +justice, though I have all the while been desirous of shedding my blood +in defence of the monarchy where I have thus been treated. Till the year +1746, I was equally zealous and faithful to Prussia; yet my estates +there, though confiscated, were liable to recovery: in Hungary, on the +contrary, the sentence of confiscation is irrevocable. This is a +remarkable proof in favour of my honour, and my children's claims. + +Surely no reader will be offended at these digressions; my mind is +agitated, my feelings roused, remembering that my age and grey hairs +deprive me of the sweet hope of at length vanquishing opposition, either +by patience, or forcing justice, by eminent services, or noble efforts. + +This my history will never reach a monarch's eye, consequently no +monarch, by perceiving, will be induced to protect truth. It may, +indeed, be criticised by literati; it will certainly be decried by my +persecutors, who, through life, have been my false accusers, and will +probably, therefore, be prohibited by the priests. All Germany, however, +will read, and posterity perhaps may pity, should my book escape the +misfortune of being classed among improbable romances; to which it is the +more liable, because that the biographers of Frederic and Maria Theresa, +for manifest reasons, have never so much as mentioned the name of Trenck. + +Once more to my story: I was now obliged to declare myself heir, but +always _cum reservatione juris mei_, not as simply claiming under the +will of Francis Trenck I was obliged to take upon myself the management +of the sixty-three suits, and the expenses attending any one of these are +well known in Vienna. My situation may be imagined, when I inform the +reader I only received, from the whole estate of Trenck, 3,600 florins in +three years, which were scarcely sufficient to defray the expenses of new +year's gifts to the solicitors and masters in chancery. How did I labour +in stating and transcribing proofs for the court! The money I possessed +soon vanished. My Prussian relations supported me, and the Countess +Bestuchef sent me the four thousand roubles I had refused at Petersburg. +I had also remittances from my faithful mistress in Prussia; and, in +addition, was obliged to borrow money at the usurious rate of sixty per +cent. Bewildered as I was among lawyers and knaves, my ambition still +prompted me to proceed, and all things are possible to labour and +perseverance; but my property was expended: and, at length, I could only +obtain that the contested estates should be made a _Fidei commissum_, or +put under trust; whereby, though they were protected from being the +further prey of others, I did not inherit them as mine. In this pursuit +was my prime of life wasted, which might have been profitably and +honourably spent. + +In three years, however, I brought my sixty-three suits to a kind of +conclusion; the probabilities were this could not have been effected in +fifty. Exclusive of my assiduity, the means I took must not be told; it +is sufficient that I here learnt what judges were, and thus am enabled to +describe them to others. + +For a few ducats, the president's servant used to admit me into a closet +where I could see everything as perfectly as if I had myself been one of +the council. This often was useful, and taught me to prevent evil; and +often was I scarcely able to refrain bursting in upon this court. + +Their appointed hour of meeting was nine in the morning, but they seldom +assembled before eleven. The president then told his beads, and muttered +his prayers. Someone got up and harangued, while the remainder, in +pairs, amused themselves with talking instead of listening, after which +the news of the day became the common topic of conversation, and the +council broke up, the court being first adjourned some three weeks, +without coming to any determination. This was called _judicium delegatum +in causis Trenkiansis_; and when at last they came to a conclusion, the +sentence was such as I shall ever shudder at and abhor. + +The real estates of Trenck consisted in the great Sclavonian manors, +called the lordships of Pakratz, Prestowatz, and Pleternitz, which he had +inherited from his father, and were the family property, together with +Velika and Nustak, which he himself had purchased: the annual income of +these was 60,000 florins, and they contained more than two hundred +villages and hamlets. The laws of Hungary require-- + +1st. That those who purchase estates shall obtain the _consensus regius_ +(royal consent). + +2nd. That the seller shall possess, and make over the right of property, +together with that of transferring or alienating, and + +3dly. That the purchaser shall be a native born, or have bought his +naturalisation. + +In default of all, or any of these, the Fiscus, on the death of the +purchaser, takes possession, repaying the _summa emptitia_, or purchase- +money, together within what can be shown to have been laid out in +improvements, or the _summa inscriptitia_, the sum at which it stands +rated in the fiscal register. + +Without form or notice, the Hungarian Fiscal President, Count +Grassalkowitz, took possession of all the Trenck estates on his decease, +in the name of the Fiscus. The prize was great, not so much because of +the estates themselves, as of the personal property upon them. Trenck +had sent loads of merchandise to his estates, of linen, ingots of gold +and silver from Bavaria, Alsatia, and Silesia. He had a vast storehouse +of arms, and of saddles; also the great silver service of the Emperor +Charles VII., which he had brought from Munich, with the service of plate +of the King of Prussia; and the personal property on these estates was +affirmed considerably to exceed in value the estates themselves. + +I was not long since informed by one of the first generals, whose honour +is undoubted, that several waggons were laden with these rich effects and +sent to Mihalefze. His testimony was indubitable; he knew the two +pandours, who were the confidants of Trenck, and the keepers of his +treasures; and these, during the general plunder, each seized a bag of +pearls, and fled to Turkey, where they became wealthy merchants. His +rich stud of horses were taken, and the very cows driven off the farms. +His stand of arms consisted of more than three thousand rare pieces. +Trenck had affirmed he had sent linen to the amount of fifty thousand +florins, in chests from Dunnhausen and Cersdorf, in the county of Glatz, +to his estates. The pillage was general; and when orders came to send +all the property of Trenck and deliver it to his universal heir, nothing +remained that any person would accept. I have myself seen, in a certain +Hungarian nobleman's house, some valuable arms, which I knew I had been +robbed of! and I bought at Esseck some silver plates on which were the +arms of Prussia, that had been sold by Counsellor D-n, who had been +empowered to take possession of these estates, and had thus rendered +himself rich. Of this I procured an attestation, and proved the theft: I +complained aloud at Vienna, but received an order from the court to be +silent, under pain of displeasure, and also to go no more into Sclavonia. +The principal reason of my loss of the landed property in Hungary was my +having dared to make inquiries concerning the personal, not one guinea of +which was ever brought to account. I then proved my right to the family +estates, left by my uncle, beyond all dispute, and also of those +purchased by my cousin. The commissions appointed to inquire into these +rights even confirmed them; yet after they had been thus established, I +received the following order from the court, in the hand of the Empress +herself:--"The president, Count Grassalkowitz, takes it upon his +conscience that the Sclavonian estates do not descend to Trenck, _in +natura_; he must therefore receive the _summa emptitia et inscriptitia_, +together with the money he can show to have been expended in +improvements." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +And herewith ended my pleadings and my hopes. I had sacrificed my +property, laboured through sixty-three inferior suits, and lost this +great cause without a trial. I could have remained satisfied with the +loss of the personal property: the booty of a soldier, like the wealth +amassed by a minister, appears to me little better than a public robbery; +but the acquirements of my ancestors, my birth-right by descent, of these +I could not be deprived without excessive cruelty. Oh patience! +patience!--Yet shall my children never become the footmen, nor grooms, of +those who have robbed them of their inheritance; and to them I bequeathed +my rights in all their power: nor shall any man prevent my crying aloud, +so long as justice shall not be done. + +The president, it is true, did not immediately possess himself of the +estates, but he took good care his friends should have them at such rates +that the sale of them did not bring the fiscal treasury 150,000 florins, +while I, in real and personal property, lost a million and a half; nay, +probably a sum equal to this in personal property alone. + +The summa _inscriptitia et emptitia_ for all these great estates only +amounted to 149,000 florins, and this was to be paid by the chamber, but +the president thought proper to deduct 10,000 on pretence the cattle had +been driven off the estate of Pakratz; and, further, 36,000 more, under +the shameful pretence that Trenck, to recruit his pandours, had drained +the estates of 3,600 vassals, who had never returned; the estates, +therefore, must make them good at the rate of thirty florins per head, +which would have amounted to 108,000 florins; but, with much difficulty, +this sum was reduced, as above stated, to 36,000 florins, each vassal +reckoned at ten florins per head. Thus was I obliged, from the property +of my family, to pay for 3,600 men who had gloriously died in war, in +defence of the contested rights of the great Maria Theresa; who had +raised so many millions of contributions for her in the countries of her +enemies; who, sword in hand, had stormed and taken so many towns, and +dispersed, or taken prisoners, so many thousands of her foes. Would this +be believed by listening nations? + +All deductions made for legacies, fees, and formalities, there remained +to me 63,000 florins, with which I purchased the lordship of Zwerbach, +and I was obliged to pay 6,000 florins for my naturalisation. Thus, when +the sums are enumerated which I expended on the suits of Trenck, received +from my friends at Berlin and Petersburg, it will be found that I cannot, +at least, have been a gainer by having been made the universal heir of +the immensely rich Trenck. With regret I write these truths in support +of my children's claims, that they may not, in my grave, reproach me for +having neglected the duty of a father. + +I will mere add a few particulars which may afford the reader matter for +meditation, cause him to commiserate my fate, and give a picture of the +manner in which the prosecution was carried on against Trenck. + +One Schygrai, a silly kind of beggarly baron, who was treated as a +buffoon, was invited in the year 1743 to dine with Baron Pejaczewitz, +when Trenck happened to be present. The conversation happened to turn on +a kind of brandy made in this country, and Trenck jocularly said he +annually distilled this sort of brandy from cow-dung to the value of +thirty thousand florins. Schygrai supposed him serious, and wished to +learn the art, which Trenck promised to teach him Pejaczewitz told him he +could give him thirty thousand load of dung. + +"But where shall I get the wood?" said Schygrai. "I will give you thirty +thousand klafters," answered Trenck. The credulous baron, thinking +himself very fortunate, desired written promises, which they gave him; +and that of Trenck ran thus: + + "I hereby permit and empower Baron Schygrai to sell gratis, in the + forest of Tscherra Horra, thirty thousand klafters of wood. + +"Witness my hand, +"TRENCK." + +Trenck was no sooner dead than the Baron brought his note, and made +application to the court. His attorney was the noted Bussy, and the +court decreed the estates of Trenck should pay at the rate of one form +thirty kreutzers per klafter, or forty-five thousand florins, with all +costs, and an order was given to the administrators to pay the money. + +Just at this time I arrived at Vienna, from Petersburg. Doctor Berger, +the advocate of Trenck, told me the affair would admit of no delay. I +hastened to the Empress, and obtained an order to delay payment. An +inquiry was instituted, and this forest of Tscherra Horra was found to be +situated in Turkey. The absurdity and injustice were flagrant, and it +was revoked. I cannot say how much of these forty-five thousand florins +the Baron had promised to the noble judge and the attorney. I only know +that neither of them was punished. Had not some holidays luckily +intervened, or had the attorney expected my arrival, the money would have +been paid, and an ineffectual attempt to obtain retribution would have +been the consequence, as happened in many similar instances. + +I have before mentioned the advertisement inviting all who had any +demands or complaints against Trenck to appear, with the promise of a +ducat a day; and it is mere proper to add that the sum of fifteen +thousand florins was brought to account, and paid out of the estates of +Trenck. For this shameful purpose some thousand of florins were paid +besides to this species of claimants and though, after examination, their +pretensions all proved to be futile, and themselves were cast in damages, +yet was none of this money ever refunded, or the false claimants +punished. Among these the pretended daughter of General Schwerin +received two thousand florins, notorious as was her character. Again, +Trenck was accused of having appropriated the money to his own use, and +treated as if convicted. After his death a considerable demand was +accordingly made. I happening, however, to meet with Ruckhardt, his +quarter-master, he with asseverations declared that, instead of being +indebted to the regiment, the regiment was more than a hundred thousand +florins indebted to him, advised me to get attestations from the +captains, and assured me he himself would give in a clear statement of +the regiment's accounts. + +I followed his advice, hastened to the regiment, and obtained so many +proofs, that the quarter-master of the regiment, who, with the major, had +in reality pocketed the money, was imprisoned and put in irons. What +became of the thief or the false witness afterward I know not; I only +know that nothing was refunded, that the quarter-master found protectors, +detained the money, and, some years after this vile action, purchased a +commission. One instance more. + +Trenck, to the corps of infantry he commanded, added a corps of hussars, +which he raised and provided with horses and accoutrements sold by +auction. My demand on this account was upwards of sixty thousand +florins, to which I received neither money nor reply. He had also +expended a hundred thousand florins for the raising and equipping his +three thousand pandours; in consequence of which a signed agreement had +been given by the Government that these hundred thousand florins should +be repaid to his heir, or he, the heir, should receive the command of the +regiment. The regiment, however, at his decease, was given to General +Simschen; and as for the agreement, care was taken it should never come +into my hands. Thus these hundred thousand florins were lost. + +Yet it has been wickedly affirmed he was imprisoned in the Spielberg for +having embezzled the regiment's money; whereas, I would to God I only was +in possession of the sums he expended on this regiment; for he considered +the regiment as his own; and great as was his avarice, still greater was +his desire of fame, and greater still his love for his Empress, for whom +he would gladly have yielded both property and life. + +Within respect to the money that was to have been repaid for improvement +of the estates, I must add, these estates were bought at a time when the +country had been left desolate by the Turks, and the reinstalment of such +places as had fallen into their hands, and the erecting of farmhouses, +mills, stocking them with horses, cattle, and seed corn, according to my +poor estimate, could not amount to less than eighty thousand florins; but +I was forbidden to go into Sclavonia, and the president offered, as an +indemnification, four thousand florins. Everybody was astonished, but +he, within the utmost coolness, told me I must either accept this or +nothing. The hearers of this sentence cast their eyes up to heaven and +pitied me. I remonstrated, and thereby only made the matter worse. Grief +and anxiety occasioned me to take a journey into Italy, passing through +Venice, Rome, and Florence. + +On my return to Vienna, I, by a friendly interference in behalf of a +woman whose fears rather than guilt had brought her into danger, became +suspected myself; and the very officious officers of the police had me +imprisoned as a coiner without the least grounds for any such accusation +except their own surmises. I was detained unheard nine days, and when, +having been heard, I had entirely justified myself, was again restored to +liberty; public declaration was then made in the Gazette that the +officers of the police had acted too precipitately. + +This was the satisfaction granted, but this did not content me. I +threatened the counsellor by whom my character had been so aspersed, and +the Empress, condescending to mediate, bestowed on me a captainship of +cavalry in the Cordova cuirassiers. + +Such was the recompense I received for wounds so deep, and such the +neglect into which I was thrown at Vienna. Discontent led me to join my +regiment in Hungary. + +Here I gained the applause of my colonel, Count Bettoni, who himself told +the Empress I, more than any other, had contributed to the forming of the +regiment. It may well be imagined how a man like me, accustomed, as I +had been, to the first company of the first courts, must pass my time +among the Carpathian mountains, where neither society nor good books were +to be found, nor knowledge, of which I was enamoured, improved. The +conversation of Count Bettoni, and the chase, together with the love of +the general of the regiment, old Field-marshal Cordova, were my only +resources; the persecutions, neglect, and even contempt, I received at +Vienna, were still the same. + +In the year 1754, in the month of March, my mother died in Prussia, and I +requested the permission of the court that held the inheritance of +Trenck, as a _fidei commissum_, to make a journey to Dantzic to settle +some family affairs with my brothers and sister, my estates being +confiscated. This permission was granted, and thither I went in May, +where I once more fell into the hands of the Prussians; which forms the +second great and still more gloomy epoch in my life. All who read what +follows will shudder, will commiserate him who, feeling himself innocent, +relates afflictions he has miserably encountered and gloriously overcome. + +I left Hungary, where I was in garrison, for Dantzic, where I had desired +my brothers and sister to meet me that we might settle our affairs. My +principal intent, however, was a journey to Petersburg, there to seek the +advice and aid of my friends, for law and persecution were not yet ended +at Vienna; and my captain's pay and small income scarcely sufficed to +defray charges of attorneys and counsellors. + +It is here most worthy of remark that I was told by Prince Ferdinand of +Brunswick, governor of Magdeburg, he had received orders to prepare my +prison at Magdeburg before I set out from Hungary. + +Nay, more; it had been written from Vienna to Berlin that the King must +beware of Trenck, for that he would be at Dantzic at the time when the +King was to visit his camp in Prussia. + +What thing more vile, what contrivance more abominable, could the +wickedest wretch on earth find to banish a man his country, that he might +securely enjoy the property of which the other had been robbed? That +this was done I have living witnesses in his highness Prince Ferdinand of +Brunswick and the Berlin ministry, from whose mouths I learned this +artifice of villainy. It is the more necessary to establish this truth, +because no one can comprehend why the _Great Frederic_ should have +proceeded against me in a manner so cruel that, when it comes to be +related, must raise the indignation of the just, and move hearts of iron +to commiserate. + +Men so vile, so wicked, as I have described them, in conjunction with one +Weingarten, secretary to Count Puebla, then Austrian minister at Berlin, +have brought on me these my misfortunes. + +This was the Weingarten who, as is now well known, betrayed all the +secrets of the Austrian court to Frederic, who at length was discovered +in the year 1756, and who, when the war broke out, remained in the +service of Prussia. This same Weingarten, also, not only caused my +wretchedness, but my sister's ruin and death, as he likewise did the +punishment and death of three innocent men, which will hereafter be +shown. + +It is an incontrovertible truth that I was betrayed and sold by men in +Vienna whose interest it was that I should be eternally silenced. + +I was immediately visited by my brothers and sister on my arrival at +Dantzic, where we lived happy in each other's company during a fortnight, +and an amicable partition was made of my mother's effects; my sister +perfectly justified herself concerning the manner in which I was obliged +to fly from her house an the year 1746: our parting was kind, and as +brother and sister ought to part. + +Our only acquaintance in Dantzic was the Austrian resident, M. Abramson, +to whom I brought letters of recommendation from Vicuna, and whose +reception of us was polite even to extravagance. + +This Abramson was a Prussian born, and had never seen Vienna, but +obtained his then office by the recommendation of Count Bestuchef, +without security for his good conduct, or proof of his good morals, +heart, or head. He was in close connection with the Prussian resident, +Reimer; and was made the instrument of my ruin. + +Scarcely had my brothers and sister departed before I determined to make +a voyage by sea to Russia. Abramson contrived a thousand artifices, by +which he detained me a week longer in Dantzic, that, he in conjunction +with Reimer, might make the necessary preparations. + +The King of Prussia had demanded that the magistrates of Dantzic should +deliver me up; but this could not be done without offending the Imperial +court, I being a commissioned officer in that service, with proper +passports; it was therefore probable that this negotiation required +letters should pass and repass; and for this reason Abramson was employed +to detain me some days longer, till, by the last letters from Berlin, the +magistrates of Dantzic were induced to violate public safety and the laws +of nations. Abramson, I considered as my best friend, and my person as +in perfect security; he had therefore no difficulty in persuading me to +stay. + +The day of supposed departure on board a Swedish ship for Riga +approached, and the deceitful Abramson promised me to send one of his +servants to the port to know the hour. At four in the afternoon he told +me he had himself spoken to the captain, who said he would not sail till +the next day; adding that he, Abramson, would expect me to breakfast, and +would then accompany me to the vessel. I felt a secret inquietude which +made me desirous of leaving Dantzic, and immediately to send all my +luggage, and to sleep on board. Abramson prevented me, dragging me +almost forcibly along with him, telling me he had much company, and that +I must absolutely dine and sup at his house; accordingly I did not return +to my inn till eleven at night. + +I was but just in bed when I heard a tremendous knocking at my chamber +door, which was not shut, and two of the city magistrates with twenty +grenadiers entered my chamber, and surrounded my bed so suddenly that I +had not time to take to my arms and defend myself. My three servants had +been secured and I was told that the most worthy magistracy of Dantzic +was obliged to deliver me up as a delinquent to his majesty the King of +Prussia. + +What were my feelings at seeing myself thus betrayed! They silently +conducted me to the city prison, where I remained twenty-four hours. +About noon Abramson came to visit me, affected to be infinitely concerned +and enraged, and affirmed he had strongly protested against the +illegality of this proceeding to the magistracy, as I was actually in the +Austrian service; but that they had answered him the court of Vienna had +afforded them a precedent, for that, in 1742, they had done the same by +the two sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, of Dantzic, and that, +therefore, they were justified in making reprisal; and likewise, they +durst not refuse the most earnest request accompanied with threats, of +the King of Prussia. + +Their plea of retaliation originated as follows:--There was a kind of +club at Vienna, the members of which were seized for having committed the +utmost extravagance and debauchery, two of whom were the sons of the +burgomaster Rutenberg, and who were sentenced to the pillory. Great sums +were offered by the father to avoid this public disgrace, but +ineffectually--they were punished, their punishment was legal, and had no +similarity whatever to my case, nor could it any way justly give pretence +of reprisal. + +Abramson, who had in reality entered no protest whatever, but rather +excited the magistracy, and acted in concert with Reimer, advised me to +put my writings and other valuable effects into his hands, otherwise they +would be seized. He knew I had received letters of exchange from my +brothers and sister, about seven thousand florins, and these I gave him, +but kept my ring, worth about four thousand, and some sixty guineas, +which I had in my purse. He then embraced me, declared nothing should be +neglected to effect my immediate deliverance; that even he would raise +the populace for that purpose; that I could not be given up to the +Prussians in less than a week, the magistracy being still undetermined in +an affair so serious, and he left me, shedding abundance of crocodile +tears, like the most affectionate of friends. + +The next night two magistrates, with their posse, came to my prison, +attended by resident Reimer, a Prussian officer and under officers, and +into their hands I was delivered. The pillage instantly began; Reimer +tore off my ring, seized my watch, snuff-box, and all I had, not so much +as sending me a coat or shirt from my effects; after which, they put me +into a close coach with three Prussians. The Dantzic guard accompanied +the carriage to the city gate, that was opened to let me pass; after +which the Dantzic dragoons escorted me as far as Lauenburg in Pomerania. + +I have forgotten the date of this miserable day; but to the best of my +memory, it must have been in the beginning of June. Thirty Prussian +hussars, commanded by a lieutenant, relieved the dragoons at Lauenburg, +and thus was I escorted from garrison to garrison, till I arrived at +Berlin. + +Hence it was evidently falsely affirmed, by the magistracy of Dantzic, +and the conspirator Abramson, who wrote in his own excuse to Vienna, that +my seizure must be attributed wholly to my own imprudence, and that I had +exposed myself to this arrest by going without the city gates, where I +was taken and carried off; nor was it less astonishing that the court of +Vienna should not have demanded satisfaction for the treachery of the +Dantzickers toward an Austrian officer. I have incontrovertibly proved +this treachery, after I had regained my liberty Abramson indeed they +could not punish, for during my imprisonment he had quitted the Austrian +for the Prussian service, where he gradually became so contemptible, that +in the year 1764, when I was released from my imprisonment, he was +himself imprisoned in the house of correction; and his wife, lately so +rich, was obliged to beg her bread. Thus have I generally lived to see +the fall of my betrayers; and thus have I found that, without indulging +personal revenge, virtue and fortitude must at length triumph over the +calumniator and the despot. + +This truth will be further proved hereafter, nor can I behold, unmoved, +the open shame in which my persecutors live, and how they tremble in my +presence, their wicked deeds now being known to the world Nay, monarchs +may yet punish their perfidy:--Yet not so!--May they rather die in +possession of wealth they have torn from me! I only wish the pity and +respect of the virtuous and the wise. + +But, though Austria has never resented the affront commenced on the +person of an officer in its service, still have I a claim on the city of +Dantzic, where I was thus treacherously delivered up, for the effects I +there was robbed of, the amount of which is between eleven and twelve +thousand florins. This is a case too clear to require argument, and the +publication of this history will make it known to the world. This claim +also, among others, I leave to the children of an unfortunate father. + +Enough of digression; let us attend to the remarkable events which +happened on the dismal journey to Berlin. I was escorted from garrison +to garrison, which were distant from each other two, three, or at most +five miles; wherever I came, I found compassion and respect. The +detachment of hussars only attended me two days; it consisted of twelve +men and an officer, who rode with me in the carriage. + +The fourth day I arrived at ---, where the Duke of Wirtemberg, father of +the present Grand Duchess of Russia, was commander, and where his +regiment was in quarters. The Duke conversed with me, was much moved, +invited me to dine, and detained me all the day, where I was not treated +as a prisoner. I so far gained his esteem that I was allowed to remain +there the next day; the chief persons of the place were assembled, and +the Duchess, whom he had lately married, testified every mark of pity and +consideration. I dined with him also on the third day, after which I +departed in an open carriage, without escort, attended only by a +lieutenant of his regiment. + +I must relate this, event circumstantially for it not only proves the +just and noble character of the Duke, but likewise that there are moments +in which the brave may appear cowards, the clear-sighted blind, and the +wise foolish; nay, one might almost be led to conclude, from this, that +my imprisonment at Magdeburg, was the consequence of predestination, +since I remained riveted in stupor, in despite of suggestions, +forebodings, and favourable opportunities. Who but must be astonished, +having read the daring efforts I made at Glatz, at this strange +insensibility now in the very crisis of my fate? I afterwards was +convinced it was the intention of the noble-minded Duke that I should +escape, and that he must have given particular orders to the successive +officers. He would probably have willingly subjected himself to the +reprimands of Frederic if I would have taken to fight. The journey +through the places where his regiment was stationed continued five days, +and I everywhere passed the evenings in the company of the officers, the +kindness of whom was unbounded I slept in their quarters without +sentinel, and travelled in their carriages, without other guard than a +single officer in the carriage. In various places the high road was not +more than two, and sometimes one mile from the frontier road; therefore +nothing could have been easier than to have escaped; yet did the same +Trenck, who in Glatz had cut his way through thirty men to obtain his +freedom, that Trenck, who had never been acquainted with fear, now remain +four days bewildered, and unable to come to any determination. + +In a small garrison town, I lodged in the house of a captain of cavalry, +and continually was treated by him with every mark of friendship. After +dinner he rode at the head of his squadron to water the horse, unsaddled. +I remained alone in the house, entered the stable, saw three remaining +horses, with saddles and bridles; in my chamber was my sword and a pair +of pistols. I had but to mount one of the horses and fly to the opposite +gate. I meditated on the project, and almost resolved to put it in +execution, but presently became undetermined by some secret impulse. The +captain returned some time after, and appeared surprised to find me still +there. The next day he accompanied me alone in his carriage; we came to +a forest, he saw some champignons, stopped, asked me to alight, and help +him to gather them; he strayed more than a hundred paces from me, and +gave me entire liberty to fly; yet notwithstanding all this, I +voluntarily returned, suffering myself to be led like a sheep to the +slaughter. + +I was treated so well, during my stay at this place, and escorted with so +much negligence, that I fell into a gross error. Perceiving they +conveyed me straight to Berlin, I imagined the King wished to question me +concerning the plan formed for the war, which was then on the point of +breaking out. This plan I perfectly knew, the secret correspondence of +Bestuchef having all passed through my hands, which circumstance was much +better known at Berlin than at Vienna. Confirmed in this opinion, and +far from imagining the fate that awaited me, I remained irresolute, +insensible, and blind to danger. Alas, how short was this hope! How +quickly was it succeeded by despair! when, after four days' march, I +quitted the district under the command of the Duke of Wirtemberg, and was +delivered up to the first garrison of infantry at Coslin! The last of +the Wirtemberg officers, when taking leave of me, appeared to be greatly +affected; and from this moment till I came to Berlin, I was under a +strong escort, and the given orders were rigorously observed. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Arrived here, I was lodged over the grand guardhouse, with two sentinels +in my chamber, and one at the door. The King was at Potzdam, and here I +remained three days; on the third, some staff-officers made their +appearance, seated themselves at a table, and put the following questions +to me:-- + +First. What was my business at Dantzic? + +Secondly. Whether I was acquainted with M. Goltz, Prussian ambassador to +Russia? + +Thirdly. Who was concerned with me in the conspiracy at Dantzic? + +When I perceived their intention, by these interrogations, I absolutely +refused to reply, only saying I had been imprisoned in the fortress of +Glatz, without hearing, or trial by court-martial; that, availing myself +of the laws of nature, I had by my own exertions procured my liberty, and +that I was now a captain of cavalry in the imperial service; that I +demanded a legal trial for my first unknown offence, after which I +engaged to answer all interrogatories, and prove my innocence; but that +at present, being accused of new crimes, without a hearing concerning my +former punishment, the procedure was illegal. I was told they had no +orders concerning this, and I remained dumb to all further questions. + +They wrote some two hours, God knows what; a carriage came up; I was +strictly searched, to find whether I had any weapons; thirteen or +fourteen ducats, which I had concealed, were taken from me, and I was +conducted under a strong escort, through Spandau to Magdeburg. The +officer here delivered me to the captain of the guard at the citadel; the +town major came, and brought me to the dungeon, expressly prepared for +me; a small picture of the Countess of Bestuchef, set with diamonds, +which I had kept concealed in my bosom, was now taken from me; the door +was shut, and here was I left. + +My dungeon was in a casemate, the fore part of which, six feet wide and +ten feet long, was divided by a party wall. In the inner wall were two +doors, and a third at the entrance of the casemate itself. The window in +the seven-feet-thick wall was so situated that, though I had light, I +could see neither heaven nor earth; I could only see the roof of the +magazine; within and without this window were iron bars, and in the space +between an iron grating, so close and so situated, by the rising of the +walls, that it was impossible I should see any parson without the prison, +or that any person should see me. On the outside was a wooden palisade, +six feet from the wall, by which the sentinels were prevented from +conveying anything to me. I had a mattress, and a bedstead, but which +was immovably ironed to the floor, so that it was impossible I should +drag it, and stand up to the window; beside the door was a small iron +stove and a night table, in like manner fixed to the floor. I was not +yet put in irons, and my allowance was a pound and a half per day of +ammunition bread, and a jug of water. + +From my youth I had always had a good appetite, and my bread was so +mouldy I could scarcely at first eat the half of it. This was the +consequence of Major Reiding's avarice, who endeavoured to profit even by +this, so great was the number of unfortunate prisoners; therefore, it is +impossible I should describe to my readers the excess of tortures that, +during eleven months, I felt from ravenous hunger. I could easily every +day have devoured six pounds of bread; and every twenty-four hours after +having received and swallowed my small portion, I continued as hungry as +before I began, yet must wait another twenty-four hours for a new morsel. +How willingly would I have signed a bill of exchange for a thousand +ducats, on my property at Vienna, only to have satiated my hunger on dry +bread! For, so extreme was it, that scarcely had I dropt into a sweet +sleep. Therefore I dreamed I was feasting at some table luxuriously +loaded, where, eating like a glutton, the whole company were astonished +to see me, while my imagination was heated by the sensation of famine. +Awakened by the pains of hunger, the dishes vanished, and nothing +remained but the reality of my distress; the cravings of nature were but +inflamed, my tortures prevented sleep, and, looking into futurity, the +cruelty of my fate suffered, if possible, increase, from imagining that +the prolongation of pangs like these was insupportable. God preserve +every honest man from sufferings like mine! They were not to be endured +by the villain most obdurate. Many have fasted three days, many have +suffered want for a week, or more; but certainly no one, beside myself, +ever endured it in the same excess for eleven months. Some have supposed +that to eat little might become habitual, but I have experienced the +contrary. My hunger increased every day; and of all the trials of +fortitude my whole life has afforded, this, of eleven months, was the +most bitter. + +Petitions, remonstrances, were of no avail; the answer was--"We must give +no more, such is the King's command." The Governor, General Borck, born +the enemy of man, replied, when I entreated, at least, to have my fill of +bread, "You have feasted often enough out of the service of plate taken +from the King, by Trenck, at the battle of Sorau; you must now eat +ammunition bread in your dirty kennel. Your Empress makes no allowance +for your maintenance, and you are unworthy of the bread you eat, or the +trouble taken about you." Judge, reader, what pangs such insolence, +added to such sufferings must inflict. Judge what were my thoughts, +foreseeing, as I did, an endless duration to this imprisonment and these +torments. + +My three doors were kept ever shut, and I was left to such meditations as +such feelings and such hopes might inspire. Daily, about noon, once in +twenty-four hours, my pittance of bread and water was brought. The keys +of all the doors were kept by the governor; the inner door was not +opened, but my bread and water were delivered through an aperture. The +prison doors were opened only once a week, on a Wednesday, when the +governor and town major, my hole having been first cleaned, paid their +visit. + +Having remained thus two months, and observed this method was invariable, +I began to execute a project I had formed, of the possibility of which I +was convinced. + +Where the night-table and stove stood, the floor was bricked, and this +paving extended to the wall that separated my casemate from the adjoining +one, in which was no prisoner. My window was only guarded by a single +sentinel; I therefore soon found, among those who successively relieved +guard, two kind-hearted fellows, who described to me the situation of my +prison; hence I perceived I might effect my escape, could I but penetrate +into the adjoining casemate, the door of which was not shut. Provided I +had a friend and a boat waiting for me at the Elbe, or could I swim +across that river, the confines of Saxony were but a mile distant. + +To describe my plan at length would lead to prolixity, yet I must +enumerate some of its circumstances, as it was remarkably intricate and +of gigantic labour. + +I worked through the iron, eighteen inches long, by which the night-table +was fastened, and broke off the clinchings of the nails, but preserved +their heads, that I might put them again in their places, and all might +appear secure to my weekly visitors. This procured me tools to raise up +the brick floor, under which I found earth. My first attempt was to work +a hole through the wall, seven feet thick behind, and concealed by the +night-table. The first layer was of brick. I afterwards came to large +hewn stones. I endeavoured accurately to number and remember the bricks, +both of the flooring and the wall, so that I might replace them and all +might appear safe. This having accomplished, I proceeded. + +The day preceding visitation all was carefully replaced, and the +intervening mortar as carefully preserved; the whole had, probably, been +whitewashed a hundred times; and, that I might fill up all remaining +interstices, I pounded the white stuff this afforded, wetted it, made a +brush of my hair, then applied this plaster, washed it over, that the +colour might be uniform, and afterwards stripped myself, and sat with my +naked body against the place, by the heat of which it was dried. + +While labouring, I placed the stones and bricks upon my bedstead, and had +they taken the precaution to come at any other time in the week, the +stated Wednesday excepted, I had inevitably been discovered; but, as no +such ill accident befell me, in six months my Herculean labours gave me a +prospect of success. + +Means were to be found to remove the rubbish from my prison; all of +which, in a wall so thick, it was impossible to replace; mortar and stone +could not be removed. I therefore took the earth, scattered it about my +chamber, and ground it under my feet the whole day, till I had reduced it +to dust; this dust I strewed in the aperture of my window, making use of +the loosened night-table to stand upon, I tied splinters from my bedstead +together, with the ravelled yarn of an old stocking, and to this I +affixed a tuft of my hair. I worked a large hole under the middle +grating, which could not be seen when standing on the ground, and through +this I pushed my dust with the tool I had prepared in the outer window, +then, waiting till the wind should happen to rise, during the night I +brushed it away, it was blown off, and no appearance remained on the +outside. By this simple expedient I rid myself of at least three hundred +weight of earth, and thus made room to continue my labours; yet, this +being still insufficient, I had recourse to another artifice, which was +to knead up the earth in the form of sausages, to resemble the human +faeces: these I dried, and when the prisoner came to clean my dungeon, +hastily tossed them into the night-table, and thus disencumbered myself +of a pound or two more of earth each week. I further made little balls, +and, when the sentinel was walking, blew them, through a paper tube, out +of the window. Into the empty space I put my mortar and stones, and +worked on successfully. + +I cannot, however, describe my difficulties after having penetrated about +two feet into the hewn stone. My tools were the irons I had dug out, +which fastened may bedstead and night-table. A compassionate soldier +also gave me an old iron ramrod and a soldier's sheath knife, which did +me excellent service, more especially the latter, as I shall presently +more fully show. With these two I cut splinters from my bedstead, which +aided me to pick the mortar from the interstices of the stone; yet the +labour of penetrating through this seven-feet wall was incredible; the +building was ancient, and the mortar occasionally quite petrified, so +that the whole stone was obliged to be reduced to dust. After continuing +my work unremittingly for six months, I at length approached the +accomplishment of my hopes, as I knew by coming to the facing of brick, +which now was only between me and the adjoining casemate. + +Meantime I found opportunity to speak to some of the sentinels, among +whom was an old grenadier called Gelfhardt, whom I here name because he +displayed qualities of the greatest and most noble kind. From him I +learned the precise situation of my prison, and every circumstance that +might best conduce to my escape. + +Nothing was wanting but money to buy a boat, and crossing the Elbe with +Gelfhardt, to take refuge in Saxony. By Gelfhardt's means I became +acquainted with a kind-hearted girl, a Jewess, and a native of Dessau, +Esther Heymannin by name, and whose father had been ten years in prison. +This good, compassionate maiden, whom I had never seen, won over two +other grenadiers, who gave her an opportunity of speaking to me every +time they stood sentinel. By tying my splinters together, I made a stick +long enough to reach beyond the palisades that were before my window, and +thus obtained paper, another knife, and a file. + +I now wrote to my sister, the wife of the before-mentioned only son of +General Waldow; described my awful situation, and entreated her to remit +three hundred rix-dollars to the Jewess, hoping, by this means, I might +escape from my prison. I then wrote another affecting letter to Count +Puebla, the Austrian ambassador at Berlin, in which was enclosed a draft +for a thousand florins on my effects at Vienna, desiring him to remit +these to the Jewess, having promised her that sum as a reward for her +fidelity. She was to bring the three hundred rix-dollars my sister +should send to me, and take measures with the grenadiers to facilitate my +flight, which nothing seemed able to prevent, I having the power either +to break into the casemate or, aided by the grenadiers and the Jewess' to +cut the locks from the doors and that way escape from my dungeon. The +letters were open, I being obliged to roll them round the stick to convey +them to Esther. + +The faithful girl diligently proceeded to Berlin, where she arrived safe, +and immediately spoke to Count Puebla. The Count gave her the kindest +reception, received the letter, with the letter of exchange, and bade her +go and speak to Weingarten, the secretary of the embassy, and act +entirely as he should direct. She was received by Weingarten in the most +friendly manner, who, by his questions, drew from her the whole secret, +and our intended plan of flight, aided by the two grenadiers, and also +that she had a letter for my sister, which she must carry to Hammer, near +Custrin. He asked to see this letter; read it, told her to proceed on +her Journey, gave her two ducats to bear her expenses, ordered her to +come to him on her return, said that during this interval he would +endeavour to obtain her the thousand florins for my draft, and would then +give her further instructions. + +Esther cheerfully departed for Hammer, where my sister, then a widow, and +no longer, as in 1746, in dread of her husband, joyful to hear I was +still living, immediately gave her three hundred rix-dollars, exhorting +her to exert every possible means to obtain my deliverance. Esther +hastened back with the letter from my sister to Berlin, and told all that +passed to Weingarten, who read the letter, and inquired the names of the +two grenadiers. He told her the thousand florins from Vienna were not +yet come, but gave her twelve ducats; bade her hasten back to Magdeburg, +to carry me all this good news, and then return to Berlin, where he would +pay her the thousand florins. Esther came to Magdeburg, went immediately +to the citadel, and, most luckily, met the wife of one of the grenadiers, +who told her that her husband and his comrade had been taken and put in +irons the day before. Esther had quickness of perception, and suspected +we had been betrayed; she therefore instantly again began her travels, +and happily came safe to Dessau. + +Here I must interrupt my narrative, that I may explain this infernal +enigma to my readers, an account of which I received after I had obtained +my freedom, and still possess, in the handwriting of this Jewess. +Weingarten, as was afterwards discovered, was a traitor, and too much +trusted by Count Puebla, he being a spy in the pay of Prussia, and one +who had revealed, in the court of Berlin, not only the secrets of the +Imperial embassy, but also the whole plan of the projected war. For this +reason he afterwards, when war broke out, remained at Berlin in the +Prussian service. His reason for betraying me was that he might secure +the thousand florins which I had drawn for on Vienna; for the receipt of +the 24th of May, 1755, attests that the sum was paid, by the +administrators of my effects, to Count Puebla, and has since been brought +to account; nor can I believe that Weingarten did not appropriate this +sum to himself, since I cannot be persuaded the ambassador would commit +such an action, although the receipt is in his handwriting, as may easily +be demonstrated, it being now in my possession. Thus did Weingarten, +that he might detain a thousand florins with impunity, bring new evils +upon me and upon my sister, which occasioned her premature death; caused +one grenadier to run the gauntlet three successive days, and another to +be hung. + +Esther alone escaped, and since gave me an elucidation of the whole +affair. The report at Magdeburg was, that a Jewess had obtained money +from my sister and bribed two grenadiers, and that one of these had +trusted and been betrayed by his comrade. Indeed, what other story could +be told at Magdeburg, or how could it be known I had been betrayed to the +Prussian ministry by the Imperial secretary? The truth, however, is as I +have stated: my account-book exists, and the Jewess is still alive. + +Her poor imprisoned father was punished with more than a hundred blows to +make him declare whether his daughter had entrusted him with the plot, or +if he knew whither she was fled, and miserably died in fetters. Such was +the mischief occasioned by a rascal! And who might be blamed but the +imprudent Count Puebla? + +In the year 1766, this said Jewess demanded of me a thousand florins; and +I wrote to Count Puebla, that, having his receipt for the sum, which +never had been repaid, I begged it might be restored. He received my +agent with rudeness, returned no answer, and seemed to trouble himself +little concerning my loss. Whether the heirs of the Count be, or be not, +indebted to me these thousand florins and the interest, I leave the world +to determine. Thrice have I been betrayed at Vienna and sold to Berlin, +like Joseph to the Egyptians. My history proves the origin of my +persuasion that residents, envoys, and ambassadors must be men of known +worth and honesty, and not the vilest of rascals and miscreants. But, +alas! the effects and money they have robbed me of have never been +restored; and for the miseries they have brought upon me, they could not +be recompensed by the wealth of any or all the monarchs on earth. Estates +they may, but truth they cannot confiscate; and of the villainy of +Abramson and Weingarten I have documents and proofs that no court of +justice could disannul. Stop, reader, if thou hast a heart, and in that +heart compassion for the unfortunate! Stop and imagine what my +sensations are while I remember and recount a part only of the injustice +that has been done me, a part only of the tyranny I have endured! By +this last act of treachery of Weingarten was I held in chains, the most +horrible, for nine succeeding years! By him was an innocent man brought +to the gallows! By him, too, my sister, my beloved, my unfortunate +sister, was obliged to build a dungeon at her own expense! besides being +amerced in a fine, the extent of which I never could learn. Her goods +were plundered, her estates made a desert, her children fell into extreme +poverty, and she herself expired in her thirty-third year, the victim of +cruelty, persecution, her brother's misfortunes, and the treachery of the +Imperial embassy! + + + + +Footnotes: + + +{1} A common expression with Frederic when he was angry, and which has +since become proverbial among the Prussian and other German officers. See +Critical _Review_, _April_, 1755. + +{2} The same Doo who was governor of Glatz during the Seven Years' war, +and who, having been surprised by General Laudohu, was made prisoner, +which occasioned the loss of Glatz. The King broke him with infamy, and +banished him with contempt. In 1764 he came to Vienna, where I gave him +alms. He was, by birth, an Italian, a selfish, wicked man; and, while +major under the government of Fouquet, at Glatz, brought many people to +misery. He was the creature of Fouquet, without birth or merit; crafty, +malignant, but handsome, and, having debauched his patron's daughter, +afterwards married her; whence at first his good, and at length his ill +fortune. He wanted knowledge to defend a fortress against the enemy, and +his covetousness rendered him easy to corrupt. + +{3} The German mile contains from four to seven English miles, and this +variation appears to depend on the ignorance of the people and on the +roads being in some places but little frequented. It seems probable the +Baron and his friend might travel about 809 English miles.--TRANSLATOR. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF BARON +TRENCK*** + + +******* This file should be named 2668.txt or 2668.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/6/2668 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Proofing was by Bridie, Rab +Hughes and Roland Chapman. + + + + + +LIFE AND ADVENTURE OF BARON TRENCK - VOLUME 1 + + + + +TRANSLATED BY THOMAS HOLCROFT + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +There were two cousins Von der Trenck, who were barons descended +from an ancient house in East Prussia, and were adventurous +soldiers, to whom, as to the adventurous, there were adventures that +lost nothing in the telling, for they were told by the authors' most +admiring friends--themselves. Franz, the elder, was born in 1711, +the son of an Austrian general; and Frederick, whose adventures are +here told, was the son of a Prussian major-general. Franz, at the +age of seventeen, fought duels, and cut off the head of a man who +refused to lend him money. He stood six feet three inches in his +shoes, knocked down his commanding officer, was put under arrest, +offered to pay for his release by bringing in three Turks' heads +within an hour, was released on that condition, and actually brought +in four Turks' heads. When afterwards cashiered, he settled on his +estates in Croatia, and drilled a thousand of his tenantry to act as +"Pandours" against the banditti. In 1740, he served with his +Pandours under Maria Theresa, and behaved himself as one of the more +brutal sort of banditti. He offered to capture Frederick of +Prussia, and did capture his tent. Many more of his adventures are +vaingloriously recounted by himself in the Memoires du Baron Franz +de Trenck, published at Paris in 1787. This Trenck took poison when +imprisoned at Gratz, and died in October, 1747, at the age of +thirty-six. + +His cousin Frederick is the Trenck who here tells a story of himself +that abounds in lively illustration of the days of Frederick the +Great. He professes that Frederick the King owed him a grudge, +because Frederick the Trenck had, when eighteen years old, +fascinated the Princess Amalie at a ball. But as Frederick the +Greater was in correspondence with his cousin Franz at the time when +that redoubtable personage was planning the seizure of Frederick the +Great, there may have been better ground for the Trenck's arrest +than he allows us to imagine. Mr. Carlyle shows that Frederick von +der Trenck had been three months in prison, and was still in prison, +at the time of the battle of the Sohr, in which he professes to have +been engaged. Frederick von der Trenck, after his release from +imprisonment in 1763, married a burgomaster's daughter, and went +into business as a wine merchant. Then he became adventurous again. +His adventures, published in German in 1786-7, and in his own French +version in 1788, formed one of the most popular books of its time. +Seven plays were founded on them, and ladies in Paris wore their +bonnets a la Trenck. But the French finally guillotined the author, +when within a year of threescore and ten, on the 26th of July, 1794. +He had gone to Paris in 1792, and joined there in the strife of +parties. At the guillotine he struggled with the executioner. + +H.M. + + + +THE LIFE OF BARON TRENCK. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +I was born at Konigsberg in Prussia, February 16, 1726, of one of +the most ancient families of the country. My father, who was lord +of Great Scharlach, Schakulack, and Meichen, and major-general of +cavalry, died in 1740, after receiving eighteen wounds in the +Prussian service. My mother was daughter of the president of the +high court at Konigsberg. After my father's death she married Count +Lostange, lieutenant-colonel in the Kiow regiment of cuirassiers, +with whom she went and resided at Breslau. I had two brothers and a +sister; my youngest brother was taken by my mother into Silesia; the +other was a cornet in this last-named regiment of Kiow; and my +sister was married to the only son of the aged General Valdow. + +My ancestors are famous in the Chronicles of the North, among the +ancient Teutonic knights, who conquered Courland, Prussia, and +Livonia. + +By temperament I was choleric, and addicted to pleasure and +dissipation; my tutors found this last defect most difficult to +overcome; happily, they were aided by a love of knowledge inherent +in me, an emulative spirit, and a thirst for fame, which disposition +it was my father's care to cherish. A too great consciousness of +innate worth gave me a too great degree of pride, but the endeavours +of my instructor to inspire humility were not all lost; and habitual +reading, well-timed praise, and the pleasures flowing from science, +made the labours of study at length my recreation. + +My memory became remarkable; I am well read in the Scriptures, the +classics, and ancient history; was acquainted with geography; could +draw; learnt fencing, riding, and other necessary exercises. + +My religion was Lutheran; but morality was taught me by my father, +and by the worthy man to whose care he committed the forming of my +heart, whose memory I shall ever hold in veneration. While a boy, I +was enterprising in all the tricks of boys, and exercised my wit in +crafty excuses; the warmth of my passions gave a satiric, biting +cast to my writings, whence it has been imagined, by those who knew +but little of me, I was a dangerous man; though, I am conscious, +this was a false judgment. + +A soldier himself, my father would have all his sons the same; thus, +when we quarrelled, we terminated our disputes with wooden sabres, +and, brandishing these, contested by blows for victory, while our +father sat laughing, pleased at our valour and address. This +practice, and the praises he bestowed, encouraged a disposition +which ought to have been counteracted. + +Accustomed to obtain the prize, and be the hero of scholastic +contentions, I acquired the bad habit of disputation, and of +imagining myself a sage when little more than a boy. I became +stubborn in argument.; hasty to correct others, instead of patiently +attentive: and, by presumption, continually liable to incite +enmity. Gentle to my inferiors, but impatient of contradiction, and +proud of resisting power, I may hence date, the origin of all my +evils. + +How might a man, imbued with the heroic principles of liberty, hope +for advancement and happiness, under the despotic and iron +Government of Frederic? I was taught neither to know nor to avoid, +but to despise the whip of slavery. Had I learnt hypocrisy, craft, +and meanness, I had long since become field-marshal, had been in +possession of my Hungarian estates, and had not passed the best +years of my life in the dungeons of Magdeburg. I was addicted to no +vice: I laboured in the cause of science, honour, and virtue; kept +no vicious company; was never in the whole of my life intoxicated; +was no gamester, no consumer of time in idleness nor brutal +pleasures; but devoted many hundred laborious nights to studies that +might make me useful to my country; yet was I punished with a +severity too cruel even for the most worthless, or most villanous. + +I mean, in my narrative, to make candour and veracity my guides, and +not to conceal my failings; I wish my work may remain a moral lesson +to the world. Yet it is an innate satisfaction that I am conscious +of never having acted with dishonour, even to the last act of this +distressful tragedy. + +I shall say little of the first years of my life, except that my +father took especial care of my education, and sent me, at the age +of thirteen, to the University of Konigsberg, where, under the +tuition of Kowalewsky, my progress was rapid. There were fourteen +other noblemen in the same house, and under the same master. + +In the year following, 1740, I quarrelled with one young Wallenrodt, +a fellow-student, much stronger than myself, and who, despising my +weakness, thought proper to give me a blow. I demanded +satisfaction. He came not to the appointed place, but treated my +demand with contempt; and I, forgetting all further respect, +procured a second, and attacked him in open day. We fought, and I +had the fortune to wound him twice; the first time in the arm, the +second in the hand. + +This affair incited inquiry:- Doctor Kowalewsky, our tutor, laid +complaints before the University, and I was condemned to three +hours' confinement; but my grandfather and guardian, President +Derschau, was so pleased with my courage, that he took me from this +house and placed me under Professor Christiani. + +Here I first began to enjoy full liberty, and from this worthy man I +learnt all I know of experimental philosophy and science. He loved +me as his own son, and continued instructing me till midnight. +Under his auspices, in 1742, I maintained, with great success, two +public theses, although I was then but sixteen; an effort and an +honour till then unknown. + +Three days after my last public exordium, a contemptible fellow +sought a quarrel with me, and obliged me to draw in my own defence, +whom, on this occasion, I wounded in the groin. + +This success inflated my valour, and from that time I began to +assume the air and appearance of a Hector. + +Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed before I had another with a +lieutenant of the garrison, whom I had insulted, who received two +wounds in the contest. + +I ought to remark, that at this time, the University of Konigsberg +was still highly privileged. To send a challenge was held +honourable; and this was not only permitted, but would have been +difficult to prevent, considering the great number of proud, hot- +headed, and turbulent nobility from Livonia, Courland, Sweden, +Denmark, and Poland, who came thither to study, and of whom there +were more than five hundred. This brought the University into +disrepute, and endeavours have been made to remedy the abuse. Men +have acquired a greater extent of true knowledge, and have begun to +perceive that a University ought to be a place of instruction, and +not a field of battle; and that blood cannot be honourably shed, +except in defence of life or country. + +In November, 1742, the King sent his adjutant-general, Baron Lottum, +who was related to my mother, to Konigsberg, with whom I dined at my +grandfather's. He conversed much with me, and, after putting +various questions, purposely, to discover what my talents and +inclinations were, he demanded, as if in joke, whether I had any +inclination to go with him to Berlin, and serve my country, as my +ancestors had ever done: adding that, in the army, I should find +much better opportunities of sending challenges than at the +University. Inflamed with the desire of distinguishing myself, I +listened with rapture to the proposition, and in a few days we +departed for Potzdam. + +On the morrow after my arrival, I was presented to the King, as +indeed I had before been in the year 1740, with the character of +being, then, one of the most hopeful youths of the University. My +reception was most flattering; the justness of my replies to the +questions he asked, my height, figure, and confidence, pleased him; +and I soon obtained permission to enter as a cadet in his body +guards, with a promise of quick preferment. + +The body guards formed, at this time, a model and school for the +Prussian cavalry; they consisted of one single squadron of men +selected from the whole army, and their uniform was the most +splendid in all Europe. Two thousand rix-dollars were necessary to +equip an officer: the cuirass was wholly plated with silver; and +the horse, furniture, and accoutrements alone cost four hundred rix- +dollars. + +This squadron only contained six officers and a hundred and forty- +four men; but there were always fifty or sixty supernumeraries, and +as many horses, for the King incorporated all the most handsome men +he found in the guards. The officers were the best taught of any +the army contained; the King himself was their tutor, and he +afterwards sent them to instruct the cavalry in the manoeuvres they +had learnt. Their rise was rapid if they behaved well; but they +were broken for the least fault, and punished by being sent to +garrison regiments. It was likewise necessary they should be +tolerably rich, as well as possess such talents as might be +successfully employed, both at court and in the army. + +There are no soldiers in the world who undergo so much as this body +guard; and during the time I was in the service of Frederic, I often +had not eight hours' sleep in eight days. Exercise began at four in +the morning, and experiments were made of all the alterations the +King meant to introduce in his cavalry. Ditches of three, four, +five, six feet, and still wider, were leaped, till that someone +broke his neck; hedges, in like manner, were freed, and the horses +ran careers, meeting each other full speed in a kind of lists of +more than half a league in length. We had often, in these our +exercises, several men and horses killed or wounded. + +It happened more frequently than otherwise that the same experiments +were repeated after dinner with fresh horses; and it was not +uncommon, at Potzdam, to hear the alarm sounded twice in a night. +The horses stood in the King's stables; and whoever had not dressed, +armed himself, saddled his horse, mounted, and appeared before the +palace in eight minutes, was put under arrest for fourteen days. + +Scarcely were the eyes closed before the trumpet again sounded, to +accustom youth to vigilance. I lost, in one year, three horses, +which had either broken their legs, in leaping ditches, or died of +fatigue. + +I cannot give a stronger picture of this service than by saying that +the body guard lost more men and horses in one year's peace than +they did, during the following year, in two battles. + +We had, at this time, three stations; our service, in the winter, +was at Berlin, where we attended the opera, and all public +festivals: in the spring we were exercised at Charlottenberg; and +at Potzdam, or wherever the King went, during the summer. The six +officers of the guard dined with the King, and, on gala days, with +the Queen. It may be presumed there was not at that time on earth a +better school to form an officer and a man of the world than was the +court of Berlin. + +I had scarcely been six weeks a cadet before the King took me aside, +one day, after the parade, and having examined me near half an hour, +on various subjects, commanded me to come and speak to him on the +morrow. + +His intention was to find whether the accounts that had been given +him of my memory had not been exaggerated; and that he might be +convinced, he first gave me the names of fifty soldiers to learn by +rote, which I did in five minutes. He next repeated the subjects of +two letters, which I immediately composed in French and Latin; the +one I wrote, the other I dictated. He afterwards ordered me to +trace, with promptitude, a landscape from nature, which I executed +with equal success; and he then gave me a cornet's commission in his +body guards. + +Each mark of bounty from the monarch increased an ardour already +great, inspired me with gratitude, and the first of my wishes was to +devote my whole life to the service of my King and country. He +spoke to me as a Sovereign should speak, like a father, like one who +knew well how to estimate the gifts bestowed on me by nature; and +perceiving, or rather feeling, how much he might expect from me, +became at once my instructor and my friend. + +Thus did I remain a cadet only six weeks, and few Prussians can +vaunt, under the reign of Frederic, of equal good fortune. + +The King not only presented me with a commission, but equipped me +splendidly for the service. Thus did I suddenly find myself a +courtier, and an officer in the finest, bravest, and best +disciplined corps in Europe. My good fortune seemed unlimited, +when, in the month of August, 1743, the King selected me to go and +instruct the Silesian cavalry in the new manoeuvres: an honour +never before granted to a youth of eighteen. + +I have already said we were garrisoned at Berlin during winter, +where the officers' table was at court: and, as my reputation had +preceded me, no person whatever could be better received there, or +live more pleasantly. + +Frederic commanded me to visit the literati, whom he had invited to +his court: Maupertuis, Jordan, La Mettrie, and Pollnitz, were all +my acquaintance. My days were employed in the duties of an officer, +and my nights in acquiring knowledge. Pollnitz was my guide, and +the friend of my heart. My happiness was well worthy of being +envied. In 1743, I was five feet eleven inches in height, and +Nature had endowed me with every requisite to please. I lived, as I +vainly imagined, without inciting enmity or malice, and my mind was +wholly occupied by the desire of earning well-founded fame. + +I had hitherto remained ignorant of love, and had been terrified +from illicit commerce by beholding the dreadful objects of the +hospital at Potzdam. During the winter of 1743, the nuptials of his +Majesty's sister were celebrated, who was married to the King of +Sweden, where she is at present Queen Dowager, mother of the +reigning Gustavus. I, as officer of my corps, had the honour to +mount guard and escort her as far as Stettin. Here first did my +heart feel a passion of which, in the course of my history, I shall +have frequent occasion to speak. The object of my love was one whom +I can only remember at present with reverence; and, as I write not +romance, but facts, I shall here briefly say, ours were mutually the +first-fruits of affection, and that to this hour I regret no +misfortune, no misery, with which, from a stock so noble, my destiny +was overshadowed. + +Amid the tumult inseparable to occasions like these, on which it was +my duty to maintain order, a thief had the address to steal my +watch, and cut away part of the gold fringe which hung from the +waistcoat of my uniform, and afterwards to escape unperceived. This +accident brought on me the raillery of my comrades; and the lady +alluded to thence took occasion to console me, by saying it should +be her care that I should be no loser. Her words were accompanied +by a look I could not misunderstand, and a few days after I thought +myself the happiest of mortals. The name, however, of this high- +born lady is a secret, which must descend with me to the grave; and, +though my silence concerning this incident heaves a void in my life, +and indeed throws obscurity over a part of it, which might else be +clear, I would much rather incur this reproach than become +ungrateful towards my best friend and benefactress. To her +conversation, to her prudence, to the power by which she fixed my +affections wholly on herself, am I indebted for the improvement and +polishing of my bodily and mental qualities. She never despised, +betrayed, or abandoned me, even in the deepest of my distress; and +my children alone, on my death-bed, shall be taught the name of her +to whom they owe the preservation of their father, and consequently +their own existence. + +I lived at this time perfectly happy at Berlin, and highly esteemed. +The King took every opportunity to testify his approbation; my +mistress supplied me with more money than I could expend; and I was +presently the best equipped, and made the greatest figure, of any +officer in the whole corps. The style in which I lived was +remarked, for I had only received from my father's heritage the +estate of Great Scharlach; the rent of which was eight hundred +dollars a year, which was far from sufficient to supply my then +expenses. My amour, in the meantime, remained a secret from my best +and most intimate friends. Twice was my absence from Potzdam and +Charlottenberg discovered, and I was put under arrest; but the King +seemed satisfied with the excuse I made, under the pretext of having +been hunting, and smiled as he granted my pardon. + +Never did the days of youth glide away with more apparent success +and pleasure than during these my first years at Berlin. This good +fortune was, alas, of short duration. Many are the incidents I +might relate, but which I shall omit. My other adventures are +sufficiently numerous, without mingling such as may any way seem +foreign to the subject. In this gloomy history of my life, I wish +to paint myself such as I am; and, by the recital of my sufferings, +afford a memorable example to the world, and interest the heart of +sensibility. I would also show how my fatal destiny has deprived my +children of an immense fortune; and, though I want a hundred +thousand men to enforce and ensure my rights, I will leave +demonstration to my heirs that they are incontestable. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + + +In the beginning of September, 1744, war again broke out between the +Houses of Austria and Prussia. We marched with all speed towards +Prague, traversing Saxony without opposition. I will not relate in +this place what the great Frederic said to us, with evident emotion, +when surrounded by all his officers, on the morning of our departure +from Potzdam. + +Should any one be desirous of writing the lives of him and his +opponent, Maria Theresa, without flattery and without fear, let him +apply to me, and I will relate anecdotes most surprising on this +subject, unknown to all but myself, and which never must appear +under my own name. + +All monarchs going to war have reason on their side; and the +churches of both parties resound with prayers, and appeals to Divine +Justice, for the success of their arms. Frederic, on this occasion, +had recourse to them with regret, of which I was a witness. + +If I am not mistaken, the King's army came before Prague on the 14th +of September, and that of General Schwerin, which had passed through +Silesia, arrived the next day on the other side of the Moldau. In +this position we were obliged to wait some days for pontoons, +without which we could not establish a communication between the two +armies. + +The height called Zischka, which overlooks the city, being guarded +only by a few Croats, was instantly seized, without opposition, by +some grenadiers, and the batteries, erected at the foot of that +mountain, being ready on the fifth day, played with such success on +the old town with bombs and red-hot balls that it was set on fire. +The King made every effort to take the city before Prince Charles +could bring his army from the Rhine to its relief. + +General Harsh thought proper to capitulate, after a siege of twelve +days, during which not more than five hundred men of the garrison, +at the utmost, were killed and wounded, though eighteen thousand men +were made prisoners. + +Thus far we had met with no impediment. The Imperial army, however, +under the command of Prince Charles of Lorraine, having quitted the +banks of the Rhine, was advancing to save Bohemia. + +During this campaign we saw the enemy only at a distance; but the +Austrian light troops being thrice as numerous as ours, prevented us +from all foraging. Winter was approaching, dearth and hunger made +Frederic determine to retreat, without the least hope from the +countries in our rear, which we had entirely laid waste as we had +advanced. The severity of the season, in the month of November, +rendered the soldiers excessively impatient of their hardships; and, +accustomed to conquer, the Prussians were ashamed of and repined at +retreat: the enemy's light troops facilitated desertion, and we +lost, in a few weeks, above thirty thousand men. The pandours of my +kinsman, the Austrian Trenck, were incessantly at our heels, gave us +frequent alarms, did us great injury, and, by their alertness, we +never could make any impression upon them with our cannon. Trenck +at length passed the Elbe, and went and burnt and destroyed our +magazines at Pardubitz: it was therefore resolved wholly to +evacuate Bohemia. + +The King hoped to have brought Prince Charles to the battle between +Benneschan and Kannupitz, but in vain: the Saxons, during the +night, had entered a battery of three-and-twenty cannon on a mound +which separated two ponds: this was the precise road by which the +King meant to make the attack. + +Thus were we obliged to abandon Bohemia. The dearth, both for man +and horse, began to grow extreme. The weather was bad; the roads +and ruts were deep; marches were continual, and alarms and attacks +from the enemy's light troops became incessant. The discontent all +these inspired was universal, and this occasioned the great loss of +the army. + +Under such circumstances, had Prince Charles continued to harass us, +by persuading us into Silesia, had he made a winter campaign, +instead of remaining indolently at ease in Bohemia, we certainly +should not have vanquished him, the year following, at Strigau; but +he only followed at a distance, as far as the Bohemian frontiers. +This gave Frederic time to recover, and the more effectually because +the Austrians had the imprudence to permit the return of deserters. + +This was a repetition of what had happened to Charles XII. when he +suffered his Russian prisoners to return home, who afterwards so +effectually punished his contempt of them at the battle of Pultawa. + +Prague was obliged to be abandoned, with considerable loss; and +Trenck seized on Tabor, Budweis, and Frauenberg, where he took +prisoners the regiments of Walrabe Kreutz. + +No one would have been better able to give a faithful history of +this campaign than myself, had I room in this place, and had I at +that time been more attentive to things of moment; since I not only +performed the office of adjutant to the King, when he went to +reconnoitre, or choose a place of encampment, but it was, moreover, +my duty to provide forage for the headquarters. The King having +only permitted me to take six volunteers from the body guard, to +execute this latter duty, I was obliged to add to them horse +chasseurs, and hussars, with whom I was continually in motion. I +was peculiarly fortunate on two occasions, by happening to come +after the enemy when they had left loaded waggons and forage +bundles. + +I seldom passed the night in my tent during this campaign, and my +indefatigable activity obtained the favour and entire confidence of +Frederic. Nothing so much contributed to inspire me with emulation +as the public praises I received, and my enthusiasm wished to +perform wonders. The campaign, however, but ill supplied me with +opportunities to display my youthful ardour. + +At length no one durst leave the camp, notwithstanding the extremity +of the dearth, because of the innumerable clouds of pandours and +hussars that hovered everywhere around. + +No sooner were we arrived in Silesia, than the King's body guard +were sent to Berlin, there to remain in winter quarters. + +I should not here have mentioned the Bohemian war, but that, while +writing time history of my life, I ought not to omit accidents by +which my future destiny was influenced. + +One day, while at Bennaschen, I was commanded out, with a detachment +of thirty hussars and twenty chasseurs, on a foraging party. I had +posted my hussars in a convent, and gone myself, with the chasseurs, +to a mansion-house, to seize the carts necessary for the conveyance +of the hay and straw from a neighbouring farm. An Austrian +lieutenant of hussars, concealed with thirty-six horsemen in a wood, +having remarked the weakness of my escort, taking advantage of the +moment when my people were all employed in loading the carts, first +seized our sentinel, and then fell suddenly upon them, and took them +all prisoners in the very farm-yard. At this moment I was seated at +my ease, beside the lady of the mansion-house, and was a spectator +of the whole transaction through the window. + +I was ashamed of and in despair at my negligence. The kind lady +wished to hide me when the firing was heard in the farm-yard. By +good fortune, the hussars, whom I had stationed in the convent, had +learnt from a peasant that there was an Austrian detachment in the +wood: they had seen us at a distance enter the farmyard, hastily +marched to our aid, and we had not been taken more than two minutes +before they arrived. I cannot express the pleasure with which I put +myself at their head. Some of the enemy's party escaped through a +back door, but we made two-and-twenty prisoners, with a lieutenant +of the regiment of Kalnockichen. They had two men killed, and one +wounded; and two also of my chasseurs were hewn down by the sabre, +in the hay-loft, where they were at work. + +We continued our forage with more caution after this accident: the +horses we had taken served, in part, to draw the carts; and, after +raising a contribution of one hundred and fifty ducats on the +convent, which I distributed among the soldiers to engage them to +silence, we returned to the army, from which we were distant about +two leagues. + +We heard firing as we marched, and the foragers on all sides were +skirmishing with the enemy. A lieutenant and forty horse joined me; +yet, with this reinforcement, I durst not return to the camp, +because I learned we were in danger from more than eight hundred +pandours and hussars, who were in the plain. I therefore determined +to take a long, winding, but secret route, and had the good fortune +to come safe to quarters with my prisoners and five-and-twenty +loaded carts. The King was at dinner when I entered his tent. +Having been absent all night, it was imagined I had been taken, that +accident having happened the same day to many others. + +The instant I entered, the King demanded if I returned singly. "No, +please your Majesty," answered I; "I have brought five-and-twenty +loads of forage, and two-and-twenty prisoners, with their officer +and horses." + +The King then commanded me to sit down, and turning himself towards +the English ambassador, who was near him, said, laying his hand on +my shoulder, "C'est un Matador de ma jeunesse." + +A reconnoitring party was, at the same moment, in waiting before his +tent: he consequently asked me few questions, and to those he did +ask, I replied trembling. In a few minutes he rose from the table, +gave a glance at the prisoners, hung the Order of Merit round my +neck, commanded me to go and take repose, and set off with his +party. + +It is easy to conceive the embarrassment of my situation; my +unpardonable negligence deserved that I should have been broken, +instead of which I was rewarded; an instance, this, of the great +influence of chance on the affairs of the world. How many generals +have gained victories by their very errors, which have been +afterwards attributed to their genius! It is evident the sergeant of +hussars, who retook me and my men by bringing up his party, was much +better entitled than myself to the recompense I received. On many +occasions have I since met with disgrace and punishment when I +deserved reward. My inquietude lest the truth should be discovered, +was extreme, especially recollecting how many people were in the +secret: and my apprehensions were incessant. + +As I did not want money, I gave the sergeants twenty ducats each, +and the soldiers one, in order to insure their silence, which, being +a favourite with them, they readily promised. I, however, was +determined to declare the truth the very first opportunity, and this +happened a few days after. + +We were on our march, and I, as cornet, was at the head of my +company, when the King, advancing, beckoned me to come to him, and +bade me tell him exactly how the affair I had so lately been engaged +in happened. + +The question at first made me mistrust I was betrayed, but remarking +the King had a mildness in his manner, I presently recovered myself, +and related the exact truth. I saw the astonishment of his +countenance, but I at the same time saw he was pleased with my +sincerity. He spoke to me for half an hour, not as a King, but as a +father, praised my candour, and ended with the following words, +which, while life remains, I shall never forget: "Confide in the +advice I give you; depend wholly upon me, and I will make you a +man." Whoever can feel, may imagine how infinitely my gratitude +towards the King was increased, by this his great goodness; from +that moment I had no other desire than to live and die for his +service. + +I soon perceived the confidence the King had in me after this +explanation, of which I received very frequent marks, the following +winter, at Berlin. He permitted me to be present at his +conversations with the literati of his court, and my state was truly +enviable. + +I received this same winter more than five hundred ducats as +presents. So much happiness could not but excite jealousy, and this +began to be manifest on every side. I had too little disguise for a +courtier, and my heart was much too open and frank. + +Before I proceed, I will here relate an incident which happened +during the last campaign, and which will, no doubt, be read in the +history of Frederic. + +On the rout while retreating through Bohemia, the King came to +Kollin, with his horse-guards, the cavalry piquets of the head- +quarters, and the second and third battalions of guards. We had +only four field pieces, and our squadron was stationed in one of the +suburbs. Our advance posts, towards evening, were driven back into +the town, and the hussars entered pell-mell: the enemy's light +troops swarmed over the country, and my commanding officer sent me +immediately to receive the King's orders. After much search, I +found him at the top of a steeple, with a telescope in his hand. +Never did I see him so disturbed or undecided as on this occasion. +Orders were immediately given that we should retreat through the +city, into the opposite suburb, where we were to halt, but not +unsaddle. + +We had not been here long before a most heavy rain fell, and the +night became exceedingly dark. My cousin Trenck made his approach +about nine in the evening, with his pandour and janissary music, and +set fire to several houses. They found we were in the suburb, and +began to fire upon us from the city windows. The tumult became +extreme: the city was too full for us to re-enter: the gate was +shut, and they fired from above at us with our field-pieces. Trenck +had let in the waters upon us, and we were up to the girths by +midnight, and almost in despair. We lost seven men, and my horse +was wounded in the neck. + +The King, and all of us, had certainly been made prisoners had my +cousin, as he has since told me, been able to continue the assault +he had begun: but a cannon ball having wounded him in the foot, he +was carried off, and the pandours retired. The corps of Nassau +arrived next day to our aid; we quitted Kollin, and during the march +the King said to me, "Your cousin had nearly played us a malicious +prank last night, but the deserters say he is killed." He then +asked what our relationship was, and there our conversation ended. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + + +It was about the middle of December when we came to Berlin, where I +was received with open arms. I became less cautious than formerly, +and, perhaps, more narrowly observed. A lieutenant of the foot +guards, who was a public Ganymede, and against whom I had that +natural antipathy and abhorrence I have for all such wretches, +having indulged himself in some very impertinent jokes on the secret +of my amour, I bestowed on him the epithet he deserved: we drew our +swords, and he was wounded. On the Sunday following I presented +myself to pay my respects to his Majesty on the parade, who said to +me as he passed, "The storm and the thunder shall rend your heart; +beware!" {1} He added nothing more. + +Some little time after I was a few minutes too late on the parade; +the King remarked it, and sent me, under arrest, to the foot-guard +at Potzdam. When I had been here a fortnight, Colonel Wartensleben +came, and advised me to petition for pardon. I was then too much a +novice in the modes of the court to follow his counsel, nor did I +even remark the person who gave it me was himself a most subtle +courtier. I complained bitterly that I had so long been deprived of +liberty, for a fault which was usually punished by three, or, at +most, six days' arrest. Here accordingly I remained. + +Eight days after, the King being come to Potzdam, I was sent by +General Bourke to Berlin, to carry some letters, but without having +seen the King. On my return I presented myself to him on the +parade; and as our squadron was garrisoned at Berlin, I asked, "Does +it please your Majesty that I should go and join my corps?" "Whence +came you?" answered he. "From Berlin." "And where were you before +you went to Berlin?" "Under arrest." "Then under arrest you must +remain!" + +I did not recover my liberty till three days before our departure +for Silesia, towards which we marched, with the utmost speed, in the +beginning of May, to commence our second campaign. + +Here I must recount an event which happened that winter, which +became the source of all my misfortunes, and to which I must entreat +my readers will pay the utmost attention; since this error, if +innocence can be error, was the cause that the most faithful and the +best of subjects became bewildered in scenes of wretchedness, and +was the victim of misery, from his nineteenth to the sixtieth year +of his age. I dare presume that this true narrative, supported by +testimonies the most authentic, will fully vindicate my present +honour and my future memory. + +Francis, Baron of Trenck, was the son of my father's brother, +consequently my cousin german. I shall speak, hereafter, of the +singular events of his life. Being a commander of pandours in the +Austrian service, and grievously wounded at Bavaria, in the year +1743, he wrote to my mother, informing her he intended me, her +eldest son, for his universal legatee. This letter, to which I +returned no answer, was sent to me at Potzdam. I was so satisfied +with my situation, and had such numerous reasons so to be, +considering the kindness with which the King treated me, that I +would not have exchanged my good fortune for all the treasures of +the Great Mogul. + +On the 12th of February, 1744, being at Berlin, I was in company +with Captain Jaschinsky, commander of the body guard, the captain of +which ranks as colonel in the army, together with Lieutenant +Studnitz, and Cornet Wagnitz. The latter was my field comrade, and +is at present commander-general of the cavalry of Hesse Cassel. The +Austrian Trenck became the subject of conversation, and Jaschinsky +asked if I were his kinsman. I answered, yes, and immediately +mentioned his having made me his universal heir. "And what answer +have you returned?" said Jaschinsky.--"None at all." + +The whole company then observed that, in a case like the present, I +was much to blame not to answer; that the least I could do would be +to thank him for his good wishes, and entreat a continuance of them. +Jaschinsky further added, "Desire him to send you some of his fine +Hungarian horses for your own use, and give me the letter; I will +convey it to him, by means of Mr. Bossart, legation counsellor of +the Saxon embassy; but on condition that you will give me one of the +horses. This correspondence is a family, and not a state affair; I +will make myself responsible for the consequences." + +I immediately took my commander's advice, and began to write; and +had those who suspected me thought proper to make the least inquiry +into these circumstances, the four witnesses who read what I wrote +could have attested my innocence, and rendered it indubitable. I +gave my letter open to Jaschinsky, who sealed and sent it himself. + +I must omit none of the incidents concerning this letter, it being +the sole cause of all my sufferings. I shall therefore here relate +an event which was the first occasion of the unjust suspicions +entertained against me. + +One of my grooms, with two led horses, was, among many others, taken +by the pandours of Trenck. When I returned to the camp, I was to +accompany the King on a reconnoitring party. My horse was too +tired, and I had no other: I informed him of my embarrassment, and +his Majesty immediately made me a present of a fine English courser. + +Some days after, I was exceedingly astonished to see my groom +return, with my two horses, and a pandour trumpeter, who brought me +a letter, containing nearly the following words:- + +"The Austrian Trenck is not at war with the Prussian Trenck, but, on +the contrary, is happy to have recovered his horses from his +hussars, and to return them to whom they first belonged," &c. + +I went the same day to pay my respects to the King, who, receiving +me with great coldness, said, "Since your cousin has returned your +own horses, you have no more need of mine." + +There were too many who envied me to suppose these words would +escape repetition. The return of the horses seems infinitely to +have increased that suspicion Frederic entertained against me, and +therefore became one of the principal causes of my misfortunes: it +is for this reason that I dwell upon this and suchlike small +incidents, they being necessary for my own justification, and, were +it possible, for that of the King. My innocence is, indeed, at +present universally acknowledged by the court, the army, and the +whole nation; who all mention the injustice I suffered with pity, +and the fortitude with which it was endured with surprise. + +We marched for Silesia, to enter on our second campaign: which, to +the Prussians, was as bloody and murderous as it was glorious. + +The King's head-quarters were fixed at the convent of Kamentz, where +we rested fourteen days, and the army remained in cantonments. +Prince Charles, instead of following us into Bohemia, had the +imprudence to occupy the plain of Strigau, and we already concluded +his army was beaten. Whoever is well acquainted with tactics, and +the Prussian manoeuvres, will easily judge, without the aid of +calculation or witchcraft, whether a well or ill-disciplined army, +in an open plain, ought to be victorious. + +The army hastily left its cantonments, and in twenty-four hours was +in order of battle; and on the 14th of June, eighteen thousand +bodies lay stretched on the plain of Strigau. The allied armies of +Austria and Saxony were totally defeated. + +The body guard was on the right; and previous to the attack, the +King said to our squadron, "Prove today, my children, that you are +my body guard, and give no Saxon quarter." + +We made three attacks on the cavalry, and two on the infantry. +Nothing could withstand a squadron like this, which for men, horses, +courage, and experience, was assuredly the first in the world. Our +corps alone took seven standards and five pairs of colours, and in +less than an hour the affair was over. + +I received a pistol shot in my right hand, my horse was desperately +wounded, and I was obliged to change him on the third charge. The +day after the battle all the officers were rewarded with the Order +of Merit. For my own part, I remained four weeks among the wounded, +at Schweidnitz, where there were sixteen thousand men under the +torture of the army surgeons, many of whom had not their wounds +dressed till the third day. + +I was near three months before I recovered the use of my hand: I +nevertheless rejoined my corps, continued to perform my duty, and as +usual accompanied the King when he went to reconnoitre. For some +time past he had placed confidence in me, and his kindness towards +me continually increased, which raised my gratitude even to +enthusiasm. + +I also performed the service of adjutant during this campaign, a +circumstantial account of which no person is better enabled to write +than myself, I having been present at all that passed. I was the +scholar of the greatest master the art of war ever knew, and who +believed me worthy to receive his instructions; but the volume I am +writing would be insufficient to contain all that personally relates +to myself. + +I must here mention an adventure that happened at this time, and +which will show the art of the great Frederic in forming youth for +his service, and devotedly attaching them to his person. + +I was exceedingly fond of hunting, in which, notwithstanding it was +severely forbidden, I indulged myself. I one day returned, laden +with pheasants; but judge my astonishment and fears when I saw the +army had decamped, and that it was with difficulty that I could +overtake the rear-guard. + +In this my distress, I applied to an officer of hussars, who +instantly lent me his horse, by the aid of which I rejoined my +corps, which always marched as the vanguard. Mounting my own horse, +I tremblingly rode to the head of my division, which it was my duty +to precede. The King, however, had remarked my absence, or rather +had been reminded of it by my superior officer, who, for some time +past, had become my enemy. + +Just as the army halted to encamp, the King rode towards me, and +made a signal for me to approach, and, seeing my fears in my +countenance, said, "What, are you just returned from hunting?" +"Yes, your Majesty. I hope--" Here interrupting me, he added, +"Well, well, for this time, I shall take no further notice, +remembering Potzdam; but, however, let me find you more attentive to +your duty." + +So ended this affair, for which I deserved to have been broken. I +must remind my readers that the King meant by the words remembering +Potzdam, he remembered I had been punished too severely the winter +before, and that my present pardon was intended as a compensation. + +This was indeed to think and act greatly; this was indeed the true +art of forming great men: an art much more effectual than that of +ferocious generals, who threaten subalterns with imprisonment and +chains on every slight occasion; and, while indulging all the +rigours of military law, make no distinction of minds or of men. +Frederic, on the contrary, sometimes pardoned the failings of +genius, while mechanic souls he mechanically punished, according to +the very letter of the laws of war. + +I shall further remark, the King took no more notice of my late +fault, except that sometimes, when I had the honour to dine with +him, he would ridicule people who were too often at the chase, or +who were so choleric that they took occasion to quarrel for the +least trifle. + +The campaign passed in different manoeuvres, marches, and +countermarches. Our corps was the most fatigued, as being encamped +round the King's tent, the station of which was central, and as +likewise having the care of the vanguard; we were therefore obliged +to begin our march two hours sooner than the remainder of the army, +that we might be in our place. We also accompanied the King +whenever he went to reconnoitre, traced the lines of encampment, led +the horse to water, inspected the head-quarters, and regulated the +march and encampment, according to the King's orders; the +performance of all which robbed us of much rest, we being but six +officers to execute so many different functions. + +Still further, we often executed the office of couriers, to bear the +royal commands to detachments. The King was particularly careful +that the officers of his guards, whom he intended should become +excellent in the art of tactics, should not be idle in his school. +It was necessary to do much in order that much might be learnt. +Labour, vigilance, activity, the love of glory and the love of his +country, animated all his generals; into whom, it may be said, he +infused his spirit. + +In this school I gained instruction, and here already was I selected +as one designed to instruct others; yet, in my fortieth year, a +great general at Vienna told me, "My dear Trenck, our discipline +would be too difficult for you to learn; for which, indeed, you are +too far advanced in life." Agreeable to this wise decision was I +made an Austrian invalid, and an invalid have always remained; a +judgment like this would have been laughed at, most certainly, at +Berlin. + +If I mistake not, the famous battle of Soor, or Sorau, was fought on +the 14th day of September. The King had sent so many detachments +into Saxony, Bohemia, and Silesia, that the main army did not +consist of more than twenty-five thousand men. Neglecting advice, +and obstinate in judging his enemy by numbers, and not according to +the excellence of discipline, and other accidents, Prince Charles, +blind to the real strength of the Prussian armies, had enclosed this +small number of Pomeranian and Brandenburg regiments, with more than +eighty-six thousand men, intending to take them all prisoners. + +It will soon be seen from my narrative with what kind of secrecy his +plan was laid and executed. + +The King came into my tent about midnight; as he also did into that +of all the officers, to awaken them; his orders were, "Secretly to +saddle, leave the baggage in the rear, and that the men should stand +ready to mount at the word of command." + +Lieutenant Studnitz and myself attended the King, who went in +person, and gave directions through the whole army; meantime, break +of day was expected with anxiety. + +Opposite the defile through which the enemy was to march to the +attack eight field-pieces were concealed behind a hill. The King +must necessarily have been informed of the whole plan of the +Austrian general, for he had called in the advanced posts from the +heights, that he might lull him into security, and make him imagine +we should be surprised in the midst of sleep. + +Scarcely did break of day appear before the Austrian artillery, +situated upon the heights, began to play upon our camp, and their +cavalry to march through the defile to the attack. + +As suddenly were we in battle array; for in less than ten minutes we +ourselves began the attack, notwithstanding the smallness of our +number, the whole army only containing five regiments of cavalry. +We fell with such fury upon the enemy (who at this time were wholly +employed in forming their men at the mouth of the defile, and that +slowly, little expecting so sudden and violent a charge), that we +drove them back into the defile, where they pressed upon each other +in crowds; the King himself stood ready to unmask his eight field- +pieces, and a dreadful and bloody slaughter ensued in this narrow +place; from which the enemy had not the power to retreat. This +single incident gained the battle, and deceived all time hopes of +Prince Charles. + +Nadasti, Trenck, and the light troops, sent to attack our rear, were +employed in pillaging the camp. The ferocious Croats met no +opposition, while this their error made our victory more secure. It +deserves to be noticed that, when advice was brought to the King +that the enemy had fallen upon and were plundering the camp, his +answer was, "So much the better; they have found themselves +employment, and will be no impediment to our main design." + +Our victory was complete, but all our baggage was lost; the +headquarters, utterly undefended, were totally stripped; and Trenck +had, for his part of the booty, the King's tent and his service of +plate. + +I have mentioned this circumstance here, because that, in the year +1740, my cousin Trenck, having fallen into the power of his enemies, +who had instituted a legal, process against him, was accused, by +some villanous wretches, of having surprised the King in bed at the +battle of Sorau, and of having afterwards released him for a bribe. + +What was still worse, they hired a common woman, a native of Brunn, +who pretended she was the daughter of Marshal Schwerin, to give in +evidence that she herself was with the King when Trenck entered his +tent, whom he immediately made prisoner, and as immediately +released. + +To this part of the prosecution I myself, an eye-witness, can +answer: the thing was false and impossible. He was informed of the +intended attack. I accompanied the watchful King from midnight till +four in the morning, which time he employed in riding through the +camp, and making the necessary preparations to receive the enemy; +and the action began at five. Trenck could not take the King in +bed, for the battle was almost gained when he and his pandours +entered the camp and plundered the head-quarters. + +As for the tale of Miss Schwerin, it is only fit to be told by +schoolboys, or examined by the Inquisition, and was very unworthy of +making part of a legal prosecution against an innocent man at +Vienna. + +This incident, however, is so remarkable that I shall give in this +work a farther account of my kinsman, and what was called his +criminal process, at reading which the world will be astonished. My +own history is so connected with his that this is necessary, and the +more so because there are many ignorant or wicked people at Vienna, +who believe, or affirm, Trenck had actually taken the King of +Prussia prisoner. + +Never yet was there a traitor of the name of Trenck; and I hope to +prove, in the clearest manner, the Austrian Trenck as faithfully +served the Empress-Queen as the Prussian Trenck did Frederic, his +King. Maria Theresa, speaking to me of him some time after his +death, and the snares that had been laid for him, said, "Your +kinsman has made a better end than will be the fate of his accusers +and judges." + +Of this more hereafter: I approach that epoch when my misfortunes +began, and when the sufferings of martyrdom attended me from youth +onward till my hairs grew grey. + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + + +A few days after the battle of Sorau, the usual camp postman brought +me a letter from my cousin Trenck, the colonel of pandours, +antedated at Effek four months, of which the following is a copy:- + +"Your letter, of the 12th of February, from Berlin, informs me you +desire to have some Hungarian horses. On these you would come and +attack me and my pandours. I saw with pleasure, during the last +campaign, that the Prussian Trenck was a good soldier; and that I +might give you some proofs of my attachment, I then returned the +horses which my men had taken. If, however, you wish to have +Hungarian horses, you must take mine in like manner from me in the +field of battle: or, should you so think fit, come and join one who +will receive you with open arms, like his friend and son, and who +will procure you every advantage you can desire," &c. + +At first I was terrified at reading this letter, yet could not help +smiling. Cornet Wagenitz, now general in chief of the Hesse Cassel +forces, and Lieutenant Grotthausen, both now alive, and then +present, were my camp comrades. I gave them the letter to read, and +they laughed at its contents. It was determined to show it to our +superior officer, Jaschinsky, on a promise of secrecy, and it was +accordingly shown him within an hour after it was received. + +The reader will be so kind as to recollect that, as I have before +said, it was this Colonel Jaschinsky who on the 12th of February, +the same year, at Berlin, prevailed on me to write to the Austrian +Trenck, my cousin; that he received the letter open, and undertook +to send it according to its address; also that, in this letter, I in +jest had asked him to send me some Hungarian horses, and, should +they come, had promised one to Jaschinsky. He read the letter with +an air of some surprise; we laughed, and, it being whispered through +the army that, in consequence of our late victory, detached corps +would be sent into Hungary, Jaschinsky said, "We shall now go and +take Hungarian horses for ourselves." Here the conversation ended, +and I, little suspecting future consequences, returned to my tent. + +I must here remark the following observations:- + +1st. I had not observed the date of the letter brought by the +postman, which, as I have said, was antedated four months: this, +however, the colonel did not fail to remark. + +2ndly. The probability is that this was a net, spread for me by +this false and wicked man. The return of my horses, during the +preceding campaign, had been the subject of much conversation. It +is possible he had the King's orders to watch me; but more probably +he only prevailed on me to write that he might entrap me by a +fictitious answer. Certain it is, my cousin Trenck, at Vienna, +affirmed to his death he never received any letter from me, +consequently never could send any answer. I must therefore conclude +this letter was forged. + +Jaschinsky was at this time one of the King's favourites; his spy +over the army; a tale-bearer; an inventor of wicked lies and +calumnies. Some years after the event of which I am now speaking, +the King was obliged to break and banish him the country. + +He was then also the paramour of the beauteous Madame Brossart, wife +of the Saxon resident at Berlin, and there can be little doubt but +that this false letter was, by her means, conveyed to some Saxon or +Austrian post-office, and thence, according to its address, sent to +me. He had daily opportunities of infusing suspicions into the +King's mind concerning me; and, unknown to me, of pursuing his +diabolical plan. + +I must likewise add he was four hundred ducats indebted to me. At +that time I had always a plentiful supply of money. This booty +became his own when I, unexamined, was arrested, and thrown into +prison. In like manner he seized on the greatest part of my camp +equipage. + +Further, we had quarrelled during our first campaign, because he had +beaten one of my servants; we even were proceeding to fight with +pistols, had not Colonel Winterfield interfered, and amicably ended +our quarrel. The Lithuanian is, by nature, obstinate and +revengeful; and, from that day, I have reason to believe he sought +my destruction. + +God only knows what were the means he took to excite the King's +suspicious; for it is incredible that Frederic, considering his +WELL-KNOWN PROFESSIONS of public justice, should treat me in the +manner he did, without a hearing, without examination, and without a +court-martial. This to me has ever remained a mystery, which the +King alone was able to explain; he afterwards was convinced I was +innocent: but my sufferings had been too cruel, and the miseries he +had inflicted too horrible, for me ever to hope for compensation. + +In an affair of this nature, which will soon he known to all Europe, +as it long has been in Prussia, the weakest is always guilty. I +have been made a terrible example to this our age, how true that +maxim is in despotic States. + +A man of my rank, having once unjustly suffered, and not having the +power of making his sufferings known, must ever be highly rewarded +or still more unjustly punished. My name and injuries will ever +stain the annals of Frederic THE GREAT; even those who read this +book will perhaps suppose that I, from political motives of hope or +fear, have sometimes concealed truth by endeavouring to palliate his +conduct. + +It must ever remain incomprehensible that a monarch so clear- +sighted, himself the daily witness of my demeanour, one well +acquainted with mankind, and conscious I wanted neither money, +honour, nor hope of future preferment; I say it is incomprehensible +that he should really suppose me guilty. I take God to witness, and +all those who knew me in prosperity and misfortune, I never +harboured a thought of betraying my country. How was it possible to +suspect me? I was neither madman nor idiot. In my eighteenth year +I was a cornet of the body guard, adjutant to the King, and +possessed his favour and confidence in the highest degree. His +presents to me, in one year, amounted to fifteen hundred dollars. I +kept seven horses, four men in livery; I was valued, distinguished, +and beloved by the mistress of my soul. My relations held high +offices, both civil and military; I was even fanatically devoted to +my King and country, and had nothing to wish. + +That I should become thus wretched, in consequence of this +unfortunate letter, is equally wonderful: it came by the public +post. Had there been any criminal correspondence, my kinsman +certainly would not have chosen this mode of conveyance; since, it +is well known, all such letters are opened; nor could I act more +openly. My colonel read the letter I wrote; and also that which I +received, immediately after it was brought. + +The day after the receipt of this letter I was, as I have before +said, unheard, unaccused, unjudged, conducted like a criminal from +the army, by fifty hussars, and imprisoned in the fortress of Glatz. +I was allowed to take three horses, and my servants, but my whole +equipage was left behind, which I never saw more, and which became +the booty of Jaschinsky. My commission was given to Cornet +Schatzel, and I cashiered without knowing why. There were no legal +inquiries made: all was done by the King's command. + +Unhappy people! where power is superior to law, and where the +innocent and the virtuous meet punishment instead of reward. +Unhappy land! where the omnipotent "SUCH IS OUR WILL" supersedes all +legal sentence, and robs the subject of property, life, and honour. + +I once more repeat I was brought to the citadel of Glatz; I was not, +however, thrown into a dungeon, but imprisoned in a chamber of the +officer of the guard; was allowed my servants to wait on me, and +permitted to walk on the ramparts. + +I did not want money, and there was only a detachment from the +garrison regiment in the citadel of Glatz, the officers of which +were all poor. I soon had both friends and freedom, and the rich +prisoner every day kept open table. + +He only who had known me in this the ardour of my youth, who had +witnessed how high I aspired, and the fortune that attended me at +Berlin, can imagine what my feelings were at finding myself thus +suddenly cast from my high hopes. + +I wrote submissively to the King, requesting to be tried by a court- +martial, and not desiring any favour should I be found guilty. This +haughty tone, in a youth, was displeasing, and I received no answer, +which threw me into despair, and induced me to use every possible +means to obtain my liberty. + +My first care was to establish, by the intervention of an officer, a +certain correspondence with the object of my heart. She answered, +she was far from supposing I had ever entertained the least thought +treacherous to my country; that she knew, too well, I was perfectly +incapable, of dissimulation. She blamed the precipitate anger and +unjust suspicions of the King; promised me speedy aid, and sent me a +thousand ducats. + +Had I, at this critical moment, possessed a prudent and intelligent +friend, who could have calmed my impatience, nothing perhaps might +have been more easy than to have obtained pardon from the King, by +proving my innocence; or, it may be, than to have induced him to +punish my enemies. + +But the officers who then were at Glatz fed the flame of discontent. +They supposed the money I so freely distributed came all from +Hungary, furnished by the pandour chest; and advised me not to +suffer my freedom to depend upon the will of the King, but to enjoy +it in his despite. + +It was not more easy to give this advice than to persuade a man to +take it, who, till then, had never encountered anything but good +fortune, and who consequently supported the reverse with impatience. +I was not yet, however, determined; because I could not yet resolve +to abandon my country, and especially Berlin. + +Five months soon passed away in prison: peace was concluded; the +King was returned to his capital; my commission in the guards was +bestowed on another, when Lieutenant Piaschky, of the regiment of +Fouquet, and Ensign Reitz, who often mounted guard over me, proposed +that they and I should escape together. I yielded; our plan was +fixed, and every preparatory step taken. + +At that time there was another prisoner at Glatz, whose name was +Manget, by birth a Swiss, and captain of cavalry in the Natzmerschen +hussars; he had been broken, and condemned by a court-martial to ten +years' imprisonment, with an allowance of only four rix-dollars per +month. + +Having done this man kindness, I was resolved to rescue him from +bondage, at the same time that I obtained freedom for myself. I +communicated my design, and made the proposal, which was accepted by +him, and measures were taken; yet were we betrayed by this vile man, +who thus purchased pardon and liberty. + +Piaschky, who had been informed that Reitz was arrested, saved +himself by deserting. I denied the fact in presence of Manget, with +whom I was confronted, and bribed the Auditor with a hundred ducats. +By this means Reitz only suffered a year's imprisonment, and the +loss of his commission. I was afterwards closely confined in a +chamber, for having endeavoured to corrupt the King's officers, and +was guarded with greater caution. + +Here I will interrupt my narrative, for a moment, to relate an +adventure which happened between me and this Captain Manget, three +years after he had thus betrayed me--that is to say, in 1749, at +Warsaw. + +I there met him by chance, and it is not difficult to imagine what +was the salutation he received. I caned him; he took this ill, and +challenged me to fight with pistols. Captain Heucking, of the +Polish guards, was my second. We both fired together; I shot him +through the neck at the first shot, and he fell dead on the field. + +He alone, of all my enemies, ever died by my own hand; and he well +merited his end, for his cowardly treachery towards the two brave +fellows of whom I have spoken; and still more so with respect to +myself, who had been his benefactor. I own, I have never reproached +myself for this duel, by which I sent a rascal out of the world. + +I return to my tale. My destiny at Glatz was now become more +untoward and severe. The King's suspicions were increased, as +likewise was his anger, by this my late attempt to escape. + +Left to myself, I considered my situation in the worst point of +view, and determined either on flight or death. The length and +closeness of my confinement became insupportable to my impatient +temper. + +I had always had the garrison on my side, nor was it possible to +prevent my making friends among them. They knew I had money, and, +in a poor garrison regiment, the officers of which are all +dissatisfied, having most of them been drafted from other corps, and +sent thither as a punishment, there was nothing that might not be +undertaken. + +My scheme was as follows:- My window looked towards the city, and +was ninety feet from the ground in the tower of the citadel, out of +which I could not get, without having found a place of refuge in the +city. + +This an officer undertook to procure me, and prevailed on an honest +soap-boiler to grant me a hiding place. I then notched my pen- +knife, and sawed through three iron bars; but this mode was too +tedious, it being necessary to file away eight bars from my window, +before I could pass through; another officer therefore procured me a +file, which I was obliged to use with caution, lest I should be +overheard by the sentinels. + +Having ended this labour, I cut my leather portmanteau into thongs, +sewed them end to end, added the sheets of my bed, and descended +safely from this astonishing height. + +It rained, the night was dark, and all seemed fortunate, but I had +to wade through moats full of mud, before I could enter the city, a +circumstance I had never once considered. I sank up to the knees, +and after long struggling, and incredible efforts to extricate +myself, I was obliged to call the sentinel, and desire him to go and +tell the governor, Trenck was stuck fast in the moat. + +My misfortune was the greater on this occasion, because that General +Fouquet was then governor of Glatz. He was one of the cruellest of +men. He had been wounded by my father in a duel; and the Austrian +Trenck had taken his baggage in 1744, and had also laid the country +of Glatz under contribution. He was, therefore, an enemy to the +very name of Trenck; nor did he lose any opportunity of giving +proofs of his enmity, and especially on the present occasion, when +he left me standing in the mire till noon, the sport of the +soldiers. I was then drawn out, half dead, only again to be +imprisoned, and shut up the whole day, without water to wash me. No +one can imagine how I looked, exhausted and dirty, my long hair +having fallen into the mud, with which, by my struggling, it was +loaded. + +I remained in this condition till the next day, when two fellow- +prisoners were sent to assist and clean me. + +My imprisonment now became more intolerable. I had still eighty +louis-d'ors in my purse, which had not been taken from me at my +removal into another dungeon, and these afterwards did me good +service. + +The passions soon all assailed me at once, and impetuous, boiling, +youthful blood overpowered reason; hope disappeared; I thought +myself the most unfortunate of men, and my King an irreconcileable +judge, more wrathful and more fortified in suspicion by my own +rashness. My nights were sleepless, my days miserable; my soul was +tortured by the desire of fame; a consciousness of innocence was a +continued stimulus inciting me to end my misfortunes. Youth, +inexperienced in woe and disastrous fate, beholds every evil +magnified, and desponds on every new disappointment, more especially +after having failed in attempting freedom. Education had taught me +to despise death, and these opinions had been confirmed by my friend +La Mettrie, author of the famous work, "L'Homme Machine," or "Man a +Machine." + +I read much during my confinement at Glatz, where books were allowed +me; time was therefore less tedious; but when the love of liberty +awoke, when fame and affection called me to Berlin, and my baulked +hopes painted the wretchedness of my situation; when I remembered +that my loved country, judging by appearances, could not but +pronounce me a traitor; then was I hourly impelled to rush on the +naked bayonets of my guards, by whom, to me, the road of freedom was +barred. + +Big with such-like thoughts, eight days had not elapsed since my +last fruitless attempt to escape, when an event happened which would +appear incredible, were I, the principal actor in the scene, not +alive to attest its truth, and might not all Glatz and the Prussian +garrison be produced as eye and ear witnesses. This incident will +prove that adventurous, and even rash, daring will render the most +improbable undertakings possible, and that desperate attempts may +often make a general more fortunate and famous than the wisest and +best concerted plans. + +Major Doo {2} came to visit me, accompanied by an officer of the +guard, and an adjutant. After examining every corner of my chamber, +he addressed me, taxing me with a second crime in endeavouring to +obtain my liberty; adding this must certainly increase the anger of +the King. + +My blood boiled at the word crime; he talked of patience; I asked +him how long the King had condemned me to imprisonment; he answered, +a traitor to his country, who has correspondence with the enemy, +cannot be condemned for a certain time, but must depend for grace +and pardon on the King. + +At that instant I snatched his sword from his side, on which my eyes +had some time been fixed, sprang out of the door, tumbled the +sentinel from the top to the bottom of the stairs, passed the men +who happened to be drawn up before the prison door to relieve the +guard, attacked them sword in hand, threw them suddenly into +surprise by the manner in which I laid about me, wounded four of +them, made way through the rest, sprang over the breastwork of the +ramparts, and, with my sword drawn in my hand, immediately leaped +this astonishing height without receiving the least injury. I +leaped the second wall with equal safety and good fortune. None of +their pieces were loaded; no one durst leap after me, and in order +to pursue, they must go round through the town and gate of the +citadel; so that I had the start full half an hour. + +A sentinel, however, in a narrow passage, endeavoured to oppose my +flight, but I parried his fixed bayonet, and wounded him in the +face. A second sentinel, meantime, ran from the outworks, to seize +me behind, and I, to avoid him, made a spring at the palisadoes; +there I was unluckily caught by the foot, and received a bayonet +wound in the upper lip; thus entangled, they beat me with the butt- +end of their muskets, and dragged me back to prison, while I +struggled and defended myself like a man grown desperate. + +Certain it is, had I more carefully jumped the palisadoes, and +despatched the sentinel who opposed me, I might have escaped, and +gained the mountains. Thus might I have fled to Bohemia, after +having, at noonday, broken from the fortress of Glatz, sprung past +all its sentinels, over all its walls, and passed with impunity, in +despite of the guard, who were under arms, ready to oppose me. I +should not, having a sword, have feared any single opponent, and was +able to contend with the swiftest runners. + +That good fortune which had so far attended me forsook me at the +palisadoes, where hope was at an end. The severities of +imprisonment were increased; two sentinels and an under officer were +locked in with me, and were themselves guarded by sentinels without; +I was beaten and wounded by the butt-ends of their muskets, my right +foot was sprained, I spat blood, and my wounds were not cured in +less than a month. + + + +CHAPTER V. + + + +I was now first informed that the King had only condemned me to a +year's imprisonment, in order to learn whether his suspicions were +well founded. My mother had petitioned for me, and was answered, +"Your son must remain a year imprisoned, as a punishment for his +rash correspondence." + +Of this I was ignorant, and it was reported in Glatz that my +imprisonment was for life. I had only three weeks longer to repine +for the loss of liberty, when I made this rash attempt. What must +the King think? Was he not obliged to act with this severity? How +could prudence excuse my impatience, thus to risk a confiscation, +when I was certain of receiving freedom, justification, and honour, +in three weeks? But, such was my adverse fate, circumstances all +tended to injure and persecute me, till at length I gave reason to +suppose I was a traitor, notwithstanding the purity of my +intentions. + +Once more, then, was I in a dungeon, and no sooner was I there than +I formed new projects of flight. I first gained the intimacy of my +guards. I had money, and this, with the compassion I had inspired, +might effect anything among discontented Prussian soldiers. Soon +had I gained thirty-two men, who were ready to execute, on the first +signal, whatever I should command. Two or three excepted, they were +unacquainted with each other; they consequently could not all be +betrayed at a time: had chosen the sub-officer Nicholai to head +them. + +The garrison consisted only of one hundred and twenty men from the +garrison regiment, the rest being dispersed in the county of Glatz, +and four officers, their commanders, three of whom were in my +interest. Everything was prepared; swords and pistols were +concealed in the oven which was in my prison. We intended to give +liberty to all the prisoners, and retire with drums beating into +Bohemia. + +Unfortunately, an Austrian deserter, to whom Nicholai had imparted +our design, went and discovered our conspiracy. The governor +instantly sent his adjutant to the citadel, with orders that the +officer on guard should arrest Nicholai, and, with his men, take +possession of the casement. + +Nicholai was on the guard, and the lieutenant was my friend, and +being in the secret, gave the signal that all was discovered. +Nicholai only knew all the conspirators, several of whom that day +were on guard. He instantly formed his resolution, leaped into the +casement, crying, "Comrades, to arms, we are betrayed!" All +followed to the guard-house, where they seized on the cartridges, +the officer having only eight men, and threatening to fire on +whoever should offer resistance, came to deliver me from prison; but +the iron door was too strong, and the time too short for that to be +demolished. Nicholai, calling to me, bid me aid them, but in vain: +and perceiving nothing more could be done for me, this brave man, +heading nineteen others, marched to the gate of the citadel, where +there was a sub-officer and ten soldiers, obliged these to accompany +him, and thus arrived safely at Braunau, in Bohemia; for, before the +news was spread through the city, and men were collected for the +pursuit, they were nearly half-way on their journey. + +Two years after I met with this extraordinary man at Ofenbourg, +where hue was a writer: he entered immediately into my service, and +became my friend, but died some months after of a burning fever, at +my quarters in Hungary, at which I was deeply grieved, for his +memory will be ever dear to me. + +Now was I exposed to all the storms of ill-fortune: a prosecution +was entered against me as a conspirator, who wanted to corrupt the +officers and soldiers of the King. They commanded me to name the +remaining conspirators; but to these questions I made no answer, +except by steadfastly declaring I was an innocent prisoner, an +officer unjustly broken; unjustly, because I had never been brought +to trial; that consequently I was released from all my engagements; +nor could it be thought extraordinary that I should avail myself of +that law of nature which gives every man a right to defend his +honour defamed, and seek by every possible means to regain his +liberty: that such had been my sole purpose in every enterprise I +had formed, and such should still continue to be, for I was +determined to persist, till I should either be crowned with success, +or lose my life in the attempt. + +Things thus remained: every precaution was taken except that I was +not put in irons; it being a law in Prussia that no gentleman or +officer can be loaded with chains, unless he has first for some +crime been delivered over to the executioner; and certainly this had +not been my case. + +The soldiers were withdrawn from my chamber; but the greatest ill +was I had expended all my money, and my kind mistress, at Berlin, +with whom I had always corresponded, and which my persecutors could +not prevent, at last wrote - + + +"My tears flow with yours; the evil is without remedy--I dare no +more--escape if you can. My fidelity will ever be the same, when it +shall be possible for me to serve you.--Adieu, unhappy friend: you +merit a better fate." + + +This letter was a thunderbolt:- my comfort, however, still was that +the officers were not suspected, and that it was their duty to visit +my chamber several times a day, and examine what passed: from which +circumstance I felt my hopes somewhat revive. Hence an adventure +happened which is almost unexampled in tales of knight-errantry. + +A lieutenant, whose name was Bach, a Dane by nation, mounted guard +every fourth day, and was the terror of the whole garrison; for, +being a perfect master of arms, he was incessantly involved in +quarrels, and generally left his marks behind him. He had served in +two regiments, neither of which would associate with him for this +reason, and he had been sent to the garrison regiment at Glatz as +punishment. + +Bach one day, sitting beside me, related how, the evening before, he +had wounded a lieutenant, of the name of Schell, in the arm. I +replied, laughing, "Had I my liberty, I believe you would find some +trouble in wounding me, for I have some skill in the sword." The +blood instantly flew in his face; we split off a kind of pair of +foils from an old door, which had served me as a table, and at the +first lunge I hit him on the breast. + +His rage became ungovernable, and he left the prison. What was my +astonishment when, a moment after, I saw him return with two +soldiers' swords, which he had concealed under his coat.--"Now, +then, boaster, prove," said he, giving me one of them, "what thou +art able to do." I endeavoured to pacify him, by representing the +danger, but ineffectually. He attacked me with the utmost fury, and +I wounded him in the arm. + +Throwing his sword down, he fell upon my neck, kissed me, and wept. +At length, after some convulsive emotions of pleasure, he said, +"Friend, thou art my master; and thou must, thou shalt, by my aid, +obtain thy liberty, as certainly as my name is Bach." We bound up +his arm as well as we could. He left me, and secretly went to a +surgeon, to have it properly dressed, and at night returned. + +He now remarked, that it was humanly impossible I should escape, +unless the officer on guard should desert with me;--that he wished +nothing more ardently than to sacrifice his life in my behalf, but +that he could not resolve so far to forget his honour and duty to +desert, himself, while on guard: he notwithstanding gave me his +word of honour he would find me such a person in a few days; and +that, in the meantime, he would prepare everything for my flight. + +He returned the same evening, bringing with him Lieutenant Schell, +and as he entered said, "Here is your man." Schell embraced me, +gave his word of honour, and thus was the affair settled, and as it +proved, my liberty ascertained. + +We soon began to deliberate on the means necessary to obtain our +purpose. Schell was just come from garrison at Habelchwert to the +citadel of Glatz, and in two days was to mount guard over me, till +when our attempt was suspended. I have before said, I received no +more supplies from my beloved mistress, and my purse at that time +only contained some six pistoles. It was therefore resolved that +Bach should go to Schweidnitz, and obtain money of a sure friend of +mine in that city. + +Here must I inform the reader that at this period the officers and I +all understood each other, Captain Roder alone excepted, who was +exact, rigid, and gave trouble on all occasions. + +Major Quaadt was my kinsman, by my mother's side, a good, friendly +man, and ardently desirous I should escape, seeing my calamities +were so much increased. The four lieutenants who successively +mounted guard over me were Bach, Schroeder, Lunitz, and Schell. The +first was the grand projector, and made all preparations; Schell was +to desert with me; and Schroeder and Lunitz three days after were to +follow. + +No one ought to be surprised that officers of garrison regiments +should be so ready to desert. They are, in general, either men of +violent passions, quarrelsome, overwhelmed with debts, or unfit for +service. They are usually sent to the garrison as a punishment, and +are called the refuse of the army. Dissatisfied with their +situation, their pay much reduced, and despised by the troops, such +men, expecting advantage, may be brought to engage in the most +desperate undertaking. None of them can hope for their discharge, +and they live in the utmost poverty. They all hoped by my means to +better their fortune, I always having had money enough; and, with +money, nothing is more easy than to find friends, in places where +each individual is desirous of escaping from slavery. + +The talents of Schell were of a superior order; he spoke and wrote +six languages, and was well acquainted with all the fine arts. He +had served in the regiment of Fouquet, had been injured by his +colonel, who was a Pomeranian; and Fouquet, who was no friend to +well-informed officers, had sent him to a garrison regiment. He had +twice demanded his dismissal, but the King sent him to this species +of imprisonment; he then determined to avenge himself by deserting, +and was ready to aid me in recovering my freedom, that he might, by +that means, spite Fouquet. + +I shall speak more hereafter of this extraordinary man, that I must +not in this place interrupt my story. We determined everything +should be prepared against the first time Schell mounted guard, and +that our project should be executed on our next. Thus, as he +mounted guard every four days, the eighth was to be that of our +flight. + +The governor meantime had been informed how familiar I was become +with the officers, at which taking offence, he sent orders that my +door should no more be opened, but that I should receive my food +through a small window that had been made for the purpose. The care +of the prison was committed to the major, and he was forbidden to +eat with me, under pain of being broken. + +His precautions were ineffectual; the officers procured a false key, +and remained with me half the day and night. + +Captain Damnitz was imprisoned in an apartment by the side of mine. +This man had deserted from the Prussian service, with the money +belonging to his company, to Austria, where he obtained a commission +in his cousin's regiment, who having prevailed on him to serve as a +spy, during the campaign of 1744, he was taken in the Prussian +territories, known, and condemned to be hanged. + +Some Swedish volunteers, who were then in the army, interested +themselves in his behalf, and his sentence was changed to perpetual +imprisonment, with a sentence of infamy. + +This wretch, who two years after, by the aid of his protectors, not +only obtained his liberty but a lieutenant-colonel's commission, was +the secret spy of the major over the prisoners; and he remarked +that, notwithstanding the express prohibition laid on the officers, +they still passed the greater part of their time in my company. + +The 24th of December came, and Schell mounted guard. He entered my +prison immediately, where he continued a long time, and we made our +arrangements for flight when he next should mount guard. + +Lieutenant Schroeder that day dined with the governor, and heard +orders given to the adjutant that Schell should be taken from the +guard, and put under arrest. + +Schroeder, who was in the secret, had no doubt but that we were +betrayed, not knowing that the spy Damnitz had informed the governor +that Schell was then in my chamber. + +Schroeder, full of terror, came running to the citadel, and said to +Schell, "Save thyself, friend; all is discovered, and thou wilt +instantly be put under arrest." + +Schell might easily have provided for his own safety, by flying +singly, Schroeder having prepared horses, on one of which he himself +offered to accompany him into Bohemia. How did this worthy man, in +a moment so dangerous, act toward his friend? + +Running suddenly into my prison, he drew a corporal's sabre from +under his coat, and said, "Friend, we are betrayed; follow me, only +do not suffer me to fall alive into the hands of my enemies." + +I would have spoken: but interrupting me, and taking me by the +hand, he added, "Follow me; we have not a moment to lose." I +therefore slipped on my coat and boots, without having time to take +the little money I had left; and, as we went out of the prison, +Schell said to the sentinel, "I am taking the prisoner into the +officer's apartment; stand where you are." + +Into this room we really went, but passed out at the other door. +The design of Schell was to go under the arsenal, which was not far +off, to gain the covered way, leap the palisadoes, and afterwards +escape after the best manner we might. + +We had scarcely gone a hundred paces before we met the adjutant and +Major Quaadt. + +Schell started back, sprang upon the rampart, and leaped from the +wall, which was there not very high. I followed, and alighted +unhurt, except having grazed my shoulder. My poor friend was not so +fortunate; having put out his ankle. He immediately drew his sword, +presented it to me, and begged me to despatch him, and fly. He was +a small, weak man: but, far from complying with his request, I took +him in my arms, threw him over the palisadoes, afterwards got him on +my back, and began to run, without very well knowing which way I +went. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + + +It may not be unnecessary to remark those fortunate circumstances +that favoured our enterprise. + +The sun had just set as we took to flight; the hoar frost fell. No +one would run the risk that we had done, by making so dangerous a +leap. We heard a terrible noise behind us. Everybody knew us; but +before they could go round the citadel, and through the town, in +order to pursue us, we had got a full half league. + +The alarm guns were fired before we were a hundred paces distant; at +which my friend was very much terrified, knowing that in such cases +it was generally impossible to escape from Glatz, unless the +fugitives had got the start full two hours before the alarm guns +were heard; the passes being immediately all stopped by the peasants +and hussars, who are exceedingly vigilant. No sooner is a prisoner +missed than the gunner runs from the guard-house, and fires the +cannon on the three sides of the fortress, which are kept loaded day +and night for that purpose. + +We were not five hundred paces from the walls, when all before us +and behind us were in motion. It was daylight when we leaped, yet +was our attempt as fortunate as it was wonderful: this I attributed +to my presence of mind, and the reputation I had already acquired, +which made it thought a service of danger for two or three men to +attack me. + +It was besides imagined we were well provided with arms for our +defence; and it was little suspected that Schell had only his sword, +and I an old corporal's sabre. + +Among the officers commanded to pursue us was Lieutenant Bart, my +intimate friend. Captain Zerbst, of the regiment of Fouquet, who +had always testified the kindness of a brother towards me, met us on +the Bohemian frontiers, and called to me, "Make to time left, +brother, and you will see some lone houses, which are on the +Bohemian confines: the hussars have ridden straight forward." He +then passed on as if he had not seen us. + +We had nothing to fear from the officers; for the intimacy between +the Prussian officers was at that time so great, and the word of +honour so sacred, that during my rigorous detention at Glatz I had +been once six-and-thirty hours hunting at Neurode, at the seat of +Baron Stillfriede; Lunitz had taken my place in the prison, which +the major knew when he came to make his visit. Hence may be +conjectured how great was the confidence in which the word of the +unfortunate Trenck was held at Glatz, since they did not fear +letting him leave his dungeon, and hunt on the very confines of +Bohemia. This, too, shows the governor was deceived, in despite of +his watchfulness and order, and that a man of honour, with money, +and a good head and heart, will never want friends. + +These my memoirs will be the picture of what the national character +then was; and will prove that, with officers who lived like +brothers, and held their words so sacred, the great Frederick well +might vanquish his enemies. + +Arbitrary power has now introduced the whip of slavery, and mechanic +subordination has eradicated those noble and rational incitements to +concord and honour. Instead of which, mistrust and slavish fear +having arisen, the enthusiastic spirit of the Brandenburg warrior +declines, and into this error have most of the other European States +fallen. + +Scarcely had I borne my friend three hundred paces before I set him +down, and I looked round me, but darkness came on so fast that I +could see neither town nor citadel; consequently, we ourselves could +not be seen. + +My presence of mind did not forsake me: death or freedom was my +determination. "Where are we, Schell?" said I to my friend. "Where +does Bohemia lie? on which side is the river Neiss?" The worthy man +could make no answer: his mind was all confusion, and he despaired +of our escape: he still, however, entreated I would not let him be +taken alive, and affirmed my labour was all in vain. + +After having promised, by all that was sacred, I would save him from +an infamous death, if no other means were left, and thus raised his +spirits, he looked round, and knew, by some trees, we were not far +from the city gates. I asked him, "Where is the Neiss?" He pointed +sideways--"All Glatz has seen us fly towards the Bohemian mountains; +it is impossible we should avoid the hussars, the passes being all +guarded, and we beset with enemies." So saying, I took him on my +shoulders, and carried him to the Neiss; here we distinctly heard +the alarm sounded in the villages, and the peasants, who likewise +were to form the line of desertion, were everywhere in motion, and +spreading the alarm. As it may not be known to all my readers in +what manner they proceed on these occasions in Prussia, I will here +give a short account of it. + +Officers are daily named on the parade whose duty it is to follow +fugitives as soon as the alarm-guns are fired. + +The peasants in the villages, likewise, are daily appointed to rim +to the guard of certain posts. The officers immediately fly to +these posts to see that the peasants do their duty, and prevent the +prisoner's escape. Thus does it seldom happen that a soldier can +effect his escape unless he be, at the very least, an hour on the +road before the alarm-guns are fired. + +I now return to my story. + +I came to the Neiss, which was a little frozen, entered it with my +friend, and carried him as long as I could wade, and when I could +not feel the bottom, which did not continue for more than a space of +eighteen feet, he clung round me, and thus we got safely to the +other shore. + +My father taught all his sons to swim, for which I have often had to +thank him; since by means of this art, which is easily learnt in +childhood, I had on various occasions preserved my life, and was +more bold in danger. Princes who wish to make their subjects +soldiers, should have them educated so as to fear neither fire nor +water. How great would be the advantage of being able to cross a +river with whole battalions, when it is necessary to attack or +retreat before the enemy, and when time will not permit to prepare +bridges! + +The reader will easily suppose swimming in the midst of December, +and remaining afterwards eighteen hours in the open air, was a +severe hardship. About seven o'clock the hoar-fog was succeeded by +frost and moonlight. The carrying of my friend kept me warm, it is +true, but I began to be tired, while he suffered everything that +frost, the pain of a dislocated foot (which I in vain endeavoured to +reset), and the danger of death from a thousand hands, could +inflict. + +We were somewhat more tranquil, however, having reached the opposite +shore of the Neiss, since nobody would pursue us on the road to +Silesia. I followed the course of the river for half an hour, and +having once passed the first villages that formed the line of +desertion, with which Schell was perfectly acquainted, we in a lucky +moment found a fisherman's boat moored to the shore; into this we +leaped, crossed the river again, and soon gained the mountains. + +Here being come, we sat ourselves down awhile on the snow; hope +revived in our hearts, and we held council concerning how it was +best to act. I cut a stick to assist Schell in hopping forward as +well as he could when I was tired of carrying him; and thus we +continued our route, the difficulties of which were increased by the +mountain snows. + +Thus passed the night; during which, up to the middle in snow, we +made but little way. There were no paths to be traced in the +mountains, and they were in many places impassable. Day at length +appeared: we thought ourselves near the frontiers, which are twenty +English miles from Glatz, when we suddenly, to our great terror, +heard the city clock strike. + +Overwhelmed, as we were, by hunger, cold, fatigue, and pain, it was +impossible we should hold out through the day. After some +consideration, and another half-hour's labour, we came to a village +at the foot of the mountain, on the side of which, about three +hundred paces from us, we perceived two separate houses, which +inspired us with a stratagem that was successful. + +We lost our hats in leaping the ramparts; but Schell had preserved +his scarf and gorget, which would give him authority among the +peasants. + +I then cut my finger, rubbed the blood over my face, my shirt, and +my coat, and bound up my head, to give myself the appearance of a +man dangerously wounded. + +In this condition I carried Schell to the end of the wood not far +from these houses; here he tied my hands behind my back, but so that +I could easily disengage them in ease of need: and hobbled after +me, by aid of his staff, calling for help. + +Two old peasants appeared, and Schell commanded them to run to the +village, and tell a magistrate to come immediately with a cart. "I +have seized this knave," added he, "who has killed my horse, and in +the struggle I have put out my ankle; however, I have wounded and +bound him; fly quickly, bring a cart, lest he should die before he +is hanged." + +As for me, I suffered myself to be led, as if half-dead, into the +house. A peasant was despatched to the village. An old woman and a +pretty girl seemed to take great pity on me, and gave me some bread +and milk: but how great was our astonishment when the aged peasant +called Schell by his name, and told him he well knew we were +deserters, having the night before been at a neighbouring alehouse +where the officer in pursuit of us came, named and described us, and +related the whole history of our flight. The peasant knew Schell, +because his son served in his company, and had often spoken of him +when he was quartered at Habelschwert. + +Presence of mind and resolution were all that were now left. I +instantly ran to the stable, while Schell detained the peasant in +the chamber. He, however, was a worthy man, and directed him to the +road toward Bohemia. We were still about some seven miles from +Glatz, having lost ourselves among the mountains, where we had +wandered many miles. The daughter followed me: I found three +horses in the stable, but no bridles. I conjured her, in the most +passionate manner, to assist me: she was affected, seemed half +willing to follow me, and gave me two bridles. I led the horses to +the door, called Schell, and helped him, with his lame leg, on +horseback. The old peasant then began to weep, and beg I would not +take his horses; but he luckily wanted courage, and perhaps the will +to impede us; for with nothing more than a dung-fork, in our then +feeble condition, he might have stopped us long enough to have +called in assistance from the village. + +And now behold us on horseback, without hats or saddles; Schell with +his uniform scarf and gorget, and I in my red regimental coat. +Still we were in danger of seeing all our hopes vanish, for my horse +would not stir from the stable; however, at last, good horseman- +like, I made him move: Schell led the way, and we had scarcely gone +a hundred paces, before we perceived the peasants coming in crowds +from the village. + +As kind fortune would have it, the people were all at church, it +being a festival: the peasants Schell had sent were obliged to call +aid out of church. It was but nine in the morning; and had the +peasants been at home, we had been lost past redemption. + +We were obliged to take the road to Wunshelburg, and pass through +the town where Schell had been quartered a month before, and in +which he was known by everybody. Our dress, without hats or +saddles, sufficiently proclaimed we were deserters: our horses, +however, continued to go tolerably well, and we had the good luck to +get through the town, although there was a garrison of one hundred +and eighty infantry, and twelve horse, purposely to arrest +deserters. Schell knew the road to Brummem, where we arrived at +eleven o'clock, after having met, as I before mentioned, Captain +Zerbst. + +He who has been in the same situation only can imagine, though he +never can describe, all the joy we felt. An innocent man, +languishing in a dungeon, who by his own endeavours, has broken his +chains, and regained his liberty, in despite of all the arbitrary +power of princes, who vainly would oppose him, conceives in moments +like these such an abhorrence of despotism, that I could not well +comprehend how I ever could resolve to live under governments where +wealth, content, honour, liberty, and life all depend upon a +master's will, and who, were his intentions the most pure, could not +be able, singly, to do justice to a whole nation. + +Never did I, during life, feel pleasure more exquisite than at this +moment. My friend for me had risked a shameful death, and now, +after having carried him at least twelve hours on my shoulders, I +had saved both him and myself. We certainly should not have +suffered any man to bring us, alive, back to Glatz. Yet this was +but the first act of the tragedy of which I was doomed the hero, and +the mournful incidents of which all arose out of, and depended on, +each other. + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + + +Could I have read the book of fate, and have seen the forty years' +fearful afflictions that were to follow, I certainly should not have +rejoiced at this my escape from Glatz. One year's patience might +have appeased the irritated monarch, and, taking a retrospect of all +that has passed, I now find it would have been a fortunate +circumstance, had the good and faithful Schell and I never met, +since he also fell into a train of misfortunes, which I shall +hereafter relate, and from which he could never extricate himself, +but by death. The sufferings which I have since undergone will be +read with astonishment. + +It is my consolation that both the laws of honour and nature justify +the action. I may serve as an example of the fortitude with which +danger ought to be encountered, and show monarchs that in Germany, +as well as in Rome, there are men who refuse to crouch beneath the +yoke of despotism, and that philosophy and resolution are stronger +than even those lords of slaves, with all their threats, whips, +tortures, and instruments of death. + +In Prussia, where my sufferings might have made me supposed the +worst of traitors, is my innocence universally acknowledged; and +instead of contempt, there have I gained the love of the whole +nation, which is the best compensation for all the ills I have +suffered, and for having persevered in the virtuous principles +taught me in my youth, persecuted as I have been by envy and +malicious power. I have not time further to moralise; the numerous +incidents of my life would otherwise swell this volume to too great +an extent. + +Thus in freedom at Braunau, on the Bohemian frontiers, I sent the +two horses, with the corporal's sword, back to General Fouquet, at +Glatz. The letter accompanying them was so pleasing to him that all +the sentinels before my prison door, as well as the guard under +arms, and all those we passed, were obliged to run the gauntlet, +although the very day before he had himself declared my escape was +now rendered impossible. He, however, was deceived; and thus do the +mean revenge themselves on the miserable, and the tyrant on the +innocent. + +And now for the first time did I quit my country, and fly like +Joseph from the pit into which his false brethren had cast him; and +in this the present moment of joy for my escape, the loss even of +friends and country appeared to me the excess of good fortune. + +The estates which had been purchased by the blood of my forefathers +were confiscated; and thus was a youth, of one of the noblest +families in the land, whose heart was all zeal for the service of +his King and country, and who was among those most capable to render +them service, banished by his unjust and misled King, and treated +like the worst of miscreants, malefactors, and traitors. + +I wrote to the King, and sent him a true state of my case; sent +indubitable proofs of my innocence, and supplicated justice, but +received no answer. + +In this the monarch may be justified, at least in my apprehension. +A wicked man had maliciously and falsely accused me; Colonel +Jaschinsky had made him suspect me for a traitor, and it was +impossible he should read my heart. The first act of injustice had +been hastily committed; I had been condemned unheard, unjudged; and +the injustice that had been done me was known too late; Frederic the +Great found he was not infallible. Pardon I would not ask, for I +had committed no offence; and the King would not probably own, by a +reverse of conduct, he had been guilty of injustice. My resolution +increased his obstinacy: but, in the discussion of the cause, our +power was very unequal. + +The monarch once really loved me; he meant my punishment should only +be temporary, and as a trial of my fidelity. That I had been +condemned to no more than a year's imprisonment had never been told +me, and was a fact I did not learn till long after. + +Major Doo, who, as I have said, was the creature of Fouquet, a mean +and covetous man, knowing I had money, had always acted the part of +a protector as he pretended to me, and continually told me I was +condemned for life. He perpetually turned the conversation on the +great credit of his general with the King, and his own great credit +with the general. For the present of a horse, on which I rode to +Glatz, he gave me freedom of walking about the fortress; and for +another, worth a hundred ducats, I rescued Ensign Reitz from death, +who had been betrayed when endeavouring to effect our escape. I +have been assured that on that very day on which I snatched his +sword from his side, desperately passed through the garrison, and +leaped the walls of the rampart, he was expressly come to tell me, +after some prefatory threats, that by his general's intercession, my +punishment was only to be a year's imprisonment, and that +consequently I should be released in a few days. + +How vile were means like these to wrest money from the unfortunate! +The King, after this my mad flight, certainly was never informed of +the major's base cunning; he could only be told that, rather than +wait a few days, I had chosen, in this desperate manner, to make my +escape, and go over to the enemy. + +Thus deceived and strengthened in his suspicion, must he not imagine +my desire to forsake my country, and desert to the enemy, was +unbounded? How could he do otherwise than imprison a subject who +thus endeavoured to injure him and aid his foes? Thus, by the +calumnies of wicked men, did my cruel destiny daily become more +severe; and at length render the deceived monarch irreconcilable and +cruel. + +Yet how could it be supposed that I would not willingly have +remained three weeks longer in prison, to have been honourably +restored to liberty, to have prevented the confiscation of my +estate, and to have once more returned to my beloved mistress at +Berlin. + +And now was I in Bohemia, a fugitive stranger without money, +protector, or friend, and only twenty years of age. + +In the campaign of 1744 I had been quartered at Braunau with a +weaver, whom I advised and assisted to bury his effects, and +preserve them from being plundered. The worthy man received us with +joy and gratitude. I had lived in this same house but two years +before as absolute master of him and his fate. I had then nine +horses and five servants, with the highest and most favourable hopes +of futurity; but now I came a fugitive, seeking protection, and +having lost all a youth like me had to lose. + +I had but a single louis-d'or in my purse, and Schell forty +kreutzers, or some three shillings; with this small sum, in a +strange country, we had to cure his sprain, and provide for all our +wants. + +I was determined not to go to my cousin Trenck at Vienna, fearful +this should seem a justification of all my imputed treasons; I +rather wished to embark for the East Indies, than to have recourse +to this expedient. The greater my delicacy was the greater became +my distress. I wrote to my mistress at Berlin, but received no +answer; possibly because I could not indicate any certain mode of +conveyance. My mother believed me guilty, and abandoned me; my +brothers were still minors, and my friend at Schweidnitz could not +aid me, being gone to Konigsberg. + +After three weeks' abode at Braunau, my friend recovered of his +lameness. We had been obliged to sell my watch, with his scarf and +gorget, to supply our necessities, and had only four florins +remaining. + +From the public papers I learned my cousin, the Austrian Trenck, was +at this time closely confined, and under criminal prosecution. It +will easily be imagined what effect this news had upon me. + +Never till now had I felt any inconvenience from poverty; my wants +had all been amply supplied, and I had ever lived among, and been +highly loved and esteemed by, the first people of the land. I was +destitute, without aid, and undetermined how to seek employment, or +obtain fame. + +At length I determined to travel on foot to Prussia to my mother, +and obtain money from her, and afterwards enter into the Russian +service. Schell, whose destiny was linked to mine, would not +forsake me. We assumed false names: I called myself Knert, and +Schell, Lesch; then, obtaining passports, like common deserters, we +left Braunau on the 21st of January, in the evening, unseen of any +person, and proceeded towards Bielitz in Poland. A friend I had at +Neurode gave me a pair of pocket pistols, a musket, and three +ducats; the money was spent at Braunau. Here let me take occasion +to remark I had lent this friend, in urgent necessity, a hundred +ducats, which he still owed me; and when I sent to request payment, +he returned me three, as if I had asked charity. + +Though a circumstantial description of our travels alone would fill +a volume, I shall only relate the most singular accidents which +happened to us; I shall also insert the journal of our route, which +Schell had preserved, and gave me in 1776, when he came to see me at +Aix-la-Chapelle, after an absence of thirty years. + +This may be called the first scene in which I appeared as an +adventurer, and perhaps my good fortune may even have overbalanced +the bad, since I have escaped death full thirty times when the +chances were a hundred to one against me; certain it is I undertook +many things in which I seemed to have owed my preservation to the +very rashness of the action, and in which others equally brave would +have found death. + + +JOURNAL OF TRAVELS ON FOOT. + + +From Braunau, in Bohemia, through Bielitz, in Poland, to Meseritsch, +and from Meseritsch, by Thorn, to Ebling; in the whole 169 miles, +{3} performed without begging or stealing. + +January 18th, 1747.--From Braunau, by Politz, to Nachod, three +miles, we having three florins forty-five kreutzers in our purse. + +Jan. 19.--To Neustadt. Here Schell bartered his uniform for an old +coat, and a Jew gave him two florins fifteen kreutzers in exchange; +from hence we went to Reichenau; in all, three miles. + +Jan. 20.--We went to Leitomischl, five miles. Here I bought a loaf +hot out of the oven, which eating greedily, had nearly caused my +death. This obliged us to rest a day, and the extravagant charge of +the landlord almost emptied our purse. + +Jan. 22.--From Trubau, to Zwittau, in Moravia, four miles. + +Jan. 23.--To Sternberg, six miles. This day's journey excessively +fatigued poor Schell, his sprained ankle being still extremely weak. + +Jan. 24.--To Leipnik, four miles, in a deep snow, and with empty +stomachs. Here I sold my stock-buckle for four florins. + +Jan. 25.--To Freiberg, by Weiskirch, to Drahotusch, five miles. +Early in the morning we found a violin and case on the road; the +innkeeper in Weiskirch gave us two florins for it, on condition that +he should return it to the owner on proving his right, it being +worth at least twenty. + +Jan. 26.--To Friedek, in Upper Silesia, two miles. + +Jan. 27.--To a village, four miles and a half. + +Jan. 28.--Through Skotschau, to Bielitz, three miles. This was the +last Austrian town on the frontiers of Poland, and Captain Capi, of +the regiment of Marischall, who commanded the garrison, demanded our +passports. We had false names, and called ourselves common Prussian +deserters; but a drummer, who had deserted from Glatz, knew us, and +betrayed us to the captain, who immediately arrested us very rudely, +and sent us on foot to Teschin (refusing us a hearing), four miles +distant. + +Here we found Lieut.-Colonel Baron Schwarzer, a perfectly worthy +man, who was highly interested in our behalf, and who blamed the +irregular arbitrary conduct of Captain Capi. I frankly related my +adventures, and he used every possible argument to persuade me, +instead of continuing my journey through Poland to go to Vienna, but +in vain; my good genius, this time, preserved me--would to God it +ever had! How many miseries had I then avoided, and how easily +might I have escaped the snares spread for me by the powerful, who +have seized on my property, and in order to secure it, have hitherto +rendered me useless to the state by depriving me of all post or +preferment. + +I returned, therefore, a second time to Beilitz, travelling these +four miles once more. Schwarzer lent us his own horse and four +ducats, which I have since repaid, but which I shall never forget, +as they were of signal service to me, and procured me a pair of new +boots. + +Irritated against Captain Capi, we passed through Beilitz without +stopping, went immediately to Biala, the first town in Poland, and +from thence sent Capi a challenge to fight me, with sword or pistol, +but received no answer; and his non-appearance has ever confirmed +him in my opinion a rascal. + +And here suffer me to take a retrospective view of what was my then +situation. By the orders of Capi I was sent prisoner as a +contemptible common deserter, and was unable to call him to account. +In Poland, indeed, I had that power, but was despised as a vagabond +because of my poverty. What, alas! are the advantages which the +love of honour, science, courage, or desire of fame can bestow, +wanting the means that should introduce us to, and bid us walk erect +in the presence of our equals? Youth depressed by poverty, is +robbed of the society of those who best can afford example and +instruction. I had lived familiar with the great, men of genius had +formed and enlightened me; I had been enumerated among the +favourites of a court; and now was I a stranger, unknown, +unesteemed, nay, condemned, obliged to endure the extremes of cold, +hunger, and thirst; to wander many a weary mile, suffering both in +body and mind, while every step led me farther from her whom most I +loved, and dearest; yet had I no fixed plan, no certain knowledge in +what these my labours and sufferings should end. + +I was too proud to discover myself; and, indeed, to whom could I +discover myself in a strange land? My name might have availed me in +Austria, but in Austria, where this name was known, would I not +remain; rather than seek my fortune there, I was determined to shun +whatever might tend to render me suspicious in the eyes of my +country. How liable was a temper so ardent as mine, in the midst of +difficulties, fatigues, and disappointments, hard to endure, to +betray me into all those errors of which rash youth, unaccustomed to +hardship, impatient of contrariety, are so often guilty! But I had +taken my resolution, and my faithful Schell, to whom hunger or ease, +contempt or fame, for my sake, were become indifferent, did whatever +I desired. + +Once more to my journal. + +Feb. 1.--We proceeded four miles from Biala to Oswintzen, I having +determined to ask aid from my sister, who had married Waldow, and +lived much at her case on a fine estate at Hanmer, in Brandenburg, +between Lansberg, on the Warta and Meseritsch, a frontier town of +Poland. For this reason we continued our route all along the +Silesian confines to Meseritsch. + +Feb. 2.--To Bobrek and Elkusch, five miles. We suffered much this +day because of the snow, and that the lightness of our dress was ill +suited to such severe weather. Schell, negligently, lost our purse, +in which were nine florins. I had still, however, nineteen grosch +in my pocket (about half-a-crown). + +Feb. 3.--To Crumelew, three miles; and + +Feb. 4.--To Wladowiegud Joreck, three miles more; and from thence, +on. + +Feb. 5.--To Czenstochowa, where there is a magnificent convent, +concerning which, had I room, I might write many remarkable things, +much to the disgrace of its inhabitants. + +We slept at an inn kept by a very worthy man, whose name was Lazar. +He had been a lieutenant in the Austrian service, where he had +suffered much, and was now become a poor innkeeper in Poland. We +had not a penny in our purse, and requested a bit of bread. The +generous man had compassion on us, and desired us to sit down and +eat with himself. I then told him who we were, and trusted him with +the motives of our journey. Scarcely had we supped, before a +carriage arrived with three people. They had their own horses, a +servant and a coachman. + +This is a remarkable incident, and I must relate it +circumstantially, though as briefly as possible. + +We had before met this carriage at Elkusch, and one of these people +had asked Schell where we were going; he had replied, to +Czenstochowa; we therefore had not the least suspicion of them, +notwithstanding the danger we ran. + +They lay at the inn, saluted us, but with indifference, not seeming +to notice us, and spoke little. We had not been long in bed, before +our host came to awaken us, and told us with surprise, these +pretended merchants were sent to arrest us from Prussia; that they +had offered, first, fifty, afterwards, a hundred ducats, if he would +permit them to take us in his house, and carry us into Silesia: +that he had firmly rejected the proposal, though they had increased +their promises: and that at last they had given him six ducats to +engage his silence. + +We clearly saw these were an officer and under-officers sent by +General Fouquet, to recover us. We conjectured by what means they +had discovered our route, and imagined the information they had +received could only come from one Lieutenant Molinie, of the +garrison of Habelschwert, who had come to visit Schell, as a friend, +during our stay at Braunau. He had remained with us two days, and +had asked many questions concerning the road we should take, and he +was the only one who knew it. He was probably the spy of Fouquet, +and the cause of what happened afterwards, which, however, ended in +the defeat of our enemies. + +The moment I heard of this infamous treachery, I was for entering +with my pistols primed, into the enemy's chamber, but was prevented +by Schell and Lazar: the latter entreated me, in the strongest +manner, to remain at his house till I should receive a supply from +my mother, that I might be enabled to continue my journey with more +ease and less danger: but his entreaties were ineffectual; I was +determined to see her, uncertain as I was of what effect my letter +had produced. Lazar assured me, we should, most infallibly, be +attacked on the road. "So much the better," retorted I; "that will +give me an opportunity of despatching them, sending them to the +other world, and shooting them as I would highwayman." They +departed at break of day, and took the road to Warsaw. + +We would have been gone, likewise, but Lazar, in some sort, forcibly +detained us, and gave us the six ducats he had received from the +Prussians, with which we bought us each a shirt, another pair of +pocket pistols, and other urgent necessaries; then took an +affectionate leave of our host, who directed us on our way, and we +testified our gratitude for the great services done us. + +Feb. 6.--From Czenstochowa to Dankow, two miles. Here we expected +an attack. Lazar had told us our enemies had one musket: I also +had a musket, and an excellent sabre, and each of us was provided +with a pair of pistols. They knew not we were so well armed, which +perhaps was the cause of their panic, when they came to engage. + +Feb. 7.--We took the road to Parsemechi: we had not been an hour on +the road, before we saw a carriage; as we drew near, we knew it to +be that of our enemies, who pretended it was set in the snow. They +were round it, and when they saw us approach, began to call for +help. This, we guessed, was an artifice to entrap us. Schell was +not strong; they would all have fallen upon me, and we should easily +have been carried off, for they wanted to take us alive. + +We left the causeway about thirty paces, answering--"we had not time +to give them help;" at which they all ran to their carriage, drew +out their pistols, and returning full speed after us, called, "Stop, +rascals!" We began to run, but I suddenly turning round, presented +my piece, and shot the nearest dead on the spot. Schell fired his +pistols; our oppressors did the same, and Schell received a ball in +the neck at this discharge. It was now my turn; I took out my +pistols, one of the assailants fled, and I enraged, pursued him +three hundred paces, overtook him, and as he was defending himself +with his sword, perceiving he bled, and made a feeble resistance, +pressed upon him, and gave him a stroke that brought him down. I +instantly returned to Schell, whom I found in the power of two +others that were dragging him towards the carriage, but when they +saw me at their heels, they fled over the fields. The coachman, +perceiving which way the battle went, leaped on his box, and drove +off full speed. + +Schell, though delivered, was wounded with a ball in the neck, and +by a cut in the right hand, which had made him drop his sword, +though he affirmed he had run one of his adversaries through. + +I took a silver watch from the man I had killed, and was going to +make free with his purse, when Schell called, and showed me a coach +and six coming down a hill. To stay would have exposed us to have +been imprisoned as highwaymen; for the two fugitives who had escaped +us would certainly have borne witness against us. Safety could only +be found in flight. I, however, seized the musket and hat of him I +had first killed, and we then gained the copse, and after that the +forest. The road was round about, and it was night before we +reached Parsemechi. + +Schell was besmeared with blood; I had bound up his wound the best I +could; but in Polish villages no surgeons are to be found: and he +performed his journey with great difficulty. We met with two Saxon +under-officers here, who were recruiting for the regiment of guards +at Dresden. My six feet height and person pleased them, and they +immediately made themselves acquainted with me. I found them +intelligent, and entrusted them with our secret, told them who we +were, related the battle we had that day had with our pursuers, and +I had not reason to repent of my confidence in them. Schell had his +wounds dressed, and we remained seven days with these good Saxons, +who faithfully kept us company. + +I learned, meantime, that of the four men by whom we had been +assaulted, one only, and the coachman, returned to Glatz. The name +of the officer who undertook this vile business was Gersdorf; he had +a hundred and fifty ducats in his pocket when found dead. How great +would our good fortune have been, had not that cursed coach and six, +by its appearance, made us take to flight; since the booty would +have been most just! Fortune, this time, did not favour the +innocent; and though treacherously attacked, I was obliged to escape +like a guilty wretch. We sold the watch to a Jew for four ducats, +the hat for three florins and a half, and the musket for a ducat, +Schell being unable to carry it farther. We left most of this money +behind us at Parsemechi. A Jew surgeon sold us some dear plaisters, +which we took with us and departed. + +Feb. 15.--From Parsemechi, through Vielum, to Biala, four miles. + +Feb. 16.--Through Jerischow to Misorcen, four miles and a half. + +Feb. 17.--To Osterkow and Schwarzwald, three miles. + +Feb. 18.--To Sdune, four miles. + +Feb. 19.--To Goblin two miles. + +Here we arrived wholly destitute of money. I sold my coat to a Jew, +who gave me four florins and a coarse waggoner's frock, in exchange, +which I did not think I should long need, as we now drew nearer to +where my sister lived, and where I hoped I should be better +equipped. Schell, however, grew weaker and weaker; his wounds +healed slowly, and were expensive; the cold was also injurious to +him, and, as he was not by nature cleanly in his person, his body +soon became the harbour of every species of vermin to be picked up +in Poland. We often arrived wet and weary, to our smoky, reeking +stove-room. Often were we obliged to lie on straw, or bare boards; +and the various hardships we suffered are almost incredible. +Wandering as we did, in the midst of winter, through Poland, where +humanity, hospitality, and gentle pity, are scarcely so much as +known by name; where merciless Jews deny the poor traveller a bed, +and where we disconsolately strayed, without bread, and almost +naked: these were sufferings, the full extent of which he only can +conceive by whom they have been felt. My musket now and then +procured us an occasional meal of tame geese, and cocks and hens, +when these were to be had; otherwise, we never took or touched +anything that was not our own. We met with Saxon and Prussian +recruiters at various places; all of whom, on account of my youth +and stature, were eager to inveigle me. I was highly diverted to +hear them enumerate all the possibilities of future greatness, and +how liable I was hereafter to become a corporal: nor was I less +merry with their mead, ale, and brandy, given with an intent to make +me drunk. Thus we had many artifices to guard against; but thus had +we likewise, very luckily for us, many a good meal gratis. + +Feb. 21.--We went from Goblin to Pugnitz, three miles and a half. + +Feb. 22.--Through Storchnest to Schmiegel, four miles. + +Here happened a singular adventure. The peasants at this place were +dancing to a vile scraper on the violin: I took the instrument +myself, and played while they continued their hilarity. They were +much pleased with my playing: but when I was tired, and desired to +have done, they obliged me, first by importunities, and afterwards +by threats, to play on all night. I was so fatigued, I thought I +should have fainted; at length they quarrelled among themselves. +Schell was sleeping on a bench, and some of them fell upon his +wounded hand: he rose furious: I seized our arms, began to lay +about me, and while all was in confusion, we escaped, without +further ill-treatment. + +What ample subject of meditation on the various turns of fate did +this night afford! But two years before I danced at Berlin with the +daughters and sisters of kings: and here was I, in a Polish hut, a +ragged, almost naked musician, playing for the sport of ignorant +rustics, whom I was at last obliged to fight. + +I was myself the cause of the trifling misfortune that befell me on +this occasion. Had not my vanity led me to show these poor peasants +I was a musician, I might have slept in peace and safety. The same +vain desire of proving I knew more than other men, made me through +life the continued victim of envy and slander. Had nature, too, +bestowed on me a weaker or a deformed body, I had been less +observed, less courted, less sought, and my adventures and mishaps +had been fewer. Thus the merits of the man often become his +miseries; and thus the bear, having learned to dance, must live and +die in chains. + +This ardour, this vanity, or, if you please, this emulation, has, +however, taught me to vanquish a thousand difficulties, under which +others of cooler passions and more temperate desires would have +sunk. May my example remain a warning; and thus may my sufferings +become somewhat profitable to the world, cruel as they have been to +myself! Cruel they were, and cruel they must continue; for the +wounds I have received are not, will not, cannot be healed. + +Feb. 23.--From Schmiegel to Rakonitz, and from thence to Karger +Holland, four miles and a half. Here we sold, to prevent dying of +hunger, a shirt and Schell's waistcoat for eighteen grosch, or nine +schostacks. I had shot a pullet the day before, which necessity +obliged us to eat raw. I also killed a crow, which I devoured +alone, Schell refusing to taste. Youth and hard travelling created +a voracious appetite, and our eighteen grosch were soon expended. + +Feb. 24.--We came through Benzen to Lettel, four miles. Here we +halted a day, to learn the road to Hammer, in Brandenburg, where my +sister lived. I happened luckily to meet with the wife of a +Prussian soldier who lived at Lettel, and belonged to Kolschen, +where she was born a vassal of my sister's husband. I told her who +I was, and she became our guide. + +Feb. 26.--To Kurschen and Falkenwalde. + +Feb. 27.--Through Neuendorf and Oost, and afterwards through a +pathless wood, five miles and a half to Hammer, and here I knocked +at my sister's door at nine o'clock in the evening. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + + +A maidservant came to the door, whom I knew; her name was Mary, and +she had been born and brought up in my father's house. She was +terrified at seeing a sturdy fellow in a beggar's dress; which +perceiving, I asked, "Molly, do not you know me?" She answered, +"No;" and I then discovered myself to her. I asked whether my +brother-in-law was at home. Mary replied, "Yes; but he is sick in +bed." "Tell my sister, then," said I, "that I am here." She showed +me into a room, and my sister presently came. + +She was alarmed at seeing me, not knowing that I had escaped from +Glatz, and ran to inform her husband, but did not return. + +A quarter of an hour after the good Mary came weeping, and told us +her master commanded us to quit the premises instantly, or he should +be obliged to have us arrested, and delivered up as prisoners. My +sister's husband forcibly detained her, and I saw her no more. + +What my feelings must be, at such a moment, let the reader imagine. +I was too proud, too enraged, to ask money; I furiously left the +house, uttering a thousand menaces against its inhabitants, while +the kind-hearted Mary, still weeping, slipped three ducats into my +hand, which I accepted. + +And, now behold us once more in the wood, which was not above a +hundred paces from the house, half dead with hunger and fatigue, not +daring to enter any habitation, while in the states of Brandenburg, +and dragging our weary steps all night through snow and rain, until +our guide at length brought us back, at daybreak, once again to the +town of Lettel. + +She herself wept in pity at our fate, and I could only give her two +ducats for the danger she had run; but I bade her hope more in +future; and I afterwards sent for her to Vienna, in 1751, where I +took great care of her. She was about fifty years of age, and died +my servant in Hungary, some weeks before my unfortunate journey to +Dantzic, where I fell into my enemies' hands, and remained ten years +a prisoner at Magdeburg. + +We had scarcely reached the wood, before, in the anguish of my +heart, I exclaimed to Schell, "Does not such a sister, my friend, +deserve I should fire her house over her head?" The wisdom of +moderation, and calm forbearance, was in Schell a virtue of the +highest order; he was my continual mentor; my guide, whenever my +choleric temperament was disposed to violence. I therefore honour +his ashes; he deserved a better fate. + +"Friend," said he, on this occasion, "reflect that your sister may +be innocent, may be withheld by her husband; besides, should the +King discover we had entered her doors, and she had not delivered us +again into his power, she might become as miserable as we were. Be +more noble minded, and think that even should your sister be wrong, +the time may come when her children may stand in need of your +assistance, and you may have the indescribable pleasure of returning +good for evil." + +I never shall forget this excellent advice, which in reality was a +prophecy. My rich brother-in-law died, and, during the Russian war, +his lands and houses were laid desolate and in ruins; and, nineteen +years afterwards, when released from my imprisonment at Magdeburg, I +had an opportunity of serving the children of my sister. Such are +the turns of fate; and thus do improbabilities become facts. + +My sister justified her conduct; Schell had conjectured the truth; +for ten years after I was thus expelled her house, she showed, +during my imprisonment, she was really a sister. She was shamefully +betrayed by Weingarten, secretary to the Austrian ambassador at +Berlin; lost a part of her property, and at length her life fell an +innocent sacrifice to her brother. + +This event, which is interwoven with my tragical history, will be +related hereafter: my heart bleeds, my very soul shudders, when I +recollect this dreadful scene. + +I have not the means fully to recompense her children; and +Weingarten, the just object of vengeance, is long since in the +grave; for did he exist, the earth should not hide him from my +sword. + +I shall now continue my journal: deceived in the aid I expected, I +was obliged to change my plan, and go to my mother, who lived in +Prussia, nine miles beyond Konigsberg. + +Feb. 28.--We continued, tired, anxious, and distressed, at Lettel. + +March 1.--We went three miles to Pleese, and on the 2nd, a mile and +a half farther to Meseritz. + +March 3.--Through Wersebaum to Birnbaum, three miles. + +March 4.--Through Zircke, Wruneck, Obestchow, to Stubnitz, seven +miles, in one day, three of which we had the good fortune to ride. + +March 5.--Three miles to Rogosen, where we arrived without so much +as a heller to pay our lodgings. The Jew innkeeper drove us out of +his house; we were obliged to wander all night, and at break of day +found we had strayed two miles out of the road. + +We entered a peasant's cottage, where an old woman was drawing bread +hot out of the oven. We had no money to offer, and I felt, at this +moment, the possibility even of committing murder, for a morsel of +bread, to satisfy the intolerable cravings of hunger. Shuddering, +with torment inexpressible, at the thought, I hastened out of the +door, and we walked on two miles more to Wongrofze. + +Here I sold my musket for a ducat, which had procured us many a +meal: such was the extremity of our distress. We then satiated our +appetites, after having been forty hours without food or sleep, and +having travelled ten miles in sleet and snow. + +March 6.--We rested, and came, on the 7th, through Genin, to a +village in the forest, four miles. + +Here we fell in with a gang of gipsies (or rather banditti) +amounting to four hundred men, who dragged me to their camp. They +were mostly French and Prussian deserters, and thinking me their +equal, would force me to become one of their hand. But, venturing +to tell my story to their leader, he presented me with a crown, gave +us a small provision of bread and meat, and suffered us to depart in +peace, after having been four and twenty hours in their company. + +March 9.--We proceeded to Lapuschin, three miles and a half; and the +10th to Thorn, four miles. + +A new incident here happened, which showed I was destined, by +fortune, to a variety of adventures, and continually to struggle +with new difficulties. + +There was a fair held at Thorn on the day of our arrival. +Suspicions might well arise, among the crowd, on seeing a strong +tall young man, wretchedly clothed, with a large sabre by his side, +and a pair of pistols in his girdle, accompanied by another as +poorly apparelled as himself, with his hand and neck bound up, and +armed likewise with pistols, so that altogether he more resembled a +spectre than a man. + +We went to an inn, but were refused entertainment: I then asked for +the Jesuits' college, where I inquired for the father rector. They +supposed at first I was a thief, come to seek an asylum. After long +waiting and much entreaty his jesuitical highness at length made his +appearance, and received me as the Grand Mogul would his slave. My +case certainly was pitiable: I related all the events of my life, +and the purport of my journey; conjured him to save Schell, who was +unable to proceed further, and whose wounds grew daily worse; and +prayed him to entertain him at the convent till I should have been +to my mother, have obtained money, and returned to Thorn, when I +would certainly repay him whatever expense he might have been at, +with thanks and gratitude. + +Never shall I forget the haughty insolence of this priest. Scarcely +would he listen to my humble request; thou'd and interrupted me +continually, to tell me, "Be brief, I have more pressing affairs +than thine." In fine, I was turned away without obtaining the least +aid; and here I was first taught jesuitical pride; God help the poor +and honest man who shall need the assistance of Jesuits! They, like +all other monks, are seared to every sentiment of human pity, and +commiserate the distressed by taunts and irony. + +Four times in my life I have sought assistance and advice from +convents, and am convinced it is the duty of every honest man to aid +in erasing them from the face of the earth. + +They succour rascals and murderers, that their power may be idolised +by the ignorant, and ostentatiously exert itself to impede the +course of law and justice; but in vain do the poor and needy +virtuous apply to them for help. + +The reader will pardon my native hatred of hypocrisy and falsehood, +especially when he hears I have to thank the Jesuits for the loss of +all my great Hungarian estates. Father Kampmuller, the bosom friend +of the Count Grashalkowitz, was confessor to the court of Vienna, +and there was no possible kind of persecution I did not suffer from +priestcraft. Far from being useful members of society, they take +advantage of the prejudices of superstition, exist for themselves +alone, and sacrifice every duty to the support of their own +hierarchy, and found a power, on error and ignorance, which is +destructive of all moral virtue. + +Let us proceed. Mournful and angry, I left the college, and went to +my lodging-house, where I found a Prussian recruiting-officer +waiting for me, who used all his arts to engage me to enlist; +offering me five hundred dollars, and to make me a corporal, if I +could write. I pretended I was a Livonian, who had deserted from +the Austrians, to return home, and claim an inheritance left me by +my father. After much persuasion, he at length told me in +confidence, it was very well known in the town that I was a robber; +that I should soon be taken before a magistrate, but that if I would +enlist he would ensure my safety. + +This language was new to me; my passion rose instantaneously; I +remembered my name was Trenck, I struck him, and drew my sword; but, +instead of defending himself, he sprang out of the chamber, charging +the host not to let me quit the house. I knew the town of Thorn had +agreed with the King of Prussia, secretly, to deliver up deserters, +and began to fear the consequences. Looking through the window, I +presently saw two under Prussian officers enter the house. Schell +and I instantly flew to our arms, and met the Prussians at the +chamber door. "Make way," cried I, presenting my pistols. The +Prussian soldiers drew their swords, but retired with fear. Going +out of the house, I saw a Prussian lieutenant, in the street, with +the town-guard. These I overawed, likewise, by the same means, and +no one durst oppose me, though every one cried, "Stop thief!" I +came safely, however, to the Jesuits' convent; but poor Schell was +taken, and dragged to prison like a malefactor. + +Half mad at not being able to rescue him, I imagined he must soon be +delivered up to the Prussians. My reception was much better at the +convent than it had been before, for they no longer doubted but I +was really a thief, who sought an asylum. I addressed myself to one +of the fathers, who appeared to be a good kind of a man, relating +briefly what had happened, and entreated he would endeavour to +discover why they sought to molest us. + +He went out, and returning in an hour after, told me, "Nobody knows +you: a considerable theft was yesterday committed at the fair: all +suspicious persons are seized; you entered the town accoutred like +banditti. The man where you put up is employed as a Prussian +enlister, and has announced you as suspicious people. The Prussian +lieutenant therefore laid complaint against you, and it was thought +necessary to secure your persons." + +My joy, at hearing this, was great. Our Moravian passport, and the +journal of our route, which I had in my pocket, were full proofs of +our innocence. I requested they would send and inquire at the town +where we lay the night before. I soon convinced the Jesuit I spoke +truth; he went, and presently returned with one of the syndics, to +whom I gave a more full account of myself. The syndic examined +Schell, and found his story and mine agreed; besides which, our +papers that they had seized, declared who we were. I passed the +night in the convent without closing my eyes, revolving in my mind +all the rigours of my fate. I was still more disturbed for Schell, +who knew not where I was, but remained firmly persuaded we should be +conducted to Berlin; and, if so, determined to put a period to his +life. + +My doubts were all ended at ten in the morning when my good Jesuit +arrived, and was followed by my friend Schell. The judges, he said, +had found us innocent, and declared us free to go where we pleased; +adding, however, that he advised us to be upon our guard, we being +watched by the Prussian enlisters; that the lieutenant had hoped, by +having us committed as thieves, to oblige me to enter, and that he +would account for all that had happened. + +I gave Schell a most affectionate welcome, who had been very ill- +used when led to prison, because he endeavoured to defend himself +with his left hand, and follow me. The people had thrown mud at +him, and called him a rascal that would soon be hanged. Schell was +little able to travel farther. The father-rector sent us a ducat, +but did not see us; and the chief magistrate gave each of us a +crown, by way of indemnification for false imprisonment. Thus sent +away, we returned to our lodging, took our bundles, and immediately +prepared to leave Thorn. + +As we went, I reflected that, on the road to Elbing, we must pass +through several Prussian villages, and inquired for a shop where we +might purchase a map. We were directed to an old woman who sat at +the door across the way, and were told she had a good assortment, +for that her son was a scholar. I addressed myself to her, and my +question pleased her, I having added we were unfortunate travellers, +who wished to find, by the map, the road to Russia. She showed us +into a chamber, laid an atlas on the table, and placed herself +opposite me, while I examined the map, and endeavoured to hide a bit +of a ragged ruffle that had made its appearance. After steadfastly +looking at me, she at length exclaimed, with a sad and mournful +tone--"Good God! who knows what is now become of my poor son! I can +see, sir, you too are of a good family. My son would go and seek +his fortune, and for these eight years have I had no tidings of him. +He must now be in the Austrian cavalry." I asked in what regiment. +"The regiment of Hohenhem; you are his very picture." "Is he not of +my height?" "Yes, nearly." "Has he not light hair?" "Yes, like +yours, sir." "What is his name?" "His name is William." "No, my +dear mother," cried I, "William is not dead; he was my best friend +when I was with the regiment." Here the poor woman could not +contain her joy. She threw herself round my neck, called me her +good angel who brought her happy tidings: asked me a thousand +questions which I easily contrived to make her answer herself, and +thus, forced by imperious necessity, bereft of all other means, did +I act the deceiver. + +The story I made was nearly as follows: --I told her I was a soldier +in the regiment of Hohenhem, that I had a furlough to go and see my +father, and that I should return in a month, would then take her +letters, and undertake that, if she wished it, her son should +purchase his discharge, and once more come and live with his mother. +I added that I should be for ever and infinitely obliged to her, if +she would suffer my comrade, meantime, to live at her house, he +being wounded by the Prussian recruiters, and unable to pursue his +journey; that I would send him money to come to me, or would myself +come back and fetch him, thankfully paying every expense. She +joyfully consented, told me her second husband, father-in-law to her +dear William, had driven him from home, that he might give what +substance they had to the younger son; and that the eldest had gone +to Magdeburg. She determined Schell should live at the house of a +friend, that her husband might know nothing of the matter; and, not +satisfied with this kindness, she made me eat with her, gave me a +new shirt, stockings, sufficient provisions for three days, and six +Lunenburg florins. I left Thorn, and my faithful Schell, the same +night, with the consolation that he was well taken care of; and +having parted from him with regret, went on the 13th two miles +further to Burglow. + +I cannot describe what my sensations were, or the despondence of my +mind, when I thus saw myself wandering alone, and leaving, +forsaking, as it were, the dearest of friends. These may certainly +be numbered among the bitterest moments of my life. Often was I +ready to return, and drag him along with me, though at last reason +conquered sensibility. I drew near the end of my journey, and was +impelled forward by hope. + +March 14.--I went to Schwetz, and + +March 15.--To Neuburg and Mowe. In these two days I travelled +thirteen miles. I lay at Mowe, on some straw, among a number of +carters, and, when I awoke, perceived they had taken my pistols, and +what little money I had left, even to my last penny. The gentlemen, +however, were all gone. + +What could I do? The innkeeper perhaps was privy to the theft. My +reckoning amounted to eighteen Polish grosch. The surly landlord +pretended to believe I had no money when I entered his house, and I +was obliged to give him the only spare shirt I had, with a silk +handkerchief, which the good woman of Thorn had made me a present +of, and to depart without a single holler. + +March 16.--I set off for Marienburg, but it was impossible I should +reach this place, and not fall into the hands of the Prussians, if I +did not cross the Vistula, and, unfortunately, I had no money to pay +the ferry, which would cost two Polish schellings. + +Full of anxiety, not knowing how to act, I saw two fishermen in a +boat, went to them, drew my sabre, and obliged them to land me on +the other side; when there, I took the oars from these timid people, +jumped out of the boat, pushed it off the shore, and left it to +drive with the stream. + +To what dangers does not poverty expose man! These two Polish +schellings were not worth more than half a kreutzer, or some +halfpenny, yet was I driven by necessity to commit violence on two +poor men, who, had they been as desperate in their defence as I was +obliged to be in my attack, blood must have been spilled and lives +lost; hence it is evident that the degrees of guilt ought to be +strictly and minutely inquired into, and the degree of punishment +proportioned. Had I hewn them down with my sabre, I should surely +have been a murderer; but I should likewise surely have been one of +the most innocent of murderers. Thus we see the value of money is +not to be estimated by any specific sum, small or great, but +according to its necessity and use. How little did I imagine when +at Berlin, and money was treated by me with luxurious neglect, I may +say, with contempt, I should be driven to the hard necessity, for a +sum so apparently despicable, of committing a violence which might +have had consequences so dreadful, and have led to the commission of +an act so atrocious! + +I found Saxon and Prussian recruiters at Marion-burgh, with whom, +having no money, I ate, drank, listened to their proposals, gave +them hopes for the morrow, and departed by daybreak. + +March 17.--To Elbing, four miles. + +Here I met with my former worthy tutor, Brodowsky, who was become a +captain and auditor in the Polish regiment of Golz. He met me just +as I entered the town. I followed triumphantly to his quarters; and +here at length ended the painful, long, and adventurous journey I +had been obliged to perform. + +This good and kind gentleman, after providing me with immediate +necessaries, wrote so affectionately to my mother, that she came to +Elbing in a week, and gave me every aid of which I stood in need. + +The pleasure I had in meeting once more this tender mother, whose +qualities of heart and mind were equally excellent, was +inexpressible. She found a certain mode of conveying a letter to my +dear mistress at Berlin, who a short time after sent me a bill of +exchange for four hundred ducats upon Dantzic. To this my mother +added a thousand rix-dollars, and a diamond cross worth nearly half +as much, remained a fortnight with me, and persisted, in spite of +all remonstrance, in advising me to go to Vienna. My determination +had been fixed for Petersburg; all my fears and apprehensions being +awakened at the thought of Vienna, and which indeed afterwards +became the source of all my cruel sufferings and sorrows. She would +not yield in opinion, and promised her future assistance only in +case of my obedience; it was my duty not to continue obstinate. +Here she left me, and I have never seen her since. She died in +1751, and I have ever held her memory in veneration. It was a +happiness for this affectionate mother that she did not hive to be a +witness of my afflictions in the year 1754. + +An adventure, resembling that of Joseph in Egypt, happened to me in +Elbing. The wife of the worthy Brodowsky, a woman of infinite +personal attraction, grew partial to me; but I durst not act +ungratefully by my benefactor. Never to see me more was too painful +to her, and she even proposed to follow me, secretly, to Vienna. I +felt the danger of my situation, and doubted whether Potiphar's wife +offered temptations so strong as Madame Brodowsky. I owned I had an +affection for this lady, but my passions were overawed. She +preferred me to her husband, who was in years, and very ordinary in +person. Had I yielded to the slightest degree of guilt, that of the +present enjoyment, a few days of pleasure must have been followed by +years of bitter repentance. + +Having once more assumed my proper name and character, and made +presents of acknowledgment to the worthy tutor of my youth, I became +eager to return to Thorn. + +How great was my joy at again meeting my honest Schell! The kind +old woman had treated him like a mother. She was surprised, and +half terrified, at seeing me enter in an officer's uniform, and +accompanied by two servants. I gratefully and rapturously kissed +her hand, repaid, with thankfulness, every expense (for Schell had +been nurtured with truly maternal kindness), told her who I was, +acknowledged the deceit I had put upon her concerning her son, but +faithfully promised to give a true, and not fictitious account of +him, immediately on my arrival at Vienna. Schell was ready in three +days, and we left Thorn, came to Warsaw, and passed thence, through +Crakow, to Vienna. + +I inquired for Captain Capi, at Bilitz, who had before given me so +kind a reception, and refused me satisfaction; but he was gone, and +I did not meet with him till some years after, when the cunning +Italian made me the most humble apologies for his conduct. So goes +the world. + +My journey from Dantzic to Vienna would not furnish me with an +interesting page, though my travels on foot thither would have +afforded thrice as much as I have written, had I not been fearful of +trifling with the reader's patience. + +In poverty one misfortune follows another. The foot-passenger sees +the world, becomes acquainted with it, converses with men of every +class. The lord luxuriously lolls and slumbers in his carriage, +while his servants pay innkeepers and postillions, and passes +rapidly over a kingdom, in which he sees some dozen houses, called +inns; and this he calls travelling. I met with more adventures in +this my journey of 169 miles, than afterwards in almost as many +thousand, when travelling at ease, in a carriage. + +Here, then, ends my journal, in which, from the hardships therein +related, and numerous others omitted, I seem a kind of second +Robinson Crusoe, and to have been prepared, by a gradual increase +and repetition of sufferings, to endure the load of affliction which +I was afterwards destined to bear. + +Arrived at Vienna in the month of April, 1747. + +And now another act of the tragedy is going to begin. + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + + +After having defrayed the expenses of travelling for me and my +friend Schell, for whose remarkable history I will endeavour to find +a few pages in due course, I divided the three hundred ducats which +remained with him, and, having stayed a month at Vienna, he went to +join the regiment of Pallavicini, in which he had obtained a +lieutenant-colonel's commission, and which was then in Italy. + +Here I found my cousin, Baron Francis Trenck, the famous partisan +and colonel of pandours, imprisoned at the arsenal, and involved in +a most perplexing prosecution. + +This Trenck was my father's brother's son. His father had been a +colonel and governor of Leitschau, and had possessed considerable +lordships in Sclavonia, those of Pleternitz, Prestowacz, and +Pakratz. After the siege of Vienna, in 1683, he had left the +Prussian service for that of Austria, in which he remained sixty +years. + +That I may not here interrupt my story, I shall give some account of +the life of my cousin Baron Francis Trenck, so renowned in the war +of 1741, in another part, and who fell, at last, the shameful +sacrifice of envy and avarice, and received the reward of all his +great and faithful services in the prison of the Spielberg. + +The vindication of the family of the Trencks requires I should speak +of him; nor will I, in this, suffer restraint from the fear of any +man, however powerful. Those indeed who sacrificed a man most +ardent in his country's service to their own private and selfish +views, are now in their graves. + +I shall insert no more of his history here than what is interwoven +with my own, and relate the rest in its proper place. + +A revision of his suit was at this time instituted. Scarcely was I +arrived in Vienna before his confidential agent, M. Leber, presented +me to Prince Charles and the Emperor; both knew the services of +Trenck, and the malice of his enemies; therefore, permission for me +to visit him in his prison, and procure him such assistance as he +might need, was readily granted. On my second audience, the Emperor +spoke so much in my persecuted cousin's favour that I became highly +interested; he commanded me to have recourse to him on all +occasions; and, moreover, owned the president of the council of war +was a man of a very wicked character, and a declared enemy of +Trenck. This president was the Count of Lowenwalde, who, with his +associates, had been purposely selected as men proper to oppress the +best of subjects. + +The suit soon took another face; the good Empress Queen, who had +been deceived, was soon better informed, and Trenck's innocence +appeared, on the revision of the process most evidently. The trial, +which had cost them twenty-seven thousand florins, and the sentence +which followed, were proved to have been partial and unjust; and +that sixteen of Trenck's officers, who most of them had been broken +for different offences, had perjured themselves to insure his +destruction. + +It is a most remarkable circumstance that public notice was given, +in the Vienna Gazette, to the following purport. + +"All those who have any complaints to make against Trenck, let them +appear, and they shall receive a ducat per day, so long as the +prosecution continues." + +It will readily be imagined how fast his accusers would increase, +and what kind of people they were. The pay of these witnesses alone +amounted to fifteen thousand florins. I now began the labour in +concurrence with Doctor Gerhauer, and the cause soon took another +turn; but such was the state of things, it would have been necessary +to have broken all the members of the council of war, as well as +counsellor Weber, a man of great power. Thus, unfortunately, +politics began to interfere with the course of justice. + +The Empress Queen gave Trenck to understand she required he should +ask her pardon; and on that condition all proceedings should be +stopped, and he immediately set at liberty. Prince Charles, who +knew the court of Vienna, advised me also to persuade my cousin to +comply; but nothing could shake his resolution. Feeling his right +and innocence, he demanded strict justice; and this made ruin more +swift. + +I soon learned Trenck must fall a sacrifice--he was rich--his +enemies already had divided among them more than eighty thousand +florins of his property, which was all sequestered, and in their +hands. They had treated him too cruelly, and knew him too well, not +to dread his vengeance the moment he should recover his freedom. + +I was moved to the soul at his sufferings, and as he had vented +public threats, at the prospect of approaching victory over his +enemies, they gained over the Court Confessor: and, dreading him as +they did, put every wily art in practice to insure his destruction. +I therefore, in the fulness of my heart, made him the brotherly +proposition of escaping, and, having obtained his liberty, to prove +his innocence to the Empress Queen. I told him my plan, which might +easily have been put in execution, and which he seemed perfectly +decided to follow. + +Some days after, I was ordered to wait on field-marshal Count +Konigseck, governor of Vienna. This respectable old gentleman, +whose memory I shall ever revere, behaved to me like a father and +the friend of humanity, advised me to abandon my cousin, who he gave +me clearly to understand had betrayed me by having revealed my +proposed plan of escape, willing to sacrifice me to his ambition in +order to justify the purity of his intentions to the court, and show +that, instead of wishing to escape, he only desired justice. + +Confounded at the cowardly action of one for whom I would willingly +have sacrificed my life, and whom I only sought to deliver, I +resolved to leave him to his fate, and thought myself exceedingly +happy that the worthy field-marshal would, after a fatherly +admonition, smother all farther inquiry into this affair. + +I related this black trait of ingratitude to Prince Charles of +Lorraine, who prevailed on me to again see my cousin, without +letting him know I knew what had passed, and still to render him +every service in my power. + +Before I proceed I will here give the reader a per-'trait of this +Trenck. + +He was a man of superior talents and unbounded ambition; devoted, +even fanatically, to his sovereign; his boldness approached +temerity; he was artful of mind, wicked of heart, vindictive and +unfeeling. His cupidity equalled the utmost excess of avarice, even +in his thirty-third year, in which he died. He was too proud to +receive favours or obligations from any man, and was capable of +ridding himself of his best friend if he thought he had any claims +on his gratitude or could get possession of his fortune. + +He knew I had rendered him very important services, supposed his +cause already won, having bribed the judges, who were to revise the +sentence, with thirty thousand florins, which money I received from +his friend Baron Lopresti, and conveyed to these honest counsellors. +I knew all his secrets, and nothing more was necessary to prompt his +suspicious and bad heart to seek my destruction. + +Scarcely had a fortnight elapsed, after his having first betrayed +me, before the following remarkable event happened. + +I left him one evening to return home, taking under my coat a bag +with papers and documents relating to the prosecution, which I had +been examining for him, and transcribing. There were at this time +about five-and-twenty officers in Vienna who had laid complaints +against him, and who considered me as their greatest enemy because I +had laboured earnestly in his defence. I was therefore obliged, on +all occasions, to be upon my guard. A report had been propagated +through Vienna that I was secretly sent by the King of Prussia to +free my cousin from imprisonment; he, however, constantly denied, to +the hour of his death, his ever having written to me at Berlin; +hence also it will follow the letter I received had been forged by +Jaschinsky. + +Leaving the Arsenal, I crossed the court, and perceived I was +closely followed by two men in grey roquelaures, who, pressing upon +my heels, held loud and insolent conversation concerning the runaway +Prussian Trenck. I found they sought a quarrel, which was a thing +of no great difficulty at that moment, for a man is never more +disposed to duelling than when he has nothing to lose, and is +discontented with his condition. I supposed they were two of the +accusing officers broken by Trenck, and endeavoured to avoid them, +and gain the Jew's place. + +Scarcely had I turned down the street that leads thither before they +quickened their pace. I turned round, and in a moment received a +thrust with a sword in the left side, where I had put my bag of +papers, which accident alone saved my life; the sword pierced +through the papers and slightly grazed the skin. I instantly drew, +and the heroes ran. I pursued, one of them tripped and fell. I +seized him; the guard came up: he declared he was an officer of the +regiment of Kollowrat, showed his uniform, was released, and I was +taken to prison. The Town Major came the next day, and told me I +had intentionally sought a quarrel with two officers, Lieutenants F- +g and K-n. These kind gentlemen did not reveal their humane +intention of sending me to the other world. + +I was alone, could produce no witness, they were two. I must +necessarily be in the wrong, and I remained six days in prison. No +sooner was I released, than these my good friends sent to demand +satisfaction for the said pretended insult. The proposal was +accepted, and I promised to be at the Scotch gate, the place +appointed by them, within an hour. Having heard their names, I +presently knew them to be two famous swaggerers, who were daily +exercising themselves in fencing at the Arsenal, and where they +often visited Trenck. I went to my cousin to ask his assistance, +related what had happened, and, as the consequences of this duel +might be very serious, desired him to give me a hundred ducats, that +I might be able to fly if either of them should fall. + +Hitherto I had expended my own money on his account, and had asked +no reimbursement; but what was my astonishment when this wicked man +said to me, with a sneer, "Since, good cousin, you have got into a +quarrel without consulting me, you will also get out of it without +my aid!" As I left him, he called me back to tell me, "I will take +care and pay your undertaker;" for he certainly believed I should +never return alive. + +I ran now, half-despairing, to Baron Lopresti, who gave me fifty +ducats and a pair of pistols, provided with which I cheerfully +repaired to the field of battle. + +Here I found half a dozen officers of the garrison. As I had few +acquaintances in Vienna, I had no second, except an old Spanish +invalid captain, named Pereyra, who met me going in all haste, and, +having learned whither, would not leave me. + +Lieutenant K-n was the first with whom I fought, and who received +satisfaction by a deep wound in the right arm. Hereupon I desired +the spectators to prevent farther mischief; for my own part I had +nothing more to demand. Lieutenant F-g next entered the lists, with +threats, which were soon quieted by a lunge in the belly. Hereupon +Lieutenant M-f, second to the first wounded man, told me very +angrily--"Had I been your man, you would have found a very different +reception." My old Spaniard of eighty proudly and immediately +advanced, with his long whiskers and tottering frame, and cried-- +"Hold! Trenck has proved himself a brave fellow, and if any man +thinks proper to assault him further, he must first take a breathing +with me." Everybody laughed at this bravado from a man who scarcely +could stand or hold a sword. I replied--"Friend, I am safe, unhurt, +and want not aid; should I be disabled, you then, if you think +proper, may take my place; but, as long as I can hold a sword, I +shall take pleasure in satisfying all these gentlemen one after +another." I would have rested myself a moment, but the haughty M-f, +enraged at the defeat of his friend, would not give me time, but +furiously attacked me, and, having been wounded twice, once in the +hand and again in the groin, he wanted to close and sink me to the +grave with himself, but I disarmed and threw him. + +None of the others had any desire to renew the contest. My three +enemies were sent bleeding to town; and, as M-f appeared to be +mortally wounded, and the Jesuits and Capuchins of Vienna refused me +an asylum, I fled to the convent of Keltenberg. + +I wrote from the convent to Colonel Baron Lopresti, who came to me. +I told him all that had passed, and by his good offices had liberty, +in a week, to appear once more at Vienna. + +The blood of Lieutenant F-g was in a corrupt state, and his wound, +though not in itself dangerous, made his life doubtful. He sent to +entreat I would visit him, and, when I went, having first requested +I would pardon him, gave me to understand I ought to beware of my +cousin. I afterwards learned the traitorous Trenck had promised +Lieutenant F-g a company and a thousand ducats if he would find +means to quarrel with me and rid the world of me. He was deeply in +debt, and sought the assistance of Lieutenant K-n; and had not the +papers luckily preserved me, I had undoubtedly been despatched by +his first lunge. To clear themselves of the infamy of such an act, +these two worthy gentlemen had pretended I had assaulted them in the +streets. + +I could no more resolve to see my ungrateful and dangerous kinsman, +who wished to have me murdered because I knew all his secrets, and +thought he should be able to gain his cause without obligation to me +or my assistance. Notwithstanding all his great qualities, his +marked characteristic certainly was that of sacrificing everything +to his private views, and especially to his covetousness, which was +so great that, even at his time of life, though his fortune amounted +to a million and a half, he did not spend per day more than thirty +kreutzers. + +No sooner was it known that I had forsaken Trenck than General Count +Lowenwalde, his most ardent enemy, and president of the first +council of war, by which he had been condemned, desired to speak to +me, promised every sort of good fortune and protection, if I would +discover what means had secretly been employed in the revision of +the process; and went so far as to offer me four thousand florins if +I would aid the prosecution against my cousin. Here I learned the +influence of villains in power, and the injustice of judges at +Vienna. The proposal I rejected with disdain, and rather determined +to seek my fortune in the East Indies than continue in a country +where, under the best of Queens, the most loyal of subjects, and +first of soldiers, might be rendered miserable by interested, angry, +and corrupt courtiers. Certain it is, as I now can prove, though +the bitterest of my enemies, and whose conduct towards me merited my +whole resentment, he was the best soldier in the Austrian army, had +been liberal of his blood and fortune in the Imperial service, and +would still so have continued had not his wealth, and his contempt +for Weber and Lowenwalde put him in the power of those wretches who +were the avowed enemies of courage and patriotism, and who only +could maintain their authority, and sate their thirst of gain, by +the base and wicked arts of courts. Had my cousin shared the +plunder of the war among these men, he had not fallen the martyr of +their intrigues, and died in the Spielberg. His accusers were, +generally, unprincipled men of ruined fortunes, and so insufficient +were their accusations that a useful member of society ought not, +for any or all of them, to have suffered an hour's imprisonment. +Being fully informed, both of all the circumstances of the +prosecution and the inmost secrets of his heart, justice requires I +should thus publicly declare this truth and vindicate his memory. +While living he was my bitterest enemy, and even though dead, was +the cause of all my future sufferings; therefore the account I shall +give of him will certainly be the less liable to suspicion, where I +shall show that he, as well as myself, deserved better of Austria. + +I was resolved forever to forsake Vienna. The friends of Trenck all +became distrustful of him because of his ingratitude to me. Prince +Charles still endeavoured to persuade me to a reconciliation, and +gave me a letter of recommendation to General Brown, who then +commanded the Imperial army in Italy. But more anxious of going to +India, I left Vienna in August, 1748, desirous of owing no +obligation to that city or its inhabitants, and went for Holland. +Meantime, the enemies of Trenck found no one to oppose their +iniquitous proceedings, and obtained a sentence of imprisonment, in +the Spielberg, where he too late repented having betrayed his +faithful adviser, and prudent friend. I pitied him, and his judges +certainly deserved the punishment they inflicted: yet to his last +moments he showed his hatred towards me was rooted, and, even in the +grave, strove by his will to involve me in misfortune, as will +hereafter be seen. + +I fled from Vienna, would to God it had been for ever; but fate by +strange ways, and unknown means, brought me back where Providence +thought proper I should become a vessel of wrath and persecution: I +was to enact my part in Europe, and not in Asia. At Nuremberg I met +with a body of Russians, commanded by General Lieuwen, my mother's +relation, who were marching to the Netherlands, and were the peace- +makers of Europe. Major Buschkow, whom I had known when Russian +resident at Vienna, prevailed on me to visit him, and presented me +to the General. I pleased him, and may say, with truth, he behaved +to me like a friend and a father. He advised me to enter into the +Russian service, and gave me a company of dragoons, in the regiment +of Tobolski, on condition I should not leave him, but employ myself +in his cabinet: and his confidence and esteem for me were +unbounded. + +Peace followed; the army returned to Moravia, without firing a +musket, and the head-quarters were fixed at Prosnitz. + +In this town a public entertainment was given, by General Lieuwen, +on the coronation day of the Empress Elizabeth; and here an +adventure happened to me, which I shall ever remember, as a warning +to myself, and insert as a memento to others. + +The army physician, on this day, kept a Faro bank for the +entertainment of the guests. My stock of money consisted of two and +twenty ducats. Thirst of gain, or perhaps example, induced me to +venture two of these, which I immediately lost, and very soon, by +venturing again to regain them, the whole two and twenty. Chagrined +at my folly, I returned home: I had nothing but a pair of pistols +left, for which, because of their workmanship, General Woyekow had +offered me twenty ducats. These I took, intending by their aid to +attempt to retrieve my loss. Firing of guns and pistols was heard +throughout the town, because of the festival, and I, in imitation of +the rest, went to the window and fired mine. After a few +discharges, one of my pistols burst, and endangered my own hand, and +wounded my servant. I felt a momentary despondency, stronger than I +ever remember to have experienced before; insomuch that I was half +induced, with the remaining pistol, to shoot myself through the +head. I however, recovered my spirits, asked my servant what money +he had, and received from him three ducats. With these I repaired, +like a desperate gamester, once more to the Faro table, at the +General's, again began to play, and so extraordinary was my run of +luck, I won at every venture. Having recovered my principal, I +played on upon my winnings, till at last I had absolutely broke the +Doctor's bank: a new bank was set up, and I won the greatest part +of this likewise, so that I brought home about six hundred ducats. + +Rejoiced at my good fortune, but recollecting my danger, I had the +prudence to make a solemn resolution never more to play at any game +of chance, to which I have ever strictly adhered. + +It were to be wished young men would reflect upon the effects of +gaming, remembering that the love of play has made the most +promising and virtuous, miserable; the honest, knaves; and the +sincere, deceivers and liars. Officers, having first lost all their +own money, being entrusted with the soldiers' pay, have next lost +that also; and thus been cashiered, and eternally disgraced. I +might, at Prosnitz, have been equally rash and culpable. The first +venture, whether the gamester wins or loses, ensures a second; and, +with that, too often destruction. My good fortune was almost +miraculous, and my subsequent resolution very uncommon; and I +entreat and conjure my children, when I shall no longer be living to +advise and watch for their welfare, most determinedly to avoid play. +I seemed preserved by Providence from this evil but to endure much +greater. + +General Lieuwen, my kind patron, sent me, from Crakow, to conduct a +hundred and forty sick men down the Vistula to Dantzic, where there +were Russian vessels to receive and transport them to Riga. + +I requested permission of the General to proceed forward and visit +my mother and sister, whom I was very desirous to see: at Elbing, +therefore, I resigned the command to Lieutenant Platen, and, +attended by a servant, rode to the bishopric of Ermeland, where I +appointed an interview with them in a frontier village. + +Here an incident happened that had nearly cost me my life. The +Prussians, some days before, had carried off a peasant's son from +this village, as a recruit. The people were all in commotion. I +wore leathern breeches, and the blue uniform of the Russian cavalry. +They took me for a Prussian, at the door, and fell upon me with +every kind of weapon. A chasseur, who happened to be there, and the +landlord, came to my assistance, while I, battling with the +peasants, had thrown two of them down. I was delivered, but not +till I had received two violent bruises, one on the left arm, and +another which broke the bridge of my nose. The landlord advised me +to escape as fast as possible, or that the village would rise and +certainly murder me; my servant, therefore, who had retired for +defence, with a pair of pistols, into the oven, got ready the horses +and we rode off. + +I had my bruises dressed at the next village; my hand and eyes were +exceedingly swelled, but I was obliged to ride two miles farther, to +the town of Ressel, before I could find an able surgeon, and here I +so far recovered in a week, that I was able to return to Dantzic. +My brother visited me while at Ressel, but my good mother had the +misfortune, as she was coming to me, to be thrown out of her +carriage, by which her arm was broken, so that she and my sister +were obliged to return, and I never saw her more. + +I was now at Dantzic, with my sick convoy, where another most +remarkable event happened, which I, with good reason, shall ever +remember. + +I became acquainted with a Prussian officer, whose name I shall +conceal out of respect to his very worthy family; he visited me +daily, and we often rode out together in the neighbourhood of +Dantzic. + +My faithful servant became acquainted with his, and my astonishment +was indeed great when he one day said to me, with anxiety, "Beware, +sir, of a snare laid for you by Lieutenant N-; he means to entice +you out of town and deliver you up to the Prussians." I asked him +where he learned this. "From the lieutenant's servant," answered +he, "who is my friend, and wishes to save me from misfortune." + +I now, with the aid of a couple of ducats, discovered the whole +affair, and learned it was agreed, between the Prussian resident, +Reimer, and the lieutenant, that the latter should entice me into +the suburb of Langfuhr, where there was an inn on the Prussian +territories. Here eight recruiting under-officers were to wait +concealed, and seize me the moment I entered the house, hurry me +into a carriage, and drive away for Lauenberg in Pomerania. Two +under-officers were to escort me, on horseback, as far as the +frontiers, and the remainder to hold and prevent me from calling for +help, so long as we should remain on the territories of Dantzic. + +I farther learned my enemies were only to be armed with sabres, and +that they were to wait behind the door. The two officers on +horseback were to secure my servant, and prevent him from riding off +and raising an alarm. + +These preparations might easily have been rendered fruitless, by my +refusing to accept the proposal of the lieutenant, but vanity gave +me other advice, and resentment made me desirous of avenging myself +for such detestable treachery. + +Lieutenant N- came, about noon, to dine with me as usual, was more +pensive and serious than I had ever observed him before, and left me +at four in the afternoon, after having made a promise to ride early +next day with him as far as Langfuhr. I observed my consent gave +him great pleasure, and my heart then pronounced sentence on the +traitor. The moment he had left me I went to the Russian resident, +M. Scheerer, an honest Swiss, related the whole conspiracy, and +asked whether I might not take six of the men under my command for +my own personal defence. I told him my plan, which he at first +opposed; but seeing me obstinate, he answered at last, "Do as you +please; I must know nothing of the matter, nor will I make myself +responsible." + +I immediately joined my soldiers, selected six men, and took them, +while it was dark, opposite the Prussian inn, hid them in the corn, +with an order to run to my help with their firelocks loaded the +first discharge they should hear, to seize all who should fall into +their power, and only to fire in case of resistance. I provided +them with fire-arms, by concealing them in the carriage which +brought them to their hiding-place. + +Notwithstanding all these precautions, I still thought it necessary +to prevent surprise, by informing myself what were the proceedings +of my enemies, lest my intelligence should have been false; and I +learned from my spies that, at four in the morning, the Prussian +resident, Reimer, had left the city with post horses. + +I loaded mine and my servant's horse and pocket pistols, prepared my +Turkish sabre, and, in gratitude to the lieutenant's man, promised +to take him into my service, being convinced of his honesty. + +The lieutenant cheerfully entered about six in the morning, +expatiated on the fineness of the weather, and jocosely told me I +should be very kindly received by the handsome landlady of Langfuhr. + +I was soon ready; we mounted, and left the town, attended by our +servants. Some three hundred paces from the inn, my worthy friend +proposed that we should alight and let our servants lead the horses, +that we might enjoy the beauty of the morning. I consented, and +having dismounted, observed his treacherous eyes sparkle with +pleasure. + +The resident, Reimer, was at the window of the inn, and called out, +as soon as he saw me, "Good-morrow, captain, good-morrow; come, come +in, your breakfast is waiting." I, sneering, smiled, and told him I +had not time at present. So saying, I continued my walk, but my +companion would absolutely force me to enter, took me by the arm, +and partly struggled with me, on which, losing all patience, I gave +him a blow which almost knocked him down, and ran to my horses as if +I meant to fly. + +The Prussians instantly rushed from behind their door, with clamour, +to attack me. I fired at the first; my Russians sprang from their +hiding-place, presented their pieces, and called, Stuy, stuy, +yebionnamat. + +The terror of the poor Prussians may well be supposed. All began to +run. I had taken care to make sure of my lieutenant, and was next +running to seize the resident, but he had escaped out of the back +door, with the loss only of his white periwig. The Russians had +taken four prisoners, and I commanded them to bestow fifty strokes +upon each of them in the open street. An ensign, named Casseburg, +having told me his name, and that he had been my brother's +schoolfellow, begged remission, and excused himself on the necessity +which he was under to obey his superiors. I admitted his excuses +and suffered him to go. I then drew my sword and bade the +lieutenant defend himself; but he was so confused, that, after +drawing his sword, he asked my pardon, laid the whole blame upon the +resident, and had not the power to put himself on his guard. I +twice jerked his sword out of his hand, and, at last, taking the +Russian corporal's cane, I exhausted my strength with beating him, +without his offering the least resistance. Such is the meanness of +detected treachery. I left him kneeling, saying to him, "Go, +rascal, now, and tell your comrades the manner in which Trenck +punishes robbers on the highway." + +The people had assembled round us during the action, to whom I +related the affair, and the attack having happened on the +territories of Dantzic, the Prussians were in danger of being stoned +by the populace. I and my Russians marched off victorious, +proceeded to the harbour, embarked, and three or four days after, +set sail for Riga. + +It is remarkable that none of the public papers took any notice of +this affair; no satisfaction was required. The Prussians, no doubt, +were ashamed of being defeated in an attempt so perfidious. + +I since have learnt that Frederic, no doubt by the false +representations of Reimer, was highly irritated, and what afterwards +happened proves his anger pursued me through every corner of the +earth, till at last I fell into his power at Dantzic, and suffered a +martyrdom most unmerited and unexampled. + +The Prussian envoy, Goltz, indeed, made complaints to Count +Bestuchef, concerning this Dantzic skirmish, but received no +satisfaction. My conduct was justified in Russia, I having defended +myself against assassins, as a Russian captain ought. + +Some dispassionate readers may blame me for not having avoided this +rencontre, and demanded personal satisfaction of Lieutenant N -. +But I have through life rather sought than avoided danger. My +vanity and revenge were both roused. I was everywhere persecuted by +the Prussians, and I was therefore determined to show that, far from +fearing, I was able to defend myself. + +I hired the servant of the lieutenant, whom I found honest and +faithful, and whom I comfortably settled in marriage, at Vienna, in +1753. After my ten years' imprisonment, I found him poor, and again +took him into my service, in which he died, at Zwerbach, in 1779. + + + +CHAPTER X. + + + +And now behold me at sea, on my voyage to Riga. I had eaten +heartily before I went on board; a storm came on; I worked half the +night, to aid the crew, but at length became sea-sick, and went to +lie down. Scarcely had I closed my eyes before the master came with +the joyful tidings, as he thought, that we were running for the port +of Pillau. Far from pleasing, this, to me, was dreadful +intelligence. I ran on deck, saw the harbour right before me, and a +pilot coming off. The sea must now be either kept in a storm, or I +fall into the hands of the Prussians; for I was known to the whole +garrison of Pillau. + +I desired the captain to tack about and keep the sea, but he would +not listen to me. Perceiving this, I flew to my cabin, snatched my +pistols, returned, seized the helm, and threatened the captain with +instant death if he did not obey. My Russians began to murmur; they +were averse to encountering the dangers of the storm, but luckily +they were still more averse to meet my anger, overawed, as they +were, by my pistols, and my two servants, who stood by me +faithfully. + +Half an hour after, the storm began to subside, and we fortunately +arrived the next day in the harbour of Riga. The captain, however, +could not be appeased, but accused me before the old and honourable +Marshal Lacy, then governor of Riga. I was obliged to appear, and +reply to the charge by relating the truth. The governor answered, +my obstinacy might have occasioned the death of a hundred and sixty +persons; I, smiling, retorted, "I have brought them all safe to +port, please your Excellency; and, for my part, my fate would have +been much more merciful by falling into the hands of my God than +into the hands of my enemies. My danger was so great that I forgot +the danger of others; besides, sir, I knew my comrades were +soldiers, and feared death as little as I do." My answer pleased +the fine grey-headed general, and he gave me a recommendation to the +chancellor Bestuchef at Moscow. + +General Lieuwen had marched from Moravia, for Russia, with the army, +and was then at Riga. I went to pay him my respects; he kindly +received me, and took me to one of his seats, named Annaburg, four +miles from Riga. Here I remained some days, and he gave me every +recommendation to Moscow, where the court then was. It was intended +I should endeavour to obtain a company in the regiment of +cuirassiers, the captains of which then ranked as majors, and he +advised me to throw up my commission in the Siberian regiment of +Tobolski dragoons. Peace be to the names and the memory of this +worthy man! May God reward this benevolence! From Riga I departed, +in company with M. Oettinger, lieutenant-colonel of engineers, and +Lieutenant Weismann, for Moscow. This is the same Weismann who +rendered so many important services to Russia, during the last war +with the Turks. + +On my arrival, after delivering in my letters of recommendation, I +was particularly well received by Count Bestuchef. Oettinger, whose +friendship I had gained, was exceedingly intimate with the +chancellor, and my interest was thereby promoted. + +I had not been long at Moscow before I met Count Hamilton, my former +friend during my abode at Vienna. He was a captain of cavalry, in +the regiment of General Bernes, who had been sent as imperial +ambassador to Russia. + +Bernes had been ambassador at Berlin in 1743, where he had +consequently known me during the height of my favour at the court of +Frederic. Hamilton presented me to him, and I had the good fortune +so far to gain his friendship, that, after a few visits, he +endeavoured to detach me from the Russian service, offering me the +strongest recommendations to Vienna, and a company in his own +regiment. My cousin's misfortunes, however, had left too deep an +impression on my mind to follow his advice. The Indies would then +have been preferred by me to Austria. + +Bernes invited me to dine with him in company with his bosom friend, +Lord Hyndford, the English ambassador. How great was the pleasure I +that day received! This eminent statesman had known me at Berlin, +and was present when Frederic had honoured me with saying, C'est un +matador de ma jeunesse. He was well read in men, conceived a good +opinion of my abilities, and became a friend and father to me. He +seated me by his side at table, and asked me, "Why came you here, +Trenck?" "In search of bread and honour, my lord," answered I, +"having unmeritedly lost them both in my own country." He further +inquired the state of my finances; I told him my whole store might +be some thirty ducats. + +"Take my counsel," said he; "you have the necessary qualifications +to succeed in Russia, but the people here despise poverty, judge +from the exterior only, and do not include services or talents in +the estimate; you must have the appearance of being wealthy. I and +Bernes will introduce you into the best families, and will supply +you with the necessary means of support. Splendid liveries, led +horses, diamond rings, deep play, a bold front, undaunted freedom +with statesmen, and gallantry among the ladies, are the means by +which foreigners must make their way in this country. Avail +yourself of them, and leave the rest to us." This lesson lasted +some time. Bernes entered in the interim, and they determined +mutually to contribute towards my promotion. + +Few of the young men who seek their fortune in foreign countries +meet incidents so favourable. Fortune for a moment seemed willing +to recompense my past sufferings, and again to raise me to the +height from which I had fallen. These ambassadors, here again by +accident met, had before been witnesses of my prosperity when at +Berlin. The talents I possessed, and the favour I then enjoyed, +attracted the notice of all foreign ministers. They were bosom +friends, equally well read in the human heart, and equally +benevolent and noble-minded; their recommendation at court was +decisive; the nations they represented were in alliance with Russia, +and the confidence Bestuchef placed in them was unbounded. + +I was now introduced into all companies, not as a foreigner who came +to entreat employment, but as the heir of the house of Trenck, and +its rich Hungarian possessions, and as the former favourite of the +Prussian monarch. + +I was also admitted to the society of the first literati, and wrote +a poem on the anniversary of the coronation of the Empress +Elizabeth. Hyndford took care she should see it, and, in +conjunction with the chancellor, presented me to the sovereign. My +reception was most gracious. She herself recommended me to the +chancellor, and presented me with a gold-hilted sword, worth a +thousand roubles. This raised me highly in the esteem of all the +houses of the Bestuchef party. + +Manners were at that time so rude in Russia, that every foreigner +who gave a dinner, or a ball, must send notice to the chancellor +Bestuchef, that he might return a list of the guests allowed to be +invited. Faction governed everything; and wherever Bestuchef was, +no friend of Woranzow durst appear. I was the intimate of the +Austrian and English ambassadors; consequently, was caressed and +esteemed in all companies. I soon became the favourite of the +chancellor's lady, as I shall hereafter notice; and nothing more was +wanting to obtain all I could wish. + +I was well acquainted with architectural design, had free access to +the house and cabinet of the chancellor, where I drew in company +with Colonel Oettinger, who was then the head architect of Russia, +and made the perspective view of the new palace, which the +chancellor intended to build at Moscow, by which I acquired +universal honour. I had gained more acquaintance in, and knowledge +of, Russia in one month, than others, wanting my means, have done in +twelve. + +As I was one day relating my progress to Lord Hyndford, he, like a +friend, grown grey in courts, kindly took the trouble to advise me. +From him I obtained a perfect knowledge of Russia; he was acquainted +with all the intrigues of European courts, their families, party +cabals, the foibles of the monarchs, the principles of their +government, the plots of the great Peter, and had also made the +peace of Breslau. Thus, having been the confidential friend of +Frederic, he was intimately acquainted with his heart, as well as +the sources of his power. Hyndford was penetrating, noble-minded, +had the greatness of the Briton, without his haughtiness; and the +principles, by which he combined the past, the present, and the +future, were so clear, that I, his scholar, by adhering to them, +have been enabled to foretell all the most remarkable revolutions +that have happened, during the space of six-and-thirty years, in +Europe. By these I knew, when any minister was disgraced, who +should be his successor. I daily passed some hours improving by his +kind conversation; and to him I am indebted for most of that +knowledge of the world I happen to possess. + +He took various opportunities of cautioning me against the effects +of an ardent, sanguine temper; and my hatred of arbitrary power +warned me to beware of the determined persecution of Frederic, of +his irreconcilable anger, his intrigues and influence in the various +courts of Europe, which he would certainly exert to prevent my +promotion, lest I should impede his own projects, and lamented my +future sufferings, which he plainly foresaw. "Despots," said he, +"always are suspicious, and abhor those who have a consciousness of +their own worth, of the rights of mankind, and hold the lash in +detestation. The enlightened are by them called the restless +spirits, turbulent and dangerous; and virtue there, where virtue is +unnecessary for the humbling and trampling upon the suffering +subject, is accounted a crime, of all others the most to be +dreaded." + +Hyndford taught me to know, and highly to value freedom: to despise +tyrants, to endure the worst of miseries, to emulate true greatness +of mind, to despise danger, and to honour only those whose elevation +of soul had taught them equally to oppose bigotry and despotism. + +Bernes was a philosopher; but with the penetration of an Italian, +more cautious than Hyndford, yet equally honest and worthy. His +friendship for me was unbounded, and the time passed in their +company was esteemed by me most precious. The liberality of my +sentiments, thirst after knowledge and scientific acquirements +gained their favour; our topics of conversation were inexhaustible, +and I acquired more real information at Moscow than at Berlin, under +the tuition of La Metri, Maupertuis, and Voltaire. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + + +Scarcely had I been six weeks in this city before I had an adventure +which I shall here relate; for, myself excepted, all the persons +concerned in it are now dead. Intrigues properly belong to novels. +This book is intended for a more serious purpose, and they are +therefore here usually suppressed. It cannot be supposed I was a +woman-hater. Most of the good or bad fortune I experienced +originated in love. I was not by nature inconstant, and was +incapable of deceit even in amours. In the very ardour of youth I +always shunned mere sensual pleasures. I loved for more exalted +reasons, and for such sought to be beloved again. Love and +friendship were with me always united; and these I was capable of +inciting, maintaining, and deserving. The most difficult of access, +the noblest, and the fairest, were ever my choice: and my +veneration for these always deterred me from grosser gratifications. +By woman I was formed; by the faith of woman supported under +misfortunes; in the company of woman enjoyed the few hours of +delight my life of sorrows has experienced. Woman, beautiful and +well instructed, even now, lightens the burden of age, the world's +tediousness and its woes; and, when these are ended, I would rather +wish mine eyes might be closed by fair and virgin hands, than, when +expiring, fixed on a hypocritical priest. + +My adventures with women would amply furnish a romance: but enough +of this, I should not relate the present, were it not necessary to +my story. + +Dining one public day with Lord Hyndford, I was seated beside a +charming young lady of one of the best families in Russia, who had +been promised in marriage, though only seventeen, to an old invalid +minister. Her eyes soon told me she thought me preferable to her +intended bridegroom. I understood them, lamented her hard fate, and +was surprised to hear her exclaim, "Oh, heavens! that it were +possible you could deliver me from my misfortune: I would engage to +do whatever you would direct." + +The impression such an appeal must make on a man of four and twenty, +of a temperament like mine, may easily be supposed. The lady was +ravishingly beautiful; her soul was candour itself, and her rank +that of a princess; but the court commands had already been given in +favour of the marriage; and flight, with all its inseparable +dangers, was the only expedient. A public table was no place for +long explanations. Our hearts were already one. I requested an +interview, and the next day was appointed, the place the Trotzer +garden, where I passed three rapturous hours in her company: thanks +to her woman, who was a Georgian. + +To escape, however, from Moscow, was impossible. The distance +thence to any foreign country was too great. The court was not to +remove to Petersburg till the next spring, and her marriage was +fixed for the first of August. The misfortune was not to be +remedied, and nothing was left us but patience perforce. We could +only resolve to fly from Petersburg when there, the soonest +possible, and to take refuge in some corner of the earth, where we +might remain unknown of all. The marriage, therefore, was +celebrated with pomp, though I, in despite of forms, was the true +husband of the princess. Such was the state of the husband imposed +upon her, that to describe it, and not give disgust, were +impossible. + +The princess gave me her jewels, and several thousand roubles, which +she had received as a nuptial present, that I might purchase every +thing necessary for flight; my evil destiny, however, had otherwise +determined. I was playing at ombre with her, one night, at the +house of the Countess of Bestuchef, when she complained of a violent +headache, appointed me to meet her on the morrow, in the Trotzer +gardens, clasped my hand with inexpressible emotion, and departed. +Alas! I never beheld her more, till stretched upon the bier! + +She grew delirious that very night, and so continued till her death, +which happened on the sixth day, when the small-pox began to appear. +During her delirium she discovered our love, and incessantly called +on me to deliver her from her tyrant. Thus, in the flower of her +age, perished one of the most lovely women I ever knew, and with her +fled all I held most dear. + +All my plans were now to be newly arranged. Lord Hyndford alone was +in the secret, for I hid no secrets from him: he strengthened me in +my first resolution, and owned that he himself, for such a mistress, +might perhaps have been weak enough to have acted as I had done. +Almost as much moved as myself, he sympathised with me as a friend, +and his advice deterred me from ending my miseries, and descending +with her, whom I have loved and lost, to the grave. This was the +severest trial I had ever felt. Our affection was unbounded, and +such only as noble hearts can feel. She being gone, the whole world +became a desert. There is not a man on earth, whose life affords +more various turns of fate than mine. Swiftly raised to the highest +pinnacle of hope, as suddenly was I cast headlong down, and so +remarkable were these revolutions that he who has read my history +will at last find it difficult to say whether he envies or pities me +most. And yet these were, in reality, but preparatory to the evils +that hovered over my devoted head. Had not the remembrance of past +joys soothed and supported me under my sufferings, I certainly +should not have endured the ten years' torture of the Magdeburg +dungeon, with a fortitude that might have been worthy even of +Socrates. + +Enough of this. My blood again courses swifter through my veins as +I write! Rest, gentle maiden, noble and lovely as thou wert! For +thee ought Heaven to have united a form so fair, animated as it was, +by a soul so pure, to ever-blooming youth and immortality. + +My love for this lady became well-known in Moscow; yet her corpulent +overgrown husband had not understanding enough to suppose there was +any meaning in her rhapsodies during her delirium. + +Her gifts to me amounted in value to about seven thousand ducats. +Lord Hyndford and Count Bernes both adjudged them legally mine, and +well am I assured her heart had bequeathed me much more. + +To this event succeeded another, by which my fortune was greatly +influenced. The Countess of Bestuchef was then the most amiable and +witty woman at Court. Her husband, cunning, selfish, and shallow, +had the name of minister, while she, in reality, governed with a +genius, at once daring and comprehensive. The too pliant Elizabeth +carelessly left the most important things to the direction of +others. Thus the Countess was the first person of the Empire, and +on whom the attention of the foreign ministers was fixed. + +Haughty and majestic in her demeanour, she was supposed to be the +only woman at court who continued faithful to her husband; which +supposition probably originated in her art and education, she being +a German born: for I afterwards found her virtue was only pride, +and a knowledge of the national character. The Russian lover rules +despotic over his mistress: requires money, submission, and should +he meet opposition, threatens her with blows, and the discovery of +her secret. + +During Elizabeth's reign foreigners could neither appear at court, +nor in the best company, without the introduction of Bestuchef. I +and Sievers, gentlemen of the chamber, were at that time the only +Germans who had free egress and regress in all houses of fashion; my +being protected by the English and Austrian ambassadors gave me very +peculiar advantages, and made my company everywhere courted. + +Bestuchef had been resident, during the late reign, at Hamburg, in +which inferior station he married the countess, at that time, though +young and handsome, only the widow of the merchant Boettger. Under +Elizabeth, Bestuchef rose to the summit of rank and power, and the +widow Boettger became the first lady of the empire. When I knew her +she was eight and thirty, consequently no beauty, though a woman +highly endowed in mind and manners, of keen discernment, disliking +the Russians, protecting the Prussians, and at whose aversions all +trembled. + +Her carriage towards the Russians was, what it must be in her +situation, lofty, cautious, and ironical, rather than kind. To me +she showed the utmost esteem on all occasions, welcomed me at her +table, and often admitted me to drink coffee in company with herself +alone and Colonel Oettinger. The countess never failed giving me to +understand she had perceived my love for the princess N- ; and, +though I constantly denied the fact, she related circumstances which +she could have known, as I thought, only from my mistress herself; +my silence pleased her; for the Russians, when a lady had a +partiality for them, never fail to vaunt of their good fortune. She +wished to persuade me she had observed us in company, had read the +language of our eyes, and had long penetrated our secret. I was +ignorant at that time that she had then, and long before, +entertained the maid of my mistress as a spy in her pay. + +About a week after the death of the princess, the countess invited +me to take coffee with her, in her chamber; lamented my loss, and +the violence of that passion which had deprived me of all my +customary vivacity, and altered my very appearance. She seemed so +interested in my behalf, and expressed so many wishes, and so ardent +to better my fate, that I could no longer doubt. Another +opportunity soon happened, which confirmed these my suspicions: her +mouth confessed her sentiments. Discretion, secrecy, and fidelity, +were the laws she imposed, and never did I experience a more ardent +passion from woman. Such was her understanding and penetration, she +knew how to rivet my affections. + +Caution was the thing most necessary. She contrived, however, to +make opportunity. The chancellor valued, confided in me, and +employed me in his cabinet; so that I remained whole days in his +house. My captainship of cavalry was now no longer thought of: I +was destined to political employment. My first was to be gentleman +of the chamber, which in Russia is an office of importance, and the +prospect of futurity became to me most resplendent. Lord Hyndford, +ever the repository of my secrets, counselled me, formed plans for +my conduct, rejoiced at my success, and refused to be reimbursed the +expense he had been at, though now my circumstances were prosperous. + +The degree of credit I enjoyed was soon noticed: foreign ministers +began to pay their court to me: Goltz, the Prussian minister, made +every effort to win me, but found me incorruptible. + +The Russian alliance was at this time highly courted by foreign +powers; the humbling of Prussia was the thing generally wished and +planned: and nobody was better informed than myself of ministerial +and family factions at this court. + +My mistress, a year after my acquaintance with her, fell into her +enemies' power, and with her husband, was delivered over to the +executioner. Chancellor Bestuchef, in the year 1756, was forced to +confession by the knout. Apraxin, minister of war, had a similar +fate. The wife of his brother, then envoy in Poland, was, by the +treachery of a certain Lieutenant Berger, with three others of the +first ladies of the court, knouted, branded, and had their tongues +cut out. This happened in the year 1741, when Elizabeth ascended +the throne. Her husband, however, faithfully served: I knew him as +Russian envoy, at Vienna, 1751. This may indeed be called the love +of our country, and thus does it happen to the first men of the +state: what then can a foreigner hope for, if persecuted, and in +the power of those in authority? + +No man, in so short a space of time, had greater opportunities than +I, to discover the secrets of state; especially when guided by +Hyndford and Bernes, under the reign of a well-meaning but short- +sighted Empress, whose first minister was a weak man, directed by +the will of an able and ambitious wife, and which wife loved me, a +stranger, an acquaintance of only a few months, so passionately that +to this passion she would have sacrificed every other object. She +might, in fact, be considered as Empress of Russia, disposing of +peace or war, and had I been more prudent or less sincere, I might +in such a situation, have amassed treasures, and deposited them in +full security. Her generosity was boundless; and, though obliged to +pay above a hundred thousand roubles, in one year, to discharge her +son's debts, yet might I have saved a still larger sum; but half of +the gifts she obliged me to receive, I lent to this son, and lost. +So far was I from selfish, and so negligent of wealth, that by +supplying the wants of others, I often, on a reverse of fortune, +suffered want myself. + +This my splendid success in Russia displeased the great Frederic, +whose persecution everywhere attended me, and who supposed his +interest injured by my success in Russia. The incident I am going +to relate was, at the time it happened, well known to, and caused +much agitation among all the foreign ambassadors. + +Lord Hyndford desired I would make him a fair copy of a plan of +Cronstadt, for which he furnished the materials, with three +additional drawings of the various ships in the harbour, and their +names. There was neither danger nor suspicion attending this; the +plan of Cronstadt being no secret, but publicly sold in the shops of +Petersburg. England was likewise then in the closest alliance with +Russia. Hyndford showed the drawing to Funk, the Saxon envoy, his +intimate friend, who asked his permission to copy it himself. +Hyndford gave him the plan signed with my name; and after Funk had +been some days employed copying it, the Prussian minister, Goltz, +who lived in his neighbourhood, came in, as he frequently paid him +friendly visits. Funk, unsuspectingly, showed him my drawing, and +both lamented that Frederic had lost so useful a subject. Goltz +asked to borrow it for a couple of days, in order to correct his +own; and Funk, one of the worthiest, most honest, and least +suspicious of men, who loved me like a brother, accordingly lent the +plan. + +No sooner was Goltz in possession of it than he hurried to the +chancellor, with whose weakness he was well acquainted, told him his +intent in coming was to prove that a man, who had once been +unfaithful to his king and country, where he had been loaded with +favours, would certainly betray, for his own private interest, every +state where he was trusted. He continued his preface, by speaking +of the rapid progress I had made in Russia, and the free entrance I +had found in the chancellor's house, where I was received as a son, +and initiated in the secrets of the cabinet. + +The chancellor defended me: Goltz then endeavoured to incite his +jealousy, and told him my private interviews with his wife, +especially in the palace-garden, were publicly spoken of. This he +had learned from his spies, he having endeavoured, by the snares he +laid, to make my destruction certain. + +He likewise led Bestuchef to suspect his secretary, S-n, was a party +in the intrigue; till at last the chancellor became very angry; +Goltz then took my plan of Cronstadt from his pocket, and added, +"Your excellency is nourishing a serpent in your bosom. This +drawing have I received from Trenck, copied from your cabinet +designs, for two hundred ducats." He knew I was employed there +sometimes with Oettinger, whose office it was to inspect the +buildings and repairs of the Russian fortifications. Bestuchef was +astonished; his anger became violent, and Goltz added fuel to the +flame, by insinuating, I should not be so powerfully protected by +Bernes, the Austrian ambassador, were it not to favour the views of +his own court. Bestuchef mentioned prosecution and the knout; Goltz +replied my friends were too powerful, my pardon would be procured, +and the evil this way increased. They therefore determined to have +me secretly secured, and privately conveyed to Siberia. + +Thus, while I unsuspectingly dreamed of nothing but happiness, the +gathering storm threatened destruction, which only was averted by +accident, or God's good providence. + +Goltz had scarcely left the place triumphant, when the chancellor +entered, with bitterness and rancour in his heart, into his lady's +apartment, reproached her with my conduct, and while she endeavoured +to soothe him, related all that had passed. Her penetration was +much deeper than her husband's: she perceived there was a plot +against me: she indeed knew my heart better than any other, and +particularly that I was not in want of a poor two hundred ducats. +She could not, however, appease him, and my arrest was determined. +She therefore instantly wrote me a line to the following purport. + +"You are threatened, dear friend, by a very imminent danger. Do not +sleep to-night at home, but secure yourself at Lord Hyndford's till +you hear farther from me." + +Secretary S-n, her confidant (the same who, not long since, was +Russian envoy at Ratisbon) was sent with the note. He found me, +after dinner, at the English ambassador's, and called me aside. I +read the billet, was astonished at its contents, and showed it Lord +Hyndford. My conscience was void of reproach, except that we +suspected my secret with the countess had been betrayed to the +chancellor, and fearing his jealousy, Hyndford commanded me to +remain in his house till we should make further discovery. + +We placed spies round the house where I lived; I was inquired for +after midnight, and the lieutenant of the police came himself and +searched the house. + +Lord Hyndford went, about ten in the morning, to visit the +chancellor, that he might obtain some intelligence, who immediately +reproached him for having granted an asylum to a traitor. "What has +this traitor done?" said Hyndford. "Faithlessly copied a plan of +Cronstadt, from my cabinet drawings," said the chancellor; "which he +has sold to the Prussian minister for two hundred ducats." + +Hyndford was astonished; he knew me well, and also knew that he had +then in money and jewels, more than eight thousand ducats of mine in +his own hands: nor was he less ignorant of the value I set on +money, or of the sources whence I could obtain it, when I pleased. +"Has your excellency actually seen this drawing of Trenck's?"--"Yes, +I have been shown it by Goltz."--"I wish I might likewise be +permitted to see it; I know Trenck's drawing, and make myself +responsible that he is no traitor. Here is some mystery; be so kind +as to desire M. Goltz will come and bring his plan of Cronstadt. +Trenck is at my house, shall be forthcoming instantly, and I will +not protect him if he proves guilty." + +The Chancellor wrote to Goltz; but he, artful as he was, had no +doubt taken care to be informed that the lieutenant of the police +had missed his prey. He therefore sent an excuse, and did not +appear. In the meantime I entered; Hyndford then addressed me, with +the openness of an Englishman, and asked, "Are you a traitor, +Trenck? If so, you do not merit my protection, but stand here as a +state prisoner. Have you sold a plan of Cronstadt to M. Goltz?" My +answer may easily be supposed. Hyndford rehearsed what the +chancellor had told him; I was desired to leave the room, and Funk +was sent for. The moment he came in, Hyndford said, "Sir, where is +that plan of Cronstadt which Trenck copied?" Funk, hesitating, +replied, "I will go for it." "Have you it," continued Hyndford, "at +home? Speak, upon your honour."--"No, my Lord, I have lent it, for +a few days, to M. Goltz, that he may take a copy." + +Hyndford immediately then saw the whole affair, told the chancellor +the history of this plan, which belonged to him, and which he had +lent to Funk, and requested a trusty person might be sent with him +to make a proper search. Bestuchef named his first secretary, and +to him were added Funk and the Dutch envoy, Schwart, who happened +then to enter. All went together to the house of Goltz. Funk +demanded his plan of Cronstadt; Goltz gave it him, and Funk returned +it to Lord Hyndford. + +The secretary and Hyndford both then desired he would produce the +plan of Cronstadt which he had bought of Trenck for two hundred +ducats. His confusion now was great, and Hyndford firmly insisted +this plan should be forthcoming, to vindicate the honour of Trenck, +whom he held to be an honest man. On this, Goltz answered, "I have +received my king's commands to prevent the preferment of Trenck in +Russia, and I have only fulfilled the duty of a minister." + +Hyndford spat on the ground, and said more than I choose to repeat; +after which the four gentlemen returned to the chancellor, and I was +again called. Everybody complimented me, related to me what had +passed, and the chancellor promised I should be recompensed; +strictly, however, forbidding me to take any revenge on the Prussian +ambassador, I having sworn, in the first transports of anger, to +punish him wherever I should find him, even were it at the altar's +foot. + +The chancellor soothed me, kept me to dine with him, and endeavoured +to assuage my boiling passions. The countess affected indifference, +and asked me if suchlike actions characterised the Prussian nation. +Funk and Schwart were at table. All present congratulated me on my +victory, but none knew to whom I was indebted for my deliverance +from the hasty and unjust condemnation of the chancellor, although +my protectress was one of the company. I received a present of two +thousand roubles the next day from the chancellor, with orders to +thank the Empress for this mark of her bounty, and accept it as a +sign of her special favour. I paid these my thanks some days after. +The money I disregarded, but the amiable Empress, by her enchanting +benevolence, made me forget the past. The story became public, and +Goltz appeared neither in public, nor at court. The manner in which +the countess personally reproached him, I shall out of respect pass +over. Bernes, the crafty Piedmontese, assured me of revenge, +without my troubling myself in the matter, and--what happened after +I know not; Goltz appeared but little in company, fell ill when I +had left Russia, and died soon after of a consumption. + +This vile man was, no doubt, the cause of all the calamities which +fell upon me. I should have become one of the first men in Russia: +the misfortune that befel Bestuchef and his family some years +afterward might have been averted: I should never have returned to +Vienna, a city so fatal to the name of Trenck: by the mediation of +the Russian Court, I should have recovered my great Sclavonian +estates; my days of persecution at Vienna would have passed in peace +and pleasure: nor should I have entered the dungeon of Magdeburg. + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + + +How little did the Great Frederic know my heart. Without having +offended, he had rendered me miserable, had condemned me to +imprisonment at Glatz on mere suspicion, and on my flying thence, +naked and destitute, had confiscated my paternal inheritance. Not +contented with inflicting all these calamities, he would not suffer +me peaceably to seek my fortune in a foreign land. + +Few are the youths who, in so short a time, being expelled their +native country with disgrace, by their own efforts, merits, and +talents, have obtained honour and favour so great, acquired such +powerful friends, or been entrusted with confidence equally +unlimited in transactions so important. Enraged as I was at the +treachery of Goltz, had opportunity offered, I might have been +tempted even to turn my native country into a desert; nor do I deny +that I afterwards promoted the views of the Austrian envoy, who knew +well how to cherish the flame that had been kindled, and turn it to +his own use. Till this moment I never felt the least enmity either +to my country or king, nor did I suffer myself, on any occasion, to +be made the agent of their disadvantage. + +No sooner was I entrusted more intimately with cabinet secrets, than +I discovered the state of factions, and that Bestuchef and Apraxin +were even then in Prussian pay; that a counterpoise, by their means, +might be formed to the prevalence of the Austrian party. + +Hence we may date the change of Russian politics in the year 1762. +Here also we may find a clue to the contradictory orders, artifices, +positions, retreats and disappointments of the Russian army, in the +seven years' war, beginning in 1756. The countess, who was obliged +to act with greater caution, foresaw the consequence of the various +intrigues in which her husband was engaged: her love for me +naturally drew her from her former party; she confided every secret +to me, and ever remained till her fall, which happened in 1758, +during my imprisonment, my best friend and correspondent. Hence was +I so well informed of all the plans against Prussia, to the years +1754 and 1756; much more so than many ministers of the interested +courts, who imagined they alone were in the secret. How many after +events could I then have foretold! Such was the perverseness of my +destiny, that where I should most have been sought for, and best +known, there was I least valued. + +No man, in my youth, would have believed I should live to my +sixtieth year, untitled and obscure. In Berlin, Petersburg, London, +and Paris, have I been esteemed by the greatest statesmen, and now +am I reduced to the invalid list. How strange are the caprices of +fortune! I ought never to have left Russia: this was my great +error, which I still live to repent. + +I have never been accustomed to sleep more than four or five hours, +so that through life I have allowed time for paying visits and +receiving company. I have still had sufficient for study and +improvement. Hyndford was my instructor in politics; Boerhaave, +then physician to the court, my bosom friend, my tutor in physic and +literary subjects. Women formed me for court intrigues, though +these, as a philosopher, I despised. + +The chancellor had greatly changed his carriage towards me since the +incident of the plan. He observed my looks, showed he was +distrustful, and desirous of revenge. His lady, as well as myself, +remarked this, and new measures became necessary. I was obliged to +act an artful, but, at the same time, a very dangerous part. + +My cousin, Baron Trenck, died in the Spielberg, October 4, 1749, and +left me his heir, on condition I should only serve the house of +Austria. In March, 1750, Count Bernes received the citation sent me +to enter on this inheritance. I would hear nothing of Vienna; the +abominable treatment of my cousin terrified me. I well knew the +origin of his prosecution, the services he had rendered his country, +and had been an eye-witness of the injustice by which he was repaid. +Bernes represented to me that the property left me was worth much +above a million: that the empress would support me in pursuit of +justice, and that I had no personal enemy at Vienna, that a million +of certain property in Hungary was much superior to the highest +expectations in Russia, where I myself had beheld so many changes of +fortune, and the effects of family cabals. Russia he painted as +dangerous, Vienna as secure, and promised me himself effectual +assistance, as his embassy would end within the year. Were I once +rich, I might reside in what country I pleased; nor could the +persecutions of Frederic anywhere pursue me so ineffectually as in +Austria. Snares would be laid for me everywhere else, as I had +experienced in Russia. "What," said he, "would have been the +consequence, had not the countess warned you of the impending +danger? You, like many other honest and innocent men, would have +been sent to Siberia. Your innocence must have remained untested, +and yourself, in the universal opinion, a villain and a traitor." + +Hyndford spoke to me in the same tone, assured me of his eternal +protection, and described London as a certain asylum, should I not +find happiness at Vienna. He spoke of slavery as a Briton ought to +speak, reminded me of the fate of Munich and Osterman, painted the +court such as I knew it to be, and asked me what were my +expectations, even were I fortunate enough to become general or +minister in such a country. + +These reasonings at length determined me; but having plenty of +money, I thought proper to take Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Holland +in my way, and Barnes was in the meantime to prepare me a favourable +reception at Vienna. He desired, also, I would give him authority +to get possession of the estates to which I was heir. My mistress +strongly endeavoured to detain me, but yielded at length to the +force of reason. I tore myself away, and promised, on my honour, to +return as soon as I had arranged my affairs at Vienna. She made the +proposition of investing me within some foreign embassy, by which I +might render the most effectual services to the court at Vienna. In +this hope we parted with heavy hearts: she presented me with her +portrait, and a snuffbox set with diamonds; the first of these, +three years after was torn from my bosom by the officers in my first +dungeon at Magdeburg, as I shall hereafter relate. The chancellor +embraced me, at parting, with friendship. Apraxin wept, and clasped +me in his arms, prophesying at the same time, I should never be so +happy as in Russia. I myself foreboded misfortune, and quitted +Russia with regret, but still followed the advice of Hyndford and +Bernes. + +From Moscow I travelled to Petersburg, where I found a letter, at +the house of Baron Wolf, the banker, from the countess, which rent +my very heart, and almost determined me to return. She endeavoured +to terrify me from proceeding to Vienna, yet inclosed a bill for +four thousand roubles, to aid me on my journey, were I absolutely +bent to turn my back on fortune. + +My effects, in money and jewels, amounted to about thirty-six +thousand florins; I therefore returned the draft, intreated her +eternal remembrance, and that she would reserve her favour and +support to times in which they might become needful. After +remaining a few days at Petersburg, I journeyed, by land, to +Stockholm; taking with me letters of recommendation from all the +foreign envoys + +I forgot to mention that Funk was inconsolable for my departure; his +imprudence had nearly plunged me into misery, and destroyed all my +hopes in Russia. Twenty-two years after this I met the worthy man, +once more in Dresden. He, there, considered himself as the cause of +all the evils inflicted on me, and assured me the recital of my +sufferings had been so many bitter reproaches to his soul. Our +recapitulation of former times gave us endless pleasure, and it was +the sweetest of joys to meet and renew my friendship with such a +man, after having weathered so many storms of fate. + +At Stockholm I wanted for no recommendation; the Queen, sister to +the great Frederic, had known me at Berlin, when I had the honour, +as an officer of the body guard, of accompanying her to Stettin. I +related my whole history to her without reserve. She, from +political motives, advised me not to make any stay at Stockholm, and +to me continued till death, an ever-gracious lady. I proceeded to +Copenhagen, where I had business to transact for M. Chaise, the +Danish envoy at Moscow: from whom also I had letters of +recommendation. Here I had the pleasure of meeting my old friend, +Lieutenant Bach, who had aided me in my escape from my imprisonment +at Glatz. He was poor and in debt, and I procured him protection, +by relating the noble manner in which he behaved I also presented +him with five hundred ducats, by the aid of which he pushed his +fortune. He wrote to me in the year 1776, a letter of sincere +thanks, and died a colonel of hussars in the Danish service in 1776. + +I remained in Copenhagen but a fortnight, and then sailed in a Dutch +ship, from Elsineur to Amsterdam. Scarcely had we put to sea, +before a storm arose, by which we lost a mast and bowsprit, had our +sails shattered, and were obliged to cast anchor among the rocks of +Gottenburg, where our deliverance was singularly fortunate. + +Here we lay nine days before we could make the open sea, and here I +found a very pleasant amusement, by going daily in the ship's boat +from rock to rock, attended by two of my servants, to shoot wild +ducks, and catch shell-fish; whence I every evening returned with +provisions, and sheep's milk, bought of the poor inhabitants, for +the ship's crew. + +There was a dearth among these poor people. Our vessel was laden +with corn; some of this I purchased, to the amount of some hundreds +of Dutch florins, and distributed wherever I went. I also gave one +of their ministers a hundred florins for his poor congregation, who +was himself in want of bread, and whose annual stipend amounted to +one hundred and fifty florins. + +Here in the sweet pleasure of doing good, I left behind me much of +that money I had so easily acquired in Russia; and perhaps had we +stayed much longer should myself have left the place in poverty. A +thousand blessings followed me, and the storm-driven Trenck was long +remembered and talked of at Gottenburg. + +In this worthy employment, however, I had nearly lost my life. +Returning from carrying corn, the wind rose, and drove the boat to +sea. I not understanding the management of the helm, and the +servants awkwardly handling the sails, the boat in tacking was +overset. The benefit of learning to swim, I again experienced, and +my faithful servant, who had gained the rock, aided me when almost +spent. The good people who had seen the shallop overset, came off +in their boats to my assistance. An honest Calmuc, whom I had +brought from Russia, and another of my servants perished. I saw the +first sink after I had reached the shore. + +The kind Swedes brought me on board, and also righted and returned +with the shallop. For some days I was sea-sick. We weighed anchor, +and sailed for the Texel, the mouth of which we saw, and the pilots +coming off, when another storm arose, and drove us to the port of +Bahus, in Norway, into which we ran, without farther damage. In +some few days we again set sail, with a fair wind, and at length +reached Amsterdam. + +Here I made no long stay; for the day after my arrival, an +extraordinary adventure happened, in which I was engaged chiefly by +my own rashness. + +I was a spectator while the harpooners belonging to the whale +fishery were exercising themselves in darting their harpoons, most +of whom were drunk. One of them, Herman Rogaar by name, a hero +among these people, for his dexterity with his snickasnee, came up, +and passed some of his coarse jests upon my Turkish sabre, and +offered to fillip me on the nose. I pushed him from me, and the +fellow threw down his cap, drew his snickasnee, challenged me, +called me monkey-tail, and asked whether I chose a straight, a +circular, or a cross cut. + +Thus here was I, in this excellent company, with no choice but that +of either fighting or running away. The robust, Herculean fellow +grew more insolent, and I, turning round to the bystanders, asked +them to lend me a snickasnee. "No, no," said the challenger, "draw +your great knife from your side, and, long as it is, I will lay you +a dozen ducats you get a gash in the cheek." I drew; he confidently +advanced with his snickasnee, and, at the first stroke of my sabre, +that, and the hand that held it, both dropped to the ground, and the +blood spouted in my face. + +I now expected the people would, indubitably, tear me to pieces; but +my fear was changed into astonishment at hearing a universal shout +applauding the vanquisher of the redoubted Herman Rogaar who, so +lately feared for his strength and dexterity, became the object of +their ridicule. A Jew spectator conducted me out of the crowd, and +the people clamorously followed me to my inn. This kind of duel, by +which I gained honour, would anywhere else have brought me to the +highest disgrace. A man who knew the use of the sabre, in a single +day, might certainly have disabled a hundred Herman Rogaars. This +story may instruct and warn others. He that is quarrelsome shall +never want an enemy. My temerity often engaged me in disputes +which, by timely compliance and calmness, might easily have been +avoided; but my evil genius always impelled me into the paths of +perplexity, and I seldom saw danger till it was inevitable + +I left Amsterdam for the Hague, where I had been recommended to Lord +Holderness, the English ambassador, by Lord Hyndford; to Baron +Reisbach, by Bernes; to the Grand Pensionary Fagel, by Schwart; and +from the chancellor I had a letter to the Prince of Orange himself I +could not, therefore, but be everywhere received with all possible +distinction. Within these recommendations, and the knowledge I +possessed, had I had the good fortune to have avoided Vienna, and +gone to India, where my talents would have insured me wealth, how +many tears of affliction had I been spared! My ill fortune, +however, had brought me letters from Count Bernes, assuring me that +heaven was at Vienna, and including a citation from the high court, +requiring me to give in my claim of inheritance. Bernes further +informed me the Austrian court had assured him I should meet with +all justice and protection, and advised me to hasten my journey, as +the executorship of the estates of Trenck was conducted but little +to my advantage. + +This advice I took, proceeded to Vienna, and from that moment all my +happiness had an end. I became bewildered in lawsuits, and the arts +of wicked men, and all possible calamities assaulted me at once, the +recital of which would itself afford subject matter for a history. +They began by the following incidents:- + +One M. Schenck sought my acquaintance at the Hague. I met with him +at my hotel, where he intreated I would take him to Nuremberg, +whence he was to proceed to Saxony. I complied, and bore his +expenses; but at Hanau, waking in the morning, I found my watch, set +with diamonds, a ring worth two thousand roubles, a diamond snuff- +box, with my mistress's picture, and my purse, containing about +eighty ducats, stolen from my bed-side, and Schenck become +invisible. Little affected by the loss of money, at any time, I yet +was grieved for my snuff-box. The rascal, however, had escaped, and +it was fortunate that the remainder of my ready money, with my bills +of exchange, were safely locked up. + +I now pursued my journey without company, and arrived in Vienna. I +cannot exactly recollect in what month, but I had been absent about +two years; and the reader will allow that it was barely possible for +any man, in so short a time, to have experienced more various +changes of fate, though many smaller incidents have been suppressed. +The places, where my pledged fidelity required discretion will be +easily supposed, as likewise will the concealment of court +intrigues, and artifices, the publication of which might even yet +subject me to more persecutions. All writers are not permitted to +speak truth of monarchs and ministers. I am the father of eight +children, and parental love and duty vanquish the inclination of the +author; and this duty, this affection, have made me particularly +cautious in relating what happened to me at Vienna, that I might, +thereby, serve them more effectually than by indulging the pride of +the writer, or the vengeance of the man. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + + +Since accounts so various, contradictory, and dishonourable to the +name of Trenck, have been circulated in Vienna, concerning facts +which happened thirty-seven years ago, I will here give a short +abstract of them, and such as may he verified by the records of the +court. I pledge my honour to the truth of the statement, and were I +so allowed, would prove it, to the conviction of any unprejudiced +court of justice: but this I cannot hope, as princes are much more +disposed to bestow unmerited favours than to make retribution to +those whom they have unjustly punished. + +Francis Baron Trenck died in the Spielberg, October 4th, 1749. It +has been erroneously believed in Vienna that his estates were +confiscated by the sentence which condemned him to the Spielberg. +He had committed no offence against the state, was accused of none, +much less convicted. The court sentence was that the administration +of his estate should be committed to Counsellor Kempf and Baron +Peyaczewitz, who were selected by himself, and the accounts of his +stewards and farmers were to be sent him yearly. He continued, till +his death, to have the free and entire disposal of his property. + +Although, before his death, he sent for his advocate, Doctor Berger, +and by him petitioned the Empress she would issue the necessary +orders to the Governor of the Spielberg, to permit the entrance of +witnesses, and all things necessary to make a legal will, it by no +means follows that he petitioned her for permission to make this +will. The case is too clear to admit of doubt. The royal commands +were given, that he should enjoy all freedom of making his will. +Permission was also given that, during his sickness, he might be +removed to the capuchin convent, which was equal to liberty, but +this he refused to accept. + +Neither was his ability to make a will questioned. The advocate was +only to request the Queen's permission to supply some formalities, +which had been neglected, when he purchased the lordships of Velika +and Nustar, which petition was likewise granted. The royal mandate +still exists, which commissioned the persons therein named as +trustees to the estate and effects of Trenck, and this mandate runs +thus: "Let the last will of Trenck be duly executed: let dispatch +be used, and the heir protected in all his rights." Confiscation, +therefore, had never been thought of, nor his power to make a will +questioned. + +I will now show how I have been deprived of this valuable +inheritance, while I have been obliged to pay above sixty thousand +florins, to defray legacies he had left; and when this narrative is +read, it will no longer be affirmed at Vienna, that by the favours +of the court I inherited seventy-six thousand florins, or the +lordship of Zwerbach from Trenck, I shall proceed to my proofs. + +The father of Baron Trenck, who died in the year 1743, governor of +Leitschau, in Hungary, named me in his will the successor of his +son, should he die without heirs male. + +This will was sent to be proved, according to form, at Vienna, after +having been authenticated in the most legal manner in Hungary. The +court called Hofkriegsrath, at Vienna, neglected to provide a +curator for the security of the next heir; yet this could not annul +my right of succession. When Trenck succeeded his father, he +entered no protest to this, his father's will; therefore, dying +without children, in the year 1749, my claim was indisputable. I +was heir had he made no will: and even in case of confiscation, my +title to his father's estates still remained valid. + +Trenck knew this but too well: he, as I have before related, was my +worst enemy, and even attempted my life. I will therefore proceed +to show the real intent of this his crafty testament. + +Determined no longer to live in confinement, or to ask forgiveness, +by which, it is well known, he might have obtained his freedom, +having lost all hopes of reimbursing his losses, his avarice was +reduced to despair. His desire of fame was unbounded, and this +could no way be gratified but by having himself canonized for a +saint, after spending his life in committing all the ravages of a +pandour. Hence originated the following facts:- + +He knew I was the legal claimant to his father's estates. His +father had bought with the family money, remitted from Prussia, the +lordships of Prestowacz and Pleternitz, in Sclavonia, and he +himself, during his father's life, and with his father's money, had +purchased the lordship of Pakratz, for forty thousand florins: this +must therefore descend also to me, he having no more power to will +this from me, than he had the remainder of his paternal inheritance. +The property he himself had gained was consigned to administrators, +but a hundred thousand florins had been expended in lawsuits, and +sixty-three suits continued actually pending against him in court; +the legacies he bequeathed amounted to eighty thousand florins. +These, he saw, could not be paid, should I claim nothing more than +the paternal inheritance; he, therefore, to render me unfortunate +after his death, craftily named me his universal heir, without +mentioning his father's will, but endeavoured, by his mysterious +death, and the following conditions, to enforce the execution of his +own will. + +First,--I was to become a Catholic. + +Secondly,--I was to serve only the house of Austria; and, + +Lastly,--He made his whole estate, without excepting the paternal +inheritance, a Fidei commissum. + +Hence arose all my misfortunes, as indeed was his intention; for, +but a short time before his death, he said to the Governor, Baron +Kottulinsky, "I shall now die contented, since I have been able to +trick my cousin, and render him wretched." + +His death, believed in Vienna to be miraculous, happened after the +following manner; and by this he had induced many weak people, who +really believed him a saint, to further his views. + +Three days before his death, while in perfect health, he desired the +governor of the Spielberg would send for his confessor, for that St. +Francis had revealed to him he should be removed into life +everlasting on his birth-day at twelve o'clock. The capuchin was +sent for, but the prediction laughed at. + +The day, however, after the departure of his confessor, he said, +"Praise be to God, my end approaches; my confessor is dead, and has +appeared to me." Strange as it may seem; it was actually found to +be true that the priest was dead. He now had all the officers of +the garrison of Brunn assembled, tonsured his head like a capuchin, +took the habit of the order, publicly confessed himself in a sermon +of an hour's length, exhorted them all to holiness, acted the part +of a most exemplary penitent, embraced all present, spoke with a +smile of the insignificance of all earthly possessions, took his +leave, knelt down to prayers, slept calmly, rose, prayed again, and +about eleven in the forenoon, October 4th, taking his watch in his +hand, said, "Thanks be to my God, my last hour approaches." All +laughed at such a farce from a man of such a character; yet they +remarked that the left side of his face grew pale. He then leaned +his arm on the table, prayed, and remained motionless, with his eyes +closed. The clock struck twelve--no signs of life or motion could +be discovered; they spoke to him, and found he was really dead. + +The word miracle was echoed through the whole country, and the +transmigration of the Pandour Trenck, from earth to heaven, by St. +Francis, proclaimed. The clue to this labyrinth of miracles, known +only to me, is truly as follows:- He possessed the secret of what is +called the aqua tofana, and had determined on death. His confessor +had been entrusted with all his secrets, and with promissory notes, +which he wished to invalidate. I am perfectly certain that he had +returned a promissory note of a great prince, given for two hundred +thousand florins, which has never been brought to account. The +confessor, therefore, was to be provided for, that Trenck might not +be betrayed, and a dose of poison was given him before he set off +for Vienna: his death was the consequence. He took similar means +with himself, and thus knew the hour of his exit; finding he could +not become the first on earth, he wished to be adored as a saint in +heaven. He knew he should work miracles when dead, because he +ordered a chapel to be built, willed a perpetual mass, and +bequeathed the capuchins sixty thousand florins. + +Thus died this most extraordinary man, in the thirty-fourth year of +his age, to whom nature had denied none of her gifts; who had been +the scourge of Bavaria; the terror of France; and who had, with his +supposed contemptible pandours, taken above six thousand Prussian +prisoners. He lived a tyrant and enemy of men, and died a +sanctified impostor. + +Such was the state of affairs, as willed by Trenck, when I came to +Vienna, in 1759, where I arrived with money and jewels to the amount +of twenty thousand florins. + +Instead of profiting by the wealth Trenck had acquired, I expended a +hundred and twenty thousand florins of my own money, including what +devolved to me from my uncle, his father, in the prosecution of his +suits. Trenck had paid two hundred ducats to the tribunal of +Vienna, in the year 1743, to procure its very reprehensible silence +concerning a curator, to which I was sacrificed, as the new judges +of this court refused to correct the error of their predecessors. +Such are the proceedings of courts of justice in Vienna! + +On my first audience, no one could be received more kindly than I +was, by the Empress Queen. She spoke of my deceased cousin with +much emotion and esteem, promised me all grace and favour, and +informed me of the particular recommendations she had received, on +my behalf, from Count Bernes. Finding sixty-three cases hang over +my head, in consequence of the inheritance of Trenck, to obtain +justice in any one of which in Vienna, would have employed the whole +life of an honest man, I determined to renounce this inheritance, +and claim only under the will and as the heir of my uncle. + +With this view I applied for and obtained a copy of that will, with +which I personally appeared, and declared to the court that I +renounced the inheritance of Francis Trenck, would undertake none of +his suits, nor be responsible for his legacies, and required only +his father's estates, according to the legal will, which I produced; +that is to say, the three lordships of Pakratz, Prestowacz, and +Pleneritz, without chattels or personal effects. Nothing could be +more just or incontrovertible than this claim. What was my +astonishment, to be told, in open court, that Her Majesty had +declared I must either wholly perform the articles of the will of +Trenck, or be excluded the entire inheritance, and have nothing +further to hope. What could be done? I ventured to remonstrate, +but the will of the court was determined and absolute: I must +become a Roman Catholic. + +In this extremity I bribed a priest, who gave me a signed +attestation, "That I had abjured the accursed heresy of +Lutheranism." My religion, however, remained what it had ever been. +General Bernes about this time returned from his embassy, and I +related to him the lamentable state in which I found my affairs. He +spoke to the Empress in my behalf, and she promised everything. He +advised me to have patience, to perform all that was required of me, +and to make myself responsible for the depending suits. Some family +concerns obliged him, as he informed me, to make a journey to Turin, +but his return would be speedy: he would then take the management +of my affairs upon himself, and insure my good fortune in Austria. +Bernes loved me as his son, and I had reason to hope, from his +assurance, I should be largely remembered in his will, which was the +more probable, as he had neither child nor relations. He parted +from me, like a father, with tears in his eyes; but he had scarcely +been absent six weeks before the news arrived of his death, which, +if report may be credited, was effected by poison, administered by A +FRIEND. Ever the sport of fortune, thus were my supporters snatched +from me at the very moment they became most necessary. + +The same year was I, likewise, deprived by death of my friend and +protector, Field-marshal Konigseck, Governor of Vienna, when he had +determined to interest himself in my behalf. I have been beloved by +the greatest men Austria ever produced, but unfortunately have been +persecuted by the chicanery of pettifoggers, fools, fanatics, and +priests, who have deprived me of the favour of my Empress, guiltless +as I was of crime or deceit, and left my old age in poverty. + +My ills were increased by a new accident. Soon after the departure +of Bernes, the Prussian minister, taking me aside, in the house of +the Palatine envoy, M. Becker, proposed my return to Berlin, assured +me the King had forgotten all that was past, was convinced of my +innocence, that my good fortune would there be certain, and be +pledged his honour to recover the inheritance of Trenck. I +answered, the favour came too late; I had suffered injustice too +flagrant, in my own country, and that I would trust no prince on +earth whose will might annihilate all the rights of men. My good +faith to the King had been too ill repaid; my talents might gain me +bread in any part of the world, and I would not again subject myself +to the danger of unmerited imprisonment. + +His persuasions were strong, but ineffectual. "My dear Trenck," +said he, "God is my judge that my intentions are honest; I will +pledge myself, that my sovereign will insure your fortune: you do +not know Vienna; you will lose all by the suits in which you are +involved, and will be persecuted because you do not carry a rosary." + +How often have I repented I did not then return to Berlin! I should +have escaped ten years' imprisonment; should have recovered the +estates of Trenck: should not have wasted the prime of life in the +litigation of suits, and the writing of memorials; and should have +certainly been ranked among the first men in my native country. +Vienna was no place for a man who could not fawn and flatter: yet +here was I destined to remain six-and-thirty years, unrewarded, +unemployed; and through youth and age, to continue on the list of +invalid majors. + +Having rejected the proposition of the Prussian envoy, all my hopes +in Vienna were ruined; for Frederic, by his residents and +emissaries, knew how to effect whatever he pleased in foreign +courts, and determined that the Trenck who would no longer serve or +confide in him should at least find no opportunity of serving +against him: I soon became painted to the Empress as an arch +heretic who never would be faithful to the house of Austria, and +only endeavoured to obtain the inheritance of Trenck that he might +devote himself to Prussia. This I shall hereafter prove; and +display a scene that shall be the disgrace of many, by whom the +Empress was induced to harbour unjust suspicions of an able and +honest man. I here stand erect and confident before the world; +publish the truth, and take everlasting shame to myself, if any man +on earth can prove me guilty of one treacherous thought. I owe no +thanks; but so far from having received favours, I have six and +thirty years remained unable to obtain justice, though I have all +the while been desirous of shedding my blood in defence of the +monarchy where I have thus been treated. Till the year 1746, I was +equally zealous and faithful to Prussia; yet my estates there, +though confiscated, were liable to recovery: in Hungary, on the +contrary, the sentence of confiscation is irrevocable. This is a +remarkable proof in favour of my honour, and my children's claims. + +Surely no reader will be offended at these digressions; my mind is +agitated, my feelings roused, remembering that my age and grey hairs +deprive me of the sweet hope of at length vanquishing opposition, +either by patience, or forcing justice, by eminent services, or +noble efforts. + +This my history will never reach a monarch's eye, consequently no +monarch, by perceiving, will be induced to protect truth. It may, +indeed, be criticised by literati; it will certainly be decried by +my persecutors, who, through life, have been my false accusers, and +will probably, therefore, be prohibited by the priests. All +Germany, however, will read, and posterity perhaps may pity, should +my book escape the misfortune of being classed among improbable +romances; to which it is the more liable, because that the +biographers of Frederic and Maria Theresa, for manifest reasons, +have never so much as mentioned the name of Trenck. + +Once more to my story: I was now obliged to declare myself heir, +but always cum reservatione juris mei, not as simply claiming under +the will of Francis Trenck I was obliged to take upon myself the +management of the sixty-three suits, and the expenses attending any +one of these are well known in Vienna. My situation may be +imagined, when I inform the reader I only received, from the whole +estate of Trenck, 3,600 florins in three years, which were scarcely +sufficient to defray the expenses of new year's gifts to the +solicitors and masters in chancery. How did I labour in stating and +transcribing proofs for the court! The money I possessed soon +vanished. My Prussian relations supported me, and the Countess +Bestuchef sent me the four thousand roubles I had refused at +Petersburg. I had also remittances from my faithful mistress in +Prussia; and, in addition, was obliged to borrow money at the +usurious rate of sixty per cent. Bewildered as I was among lawyers +and knaves, my ambition still prompted me to proceed, and all things +are possible to labour and perseverance; but my property was +expended: and, at length, I could only obtain that the contested +estates should be made a Fidei commissum, or put under trust; +whereby, though they were protected from being the further prey of +others, I did not inherit them as mine. In this pursuit was my +prime of life wasted, which might have been profitably and +honourably spent. + +In three years, however, I brought my sixty-three suits to a kind of +conclusion; the probabilities were this could not have been effected +in fifty. Exclusive of my assiduity, the means I took must not be +told; it is sufficient that I here learnt what judges were, and thus +am enabled to describe them to others. + +For a few ducats, the president's servant used to admit me into a +closet where I could see everything as perfectly as if I had myself +been one of the council. This often was useful, and taught me to +prevent evil; and often was I scarcely able to refrain bursting in +upon this court. + +Their appointed hour of meeting was nine in the morning, but they +seldom assembled before eleven. The president then told his beads, +and muttered his prayers. Someone got up and harangued, while the +remainder, in pairs, amused themselves with talking instead of +listening, after which the news of the day became the common topic +of conversation, and the council broke up, the court being first +adjourned some three weeks, without coming to any determination. +This was called judicium delegatum in causis Trenkiansis; and when +at last they came to a conclusion, the sentence was such as I shall +ever shudder at and abhor. + +The real estates of Trenck consisted in the great Sclavonian manors, +called the lordships of Pakratz, Prestowatz, and Pleternitz, which +he had inherited from his father, and were the family property, +together with Velika and Nustak, which he himself had purchased: +the annual income of these was 60,000 florins, and they contained +more than two hundred villages and hamlets. The laws of Hungary +require - + +1st. That those who purchase estates shall obtain the consensus +regius (royal consent). + +2nd. That the seller shall possess, and make over the right of +property, together with that of transferring or alienating, and + +3dly. That the purchaser shall be a native born, or have bought his +naturalisation. + +In default of all, or any of these, the Fiscus, on the death of the +purchaser, takes possession, repaying the summa emptitia, or +purchase-money, together within what can be shown to have been laid +out in improvements, or the summa inscriptitia, the sum at which it +stands rated in the fiscal register. + +Without form or notice, the Hungarian Fiscal President, Count +Grassalkowitz, took possession of all the Trenck estates on his +decease, in the name of the Fiscus. The prize was great, not so +much because of the estates themselves, as of the personal property +upon them. Trenck had sent loads of merchandise to his estates, of +linen, ingots of gold and silver from Bavaria, Alsatia, and Silesia. +He had a vast storehouse of arms, and of saddles; also the great +silver service of the Emperor Charles VII., which he had brought +from Munich, with the service of plate of the King of Prussia; and +the personal property on these estates was affirmed considerably to +exceed in value the estates themselves. + +I was not long since informed by one of the first generals, whose +honour is undoubted, that several waggons were laden with these rich +effects and sent to Mihalefze. His testimony was indubitable; he +knew the two pandours, who were the confidants of Trenck, and the +keepers of his treasures; and these, during the general plunder, +each seized a bag of pearls, and fled to Turkey, where they became +wealthy merchants. His rich stud of horses were taken, and the very +cows driven off the farms. His stand of arms consisted of more than +three thousand rare pieces. Trenck had affirmed he had sent linen +to the amount of fifty thousand florins, in chests from Dunnhausen +and Cersdorf, in the county of Glatz, to his estates. The pillage +was general; and when orders came to send all the property of Trenck +and deliver it to his universal heir, nothing remained that any +person would accept. I have myself seen, in a certain Hungarian +nobleman's house, some valuable arms, which I knew I had been robbed +of! and I bought at Esseck some silver plates on which were the arms +of Prussia, that had been sold by Counsellor D-n, who had been +empowered to take possession of these estates, and had thus rendered +himself rich. Of this I procured an attestation, and proved the +theft: I complained aloud at Vienna, but received an order from the +court to be silent, under pain of displeasure, and also to go no +more into Sclavonia. The principal reason of my loss of the landed +property in Hungary was my having dared to make inquiries concerning +the personal, not one guinea of which was ever brought to account. +I then proved my right to the family estates, left by my uncle, +beyond all dispute, and also of those purchased by my cousin. The +commissions appointed to inquire into these rights even confirmed +them; yet after they had been thus established, I received the +following order from the court, in the hand of the Empress herself:- +"The president, Count Grassalkowitz, takes it upon his conscience +that the Sclavonian estates do not descend to Trenck, in natura; he +must therefore receive the summa emptitia et inscriptitia, together +with the money he can show to have been expended in improvements." + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + + +And herewith ended my pleadings and my hopes. I had sacrificed my +property, laboured through sixty-three inferior suits, and lost this +great cause without a trial. I could have remained satisfied with +the loss of the personal property: the booty of a soldier, like the +wealth amassed by a minister, appears to me little better than a +public robbery; but the acquirements of my ancestors, my birth-right +by descent, of these I could not be deprived without excessive +cruelty. Oh patience! patience!--Yet shall my children never become +the footmen, nor grooms, of those who have robbed them of their +inheritance; and to them I bequeathed my rights in all their power: +nor shall any man prevent my crying aloud, so long as justice shall +not be done. + +The president, it is true, did not immediately possess himself of +the estates, but he took good care his friends should have them at +such rates that the sale of them did not bring the fiscal treasury +150,000 florins, while I, in real and personal property, lost a +million and a half; nay, probably a sum equal to this in personal +property alone. + +The summa inscriptitia et emptitia for all these great estates only +amounted to 149,000 florins, and this was to be paid by the chamber, +but the president thought proper to deduct 10,000 on pretence the +cattle had been driven off the estate of Pakratz; and, further, +36,000 more, under the shameful pretence that Trenck, to recruit his +pandours, had drained the estates of 3,600 vassals, who had never +returned; the estates, therefore, must make them good at the rate of +thirty florins per head, which would have amounted to 108,000 +florins; but, with much difficulty, this sum was reduced, as above +stated, to 36,000 florins, each vassal reckoned at ten florins per +head. Thus was I obliged, from the property of my family, to pay +for 3,600 men who had gloriously died in war, in defence of the +contested rights of the great Maria Theresa; who had raised so many +millions of contributions for her in the countries of her enemies; +who, sword in hand, had stormed and taken so many towns, and +dispersed, or taken prisoners, so many thousands of her foes. Would +this be believed by listening nations? + +All deductions made for legacies, fees, and formalities, there +remained to me 63,000 florins, with which I purchased the lordship +of Zwerbach, and I was obliged to pay 6,000 florins for my +naturalisation. Thus, when the sums are enumerated which I expended +on the suits of Trenck, received from my friends at Berlin and +Petersburg, it will be found that I cannot, at least, have been a +gainer by having been made the universal heir of the immensely rich +Trenck. With regret I write these truths in support of my +children's claims, that they may not, in my grave, reproach me for +having neglected the duty of a father. + +I will mere add a few particulars which may afford the reader matter +for meditation, cause him to commiserate my fate, and give a picture +of the manner in which the prosecution was carried on against +Trenck. + +One Schygrai, a silly kind of beggarly baron, who was treated as a +buffoon, was invited in the year 1743 to dine with Baron +Pejaczewitz, when Trenck happened to be present. The conversation +happened to turn on a kind of brandy made in this country, and +Trenck jocularly said he annually distilled this sort of brandy from +cow-dung to the value of thirty thousand florins. Schygrai supposed +him serious, and wished to learn the art, which Trenck promised to +teach him Pejaczewitz told him he could give him thirty thousand +load of dung. + +"But where shall I get the wood?" said Schygrai. "I will give you +thirty thousand klafters," answered Trenck. The credulous baron, +thinking himself very fortunate, desired written promises, which +they gave him; and that of Trenck ran thus: "I hereby permit and +empower Baron Schygrai to sell gratis, in the forest of Tscherra +Horra, thirty thousand klafters of wood. + +"Witness my hand, +"TRENCK." + + +Trenck was no sooner dead than the Baron brought his note, and made +application to the court. His attorney was the noted Bussy, and the +court decreed the estates of Trenck should pay at the rate of one +form thirty kreutzers per klafter, or forty-five thousand florins, +with all costs, and an order was given to the administrators to pay +the money. + +Just at this time I arrived at Vienna, from Petersburg. Doctor +Berger, the advocate of Trenck, told me the affair would admit of no +delay. I hastened to the Empress, and obtained an order to delay +payment. An inquiry was instituted, and this forest of Tscherra +Horra was found to be situated in Turkey. The absurdity and +injustice were flagrant, and it was revoked. I cannot say how much +of these forty-five thousand florins the Baron had promised to the +noble judge and the attorney. I only know that neither of them was +punished. Had not some holidays luckily intervened, or had the +attorney expected my arrival, the money would have been paid, and an +ineffectual attempt to obtain retribution would have been the +consequence, as happened in many similar instances. + +I have before mentioned the advertisement inviting all who had any +demands or complaints against Trenck to appear, with the promise of +a ducat a day; and it is mere proper to add that the sum of fifteen +thousand florins was brought to account, and paid out of the estates +of Trenck. For this shameful purpose some thousand of florins were +paid besides to this species of claimants and though, after +examination, their pretensions all proved to be futile, and +themselves were cast in damages, yet was none of this money ever +refunded, or the false claimants punished. Among these the +pretended daughter of General Schwerin received two thousand +florins, notorious as was her character. Again, Trenck was accused +of having appropriated the money to his own use, and treated as if +convicted. After his death a considerable demand was accordingly +made. I happening, however, to meet with Ruckhardt, his quarter- +master, he with asseverations declared that, instead of being +indebted to the regiment, the regiment was more than a hundred +thousand florins indebted to him, advised me to get attestations +from the captains, and assured me he himself would give in a clear +statement of the regiment's accounts. + +I followed his advice, hastened to the regiment, and obtained so +many proofs, that the quarter-master of the regiment, who, with the +major, had in reality pocketed the money, was imprisoned and put in +irons. What became of the thief or the false witness afterward I +know not; I only know that nothing was refunded, that the quarter- +master found protectors, detained the money, and, some years after +this vile action, purchased a commission. One instance more. + +Trenck, to the corps of infantry he commanded, added a corps of +hussars, which he raised and provided with horses and accoutrements +sold by auction. My demand on this account was upwards of sixty +thousand florins, to which I received neither money nor reply. He +had also expended a hundred thousand florins for the raising and +equipping his three thousand pandours; in consequence of which a +signed agreement had been given by the Government that these hundred +thousand florins should be repaid to his heir, or he, the heir, +should receive the command of the regiment. The regiment, however, +at his decease, was given to General Simschen; and as for the +agreement, care was taken it should never come into my hands. Thus +these hundred thousand florins were lost. + +Yet it has been wickedly affirmed he was imprisoned in the Spielberg +for having embezzled the regiment's money; whereas, I would to God I +only was in possession of the sums he expended on this regiment; for +he considered the regiment as his own; and great as was his avarice, +still greater was his desire of fame, and greater still his love for +his Empress, for whom he would gladly have yielded both property and +life. + +Within respect to the money that was to have been repaid for +improvement of the estates, I must add, these estates were bought at +a time when the country had been left desolate by the Turks, and the +reinstalment of such places as had fallen into their hands, and the +erecting of farmhouses, mills, stocking them with horses, cattle, +and seed corn, according to my poor estimate, could not amount to +less than eighty thousand florins; but I was forbidden to go into +Sclavonia, and the president offered, as an indemnification, four +thousand florins. Everybody was astonished, but he, within the +utmost coolness, told me I must either accept this or nothing. The +hearers of this sentence cast their eyes up to heaven and pitied me. +I remonstrated, and thereby only made the matter worse. Grief and +anxiety occasioned me to take a journey into Italy, passing through +Venice, Rome, and Florence. + +On my return to Vienna, I, by a friendly interference in behalf of a +woman whose fears rather than guilt had brought her into danger, +became suspected myself; and the very officious officers of the +police had me imprisoned as a coiner without the least grounds for +any such accusation except their own surmises. I was detained +unheard nine days, and when, having been heard, I had entirely +justified myself, was again restored to liberty; public declaration +was then made in the Gazette that the officers of the police had +acted too precipitately. + +This was the satisfaction granted, but this did not content me. I +threatened the counsellor by whom my character had been so aspersed, +and the Empress, condescending to mediate, bestowed on me a +captainship of cavalry in the Cordova cuirassiers. + +Such was the recompense I received for wounds so deep, and such the +neglect into which I was thrown at Vienna. Discontent led me to +join my regiment in Hungary. + +Here I gained the applause of my colonel, Count Bettoni, who himself +told the Empress I, more than any other, had contributed to the +forming of the regiment. It may well be imagined how a man like me, +accustomed, as I had been, to the first company of the first courts, +must pass my time among the Carpathian mountains, where neither +society nor good books were to be found, nor knowledge, of which I +was enamoured, improved. The conversation of Count Bettoni, and the +chase, together with the love of the general of the regiment, old +Field-marshal Cordova, were my only resources; the persecutions, +neglect, and even contempt, I received at Vienna, were still the +same. + +In the year 1754, in the month of March, my mother died in Prussia, +and I requested the permission of the court that held the +inheritance of Trenck, as a fidei commissum, to make a journey to +Dantzic to settle some family affairs with my brothers and sister, +my estates being confiscated. This permission was granted, and +thither I went in May, where I once more fell into the hands of the +Prussians; which forms the second great and still more gloomy epoch +in my life. All who read what follows will shudder, will +commiserate him who, feeling himself innocent, relates afflictions +he has miserably encountered and gloriously overcome. + +I left Hungary, where I was in garrison, for Dantzic, where I had +desired my brothers and sister to meet me that we might settle our +affairs. My principal intent, however, was a journey to Petersburg, +there to seek the advice and aid of my friends, for law and +persecution were not yet ended at Vienna; and my captain's pay and +small income scarcely sufficed to defray charges of attorneys and +counsellors. + +It is here most worthy of remark that I was told by Prince Ferdinand +of Brunswick, governor of Magdeburg, he had received orders to +prepare my prison at Magdeburg before I set out from Hungary. + +Nay, more; it had been written from Vienna to Berlin that the King +must beware of Trenck, for that he would be at Dantzic at the time +when the King was to visit his camp in Prussia + +What thing more vile, what contrivance more abominable, could the +wickedest wretch on earth find to banish a man his country, that he +might securely enjoy the property of which the other had been +robbed? That this was done I have living witnesses in his highness +Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick and the Berlin ministry, from whose +mouths I learned this artifice of villainy. It is the more +necessary to establish this truth, because no one can comprehend why +the GREAT FREDERIC should have proceeded against me in a manner so +cruel that, when it comes to be related, must raise the indignation +of the just, and move hearts of iron to commiserate. + +Men so vile, so wicked, as I have described them, in conjunction +with one Weingarten, secretary to Count Puebla, then Austrian +minister at Berlin, have brought on me these my misfortunes. + +This was the Weingarten who, as is now well known, betrayed all the +secrets of the Austrian court to Frederic, who at length was +discovered in the year 1756, and who, when the war broke out, +remained in the service of Prussia. This same Weingarten, also, not +only caused my wretchedness, but my sister's ruin and death, as he +likewise did the punishment and death of three innocent men, which +will hereafter be shown. + +It is an incontrovertible truth that I was betrayed and sold by men +in Vienna whose interest it was that I should be eternally silenced. + +I was immediately visited by my brothers and sister on my arrival at +Dantzic, where we lived happy in each other's company during a +fortnight, and an amicable partition was made of my mother's +effects; my sister perfectly justified herself concerning the manner +in which I was obliged to fly from her house an the year 1746: our +parting was kind, and as brother and sister ought to part. + +Our only acquaintance in Dantzic was the Austrian resident, M. +Abramson, to whom I brought letters of recommendation from Vicuna, +and whose reception of us was polite even to extravagance. + +This Abramson was a Prussian born, and had never seen Vienna, but +obtained his then office by the recommendation of Count Bestuchef, +without security for his good conduct, or proof of his good morals, +heart, or head. He was in close connection with the Prussian +resident, Reimer; and was made the instrument of my ruin. + +Scarcely had my brothers and sister departed before I determined to +make a voyage by sea to Russia. Abramson contrived a thousand +artifices, by which he detained me a week longer in Dantzic, that, +he in conjunction with Reimer, might make the necessary +preparations. + +The King of Prussia had demanded that the magistrates of Dantzic +should deliver me up; but this could not be done without offending +the Imperial court, I being a commissioned officer in that service, +with proper passports; it was therefore probable that this +negotiation required letters should pass and repass; and for this +reason Abramson was employed to detain me some days longer, till, by +the last letters from Berlin, the magistrates of Dantzic were +induced to violate public safety and the laws of nations. Abramson, +I considered as my best friend, and my person as in perfect +security; he had therefore no difficulty in persuading me to stay. + +The day of supposed departure on board a Swedish ship for Riga +approached, and the deceitful Abramson promised me to send one of +his servants to the port to know the hour. At four in the afternoon +he told me he had himself spoken to the captain, who said he would +not sail till the next day; adding that he, Abramson, would expect +me to breakfast, and would then accompany me to the vessel. I felt +a secret inquietude which made me desirous of leaving Dantzic, and +immediately to send all my luggage, and to sleep on board. Abramson +prevented me, dragging me almost forcibly along with him, telling me +he had much company, and that I must absolutely dine and sup at his +house; accordingly I did not return to my inn till eleven at night. + +I was but just in bed when I heard a tremendous knocking at my +chamber door, which was not shut, and two of the city magistrates +with twenty grenadiers entered my chamber, and surrounded my bed so +suddenly that I had not time to take to my arms and defend myself. +My three servants had been secured and I was told that the most +worthy magistracy of Dantzic was obliged to deliver me up as a +delinquent to his majesty the King of Prussia. + +What were my feelings at seeing myself thus betrayed! They silently +conducted me to the city prison, where I remained twenty-four hours. +About noon Abramson came to visit me, affected to be infinitely +concerned and enraged, and affirmed he had strongly protested +against the illegality of this proceeding to the magistracy, as I +was actually in the Austrian service; but that they had answered him +the court of Vienna had afforded them a precedent, for that, in +1742, they had done the same by the two sons of the burgomaster +Rutenberg, of Dantzic, and that, therefore, they were justified in +making reprisal; and likewise, they durst not refuse the most +earnest request accompanied with threats, of the King of Prussia. + +Their plea of retaliation originated as follows:- There was a kind +of club at Vienna, the members of which were seized for having +committed the utmost extravagance and debauchery, two of whom were +the sons of the burgomaster Rutenberg, and who were sentenced to the +pillory. Great sums were offered by the father to avoid this public +disgrace, but ineffectually--they were punished, their punishment +was legal, and had no similarity whatever to my case, nor could it +any way justly give pretence of reprisal. + +Abramson, who had in reality entered no protest whatever, but rather +excited the magistracy, and acted in concert with Reimer, advised me +to put my writings and other valuable effects into his hands, +otherwise they would be seized. He knew I had received letters of +exchange from my brothers and sister, about seven thousand florins, +and these I gave him, but kept my ring, worth about four thousand, +and some sixty guineas, which I had in my purse. He then embraced +me, declared nothing should be neglected to effect my immediate +deliverance; that even he would raise the populace for that purpose; +that I could not be given up to the Prussians in less than a week, +the magistracy being still undetermined in an affair so serious, and +he left me, shedding abundance of crocodile tears, like the most +affectionate of friends. + +The next night two magistrates, with their posse, came to my prison, +attended by resident Reimer, a Prussian officer and under officers, +and into their hands I was delivered. The pillage instantly began; +Reimer tore off my ring, seized my watch, snuff-box, and all I had, +not so much as sending me a coat or shirt from my effects; after +which, they put me into a close coach with three Prussians. The +Dantzic guard accompanied the carriage to the city gate, that was +opened to let me pass; after which the Dantzic dragoons escorted me +as far as Lauenburg in Pomerania. + +I have forgotten the date of this miserable day; but to the best of +my memory, it must have been in the beginning of June. Thirty +Prussian hussars, commanded by a lieutenant, relieved the dragoons +at Lauenburg, and thus was I escorted from garrison to garrison, +till I arrived at Berlin. + +Hence it was evidently falsely affirmed, by the magistracy of +Dantzic, and the conspirator Abramson, who wrote in his own excuse +to Vienna, that my seizure must be attributed wholly to my own +imprudence, and that I had exposed myself to this arrest by going +without the city gates, where I was taken and carried off; nor was +it less astonishing that the court of Vienna should not have +demanded satisfaction for the treachery of the Dantzickers toward an +Austrian officer. I have incontrovertibly proved this treachery, +after I had regained my liberty Abramson indeed they could not +punish, for during my imprisonment he had quitted the Austrian for +the Prussian service, where he gradually became so contemptible, +that in the year 1764, when I was released from my imprisonment, he +was himself imprisoned in the house of correction; and his wife, +lately so rich, was obliged to beg her bread. Thus have I generally +lived to see the fall of my betrayers; and thus have I found that, +without indulging personal revenge, virtue and fortitude must at +length triumph over the calumniator and the despot. + +This truth will be further proved hereafter, nor can I behold, +unmoved, the open shame in which my persecutors live, and how they +tremble in my presence, their wicked deeds now being known to the +world Nay, monarchs may yet punish their perfidy:- Yet not so!--May +they rather die in possession of wealth they have torn from me! I +only wish the pity and respect of the virtuous and the wise. + +But, though Austria has never resented the affront commenced on the +person of an officer in its service, still have I a claim on the +city of Dantzic, where I was thus treacherously delivered up, for +the effects I there was robbed of, the amount of which is between +eleven and twelve thousand florins. This is a case too clear to +require argument, and the publication of this history will make it +known to the world. This claim also, among others, I leave to the +children of an unfortunate father. + +Enough of digression; let us attend to the remarkable events which +happened on the dismal journey to Berlin. I was escorted from +garrison to garrison, which were distant from each other two, three, +or at most five miles; wherever I came, I found compassion and +respect. The detachment of hussars only attended me two days; it +consisted of twelve men and an officer, who rode with me in the +carriage. + +The fourth day I arrived at -, where the Duke of Wirtemberg, father +of the present Grand Duchess of Russia, was commander, and where his +regiment was in quarters. The Duke conversed with me, was much +moved, invited me to dine, and detained me all the day, where I was +not treated as a prisoner. I so far gained his esteem that I was +allowed to remain there the next day; the chief persons of the place +were assembled, and the Duchess, whom he had lately married, +testified every mark of pity and consideration. I dined with him +also on the third day, after which I departed in an open carriage, +without escort, attended only by a lieutenant of his regiment. + +I must relate this, event circumstantially for it not only proves +the just and noble character of the Duke, but likewise that there +are moments in which the brave may appear cowards, the clear-sighted +blind, and the wise foolish; nay, one might almost be led to +conclude, from this, that my imprisonment at Magdeburg, was the +consequence of predestination, since I remained riveted in stupor, +in despite of suggestions, forebodings, and favourable +opportunities. Who but must be astonished, having read the daring +efforts I made at Glatz, at this strange insensibility now in the +very crisis of my fate? I afterwards was convinced it was the +intention of the noble-minded Duke that I should escape, and that he +must have given particular orders to the successive officers. He +would probably have willingly subjected himself to the reprimands of +Frederic if I would have taken to fight. The journey through the +places where his regiment was stationed continued five days, and I +everywhere passed the evenings in the company of the officers, the +kindness of whom was unbounded I slept in their quarters without +sentinel, and travelled in their carriages, without other guard than +a single officer in the carriage. In various places the high road +was not more than two, and sometimes one mile from the frontier +road; therefore nothing could have been easier than to have escaped; +yet did the same Trenck, who in Glatz had cut his way through thirty +men to obtain his freedom, that Trenck, who had never been +acquainted with fear, now remain four days bewildered, and unable to +come to any determination. + +In a small garrison town, I lodged in the house of a captain of +cavalry, and continually was treated by him with every mark of +friendship. After dinner he rode at the head of his squadron to +water the horse, unsaddled. I remained alone in the house, entered +the stable, saw three remaining horses, with saddles and bridles; in +my chamber was my sword and a pair of pistols. I had but to mount +one of the horses and fly to the opposite gate. I meditated on the +project, and almost resolved to put it in execution, but presently +became undetermined by some secret impulse. The captain returned +some time after, and appeared surprised to find me still there. The +next day he accompanied me alone in his carriage; we came to a +forest, he saw some champignons, stopped, asked me to alight, and +help him to gather them; he strayed more than a hundred paces from +me, and gave me entire liberty to fly; yet notwithstanding all this, +I voluntarily returned, suffering myself to be led like a sheep to +the slaughter. + +I was treated so well, during my stay at this place, and escorted +with so much negligence, that I fell into a gross error. Perceiving +they conveyed me straight to Berlin, I imagined the King wished to +question me concerning the plan formed for the war, which was then +on the point of breaking out. This plan I perfectly knew, the +secret correspondence of Bestuchef having all passed through my +hands, which circumstance was much better known at Berlin than at +Vienna. Confirmed in this opinion, and far from imagining the fate +that awaited me, I remained irresolute, insensible, and blind to +danger. Alas, how short was this hope! How quickly was it +succeeded by despair! when, after four days' march, I quitted the +district under the command of the Duke of Wirtemberg, and was +delivered up to the first garrison of infantry at Coslin! The last +of the Wirtemberg officers, when taking leave of me, appeared to be +greatly affected; and from this moment till I came to Berlin, I was +under a strong escort, and the given orders were rigorously +observed. + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + + +Arrived here, I was lodged over the grand guardhouse, with two +sentinels in my chamber, and one at the door. The King was at +Potzdam, and here I remained three days; on the third, some staff- +officers made their appearance, seated themselves at a table, and +put the following questions to me:- + +First. What was my business at Dantzic? + +Secondly. Whether I was acquainted with M. Goltz, Prussian +ambassador to Russia? + +Thirdly. Who was concerned with me in the conspiracy at Dantzic? + +When I perceived their intention, by these interrogations, I +absolutely refused to reply, only saying I had been imprisoned in +the fortress of Glatz, without hearing, or trial by court-martial; +that, availing myself of the laws of nature, I had by my own +exertions procured my liberty, and that I was now a captain of +cavalry in the imperial service; that I demanded a legal trial for +my first unknown offence, after which I engaged to answer all +interrogatories, and prove my innocence; but that at present, being +accused of new crimes, without a hearing concerning my former +punishment, the procedure was illegal. I was told they had no +orders concerning this, and I remained dumb to all further +questions. + +They wrote some two hours, God knows what; a carriage came up; I was +strictly searched, to find whether I had any weapons; thirteen or +fourteen ducats, which I had concealed, were taken from me, and I +was conducted under a strong escort, through Spandau to Magdeburg. +The officer here delivered me to the captain of the guard at the +citadel; the town major came, and brought me to the dungeon, +expressly prepared for me; a small picture of the Countess of +Bestuchef, set with diamonds, which I had kept concealed in my +bosom, was now taken from me; the door was shut, and here was I +left. + +My dungeon was in a casemate, the fore part of which, six feet wide +and ten feet long, was divided by a party wall. In the inner wall +were two doors, and a third at the entrance of the casemate itself. +The window in the seven-feet-thick wall was so situated that, though +I had light, I could see neither heaven nor earth; I could only see +the roof of the magazine; within and without this window were iron +bars, and in the space between an iron grating, so close and so +situated, by the rising of the walls, that it was impossible I +should see any parson without the prison, or that any person should +see me. On the outside was a wooden palisade, six feet from the +wall, by which the sentinels were prevented from conveying anything +to me. I had a mattress, and a bedstead, but which was immovably +ironed to the floor, so that it was impossible I should drag it, and +stand up to the window; beside the door was a small iron stove and a +night table, in like manner fixed to the floor. I was not yet put +in irons, and my allowance was a pound and a half per day of +ammunition bread, and a jug of water. + +From my youth I had always had a good appetite, and my bread was so +mouldy I could scarcely at first eat the half of it. This was the +consequence of Major Reiding's avarice, who endeavoured to profit +even by this, so great was the number of unfortunate prisoners; +therefore, it is impossible I should describe to my readers the +excess of tortures that, during eleven months, I felt from ravenous +hunger. I could easily every day have devoured six pounds of bread; +and every twenty-four hours after having received and swallowed my +small portion, I continued as hungry as before I began, yet must +wait another twenty-four hours for a new morsel. How willingly +would I have signed a bill of exchange for a thousand ducats, on my +property at Vienna, only to have satiated my hunger on dry bread! +For, so extreme was it, that scarcely had I dropt into a sweet +sleep. Therefore I dreamed I was feasting at some table luxuriously +loaded, where, eating like a glutton, the whole company were +astonished to see me, while my imagination was heated by the +sensation of famine. Awakened by the pains of hunger, the dishes +vanished, and nothing remained but the reality of my distress; the +cravings of nature were but inflamed, my tortures prevented sleep, +and, looking into futurity, the cruelty of my fate suffered, if +possible, increase, from imagining that the prolongation of pangs +like these was insupportable. God preserve every honest man from +sufferings like mine! They were not to be endured by the villain +most obdurate. Many have fasted three days, many have suffered want +for a week, or more; but certainly no one, beside myself, ever +endured it in the same excess for eleven months. Some have supposed +that to eat little might become habitual, but I have experienced the +contrary. My hunger increased every day; and of all the trials of +fortitude my whole life has afforded, this, of eleven months, was +the most bitter. + +Petitions, remonstrances, were of no avail; the answer was--"We must +give no more, such is the King's command." The Governor, General +Borck, born the enemy of man, replied, when I entreated, at least, +to have my fill of bread, "You have feasted often enough out of the +service of plate taken from the King, by Trenck, at the battle of +Sorau; you must now eat ammunition bread in your dirty kennel. Your +Empress makes no allowance for your maintenance, and you are +unworthy of the bread you eat, or the trouble taken about you." +Judge, reader, what pangs such insolence, added to such sufferings +must inflict. Judge what were my thoughts, foreseeing, as I did, an +endless duration to this imprisonment and these torments. + +My three doors were kept ever shut, and I was left to such +meditations as such feelings and such hopes might inspire. Daily, +about noon, once in twenty-four hours, my pittance of bread and +water was brought. The keys of all the doors were kept by the +governor; the inner door was not opened, but my bread and water were +delivered through an aperture. The prison doors were opened only +once a week, on a Wednesday, when the governor and town major, my +hole having been first cleaned, paid their visit. + +Having remained thus two months, and observed this method was +invariable, I began to execute a project I had formed, of the +possibility of which I was convinced. + +Where the night-table and stove stood, the floor was bricked, and +this paving extended to the wall that separated my casemate from the +adjoining one, in which was no prisoner. My window was only guarded +by a single sentinel; I therefore soon found, among those who +successively relieved guard, two kind-hearted fellows, who described +to me the situation of my prison; hence I perceived I might effect +my escape, could I but penetrate into the adjoining casemate, the +door of which was not shut. Provided I had a friend and a boat +waiting for me at the Elbe, or could I swim across that river, the +confines of Saxony were but a mile distant. + +To describe my plan at length would lead to prolixity, yet I must +enumerate some of its circumstances, as it was remarkably intricate +and of gigantic labour. + +I worked through the iron, eighteen inches long, by which the night- +table was fastened, and broke off the clinchings of the nails, but +preserved their heads, that I might put them again in their places, +and all might appear secure to my weekly visitors. This procured me +tools to raise up the brick floor, under which I found earth. My +first attempt was to work a hole through the wall, seven feet thick +behind, and concealed by the night-table. The first layer was of +brick. I afterwards came to large hewn stones. I endeavoured +accurately to number and remember the bricks, both of the flooring +and the wall, so that I might replace them and all might appear +safe. This having accomplished, I proceeded. + +The day preceding visitation all was carefully replaced, and the +intervening mortar as carefully preserved; the whole had, probably, +been whitewashed a hundred times; and, that I might fill up all +remaining interstices, I pounded the white stuff this afforded, +wetted it, made a brush of my hair, then applied this plaster, +washed it over, that the colour might be uniform, and afterwards +stripped myself, and sat with my naked body against the place, by +the heat of which it was dried. + +While labouring, I placed the stones and bricks upon my bedstead, +and had they taken the precaution to come at any other time in the +week, the stated Wednesday excepted, I had inevitably been +discovered; but, as no such ill accident befell me, in six months my +Herculean labours gave me a prospect of success. + +Means were to be found to remove the rubbish from my prison; all of +which, in a wall so thick, it was impossible to replace; mortar and +stone could not be removed. I therefore took the earth, scattered +it about my chamber, and ground it under my feet the whole day, till +I had reduced it to dust; this dust I strewed in the aperture of my +window, making use of the loosened night-table to stand upon, I tied +splinters from my bedstead together, with the ravelled yarn of an +old stocking, and to this I affixed a tuft of my hair. I worked a +large hole under the middle grating, which could not be seen when +standing on the ground, and through this I pushed my dust with the +tool I had prepared in the outer window, then, waiting till the wind +should happen to rise, during the night I brushed it away, it was +blown off, and no appearance remained on the outside. By this +simple expedient I rid myself of at least three hundred weight of +earth, and thus made room to continue my labours; yet, this being +still insufficient, I had recourse to another artifice, which was to +knead up the earth in the form of sausages, to resemble the human +faeces: these I dried, and when the prisoner came to clean my +dungeon, hastily tossed them into the night-table, and thus +disencumbered myself of a pound or two more of earth each week. I +further made little balls, and, when the sentinel was walking, blew +them, through a paper tube, out of the window. Into the empty space +I put my mortar and stones, and worked on successfully. + +I cannot, however, describe my difficulties after having penetrated +about two feet into the hewn stone. My tools were the irons I had +dug out, which fastened may bedstead and night-table. A +compassionate soldier also gave me an old iron ramrod and a +soldier's sheath knife, which did me excellent service, more +especially the latter, as I shall presently more fully show. With +these two I cut splinters from my bedstead, which aided me to pick +the mortar from the interstices of the stone; yet the labour of +penetrating through this seven-feet wall was incredible; the +building was ancient, and the mortar occasionally quite petrified, +so that the whole stone was obliged to be reduced to dust. After +continuing my work unremittingly for six months, I at length +approached the accomplishment of my hopes, as I knew by coming to +the facing of brick, which now was only between me and the adjoining +casemate. + +Meantime I found opportunity to speak to some of the sentinels, +among whom was an old grenadier called Gelfhardt, whom I here name +because he displayed qualities of the greatest and most noble kind. +From him I learned the precise situation of my prison, and every +circumstance that might best conduce to my escape. + +Nothing was wanting but money to buy a boat, and crossing the Elbe +with Gelfhardt, to take refuge in Saxony. By Gelfhardt's means I +became acquainted with a kind-hearted girl, a Jewess, and a native +of Dessau, Esther Heymannin by name, and whose father had been ten +years in prison. This good, compassionate maiden, whom I had never +seen, won over two other grenadiers, who gave her an opportunity of +speaking to me every time they stood sentinel. By tying my +splinters together, I made a stick long enough to reach beyond the +palisades that were before my window, and thus obtained paper, +another knife, and a file. + +I now wrote to my sister, the wife of the before-mentioned only son +of General Waldow; described my awful situation, and entreated her +to remit three hundred rix-dollars to the Jewess, hoping, by this +means, I might escape from my prison. I then wrote another +affecting letter to Count Puebla, the Austrian ambassador at Berlin, +in which was enclosed a draft for a thousand florins on my effects +at Vienna, desiring him to remit these to the Jewess, having +promised her that sum as a reward for her fidelity. She was to +bring the three hundred rix-dollars my sister should send to me, and +take measures with the grenadiers to facilitate my flight, which +nothing seemed able to prevent, I having the power either to break +into the casemate or, aided by the grenadiers and the Jewess' to cut +the locks from the doors and that way escape from my dungeon. The +letters were open, I being obliged to roll them round the stick to +convey them to Esther. + +The faithful girl diligently proceeded to Berlin, where she arrived +safe, and immediately spoke to Count Puebla. The Count gave her the +kindest reception, received the letter, with the letter of exchange, +and bade her go and speak to Weingarten, the secretary of the +embassy, and act entirely as he should direct. She was received by +Weingarten in the most friendly manner, who, by his questions, drew +from her the whole secret, and our intended plan of flight, aided by +the two grenadiers, and also that she had a letter for my sister, +which she must carry to Hammer, near Custrin. He asked to see this +letter; read it, told her to proceed on her Journey, gave her two +ducats to bear her expenses, ordered her to come to him on her +return, said that during this interval he would endeavour to obtain +her the thousand florins for my draft, and would then give her +further instructions. + +Esther cheerfully departed for Hammer, where my sister, then a +widow, and no longer, as in 1746, in dread of her husband, joyful to +hear I was still living, immediately gave her three hundred rix- +dollars, exhorting her to exert every possible means to obtain my +deliverance. Esther hastened back with the letter from my sister to +Berlin, and told all that passed to Weingarten, who read the letter, +and inquired the names of the two grenadiers. He told her the +thousand florins from Vienna were not yet come, but gave her twelve +ducats; bade her hasten back to Magdeburg, to carry me all this good +news, and then return to Berlin, where he would pay her the thousand +florins. Esther came to Magdeburg, went immediately to the citadel, +and, most luckily, met the wife of one of the grenadiers, who told +her that her husband and his comrade had been taken and put in irons +the day before. Esther had quickness of perception, and suspected +we had been betrayed; she therefore instantly again began her +travels, and happily came safe to Dessau. + +Here I must interrupt my narrative, that I may explain this infernal +enigma to my readers, an account of which I received after I had +obtained my freedom, and still possess, in the handwriting of this +Jewess. Weingarten, as was afterwards discovered, was a traitor, +and too much trusted by Count Puebla, he being a spy in the pay of +Prussia, and one who had revealed, in the court of Berlin, not only +the secrets of the Imperial embassy, but also the whole plan of the +projected war. For this reason he afterwards, when war broke out, +remained at Berlin in the Prussian service. His reason for +betraying me was that he might secure the thousand florins which I +had drawn for on Vienna; for the receipt of the 24th of May, 1755, +attests that the sum was paid, by the administrators of my effects, +to Count Puebla, and has since been brought to account; nor can I +believe that Weingarten did not appropriate this sum to himself, +since I cannot be persuaded the ambassador would commit such an +action, although the receipt is in his handwriting, as may easily be +demonstrated, it being now in my possession. Thus did Weingarten, +that he might detain a thousand florins with impunity, bring new +evils upon me and upon my sister, which occasioned her premature +death; caused one grenadier to run the gauntlet three successive +days, and another to be hung. + +Esther alone escaped, and since gave me an elucidation of the whole +affair. The report at Magdeburg was, that a Jewess had obtained +money from my sister and bribed two grenadiers, and that one of +these had trusted and been betrayed by his comrade. Indeed, what +other story could be told at Magdeburg, or how could it be known I +had been betrayed to the Prussian ministry by the Imperial +secretary? The truth, however, is as I have stated: my account- +book exists, and the Jewess is still alive. + +Her poor imprisoned father was punished with more than a hundred +blows to make him declare whether his daughter had entrusted him +with the plot, or if he knew whither she was fled, and miserably +died in fetters. Such was the mischief occasioned by a rascal! And +who might be blamed but the imprudent Count Puebla? + +In the year 1766, this said Jewess demanded of me a thousand +florins; and I wrote to Count Puebla, that, having his receipt for +the sum, which never had been repaid, I begged it might be restored. +He received my agent with rudeness, returned no answer, and seemed +to trouble himself little concerning my loss. Whether the heirs of +the Count be, or be not, indebted to me these thousand florins and +the interest, I leave the world to determine. Thrice have I been +betrayed at Vienna and sold to Berlin, like Joseph to the Egyptians. +My history proves the origin of my persuasion that residents, +envoys, and ambassadors must be men of known worth and honesty, and +not the vilest of rascals and miscreants. But, alas! the effects +and money they have robbed me of have never been restored; and for +the miseries they have brought upon me, they could not be +recompensed by the wealth of any or all the monarchs on earth. +Estates they may, but truth they cannot confiscate; and of the +villainy of Abramson and Weingarten I have documents and proofs that +no court of justice could disannul. Stop, reader, if thou hast a +heart, and in that heart compassion for the unfortunate! Stop and +imagine what my sensations are while I remember and recount a part +only of the injustice that has been done me, a part only of the +tyranny I have endured! By this last act of treachery of Weingarten +was I held in chains, the most horrible, for nine succeeding years! +By him was an innocent man brought to the gallows! By him, too, my +sister, my beloved, my unfortunate sister, was obliged to build a +dungeon at her own expense! besides being amerced in a fine, the +extent of which I never could learn. Her goods were plundered, her +estates made a desert, her children fell into extreme poverty, and +she herself expired in her thirty-third year, the victim of cruelty, +persecution, her brother's misfortunes, and the treachery of the +Imperial embassy! + + + +Footnotes: + +{1} A common expression with Frederic when he was angry, and which +has since become proverbial among the Prussian and other German +officers. See Critical Review, April, 1755. + +{2} The same Doo who was governor of Glatz during the Seven Years' +war, and who, having been surprised by General Laudohu, was made +prisoner, which occasioned the loss of Glatz. The King broke him +with infamy, and banished him with contempt. In 1764 he came to +Vienna, where I gave him alms. He was, by birth, an Italian, a +selfish, wicked man; and, while major under the government of +Fouquet, at Glatz, brought many people to misery. He was the +creature of Fouquet, without birth or merit; crafty, malignant, but +handsome, and, having debauched his patron's daughter, afterwards +married her; whence at first his good, and at length his ill +fortune. He wanted knowledge to defend a fortress against the +enemy, and his covetousness rendered him easy to corrupt. + +{3} The German mile contains from four to seven English miles, and +this variation appears to depend on the ignorance of the people and +on the roads being in some places but little frequented. It seems +probable the Baron and his friend might travel about 809 English +miles.--TRANSLATOR. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg eText Life and Adventures of Baron +Trenck - Vol. 1 + diff --git a/old/1labt10.zip b/old/1labt10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b94d637 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/1labt10.zip |