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(of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. XV. (of XXI.) + Frederick The Great--Second Silesian War, Important Episode + In The General European One--15th Aug. 1744-25th Dec. 1745 + +Author: Thomas Carlyle + +Release Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2115] +Last Updated: November 30, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + + + + +Produced by D.R. Thompson and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II OF PRUSSIA, Volume 15 + </h1> + <h2> + FREDERICK THE GREAT + </h2> + <h2> + by Thomas Carlyle + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <div class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <big><b>BOOK XV.—SECOND SILESIAN WAR, + IMPORTANT EPISODE IN THE GENERAL EUROPEAN ONE.—15th Aug. 1744-25th + Dec. 1745.</b></big> </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> <b>Chapter I.—PRELIMINARY: + HOW THE MOMENT ARRIVED.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> PRINCE KARL GETS ACROSS THE RHINE (20 JUNE-2 + JULY, 1744). </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> FRIEDRICH DECIDES TO + INTERVENE. </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> <b>Chapter II.—FRIEDRICH MARCHES UPON PRAG, + CAPTURES PRAG.</b> </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> <b>Chapter III.—FRIEDRICH, + DILIGENT IN HIS BOHEMIAN CONQUESTS, UNEXPECTEDLY COMES UPON PRINCE KARL, + WITH NO FRENCH ATTENDING HIM.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> FRIEDRICH, LEAVING SMALL GARRISON IN PRAG, + RUSHES SWIFTLY UP THE MOLDAU VALLEY, UPON THE TABOR-BUDWEIS COUNTRY; TO + PLEASE HIS FRENCH FRIENDS. </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> THE + FRENCH ARE LITTLE GRATEFUL FOR THE PLEASURE DONE THEM AT SUCH RUINOUS + EXPENSE. </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> <b>Chapter IV.—FRIEDRICH REDUCED TO + STRAITS; CANNOT MAINTAIN HIS MOLDAU CONQUESTS AGAINST PRICE KARL.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> FRIEDRICH TRIES TO HAVE BATTLE FROM PRINCE + KARL, IN THE MOLDAU COUNTRIES; CANNOT, OWING TO THE SKILL OF PRINCE KARL + OR OF OLD FELDMARSCHALL TRAUN;—HAS TO RETIRE BEHIND THE SAZAWA, + AND ULTIMATELY BEHIND THE ELBE, WITH MUCH LABOR IN VAIN. </a><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0011"> FRIEDRICH'S RETREAT; ESPECIALLY EINSIEDEL'S FROM + PRAG. </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> <b>Chapter V.—FRIEDRICH, UNDER + DIFFICULTIES, PREPARES FOR A NEW CAMPAIGN.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> OLD DESSAUER REPELS THE SILESIAN INVASION + (Winter, 1744-45). </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> THE FRENCH FULLY + INTEND TO BEHAVE BETTER NEXT SEASON TO FRIEDRICH AND THEIR GERMAN + ALLIES;—BUT ARE PREVENTED BY VARIOUS ACCIDENTS (November, + 1744-April, 1745; April-August, 1745). </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> + STRANGE ACCIDENT TO MARECHAL DE BELLEISLE IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS (20th + December, 1744). </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> THE KAISER KARL + VII. GETS SECURED FROM OPPRESSIONS, IN A TRAGIC WAY. FRIEDRICH PROPOSES + PEACE, BUT TO NO PURPOSE. </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> <b>Chapter VI.—VALORI GOES ON AN + ELECTIONEERING MISSION TO DRESDEN.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> 1. FRIEDRICH'S POSITION TOWARDS SAXONY. </a><br /> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> 2. THERE IS A, "UNION OF WARSAW" (8th January, + 1745); AND STILL MORE SPECIALLY A "TREATY OF WARSAW" (8th January-18th + May, 1745). </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> 3. VALORI'S ACCOUNT OF + HIS MISSION (in compressed form). [Valori, i. 211-219.] </a><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0021"> MIDDLE-RHINE ARMY IN A STAGGERING STATE; THE + BAVARIAN INTRICACY SETTLES ITSELF, THE WRONG WAY. </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> <b>Chapter VII.—FRIEDRICH IN SILESIA; + UNUSUALLY BUSY.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> KING FRIEDRICH TO PODEWILS, IN BERLIN (under + various dates, March-April, 1745). </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> + FRIEDRICH TO PODEWILS (as before, April-May, 1745). </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> <b>Chapter VIII.—THE MARTIAL BOY AND HIS + ENGLISH versus THE LAWS OF NATURE.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> BATTLE OF FONTENOY (11th May, 1745). </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> <b>Chapter IX.—THE AUSTRIAN-SAXON ARMY + INVADES SILESIA, ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS.</b> </a><br /><br /> <a + href="#link2HCH0010"> <b>Chapter X.—BATTLE OF HOHENFRIEDBERG.</b> + </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> <b>Chapter XI.—CAMP OF + CHLUM: FRIEDRICH CANNOT ACHIEVE PEACE.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> CAMP OF DIESKAU: BRITANNIC MAJESTY MAKES + PEACE, FOR HIMSELF, WITH FRIEDRICH; BUT CANNOT FOR AUSTRIA OR SAXONY. + </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> SCHONBRUNN, 2d AUGUST, 1745, + ROBINSON HAS AUDIENCE OF HER HUNGARIAN MAJESTY. </a><br /> <a + href="#link2H_4_0032"> GRAND-DUKE FRANZ IS ELECTED KAISER (13TH + SEPTEMBER, 1745); FRIEDRICH, THE SEASON AND FORAGE BEING DONE, MAKES FOR + SILESIA. </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> <b>Chapter XII.—BATTLE OF SOHR.</b> </a><br /><br /> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> <b>Chapter XIII.—SAXONY AND AUSTRIA MAKE A + SURPRISING LAST ATTEMPT.</b> </a><br /> + <div class="toc2"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0035"> FRIEDRICH GOES OUT TO MEET HIS THREE-LEGGED + MONSTER; CUTS ONE LEG OF IT IN TWO (Fight of Hennersdorf, 23d November, + 1745). </a><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0036"> PRINCE KARL, CUT IN TWO, + TUMBLES HOME AGAIN DOUBLE-QUICK. </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> <b>Chapter XIV.—BATTLE OF KESSELSDORF.</b> + </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0015"> <b>Chapter XV.—PEACE OF + DRESDEN: FRIEDRICH DOES MARCH HOME.</b> </a><br /><br /> + </div> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK XV.—SECOND SILESIAN WAR, IMPORTANT EPISODE IN THE GENERAL + EUROPEAN ONE.—15th Aug. 1744-25th Dec. 1745. + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter I.—PRELIMINARY: HOW THE MOMENT ARRIVED. + </h2> + <p> + Battle being once seen to be inevitable, it was Friedrich's plan not to + wait for it, but to give it. Thanks to Friedrich Wilhelm and himself, + there is no Army, nor ever was any, in such continual preparation. + Military people say, "Some Countries take six months, some twelve, to get + in motion for war: but in three weeks Prussia can be across the marches, + and upon the throat of its enemy." Which is an immense advantage to little + Prussia among its big neighbors. "Some Countries have a longer sword than + Prussia; but none can unsheathe it so soon:"—we hope, too, it is + moderately sharp, when wielded by a deft hand. + </p> + <p> + The French, as was intimated, are in great vigor, this Year; thoroughly + provoked; and especially since Friedrich sent his Rothenburg among them, + have been doing their very utmost. Their main effort is in the + Netherlands, at present;—and indeed, as happened, continues all + through this War to be. They by no means intend, or ever did, to neglect + Teutschland; yet it turns out, they have pretty much done with their + fighting there. And next Year, driven or led by accidents of various + kinds, they quit it altogether; and turning their whole strength upon the + Netherlands and Italy, chiefly on the Netherlands, leave Friedrich, much + to his astonishment, with the German War hanging wholly round HIS neck, + and take no charge of it farther! In which, to Friedrich's Biographers, + there is this inestimable benefit, if far the reverse to Friedrich's self: + That we shall soon have done with the French, then; with them and with so + much else; and may, in time coming, for most part, leave their huge + Sorcerer's Sabbath of a European War to dance itself out, well in the + distance, not encumbering us farther, like a circumambient Bedlam, as it + has hitherto done. Courage, reader! Let us give, in a glance or two, some + notion of the course things took, and what moment it was when Friedrich + struck in;—whom alone, or almost alone, we hope to follow + thenceforth; "Dismal Swamp" (so gracious was Heaven to us) lying now + mostly to rearward, little as we hoped it! + </p> + <p> + It was mere accident, a series of bad accidents, that led King Louis and + his Ministers into gradually forsaking Friedrich. They were the farthest + in the world from intending such a thing. Contrariwise, what + brain-beating, diplomatic spider-weaving, practical contriving, now and + afterwards, for that object; especially now! Rothenburg, Noailles, + Belleisle, Cardinal Tencin, have been busy; not less the mistress + Chateauroux, who admires Friedrich, being indeed a high-minded unfortunate + female, as they say; and has thrown out Amelot, not for stammering alone. + They are able, almost high people, this new Chateauroux Ministry, compared + with some; and already show results. + </p> + <p> + Nay, what is most important of all, France has (unconsciously, or by mere + help of Noailles and luck) got a real General to her Armies: Comte de + Saxe, now Marechal de Saxe; who will shine very splendent in these + Netherland operations,—counter-shone by mere Wades, D'Ahrembergs, + Cumberlands,—in this and the Four following Years. Noailles had + always recognized Comte de Saxe; had long striven for him, in Official + quarters; and here gets the light of him unveiled at last, and set on a + high place: loyal Noailles. + </p> + <p> + This was the Year, this 1744, when Louis XV., urged by his Chateauroux, + the high-souled unfortunate female, appeared in person at the head of his + troops: "Go, Sire, go, MON CHOU (and I will accompany); show yourself + where a King should be, at the head of your troops; be a second + Louis-le-Grand!" Which he did, his Chateauroux and he; actually went to + the Netherlands, with baggage-train immeasurable, including not cooks + only, but play-actors with their thunder-barrels (off from Paris, May 3d), + to the admiration of the Universe. [Adelung, iv. 113; Barbier, ii. 391, + 394; Dulaure, <i>Hist. de Paris;</i> &c.] Took the command, + nominal-command, first days of June; and captured in no-time Menin, Ipres, + Furnes, and the Fort of Knock, and as much of the Austrian Netherlands as + he liked,—that is to say, saw Noailles and Saxe do it;—walking + rapidly forward from Siege to Siege, with a most thundering artillery; old + Marshal Wade and consorts dismally eating their victuals, and looking on + from the distance, unable to attempt the least stroke in opposition. So + that the Dutch Barrier, if anybody now cared for it, did go all flat; and + the Balance of Power gets kicked out of its sacred pivot: to such purpose + have the Dutch been hoisted! Terrible to think of;—had not there, + from the opposite quarter, risen a surprising counterpoise; had not there + been a Prince Karl, with his 70,000, pressing victoriously over the Rhine; + which stayed the French in these sacrilegious procedures. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PRINCE KARL GETS ACROSS THE RHINE (20 JUNE-2 JULY, 1744). + </h2> + <p> + Prince Karl, some weeks ago, at Heilbronn, joined his Rhine Army, which + had gathered thither from the Austrian side, through Baiern, and from the + Hither-Austrian or Swabian Winter-quarters; with full intent to be across + the Rhine, and home upon Elsass and the Compensation Countries, this + Summer, under what difficulties soever. Karl, or, as some whisper, old + Marshal Traun, who is nominally second in command, do make a glorious + campaign of it, this Year;—and lift the Cause of Liberty, at one + time, to the highest pitch it ever reached. Here, in brief terms, is + Prince Karl's Operation on the Rhine, much admired by military men:— + </p> + <p> + "STOCKSTADT, JUNE 20th, 1744. Some thirty and odd miles north of Mannheim, + the Rhine, before turning westward at Mainz, makes one other of its many + Islands (of which there are hundreds since the leap at Schaffhausen): one + other, and I think the biggest of them all; perhaps two miles by five; + which the Germans call KUHKOPF (Cowhead), from the shape it has,—a + narrow semi-ellipse; River there splitting in two, one split (the western) + going straight, the other bending luxuriantly round: so that the HIND-head + or straight end of the Island lies towards France, and the round end, or + cow-LIPS (so to speak) towards native Teutschland, and the woody Hills of + the Berg-Strasse thereabouts. Stockstadt, chief little Town looking over + into this Cowhead Island, lies under the CHIN: understand only farther + that the German branch carries more than two-thirds of the River; that on + the Island itself there is no town, or post of defence; and that + Stockstadt is the place for getting over. Coigny and the French, some + 40,000, are guarding the River hereabouts, with lines, with batteries, + cordons, the best they can; Seckendorf, with 20,000 more ('Imperial' Old + Bavarian Troops, revivified, recruited by French pay), is in his garrison + of Philipsburg, ready to help when needed:"—not moulting now, at + Wembdingen, in that dismal manner; new-feathered now into "Kaiser's Army;" + waiting in his Philipsburg to guard the River there. "Coigny's French have + ramparts, ditches, not quite unfurnished, on their own shore, opposite + this Cowhead Island (ISLE DE HERON, as they call it); looking over to the + hind-head, namely: but they have nothing considerable there; and in the + Island itself, nothing whatever. 'If now Stockstadt were suddenly snatched + by us,' thinks Karl;—'if a few pontoons were nimbly swung in?' + </p> + <p> + "JUNE 20th,—Coigny's people all shooting FEU-DE-JOIE, for that never + enough to be celebrated Capture of Menin and the Dutch Barrier a fortnight + ago,—this is managed to be done. The active General Barenklau, + active Brigadier Daun under him, pushes rapidly across into Kuhkopf; + rapidly throws up intrenchments, ramparts, mounts cannon, digs himself in,—greatly + to Coigny's astonishment; whose people hereabouts, and in all their lines + and posts, are busy shooting FEU-DE-JOIE for those immortal Dutch + victories, at the moment, and never dreaming of such a thing. Fresh force + floods in, Prince Karl himself arrives next day, in support of Barenklau; + Coigny (head-quarters at Speyer, forty miles south) need not attempt + dislodging him; but must stand upon his guard, and prepare for worse. + Which he does with diligence; shifting northward into those + Stockstadt-Mainz parts; calling Seckendorf across the River, and otherwise + doing his best,—for about ten days more, when worse, and almost + worst, did verily befall him. + </p> + <p> + "No attempt was made on Barenklau; nor, beyond the alarming of the + Coigny-Seckendorf people, did anything occur in Cowhead Island,—unless + it were the finis of an ugly bully and ruffian, who has more than once + afflicted us: which may be worth one word. Colonel Mentzel [copper-faced + Colonel, originally Play-actor, "Spy in Persia," and I know not what] had + been at the seizure of Kuhkopf; a prominent man. Whom, on the fifth day + after ('June 25th'), Prince Karl overwhelmed with joy, by handing him a + Patent of Generalcy: 'Just received from Court, my Friend, on account of + your merits old and late.'—'Aha,' said Barenklau, congratulating + warmly: 'Dine with me, then, Herr General Mentzel, this very day. The + Prince himself is to be there, Highness of Hessen-Darmstadt, and who not; + all are impatient to drink your health!' Mentzel had a glorious dinner; + still more glorious drink,—Prince Karl and the others, it is said, + egging him into much wild bluster and gasconade, to season their much + wine. Eminent swill of drinking, with the loud coarse talk supposable, on + the part of Mentzel and consorts did go on, in this manner, all afternoon: + in the evening, drunk Mentzel came out for air; went strutting and + staggering about; emerging finally on the platform of some rampart, face + of him huge and red as that of the foggiest rising Moon;—and stood, + looking over into the Lorraine Country; belching out a storm of oaths, as + to his taking it, as to his doing this and that; and was even flourishing + his sword by way of accompaniment; when, lo, whistling slightly through + the summer air, a rifle-ball from some sentry on the French side (writers + say, it was a French drummer, grown impatient, and snatching a sentry's + piece) took the brain of him, or the belly of him; and he rushed down at + once, a totally collapsed monster, and mere heap of dead ruin, never to + trouble mankind more." [<i>Guerre de Boheme,</i> iii. 165.] For which my + readers and I are rather thankful. Voltaire, and perhaps other memorable + persons, sometimes mention this brute (miraculous to the Plebs and + Gazetteers); otherwise eternal oblivion were the best we could do with + him. Trenck also, readers will be glad to understand, ends in jail and + bedlam by and by. + </p> + <p> + "Prince Karl had not the least intention of crossing by this Cowhead + Island. Nevertheless he set about two other Bridges in the neighborhood, + nearer Mainz (few miles below that City); kept manoeuvring his Force, in + huge half-moon, round that quarter, and mysteriously up and down; alarming + Coigny wholly into the Mainz region. For the space of ten days; and then, + stealing off to Schrock, a little Rhine Village above Philipsburg, many + miles away from Coigny and his vigilantes, he— + </p> + <p> + "NIGHT OF 30th JUNE-1st JULY, Suddenly shot Pandour Trenck, followed by + Nadasti and 6,000, across at Schrock who scattered Seckendorf's poor + outposts thereabouts to the winds; 'built a bridge before morning, and + next day another.' Next day Prince Karl in person appeared; and on the 3d + of July, had his whole Army with its luggages across; and had seized the + Lines of Lauterburg and Weissenburg (celebrated northern defence of + Elsass),—much to Coigny's amazement; and remained inexpugnable + there, with Elsass open to him, and to Coigny shut, for the present! + [Adelung, iv. 139-141.] Coigny made bitter wail, accusation, blame of + Seckendorf, blame of men and of things; even tried some fighting, + Seckendorf too doing feats, to recover those Lines of Weissenburg: but + could not do it. And, in fact, blazing to and fro in that excited rather + than luminous condition, could not do anything; except retire into the + strong posts of the background; and send express on express, swifter than + the wind if you can, to a victorious King overturning the Dutch Barrier: + 'Help, your Majesty, or we are lost; and France is—what shall I + say!'" + </p> + <p> + "Admirable feat of Strategy! What a General, this Prince Karl!" exclaimed + mankind,—Cause-of-Liberty mankind with special enthusiasm; and took + to writing LIVES of Prince Karl, [For instance, <i>The Life of his + Highness Prince Charles of &c., with &c. &c.</i> (London, + 1746); one of the most distracted Blotches ever published under the name + of Book;—wakening thoughts of a public dimness very considerable + indeed, to which this could offer itself as lamp!] as well as tar-burning + and TE-DEUM-ing on an extensive scale. For it had sent the Cause of + Liberty bounding up again to the top of things, this of crossing the + Rhine, in such fashion. And, in effect, the Cause of Liberty, and Prince + Karl himself, had risen hereby to their acme or culminating point in + World-History; not to continue long at such height, little as they dreamt + of that, among their tar-burnings. The feat itself—contrived by + Nadasti, people say, and executed (what was the real difficulty) by Traun—brought + Prince Karl very great renown, this Year; and is praised by Friedrich + himself, now and afterwards, as masterly, as Julius Caesar's method, and + the proper way of crossing rivers (when executable) in face of an enemy. + And indeed Prince Karl, owing to Traun or not, is highly respectable in + the way of Generalship at present; and did in these Five Months, from June + onward, really considerable things. At his very acme of Life, as well as + of Generalship; which, alas, soon changed, poor man; never to culminate + again. He had got, at the beginning of the Year, the high Maria Theresa's + one Sister, Archduchess Maria Anna, to Wife; [Age then twenty-five gone: + "born 14th September, 1718; married to Prince Karl 7th January, 1744; + died, of childbirth, 16th December same year" (Hormayr, <i>OEsterreichischer + Plutarch,</i> iv. erstes Baudchen, 54).] the crown of long mutual + attachment; she safe now at Brussels, diligent Co-Regent, and in a + promising family-way; he here walking on victorious:—need any man be + happier? No man can be supremely happy long; and this General's strategic + felicity and his domestic were fatally cut down almost together. The Cause + of Liberty, too, now at the top of its orbit, was—But let us stick + by our Excerpting: + </p> + <p> + "DUNKIRK, 19th JULY, 1744 [Princess Ulrique's Wedding, just two days ago]. + King Louis, on hearing of the Job's-news from Elsass, instantly suspended + his Conquests in Flanders; detached Noailles, detached this one and that, + double-quick, Division after Division (leaving Saxe, with 45,000, to his + own resources, and the fatuities of Marshal Wade); and, 19th July, himself + hastens off from Dunkirk (leaving much of the luggage, but not the + Chateauroux behind him), to save his Country, poor soul. But could not, in + the least, save it; the reverse rather. August 4th, he got to Metz, + Belleisle's strong town, about 100 miles from the actual scene; his + detached reinforcements, say 50,000 men or so, hanging out ahead like + flame-clouds, but uncertain how to act;—Noailles being always + cunctatious in time of crisis, and poor Louis himself nothing of a + Cloud-Compeller;—and then, + </p> + <p> + "METZ, AUGUST 8th, The Most Christian King fell ill; dangerously, + dreadfully, just like to die. Which entirely paralyzed Noailles and + Company, or reduced them to mere hysterics, and excitement of the + unluminous kind. And filled France in general, Paris in particular, with + terror, lamentation, prayers of forty hours; and such a paroxysm of + hero-worship as was never seen for such an object before." [Espagnac, ii. + 12; Adelung, iv. 180; <i>Fastes de Louis XV.,</i> ii. 423; &c. &c.] + </p> + <p> + For the Cause of Liberty here, we consider, was the culminating moment; + Elsass, Lorraine and the Three Bishoprics lying in their quasi-moribund + condition; Austrian claims of Compensation ceasing to be visions of the + heated brain, and gaining some footing on the Earth as facts. Prince Karl + is here actually in Elsass, master of the strong passes; elate in heart, + he and his; France, again, as if fallen paralytic, into temporary + distraction; offering for resistance nothing hitherto but that universal + wailing of mankind, Hero-worship of a thrice-lamentable nature, and the + Prayers of Forty-Hours! Most Christian Majesty, now IN EXTREMIS, centre of + the basest hubbub that ever was, is dismissing Chateauroux. Noailles, + Coigny and Company hang well back upon the Hill regions, and strong posts + which are not yet menaced; or fly vaguely, more or less distractedly, + hither and thither; not in the least like fighting Karl, much less like + beating him. Karl has Germany free at his back (nay it is a German + population round him here); neither haversack nor cartridge-box like to + fail: before him are only a Noailles and consorts, flying vaguely about;—and + there is in Karl, or under the same cloak with him at present, a talent of + manoeuvring men, which even Friedrich finds masterly. If old Marshal Wade, + at the other end of the line, should chance to awaken and press home on + Saxe, and his remnant of French, with right vigor? In fact, there was not, + that I can see, for centuries past, not even at the Siege of Lille in + Marlborough's time, a more imminent peril for France. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FRIEDRICH DECIDES TO INTERVENE. + </h2> + <p> + King Friedrich, on hearing of these Rhenish emergencies and of King + Louis's heroic advance to the rescue, perceived that for himself too the + moment was come; and hastened to inform heroic Louis, That though the + terms of their Bargain were not yet completed, Sweden, Russia and other + points being still in a pendent condition, he, Friedrich,—with an + eye to success of their Joint Adventure, and to the indispensability of + joint action, energy, and the top of one's speed now or never,—would, + by the middle of this same August, be on the field with 100,000 men. "An + invasion of Bohemia, will not that astonish Prince Karl; and bring him to + his Rhine-Bridges again? Over which, if your Most Christian Majesty be + active, he will not get, except in a half, or wholly ruined state. Follow + him close; send the rest of your force to threaten Hanover; sit well on + the skirts of Prince Karl. Him as he hurries homeward, ruined or + half-ruined, him, or whatever Austrian will fight, I do my best to beat. + We may have Bohemia, and a beaten Austria, this very Autumn: see,—and, + in one Campaign, there is Peace ready for us!" This is Friedrich's scheme + of action; success certain, thinks he, if only there be energy, activity, + on your side, as there shall be on mine;—and has sent Count + Schmettau, filled with fiery speed and determination, to keep the French + full of the like, and concert mutual operations. + </p> + <p> + "Magnanimous!" exclaim Noailles and the paralyzed French Gentlemen (King + Louis, I think, now past speech, for Schmettau only came August 9th): + "Most sublime behavior, on his Prussian Majesty's part!" own they. And + truly it is a fine manful indifference (by no means so common as it should + be) to all interests, to all considerations, but that of a Joint + Enterprise one has engaged in. And truly, furthermore, it was immediate + salvation to the paralyzed French Gentlemen, in that alarming crisis; + though they did not much recognize it afterwards as such: and indeed were + conspicuously forgetful of all parts of it, when their own danger was + over. + </p> + <p> + Maria Theresa's feelings may be conceived; George II's feelings; and what + the Cause of Liberty in general felt, and furiously said and complained, + when—suddenly as a DEUS EX MACHINA, or Supernal Genie in the Minor + Theatres—Friedrich stept in. Precisely in this supreme crisis, 7th + August, 1744, Friedrich's Minister, Graf von Dohna, at Vienna, has given + notice of the Frankfurt Union, and solemn Engagement entered into: + "Obliged in honor and conscience; will and must now step forth to right an + injured Kaiser; cannot stand these high procedures against an Imperial + Majesty chosen by all the Princes of the Reich, this unheard-of protest + that the Kaiser is no Kaiser, as if all Germany were but Austria and the + Queen of Hungary's. Prussian Majesty has not the least quarrel of his own + with the Queen of Hungary, stands true, and will stand, by the Treaty of + Berlin and Breslau;—only, with certain other German Princes, has + done what all German Princes and peoples not Austrian are bound to do, on + behalf of their down-trodden Kaiser, formed a Union of Frankfurt; and + will, with armed hand if indispensable, endeavor to see right done in that + matter." [In <i>Adelung,</i> iv. 155, 156, the Declaration itself + (Audience, "7th August, 1744." Dohna off homeward "on the second day + after").] + </p> + <p> + This is the astonishing fact for the Cause of Liberty; and no clamor and + execration will avail anything. This man is prompt, too; does not linger + in getting out his Sword, when he has talked of it. Prince Karl's + Operation is likely to be marred amazingly. If this swift King (comparable + to the old Serpent for devices) were to burst forth from his Silesian + strengths; tread sharply on the TAIL of Prince Karl's Operation, and bring + back the formidably fanged head of IT out of Alsace, five hundred miles + all at once,—there would be a business! + </p> + <p> + We will now quit the Rhine Operations, which indeed are not now of moment; + Friedrich being suddenly the key of events again. I add only, what readers + are vaguely aware of, that King Louis did not die; that he lay at death's + door for precisely one week (8th-15th August), symptoms mending on the + 15th. In the interim,—Grand-Almoner Fitz-James (Uncle of our Conte + di Spinelli) insisting that a certain Cardinal, who had got the Sacraments + in hand, should insist; and endless ministerial intrigue being busy,—moribund + Louis had, when it came to the Sacramental point, been obliged to dismiss + his Chateauroux. Poor Chateauroux; an unfortunate female; yet, one almost + thinks, the best man among them: dismissed at Metz here, and like to be + mobbed! That was the one issue of King Louis's death-sickness. Sublime + sickness; during which all Paris wept aloud, in terror and sorrow, like a + child that has lost its mother and sees a mastiff coming; wept sublimely, + and did the Prayers of Forty-Hours; and called King Louis Le BIEN-AIME + (The Well-beloved):—merely some obstruction in the royal bowels, it + turned out;—a good cathartic, and the Prayers of Forty-Hours, quite + reinstated matters. Nay reinstated even Chateauroux, some time after,—"the + Devil being well again," and, as the Proverb says, quitting his monastic + view. Reinstated Chateauroux: but this time, poor creature, she continued + only about a day:—"Sudden fever, from excitement," said the Doctors: + "Fever? Poison, you mean!" whispered others, and looked for changes in the + Ministry. Enough, oh, enough!— + </p> + <p> + Old Marshal Wade did not awaken, though bawled to by his Ligoniers and + others, and much shaken about, poor old gentleman. "No artillery to speak + of," murmured he; "want baggage-wagons, too!" and lay still. "Here is + artillery!" answered the Official people; "With my own money I will buy + you baggage-wagons!" answered the high Maria Anna, in her own name and her + Prince Karl's, who are Joint-Governors there. Possibly he would have + awakened, had they given him time. But time, in War especially, is the + thing that is never given. Once Friedrich HAD struck in, the moment was + gone by. Poor old Wade! Of him also enough. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter II.—FRIEDRICH MARCHES UPON PRAG, CAPTURES PRAG. + </h2> + <p> + It was on Saturday, "early in the morning," 15th August, 1744, that + Friedrich set out, attended by his two eldest Brothers, Prince of Prussia + and Prince Henri, from Potsdam, towards this new Adventure, which proved + so famous since. Sudden, swift, to the world's astonishment;—actually + on march here, in three Columns (two through Saxony by various routes + southeastward, one from Silesia through Glatz southwestward), to invade + Bohemia: rumor says 100,000 strong, fact itself says upwards of 80,000, on + their various routes, converging towards Prag. [—Helden-Geschichte,—ii. + 1165. Orlich (ii. 25, 27) enumerates the various regiments.] His Columns, + especially his Saxon Columns, are already on the road; he joins one + Column, this night, at Wittenberg; and is bent, through Saxony, towards + the frontiers of Bohemia, at the utmost military speed he has. + </p> + <p> + Through Saxony about 60,000 go: he has got the Kaiser's Order to the + Government of Saxony, "Our august Ally, requiring on our Imperial business + a transit through you;"—and Winterfeld, an excellent soldier and + negotiator, has gone forward to present said Order. A Document which + flurries the Dresden Officials beyond measure. Their King is in Warsaw; + their King, if here, could do little; and indeed has been inclining to + Maria Theresa this long while. And Winterfeld insists on such despatch;—and + not even the Duke of Weissenfels is in Town, Dresden Officials "send off + five couriers and thirteen estafettes" to the poor old Duke; [<i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + ii. 1163.] get him at last; and—The march is already taking effect; + they may as well consent to it: what can they do but consent! In the + uttermost flurry, they had set to fortifying Dresden; all hands driving + palisades, picking, delving, making COUPURES (trenches, or sunk + barricades) in the streets;—fatally aware that it can avail nothing. + Is not this the Kaiser's Order? Prussians, to the amount of 60,000, are + across our Frontiers, rapidly speeding on. + </p> + <p> + "Friedrich's Manifesto—under the modest Title, 'ANZEIGE DER URSACHEN + (Advertisement of the Causes which have induced his Prussian Majesty to + send the Romish Kaiser's Majesty some Auxiliary Troops)'—had + appeared in the Berlin Newspapers Thursday, 13th, only two days before. An + astonishment to all mankind; which gave rise to endless misconceptions of + Friedrich: but which, supporting itself on proofs, on punctually excerpted + foot-notes, is intrinsically a modest, quiet Piece; and, what is singular + in Manifestoes, has nothing, or almost nothing, in it that is not, so far + as it goes, a perfect statement of the fact. 'Auxiliary troops, that is + our essential character. No war with her Hungarian Majesty, or with any + other, on our own score. But her Hungarian Majesty, how has she treated + the Romish Kaiser, her and our and the Reich's Sovereign Head, and to what + pass reduced him; refusing him Peace on any terms, except those of + self-annihilation; denying that he is a Kaiser at all;'—and + enumerates the various Imperial injuries, with proof given, quiet + footnotes by way of proof; and concludes in these words: 'For himself his + Majesty requires nothing. The question here is not of his Majesty's own + interest at all [everything his Majesty required, or requires, is by the + Treaty of Berlin solemnly his, if the Reich and its Laws endure]: and he + has taken up arms simply and solely in the view of restoring to the Reich + its freedom, to the Kaiser his Headship of the Reich, and to all Europe + the Peace which is so desirable.' [Given in Seyfarth, <i>Beylage,</i> i. + 121-136, with date "August, 1744."] + </p> + <p> + "'Pretences, subterfuges, lies!' exclaimed the Austrian and Allied Public + everywhere, or strove to exclaim; especially the English Public, which had + no difficulty in so doing;—a Public comfortably blank as to German + facts or non-facts; and finding with amazement only this a very certain + fact, That hereby is their own Pragmatic thunder checked in mid-volley in + a most surprising manner, and the triumphant Cause of Liberty brought to + jeopardy again. 'Perfidious, ambitious, capricious!' exclaimed they: 'a + Prince without honor, without truth, without constancy;'—and + completed, for themselves, in hot rabid humor, that English Theory of + Friedrich which has prevailed ever since. Perhaps the most surprising item + of which is this latter, very prominent in those old times, That Friedrich + has no 'constancy,' but follows his 'caprices,' and accidental whirls of + impulse:—item which has dropped away in our times, though the others + stand as stable as ever. A monument of several things! Friedrich's + suddenness is an essential part of what fighting talent he has: if the + Public, thrown into flurry, cannot judge it well, they must even misjudge + it: what help is there? + </p> + <p> + "That the above were actually Friedrich's reasons for venturing into this + Big Game again, is not now disputable. And as to the rumor, which rose + afterwards (and was denied, and could only be denied diplomatically to the + ear, if even to the ear), That Friedrich by Secret Article was 'to have + for himself the Three Bohemian Circles, Konigsgratz, Bunzlau, Leitmeritz, + which lie between Schlesien and Sachsen,' [<i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> i. + 1081; Scholl, ii. 349.]—there is not a doubt but Friedrich had so + bargained, 'Very well, if we can get said Circles!' and would right + cheerfully have kept and held them, had the big game gone in all points + completely well (game, to reinstate the Kaiser BOTH in Bohemia and + Bavaria) by Friedrich's fine playing. Not a doubt of all this:—nor + of what an extremely hypothetic outlook it then and always was; greatly + too weak for enticing such a man." + </p> + <p> + Friedrich goes in Three Columns. One, on the south or left shore of the + Elbe, coming in various branches under Friedrich himself; this alone will + touch on Dresden, pass on the south side of Dresden; gather itself about + Pirna (in the Saxon Switzerland so called, a notable locality); thence + over the Metal Mountains into Bohmen, by Toplitz, by Lowositz, Leitmeritz, + and the Highway called the Pascopol, famous in War. The Second Column, + under Leopold the Young Dessauer, goes on the other or north side of the + Elbe, at a fair distance; marching through the Lausitz (rendezvous or + starting-point was Bautzen in the Lausitz) straight south, to meet the + King at Leitmeritz, where the grand Magazine is to be; and thence, still + south, straight upon Prag, in conjunction with his Majesty or parallel to + him. [<i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> i. 1081.] These are the Two Saxon Columns. + The Third Column, under Schwerin, collects itself in the interior of + Silesia; is issuing, by Glatz Country, through the Giant Mountains, + BOHMISCHE KAMME (Bohemian COMBS as they are called, which Tourists know), + by the Pass of Braunau,—disturbing the dreams of Rubezahl, if + Rubezahl happen to be there. This, say 20,000, will come down upon Prag + from the eastern side; and be first on the ground (31st August),—first + by one day. In the home parts of Silesia, well eastward of Glatz, there is + left another Force of 20,000, which can go across the Austrian Border + there, and hang upon the Hills, threatening Olmutz and the Moravian + Countries, should need be. + </p> + <p> + And so, in its Three Columns, from west, from north, from east, the march, + with a steady swiftness, proceeds. Important especially those Two Saxon + Columns from west and north: 60,000 of them, "with a frightful + (ENTSETZLICH) quantity of big guns coming up the Elbe." Much is coming up + the Elbe; indispensable Highway for this Enterprise. Three months' + provisions, endless artillery and provender, is on the Elbe; 480 big + boats, with immense VORSPANN (of trace-horses, dreadful swearing, too, as + I have heard), will pass through the middle of Dresden: not landing by any + means. "No, be assured of it, ye Dresdeners, all flurried, palisaded, + barricaded; no hair of you shall be harmed." After a day or two, the + flurry of Saxony subsided; Prussians, under strict discipline, molest no + private person; pay their way; keep well aloof, to south and to north, of + Dresden (all but the necessary ammunition-escorts do);—and require + of the Official people nothing but what the Law of the Reich authorizes to + "Imperial Auxiliaries" in such case. "The Saxons themselves," Friedrich + observes, "had some 40,000, but scattered about; King in Warsaw:—dreadful + terror; making COUPURES and TETES-DE-PONT;—could have made no + defence." Had we diligently spent eight days on them! reflects he + afterwards. "To seize Saxony [and hobble it with ropes, so that at any + time you could pin it motionless, and even, if need were, milk the + substance out of it], would not have detained us eight days." [ <i>OEuvres + de Frederic,</i> iii. 53.] Which would have been the true plan, had we + known what was getting ready there! Certain it is, Friedrich did no + mischief, paid for everything; anxious to keep well with Saxony; hoping + always they might join him again, in such a Cause. "Cause dear to every + Patriot German Prince," urges Friedrich,—though Bruhl, and the + Polish, once "Moravian," Majesty are of a very different opinion:— + </p> + <p> + "Maria Theresa, her thoughts at hearing of it may be imagined: 'The Evil + Genius of my House afoot again! My high projects on Elsass and Lorraine; + Husband for Kaiser, Elsass for the Reich and him, Lorraine for myself and + him; gone probably to water!' Nevertheless she said (an Official person + heard her say), 'My right is known to God; God will protect me, as He has + already done.' [ <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> ii. 1024.] And rose very + strong, and magnanimously defiant again; perhaps, at the bottom of her + heart, almost glad withal that she would now have a stroke for her dear + Silesia again, unhindered by Paladin George and his Treaties and notions. + What measures, against this nefarious Prussian outbreak, hateful to gods + and men, are possible, she rapidly takes: in Bohemia, in Bavaria and her + other Countries, that are threatened or can help. And abates nothing of + heart or hope;—praying withal, immensely, she and her People, + according to the mode they have. Sending for Prince Karl, we need not say, + double-quick, as the very first thing. + </p> + <p> + "Of Maria Theresa in Hungary,—for she ran to Presburg again with her + woes (August 16th, Diet just assembling there),—let us say only that + Hungary was again chivalrous; that old Palfy and the general Hungarian + Nation answered in the old tone,—VIVAT MARIA; AD ARMA, AD ARMA! with + Tolpatches, Pandours, Warasdins;—and, in short, that great and + small, in infinite 'Insurrection,' have still a stroke of battle in them + PRO REGE NOSTRO. Scarcely above a District or two (as the JASZERS and + KAUERS, in their over-cautious way) making the least difficulty. Much + enthusiasm and unanimity in all the others; here and there a Hungarian + gentleman complaining scornfully that their troops, known as among the + best fighters in Nature, are called irregular troops,—irregular, + forsooth! In one public consultation [District not important, not very + spellable, though doubtless pronounceable by natives to it], a gentleman + suggests that 'Winter is near; should not there be some slight provision + of tents, of shelter in the frozen sleety Mountains, to our gallant + fellows bound thither?' Upon which another starts up, 'When our Ancestors + came out of Asia Minor, over the Palus Maeotis bound in winter ice; and, + sabre in hand, cut their way into this fine Country which is still ours, + what shelter had they? No talk of tents, of barracks or accommodation + there; each, wrapt in his sheep skin, found it shelter sufficient. Tents!' + [ <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> ii. 1030.] And the thing was carried by + acclamation. + </p> + <p> + "Wide wail in Bohemia that War is coming back. Nobility all making off, + some to Vienna or the intermediate Towns lying thitherward, some to their + Country-seats; all out of Prag. Willing mind on the part of the Common + People; which the Government strains every nerve to make the most of. Here + are fasts, processions, Prayers of Forty-Hours; here, as in Vienna and + elsewhere. In Vienna was a Three Days' solemn Fast: the like in Prag, or + better; with procession to the shrine of St. Vitus,—little likely to + help, I should fear. 'Rise, all fencible men,' exclaims the Government,—'at + least we will ballot, and make you rise:'—Militia people enter Prag + to the extent of 10,000; like to avail little, one would fear. General + Harsch, with reinforcement of real soldiers, is despatched from Vienna; + Harsch, one of our ablest soldiers since Khevenhuller died, gets in still + in time; and thus increases the Garrison of regulars to 4,000, with a + vigorous Captain to guide it. Old Count Ogilvy, the same whom Saxe + surprised two years ago in the moonlight, snatching ladders from the + gallows,—Ogilvy is again Commandant; but this time nominal mainly, + and with better outlooks, Harsch being under him. In relays, 3,000 of the + Militia men dig and shovel night and day; repairing, perfecting the + ramparts of the place. Then, as to provisions, endless corn is introduced,—farmers + forced, the unwilling at the bayonet's point, to deliver in their corn; + much of it in sheaf, so that we have to thrash it in the market-place, in + the streets that are wide: and thus in Prag is heard the sound of flails, + among the Militia-drums and so many other noises. With the great + church-organs growling; and the bass and treble MISERERE of the poor + superstitious People rising, to St. Vitus and others. In fact, it is a + general Dance of St. Vitus,—except that of the flails, and Militia-men + working at the ramparts,—mostly not leading any-whither." ["LETTER + from a Citizen of Prag," date, 21st Sept. (in <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + ii. 1168), which gives several curious details.] + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile Friedrich's march from west, from north, from east, is flowing + on; diligent, swift; punctual to its times, its places; and meets no + impediment to speak of. At Tetschen on the Saxon-Bohemian Frontier,—a + pleasant Schloss perched on its crags, as Tourists know, where the Elbe + sweeps into Saxon Switzerland and its long stone labyrinths,—at + Tetschen the Austrians had taken post; had tried to block the River, + driving piles into it, and tumbling boulders into it, with a view to stop + the 480 Prussian Boats. These people needed to be torn out, their piles + and they: which was done in two days, the soldier part of it; and occupied + the boatmen above a week, before all was clear again. Prosperous, correct + to program, all the rest; not needing mention from us;—here are the + few sparks from it that dwell in one's memory:— + </p> + <p> + "AUGUST 15th, 1744, King left Potsdam; joined his First Column that night, + at Wittenberg. Through Mieissen, Torgau, Freyberg; is at Peterswalde, + eastern slope of the Metal Mountains, August 25th; all the Columns now on + Bohemian ground. + </p> + <p> + "Friedrich had crossed Elbe by the Bridge of Meissen: on the southern + shore, politely waiting to receive his Majesty, there stood Feldmarschall + the Duke of Weissenfels; to whom the King gave his hand," no doubt in + friendly style, "and talked for above half an hour,"—with such + success! thinks Friedrich by and by. We have heard of Weissenfels before; + the same poor Weissenfels who was Wilhelmina's Wooer in old time, now on + the verge of sixty; an extremely polite but weakish old gentleman; + accidentally preserved in History. One of those conspicuous "Human + Clothes-Horses" (phantasmal all but the digestive part), which abound in + that Eighteenth Century and others like it; and distress your Historical + studies. Poor old soul; now Feldmarschall and Commander-in-Chief here. Has + been in Turk and other Wars; with little profit to himself or others. Used + to like his glass, they say; is still very poor, though now Duke in + reality as well as title (succeeded two egregious Brothers, some years + since, who had been spendthrift): he has still one other beating to get in + this world,—from Friedrich next year. Died altogether, two years + hence; and Wilhelmina heard no more of him. + </p> + <p> + "At Meissen Bridge, say some, was this Half-hour's Interview; at Pirna, + the Bridge of Pirna, others say; [See Orlich, ii. 25; and <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + ii. 1166.]—quite indifferent to us which. At Pirna, and hither and + thither in Saxon Switzerland, Friedrich certainly was. 'Who ever saw such + positions, your Majesty?' For Friedrich is always looking out, were it + even from the window of his carriage, and putting military problems to + himself in all manner of scenery, 'What would a man do, in that kind of + ground, if attacking, if attacked? with that hill, that brook, that bit of + bog?' and advises every Officer to be continually doing the like. + [MILITARY INSTRUCTIONS? RULES FOR A GOOD COMMANDER OF &c.?—I + have, for certain, read this Passage; but the reference is gone again, + like a sparrow from the house-top!] That is the value of picturesque or + other scenery to Friedrich, and their effect on good Prussian Officers and + him. + </p> + <p> + "... At Tetschen, Colonel Kahlbutz," diligent Prussian Colonel, "plucks + out those 100 Austrians from their rock nest there; makes them prisoners + of war;—which detained the Leitmeritz branch of us two days. August + 28th, junction at Leitmeritz thereupon. Magazine established there. Boats + coming on presently. Friedrich himself camped at Lobositz in this part,"—Lobositz, + or Lowositz, which he will remember one day. + </p> + <p> + "AUGUST 29th, March to Budin; that is, southward, across the Eger, arrive + within forty miles of Prag. Austrian Bathyani, summoned hastily out of his + Bavarian posts, to succor in this pressing emergency, has arrived in these + neighborhoods,—some 12,000 regulars under him, preceded by clouds of + hussars, whom Ziethen smites a little, by way of handsel;—no other + Austrian force to speak of hereabouts; and we are now between Bathyani and + Prag. + </p> + <p> + "SEPTEMBER 1st, To Mickowitz, near Welwarn, twenty miles from Prag. + September 2d, Camp on the Weissenberg there." [ <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + i. 1080.] + </p> + <p> + And so they are all assembled about Prag, begirdling the poor City,—third + Siege it has stood within these three years (since that moonlight November + night in 1741);—and are only waiting for their heavy artillery to + begin battering. The poor inhabitants, in spite of three sieges; the + 10,000 raw militia-men, mostly of Hungarian breed; the 4,000 regulars, and + Harsch and old Ogilvy, are all disposed to do their best. Friedrich is + naturally in haste to get hold of Prag. But he finds, on taking survey: + that the sword-in-hand method is not now, as in 1741, feasible at all; + that the place is in good posture of strength; and will need a hot + battering to tear it open. Owing to that accident at Tetschen, the + siege-cannon are not yet come up: "Build your batteries, your + Moldau-bridges, your communications, till the cannon come; and beware of + Bathyani meddling with your cannon by the road!" + </p> + <p> + "Bathyani is within twenty miles of us, at Beraun, a compact little Town + to southwest; gathering a Magazine there; and ready for enterprises,—in + more force than Friedrich guesses. 'Drive him out, seize that Magazine of + his!' orders Friedrich (September 5th); and despatches General Hacke on + it, a right man,"—at whose wedding we assisted (wedding to an + heiress, long since, in Friedrich Wilhelm's time), if anybody now + remembered. "And on the morrow there falls out a pretty little 'Action of + Beraun,' about which great noise was made in the Gazettes PRO and CONTRA: + which did not dislodge Bathyani by airy means; but which might easily have + ruined the impetuous Hacke and his 6,000, getting into masked batteries, + Pandour whirlwinds, charges of horses 'from front, from rear, and from + both flanks,'—had not he, with masterly promptitude, whirled himself + out of it, snatched instantly what best post there was, and defended + himself inexpugnably there, for six hours, till relief came." [DIE BEY + BERAUN VORGEFALLENE ACTION (in Seyfarth, <i>Beylage,</i> i. 136, 137).] + Brilliant little action, well performed on both sides, but leading to + nothing; and which shall not concern us farther. Except to say that + Bathyani did now, more at his leisure, retire out of harm's way; and begin + collecting Magazines at Pilsen far rearward, which may prove useful to + Prince Karl, in the route Prince Karl is upon. + </p> + <p> + Siege-cannon having at last come (September 8th), the batteries are all + mounted:—on Wednesday, 9th, late at night, the Artillery, "in + enormous quantity," opens its dread throat; poor Prag is startled from its + bed by torrents of shot, solid and shell, from three different quarters; + and makes haste to stand to its guns. From three different quarters; from + Bubenetsch northward; from the Upland of St. Lawrence (famed WEISSENBERG, + or White-Hill) westward; and from the Ziscaberg eastward (Hill of Zisca, + where iron Zisca posted himself on a grand occasion once),—which + latter is a broad long Hill, west end of it falling sheer over Prag; and + on another point of it, highest point of all, the Praguers have a strong + battery and works. The Prag guns otherwise are not too effectual; planted + mostly on low ground. By much the best Prag battery is this of the + Ziscaberg. And this, after two days' experience had of it, the Prussians + determine to take on the morrow. + </p> + <p> + SEPTEMBER 12th, Schwerin, who commands on that side, assaults accordingly; + with the due steadfastness and stormfulness: throwing shells and balls by + way of prelude. Friedrich, with some group of staff-officers and + dignitaries, steps out on the Bubenetsch post, to see how this affair of + the Ziscaberg will prosper: the Praguers thereabouts, seeing so many + dignitaries, turn cannon on them. "Disperse, IHR HERREN; have a care!" + cried Friedrich; not himself much minding, so intent upon the Ziscaberg. + And could have skipt indifferently over your cannon-balls ploughing the + ground,—had not one fateful ball shattered out the life of poor + Prince Wilhelm; a good young Cousin of his, shot down here at his hand. + Doubtless a sharp moment for the King. Prince Margraf Wilhelm and a poor + young page, there they lie dead; indifferent to the Ziscaberg and all + coming wars of mankind. Lamentation, naturally, for this young man,—Brother + to the one who fell at Mollwitz, youngest Brother of the Margraf Karl, who + commands in this Bubenetsch redoubt:—But we must lift our eye-glass + again; see how Schwerin is prospering. Schwerin, with due steadfastness + and stormfulness, after his prelude of bomb-shells, rushes on + double-quick; cannot be withstood; hurls out the Praguers, and seizes + their battery; a ruinous loss to them. + </p> + <p> + Their grand Zisca redoubt is gone, then; and two subsidiary small redoubts + behind it withal, which the French had built, and named "the magpie-nests + (NIDS A PIE);" these also are ours. And we overhang, from our Zisca Hill, + the very roofs, as it were; and there is nothing but a long bare curtain + now in this quarter, ready to be battered in breach, and soon holed, if + needful. It is not needful,—not quite. In the course of three days + more, our Bubenetsch battery, of enormous power, has been so diligent, it + has set fire to the Water-mill; burns irretrievably the Water-mill, and + still worse, the wooden Sluice of the Moldau; so that the river falls to + the everywhere wadable pitch. And Governor Harsch perceives that all this + quarter of the Town is open to any comer;—and, in fact, that he will + have to get away, the best he can. + </p> + <p> + White flag accordingly (Tuesday, 15th): "Free withdrawal, to the + Wischerad; won't you?" "By no manner of means!" answers Friedrich. Bids + Schwerin from his Ziscaberg make a hole or two in that "curtain" opposite + him; and gets ready for storm. Upon which Harsch, next morning, has to + beat the chamade, and surrender Prisoner of War. And thus, Wednesday, + 16th, it is done: a siege of one week, no more,—after all that + thrashing of grain, drilling of militia, and other spirited preparation. + Harsch could not help it; the Prussian cannonading was so furious. + [Orlich, ii. 36-39; <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> i. 1082, and ii. 1168; <i>OEuvres + de Frederic,</i> iii. 56; &c. &c.] + </p> + <p> + Prag has to swear fealty to the Kaiser; and "pay a ransom of 200,000 + pounds." Drilled militia, regulars, Hungarians, about 16,000,—only + that many of the Tolpatches contrived to whisk loose,—are marched + prisoners to Glatz and other strong places. Prag City, with plenty of + provision in it, is ours. A brilliant beginning of a Campaign; the eyes of + all Europe turned again, in very various humor, on this young King. If + only the French do their duty, and hang well on the skirts of Marshal + Traun (or of Prince Karl, the Cloak of Traun), who is hastening hitherward + all he can. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter III.—FRIEDRICH, DILIGENT IN HIS BOHEMIAN CONQUESTS, + UNEXPECTEDLY COMES UPON PRINCE KARL, WITH NO FRENCH ATTENDING HIM. + </h2> + <p> + This electrically sudden operation on Prag was considered by astonished + mankind, whatever else they might think about it, a decidedly brilliant + feat of War: falling like a bolt out of the blue,—like three bolts, + suddenly coalescing over Prag, and striking it down. Friedrich himself, + though there is nothing of boast audible here or anywhere, was evidently + very well satisfied; and thought the aspects good. There is Prince Karl + whirling instantly back from his Strasburg Prospects; the general St. + Vitus Dance of Austrian things rising higher and higher in these home + parts:—reasonable hope that "in the course of one Campaign," proud + obstinate Austria might feel itself so wrung and screwed as to be glad of + Peace with neighbors not wishing War. That was the young King's + calculation at this time. And, had France done at all as it promised,—or + had the young King himself been considerably wiser than he was,—he + had not been disappointed in the way we shall see! + </p> + <p> + Friedrich admits he did not understand War at this period. His own scheme + now was: To move towards the southwest, there to abolish Bathyani and his + Tolpatches, who are busy gathering Magazines for Prince Karl's advent; to + seize the said Magazines, which will be very useful to us; then advance + straight towards the Passes of the Bohemian Mountains. Towns of Furth, + Waldmunchen, unfortunate Town of Cham (burnt by Trenck, where masons are + now busy); these stand successive in the grand Pass, through which the + highway runs; some hundred miles or so from where we are: march, at one's + swiftest, thitherward, Bathyani's Magazines to help; and there await + Prince Karl? It was Friedrich's own notion; not a bad one, though not the + best. The best, he admits, would have been: To stay pretty much where he + was; abolish Bathyani's Tolpatch people, seizing their Magazines, and + collecting others; in general, well rooting and fencing himself in Prag, + and in the Circles that lie thereabouts upon the Elbe,—bounded to + southward by the Sazawa (branch of the Moldau), which runs parallel to the + Elbe;—but well refusing to stir much farther at such an advanced + season of the year. + </p> + <p> + That second plan would have been the wisest:—then why not, follow + it? Too tame a plan for the youthful mind. Besides, we perceive, as indeed + is intimated by himself, he dreaded the force of public opinion in France. + "Aha, look at your King of Prussia again. Gone to conquer Bohemia; and, + except the Three Circles he himself is to have of it, lets Bohemia go to + the winds!" This sort of thing, Friedrich admits, he dreaded too much, at + that young period; so loud had the criticisms been on him, in the time of + the Breslau Treaty: "Out upon your King of Prussia; call you that an + honorable Ally!" Undoubtedly a weakness in the young King; inasmuch, says + he, as "every General [and every man, add we] should look to the fact, not + to the rumor of the fact." Well; but, at least, he will adopt his own + other notion; that of making for the Passes of the Bohemian Mountains; to + abolish Bathyani at least, and lock the door upon Prince Karl's advent? + That was his own plan; and, though second-best, that also would have done + well, had there been no third. + </p> + <p> + But there was, as we hinted, a third plan, ardently favored by Belleisle, + whose war-talent Friedrich much respected at this time: plan built on + Belleisle's reminiscences of the old Tabor-Budweis businesses, and totally + inapplicable now. Belleisle said, "Go southeast, not southwest; right + towards the Austrian Frontier itself; that will frighten Austria into a + fine tremor. Shut up the roads from Austria: Budweis, Neuhaus; seize those + two Highroad Towns, and keep them, if you would hold Bohemia; the want of + them was our ruin there." Your ruin, yes: but your enemy was not coming + from Alsace and the southwest then. He was coming from Austria; and your + own home lay on the southwest: it is all different now! Friedrich might + well think himself bewitched not to have gone for Cham and Furth, and the + Passes of the Bohmer-Wald, according to his own notion. But so it was; he + yielded to the big reputation of Belleisle, and to fear of what the world + would say of him in France; a weakness which he will perhaps be taught not + to repeat. In fact, he is now about to be taught several things;—and + will have to pay his school-wages as he goes. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FRIEDRICH, LEAVING SMALL GARRISON IN PRAG, RUSHES SWIFTLY UP THE MOLDAU + VALLEY, UPON THE TABOR-BUDWEIS COUNTRY; TO PLEASE HIS FRENCH FRIENDS. + </h2> + <p> + Friedrich made no delay in Prag; in haste at this late time of year. + September 17th, on the very morrow of the Siege, the Prussians get in + motion southward; on the 19th, Friedrich, from his post to north of the + City, defiles through Prag, on march to Kunraditz,—first stage on + that questionable Expedition up the Moldau Valley, right bank; towards + Tabor, Budweis, Neuhaus; to threaten Austria, and please Belleisle and the + French. + </p> + <p> + Prag is left under General Einsiedel with a small garrison of 5,000;—Einsiedel, + a steady elderly gentleman, favorite of Friedrich Wilhelm's, has brief + order, or outline of order to be filled up by his own good sense. + Posadowsky follows the march, with as many meal-wagons as possible,—draught-cattle + in very ineffectual condition. Our main Magazine is at Leitmeritz (should + have been brought on to Prag, thinks Friedrich); Commissariat very + ill-managed in comparison to what it ought to be,—to what it shall + be, if we ever live to make another Campaign. Heavy artillery is left in + Prag (another fault); and from each regiment, one of its baggage-wagons. [ + <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> i. 1083; Orlich, ii. 41 et seqq.; <i>Frederic,</i> + iii. 59; &c.] "We rest a day here at Kunraditz: 21st September, get to + the Sazawa River;—22d, to Bistritz (rest a day);—26th, to + Miltschin; and 27th, to Tabor:"—But the Diary would be tedious. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich goes in two Columns; one along the great road towards Tabor, + under Schwerin this, and Friedrich mainly with him; the other to the + right, along the River's bank, under Leopold, Young Dessauer, which has to + go by wild country roads, or now and then roads of its own making; and + much needs the pioneer (a difficult march in the shortening days). + Posadowsky follows with the proviant, drawn by cattle of the horse and ox + species, daily falling down starved: great swearing there too, I doubt + not! General Nassau is vanguard, and stretches forward successfully at a + much lighter pace. + </p> + <p> + There are two Rivers, considerable branches of the Moldau, coming from + eastward; which, and first of them the Sazawa, concern us here. After + mounting the southern Uplands from Prag for a day or two, you then begin + to drop again, into the hollow of a River called Sazawa, important in + Bohemian Wars. It is of winding course, the first considerable branch of + the Moldau, rising in Teutschbrod Country, seventy or eighty miles to east + of us: in regard to Sazawa, there is, at present, no difficulty about + crossing; the Country being all ours. After the Sazawa, mount again, long + miles, day after day, through intricate stony desolation, rocks, bogs, + untrimmed woods, you will get to Miltschin, thence to Tabor: Miltschin is + the crown of that rough moor country; from Prag to Tabor is some sixty + miles. After Miltschin the course of those brown mountain-brooks is all + towards the Luschnitz, the next considerable branch of the Moldau; branch + still longer and more winding than the Sazawa; Tabor towers up near this + branch; Budweis, on the Moldau itself, is forty miles farther; and there + at last you are out of the stony moors, and in a rich champaign + comfortable to man and horse, were you but once there, after plodding + through the desolations. But from that Sazawa by the Luschnitz on to + Budweis, mounting and falling in such fashion, there must be ninety miles + or thereby. Plod along; and keep a sharp eye on the whirling clouds of + Pandours, for those too have got across upon us,—added to the other + tempests of Autumn. + </p> + <p> + On the ninth day of their march, the Prussians begin to descry on the + horizon ahead the steeples and chimney-tops of Tabor, on its high scarped + rock, or "Hill of Zisca,"—for it was Zisca and his Hussites that + built themselves this Bit of Inexpugnability, and named it Tabor from + their Bibles,—in those waste mountain regions. On the tenth day + (27th September), the Prussians without difficulty took Tabor; walls being + ruined, garrison small. We lie at Tabor till the 30th, last day of + September. Thence, 2d October, part of us to Moldau-Tein rightwards; where + cross the Moldau by a Bridge,—"Bridge" one has heard of, in old + Broglio times;—cross there, with intent (easily successful) to + snatch that "Castle of Frauenberg," darling of Broglio, for which he + fought his Pharsalia of a Sahay to no purpose! + </p> + <p> + Both Columns got united at Tabor; and paused for a day or two, to rest, + and gather up their draggled skirts there. The Expedition does not improve + in promise, as we advance in it; the march one of the most untowardly; and + Posadowsky comes up with only half of his provision-carts,—half of + his cattle having fallen down of bad weather, hill-roads and starvation; + what could he do? That is an ominous circumstance, not the less. + </p> + <p> + Three things are against the Prussians on this march; two of them + accidental things. FIRST, there is, at this late season too, the intrinsic + nature of the Country; which Friedrich with emphasis describes as boggy, + stony, precipitous; a waste, hungry and altogether barren Country,—too + emphatically so described. But then SECONDLY, what might have been + otherwise, the Population, worked upon by Austrian officials, all fly from + the sight of us; nothing but fireless deserted hamlets; and the corn, if + they ever had any, all thrashed and hidden. No amount of money can + purchase any service from them. Poor dark creatures; not loving Austria + much, but loving some others even less, it would appear. Of Bigoted Papist + Creed, for one thing; that is a great point. We do not meddle with their + worship more or less; but we are Heretics, and they hate us as the Night. + Which is a dreadful difficulty you always have in Bohemia: nowhere but in + the Circle of Konigsgraz, where there are Hussites (far to the rear of us + at this time), will you find it otherwise. This is difficulty second. + </p> + <p> + Then, THIRDLY, what much aggravates it,—we neglected to abolish + Bathyani! And here are Bathyani's Pandours come across the Moldau on us. + Plenty of Pandours;—to whom "10,000 fresh Hungarians," of a new + Insurrection which has been got up there, are daily speeding forward to + add themselves:—such a swarm of hornets, as darkens the very + daylight for you. Vain to scourge them down, to burn them off by blaze of + gunpowder: they fly fast; but are straightway back again. They lurk in + these bushy wildernesses, scraggy woods: no foraging possible, unless + whole regiments are sent out to do it; you cannot get a letter safely + carried for them. They are an unspeakable contemptible grief to the + earnest leader of men.—Let us proceed, however; it will serve + nothing to complain. Let us hope the French sit well on the skirts of + Prince Karl: these sorrowful labors may all turn to good, in that case. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich pushes on from Tabor; shoots partly (as we have seen) across the + Moldau, to the left bank as well; captures romantic Frauenberg on its high + rock, where Broglio got into such a fluster once. We could push to Pisek, + too, and make a "Bivouac of Pisek," if we lost our wits! Nassau is in + Budweis, in Neuhaus; and proper garrisons are gone thither: nothing + wanting on our side of the business. But these Pandours, these 10,000 + Insurrection Hungarians, with their Trencks spurring them! A continual + unblessed swarm of hornets, these; which shut out the very light of day + from us. Too literally the light of day: we can get no free messaging from + part to part of our own Army even. "As many as six Orderlies have been + despatched to an outlying General; and not one of them could get through + to him. They have snapt up three Letter-bags destined for the King + himself. For four weeks he is absolutely shut out from the rest of + Europe;" knows not in the least what the Kaiser, or the Most Christian or + any other King, is doing; or whether the French are sitting well on Prince + Karl's skirts, or not attempting that at all. This also is a thing to be + amended, a thing you had to learn, your Majesty? An Army absolutely shut + out from news, from letters, messages to or fro, and groping its way in + darkness, owing to these circumambient thunder-clouds of Tolpatches, is + not a well-situated Army! And alas, when at last the Letter-bag did get + through, and—But let us not anticipate! + </p> + <p> + At Tabor there arose two opinions; which, in spite of the King's presence, + was a new difficulty. South from Tabor a day's march, the Highway splits; + direct way for Vienna; left-hand goes to Neuhaus, right-hand, or + straightforward rather, goes to Budweis, bearing upon Linz: which of these + two? Nassau has already seized Budweis; and it is a habitable champaign + country in comparison. Neuhaus, farther from the Moldau and its uses, but + more imminent on Austria, would be easy to seize; and would frighten the + Enemy more. Leopold the Young Dessauer is for Budweis; rapid Schwerin, a + hardy outspoken man, is emphatic for the other place as Head-quarter. So + emphatic are both, that the two Generals quarrel there; and Friedrich + needs his authority to keep them from outbreaks, from open incompatibility + henceforth, which would be destructive to the service. For the rest, + Friedrich seizes both places; sends a detachment to Neuhaus as well; but + holds by Budweis and the Moldau region with his main Army; which was not + quite gratifying to the hardy Schwerin. On the opposite or left bank, + holding Frauenberg, the renowned Hill-fortress there, we make inroads at + discretion: but the country is woody, favorable to Pandours; and the right + bank is our chief scene of action. How we are to maintain ourselves in + this country? To winter in these towns between the Sazawa and the + Luschnitz? Unless the French sit well on Prince Karl's skirts, it will not + be possible. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE FRENCH ARE LITTLE GRATEFUL FOR THE PLEASURE DONE THEM AT SUCH RUINOUS + EXPENSE. + </h2> + <p> + French sitting well on Prince Karl's skirts? They are not molesting Prince + Karl in the smallest; never tried such a thing;—are turned away to + the Brisgan, to the Upper Rhine Country; gone to besiege Freyburg there, + and seize Towns; about the Lake of Constance, as if there were no + Friedrich in the game! It must be owned the French do liberally pay off + old scores against Friedrich,—if, except in their own imagination, + they had old scores against him. No man ever delivered them from a more + imminent peril; and they, the rope once cut that was strangling them, + magnificently forget who cut it; and celebrate only their own + distinguished conduct during and after the operation. To a degree truly + wonderful. + </p> + <p> + It was moonlight, clear as day that night, 23d August, when Prince Karl + had to recross the Rhine, close in their neighborhood; [<i>Guerre de + Boheme,</i> iii. 196.]—and instead of harassing Prince Karl "to half + or to whole ruin," as the bargain was, their distinguished conduct + consisted in going quietly to their beds (old Marechal de Noailles even + calling back some of his too forward subalterns), and joyfully leaving + Prince Karl, then and afterwards, to cross the Rhine, and march for + Bohmen, at his own perfect convenience. + </p> + <p> + "Seckendorf will sit on Karl's skirts," they said: "too late for US, this + season; next season, you shall see!" Such was their theory, after Louis + got that cathartic, and rose from bed. Schmettau, with his importunities, + which at last irritated everybody, could make nothing more of it. "Let the + King of France crown his glories by the Siege of Freyburg, the conquest of + Brisgau:—for behoof of the poor Kaiser, don't you observe? Hither + Austria is the Kaiser's;—and furthermore, were Freyburg gone, there + will be no invading of Elsass again" (which is another privately very + interesting point)! + </p> + <p> + And there, at Freyburg, the Most Christian King now is, and his Army up to + the knees in mud, conquering Hither Austria; besieging Freyburg, with much + difficulty owing to the wet,—besieging there with what energy; a + spectacle to the world! And has, for the present, but one wife, no + mistress either! With rapturous eyes France looks on; with admiration too + big for words. Voltaire, I have heard, made pilgrimage to Freyburg, with + rhymed Panegyric in his pocket; saw those miraculous operations of a Most + Christian King miraculously awakened; and had the honor to present said + Panegyric; and be seen, for the first time, by the royal eyes,—which + did not seem to relish him much. [The Panegyric (EPITRE AU ROI DEVANT + FRIBOURG) is in <i>OEuvres de Voltaire,</i> xvii. 184.] Since the first + days of October, Freyburg had been under constant assault; "amid rains, + amid frosts; a siege long and murderous" (to the besieging party);—and + was not got till November 5th; not quite entirely, the Citadels of it, + till November 25th; Majesty gone home to Paris, to illuminations and + triumphal arches, in the interim. [Adelung, iv. 266; Barbier, ii. 414 + (13th November, &c.), for the illuminations, grand in the extreme, in + spite of wild rains and winds.] It had been a difficult and bloody + conquest to him, this of Freyburg and the Brisgau Country; and I never + heard that either the Kaiser or he got sensible advantage by it,—though + Prince Karl, on the present occasion, might be said to get a great deal. + </p> + <p> + "Seckendorf will do your Prince Karl," they had cried always: "Seckendorf + and his Prussian Majesty! Are not we conquering Hither Austria here, for + the Kaiser's behoof?" Seckendorf they did officially appoint to pursue; + appoint or allow;—and laid all the blame on Seckendorf; who perhaps + deserved his share of it. Very certain it is, Seckendorf did little or + nothing to Prince Karl; marched "leisurely behind him through the + Ober-Pfalz,"—skirting Baireuth Country, Karl and he, to Wilhelmina's + grief; [Her Letters ( <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvii. i. 133, &c.).]—"leisurely + behind him at a distance of four days," knew better than meddle with + Prince Karl. So that Prince Karl, "in twenty-one marches," disturbed only + by the elements and bad roads, reached Waldmunchen 26th September, in the + Furth-Cham Country; [Ranke, iii. 187.] and was heard to exclaim: "We are + let off for the fright, then (NOUS VOILA QUITTES POUR LA PEUR)!"—Seckendorf, + finding nothing to live upon in Ober-Pfalz, could not attend Prince Karl + farther; but turned leftwards home to Bavaria; made a kind of Second + "Reconquest of Bavaria" (on exactly the same terms as the First, Austrian + occupants being all called off to assist in Bohmen again);—concerning + which, here is an Excerpt:— + </p> + <p> + "Seckendorf, following at his leisure, and joined by the Hessians and + Pfalzers, so as now to exceed 30,000, leaves Prince Karl and the rest of + the enterprise to do as it can; and applies himself, for his own share, as + the needfulest thing, to getting hold of Bavaria again, that his poor + Kaiser may have where to lay his head, and pay old servants their wages. + Dreadfully exclaimed against, the old gentleman, especially by the French + co-managers: 'Why did not the old traitor stick in the rear of Prince + Karl, in the difficult passes, and drive him prone,—while we went + besieging Freyburg, and poaching about, trying for a bit of the Brisgau + while chance served!' A traitor beyond doubt; probably bought with money + down: thinks Valori. But, after all, what could Seckendorf do? He is now + of weight for Barenklau and Bavaria, not for much more. He does sweep + Barenklau and his Austrians from Bavaria, clear out (in the course of this + October), all but Ingolstadt and two or three strong towns,—Passau + especially, 'which can be blockaded, and afterwards besieged if needful.' + For the rest, he is dreadfully ill-off for provisions, incapable of the + least, attempt on Passau (as Friedrich urged, on hearing of him again); + and will have to canton himself in home-quarters, and live by his shifts + till Spring. + </p> + <p> + "The noise of French censure rises loud, against not themselves, but + against Seckendorf:—Friedrich, before that Tolpatch eclipse of + Correspondence [when three of his Letter-bags were seized, and he fell + quite dark], had too well foreboded, and contemptuously expressed his + astonishment at the blame BOTH were well earning: Passau, said he, cannot + you go at least upon Passau; which might alarm the Enemy a little, and + drag him homewards? 'Adieu, my dear Seckendorf, your Officer will tell you + how we did the Siege of Prag. You and your French are wetted hens (POULES + MOUILLEES),'—cowering about like drenched hens in a day of set rain. + 'As I hear nothing of either of you, I must try to get out of this + business without your help;'"—otherwise it will be ill for me + indeed! [Excerpted Fragment of a Letter from Friedrich,—(exact date + not given, date of EXCERPT is, Donanworth Country, 23d September, 1744),—which + the French Agent in Seckendorf's Army had a reading of (<i>Campagnes de + Coigny,</i> iv. 185-187; ib. 216-219: cited in Adelung, iv. 225).] "Which + latter expression alarmed the French, and set them upon writing and + bustling, but not upon doing anything." + </p> + <p> + "Prince Karl had crossed the Rhine unmolested, in the clearest moonlight, + August 23d-24th; Seckendorf was not wholly got to Heilbronn, September + 8th: a pretty way behind Prince Karl! The 6,000 Hessians, formerly in + English pay, indignant Landgraf Wilhelm [who never could forgive that + Machiavellian conduct of Carteret at Hanau, never till he found out what + it really was] has, this year, put into French pay. And they have now + joined Seckendorf; [Espagnac, ii. 13; Buchholz, ii. 123.] Prince Friedrich + [Britannic Majesty's Son-in-law], not good fat Uncle George, commanding + them henceforth:—with extreme lack of profit to Prince Friedrich, to + the Hessians, and to the French, as will appear in time. These 6,000, and + certain thousands of Pfalzers likewise in French pay, are now with + Seckendorf, and have raised him to above 30,000;—it is the one fruit + King Friedrich has got by that 'Union of Frankfurt,' and by all his long + prospective haggling, and struggling for a 'Union of German Princes in + general.' Two pears, after that long shaking of the tree; both pears + rotten, or indeed falling into Seckendorf, who is a basket of such + quality! 'Seckendorf, increased in this munificent manner, can he still do + nothing?' cry the French: 'the old traitor!'—'I have no magazines,' + said Seckendorf, 'nothing to live upon, to shoot with; no money!' And it + is a mutual crescendo between the 'perfidious Seckendorf' and them; + without work done. In the Nurnberg Country, some Hussars of his picked up + Lord Holderness, an English Ambassador making for Venice by that bad + route. 'Prisoner, are not you?' But they did not use him ill; on + consideration, the Heads of Imperial Departments gave him a Pass, and he + continued his Venetian Journey (result of it zero) without farther + molestation that I heard of. [Adelung, iv. 222.] + </p> + <p> + "These French-Seckendorf cunctations, recriminations and drenched-hen + procedures are an endless sorrow to poor Kaiser Karl; who at length can + stand it no longer; but resolves, since at least Bavaria, though moneyless + and in ruins, is his, he will in person go thither; confident that there + will be victual and equipment discoverable for self and Army were he + there. Remonstrances avail not: 'Ask me to die with honor, ask me not to + lie rotting here;' [Ib. iv. 241.]—and quits Frankfurt, and the + Reich's-Diet and its babble, 17th October, 1744 (small sorrow, were it for + the last time),—and enters his Munchen in the course of a week. + [17th October, 1744, leaves Frankfurt; arrives in Munchen 23d (Adelung, + iv. 241-244).] Munchen is transported with joy to see the Legitimate + Sovereign again; and blazes into illuminations,—forgetful who caused + its past wretchednesses, hoping only all wretchedness is now ended. Let + ruined huts, and Cham and the burnt Towns, rebuild themselves; the wasted + hedges make up their gaps again: here is the King come home! Here, sure + enough, is an unfortunate Kaiser of the Holy Romish Reich, who can once + more hope to pay his milk-scores, being a loved Kurfurst of Bavaria at + least. Very dear to the hearts of these poor people;—and to their + purses, interests and skins, has not he in another sense been dear? What a + price the ambitions and cracked phantasms of that weak brain have cost the + seemingly innocent population! Population harried, hungered down, dragged + off to perish in Italian Wars; a Country burnt, tribulated, torn to ruin, + under the harrow of Fate and ruffian Trenck and Company. Britannic George, + rather a dear morsel too, has come much cheaper hitherto. England is not + yet burnt; nothing burning there,—except the dull fire of deliriums; + Natural Stupidities all set flaming, which (whatever it may BE in the way + of loss) is not felt as a loss, but rather as a comfort for the time + being;—and in fact there are only, say, a forty or fifty thousand + armed Englishmen rotted down, and scarcely a Hundred Millions of money yet + spent. Nothing to speak of, in the cause of Human Liberty. Why Populations + suffer for their guilty Kings? My friend, it is the Populations too that + are guilty in having such Kings. Reverence, sacred Respect for Human + Worth, sacred Abhorrence of Human Unworth, have you considered what it + means? These poor Populations have it not, or for long generations have + had it less and less. Hence, by degrees, this sort of 'Kings' to them, and + enormous consequences following!"— + </p> + <p> + Karl VII. got back to Munchen 23d October, 1744; and the tar-barrels being + once burnt, and indispensable sortings effected, he went to the field + along with Seckendorf, to encourage his men under Seckendorf, and urge the + French by all considerations to come on. And really did what he could, + poor man. But the cordage of his life had been so strained and torn, he + was not now good for much; alas, it had been but little he was ever good + for. A couple of dear Kurfursts, his Father and he; have stood these + Bavarian Countries very high, since the Battle of Blenheim and downwards! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IV.—FRIEDRICH REDUCED TO STRAITS; CANNOT MAINTAIN HIS MOLDAU + CONQUESTS AGAINST PRICE KARL. + </h2> + <p> + One may fancy what were Friedrich's reflections when he heard that Prince + Karl had, prosperously and unmolested, got across, by those Passes from + the Ober-Pfalz, into Bohmen and the Circle of Pilsen, into junction with + Bathyani and his magazines; ["At Mirotitz, October 2d" (Ranke, iii. 194); + Orlich, ii. 49.] heard, moreover, that the Saxons, 20,000 strong, under + Weissenfels, crossing the Metal Mountains, coming on by Eger and Karlsbad + regions, were about uniting with him (bound by Treaty to assist the + Hungarian Majesty when invaded);—and had finally, what confirms + everything, that the said Prince Karl in person (making for Budweis, "just + seen his advanced guard," said rumor under mistake) was but few miles off. + Few miles off, on the other side of the Moldau;—of unknown strength, + hidden in the circumambient clouds of Pandours. + </p> + <p> + Suppressing all the rages and natural reflections but those needful for + the moment, Friedrich (October 4th, by Moldau-Tein) dashes across the + Moldau, to seek Prince Karl, at the place indicated, and at once smite him + down if possible;—that will be a remedy for all things. Prince Karl + is not there, nor was; the indication had been false; Friedrich searches + about, for four days, to no purpose. Prince Karl, he then learns for + certain, has crossed the Moldau farther down, farther northward, between + Prag and us. Means to cut us off from Prag, then, which is our fountain of + life in these circumstances? That is his intention:—"Old Traun, who + is with him, understands his trade!" thinks Friedrich. Traun, or the + Prince, is diligently forming magazines, all the Country carrying to him, + in the Town of Beneschau, hither side of the Sazawa, some seventy miles + north of us, an important Town where roads meet:—unless we can get + hold of Beneschau, it will be ill with us here! Across the River again, at + any rate; and let us hasten thither. That is an affair which must be + looked to; and speed is necessary! + </p> + <p> + OCTOBER 8th, After four days' search ending in this manner, Friedrich + swiftly crosses towards Tabor again, to Bechin (over on the Luschnitz, one + march), there to collect himself for Beneschau and the other intricacies. + Towards Tabor again, by his Bridge of Moldau-Tein;—clouds of Pandour + people, larger clouds than usual, hanging round; hidden by the woods till + Friedrich is gone. Friedrich being gone, there occurs the AFFAIR OF + MOLDAU-TEIN, much talked of in Prussian Books. Of which, in extreme + condensation, this is the essence:— + </p> + <p> + "OCTOBER 9th. Friedrich once off to Bechin, the Pandour clouds gather on + his rearguard next day at Tein Bridge here, to the number of about 10,000 + [rumor counts 14,000]; and with desperate intent, and more regularity than + usual, attack the Tein-Bridge Party, which consists of perhaps 2,000 + grenadiers and hussars, the whole under Ziethen's charge,—obliged to + wait for a cargo of Bread-wagons here. 'Defend your Bridge, with cannon, + with case-shot:' that is what the grenadiers do. The Pandour cloud, with + horrid lanes cut in it, draws back out of this; then plunges at the River + itself, which can be ridden above or below; rides it, furious, by the + thousand: 'Off with your infantry; quit the Bridge!' cries Ziethen to his + Captain there: 'Retire you, Parthian-like; thrice-steady,' orders Ziethen: + 'It is to be hoped our hussars can deal with this mad-doggery!' And they + do it; cutting in with iron discipline, with fierceness not undrilled; a + wedge of iron hussars, with ditto grenadiers continually wheeling, like so + many reapers steady among wind-tossed grain; and gradually give the + Pandours enough. Seven hours of it, in all: 'of their sixty cartridges the + grenadiers had fired fifty-four,' when it ended, about 7 P.M. The coming + Bread-wagons, getting word, had to cast their loaves into the River (sad + to think of); and make for Bechin at their swiftest. But the rearguard got + off with its guns, in this victorious manner: thanks to Major-General + Ziethen, Colonel Reusch and the others concerned. [<i>Feldzuge der + Preussen,</i> i. 268; Orlich, ii. 55.] + </p> + <p> + "Ziethen handsels his Major-Generalcy in this fine way: [Patent given him + "3d October, 1744," only a week ago, "and ordered to be dated eight months + back" (Rodenbeck, i. 109).] a man who has had promotion, and also has had + none, and may again come to have none;—and is able to do either way. + Never mind, my excellent tacit friend! Ziethen is five-and-forty gone; has + a face which is beautiful to me, though one of the coarsest. Face + thrice-honest, intricately ploughed with thoughts which are well kept + silent (the thoughts, indeed, being themselves mostly inarticulate; + thoughts of a simple-hearted, much-enduring, hot-tempered son of iron and + oatmeal);—decidedly rather likable, with its lazily hanging + under-lip, and respectable bearskin cylinder atop." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FRIEDRICH TRIES TO HAVE BATTLE FROM PRINCE KARL, IN THE MOLDAU COUNTRIES; + CANNOT, OWING TO THE SKILL OF PRINCE KARL OR OF OLD FELDMARSCHALL TRAUN;—HAS + TO RETIRE BEHIND THE SAZAWA, AND ULTIMATELY BEHIND THE ELBE, WITH MUCH + LABOR IN VAIN. + </h2> + <p> + OCTOBER 14th-18th: RETREAT FROM BECHIN-TABOR COUNTRY TO BENESCHAU. ... + "These Pandours give us trouble enough; no Magazine here, no living to be + had in this Country beside them. Unfortunate Colonel Jahnus went out from + Tabor lately, to look after requisitioned grains: infinite Pandours set + upon him [Muhlhausen is the memorable place]; Jahnus was obstinate (too + obstinate, thinks Friedrich), and perished on the ground, he and 200 of + his. [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 61.] Nay, next, a swarm of them + came to Tabor itself, Nadasti at their head; to try whether Tabor, with + its small garrison, could not be escaladed, and perhaps Prince Henri, who + lies sick there, be taken? Tabor taught them another lesson; sent them + home with heads broken;—which Friedrich thinks was an extremely + suitable thing. But so it stands: Here by the thousand and the ten + thousand they hang round us; and Prince Karl—It is of all things + necessary we get hold of that Beneschau, and the Magazine he is gathering + there! + </p> + <p> + "Rapidity is indispensable,—and yet how quit Tabor? We have + detachments out at Neuhaus, at Budweis, and in Tabor 300 men in hospital, + whom there are no means of carrying. To leave them to the Tolpaches? + Friedrich confesses he was weak on this occasion; he could not leave these + 300 men, as was his clear duty, in this extremity of War. He ordered in + his Neuhaus Detachment; not yet any of the others. He despatched Schmerin + towards Beneschau with all his speed; Schwerin was lucky enough to take + Beneschau and its provender,—a most blessed fortune,—and + fences himself there. Hearing which, Friedrich, having now got the Neuhaus + Detachment in hand, orders the other Three, the Budweis, the Tabor here, + and the Frauenberg across the River, to maintain themselves; and then, + leaving those southern regions to their chance, hastens towards Beneschau + and Schwerin; encamps (October 18th) near Beneschau,—'Camp of + Konopischt,' unattackable Camp, celebrated in the Prussian Books;—and + there, for eight days, still on the south side of Sazawa, tries every + shift to mend the bad posture of affairs in that Luschnitz-Sazawa Country. + His Three Garrisons (3,000 men in them, besides the 300 sick) he now sees + will not be able to maintain themselves; and he sends in succession 'eight + messengers,' not one messenger of whom could get through, to bid them come + away. His own hope now is for a Battle with Prince Karl; which might + remedy all things. [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 62-64.]" + </p> + <p> + That is Friedrich's wish; but it is by no means Traun's, who sees that + hunger and wet weather will of themselves suffice for Friedrich. There + ensues accordingly, for three weeks to come, in that confused Country, a + series of swift shufflings, checkings and manoeuvrings between these two, + which is gratifying and instructive to the strategic mind, but cannot be + inflicted upon common readers. Two considerable chess-players, an old and + a young; their chess-board a bushy, rocky, marshy parallelogram, running + fifty miles straight east from Prag, and twenty or fewer south, of which + Prag is the northwest angle, and Beneschau, or the impregnable Konopischt + the southwest: the reader must conceive it; and how Traun will not fight + Friedrich, yet makes him skip hither and thither, chiefly by threatening + his victuals. Friedrich's main magazine is now at Pardubitz, the extreme + northeast angle of the parallelogram. Parallelogram has one river in it, + with the innumerable rocks and brooks and quagmires, the river Sazawa; and + on the north side, where are Kuttenberg, Czaslau, Chotusitz, places again + become important in this business, it is bounded by another river, the + Elbe. Intricate manoeuvring there is here, for three weeks following: "old + Traun an admirable man!" thinks Friedrich, who ever after recognized Traun + as his Schoolmaster in the art of War. We mark here and there a date, and + leave it to readers. + </p> + <p> + "RADICZ, OCTOBER 21st-22d. At Radicz, a march to southwest of us, and on + our side of the Moldau, the Saxons, under Weissenfels, 20,000 effective, + join Prince Karl; which raises his force to 69,514 men, some 10,000 more + than Friedrich is master of. [Orlich, ii. 66.] Prospect of wintering + between the Luschnitz and the Sazawa there is now little; unless they will + fight us, and be beaten. Friedrich, from his inaccessible Camp of + Konopischt, manoeuvres, reconnoitres, in all directions, to produce this + result; but to no purpose. An Austrian Detachment did come, to look after + Beneschau and the Magazines there; but rapidly drew back again, finding + Konopischt on their road, and how matters were. Friedrich will guard the + door of this Sazawa-Elbe tract of Country; hope of the Sazawa-Luschnitz + tract has, in few days, fallen extinct. Here is news come to Konopischt: + our Three poor Garrisons, Budweis, Tabor, Frauenberg, already all lost; + guns and men, after defence to the last cartridge,—in Frauenberg + their water was cut off, it was eight-and-forty hours of thirst at + Frauenberg:—one way or other, they are all Three gone; eight + couriers galloping with message, 'Come away,' were all picked up by the + Pandours; so they stood, and were lost. 'Three thousand fighting men gone, + for the weak chance of saving three hundred who were in hospital!' thinks + Friedrich: War is not a school of the weak pities. For the chance of ten, + you lose a hundred and the ten too. Sazawa-Elbe tract of country, let us + vigilantly keep the door of that! + </p> + <p> + "SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24th, Friedrich out reconnoitring from Konopischt + discovers of a certainty that the whole Austrian-Saxon force is now + advaucing towards Beneschau, and will, this night, encamp at Marschowitz, + to southwest, only one march from us! On the instant Friedrich hurries + back; gets his Army on march thitherward, though the late October sun is + now past noon; off instantly; a stroke yonder will perhaps be the cure of + all. Such roads we had, says Friedrich, as never Army travelled before: + long after nightfall, we arrive near the Austrian camp, bivouac as we can + till daylight return. At the first streak of day, Friedrich and his chief + generals are on the heights with their spy-glasses: Austrian Army sure + enough; and there they have altered their posture overnight (for Traun too + has been awake); they lie now opposite our RIGHT flank; 'on a scarped + height, at the foot of which, through swamps and quagmires, runs a muddy + stream.' Unattackable on this side: their right flank and foot are safe + enough. Creep round and see their left:—Nothing but copses, swampy + intricacies! We may shoulder arms again, and go back to Konopischt: no + fight here! [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 63, 64; Orlich, ii. 69.] + Speaking of defensive Campaigns, says Friedrich didactically, years + afterwards, 'If such situations are to answer the purpose intended, the + front and flanks must be equally strong, but the rear entirely open. Such, + for instance, are those heights which have an extensive front, and whose + flanks are covered by morasses:—as was Prince Karl's Camp at + Marschowitz in the year 1744, with its front covered by a stream, and the + wings by deep hollows; or that which we ourselves then occupied at + Konopischt,—as you well remember. [<i>Military Instructions</i> + (above cited), p. 44.] + </p> + <p> + "OCTOBER 26th-NOVEMBER 1st. The Sazawa-Luschnitz tract of Country is quite + lost, then; lost with damages: the question now is, Can we keep the + Sazawa-Elbe tract? For about three weeks more, Friedrich struggles for + that object; cannot compass that either. Want of horse-provender is very + great:—country entirely eaten, say the peasants, and not a truss + remaining. October 26th, Friedrich has to cross the Sazawa; we must quit + the door of that tract (hunger driving us), and fight for the interior in + detail. Traun gets to Beneschau in that cheap way; and now, in behalf of + Traun, the peasants find forage enough, being zealous for Queen and creed. + Pandours spread themselves all over this Sazawa-Elbe country; endanger our + subsistences, make our lives miserable. It is the old story: Friedrich, + famine and mud and misery of Pandours compelling, has to retire northward, + Elbe-ward, inch by inch; whither the Austrians follow at a safe distance, + and, in spite of all manoeuvring, cannot be got to fight. + </p> + <p> + "Brave General Nassau, who much distinguishes himself in these businesses, + has (though Friedrich does not yet know it) dexterously seized Kolin, + westward in those Elbe parts,—ground that will be notable in years + coming. Important little feat of Nassau's; of which anon. On the other + hand, our Magazine at Pardubitz, eastward on the Elbe, is not out of + danger: Pandours and regulars 2,000 and odd, 'sixty of the Pandour kind + disguised as peasants leading hay-carts,' made an attempt there lately; + but were detected by the vigilant Colonel, and blown to pieces, in the + nick of time, some of them actually within the gate. [ <i>OEuvres de + Frederic,</i> iii. 65.] Nay, a body of Austrian regulars were in full + march for Kolin lately, intending to get hold of the Elbe itself at that + point (midway between Prag and Pardubitz): but the prompt General Nassau, + as we remarked, had struck in before them; and now holds Kolin;—though, + for several days, Friedrich could not tell what had become of Nassau, + owing to the swarms of Pandours. + </p> + <p> + "Friedrich, standing with his back to Prag, which is fifty miles from him, + and rather in need of his support than able to give him any; and drawing + his meal from the uncertain distance, with Pandours hovering round,—is + in difficult case. While old Traun is kept luminous as mid-day; the + circumambient atmosphere of Pandours is tenebrific to Friedrich, keeps him + in perpetual midnight. He has to read his position as with flashes of + lightning, for most part. A heavy-laden, sorely exasperated man; and must + keep his haggard miseries strictly secret; which I believe he does. Were + Valori here, it is very possible he might find the countenance FAROUCHE + again; eyes gloomy, on damp November mornings! Schwerin, in a huff, has + gone home: Since your Majesty is pleased to prefer his young Durchlaucht + of Anhalt's advice, what can an elderly servant (not without rheumatisms) + do other?—'Well!' answers Friedrich, not with eyes cheered by the + phenomenon. The Elbe-Sazawa tract, even this looks as if it would be hard + to keep. A world very dark for Friedrich, enveloped so by the ill chances + and the Pandours. But what help? + </p> + <p> + "From the French Camp far away, there comes, dated 17th October (third + week of their Siege of Freyburg), by way of help to Friedrich, magnanimous + promise: 'So soon as this Siege is done, which will be speedily, though it + is difficult, we propose to send fifty battalions and a hundred + squadrons,'"—say only 60,000 horse and foot (not a hoof or toe of + which ever got that length, on actually trying it),—"towards + Westphalia, to bring the Elector of Koln to reason [poor Kaiser's lanky + Brother, who cannot stand the French procedures, and has lately sold + himself, that is sold his troops, to England], and keep the King of + England and the Dutch in check,"—by way of solacement to your + Majesty. Will you indeed, you magnanimous Allies?—This was picked up + by the Pandours; and I know not but Friedrich was spared the useless pain + of reading it. [Orlich, ii. 73.] + </p> + <p> + "NOVEMBER 1st-9th: FRIEDRICH LOSES SAZAWA-ELBE COUNTRY TOO. On the first + day of November, here is a lightning-flash which reveals strange things to + Friedrich. Traun's late manoeuvrings, which have been so enigmatic, to + right and to left, upon Prag and other points, issue now in an attempt + towards Pardubitz; which reveals to Friedrich the intention Traun has + formed, of forcing him to choose one of those two places, and let go the + other. Formidable, fatal, thinks Friedrich; and yet admirable on the part + of Traun: 'a design beautiful and worthy of admiration.' If we stay near + Prag, what becomes of our communication with Silesia; what becomes of + Silesia itself? If we go towards Pardubitz, Prag and Bohmen are lost! What + to do? 'Despatch reinforcement to Pardubitz; thanks to Nassau, the + Kolin-Pardubitz road is ours!' That is done, Pardubitz saved for the + moment. Could we now get to Kuttenberg before the old Marshal, his design + were overset altogether. Alas, we cannot march at once, have to wait a day + for the bread. Forward, nevertheless; and again forward, and again; three + heavy marches in November weather: let us make a fourth forced march, + start to-morrow before dawn,—Kuttenberg above all things! In vain; + to-morrow, 4th November, there is such a fog, dark as London itself, from + six in the morning onwards, no starting till noon: and then impossible, + with all our efforts, to reach Kuttenberg. We have to halt an eight miles + short of it, in front of Kolin; and pitch tents there. On the morrow, 5th + November, Traun is found encamped, unattackable, between us and our + object; sits there, at his ease in a friendly Country, with Pandour + whirlpools flowing out and in; an irreducible case to Friedrich. November + 5th, and for three days more, Friedrich, to no purpose, tries his utmost;—finds + he will have to give up the Elbe-Sazawa region, like the others. Monday, + November 9th, Friedrich gathers himself at Kolin; crosses the Elbe by + Kolin Bridge, that day. Point after point of the game going against him." + </p> + <p> + Kolin was, of course, attacked, that Monday evening, so soon as the main + Army crossed: but, so soon as the Army left, General Nassau had taken his + measures; and, with his great guns and his small, handled the Pandours in + a way that pleased us. [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 68.] Thursday + night following, they came back, with regular grenadiers to support; under + cloud of night, in great force, ruffian Trenck at the head of them: a + frightful phenomenon to weak nerves. But this also Nassau treated in such + a fiery fashion that it vanished without return; three hundred dead left + on the ground, and ruffian Trenck riding off with his own crown broken,—beautiful + indigo face streaking itself into GINGHAM-pattern, for the moment! + </p> + <p> + Except Pardubitz, where also the due battalions are left, Friedrich now + holds no post south of the Elbe in this quarter; Elbe-Sazawa Tract is gone + like the others, to all appearance. And we must now say, Silesia or Prag? + Prince Leopold, Council-of-War being held on the matter, is for keeping + hold of Prag: "Pity to lose all the excellent siege-artillery we brought + thither," says he. True, too true; an ill-managed business that of Prag! + thinks Friedrich sadly to himself: but what is Prag and artillery, + compared to Silesia? Parthian retreat into Silesia; and let Prag and the + artillery go: that, to Friedrich, is clearly the sure course. Or perhaps + the fatal alternative will not actually arrive? So long as Pardubitz and + Kolin hold; and we have the Elbe for barrier? Truth is, Prince Karl has + himself written to Court that, having now pushed his Enemy fairly over the + Elbe, and winter being come with its sleets and slushes, ruinous to troops + that have been so marched about, the Campaign ought to end;—nay, his + own young Wife is in perilous interesting circumstances, and the poor + Prince wishes to be home. To which, however, it is again understood, Maria + Theresa has emphatically answered, "No,—finish first!" + </p> + <p> + NOVEMBER 9th-19th: WE DEFEND THE ELBE RIVER. Friedrich has posted himself + on the north shore of the Elbe, from Pardubitz to the other side of Kolin; + means to defend that side of the River, where go the Silesian roads. At + Bohdenetz, short way across from Pardubitz, he himself is; Prince Leopold + is near Kolin: thirty miles of river-bank to dispute. The controversy + lasts ten days; ends in ELBE-TEINITZ, a celebrated "passage," in Books and + otherwise. Friedrich is in shaggy, intricate country; no want of dingles, + woods and quagmires; now and then pleasant places too,—here is + Kladrup for example, where our Father came three hundred miles to dine + with the Kaiser once. The grooms and colts are all off at present; Father + and Kaiser are off; and much is changed since then. Grim tussle of War + now; sleety winter, and the Giant Mountains in the distance getting on + their white hoods! Friedrich doubtless has his thoughts as he rides up and + down, in sight of Kladrup, among other places, settling many things; but + what his thoughts were, he is careful not to say except where necessary. + Much is to be looked after, in this River controversy of thirty miles. + Detachments lie, at intervals, all the way; and mounted sentries, a sentry + every five miles, patrol the River-bank; vigilant, we hope, as lynxes. + Nothing can cross but alarm will be given, and by degrees the whole + Prussian force be upon it. This is the Circle of Konigsgratz, this that + now lies to rear; and happily there are a few Hussites in it, not utterly + indisposed to do a little spying for us, and bring a glimmering of + intelligence, now and then. + </p> + <p> + It is now the second week that Frietrich has lain so, with his mounted + patrols in motion, with his Hussite spies; guarding Argus-like this thirty + miles of River; and the Austrians attempt nothing, or nothing with effect. + If the Austrians go home to their winter-quarters, he hopes to issue from + Kolin again before Spring, and to sweep the Elbe-Sazawa Tract clear of + them, after all. Maria Theresa having answered No, it is likely the + Austrians will try to get across: Be vigilant therefore, ye mounted + sentries. Or will they perhaps make an attempt on Prag? Einsiedel, who has + no garrison of the least adequacy, apprises us That "in all the villages + round Prag people are busy making ladders,"—what can that mean? + Friedrich has learned, by intercepted letters, that something great is to + be done on Wednesday, 18th: he sends Rothenburg with reinforcement to + Einsiedel, lest a scalade of Prag should be on the cards. Rothenburg is + right welcome in the lines of Prag, though with reinforcement still + ineffectual; but it is not Prag that is meant, nor is Wednesday the day. + Through Wednesday, Friedrich, all eye and ear, could observe nothing: much + marching to and fro on the Austrian side of the River; but apparently it + comes to nothing? The mounted patrols had better be vigilant, however. + </p> + <p> + On the morrow, 5 A.M., what is this that is going on? Audible booming of + cannon, of musketry and battle, echoing through the woods, penetrates to + Friedrich's quarters at Bohdenetz in the Pardubitz region: Attack upon + Kolin, Nassau defending himself there? Out swift scouts, and see! Many + scouts gallop out; but none comes back. Friedrich, for hours, has to + remain uncertain; can only hope Nassau will defend himself. Boom go the + distant volleyings; no scout comes back. And it is not Nassau or Kolin; it + is something worse: very glorious for Prussian valor, but ruinous to this + Campaign. + </p> + <p> + The Austrians, at 2 o'clock this morning, Austrians and Saxons, came in + great force, in dead silence, to the south brink of the River, opposite a + place called Teinitz (Elbe-Teinitz), ten miles east of Kolin; that was the + fruit of their marching yesterday. They sat there forbidden to speak, to + smoke tobacco or do anything but breathe, till all was ready; till + pontoons, cannons had come up, and some gleam of dawn had broken. At the + first gleam of dawn, as they are shoving down their pontoon boats, there + comes a "WER-DA, Who goes?" from our Prussian patrol across the River. + Receiving no answer, he fires; and is himself shot down. One Wedell, + Wedell and Ziethen, who keep watch in this part, start instantly at sound + of these shots; and make a dreadful day of it for these invasive Saxon and + Austrian multitudes. Naturally, too, they send off scouts, galloping for + more help, to the right and to the left. But that avails not. Wild doggery + of Pandours, it would seem, have already swum or waded the River, above + Teinitz and below:—"Want of vigilance!" barks Friedrich impatiently: + but such a doggery is difficult to watch with effect. At any rate, to the + right and to the left, the woods are already beset with Pandours; every + scout sent out is killed: and to east or to west there comes no news but + an echoing of musketry, a boom of distant cannon. [Orlich, ii. 82-85.] + Saxon-Austrian battalions, four or five, with unlimited artillery going, + VERSUS Wedell's one battalion, with musketry and Ziethen's hussars: it is + fearful odds. The Prussians stand to it like heroes; doggedly, for four + hours, continue the dispute,—till it is fairly desperate; "two + bridges of the enemy's now finished;"—whereupon they manoeuvre off, + with Parthian or Prussian countenance, into the woods, safe, towards + Kolin; "despatching definite news to Friedrich, which does arrive about 11 + A.M., and sets him at once on new measures." + </p> + <p> + This is a great feat in the Prussian military annals; for which, sad as + the news was, Wedell got the name of Leonidas attached to him by Friedrich + himself. And indeed it is a gallant passage of war; "Forcing of the Elbe + at Teinitz;" of which I could give two Narratives, one from the Prussian, + and one from the Saxon side; [Seyfarth, <i>Beylage,</i> i. 595-598; <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + ii. 1175-1181.] didactic, admonitory to the military mind, nay to the + civic reader that has sympathy with heroisms, with work done manfully, and + terror and danger and difficulty well trampled under foot. Leonidas Wedell + has an admirable silence, too; and Ziethen's lazily hanging under-lip is + in its old attitude again, now that the spasm is over. "WAS THUTS? They + are across, without a doubt. We would have helped it, and could not. + Steady!"— + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FRIEDRICH'S RETREAT; ESPECIALLY EINSIEDEL'S FROM PRAG. + </h2> + <p> + Seeing, then, that they are fairly over, Friedrich, with a creditable + veracity of mind, sees also that the game is done; and that same night he + begins manoeuvring towards Silesia, lest far more be lost by continuing + the play. One column, under Leopold the Young Dessauer, goes through + Glatz, takes the Magazine of Pardubitz along with it: good to go in + several columns, the enemy will less know which to chase. Friedrich, with + another column, will wait for Nassau about Konigsgratz, then go by the + more westerly road, through Nachod and the Pass of Braunau. Nassau, who is + to get across from Kolin, and join us northwards, has due rendezvous + appointed him in the Konigsgratz region. Einsiedel, in Prag, is to spike + his guns, since he cannot carry them; blow up his bastions, and the like; + and get away with all discretion and all diligence,—northwestward + first, to Leitmeritz, where our magazines are; there to leave his heavier + goods, and make eastward towards Friedland, and across the "Silesian + Combs" by what Passes he can. Will have a difficult operation; but must + stand to it. And speed; steady, simultaneous, regular, unresting velocity; + that is the word for all. And so it is done,—though with difficulty, + on the part of poor Einsiedel for one. It was Thursday, 19th November, + when the Austrians got across the Elbe: on Monday, 23d, the Prussian + rendezvousings are completed; and Friedrich's column, and the Glatz one + under Leopold, are both on march; infinite baggage-wagons groaning orderly + along ("sick-wagons well ahead," and the like precautions and + arrangements), on both these highways for Silesia: and before the week + ends, Thursday, 26th, even Einsiedel is under way. Let us give something + of poor Einsiedel, whose disasters made considerable noise in the world, + that Winter and afterwards. + </p> + <p> + "The two main columns were not much molested; that which went by Glatz, + under Leopold, was not pursued at all. On the rear of Friedrich's own + column, going towards Braunau, all the way to Nachod or beyond, there hung + the usual doggery of Pandours, which required whipping off from time to + time; but in the defiles and difficult places due precaution was taken, + and they did little real damage. Truchsess von Waldburg [our old friend of + the Spartan feat near Austerlitz in the MORAVIAN-FORAY time, whom we have + known in London society as Prussian Envoy in bygone years] was in one of + the divisions of this column; and one day, at a village where there was a + little river to cross (river Mietau, Konigsgratz branch of the Elbe), got + provoked injudiciously into fighting with a body of these people. Intent + not on whipping them merely, but on whipping them to death, Truchsess had + already lost some forty men, and the business with such crowds of them was + getting hot; when, all at once a loud squeaking of pigs was heard in the + village,"—apprehensive swineherd hastily penning his pigs belike, + and some pig refractory;—"at sound of which, the Pandour multitude + suddenly pauses, quits fighting, and, struck by a new enthusiasm, rushes + wholly into the village; leaving Truchsess, in a tragi-comic humor, + victorious, but half ashamed of himself. [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> + iii. 73.] In the beginning of December, Friedrich's column reached home, + by Braunau through the Mountains, the same way part of it had come in + August; not quite so brilliant in equipment now as then. + </p> + <p> + "It was upon Einsiedel's poor Garrison, leaving Prag in such haste, that + the real stress of the retreat fell; its difficulties great indeed, and + its losses great. Einsiedel did what was possible; but all things are not + possible on a week's warning. He spiked great guns, shook endless + hundredweights of powder, and 10,000 stand of arms, into the River; he + requisitioned horses, oxen, without number; put mines under the bastions, + almost none of which went off with effect. He kept Prag accurately shut, + the Praguers accurately in the dark; took his measures prudently; and + labored night and day. One measure I note of him: stringent Proclamation + to the inhabitants of Prag, 'Provision yourselves for three months; + nothing but starvation ahead otherwise.' Alas, we are to stand a fourth + siege, then? say the Praguers. But where are provisions to be had? At such + and such places; from the Royal Magazines only, if you bring a certificate + and ready money! Whereby Einsiedel got delivered of his meal-magazine, for + one thing. But his difficulties otherwise were immense. + </p> + <p> + "On the Thursday morning, 26th November, 1744, he marched. His wagons had + begun the night before; and went all night, rumbling continuous (Anonymous + of Prag [Second "LETTER from a Citizen, &c." (date, 27th November, see + supra, p. 348), in <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> ii. 1181-1188.] hearing them + well), through the Karlthor, northwest gate of Prag, across the Moldau + Rridge. All night across that bridge,—Leitmeritz road, great road to + the northwest:—followed finally by the march of horse and foot. But + news had already fled abroad. Five hundred Pandours were in the City, + backed by the Butchers' lads and other riotous GESINDEL, before the + rear-guard got away. Sad tugging and wriggling in consequence, much firing + from windows, and uproarious chaos;—so that Rothenburg had at last + to remount a couple of guns, and blow it off with case-shot. A drilled + Prussian rear-guard struggling, with stern composure, through a real bit + of burning chaos. With effect, though not without difficulty. Here is the + scene on the Noldau Bridge, and past that high Hradschin [Old Palace of + the Bohemian Kings (pronounce RADsheen); one of the steepest Royal Sites + in the world.] mass of buildings; all Prag, not the Hradschin only, + struggling to give us fatal farewell if it durst. River is covered with + Pandours firing out of boats; Bridge encumbered to impassability by + forsaken wagons, the drivers of which had cut traces and run; shot comes + overhead from the Hradschin on our left, much shot, infinite tumult all + round; thoroughfare impossible for two-wheeled vehicle, or men in rank. + 'Halt!' cries Colonel Brandes, who has charge of the thing; divides them + in three: 'First one party, deal with these river-boats, that Pandour + doggery; second party, pull these stray wagons to right and left, making + the way clear; third party, drag our own wagons forward, shoulder to + shaft, and yoke them out of shot-range;—you, Captain Carlowitz,' and + calls twenty volunteers to go with Carlowitz, and drag their own cannon, + 'step you forward, keep the gate of that Hradschin till we all pass!' In + this manner, rapid, hard of stroke, clear-headed and with stern + regularity, drilled talent gets the burning Nessus'-shirt wriggled off; + and tramps successfully forth with its baggages. About 11 A.M., this + rearguard of Brandes's did; should have been at seven,—right well + that it could be at all. + </p> + <p> + "Einsiedel, after this, got tolerably well to Leitmeritz; left his heavy + baggage there; then turned at an acute angle right eastward, towards the + Silesian Combs, as ordered: still a good seventy miles to do, and the + weather getting snowy and the days towards their shortest. Worse still; + old Weissenfels, now in Prag with his Saxons, is aware that Einsiedel, + before ending, will touch on a wild high-lying corner of the Lausitz which + is Saxon Country; and thitherward Weissenfels has despatched Chevalier de + Saxe (in plenty of time, November 29th), with horse and foot, to waylay + Einsiedel, and block the entrance of the Silesian Mountains for him. + Whereupon, in the latter end of his long march, and almost within sight of + home, ensues the hardest brush of all for Einsiedel. And, in the + desolation of that rugged Hill country of the Lausitz, 'HOCHWALD (Upper + Weld),' twenty or more miles from Bohemian Friedland, from his entrance on + the Mountain Barrier and Silesian Combs, there are scenes—which gave + rise to a Court-Martial before long. For unexpectedly, on the winter + afternoon (December 9th), Einsiedel, struggling among the snows and + pathless Hills, comes upon Chevalier de Saxe and his Saxon Detachment,—intrenched + with trees, snow-redoubts, and a hollow bog dividing us; plainly + unassailable;—and stands there, without covering, without 'food, + fire, or salt,' says one Eye-witness, 'for the space of fourteen hours.' + Gazing gloomily into it, exchanging a few shots, uncertain what more to + do; the much-dubitating Einsiedel. 'At which the men were so disgusted and + enraged, they deserted [the foreign part of them, I fancy] in groups at a + time,' says the above Eye-witness. Not to think what became of the + equipments, baggage-wagons, sick-wagons:—too evident Einsiedel's + loss, in all kinds, was very considerable. Nassau, despatched by Leopold + out of Glatz, from the other side of the Combs, is marching to help + Einsiedel;—who knows, at this moment, where or whitherward? For the + peasants are all against us; our very guides desert, and become spies. + 'Push to the left, over the Hochwald top, must not we?' thinks Einsiedel: + 'that is Lausitz, a Saxon Country; and Saxony, though the Saxons stand + intrenched here, with the knife at our throat, are not at war with us, oh + no, only allies of her Majesty of Hungary, and neutral otherwise!' And + here, it is too clear, the Chevalier de Saxe stands intrenched behind his + trees and snow; and it is the fourteenth hour, men deserting by the + hundred, without fire and without salt; and Nassau is coming,—God + knows by what road! + </p> + <p> + "Einsiedel pushes to the left, the Hochwald way; finds, in the Hochwald + too, a Saxon Commandant waiting him, with arms strictly shouldered. 'And + we cannot pass through this moor skirt of Lausitz, say you, then?' + 'Unarmed, yes; your muskets can come in wagons after you,' replies the + Saxon Commandant of Lausitz. 'Thousand thanks, Herr Commandant; but we + will not give you all that trouble,' answer Einsiedel and his Prussians; + 'and march on, overwhelming him with politenesses,' says Friedrich;—the + approach of Nassau, above all, being a stringent civility. Of course, + despatch is very requisite to Einsiedel; the Chevalier, with his force, + being still within hail. The Prussians march all night, with pitch-links + flaring,—nights (I think) of the 13th-15th December, 1744, up among + the highlands there, rugged buttresses of the Silesian Combs: a sight + enough to astonish Rubezahl, if he happened to be out! As good chance + would have it, Nassau and Einsiedel, by preconcert, partly by lucky guess + of their own, were hurrying by the same road: three heaven-rending cheers + (December 16th) when we get sight of Nassau; and find that here is land! + December 16th, we are across,—by Ruckersdorf, not far from Friedland + (Bohmisch Friedland, not the Silesian town of that name, once + Wallenstein's);—and rejoice now to look back on labor done." [ <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + ii. 1181-1190, 1191-1194;—Feldzuge,—i. 278-280.] + </p> + <p> + These were intricate strange scenes, much talked of at the time: + Rothenburg, ugly Walrave, Hacke, and other known figures, concerned in + them. Scenes in which Friedrich is not well informed; who much blames + Einsiedel, as he is apt to do the unsuccessful. Accounts exist, both from + the Prussian and from the Saxon side, decipherable with industry; not now + worth deciphering to English readers. Only that final scene of the + pitch-links, the night before meeting with Nassau, dwells voluntarily in + one's memory. And is the farewell of Einsiedel withal. Friedrich blames + him to the last: though a Court-Martial had sat on his case, some months + after, and honorably acquitted him. Good solid, silent Einsiedel;—and + in some months more, he went to a still higher court, got still stricter + justice: I do not hear expressly that it was the winter marches, or strain + of mind; but he died in 1745; and that flare of pitch-links in Rubezahl's + country is the last scene of him to us,—and the end of Friedrich's + unfortunate First Expedition in the Second Silesian War. + </p> + <p> + "Foiled, ultimately, then, on every point; a totally ill-ordered game on + our part! Evidently we, for our part, have been altogether in the wrong, + in various essential particulars. Amendment, that and no other, is the + word now. Let us take the scathe and the scorn candidly home to us;—and + try to prepare for doing better. The world will crow over us. Well, the + world knows little about it; the world, if it did know, would be partly in + the right!"—Wise is he who, when beaten, learns the reasons of it, + and alters these. This wisdom, it must be owned, is Friedrich's; and much + distinguishes him among generals and men. Veracity of mind, as I say, + loyal eyesight superior to sophistries; noble incapacity of self-delusion, + the root of all good qualities in man. His epilogue to this Campaign is + remarkable;—too long for quoting here, except the first word of it + and the last:— + </p> + <p> + "No General committed more faults than did the King in this Campaign.... + The conduct of M. de Traun is a model of perfection, which every soldier + that loves his business ought to study, and try to imitate, if he have the + talent. The king has himself admitted that he regarded this Campaign as + his school in the Art of War, and M. de Traun as his teacher." But what + shall we say? "Bad is often better for Princes than good;—and + instead of intoxicating them with presumption, renders them circumspect + and modest." [<i>OEuvres,</i> iii.76, 77.] Let us still hope!— + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter V.—FRIEDRICH, UNDER DIFFICULTIES, PREPARES FOR A NEW + CAMPAIGN. + </h2> + <p> + To the Court of Vienna, especially to the Hungarian Majesty, this + wonderful reconquest of Bohemia, without battle fought,—or any cause + assignable but Traun's excellent manoeuvring and Friedrich's imprudences + and trust in the French,—was a thing of heavenly miracle; blessed + omen that Providence had vouchsafed to her prayers the recovery of Silesia + itself. All the world was crowing over Friedrich: but her Majesty of + Hungary's views had risen to a clearly higher pitch of exultation and + triumphant hope, terrestrial and celestial, than any other living + person's. "Silesia back again," that was now the hope and resolution of + her Majesty's high heart: "My wicked neighbor shall be driven out, and + smart dear for the ill he has done; Heaven so wills it!" "Very little + uplifts the Austrians," says Valori; which is true, under such a Queen; + "and yet there is nothing that can crush them altogether down," adds he. + </p> + <p> + No sooner is Bohemia cleared of Friedrich, than Maria, winter as it is, + orders that there be, through the Giant-Mountains, vigorous assault upon + Silesia. Highland snows and ices, what are these to Pandour people, who, + at their first entrance on the scene of History, "crossed the + Palus-Maeotis itself [Father of Quagmires, so to speak] in a frozen + state," and were sufficiently accommodated each in his own dirty + sheepskin? "Prosecute the King of Prussia," ordered she; "take your + winter-quarters in Silesia!"—and Traun, in spite of the advanced + season, and prior labors and hardships, had to try, from the southwestern + Bohemian side, what he could do; while a new Insurrection, coming through + the Jablunka, spread itself over the southeast and east. Seriously + invasive multitudes; which were an unpleasant surprise to Friedrich; and + did, as we shall see, require to be smitten back again, and re-smitten; + making a very troublesome winter to the Prussians and themselves; but by + no means getting winter-quarters, as they once hoped. + </p> + <p> + In a like sense, Maria Theresa had already (December 2d) sent forth her + Manifesto or Patent, solemnly apprising her ever-faithful Silesian + Populations, "That the Treaty of Breslau, not by her fault, is broken; + palpably a Treaty no longer. That they, accordingly, are absolved from all + oaths and allegiance to the King of Prussia; and shall hold themselves in + readiness to swear anew to her Majesty, which will be a great comfort to + such faithful creatures; suffering, as her Majesty explains to them that + they have done, under Prussian tyranny for these two years past. Immediate + dead-lift effort there shall be; that is certain: and 'the Almighty God + assisting, who does not leave such injustices unpunished, We have the + fixed Christian hope, Omnipotence blessing our arms, of almost immediately + (EHESTENS) delivering you from this temporary Bondage (BISHERIGEN JOCH).' + You can pray, in the mean while, for the success of her Majesty's arms; + good fighting, aided by prayer, in a Cause clearly Heaven's, will now, to + appearance, bring matters swiftly round again, to the astonishment and + confusion of bad men." [In <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> ii. 1194-1198; Ib. + 1201-1206, is Friedrich's Answer, "19th December, 1744."] + </p> + <p> + These are her Majesty's views; intensely true, I doubt not, to her devout + heart. Robinson and the English seem not to be enthusiastic in that + direction; as indeed how can they? They would fain be tender of Silesia, + which they have guaranteed; fain, now and afterwards, restrain her Majesty + from driving at such a pace down hill: but the declivity is so + encouraging, her Majesty is not to be restrained, and goes faster and + faster for the time being. And indeed, under less devout forms, the + general impression, among Pragmatic people, Saxon, Austrian, British even, + was, That Friedrich had pretty much ruined himself, and deserved to do so; + that this of his being mere "Auxiliary" to a Kaiser in distress was an + untenable pretext, now justly fallen bankrupt upon him. The evident fact, + That he had by his "Frankfurt Union," and struggles about "union," + reopened the door for French tribulations and rough-ridings in the Reich, + was universally distasteful; all chance of a "general union of German + Princes, in aid of their Kaiser," was extinct for the present. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich's rapidity had served him ill with the Public, in this as in + some other instances! Friedrich, contemplating his situation, not + self-delusively, but with the candor of real remorse, was by no means yet + aware how very bad it was. For six months coming, partly as existing facts + better disclosed themselves, as France, Saxony and others showed what + spirit they were of; partly as new sinister events and facts arrived one + after the other,—his outlook continued to darken and darken, till it + had become very dark indeed. There is perennially the great comfort, + immense if you can manage it, of making front against misfortune; of + looking it frankly in the face, and doing with a resolution, hour by hour, + your own utmost against it. Friedrich never lacked that comfort; and was + not heard complaining. But from December 13th, 1744, when he hastened home + to Berlin, under such aspects, till June 4th, 1745, when aspects suddenly + changed, are probably the worst six months Friedrich had yet had in the + world. During which, his affairs all threatening to break down about him, + he himself, behooving to stand firm if the worst was not to realize + itself, had to draw largely on what silent courage, or private + inexpugnability of mind, was in him,—a larger instalment of that + royal quality (as I compute) than the Fates had ever hitherto demanded of + him. Ever hitherto; though perhaps nothing like the largest of all, which + they had upon their Books for him, at a farther stage! As will be seen. + For he was greatly drawn upon in that way, in his time. And he paid + always; no man in his Century so well; few men, in any Century, better. As + perhaps readers may be led to guess or acknowledge, on surveying and + considering. To see, and sympathetically recognize, cannot be expected of + modern readers, in the present great distance, and changed conditions of + men and things. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich, after despatching Nassau to cut out Einsiedel, had delivered + the Silesian Army to the Old Dessauer, who is to command in chief during + Winter; and had then hastened to Berlin,—many things there urgently + requiring his presence; preparations, reparations, not to speak of + diplomacies, and what was the heaviest item of all, new finance for the + coming exertions. In Schweidnitz, on Leopold's appearance, there had been + an interview, due consultings, orderings; which done, Friedrich at once + took the road; and was at Berlin, Monday, December 14th,—precisely + in the time while Nassau and Einsiedel were marching with torchlights in + Rubezahl's Country, and near ending their difficult enterprise better or + worse. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich, fastening eagerly on Home business, is astonished and provoked + to learn that the Austrians, not content with pushing him out of Bohmen, + are themselves pushing into Schlesien,—so Old Leopold reports, with + increasing emphasis day by day; to whom Friedrich sends impatient order: + Hurl them out again; gather what force you need, ten thousand, or were it + twenty or thirty thousand, and be immediate about it; "I will as soon be + pitched (HERAUSGESCHMISSEN) out of the Mark of Brandenburg as out of + Schlesien:" no delay, I tell you! And as the Old Dessauer still explains + that the ten or fifteen thousand he needs are actually assembling, and + cannot be got on march quite in a moment, Friedrich dashes away his + incipient Berlin Operations; will go himself and do it. Haggle no more, + you tedious Old Dessauer:— + </p> + <p> + BERLIN, "19th DECEMBER," 1744. "On the 21st [Monday, one week after my + arriving], I leave Berlin, and mean to be at Neisse on the 24th at latest. + Your Serenity will in the interim make out the Order-of-Battle [which is + also Order-of-March] for what regiments are come in. For I will, on the + 25th, without delay, cross the Neisse, and attack those people, cost what + it may,—to chase them out of Schlesien and Glatz, and follow them so + far as possible. Your Serenity will therefore take your measures, and + provide everything, so far as in this short time you can, that the project + may be executable the moment I arrive." [Friedrich to the Old Dessauer (<i>Orlich,</i> + ii. 356).] + </p> + <p> + And rushed off accordingly, in a somewhat flamy humor; but at Schweidnitz, + where the Old Dessauer met him again, became convinced that the matter was + weightier than he thought; not one of Tolpatchery alone, but had Traun + himself in it. Upon which Friedrich candidly drew bridle; hastened back, + and, with a loss of four days, was at his Potsdam Affairs again. To which + he stuck henceforth, ardently, and I think rather with increase of gloom, + though without spurt of impatience farther, for three months to come. + Before his return,—nay, had he known, it was the night before he + went away,—a strange little thing had happened in the opposite or + Western parts: surprising accident to Marechal de Belleisle; which now + lies waiting his immediate consideration. But let us finish Silesia first. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + OLD DESSAUER REPELS THE SILESIAN INVASION (Winter, 1744-45). + </h2> + <p> + "This Silesian Affair includes due inroad of Pandours; or indeed two + inroads, southwest and southeast; and in the southwest, or Traun quarter, + regulars are the main element of it. Traun, 20,000 strong, PLUS + stormy-enough Pandour ACCOMPANIMENT, is by this time through into Glatz; + in three columns;—is master of all Glatz, except the Rock-Fortress + itself; and has spread himself, right and left, along the Neisse River, + and from the southwest northwards, in a skilful and dangerous manner. In + concert with whom, far to the east, are Pandour whirlwinds on their own + footing (brand-new 'Insurrection' of them, got thus far) starting from + Olmutz and Brunn; scouring that eastern country, as far as Namslau + northward [a place we were at the taking of, in old Brieg times]; much + more, infesting the Mountains of the South. A rather serious thing; with + Traun for general manager of it." + </p> + <p> + With Traun, we say: poor Prince Karl is off, weeks ago; on the saddest of + errands. His beautiful young Wife,—Hungarian Majesty's one Sister, + Vice-Regents of the Netherlands he and she, conspicuous among the bright + couples of the world,—she had a bad lying-in (child still-born), + while those grand Moldau Operations went on; has been ill, poor lady, ever + since; and, at Brussels, on December 16th, she herself lies dead, Prince + Karl weeping over her and the days that will not return. Prince Karl's + felicities, private and public, had been at their zenith lately, which was + very high indeed; but go on declining from this day. Never more the + Happiest of Husbands (did not wed again at all); still less the Greatest + of Captains, equal or superior to Caesar in the Gazetteer judgment, with + distracted EULOGIES, BIOGRAPHIES and such like filling the air: before + long, a War-Captain of quite moderate renown; which we shall see sink + gradually into no renown at all, and even (unjustly) into MINUS + quantities, before all end. A mad world, my masters! + </p> + <p> + "Between Traun on the southwest hand, and his Pandours on the southeast, + the small Prussian posts have all been driven in upon Troppau-Jagerndorf + region; more and more narrowed there;—and, in fine (two days before + this new Interview of Leopold and the impatient King at Schweidnitz), have + had to quit the Troppau-Jagerndorf position; to quit the Hills altogether, + and are now in full march towards Brieg. Of which march I should say + nothing, were it not that Marwitz, Father of Wilhelmina's giggling + Marmitzes, commanded;—and came by his death in the course of it; + though our Wilhelmina is not now there, pen in hand, to tell us what the + effects at Baireuth were. Marwitz had been left for dead on the Field of + Mollwitz; lay so all night, but was nursed to some kind of strength again + by those giggling young women; and came back to Schlesien, to posts of + chief trust, for the last year or two,—was guarding the Mountains, + and even invading Mahren, during the late Campaign;—but saw himself + reduced latterly to Jagerndorf and Troppau; and had even to retreat out of + these. And in the whirlpool of hurries thereupon,—how is not very + clear; by apoplexy, say some; by accidental pistol from a servant of his + own; in actual skirmish with Pandours,—too certainly, one way or the + other, on December 23d (just during that second Interview at Schweidnitz), + brave old Marwitz did suddenly sink dead, and is ended. [<i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + ii. 1201.] Even so, ye poor giggling creatures, and your loud weeping will + not mend it at all! + </p> + <p> + "Friedrich, looking candidly into these phenomena, could not but see that: + what with Tolpatcheries, what with Traun's 20,000 regulars, and the whole + Army at their back, his Silesian Border is girt in by a very considerable + inroad of Austrians,—huge Chain of them, in horse-shoe form, 300 + miles long, pressing in; from beyond Glatz and Landshut, round by the + southern Mountains, and up eastward again as far as Namslau, nothing but + war whirlwinds in regular or irregular form, in the centre of them Traun;—and + that the Old Dessauer really must have time to gird himself for dealing + with Traun and them. + </p> + <p> + "It was not till January 9th that Old Leopold, 25,000 strong, equipped to + his mind, which was a difficult matter, crossed the Neisse River; and + marched direct upon Traun, with Ziethen charging ahead. Actually marched; + after which the main wrestle was done in a week. January 16th, Old Leopold + got to Jagerndorf; found the actual Traun concentrated at Jagerndorf; and + drew up, to be ready for assault to-morrow morning,—had not Traun, + candidly computing, judged it better to glide wholly away in the + night-time, diligently towards Mahren, breaking the bridges behind him. + And so, in effect, to give up the Silesian Invasion for this time. After + which, though there remained a good deal of rough tussling with Pandour + details, and some rugged exploits of fight, there is—except that of + Lehwald in clearing of Glatz—nothing farther that we can afford to + speak of. Lehwald's exploit, Lehwald VERSUS Wallis (same Wallis who + defended Glogau long since), which came to be talked of, and got name and + date, 'Action of Habelschwert, February 14th,' something almost like a + pitched fight on the small scale, is to the following effect:— + </p> + <p> + "PLOMNITZ, NEAR HABELSCHWERT, 14th FEBRUARY, 1745. Old General Lehwald, + marching in the hollow ground near Habelschwert (hollow of the young + Neisse River, twenty miles south of Glatz), with intent to cut that + Country free; the Enemy, whom he is in search of, appears in great force,—posted + on the uphill ground ahead, half-frozen difficult stream in front of them, + cannon on flank, Pandour multitude in woods; all things betokening + inexpugnability on the part of the Enemy. So that Lehwald has to take his + measures; study well where the vital point is, the root of that extensive + Austrian junglery, and cut in upon the same. By considerable fire of + effort, the uphill ground, half-frozen stream, sylvan Pandours, + cannon-batteries, and what inexpugnabilities there may be, are subdued; + Austrian wide junglery, the root of it slit asunder rolls homeward + simultaneously, not too fast: nay it halted, and re-ranked itself twice + over, finding woods and quaggy runlets to its mind; but was always slit + out again, disrooted, and finally tumbled home, having had enough. 'Wenzel + Wallis,' Friedrich asserts with due scorn, 'was all this while in a + Chapel; praying ardently,' to St. Vitus, or one knows not whom; 'without + effect; till they shouted to him, "Beaten, Sir! Off, or you are lost!" + upon which he sprang to saddle, and spurred with both heels (PIQUA DES + DEUX).' [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 79. 80.] That was the feat of + Lehwald, clearing the Glatz Country with one good cut: a skilful Captain; + now getting decidedly oldish, close on sixty; whom we shall meet again a + dozen years hence, still in harness. + </p> + <p> + "The old Serene Highness himself, face the color of gun-powder, and bluer + in the winter frost, went rushing far and wide in an open vehicle, which + he called his 'cart;' pushing out detachments, supervising everything; + wheeling hither and thither as needful; sweeping out the Pandour world, + and keeping it out: not much of fighting needed, but 'a great deal of + marching [murmurs Friedrich], which in winter is as bad, and wears down + the force of the battalions.' Of all which we give no detail: sufficient + to fancy, in this manner, the Old Dessauer flapping his wide military + wings in the faces of the Pandour hordes, with here and there a hard + twitch from beak or claws; tolerably keeping down the Pandour interest all + Winter. His sons, Leopold and Dietrich, were under him, occasionally + beside him; the Junior Leopold so worn down with feverish gout he could + hardly sit on horseback at all, while old Papa went tearing about in his + cart at that rate." [<i>Unternehmung in Ober-Schlesien, unter dem Fursten + Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau, im Januar und Februar,</i> 1745 (Seyfarth, <i>Beylage,</i> + i. 141-152); Stenzel, iv. 232; &c.] + </p> + <p> + There was, on the 21st of February, TE-DEUM sung in the churches of Berlin + "for the Deliverance of Silesia from Invasion." Not that even yet the + Pandours would be quite quiet, or allow Old Leopold to quit his cart; far + from it. And they returned in such increased and tempestuous state, as + will again require mention, with the earliest Spring:—precursors to + a second, far more serious and deadly "Invasion of Silesia;" for which it + hangs yet on the balance whether there will be a TE-DEUM or a MISERERE to + sing! + </p> + <p> + Hungarian Majesty, disappointed of Silesia,—which, it seems, is not + to be had "all at once (EHESTENS)," in the form of miracle,—makes + amends by a rush upon Seckendorf and Bavaria; attacks Seckendorf furiously + ("Bathyani pressing up the Donau Valley, with Browne on one hand, and + Barenklau on the other") in midwinter; and makes a terrible hand of him; + reducing his "Reconquest of Bavaria" to nothing again, nay to less. Of + which in due time. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE FRENCH FULLY INTEND TO BEHAVE BETTER NEXT SEASON TO FRIEDRICH AND + THEIR GERMAN ALLIES;—BUT ARE PREVENTED BY VARIOUS ACCIDENTS + (November, 1744-April, 1745; April-August, 1745). + </h2> + <p> + It is not divine miracle, Friedrich knows well, that has lost him his late + Bohemian Conquests without battle fought: it was rash choosing of a plan + inexecutable without French co-operation,—culpable blindness to the + chance that France would break its promises, and not co-operate. Had your + Majesty forgotten the Joint-Stock Principle, then? His Majesty has + sorrowful cause to remember it, from this time, on a still larger scale! + </p> + <p> + Reflections, indignant or exculpatory, on the conduct of the French in + this Business are useless to Friedrich, and to us. The performance, on + their part, has been nearly the worst;—though their intentions, + while the Austrian Dragon had them by the throat, were doubtless + enthusiastically good! But, the big Austrian Dragon being jerked away from + Elsass, by Friedrich's treading on his tail, 500 miles off, they were + charmed, quite into new enthusiasm, to be rid of said Dragon: and, instead + of chasing HIM according to bargain, took to destroying his DEN, that he + might be harmless thenceforth. Freyburg is a captured Town, to the joy and + glory of admiring France; and Friedrich's Campaign has gone the road we + see! The Freyburg Illuminations having burnt out, there might rise, in the + triumphant mind, some thought of Friedrich again,—perhaps almost of + a remorseful nature? Certain it is, the French intentions are now again + magnanimous, more so than ever; coupled now with some attempts at + fulfilment, too; which obliges us to mention them here. They were still a + matter of important hope to Friedrich; hope which did not quite go out + till August coming. Though, alas, it did then go out, in gusts of + indignation on Friedrich's part! And as the whole of these magnanimous + French intentions, latter like former, again came to zero, we are + interested only in rendering them conceivable to readers for Friedrich's + sake,—with the more brevity, the better for everybody. Two grand + French Attempts there were; listen, on the threshold, a little:— + </p> + <p> + ... "It is certain the French intend gloriously; regardless of expense. + They are dismantling Freyburg, to render it harmless henceforth. But, + withal, in answer to the poor Kaiser's shrieks, they have sent Segur [our + old Linz friend], with 12,000, to assist Seckendorf; 'the bravest troops + in the world,'"—who did bravely take one beating (at Pfaffenhofen, + as will be seen), and go home again. ("They have Coigny guarding those + fine Brisgau Conquests. And are furthermore diplomatizing diligently, not + to say truculently, in the Rhine Countries; bullying poor little fat + Kur-Trier, lean Kur-Koln and others, 'To join the Frankfurt Union' not one + of whom would, under menace),—though 'it is the clear duty of all + Reich's-Princes with a Kaiser under oppression:'—and have marched + Maillebois, directly after Freyburg, into the Middle-Rhine Countries, to + Koln Country, to Mainz Country, and to and fro, in support of said + compulsory diplomacies;—but without the least effect." + </p> + <p> + To the "Middle-Rhine Countries," observe, and under Maillebois, then under + Conti, little matter under whom: only let readers recollect the name of + it;—for it is the FIRST of the French Attempts to do something of a + joint-stock nature; something for self AND Allies, instead of for self + only. It caused great alarm in those months, to Britannic George and + others; and brought out poor Duc d'Ahremberg with portions (no English + included) of the poor Pragmatic Army, to go marching about in the winter + slushes, instead of resting in bed, [Adelung, iv. 276, 420 ("December, + 1744-June, 1745").]—and is indeed a very loud business in the old + Gazettes and books, till August coming. Business which almost broke poor + D'Ahremberg's heart, he says, "till once I got out of it" (was TURNED out, + in fact): Business of Pragmatic Army, under D'Ahremberg, VERSUS + Middle-Rhine Army under Maillebois, under Conti; Business now wholly of + Zero VERSUS Zero to us,—except for a few dates and reflex + glimmerings upon King Friedrich. Result otherwise—We shall see the + Result! + </p> + <p> + "Attempt SECOND was still more important to Friedrich; being directed upon + the Kaiser and Bavaria. Belleisle is to go thither and take survey; + Belleisle thither first: you may judge if the intention is sincere! Valori + is quite eloquent upon it. Directly after Freyburg, says he, Sechelles, + that first of Commissaries, was sent to Munchen. Sechelles cleared up the + chaos of Accounts; which King Louis then instantly paid. 'Your Imperial + Majesty shall have Magazines also,' said Louis, regardless of expense; + 'and your Army, with auxiliaries (Segur and 25,000 of them French), shall + be raised to 60,000.' Belleisle then came: 'We will have Ingolstadt, the + first thing, in Spring.' Alas, Belleisle had his Accident in the Harz; and + all went aback, from that time." [Valori, i. 322-329.] Aback, too + indisputably, all!—"And Belleisle's Accident?" Patience, readers. + </p> + <p> + "The truth is, Attempt SECOND, and chief, broke down at once [Bathyani + beating it to pieces, as will be seen],—the ruins of it painfully + reacting on Attempt FIRST; which had the like fate some months later;—and + there was no THIRD made. And, in fact, from the date of that latter + down-break, August, or end of July, 1745 [and quite especially from + "September 13th," by which time several irrevocable things had happened, + which we shall hear of], the French withdrew altogether out of German + entanglements; and concentrated themselves upon the Netherlands, there to + demolish his Britannic Majesty, as the likelier enterprise. This was a + course to which, ever since the Exit of Broglio and the Oriflamme, they + had been more and more tending and inclining, 'Nothing for us but loss on + loss, to be had in Germany!' and so they at last frankly gave up that bad + Country. They fought well in the Netherlands, with great splendor of + success, under Saxe VERSUS Cumberland and Company. They did also some + successful work in Italy;—and left Friedrich to bear the brunt in + Germany; too glad if he or another were there to take Germany off their + hand! Friedrich's feelings on his arriving at this consummation, and + during his gradual advance towards it, which was pretty steady all along + from those first 'drenched-hen (POULES MOUILLEES)' procedures, were amply + known to Excellency Valori, and may be conceived by readers,"—who + are slightly interested in the dates of them at farthest. And now for the + Belleisle Accident, with these faint preliminary lights. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + STRANGE ACCIDENT TO MARECHAL DE BELLEISLE IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS (20th + December, 1744). + </h2> + <p> + Siege of Freyburg being completed, and the River and most other things + (except always the bastions, which we blow up) being let into their old + channels there, Marechal de Belleisle, who is to have a chief management + henceforth,—the Most Christian King recognizing him again as his + ablest man in war or peace,—sets forth on a long tour of + supervision, of diplomacy and general arrangement, to prepare matters for + the next Campaign. Need enough of a Belleisle: what a business we have + made of it, since Friedrich trod on the serpent's tail for us! Nothing but + our own Freyburg to show for ourselves; elsewhere, mere down-rush of + everything whitherward it liked;—and King Friedrich got into such a + humor! Friedrich must be put in tune again; something real and good to be + agreed on at Berlin: let that be the last thing, crown of the whole. The + first thing is, look into Bavaria a little; and how the Kaiser, poor + gentleman, in want of all requisites but good-will, can be put into + something of fighting posture. + </p> + <p> + "In the end of November, Marechal Duc de Belleisle, with his Brother the + Chevalier (now properly the Count, there having been promotions), and a + great retinue more, alights at Munchen; holds counsel with the poor Kaiser + for certain days:—Money wanted; many things wanted; and all things, + we need not doubt, much fallen out of square. 'Those Seckendorf troops in + their winter-quarters,' say our French Inspectors and Segur people, as + usual, 'do but look on it, your Excellency! Scattered, along the valleys, + into the very edge of Austria; Austria will swallow them, the first thing, + next year; they will never rendezvous again except in the Austrian + prisons. Surely, Monseigneur, only a man ignorant of war, or with + treasonous intention [or ill-off for victuals],—could post troops in + that way? Seckendorf is not ignorant of war!' say they. [Valori, i. 206.] + For, in fact, suspicion runs high; and there is no end to the accusations + just and unjust; and Seckendorf is as ill treated as any of us could wish. + Poor old soul. Probably nobody in all the Earth, but his old Wife in the + Schloss of Altenburg, has any pity for him,—if even she, which I + hope. He has fought and diplomatized and intrigued in many countries, very + much; and in his old days is hard bested. Monseigueur, whose part is + rather that of Jove the Cloud-compeller, is studious to be himself + noiseless amid this noise; and makes no alteration in the Seckendorf + troops; but it is certain he meant to do it, thinks Valori." + </p> + <p> + And indeed Seckendorf, tired of the Bavarian bed-of-roses, had privately + fixed with himself to quit the same;—and does so, inexorable to the + very Kaiser, on New-Year arriving. [<i>Seckendorfs Leben,</i> p. 365.] + Succeeded by Thorring (our old friend DRUM Thorring), if that be an + improvement. Marechal de Belleisle has still a long journey ahead, and + infinitely harder problems than these,—assuagement of the King of + Prussia, for example. Let us follow his remarkable steps. + </p> + <p> + "WEDNESDAY, 9th DECEMBER, 1744, the Marechal leaves Munchen, northwards + through OEttingen and the Bamberg-Anspach regions towards Cassel;—journey + of some three hundred and fifty miles: with a great retinue of his own; + with an escort of two hundred horse from the Kaiser; these latter to + prevent any outfall or insult in the Ingolstadt quarter, where the + Austrians have a garrison, not at all very tightly blocked by the + Seckendorf people thereabouts. No insult or outfall occurring, the + Marechal dismisses his escort at OEttingen; fares forward in his twenty + coaches and fourgons, some score or so of vehicles:—mere neutral + Imperial Countries henceforth, where the Kaiser's Agent, as Marechal de + Belleisle can style himself, and Titular Prince of the German Empire + withal, has only to pay his way. By Donauworth, by OEttingen; over the + Donau acclivities, then down the pleasant Valley of the Mayn. [See REVIEW + OF THE CASE OF MARSHAL BELLEISLE (or Abstract of it, <i>Gentleman's + Magazine,</i> 1745, pp. 366-373); &c. &c.] + </p> + <p> + "SUNDAY, 13th DECEMBER, Marechal de Belleisle arrives at Hanau [where we + have seen Conferences held before now, and Carteret, Prince Karl and great + George our King very busy], there to confer with Marshals Coigny, + Maillebois and other high men, Commanders in those Rhine parts. Who all + come accordingly, except Marechal Maillebois, who is sorry that he + absolutely cannot; but will surely do himself the honor as Monseigneur + returns." As Monseigneur returns! "And so, on Monday, 14th, Monseigneur + starts for Cassel; say a hundred miles right north; where we shall meet + Prince Wilhelm of Hessen-Cassel, a zealous Ally; inform him how his + Troops, under Seckendorf, are posted [at Vilshofen yonder; hiding how + perilous their post is, or promising alterations]; perhaps rest a day or + two, consulting as to the common weal: How the King of Prussia takes our + treatment of him? How to smooth the King of Prussia, and turn him to + harmony again? We are approaching the true nodus of our business, + difficulty of difficulties; and Wilhelm, the wise Landgraf, may afford a + hint or two. Thus travels magnanimous Belleisle in twenty vehicles, a man + loaded with weighty matters, in these deep Winter months; suffering + dreadfully from rheumatic neuralgic ailments, a Doctor one of his + needfulest equipments; and has the hardest problem yet ahead of him. + </p> + <p> + "Prince Wilhelm's consultations are happily lost altogether; buried from + sight forever, to the last hint,—all except as to what road to + Berlin would be the best from Cassel. By Leipzig, through low-lying + country, is the great Highway, advisable in winter; but it runs a hundred + and thirty miles to right, before ever starting northward; such a + roundabout. Not to say that the Saxons are allies of Austria,—if + there be anything in that. Enemies, they, to the Most Christian King: + though surely, again, we are on Kaiser's business, nay we are titular + 'Prince of the Reich,' for that matter, such the Kaiser's grace to us? + Well; it is better perhaps to AVOID the Saxon Territory. And, of course, + the Hanoverian much more; through which lies the other Great Road! 'Go by + the Harz,' advises Landgraf Wilhelm: 'a rugged Hill Country; but it is + your hypotenuse towards Berlin; passes at once, or nearly so, from Cassel + Territory into Prussian: a rugged road, but a shorter and safer.' That is + the road Belleisle resolves upon. Twenty carriages; his Brother the + Chevalier and himself occupy one; and always the courier rides before, + ordering forty post-horses to be ready harnessed. + </p> + <p> + "SUNDAY, 20th DECEMBER, 1744. In this way they have climbed the eastern + shin of the Harz Range, where the Harz is capable of wheel-carriages; and + hope now to descend, this night, to Halberstadt; and thence rapidly by + level roads to Berlin. It is sinking towards dark; the courier is forward + to Elbingerode, ordering forty horses to be out. Roughish uphill road; + winter in the sky and earth, winter vapors and tumbling wind-gusts: + westward, in torn storm-cloak, the Bracken, with its witch-dances; + highland Goslar, and ghost of Henry the Fowler, on the other side of it. A + multifarious wizard Country, much overhung by goblin reminiscences, + witch-dances, sorcerers'-sabbaths and the like,—if a rheumatic + gentleman cared to look on it, in the cold twilight. Brrh! Waste chasmy + uplands, snow-choked torrents; wild people, gloomy firs! Here at last, by + one's watch 5 P.M., is Elbingerode, uncomfortable little Town; and it is + to be hoped the forty post-horses are ready. + </p> + <p> + "Behold, while the forty post-horses are getting ready, a thing takes + place, most unexpected;—which made the name of Elbingerode famous + for eight months to come. Of which let us hastily give the bare facts, + Fancy making of them what she can. Was Monseigneur aware that this + Elbingerode, with a patch of territory round it, is Hanoverian ground; one + of those distracted patches or ragged outskirts frequent in the German + map? Prussia is not yet, and Hessen-Cassel has ceased to be. Undoubtedly + Hanoverian! Apparently the Landgraf and Monseigneur had not thought of + that. But Munchhausen of Hanover, spies informing him, had. The Bailiff + (Vogt, AdVOCATus) has gathered twenty JAGER [official Game-keepers] with + their guns, and a select idle Sunday population of the place with or + without guns: the Vogt steps forward, and inquires for Monseigneur's + passport. 'No passport, no need of any!'—'Pardon!' and signifies to + Monseigneur, on the part of George Elector of Hanover, King of Great + Britain, France and Ireland, that Monseigneur is arrested! + </p> + <p> + "Monseigneur, with compressed or incompressible feelings, indignantly + complies,—what could he else, unfortunate rheumatic gentleman?—and + is plucked away in such sudden manner, he for one, out of that big German + game of his raising. The twenty vehicles are dragged different roads; + towards Scharzfels, Osterode, or I know not where,—handiest roads to + Hanover;—and Monseigneur himself has travelling treatment which + might be complained of, did not one disdain complaint: 'my Brother parted + from me, nay my Doctor, and my Interpreter;'"—not even speech + possible to me. [Letter of Belleisle next morning, "Neuhof, 21st December, + 9 A.M." (in <i>Valori,</i> i. 204), to Munchhausen at Hanover,—by no + possibility "to Valori," as the distracted French Editor has given it!] + That was the Belleisle Accident in the Harz, Sunday Evening, 20th + December, 1744. + </p> + <p> + "Afflicted indignant Valori, soon enough apprised, runs to Friedrich with + the news,—greets Friedrich with it just alighting from that Silesian + run of his own. Friedrich, not without several other things to think of, + is naturally sorry at such news; sorry for his own sake even; but not + overmuch. Friedrich refuses 'to despatch a party of horse,' and cut out + Marechal de Belleisle. "That will never do, MON CHER!'—and even gets + into FROIDES PLAISANTERIES: 'Perhaps the Marechal did it himself? Tallard, + prisoner after Blenheim, made PEACE, you know, in England?'—and the + like; which grieved the soul of Valori, and convinced him of Friedrich's + inhumanity, in a crying case. + </p> + <p> + "Belleisle is lugged on to Hanover; his case not doubtful to Munchhausen, + or the English Ministry,—though it raised great argument, (was the + capture fair, was it unfair? Is he entitled to exchange by cartel, or not + entitled?' and produced, in the next eight months, much angry animated + pamphleteering and negotiation. For we hear by and by, he is to be + forwarded to Stade, on the Hamburg sea-coast, where English Seventy-fours + are waiting for him; his case still undecided;—and, in effect, it + was not till after eight months that he got dismissal. 'Lodged handsomely + in Windsor Palace,' in the interim; free on his parole, people of rank + very civil to him, though the Gazetteers were sometimes ill-tongued,—had + he understood their PATOIS, or concerned himself about such things + </p> + <p> + ["TUESDAY, 18th FEBRUARY [1st March, 1745], Marshal Belleisle landed at + Harwich; lay at Greenwich Palace, having crossed Thames at the Isle of + Dogs: next morning, about 10, set out, in a coach-and-six, Colonel Douglas + and two troops of horse escorting; arrived 3 P.M.,—by Camberwell, + Clapham, Wandsworth, over Kingston and Staines Bridges,—at Windsor + Castle, and the apartments ready for him." (<i>Gentleman's Magazine,</i> + 1745, p 107.) Was let go 13th (24th) August, again with great pomp and + civilities (ib. p. 442). See Adelung, iv. 299, 346; v. 83, 84.] + </p> + <p> + "It was a current notion among contemporary mankind, this of Friedrich, + that Belleisle's capture might be a mere collusion, meant to bring about a + Peace in that Tallard fashion,—wide of the truth as such a notion + is, far as any Peace was from following. To Britannic George and his + Hanoverians it had merely seemed, Here was a chief War-Captain and + Diplomatist among the French; the pivot of all these world-wide movements, + as Valori defines him; which pivot, a chance offering, it were well to + twitch from its socket, and see what would follow. Perhaps nothing will + follow; next to nothing? A world, all waltzing in mad war, is not to be + stopped by acting on any pivot; your waltzing world will find new pivots, + or do without any, and perhaps only waltz the more madly for wanting the + principal one." + </p> + <p> + This withdrawal of Belleisle, the one Frenchman respected by Friedrich, or + much interested for his own sake in things German, is reckoned a main + cause why the French Alliance turned out so ill for Friedrich; and why + French effort took more and more a Netherlands direction thenceforth, and + these new French magnanimities on Friedrich's behalf issued in futility + again. Probably they never could have issued in very much: but it is + certain that, from this point, they also do become zero; and that + Friedrich, from his French alliance, reaped from first to last nothing at + all, except a great deal of obloquy from German neighbors, and from the + French side endless trouble, anger and disappointment in every particular. + Which 'might be a joy (though not unmixed) to Britannic Majesty and the + subtle followers who had ginned this fine Belleisle bird in its flight + over the Harz Range? Though again, had they passively let him wing his + way, and he had GOT "to be Commander and Manager," as was in agitation,—he, + Belleisle and in Germany, instead of Marechal de Saxe with the Netherlands + as chief scene,—what an advantage might that have been to them! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE KAISER KARL VII. GETS SECURED FROM OPPRESSIONS, IN A TRAGIC WAY. + FRIEDRICH PROPOSES PEACE, BUT TO NO PURPOSE. + </h2> + <p> + A still sadder cross for Friedrich, in the current of foreign Accidents + and Diplomacies, was the next that befell; exactly a month later,—at + Munchen, 20th January, 1745. Hardly was Belleisle's back turned, when her + Hungarian Majesty, by her Bathyani and Company, broke furiously in upon + the poor Kaiser and his Seckendorf-Segur defences. Belleisle had not + reached the Harz, when all was going topsy-turvy there again, and the + Donau-Valley fast falling back into Austrian hands. Nor is that the worst, + or nearly so. + </p> + <p> + "MUNCHEN, 20th JANUARY, 1745. This day poor Kaiser Karl laid down his + earthly burden here, and at length gave all his enemies the slip. He had + been ill of gout for some time; a man of much malady always, with no want + of vexations and apprehensions. Too likely the Austrians will drive him + out of Munchen again; then nothing but furnished lodgings, and the French + to depend upon. He had been much chagrined by some Election, just done, in + the Chapter of Salzburg. [Adelung, iv. 249, 276, 313.] The Archbishop + there—it was Firmian, he of the SALZBURG EMIGRATION, memorable to + readers—had died, some while ago. And now, in flat contradiction to + Imperial customs, prerogatives, these people had admitted an Austrian + Garrison; and then, in the teeth of our express precept, had elected an + Austrian to their benefice: what can one account it but an insult as well + as an injury? And the neuralgic maladies press sore, and the gouty + twinges; and Belleisle is seized, perhaps with important papers of ours; + and the Seckendorf-Segur detachments were ill placed; nay here are the + Austrians already on the throat of them, in midwinter! It is said, a + babbling valet, or lord-in-waiting, happened to talk of some skirmish that + had fallen out (called a battle, in the valet rumor), and how ill the + French and Bavarians had fared in it, owing to their ill behavior. And + this, add they, proved to be the ounce-weight too much for the so + heavy-laden back. + </p> + <p> + "The Kaiser took to bed, not much complaining; patient, mild, though the + saddest of all mortals; and, in a day or two, died. Adieu, adieu, ye loved + faithful ones; pity me, and pray for me! He gave his Wife, poor little fat + devout creature, and his poor Children (eldest lad, his Heir, only + seventeen), a tender blessing; solemnly exhorted them, To eschew ambition, + and be warned by his example;—to make their peace with Austria; and + never, like him, try COM' E DURO CALLE, and what the charity of Christian + Kings amounts to. This counsel, it is thought, the Empress Dowager + zealously accedes to, and will impress upon her Son. That is the Austrian + and Cause-of-Liberty account: King Friedrich, from the other side, has + heard a directly opposite one. How the Kaiser, at the point of death, + exhorted his son, 'Never forget the services which the King of France and + the King of Prussia have done us, and do not repay them with ingratitude.' + [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 92;—and see (PER CONTRA) in + Adelung, iv. 314 A; in Coxe, &c.] The reader can choose which he will, + or reject both into the region of the uncertain. 'Karl Albert's pious and + affectionate demeanor drew tears from all eyes,' say the by-standers: 'the + manner in which he took leave of his Empress would have melted a heart of + stone.' He was in his forty-eighth year; he had been, of all men in his + generation, the most conspicuously unhappy." + </p> + <p> + What a down-rush of confusion there ensued on this event, not to Bavaria + alone, but to all the world, and to King Friedrich more than another, no + reader can now take the pains of conceiving. The "Frankfurt Union," then, + has gone to air! Here is now no "Kaiser to be delivered from oppression:" + here is a new Kaiser to be elected,—"Grand-Duke Franz the man," cry + the Pragmatic Potentates with exultation, "no Belleisle to disturb!"—and + questions arise innumerable thereupon, Will France go into electioneering + again? The new Kur-Baiern, only seventeen, poor child, cannot be set up as + candidate. What will France do with HIM; what he with France? Whom can the + French try as Candidate against the Grand-Duke? Kur-Sachsen, the Polish + Majesty again? Belleisle himself must have paused uncertain over such a + welter,—and probably have done, like the others, little or nothing + in it, but left it to collapse by natural gravitation. + </p> + <p> + Hungarian Majesty checked her Bavarian Armaments a little: "If perhaps + this young Kur-Baiern will detach himself from France, and on submissive + terms come over to us?" Whereupon, at Munchen, and in the cognate + quarters, such wriggling, dubitating and diplomatizing, as seldom was,—French, + Anti-French (Seckendorf busiest of all), straining every nerve in that + way, and for almost three months, nothing coming of it,—till + Hungarian Majesty sent her Barenklaus and Bathyanis upon them again; and + these rapidly solved the question, in what way we shall see! + </p> + <p> + Friedrich has still his hopes of Bavaria, so grandiloquent are the French + in regard to it; who but would hope? The French diplomatize to all lengths + in Munchen, promising seas and mountains; but they perform little; in an + effectual manner, nothing. Bavarian "Army raised to 60,000;" counts in + fact little above half that number; with no General to it but an imaginary + one; Segur's actual French contingent, instead of 25,000, is perhaps + 12,000;—and so of other things. Add to all which, Seckendorf is + there, not now as War-General, but as extra-official "Adviser;" busier + than ever,—"scandalous old traitor!" say the French;—and + Friedrich may justly fear that Bavaria will go, by collapse, a bad road + for him. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich, a week or two after the Kaiser's death, seeing Bavarian and + French things in such a hypothetic state, instructs his Ambassador at + London to declare his, Friedrich's, perfect readiness and wish for Peace: + "Old Treaty of Breslau and Berlin made indubitable to me; the rest of the + quarrel has, by decease of the Kaiser, gone to air." To which the + Britannic Majesty, rather elated at this time, as all Pragmatic people + are, answers somewhat in a careless way, "Well, if the others like it!" + and promises that he will propose it in the proper quarter. So that + henceforth there is always a hope of Peace through England; as well as + contrariwise, especially till Bavaria settle itself (in April next), a + hope of great assistance from the French. Here are potentialities and + counter-potentialities, which make the Bavarian Intricacy very agitating + to the young King, while it lasts. And indeed his world is one huge + imbroglio of Potentialities and Diplomatic Intricacies, agitating to + behold. Concerning which we have again to remark how these huge Spectres + of Diplomacy, now filling Friedrich's world, came mostly in result to + Nothing;—shaping themselves wholly, for or against, in exact + proportion, direct or inverse, to the actual Quantity of Battle and + effective Performance that happened to be found in Friedrich himself. + Diplomatic Spectralities, wide Fatamorganas of hope, and hideous big + Bugbears blotting out the sun: of these, few men ever had more than + Friedrich at this time. And he is careful, none carefuler, not to neglect + his Diplomacies at any time;—though he knows, better than most, that + good fighting of his own is what alone can determine the value of these + contingent and aerial quantities,—mere Lapland witchcraft the + greater part of them. + </p> + <p> + A second grand Intricacy and difficulty, still more enigmatic, and + pressing the tighter by its close neighborhood, was that with the Saxons. + "Are the Saxons enemies; are they friends? Neutrals at lowest; bound by + Treaty to lend Austria troops; but to lend for defence merely, not for + offence! Could not one, by good methods, make friends with his Polish + Majesty?" Friedrich was far from suspecting the rages that lurked in the + Polish Majesty, and least of all owing to what. Owing to that old + MORAVIAN-FORAY business; and to his, Friedrich's, behavior to the Saxons + in it; excellent Saxons, who had behaved so beautifully to Friedrich! That + is the sad fact, however. Stupid Polish Majesty has his natural envies, + jealousies, of a Brandenburg waxing over his head at this rate. But it + appears, the Moravian Foray entered for a great deal into the account, and + was the final overwhelming item. Bruhl, by much descanting on that famous + Expedition,—with such candid Eye-witnesses to appeal to, such + corroborative Staff-officers and appliances, powerful on the idle heart + and weak brain of a Polish Majesty,—has brought it so far. Fixed + indignation, for intolerable usage, especially in that Moravian-Foray + time: fixed; not very malignant, but altogether obstinate (as, I am told, + that of the pacific sheep species usually is); which carried Bruhl and his + Polish Majesty to extraordinary heights and depths in years coming! But + that will deserve a section to itself by and by. + </p> + <p> + A third difficulty, privately more stringent than any, is that of Finance. + The expenses of the late Bohemian Expedition, "Friedrich's Army costing + 75,000 pounds a month," have been excessive. For our next Campaign, if it + is to be done in the way essential, there are, by rigorous arithmetic, + "900,000 pounds" needed. A frugal Prussia raises no new taxes; pays its + Wars from "the Treasure," from the Fund saved beforehand for emergencies + of that kind; Fund which is running low, threatening to be at the lees if + such drain on it continue. To fight with effect being the one sure hope, + and salve for all sores, it is not in the Army, in the Fortresses, the + Fighting Equipments, that there shall be any flaw left! Friedrich's budget + is a sore problem upon him; needing endless shift and ingenuity, now and + onwards, through this war:—already, during these months, in the + Berlin Schloss, a great deal of those massive Friedrich-Wilhelm plate + Sumptuosities, especially that unparalleled Music-Balcony up stairs, all + silver, has been, under Fredersdorf's management, quietly taken away; + "carried over, in the night-time, to the Mint." [Orlich, ii. 126-128.] + </p> + <p> + And, in fact, no modern reader, not deeper in that distressing story of + the Austrian-Succession War than readers are again like to be, can imagine + to himself the difficulties of Friedrich at this time, as they already lay + disclosed, and kept gradually disclosing themselves, for months coming; + nor will ever know what perspicacity, patience of scanning, sharpness of + discernment, dexterity of management, were required at Friedrich's hands;—and + under what imminency of peril, too; victorious deliverance, or ruin and + annihilation, wavering fearfully in the balance for him, more than once, + or rather all along. But it is certain the deeper one goes into that + hideous Medea's Caldron of stupidities, once so flamy, now fallen extinct, + the more is one sensible of Friedrich's difficulties; and of the talent + for all kinds of Captaincy,—by no means in the Field only, or + perhaps even chiefly,—that was now required of him. Candid readers + shall accept these hints, and do their best:—Friedrich himself made + not the least complaint of men's then misunderstanding him; still less + will he now! We, keeping henceforth the Diplomacies, the vaporous + Foreshadows, and general Dance of Unclean Spirits with their intrigues and + spectralities, well underground, so far as possible, will stick to what + comes up as practical Performance on Friedrich's part, and try to give + intelligible account of that. + </p> + <p> + Valori says, he is greatly changed, and for the better, by these late + reverses of fortune. All the world notices it, says Valori. No longer that + brief infallibility of manner; that lofty light air, that politely + disdainful view of Valori and mankind: he has now need of men. Complains + of nothing, is cheerful, quizzical;—ardently busy to "grind out the + notches," as our proverb is; has a mild humane aspect, something of + modesty, almost of piety in him. Help me, thou Supreme Power, Maker of + men, if my purposes are manlike! Though one does not go upon the Prayers + of Forty-Hours, or apply through St. Vitus and such channels, there may be + something of authentic petition to Heaven in the thoughts of that young + man. He is grown very amiable; the handsomest young bit of Royalty now + going. He must fight well next Summer, or it will go hard with him! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VI.—VALORI GOES ON AN ELECTIONEERING MISSION TO DRESDEN. + </h2> + <p> + Some time in January, a new Frenchman, a "Chevalier de Courten," if the + name is known to anybody, was here at Berlin; consulting, settling about + mutual interests and operations. Since Belleisle is snatched from us, it + is necessary some Courten should come; and produce what he has got: little + of settlement, I should fear, of definite program that will hold water; in + regard to War operations chiefly a magazine of clouds. [Specimens of it, + in Ranke, iii. 219.] For the rest, the Bavarian question; and very + specially, Who the new Emperor is to be?"King of Poland, thinks your + Majesty?"—"By all means," answers Friedrich, "if you can! Detach him + from Austria; that will be well!" Which was reckoned magnanimous, at least + public-spirited, in Friedrich; considering what Saxony's behavior to him + had already been. "By all means, his Polish Majesty for Kaiser; do our + utmost, Excellencies Valori, Courten and Company!" answers Friedrich,—and + for his own part, I observe, is intensely busy upon Army matters, looking + after the main chance. + </p> + <p> + And so Valori is to go to Dresden, and manage this cloud or cobwebbery + department of the thing; namely, persuade his Polish Majesty to stand for + the Kaisership: "Baiern, Pfalz, Koln, Brandenburg, there are four votes, + Sire; your own is five: sure of carrying it, your Polish Majesty; backed + by the Most Christian King, and his Allies and resources!" And Polish + Majesty does, for his own share, very much desire to be Kaiser. But none + of us yet knows how he is tied up by Austria, Anti-Friedrich, Anti-French + considerations; and can only "accept if it is offered me:" thrice-willing + to accept, if it will fall into my mouth; which, on those terms, it has so + little chance of doing!—Saxony and its mysterious affairs and + intentions having been, to Friedrich, a riddle and trouble and + astonishment, during all this Campaign, readers ought to know the fact + well;—and no reader could stand the details of such a fact. Here, in + condensed form, are some scraps of Excerpt; which enable us to go with + Valori on this Dresden Mission, and look for ourselves:— + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + 1. FRIEDRICH'S POSITION TOWARDS SAXONY. + </h2> + <p> + "... By known Treaty, the Polish Majesty is bound to assist the Hungarian + with 12,000 men, 'whenever invaded in her own dominions.' Polish Majesty + had 20,000 in the field for that object lately,—part of them, 8,000 + of them, hired by Britannic subsidy, as he alleges. The question now is, + Will Saxony assist Austria in invading Silesia, with or without Britannic + subsidy? Friedrich hopes that this is impossible! Friedrich is deeply + unaware of the humor he has raised against himself in the Saxon + Court-circles; how the Polish Majesty regards that Moravian Foray; with + what a perfect hatred little Bruhl regards him, Friedrich; and to what + pitch of humor, owing to those Moravian-Foray starvings, marchings about + and inhuman treatment of the poor Saxon Army, not to mention other + offences and afflictive considerations, Bruhl has raised the simple Polish + Majesty against Friedrich. These things, as they gradually unfolded + themselves to Friedrich, were very surprising. And proved very + disadvantageous at the present juncture and for a long time afterwards. To + Friedrich disadvantageous and surprising; and to Saxony, in the end, + ruinous; poor Saxony having got its back broken by them, and never stood + up in the world since! Ruined by this wretched little Bruhl; and reduced, + from the first place in Northern Teutschland, to a second or third, or no + real place at all." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + 2. THERE IS A, "UNION OF WARSAW" (8th January, 1745); AND STILL MORE + SPECIALLY A "TREATY OF WARSAW" (8th January-18th May, 1745). + </h2> + <p> + "January 8th, 1745, before the Old Dessauer got ranked in Schlesien + against Traun, there had concluded itself at Warsaw, by way of + counterpoise to the 'Frankfurt Union,' a 'Union of Warsaw,' called also + 'Quadruple Alliance of Warsaw;' the Parties to which were Polish Majesty, + Hungarian ditto, Prime-Movers, and the two Sea-Powers as Purseholders; + stipulating, to the effect: 'We Four will hold together in affairs of the + Reich VERSUS that dangerous Frankfurt Union; we will'—do a variety + of salutary things; and as one practical thing, 'There shall be, this + Season, 30,000 Saxons conjoined to the Austrian Force, for which we + Sea-Powers will furnish subsidy.'—This was the one practical point + stipulated, January 8th; and farther than this the Sea-Powers did not go, + now or afterwards, in that affair. + </p> + <p> + "But there was then proposed by the Polish and Hungarian Majesties, in the + form of Secret Articles, an ulterior Project; with which the Sea-Powers, + expressing mere disbelief and even abhorrence of it, refused to have any + concern now or henceforth. Polish Majesty, in hopes it would have been + better taken, had given his 30,000 soldiers at a rate of subsidy + miraculously low, only 150,000 pounds for the whole: but the Sea-Powers + were inexorable, perhaps almost repented of their 150,000 pounds; and + would hear nothing farther of secret Articles and delirious Projects. + </p> + <p> + "So that the 'Union of Warsaw' had to retire to its pigeon-hole, content + with producing those 30,000 Saxons for the immediate occasion; and there + had to be concocted between the Polish and Hungarian Majesties themselves + what is now, in the modern Pamphlets, called a 'TREATY of Warsaw,'—much + different from the innocent, 'UNION of Warsaw;' though it is merely the + specifying and fixing down of what had been shadowed out as secret + codicils in said 'Union,' when the Sea-Power parties obstinately recoiled. + Treaty of Warsaw let us continue to call it; though its actual birth-place + was Leipzig (in the profoundest secrecy, 18th May, 1745), above four + months after it had tried to be born at Warsaw, and failed as aforesaid. + Warsaw Union is not worth speaking of; but this other is a Treaty highly + remarkable to the reader,—and to Friedrich was almost infinitely so, + when he came to get wind of it long after. + </p> + <p> + "Treaty which, though it proved abortional, and never came to fulfilment + in any part of it, is at this day one of the remarkablest bits of + sheepskin extant in the world. It was signed 18th May, 1745; [Scholl, ii. + 350.] and had cost a great deal of painful contriving, capable still of + new altering and retouching, to hit mutual views: Treaty not only for + reconquering Silesia (which to the Two Majesties, though it did not to the + Sea-Powers, seems infallible, in Friedrich's now ruined circumstances), + but for cutting down that bad Neighbor to something like the dimensions + proper for a Brandenburg Vassal;—in fact, quite the old 'Detestable + Project' of Spring, 1741, only more elaborated into detail (in which + Britannic George knows better than to meddle!)—Saxony to have share + of the parings, when we get them. 'What share?' asked Saxony, and long + keeps asking. 'A road to Warsaw; Strip of Country carrying us from the end + of the Lausitz, which is ours, into Poland, which we trust will continue + ours, would be very handy! Duchy of Glogau; some small paring of Silesia, + won't your Majesty?' 'Of my Silesia not one hand-breadth,' answered the + Queen impatiently (though she did at last concede some outlying + hand-breadths, famed old 'Circle of Schwiebus,' if I recollect); and they + have had to think of other equivalent parings for Saxony's behoof + (Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Saale-Circle, or one knows not what); and have + had, and will have, their adoes to get it fixed. Excellent bearskin to be + slit into straps; only the bear is still on his feet!—Polish Majesty + and Hungarian, Polish with especial vigor, Bruhl quite restless upon it, + are—little as Valori or any mortal could dream of it—engaged + in this partition of the bearskin, when Valori arrives. Of their innocent + Union of Warsaw, there was, from the first, no secret made; but the + Document now called 'TREATY of Warsaw' needs to lie secret and + thrice-secret; and it was not till 1756 that Friedrich, having unearthed + it by industries of his own, and studied it with great intensity for some + years, made it known to the world." [Adelung, v. 308. 397; Ranke, iii. 231 + (who, for some reason of his own, dates "3d May" instead of 18th]. + </p> + <p> + Treaties, vaporous Foreshadows of Events, have oftenest something of the + ghost in them; and are importune to human nature, longing for the Events + themselves; all the more if they have proved abortional Treaties, and + become doubly ghost-like or ghastly. Nevertheless the reader is to note + well this Treaty of Warsaw, as important to Friedrich and him; and indeed + it is perhaps the remarkablest Treaty, abortional or realized, which got + to parchment in that Century. For though it proved abortional, and no part + of it, now or afterwards, could be executed, and even the subsidy and + 30,000 Saxons (stipulated in the "UNION of Warsaw") became crow's-meat in + a manner,—this preternatural "Treaty of Warsaw," trodden down never + so much by the heel of Destiny, and by the weight of new Treaties, + superseding it or presupposing its impossibility or inconceivability, + would by no means die (such the humor of Bruhl, of the Two Majesties and + others); but lay alive under the ashes, carefully tended, for Ten or + Twenty Years to come;—and had got all Europe kindled again, for + destruction of that bad Neighbor, before it would itself consent to go + out! And did succeed in getting Saxony's back broken, if not the bad + Neighbor's,—in answer to the humor of little Bruhl; unfortunate + Saxony to possess such a Bruhl! + </p> + <p> + In those beautiful Saxon-Austrian developments of the Treaty of Warsaw, + Czarina Elizabeth, bobbing about in that unlovely whirlpool of intrigues, + amours, devotions and strong liquor, which her History is, took (ask not + for what reason) a lively part:—and already in this Spring of 1745, + they hope she could, by "a gift of two millions for her pleasures" (gift + so easy to you Sea-Powers), be stirred up to anger against Friedrich. And + she did, in effect, from this time, hover about in a manner questionable + to Friedrich; though not yet in anger, but only with the wish to be + important, and to make herself felt in Foreign affairs. Whether the + Sea-Powers gave her that trifle of pocket-money ("for her pleasures"), I + never knew; but it is certain they spent, first and last, very large + amounts that way, upon her and hers; especially the English did, with what + result may be considered questionable. + </p> + <p> + As for Graf von Bruhl, most rising man of Saxony, once a page; now by + industry King August III.'s first favorite and factotum; the fact that he + cordially hates Friedrich is too evident; but the why is not known to me. + Except indeed, That no man—especially no man with three hundred and + sixty-five fashionable suits of clothes usually about him, different suit + each day of the year—can be comfortable in the evident contempt of + another man. Other man of sarcastic bantering turn, too; tongue sharp as + needles; whose sayings many birds of the air are busy to carry about. Year + after year, Bruhl (doubtless with help enough that way, if there had + needed such) hates him more and more; as the too jovial Czarina herself + comes to do, wounded by things that birds have carried. And now we will go + with Valori,—seeing better into some things than Valori yet can. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + 3. VALORI'S ACCOUNT OF HIS MISSION (in compressed form). [Valori, i. + 211-219.] + </h2> + <p> + "Valori [I could guess about the 10th of February, but there is no date at + all] was despatched to Dresden with that fine project, Polish Majesty for + Kaiser: is authorized to offer 60,000 men, with money corresponding, and + no end of brilliant outlooks;—must keep back his offers, however, if + he find the people indisposed. Which he did, to an extreme degree; nothing + but vague talk, procrastination, hesitation on the part of Bruhl. This + wretched little Bruhl has twelve tailors always sewing for him, and three + hundred and sixty-five suits of clothes: so many suits, all pictured in a + Book; a valet enters every morning, proposes a suit, which, after + deliberation, with perhaps amendments, is acceded to, and worn at dinner. + Vainest of human clothes-horses; foolishest coxcomb Valori has seen: it is + visibly his notion that it was he, Bruhl, by his Saxon auxiliaries, by his + masterly strokes of policy, that checkmated Friedrich, and drove him from + Bohemia last Year; and, for the rest, that Friedrich is ruined, and will + either shirk out of Silesia, or be cut to ribbons there by the Austrian + force this Summer. To which Valori hints dissent; but it is ill received. + Valori sees the King; finds him, as expected, the fac-simile of Bruhl in + this matter; Jesuit Guarini the like: how otherwise? They have his Majesty + in their leash, and lead him as they please. + </p> + <p> + "At four every morning, this Guarini, Jesuit Confessor to the King and + Queen, comes to Bruhl; Bruhl settles with him what his Majesty shall + think, in reference to current business, this day; Guarini then goes, + confesses both Majesties; confesses, absolves, turns in the due way to + secular matters. At nine, Bruhl himself arrives, for Privy Council: 'What + is your Majesty pleased to think on these points of current business?' + Majesty serenely issues his thoughts, in the form of orders; which are + found correct to pattern. This is the process with his Majesty. A poor + Majesty, taking deeply into tobacco; this is the way they have him + benetted, as in a dark cocoon of cobwebs, rendering the whole world + invisible to him. Which cunning arrangement is more and more perfected + every year; so that on all roads he travels, be it to mass, to hunt, to + dinner, any-whither in his Palace or out of it, there are faithful + creatures keeping eye, who admit no unsafe man to the least glimpse of him + by night or by day. In this manner he goes on; and before the end of him, + twenty years hence, has carried it far. Nothing but disgust to be had out + of business;—mutinous Polish Diets too, some forty of them, in his + time, not one of which did any business at all, but ended in LIBERUM VETO, + and Billingsgate conflagration, perhaps with swords drawn: [See Buchholz, + 154; &c.]—business more and more disagreeable to him. What can + Valori expect, on this heroic occasion, from such a King? + </p> + <p> + "The Queen herself, Maria Theresa's Cousin, an ambitious hard-favored + Majesty,—who had sense once to dislike Bruhl, but has been quite + reconciled to him by her Jesuit Messenger of Heaven (which latter is an + oily, rather stupid creature, who really wishes well to her, and loves a + peaceable life at any price),—even she will not take the bait. + Valori was in Dresden nine days (middle part of February, it is likely); + never produced his big bait, his 60,000 men and other brilliancies, at + all. He saw old Feldmarschall Konigseck passing from Vienna towards the + Netherlands Camp; where he is to dry-nurse (so they irreverently call it, + in time coming) his Royal Highness of Cumberland, that magnificent English + Babe of War, and do feats with him this Summer." Konigseck, though Valori + did not know it, has endless diplomacies to do withal; inspections of + troops, advisings, in Hanover, in Holland, in Dresden here; [Anonymous,—Duke + of Cumberland,—p. 186.]—and secures the Saxon Electoral-Vote + for his Grand-Duke in passing. "The welcome given to Konigseck disgusted + Valori; on the ninth day he left; said adieu, seeing them blind to their + interest; and took post for Berlin,"—where he finds Friedrich much + out of humor at the Saxon reception of his magnanimities. [Valori, i. + 211-219; <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 81-85. For details on Bruhl, see + <i>Graf von Bruhl, Leben und Charakter</i> (1760, No Place): Anonymous, by + one Justi, a noted Pamphleteer of the time: exists in English too, or + partly exists; but is unreadable, except on compulsion; and totally + unintelligible till after very much inquiry elsewhere.] + </p> + <p> + This Saxon intricacy, indecipherable, formidable, contemptible, was the + plague of Friedrich's life, one considerable plague, all through this + Campaign. Perhaps nothing in the Diplomatic sphere of things caused him + such perplexity, vexation, indignation. An insoluble riddle to him; + extremely contemptible, yet,—with a huge Russia tacked to it, and + looming minatory in the distance,—from time to time, formidable + enough. Let readers keep it in mind, and try to imagine it. It cost + Friedrich such guessing, computing, arranging, rearranging, as would weary + the toughest reader to hear of in detail. How Friedrich did at last solve + it (in December coming), all readers will see with eyes!— + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MIDDLE-RHINE ARMY IN A STAGGERING STATE; THE BAVARIAN INTRICACY SETTLES + ITSELF, THE WRONG WAY. + </h2> + <p> + Early in March it becomes surmisable that Maillebois's Middle-Rhine Army + will not go a good road. Maillebois has been busy in those countries, + working extensive discontent; bullying mankind "to join the Frankfurt + Union," to join France at any rate, which nobody would consent to; and + exacting merciless contributions, which everybody had to consent to and + pay.—And now, on D'Ahremberg's mere advance, with that poor Fraction + of Pragmatic Army, roused from its winter sleep, Maillebois, without + waiting for D'Ahremberg's attack, rapidly calls in his truculent + detachments, and rolls confusedly back into the Frankfurt regions. + [Adelung, iv. 276-352 (December, 1744-March, 1745).] Upon which + D'Ahremberg—if by no means going upon Maillebois's throat—sets, + at least, to coercing Wilhelm of Hessen, our only friend in those parts; + who is already a good deal disgusted with the Maillebois procedures, and + at a loss what to do on the Kaiser's death, which has killed the Frankfurt + Union too. Wise Wilhelm consents, under D'Ahremberg's menaces, to become + Neutral; and recall his 6,000 out of Baiern,—wishes he had them home + beside him even now! + </p> + <p> + With an Election in the wind, it is doubly necessary for the French, who + have not even a Candidate as yet, to stand supreme and minatory in the + Frankfurt Country; and to King Friedrich it is painfully questionable, + whether Maillebois can do it. "Do it we will; doubt not that, your + Majesty!" answer Valori and the French;—and study to make + improvements, reinforcements, in their Rhine Army. And they do, at least, + change the General of their Middle-Rhine Army,—that is to say, + recall Prince Conti out of Italy, where he has distinguished himself, and + send Maillebois thither in his stead,—who likewise distinguishes + himself THERE, if that could be a comfort to us! Whether the distinguished + Conti will maintain that Frankfurt Country in spite of the Austrians and + their Election movements, is still a question with Friedrich, though + Valori continued assuring him (always till July came) that, it was beyond + question. "Siege of Tournay, vigorous Campaign in the Netherlands (for + behoof of Britannic George)!" this is the grand French program for the + Year. This good intention was achieved, on the French part; but this, like + Aaron's rod among the serpents, proved to have EATEN the others as it + wriggled along!— + </p> + <p> + Those Maillebois-D'Ahremberg affairs throw a damp on the Bavarian Question + withal;—in fact, settle the Bavarian Question; her Hungarian + Majesty, tired of the delays, having ordered Bathyani to shoulder arms + again, and bring a decision. Bathyani, with Barenklau to right of him, and + Browne (our old Silesian friend) to left, goes sweeping across those + Seckendorf-Segur posts, and without difficulty tumbles everything to ruin, + at a grand rate. The traitor Seckendorf had made such a choice of posts,—left + unaltered by Drum Thorring;—what could French valor do? Nothing; + neither French valor, nor Bavarian want of valor, could do anything but + whirl to the right-about, at sight of the Austrian Sweeping-Apparatus; and + go off explosively, as in former instances, at a rate almost unique in + military annals. Finished within three weeks or so!—We glance only + at two points of it. March 21st, Bathyani stood to arms (to BESOMS we + might call it), Browne on the left, Barenklau on the right: it was March + 21st when Bathyani started from Passau, up the Donau Countries;—and + within the week coming, see:— + </p> + <p> + "VILSHOFEN, 28th MARCH, 1745. Here, at the mouth of the Vils River + (between Inn and Iser), is the first considerable Post; garrison some + 4,000; Hessians and Prince Friedrich the main part,—who have their + share of valor, I dare say; but with such news out of Hessen, not to speak + of the prospects in this Country, are probably in poorish spirits for + acting. General Browne summons them in Vilshofen, this day; and, on their + negative, storms in upon them, bursts them to pieces; upon which they beat + chamade. But the Croats, who are foremost, care nothing for chamade: go + plundering, slaughtering; burn the poor Town; butcher [in round numbers] + 3,000 of the poor Hessians; and wound General Browne himself, while he too + vehemently interferes." [Adelung, iv. 356, and the half-intelligible + Foot-note in Ranke, iii. 220.] This was the finale of those 6,000 + Hessians, and indeed their principal function, while in French pay;—and + must have been, we can Judge how surprising to Prince Friedrich, and to + his Papa on hearing of it! Note another point. + </p> + <p> + Precisely about this time twelvemonth, "March 16th, 1746," the same Prince + Friedrich, with remainder of those Hessians, now again completed to 6,000, + and come back with emphasis to the Britannic side of things, was—marching + out of Edinburgh, in much state, with streamers, kettle-drums, Highness's + coaches, horses, led-horses, on an unexpected errand. [Henderson (Whig + Eye-witness). <i>History of the Rebellion,</i> 1745 and 1746 (London, + 1748, reprint from the Edinburgh edition), pp. 104, 106, 107.] Toward + Stirling, Perth; towards Killiecrankie, and raising of what is called "the + Siege of Blair in Athol" (most minute of "sieges," but subtending a great + angle there and then);—much of unexpected, and nearer home than + "Tournay and the Netherlands Campaign," having happened to Britannic + George in the course of this year, 1746! "Really very fine troops, those + Hessians [observes my orthodox Whig friend]: they carry swords as well as + guns and bayonets; their uniform is blue turned up with white: the Hussar + part of them, about 500, have scimitars of a great length; small horses, + mostly black, of Swedish breed; swift durable little creatures, with long + tails." Honors, dinners, to his Serene Highness had been numerous, during + the three weeks we had him in Edinburgh; "especially that Ball, February + 21st (o.s.), eve of his Consort the Princess Mary's Birthday [EVE of + birthday, "let us dance the auspicious morning IN] was, for affluence of + Nobility and Gentry of both sexes," a sublime thing...." + </p> + <p> + PFAFFENHOFEN, APRIL 15th. "Unfortunate Segur, the Segur of Linz three + years ago,—whose conduct was great, according to Valori, but + powerless against traitors and fate!—was again, once more, + unfortunate in those parts. Unfortunate Segur drew up at Pfaffenhofen + (centre of the Country, many miles from Vilshofen) to defend himself, when + fallen upon by Barenklau, in that manner; but could not, though with + masterly demeanor; and had to retreat three days, with his face to the + enemy, so to speak, fighting and manoeuvring all the way: no shelter for + him either but Munchen, and that, a most temporary one. Instead of taking + Straubingen, taking Passau, perhaps of pushing on to Vienna itself, this + is what we have already come to. No Rhine Army, Middle-Rhine Army, Coigny, + Maillebois, Conti, whoever it was, should send us the least reinforcement, + when shrieked to. No outlook whatever but rapid withdrawal, retreat to the + Rhine Army, since it will not stir to help us." [Adelung, iv. 360.] + </p> + <p> + "The young Kur-Baiern is still polite, grateful [to us French], overwhelms + us with politeness; but flies to Augsburg, as his Father used to do. + Notable, however, his poor fat little Mother won't, this time: 'No, I will + stay here, I for one, and have done with flying and running; we have had + enough of that!' Seckendorf, quite gone from Court in this crisis, + reappears, about the middle of April, in questionable capacity; at a place + called Fussen, not far off, at the foot of the Tyrol Hills;—where + certain Austrian Dignitaries seem also to be enjoying a picturesque + Easter! Yes indeed: and, on APRIL 22d, there is signed a 'PEACE OF FUSSEN' + there; general amicable AS-YOU-WERE, between Austria and Bavaria + ('Renounce your Anti-Pragmatic moonshine forevermore, vote for our + Grand-Duke; there is your Bavaria back, poor wretches!')—and + Seckendorf, it is presumable, will get his Turkish arrears liquidated. + </p> + <p> + "The Bavarian Intricacy, which once excelled human power, is settled, + then. Carteret and Haslang tried it in vain [dreadful heterodox intentions + of secularizing Salzburg, secularizing Passau, Regensburg, and loud + tremulous denial of such];—Carteret and Wilhelm of Hesseu + [Conferences of Hanau, which ruined Carteret], in vain; King Friedrich, + and many Kings, in vain: a thing nobody could settle;—and it has at + last settled itself, as the generality of ill-guided and unlucky things + do, by collapse. Delirium once out, the law of gravity acts; and there the + mad matter lies." + </p> + <p> + "Bought by Austria, that old villain!" cry the French. Friedrich does not + think the Austrians bought Seckendorf, having no money at present; but + guesses they may have given him to understand that a certain large arrear + of payment due ever since those Turkish Wars,—when Seckendorf, + instead of payment, was lodged in the Fortress of Gratz, and almost got + his head cut off,—should now be paid down in cash, or authentic + Paper-money, if matters become amicable. [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> + iii. 22; <i>Seckendorfs Leben,</i> pp. 367-376.] As they have done, in + Friedrich's despite;—who seems angrier at the old stager for this + particular ill-turn than for all the other many; and long remembers it, as + will appear. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VII.—FRIEDRICH IN SILESIA; UNUSUALLY BUSY. + </h2> + <p> + Here, sure enough, are sad new intricacies in the Diplomatic, hypothetic + sphere of things; and clouds piling themselves ahead, in a very minatory + manner to King Friedrich. Let King Friedrich, all the more, get his + Fighting Arrangements made perfect. Diplomacy is clouds; beating of your + enemies is sea and land. Austria and the Gazetteer world consider + Friedrich to be as good as finished: but that is privately far from being + Friedrich's own opinion;—though these occurrences are heavy and + dismal to him, as none of us can now fancy. + </p> + <p> + Herr Ranke has got access, in the Archives, to a series of private + utterances by Friedrich,—Letters from him, of a franker nature than + usual, and letting us far deeper into his mind;—which must have been + well worth reading in the original, in their fully dated and developed + condition. From Herr Ranke's Fragmentary Excerpts, let us, thankful for + what we have got, select one or two. The Letters are to Minister Podewils + at Berlin; written from Silesia (Neisse and neighborhood), where, since + the middle of March, Friedrich has been, personally pushing on his Army + Preparations, while the above sinister things befell. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + KING FRIEDRICH TO PODEWILS, IN BERLIN (under various dates, March-April, + 1745). + </h2> + <p> + NEISSE, 29th MARCH.... "We find ourselves in a great crisis. If we don't, + by mediation of England, get Peace, our enemies from different sides + [Saxony, Austria, who knows if not Russia withal!] will come plunging in + against me. Peace I cannot force them to. But if they must have War, we + will either beat them, or none of us will see Berlin again." [Ranke, iii. + 236 et seqq.] + </p> + <p> + APRIL (no day given).... "In any case, I have my troops well together. The + sicknesses are ceasing; the recruitments are coming in: shortly all will + be complete. That does not hinder us from making Peace, if it will only + come; but, in the contrary case, nobody can accuse me of neglecting what + was necessary." + </p> + <p> + APRIL 17th (still from Neisse).... "I toil day and night to improve our + situation. The soldiers will do their duty. There is none among us who + will not rather have his backbone broken than give up one foot-breadth of + ground. They must either grant us a good Peace, or we will surpass + ourselves by miracles of daring; and force the enemy to accept it from + us." + </p> + <p> + APRIL 20th. "Our situation is disagreeable; constrained, a kind of spasm: + but my determination is taken. If we needs must fight, we will do it like + men driven desperate. Never was there a greater peril than that I am now + in. Time, at its own pleasure, will untie this knot; or Destiny, if there + is one, determine the event. The game I play is so high, one cannot + contemplate the issue with cold blood. Pray for the return of my good + luck."—Two days hence, the poor young Kur-Baiern, deaf to the French + seductions and exertions, which were intense, had signed his "Peace of + Fussen" (22d April 1745),—a finale to France on the German Field, as + may be feared! The other Fragments we will give a little farther on. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich had left Berlin for Silesia March 15th; rather sooner than he + counted on,—Old Leopold pleading to be let home. At Glogau, at + Breslau, there had been the due inspecting: Friedrich got to Neisse on the + 23d (Bathyani just stirring in that Bavarian Business, Vilshofen and the + Hessians close ahead); and on the 27th, had dismissed Old Leopold, with + thanks and sympathies,—sent him home, "to recover his health." + Leopold's health is probably suffering; but his heart and spirits still + more. Poor old man, he has just lost—the other week, "5th February" + last—his poor old Wife, at Dessau; and is broken down with grief. + The soft silk lining of his hard Existence, in all parts of it, is torn + away. Apothecary Fos's Daughter, Reich's Princess, Princess of Dessau, + called by whatever name, she had been the truest of Wives; "used to attend + him in all his Campaigns, for above fifty years back." "Gone, now, forever + gone!"—Old Leopold had wells of strange sorrow in the rugged heart + of him,—sorrow, and still better things,—which he does not + wear on his sleeve. Here is an incident I never can forget;—dating + twelve or thirteen years ago (as is computable), middle of July, 1732. + </p> + <p> + "Louisa, Leopold's eldest Daughter, Wife of Victor Leopold, reigning + Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, lay dying of a decline." Still only + twenty-three, poor Lady, though married seven years ago;—the end now + evidently drawing nigh. "A few days before her death,—perhaps some + attendant sorrowfully asking, 'Can we do nothing, then?'—she was + heard to say, 'If I could see my Father at the head of his Regiment, yet + once!'"—Halle, where the Regiment lies, is some thirty or more miles + off; and King Friedrioh Wilhelm, I suppose, would have to be written to:—Leopold + was ready the soonest possible; and, "at a set hour, marched, in all pomp, + with banner flying, music playing, into the SCHLOSS-HOF (Palace Court) of + Bernburg; and did the due salutations and manoeuvrings,—his poor + Daughter sitting at her window, till they ended;"—figure them, the + last glitter of those muskets, the last wail of that band-music!—"The + Regiment was then marched to the Waisenhaus (ORPHAN-HOUSE), where the + common men were treated with bread and beer; all the Officers dining at + the Prince's Table. All the Officers, except Leopold alone, who stole away + out of the crowd; sat himself upon the balustrade of the Saale Bridge, and + wept into the river." [LEBEN (12mo; not Rannft's, but Anonymous like his), + p. 234 n.]—Leopold is now on the edge of seventy; ready to think all + is finished with him. Perhaps not quite, my tough old friend; recover + yourself a little, and we shall see! + </p> + <p> + Old Leopold is hardly home at Dessau, when new Pandour Tempests, tides of + ravaging War, again come beating against the Giant Mountains, pouring + through all passes; from utmost Jablunka, westward by Jagerndorf to Glatz, + huge influx of wild riding hordes, each with some support of Austrian + grenadiers, cannoniers; threatening to submerge Silesia. Precursors, + Friedrich need not doubt, of a strenuous regular attempt that way, + Hungarian Majesty's fixed intention, hope and determination is, To expel + him straightway from Silesia. Her Patent circulates, these three months; + calling on all men to take note of that fixed fact, especially on all + Silesian men to note it well, and shift their allegiance accordingly. + Silesian men, in great majority,—our friend the Mayor of Landshut, + for example?—are believed to have no inclination towards change: and + whoever has, had clearly better not show any till he see! [In Ranke (iii. + 234), there is vestige of some intended "voluntary subscription by the + common people of Glatz," for Friedrich's behoof;—contrariwise, in + Orlich (ii. 380, "6th February, 1745," from the Dessau Archives), notice + of one individual, suspected of stirring for Austria, whom "you are to put + under lock and key;"—but he runs off, and has no successor, that I + hear of.]— + </p> + <p> + Friedrich's thousand-fold preliminary orderings, movements, rearrangings + in his Army matters, must not detain us here;—still less his + dealings with the Pandour element, which is troublesome, rather than + dangerous. Vigilance, wise swift determination, valor drilled to its work, + can deal with phenomena of that nature, though never so furious and + innumerable. Not a cheering service for drilled valor, but a very needful + one. Continual bickerings and skirmishings fell out, sometimes rising to + sharp fight on the small scale:—Austrian grenadiers with cannon are + on that Height to left, and also on this to right, meaning to cut off our + march; the difficult landscape furnished out, far and wide, with Pandour + companies in position: you must clash in, my Burschen; seize me that + cannon-battery yonder; master such and such a post,—there is the + heart of all that network of armed doggery; slit asunder that, the network + wholly will tumble over the Hills again. Which is always done, on the part + of the Prussian Burschen; though sometimes not, without difficulty.—His + Majesty is forming Magazines at Neisse, Brieg, and the principal + Fortresses in those parts; driving on all manner of preparations at the + rapidest rate of speed, and looking with his own eyes into everything. The + regiments are about what we may call complete, arithmetically and + otherwise; the cavalry show good perfection in their new mode of + manoeuvring;—it is to be hoped the Fighting Apparatus generally will + give fair account of itself when the time comes. Our one anchor of hope, + as now more and more appears. + </p> + <p> + On the Pandour element he first tried (under General Hautcharmoi, with + Winterfeld as chief active hand) a direct outburst or two, with a view to + slash them home at once. But finding that it was of no use, as they always + reappeared in new multitudes, he renounced that; took to calling in his + remoter outposts; and, except where Magazines or the like remained to be + cared for, let the Pandours baffle about, checked only by the fortified + Towns, and more and more submerge the Hill Country. Prince Karl, to be + expected in the form of lion, mysteriously uncertain on which side coming + to invade us,—he, and not the innumerable weasel kind, is our + important matter! By the end of April (news of the PEACE OF FUSSEN coming + withal), Friedrich had quitted Neisse; lay cantoned, in Neisse Valley + (between Frankenstein and Patschkau, "able to assemble in forty-eight + hours"); studying, with his whole strength, to be ready for the mysterious + Prince Karl, on whatever side he might arrive;—and disregarding the + Pandours in comparison. + </p> + <p> + The points of inrush, the tideways of these Pandour Deluges seem to be + mainly three. Direct through the Jablunka, upon Ratibor Country, is the + first and chief; less direct (partly supplied by REFLUENCES from Ratibor, + when Ratibor is found not to answer), a second disembogues by Jagerndorf; + a third, the westernmost, by Landshut. Three main ingresses: at each of + which there fall out little Fights; which are still celebrated in the + Prussian Books, and indeed well deserve reading by soldiers that would + know their trade. In the Ratibor parts, the invasive leader is a General + Karoly, with 12,000 under him, who are the wildest horde of all: "Karoly + lodges in a wood: for himself there is a tent; his companions sleep under + trees, or under the open sky, by the edge of morasses." [Ranke, iii. 244.] + It was against this Karoly and his horde that Hautcharmoi's little + expedition, or express attacking party to drive them home again, was shot + out (8th-2lst April). Which did its work very prettily; Winterfeld, chief + hand in it, crowning the matter by a "Fight of Wurbitz," [Orlich, ii. 136 + (21st April).]—where Winterfeld, cutting the taproot, in his usual + electric way, tumbles Karoly quite INTO the morasses, and clears the + country of him for a time. For a time; though for a time only;—Karoly + or others returning in a week or two, to a still higher extent of + thousands; mischievous as ever in those Ratibor-Namslau countries. Upon + which, Friedrich, finding this an endless business, and nothing like the + most important, gives it up for the present; calls in his remoter + detachments; has his Magazines carted home to the Fortress Towns,—Karoly + trying, once or so, to hinder in that operation, but only again getting + his crown broken. ["Fight of Mocker," May 4th (Orlich, ii. 141).] Or if + carting be too difficult, still do not waste your Magazine:—Margraf + Karl, for instance, is ordered to Jagerndorf with his Detachment, "to eat + the Magazine;" hungry Pandours looking on, till he finish. On which + occasion a renowned little Fight took place (Fight of Neustadt, or of + Jagerndorf-Neustadt), as shall be mentioned farther on. + </p> + <p> + So that, for certain weeks to come, the Tolpatcheries had free course, in + those Frontier parts; and were left to rove about, under check only of the + Garrison Towns; Friedrich being obliged to look elsewhere after higher + perils, which were now coming in view. In which favorable circumstances, + Karoly and Consorts did, at last, make one stroke in those Ratibor + countries; that of Kosel, which was greatly consolatory. [26th May, 1743 + (Orlich, ii. 156-158).] "By treachery of an Ensign who had deserted to + them [provoked by rigor of discipline, or some intolerable thing], they + glided stealthily, one night, across the ditches, into Kosel" (a + half-fortified place, Prussian works only half finished): which, being the + Key of the Oder in those parts, they reckoned a glorious conquest; of good + omen and worthy of TE-DEUMS at Vienna. And they did eagerly, without the + least molestation, labor to complete the Prussian works at Kosel: "One + garrison already ours!"—which was not had from them without + battering (and I believe, burning), when General von Nassau came to + inquire after it; in Autumn next. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich had always hoped that the Saxons, who are not yet in declared + War with him, though bound by Treaty to assist the Queen of Hungary under + certain conditions, would not venture on actual Invasion of his + Territories; but in this, as readers anticipate, Friedrich finds himself + mistaken. Weissenfels is hastening from the Leitmeritz northwestern + quarter, where he has wintered, to join Prince Karl, who is gathering + himself from Olmutz and his southeastern home region; their full intention + is to invade Silesia together, and they hope now at length to make an end + of Friedrich and it. These Pandour hordes, supported by the necessary + grenadiers and cannoniers, are sent as vanguard; these cannot themselves + beat him; but they may induce him (which they do not) to divide his Force; + they may, in part, burn him away as by slow fire, after which he will be + the easier to beat. Instead of which, Friedrich, leaving the Pandours to + their luck, lies concentrated in Neisse Valley; watching, with all his + faculties, Prince Karl's own advent (coming on like Fate, indubitable, yet + involved in mysteries hitherto); and is perilously sensible that only in + giving that a good reception is there any hope left him. + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl "who arrived in Olmutz April 30th," commands in chief again,—saddened, + poor man, by the loss of his young Wife, in December last; willing to + still his grief in action for the cause SHE loved;—but old Traun is + not with him this year: which is a still more material circumstance. Traun + is to go this year, under cloak not of Prince Karl, but of Grand-Duke + Franz, to clear those Frankfurt Countries for the KAISERWAHL and him. + Prince Conti lies there, with his famous "Middle-Rhine Army" (D'Ahremberg, + from the western parts, not nearly so diligent upon him as one could + wish); and must, at all rates, be cleared away. Traun, taking command of + Bathyani's Army (now that it has finished the Bavarian job), is preparing + to push down upon Conti, while Bathyani (who is to supersede the laggard + D'Ahremberg) shall push vigorously up;—and before summer is over, we + shall hear of Traun again, and Conti will have heard!— + </p> + <p> + Friedrich's indignation, on learning that the Saxons were actually on + march, and gradually that they intended to invade him, was great; and the + whole matter is portentously enigmatic to him, as he lies vigilant in + Neisse Valley, waiting on the When and the How. Indignation;—and yet + there is need of caution withal. To be ready for events, the Old Dessauer + has, as one sure measure, been requested to take charge, once more, of a + "Camp of Observation" on the Saxon Frontier (as of old, in 1741); and has + given his consent: ["April 25th" consents (Orlich, ii. 130).] "Camp of + Magdeburg," "Camp of Dieskau;" for it had various names and figures; + checkings of your hand, then layings of it on, heavier, lighter and again + heavier, according to one's various READINGS of the Saxon Mystery; and we + shall hear enough about it, intermittently, till December coming: when it + ended in a way we shall not forget!—On which take this Note:— + </p> + <p> + "The Camp of Observation was to have begun May 1st; did begin somewhat + later, 'near Magdeburg,' not too close on the Frontier, nor in too + alarming strength; was reinforced to about 30,000; in which state [middle + of August] it stept forward to Wieskau, then to Dieskau, close on the + Saxon Border; and became,—with a Saxon Camp lying close opposite, + and War formally threatened, or almost declared, on Saxony by Friedrich,—an + alarmingly serious matter. Friedrich, however, again checked his hand; and + did not consummate till November-December. But did then consummate; + greatly against his will; and in a way flamingly visible to all men!" + [Orlich, ii. 130, 209, 210: <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> ii. 1224-1226; i. + 1117.] + </p> + <p> + Friedrich's own incidental utterances (what more we have of Fractions from + the Podewils Letters), in such portentous aspect of affairs, may now be + worth giving. It is not now to Jordan that he writes, gayly unbosoming + himself, as in the First War,—poor Jordan lies languishing, these + many months; consumptive, too evidently dying:—Not to Jordan, this + time; nor is the theme "GLOIRE" now, but a far different! + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FRIEDRICH TO PODEWILS (as before, April-May, 1745). + </h2> + <p> + April 20th or so, Orders are come to Berlin (orders, to Podewils's horror + at such a thought), Whitherward, should Berlin be assaulted, the Official + Boards, the Preciosities and household gods are to betake themselves:—to + Magdeburg, all these, which is an impregnable place; to Stettin, the Two + Queens and Royal Family, if they like it better. Podewils in horror, "hair + standing on end," writes thereupon to Eichel, That he hopes the + management, "in a certain contingency," will be given to Minister Boden; + he Podewils, with his hair in that posture, being quite unequal to it. + Friedrich answers:— + </p> + <p> + "APRIL 26th.... 'I can understand how you are getting uneasy, you + Berliners. I have the most to lose of you all; but I am quiet, and + prepared for events. If the Saxons take part,' as they surely will, 'in + the Invasion of Silesia, and we beat them, I am determined to plunge into + Saxony. For great maladies, there need great remedies. Either I will + maintain my all, or else lose my all. [Hear it, friend; and understand it,—with + hair lying flat!] It is true, the disaffection of the Russian Court, on + such trifling grounds, was not to be expected; and great misfortune can + befall us. Well; a year or two sooner, a year or two later,—it is + not worth one's while to bother about the very worst. If things take the + better turn, our condition will be surer and firmer than it was before. If + we have nothing to reproach ourselves with, neither need we fret and + plague ourselves about bad events, which can happen to any man.'—'I + am causing despatch a secret Order for Boden [on YOU know what], which you + will not deliver him till I give sign.'"—On hearing of the Peace of + Fussen, perhaps a day or so later, Friedrich again writes:— + </p> + <p> + "APRIL [no distinct date; Neisse still? QUITS Neisse, April 28th]. ... + Peace of Fussen, Bavaria turned against me? 'I can say nothing to it,—except, + There has come what had to come. To me remains only to possess myself in + patience. If all alliances, resources, and negotiations fail, and all + conjunctures go against me, I prefer to perish with honor, rather than + lead an inglorious life deprived of all dignity. My ambition whispers me + that I have done more than another to the building up of my House, and + have played a distinguished part among the crowned heads of Europe. To + maintain myself there, has become as it were a personal duty; which I will + fulfil at the expense of my happiness and my life. I have no choice left: + I will maintain my power, or it may go to ruin, and the Prussian name be + buried under it. If the enemy attempt anything upon us, we will either + beat him, or we will all be hewed to pieces, for the sake of our Country, + and the renown of Brandenburg. No other counsel can I listen to.'" + </p> + <p> + SAME LETTER, OR ANOTHER? (Herr Ranke having his caprices!)... "You are a + good man, my Podewils, and do what can be expected of you" (Podewils has + been apologizing for his terrors; and referring hopefully "to + Providence"): "Perform faithfully the given work on your side, as I on + mine; for the rest, let what you call 'Providence' decide as it likes [UNE + PROVIDENCE AVEUGLE? Ranke, who alone knows, gives "BLINDE VORSEHUNG." What + an utterance, on the part of this little Titan! Consider it as exceptional + with him, unusual, accidental to the hard moment, and perhaps not so + impious as it looks!]—Neither our prudence nor our courage shall be + liable to blame; but only circumstances that would not favor us.... + </p> + <p> + "I prepare myself for every event. Fortune may be kind or be unkind, it + shall neither dishearten me nor uplift me. If I am to perish, let it be + with honor, and sword in hand. What the issue is to be—Well, what + pleases Heaven, or the Other Party (J'AI JETE LE BONNET PAR DESSUS LES + MOULINS)! Adieu, my dear Podewils; become as good a philosopher as you are + a politician; and learn from a man who does not go to Elsner's Preaching + [fashionable at the time], that one must oppose to ill fortune a brow of + iron; and, during this life, renounce all happiness, all acquisitions, + possessions and lying shows, none of which will follow us beyond the + grave." [Ranke, iii. pp. 238-241.] + </p> + <p> + "By what points the Austrian-Saxon Armament will come through upon us? + Together will it be, or separately? Saxons from the Lausitz, Austrians + from Bohmen, enclosing us between two fires?"—were enigmatic + questions with Friedrich; and the Saxons especially are an enigma. But + that come they will, that these Pandours are their preliminary + veiling-apparatus as usual, is evident to him; and that he must not spend + himself upon Pandours; but coalesce, and lie ready for the main wrestle. + So that from April 28th, as above noticed, Friedrich has gone into + cantonments, some way up the Neisse Valley, westward of Neisse Town; and + is calling in his outposts, his detachments; emptying his Frontier + Magazines;—abandoning his Upper-Silesian Frontier more and more, and + in the end altogether, to the Pandour hordes; a small matter they, + compared to the grand Invasion which is coming on. Here, with shiftings up + the Neisse Valley, he lies till the end of May; watching Argus-like, and + scanning with every faculty the Austrian-Saxon motions and intentions, + until at length they become clear to him, and we shall see how he deals + with them. + </p> + <p> + His own lodging, or head-quarter, most of this time (4th May-27th May), is + in the pleasant Abbey of Camenz (mythic scene of that BAUMGARTEN-SKIRMISH + business, in the First Silesian War). He has excellent Tobias Stusche for + company in leisure hours; and the outlook of bright Spring all round him, + flowering into gorgeous Summer, as he hurries about on his many occasions, + not of an idyllic nature. [Orlich, ii. 139; Ranke, iii. 242-249.] But his + Army is getting into excellent completeness of number, health, equipment, + and altogether such a spirit as he could wish. May 22d, here is another + snatch from some Note to Podewils, from this balmy Locality, potential + with such explosions of another kind. CAMENZ, MAY 22d.... "The Enemies are + making movements; but nothing like enough as yet for our guessing their + designs. Till we see, therefore, the thunder lies quiet in us (LA FOUDRE + REPOSE EN MES MAINS). Ah, could we but have a Day like that May Eleventh!" + [Ranke, iii. 248 n.] + </p> + <p> + What "that May Eleventh" is or was? Readers are curious to know; + especially English readers, who guess FONTENOY. And Historic Art, if she + were strict, would decline to inform them at any length; for really the + thing is no better than a "Victory on the Scamander, and a Siege of Pekin" + (as a certain observer did afterwards define it), in reference to the + matter now on hand! Well, Pharsalia, Arbela, the Scamander, Armageddon, + and so many Battles and Victories being luminous, by study, to cultivated + Englishmen, and one's own Fontenoy such a mystery and riddle,—Art, + after consideration, reluctantly consents to be indulgent; will produce + from her Paper Imbroglios a slight Piece on the subject, and print instead + of burning. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter VIII.—THE MARTIAL BOY AND HIS ENGLISH versus THE LAWS OF + NATURE. + </h2> + <p> + "Glorious Campaign in the Netherlands, Siege of Tournay, final ruin of the + Dutch Barrier!" this is the French program for Season 1745,—no + Belleisle to contradict it; Belleisle secure at Windsor, who might have + leant more towards German enterprises. And to this his Britannic Majesty + (small gain to him from that adroitness in the Harz, last winter!) has to + make front. And is strenuously doing so, by all methods; especially by + heroic expenditure of money, and ditto exposure of his Martial Boy. Poor + old Wade, last year,—perhaps Wade did suffer, as he alleged, from + "want of sufficient authority in that mixed Army"? Well, here is a Prince + of the Blood, Royal Highness of Cumberland, to command in chief. With a + Konigseck to dry-nurse him, may not Royal Highness, luck favoring, do very + well? Luck did not favor; Britannic Majesty, neither in the Netherlands + over seas, nor at home (strange new domestic wool, of a tarry HIGHLAND + nature, being thrown him to card, on the sudden!), made a good Campaign, + but a bad. And again a bad (1746) and again (1747), ever again, till he + pleased to cease altogether. Of which distressing objects we propose that + the following one glimpse be our last. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BATTLE OF FONTENOY (11th May, 1745). + </h2> + <p> + ... "In the end of April, Marechal de Saxe, now become very famous for his + sieges in the Netherlands, opened trenches before Tournay; King Louis, + with his Dauphin, not to speak of mistresses, play-actors and cookery + apparatus (in wagons innumerable), hastens to be there. A fighting Army, + say of 70,000, besides the garrisons; and great things, it is expected, + will be done; Tournay, in spite of strong works and Dutch garrison of + 9,000, to be taken in the first place. + </p> + <p> + "Of the Siege, which was difficult and ardent, we will remember nothing, + except the mischance that befell a certain 'Marquis de Talleyrand' and his + men, in the trenches, one night. Night of the 8th-9th May, by carelessness + of somebody, a spark got into the Marquis's powder, two powder-barrels + that there were; and, with horrible crash, sent eighty men, Marquis + Talleyrand and Engineer Du Mazis among them, aloft into the other world; + raining down their limbs into the covered way, where the Dutch were very + inhuman to them, and provoked us to retaliate. [Espagnac, ii. 27.] Du + Mazis I do not know; but Marquis de Talleyrand turns out, on study of the + French Peerages, to be Uncle of a lame little Boy, who became Right + Reverend Tallyrand under singular conditions, and has made the name very + current in after-times!— + </p> + <p> + "Hearing of this Siege, the Duke of Cumberland hastened over from England, + with intent to raise the same. Mustered his 'Allied Army' (once called + 'Pragmatic'),—self at the head of it; old Count Konigseck, who was + NOT burnt at Chotusitz, commanding the small Austrian quota [Austrians + mainly are gone laggarding with D'Ahremberg up the Rhine]; and a Prince of + Waldeck the Dutch,—on the plain of Anderlecht near Brussels, May + 4th; [Anonymous, <i>Life of Cumberland,</i> p. 180; Espagnac, ii. 26.] and + found all things tolerably complete. Upon which, straightway, his Royal + Highness, 60,000 strong let us say, set forth; by slowish marches, and a + route somewhat leftward of the great Tournay Road [no place on it, except + perhaps STEENKERKE, ever heard of by an English reader]; and on Sunday, + 9th May, [Espagnac, ii. 27.] precisely on the morrow after poor Talleyrand + had gone aloft, reached certain final Villages: Vezon, Maubray, where he + encamps, Briffoeil to rear; Camp looking towards Tournay and the setting + sun,—with Fontenoy short way ahead, and Antoine to left of it, and + Barry with its Woods to right:—small peaceable Villages, which + become famous in the Newspapers shortly after. [Patch of Map at p. 440.] + Royal Highness, resting here at Vezon, is but some six or seven miles from + Tournay; in low undulating Country, woody here and there, not without + threads of running water, and with frequent Villages and their adjuncts: + the part of it now interesting to us lies all between the Brussels-Tournay + Road and the Scheld River,—all in immediate front of his Royal + Highness,—to southeastward from beleaguered Tournay, where said Road + and River intersect. How shall he make some impression on the Siege of + Tournay? That is now the question; and his Royal Highness struggles to + manoeuvre accordingly. + </p> + <p> + "Marechal de Saxe, whose habit is much that of vigilance, forethought, + sagacious precaution, singular in so dissolute a man, has neglected + nothing on this occasion. He knows every foot of the ground, having sieged + here, in his boyhood, once before. Leaving the siege-trenches at Tournay, + under charge of a ten or fifteen thousand, he has taken camp here; still + with superior force (56,000 as they count, Royal Highness being only + 50,000 ranked), barring Royal Highness's way. Tournay, or at least the + Marechal's trenches there, are on the right bank of the Scheld; which + flows from southeast, securing all on that hand. The broad Brussels + Highway comes in to him from the east;—north of that he has nothing + to fear, the ground being cut with bogs; no getting through upon him, that + way, to Tournay and what he calls the 'Under Scheld.' The 'Upper Scheld' + too, avail them nothing. There is only that triangle to the southeast, + between Road and River, where the Enemy is now manoeuvring in front of + him, from which damage can well come; and he has done his best to be + secure there. Four villages or hamlets, close to the Scheld and onwards to + the Great Road,—Antoine, Fontenoy, Barry, Ramecroix, with their + lanes and boscages,—make a kind of circular base to his triangle; + base of some six or eight miles; with hollows in it, brooks, and northward + a considerable Wood [BOIS DE BARRY, enveloping Barry and Ramecroix, which + do not prove of much interest to us, though the BOIS does of a good deal]. + In and before each of those villages are posts and defences; in Antoine + and Fontenoy elaborate redoubts, batteries, redans connecting: in the Wood + (BOIS DE BARRY), an abattis, or wall of felled trees, as well as cannon; + and at the point of the Wood, well within double range of Fontenoy, is a + Redoubt, called of Eu (REDOUTE D'EU, from the regiment occupying it), + which will much concern his Royal Highness and us. Saxe has a hundred + pieces of cannon [say the English, which is correct], consummately + disposed along this space; no ingress possible anywhere, except through + the cannon's throat; torrents of fire and cross-fire playing on you. He is + armed to the teeth, as they say; and has his 56,000 arranged according to + the best rules of tactics, behind this murderous line of works. If his + Royal Highness think of breaking in, he may count on a very warm reception + indeed. + </p> + <p> + "Saxe is only afraid his Royal Highness will not. Outside of these lines, + with a 50,000 dashing fiercely round us, under any kind of leading; + pouncing on our convoys; harassing and sieging US,—our siege of + Toumay were a sad outlook. And this is old Austrian Konigseck's opinion, + too; though, they say, Waldeck and the Dutch (impetuous in theory at + least) opined otherwise, and strengthened Royal Highness's view. Two young + men against one old: 'Be it so, then!' His Royal Highness, resolute for + getting in, manoeuvres and investigates, all Monday 10th; his cannon is + not to arrive completely till night; otherwise he would be for breaking in + at once: a fearless young man, fearless as ever his poor Father was; + certainly a man SANS PEUY, this one too; whether of much AVIS, we shall + see anon. + </p> + <p> + "Tuesday morning early, 11th May, 1745, cannon being up, and dispositions + made, his Royal Highness sallies out; sees his men taking their ground: + Dutch and Austrians to the left, chiefly opposite Antoine; English, with + some Hanoverians, in the centre and to the right; infantry in front, + facing Fontenoy, cavalry to rear flanking the Wood of Barry,—Konigseck, + Ligonier and others able, assisting to plant them advantageously; cannon + going, on both sides, the while; radiant enthusiasm, SANS PEUR ET SANS + AVIS, looking from his Royal Highness's face. He has been on horseback + since two in the morning; cannon started thundering between five and six,—has + killed chivalrous Grammont over yonder (the Grammont of Dettingen), almost + at the first volley. And now about the time when ploughers breakfast + (eight A.M., no ploughing hereabouts to-day!), begins the attack, + simultaneously or in swift succession, on the various batteries which it + will be necessary to attack and storm. + </p> + <p> + "The attacks took place; but none of them succeeded. Dutch and Austrians, + on the extreme left, were to have stormed Antoine by the edge of the + River; that was their main task; right skirt of them to help US meanwhile + with Fontenoy. And they advanced, accordingly; but found the shot from + Antoine too fierce: especially when a subsidiary battery opened from + across the River, and took them in flank, the Dutch and Austrians felt + astonished; and hastily drew aside, under some sheltering mound or + earthwork they had found for themselves, or prudently thrown up the night + before. There, under their earthwork, stood the Dutch and Austrians; + patiently expecting a fitter time,—which indeed never occurred; for + always, the instant they drew out, the batteries from Antoine, and from + across the River, instantly opened upon them, and they had to draw in + again. So that they stood there, in a manner, all day; and so to speak did + nothing but patiently expect when it should be time to run. For which they + were loudly censured, and deservedly. Antoine is and remains a total + failure on the part of the Dutch and Austrians. + </p> + <p> + "Royal Highness in person, with his English, was to attack Fontenoy;—and + is doing so, by battery and storm, at various points; with emphasis, + though without result. As preliminary, at an early stage he had sent + forward on the right, by the Wood of Barry, a Brigadier Ingoldsby 'with + Semple's Highlanders' and other force, to silence 'that redoubt yonder at + the point of the Wood,'—redoubt, fort, or whatever it be (famous + REDOUTE D'EU, as it turned out!),—which guards Fontenoy to north, + and will take us in flank, nay in rear, as we storm the cannon of the + Village. Ingoldsby, speed imperative on him, pushed into the Wood; found + French light-troops ('God knows how many of them!') prowling about there; + found the Redoubt a terribly strong thing, with ditch, drawbridge, what + not; spent thirty or forty of his Highlanders, in some frantic attempt on + it by rule of thumb;—and found 'He would need artillery' and other + things. In short, Ingoldsby, hasten what he might, could not perfect the + preparations to his mind, had to wait for this and for that; and did not + storm the Redoubt d'Eu at all; but hung fire, in an unaccountable manner. + For which he had to answer (to Court-Martial, still more to the + Newspapers) afterwards; and prove that it was misfortune merely, or + misfortune and stupidity combined. Too evident, the REDOUTE D'EU was not + taken, then or thenceforth; which might have proved the saving of the + whole affair, could Ingoldsby have managed it. Royal Highness attacked + Fontenoy, and re-attacked, furiously, thrice over; and had to desist, and + find Fontenoy impossible on those terms. + </p> + <p> + "Here is a piece of work. Repulsed at all those points; and on the left + and on the right, no spirit visible but what deserves repulse! His Royal + Highness blazes into resplendent PLATT-DEUTSCH rage, what we may call + spiritual white-heat, a man SANS PEUR at any rate, and pretty much SANS + AVIS; decides that he must and will be through those lines, if it please + God; that he will not be repulsed at his part of the attack, not he for + one; but will plunge through, by what gap there is [900 yards Voltaire + measures it (<i>OEuvres,</i> xxviii. 150 (SIECLE DE LOUIS QUINZE, c. xv. + "BATAILLE DE FONTENOI,"—elaborately exact on all such points).)] + between Fontenoy and that Redoubt with its laggard Ingoldsby; and see what + the French interior is like! He rallies rapidly, rearranges; forms himself + in thin column or columns [three of them, I think,—which gradually + got crushed into one, as they advanced, under cannon-shot on both hands),—wheeling + his left round, to be rear, his right to be head of said column or + columns. In column, the cannon-shot from Fontenoy on the left, and Redoubt + d'Eu on our right, will tell less on us; and between these two + death-dealing localities, by the hollowest, least shelterless way + discoverable, we mean to penetrate: (Forward, my men, steady and swift, + till we are through the shot-range, and find men to grapple with, instead + of case-shot and projectile iron!' Marechal de Saxe owned afterwards, 'He + should have put an additional redoubt in that place, but he did not think + any Army would try such a thing' (cannon batteries playing on each hand at + 400 yards distance);—nor has any Army since or before! + </p> + <p> + "These columns advance, however; through bushy hollows, water-courses, + through what defiles or hollowest grounds there are; endure the + cannon-shot, while they must; trailing their own heavy guns by hand, and + occasionally blasting out of them where the ground favors;—and do, + with indignant patience, wind themselves through, pretty much beyond + direct shot-range of either d'Eu or Fontenoy. And have actually got into + the interior mystery of the French Line of Battle,—which is not a + little astonished to see them there! It is over a kind of blunt ridge, or + rising ground, that they are coming: on the crown of this rising ground, + the French regiment fronting it (GARDES FRANCAISES as it chanced to be) + notices, with surprise, field-cannon pointed the wrong way; actual British + artillery unaccountably showing itself there. Regiment of GARDES rushes up + to seize said field-pieces: but, on the summit, perceives with amazement + that it cannot; that a heavy volley of musketry blazes into it (killing + sixty men); that it will have to rush back again, and report progress: + Huge British force, of unknown extent, is readjusting itself into column + there, and will be upon us on the instant. Here is news! + </p> + <p> + "News true enough. The head of the English column comes to sight, over the + rising ground, close by: their officers doff their hats, politely saluting + ours, who return the civility: was ever such politeness seen before? It is + a fact; and among the memorablest of this Battle. Nay a certain English + Officer of mark—Lord Charles Hay the name of him, valued surely in + the annals of the Hay and Tweeddale House—steps forward from the + ranks, as if wishing something. Towards whom [says the accurate Espagnac] + Marquis d'Auteroche, grenadier-lieutenant, with air of polite + interrogation, not knowing what he meant, made a step or two: 'Monsieur,' + said Lord Charles (LORD CHARLES-HAY), 'bid your people fire (FAITES TIRER + VOS GENS)!' 'NON, MONSIEUR, NOUS NE TIRONS JAMAIS LES PREMIERS (We never + fire first).' [Espagnac, ii. 60 (of the ORIGINAL, Toulouse, 1789); ii. 48 + of the German Translation (Leipzig, 1774), our usual reference. Voltaire, + endlessly informed upon details this time, is equally express: "MILORD + CHARLES HAY, CAPITAINE AUX GARDES ANGLAISES, CRIA: 'MESSIEURS DES GARDES + FRANCAISES, TIREZ!' To which Count d'Auteroche with a loud voice answered" + &c. (<i>OEuvres,</i> vol. xxviii. p. 155.) See also <i>Souvenirs du + Marquis de Valfons</i> (edited by a Grand-Nephew, Paris, 1860), p. 151;—a + poor, considerably noisy and unclean little Book; which proves + unexpectedly worth looking at, in regard to some of those poor Battles and + personages and occurrences: the Bohemian Belleisle-Broglio part, to my + regret, if to no other person's, has been omitted, as extinct, or + undecipherable by the Grand-Nephew.] After YOU, Sirs! Is not this a bit of + modern chivalry? A supreme politeness in that sniffing pococurante kind; + probably the highest point (or lowest) it ever went to. Which I have often + thought of." + </p> + <p> + It is almost pity to disturb an elegant Historical Passage of this kind, + circulating round the world, in some glory, for a century past: but there + has a small irrefragable Document come to me, which modifies it a good + deal, and reduces matters to the business form. Lord Charles Hay, + "Lieutenant-Colonel," practical Head, "of the First Regiment of + Foot-guards," wrote, about three weeks after (or dictated in sad spelling, + not himself able to write for wounds), a Letter to his Brother, of which + here is an Excerpt at first hand, with only the spelling altered:... "It + was our Regiment that attacked the French Guards: and when we came within + twenty or thirty paces of them, I advanced before our Regiment; drank to + them [to the French, from the pocket-pistol one carries on such + occasions], and told them that we were the English Guards, and hoped that + they would stand till we came quite up to them, and not swim the Scheld as + they did the Mayn at Dettingen [shameful THIRD-BRIDGE, not of wood, though + carpeted with blue cloth there]! Upon which I immediately turned about to + our own Regiment; speeched them, and made them huzza,"—I hope with a + will. "An Officer [d'Auteroche] came out of the ranks, and tried to make + his men huzza; however, there were not above three or four in their + Brigade that did." ["Ath, May ye 20th, o.s." (to John, Fourth Marquis of + Tweeddale, last "Secretary of State for Scotland," and a man of figure in + his day): Letter is at Yester House, East Lothian; Excerpt PENES ME.]... + </p> + <p> + Very poor counter-huzza. And not the least whisper of that sublime "After + you, Sirs!" but rather, in confused form, of quite the reverse; Hay having + been himself fired into ("fire had begun on my left;" Hay totally ignorant + on which side first),—fired into, rather feebly, and wounded by + those D'Auteroche people, while he was still advancing with shouldered + arms;—upon which, and not till which, he did give it them: in + liberal dose; and quite blew them off the ground, for that day. From all + which, one has to infer, That the mutual salutation by hat was probably a + fact; that, for certain, there was some slight preliminary talk and + gesticulation, but in the Homeric style, by no means in the + Espagnac-French,—not chivalrous epigram at all, mere rough banter, + and what is called "chaffing;"—and in short, that the French + Mess-rooms (with their eloquent talent that way) had rounded off the thing + into the current epigrammatic redaction; the authentic business-form of it + being ruggedly what is now given. Let our Manuscript proceed. + </p> + <p> + "D'Auteroche declining the first fire,"—or accepting it, if ever + offered, nobody can say,—"the three Guards Regiments, Lord Charles's + on the right, give it him hot and heavy, 'tremendous rolling fire;' so + that D'Auteroche, responding more or less, cannot stand it; but has at + once to rustle into discontinuity, he and his, and roll rapidly out of the + way. And the British Column advances, steadily, terribly, hurling back all + opposition from it; deeper and deeper into the interior mysteries of the + French Host; blasting its way with gunpowder;—in a magnificent + manner. A compact Column, slowly advancing,—apparently of some + 16,000 foot. Pauses, readjusts itself a little, when not meddled with; + when meddled with, has cannon, has rolling fire,—delivers from it, + in fact, on both hands such a torrent of deadly continuous fire as was + rarely seen before or since. 'FEU INFERNAL,' the French call it. The + French make vehement resistance. Battalions, squadrons, regiment after + regiment, charge madly on this terrible Column; but rush only on + destruction thereby. Regiment This storms in from the right, regiment That + from the left; have their colonels shot, 'lose the half of their people;' + and hastily draw back again, in a wrecked condition. The cavalry-horses + cannot stand such smoke and blazing; nor indeed, I think, can the + cavaliers. REGIMENT DU ROI rushing on, full gallop, to charge this Column, + got one volley from it [says Espagnac] which brought to the ground 460 + men. Natural enough that horses take the bit between their teeth; likewise + that men take it, and career very madly in such circumstances! + </p> + <p> + MAP Chap. VIII, Book 15, PAGE 440 GOES ABOUT HERE—— + </p> + <p> + "The terrible Column with slow inflexibility advances; cannon (now in + reversed position) from that Redoubt d'Eu ('Shame on you, Ingoldsby!'), + and irregular musketry from Fontenoy side, playing upon it; defeated + regiments making barriers of their dead men and firing there; Column + always closing its gapped ranks, and girdled with insupportable fire. It + ought to have taken Fontenoy and Redoubt d'Eu, say military men; it ought + to have done several things! It has now cut the French fairly in two;—and + Saxe, who is earnestly surveying it a hundred paces ahead, sends word, + conjuring the King to retire instantly,—across the Scheld, by + Calonne Bridge and the strong rear-guard there,—who, however, will + not. King and Dauphin, on horseback both, have stood 'at the Justice + (GALLOWS, in fact) of our Lady of the Woods,' not stirring much, + occasionally shifting to a windmill which is still higher,—ye + Heavens, with what intrepidity, all day!—'a good many country-folk + in trees close behind them.' Country-folk, I suppose, have by this time + seen enough, and are copiously making off: but the King will not, though + things do look dubious. + </p> + <p> + "In fact, the Battle hangs now upon a hair; the Battle is as good as lost, + thinks Marechal de Saxe. His battle-lines torn in two in that manner, + hovering in ragged clouds over the field, what hope is there in the + Battle? Fontenoy is firing blank, this some time; its cannon-balls done. + Officers, in Antoine, are about withdrawing the artillery,—then + again (on new order) replacing it awhile. All are looking towards the + Scheld Bridge; earnestly entreating his Majesty to withdraw. Had the + Dutch, at this point of time, broken heartily in, as Waldeck was urging + them to do, upon the redoubts of Antoine; or had his Royal Highness the + Duke, for his own behoof, possessed due cavalry or artillery to act upon + these ragged clouds, which hang broken there, very fit for being swept, + were there an artillery-and-horse besom to do it,—in either of these + cases the Battle was the Duke's. And a right fiery victory it would have + been; to make his name famous; and confirm the English in their mad method + of fighting, like Baresarks or Janizaries rather than strategic human + creatures. [See, in Busching's <i>Magazin,</i> xvi. 169 ("Your illustrious + 'Column,' at Fontenoy? It was fortuitous, I say; done like janizaries;" + and so forth), a Criticism worth reading by soldiers.] + </p> + <p> + "But neither of these contingencies had befallen. The Dutch-Austrian wing + did evince some wish to get possession of Antoine; and drew out a little; + but the guns also awoke upon them; whereupon the Dutch-Austrians drew in + again, thinking the time not come. As for the Duke, he had taken with him + of cannon a good few; but of horse none at all (impossible for horse, + unless Fontenoy and the Redoubt d'Eu were ours!)—and his horse have + been hanging about, in the Wood of Barry all this while, uncertain what to + do; their old Commander being killed withal, and their new a dubitative + person, and no orders left. The Duke had left no orders; having indeed + broken in here, in what we called a spiritual white-heat, without asking + himself much what he would do when in: 'Beat the French, knock them to + powder if I can!'—Meanwhile the French clouds are reassembling a + little: Royal Highness too is readjusting himself, now got '300 yards + ahead of Fontenoy,'—pauses there about half an hour, not seeing his + way farther. + </p> + <p> + "During which pause, Duc de Richelieu, famous blackguard man, gallops up + to the Marechal, gallops rapidly from Marechal to King; suggesting, 'were + cannon brought AHEAD of this close deep Column, might not they shear it + into beautiful destruction; and then a general charge be made?' So + counselled Richelieu: it is said, the Jacobite Irishman, Count Lally of + the Irish Brigade, was prime author of this notion,—a man of tragic + notoriety in time coming. ["Thomas Arthur Lally Comte de Tollendal," + patronymically "O'MULALLY of TULLINDALLY" (a place somewhere in Connaught, + undiscoverable where, not material where): see our dropsical friend (in + one of his wheeziest states), <i>King James's Irish Army-List</i> (Dublin, + 1855), pp. 594-600.] Whoever was author of it, Marechal de Saxe adopts it + eagerly, King Louis eagerly: swift it becomes a fact. Universal rally, + universal simultaneous charge on both flanks of the terrible Column: this + it might resist, as it has done these two hours past; but cannon ahead, + shearing gaps through it from end to end, this is what no column can + resist;—and only perhaps one of Friedrich's columns (if even that) + with Friedrich's eye upon it, could make its half-right-about (QUART DE + CONVERSION), turn its side to it, and manoeuvre out of it, in such + circumstances. The wrathful English column, slit into ribbons, can do + nothing at manoeuvring; blazes and rages,—more and more clearly in + vain; collapses by degrees, rolls into ribbon-coils, and winds itself out + of the field. Not much chased,—its cavalry now seeing a job, and + issuing from the Wood of Barry to cover the retreat. Not much chased;—yet + with a loss, they say, in all, of 7,000 killed and wounded, and about + 2,000 prisoners; French loss being under 5,000. + </p> + <p> + "The Dutch and Austrians had found that the fit time was now come, or + taken time by the forelock,—their part of the loss, they said, was a + thousand and odd hundreds. The Battle ended about two o'clock of the day; + had begun about eight. Tuesday, 11th May, 1745: one of the hottest + half-day's works I have known. A thing much to be meditated by the English + mind.—King Louis stept down from the Gallows-Hill of Our Lady; and + KISSED Marechal de Saxe. Saxe was nearly dead of dropsy; could not sit on + horseback, except for minutes; was carried about in a wicker bed; has had + a lead bullet in his mouth, all day, to mitigate the intolerable thirst. + Tournay was soon taken; the Dutch garrison, though strong, and in a strong + place, making no due debate. + </p> + <p> + "Royal Highness retired upon Ath and Brussels; hovered about, nothing + daunted, he or his: 'Dastard fellows, they would not come out into the + open ground, and try us fairly!' snort indignantly the Gazetteers and + enlightened Public. [Old Newspapers.] Nothing daunted;—but, as it + were, did not do anything farther, this Campaign; except lose Gand, by + negligence VERSUS vigilance, and eat his victuals,—till called home + by the Rebellion Business, in an unexpected manner! Fontenoy was the + nearest approach he ever made to getting victory in a battle; but a miss + too, as they all were. He was nothing like so rash, on subsequent + occasions; but had no better luck; and was beaten in all his battles—except + the immortal Victory of Culloden alone. Which latter indeed, was it not + itself (in the Gazetteer mind) a kind of apotheosis, or lifting of a man + to the immortal gods,—by endless tar-barrels and beer, for the time + being? + </p> + <p> + "Old Marechal de Noailles was in this Battle; busy about the redans, and + proud to see his Saxe do well. Chivalrous Grammont, too, as we saw, was + there,—-killed at the first discharge. Prince de Soubise too (not + killed); a certain Lord George Sackville (hurt slightly,—perhaps had + BETTER have been killed!)—and others known to us, or that will be + known. Army-Surgeon La Mettrie, of busy brain, expert with his tourniquets + and scalpels, but of wildly blusterous heterodox tongue and ways, is + thrice-busy in Hospital this night,—'English and French all one to + you, nay, if anything, the English better!' those are the Royal orders:—La + Mettrie will turn up, in new capacity, still blusterous, at Berlin, by and + by. + </p> + <p> + "The French made immense explosions of rejoicing over this Victory of + Fontenoy; Voltaire (now a man well at Court) celebrating it in prose and + verse, to an amazing degree (21,000 copies sold in one day); the whole + Nation blazing out over it into illuminations, arcs of triumph and + universal three-times-three:—in short, I think, nearly the heartiest + National Huzza, loud, deep, long-drawn, that the Nation ever gave in like + case. Now rather curious to consider, at this distance of time. Miraculous + Anecdotes, true and not true, are many. Not to mention again that + surprising offer of the first fire to us, what shall we say of the 'two + camp-sutlers whom I noticed,' English females of the lowest degree; 'one + of whom was busy slitting the gold-lace from a dead Officer, when a + cannon-ball came whistling, and shore her head away. Upon which, without + sound uttered, her neighbor snatched the scissors, and deliberately + proceeded.' [De Hordt, <i>Memoires,</i> i. 108. A FRENCH OFFICER'S ACCOUNT + (translated in <i>Gentleman's Magazine,</i> 1745; where, pp. 246, 250, + 291, 313, &c., are many confused details and speculations on this + subject).] A deliberate gloomy people;—unconquerable except by + French prowess, glory to that same!" + </p> + <p> + Britannic Majesty is not successful this season; Highland Rebellions + rising on him, and much going awry. He is founding his National Debt, poor + Majesty; nothing else to speak of. His poor Army, fighting never so well + in Foreign quarrels,—and generally itself standing the brunt, with + the co-partners looking on till it is time to run (as at Roucoux again + next season, and at Lauffeld next),—can win nothing but hard knocks + and losses. And is defined by mankind,—in phraseology which we have + heard again since then!—as having "the heart of a Lion and the head + of an Ass." [Old Pamphlets, SOEPIUS.] Portentous to contemplate!— + </p> + <p> + Cape Breton was besieged this Summer, in a creditable manner; and taken. + The one real stroke done upon France this Year, or indeed (except at sea) + throughout the War. "Ruin to their Fisheries, and a clear loss of + 1,400,000 pounds a year." Compared with which all these fine "Victories in + Flanders" are a bottle of moonshine. This was actually a kind of stroke;—and + this, one finds, was accomplished, under presidency of a small squadron of + King's ships, by ('New-England Volunteers," on funds raised by + subscription, in the way of joint-stock. A shining Colonial feat; said to + be very perfectly done, both scrip part of it, and fighting part;) + [Adelung, v. 32-35 ("27th June, 1745, after a siege of forty-nine days"): + see "Gibson, <i>Journal of the Siege;"</i> "Mr. Prince (of the South + Church, Boston), THANKSGIVING SERMON (price fourpence);" &c. &c.: + in the Old Newspapers, 1745, 1748, multifarious Notices about it, and then + about the "repayment" of those excellent "joint-stock" people.]—and + might have yielded, what incalculable dividends in the Fishery way! But + had to be given up again, in exchange for the Netherlands, when Peace + came. Alas, your Majesty! Would it be quite impossible, then, to go direct + upon your own sole errand, the JENKINS'S-EAR one, instead of stumbling + about among the Foreign chimney-pots, far and wide, under nightmares, in + this terrible manner?—Let us to Silesia again. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter IX.—THE AUSTRIAN-SAXON ARMY INVADES SILESIA, ACROSS THE + MOUNTAINS. + </h2> + <p> + Valori, who is to be of Friedrich's Campaign this Year, came posting off + directly in rear of the glorious news of Fontenoy; found Friedrich at + Camenz, rather in spirits than otherwise; and lodged pleasantly with Abbot + Tobias and him, till the Campaign should begin. Two things surprise + Valori: first, the great strength, impregnable as it were, to which Neisse + has been brought since he saw it last,—superlative condition of that + Fortress, and of the Army itself, as it gathers daily more and more about + Frankenstein here:—and then secondly, and contrariwise, the + strangely neglected posture of mountainous or Upper Silesia, given up to + Pandours. Quite submerged, in a manner: Margraf Karl lies quiet among them + at Jagerndorf, "eating his magazine;" General Hautcharmoi (Winterfeld's + late chief in that Wurben affair), with his small Detachment, still hovers + about in those Ratibor parts, "with the Strong Towns to fall-back upon," + or has in effect fallen back accordingly; and nothing done to coerce the + Pandours at all. While Prince Karl and Weissenfels are daily coming on, in + force 100,000, their intention certain; force, say, about 100,000 regular! + Very singular to Valori. + </p> + <p> + "Sire, will not you dispute the Passes, then?" asks Valori, amazed: "Not + defend your Mountain rampart, then?" "MON CHER; the Mountain rampart is + three or four hundred miles long; there are twelve or twenty practicable + roads through it. One is kept in darkness, too; endless Pandour doggery + shutting out your daylight:—ill defending such a rampart," answers + Friedrich. "But how, then," persists Valori; "but—?" "One day the + King answered me," says Valori, "'MON AMI, if you want to get the mouse, + don't shut, the trap; leave the trap open (ON LAISSE LA SOURICIERE + OUVERTE)!'" Which was a beam of light to the inquiring thought of Valori, + a military man of some intelligence. [See VALORI, i. 222, 224, 228.] + </p> + <p> + That, in fact, is Friedrich's purpose privately formed. He means that the + Austrians shall consider him cowed into nothing, as he understands they + already do; that they shall enter Silesia in the notion of chasing him; + and shall, if need be, have the pleasure of chasing him,—till + perhaps a right moment arrive. For he is full of silent finesse, this + young King; soon sees into his man, and can lead him strange dances on + occasion. In no man is there a plentifuler vein of cunning, nor of a finer + kind. Lynx-eyed perspicacity, inexhaustible contrivance, prompt ingenuity,—a + man very dangerous to play with at games of skill. And it is cunning + regulated always by a noble sense of honor, too; instinctively abhorrent + of attorneyism and the swindler element: a cunning, sharp as the vulpine, + yet always strictly human, which is rather beautiful to see. This is one + of Friedrich's marked endowments. Intellect sun-clear, wholly practical + (need not be specially deep), and entirely loyal to the fact before it; + this—if you add rapidity and energy, prompt weight of stroke, such + as was seldom met with—will render a man very dangerous to his + adversary in the game of war.—Here is the last of our Pandour + Adventures for the present:— + </p> + <p> + "From May 12th, Friedrich had been gathering closer and closer about + Frankenstein; by the end of the month (28th, as it proved) he intends that + all Detachments shall be home, and the Army take Camp there. The most are + home; Margraf Karl, at Jagerndorf, has not yet done eating his magazine; + but he too must come home. Summon the Margraf home:—it is not + doubted he will cut himself through, he and his 12,000; but such is the + swarm of Pandours hovering between him and us, no estafette, or cleverest + letter-bearer, can hope to get across to him. Ziethen with 500 Hussars, he + must take the Letter; there is no other way. Ziethen mounts; fares swiftly + forth, towards Neustadt, with his Letter; lodges in woods; dodges the + thick-crowding Tolpatcheries (passes himself off for a Tolpatchery, say + some, and captures Hungarian Staff-Officers who come to give him orders + [Frau van Blumenthal, <i>Life of De Ziethen,</i> pp. 171-181 (extremely + romantic; now given up as mythical, for most part): see Orlich (ii. 150); + but also Ranke (iii. 245), Preuss, &c.]); is at length found out, and + furiously set upon, 'Ziethen, Hah!'—but gets to Jagerndorf, Margraf + Karl coming out to the rescue, and delivers his Letter. 'Home, then, all + of us to-morrow!' And so, Saturday, 22d May, before we get to Neustadt on + the way home, there is an authentic passage of arms, done very brilliantly + by Margraf Karl against Pandours and others. + </p> + <p> + "To right of us, to left, barring our road, the enemy, 20,000 of them, + stand ranked on heights, in chosen positions; cannon-batteries, + grenadiers, dragoons of Gotha and infinite Pandours: military jungle + bristling far and wide. And you must push it heartily, and likewise cut + the tap-root of it (seize its big guns), or it will not roll away. Margraf + Karl shoots forth his steady infantry ('Silent till you see the whites of + their eyes!'),—his cavalry with new manoeuvres; whose behavior is + worthy of Ziethen himself:—in brief, the jungle is struck as by a + whirlwind, the tap-root of it cut, and rolls simultaneously out of range, + leaving only the Regiment of Gotha, Regiment of Ogilvy and some Regulars, + who also get torn to shreds, and utterly ruined. Seeing which, the Pandour + jungle plunges wholly into the woods, uttering horrible cries (EN POUSSANT + DES CRIS TERRIBLES), says Friedrich. [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. + 106. More specially BERICHTE VON DER AM 22 MAI, 1745 BEY NEUSTADT IN + OBER-SCHLESIEN VORGEFALLENER ACTION (Seyfarth, <i>Beylage,</i> i. + 159-166).] Our new cavalry-manoeuvres deserve praise. Margraf Karl had the + honor to gain his Cousin's approbation this day; and to prove himself, + says the Cousin, (worthy of the grandfather he came from,'—my own + great-grandfather; Great Elector, Friedrich-Wilhelm; whose style of motion + at Fehrbellin, or on the ice of the Frische Haf (soldiers all in sledges, + tearing along to be at the Swedes), was probably somewhat of this + kind."... + </p> + <p> + "Some days ago, Winterfeld had been pushed out to Landshut, with + Detachment of 2,000, to judge a little for himself which way the Austrians + were coming, and to scare off certain Uhlans (the SAXON species of + Tolpatchery), who were threatening to be mischievous thereabouts. The + Uhlans, at sound of Winterfeld, jingled away at once: but, in a day or + two, there came upon him, on the sudden, Pandour outburst in quite other + force;—and in the very hours while Ziethen was struggling into + Jagerndorf, and still more emphatically next day, while Margraf Karl was + handling his Pandours,—Colonel Winterfeld, a hundred miles to + westward lapped among the Mountains, chanced to be dealing again with the + same article. Very busy with it, from 4 o'clock this morning; likely to + give a good account of the job. Steadily defending Landshut and himself, + against the grenadier battalions, cannon and furious overplus of Pandours + (8,000 or 9,000, it is said, six to one or so in the article of cavalry), + which General Nadasti, a scientific leader of men or Pandours, skilfully + and furiously hurls upon Landshut and him, in an unexpected manner. + Colonel Winterfeld had need of all his heart and energy, in the intricate + ground; against the furious overplus well manoeuvred: but in him too there + are manoeuvres; if he fall back here, it is to rush on double strong + there; hour after hour he inexpugnably defends himself,—till General + Stille, Friedrich's old Tutor, our worthy writing friend, whom we + occasionally quote, comes up with help; and Nadasti is at once brushed + home again, with sore smart of failure, and 'the loss of 600 killed,' + among other items. [<i>Bericht von der am 21 Mai, 1745 bey Landshut + rorgefallener Action, in Feldzuge,</i> i. 302-305 (or in Seyfarth, <i>Beylage,</i> + i. 155-158); <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 105; Stille, pp. 120-124 + (who misdates, "23d May" for 22d).] Colonel Winterfeld was made + Major-General next day, for this action. Colonel Winterfeld is cutting out + a high course for himself, by his conduct in these employments; solidity, + brilliant effectuality, shining through all he does; his valor and value, + his rapid just insight, fiery energy and nobleness of mind more and more + disclosing themselves,—to one who is a judge of men, and greatly + needs for his own use the first-rate quality in that article." + </p> + <p> + Friedrich has left the mouse-trap open;—and latterly has been + baiting it with a pleasant spicing of toasted cheese. One of his Spies, + reporting from Prince Karl's quarters, Friedrich has at this time + discovered to be a Double-Spy, reporting thither as well. Double-Spy, + there is an ugly fact;—perhaps not quite convenient to abolish it by + hemp and gibbet; perhaps it could be turned to use, as most facts can? + "Very good, my expert Herr von Schonfeld [that was the knave's name]; and + now of all things, whenever the Prince does get across,—instant word + to us of that! Nothing so important to us. If he should get BETWEEN us and + Breslau, for example, what would the consequence be!" To this purport + Friedrich instructs his Double-Spy; sends him off, unhanged, to Prince + Karl's Camp, to blab this fresh bit of knowledge. "We likewise," says + Friedrich, "ordered some repairs on the roads leading to Breslau;"—last + turn of the hand to our bit of toasted fragrancy. And Prince Karl is + actually striding forward, at an eager pace:—and Nadasti VERSUS + Winterfeld, the other day, could Winterfeld have guessed it, was the + actual vanguard of the march; and will be up again straightway! Whereupon + Winterfeld too is called home; and all eyes are bent on the Landshut side. + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl, under these fine omens, had been urgent on the Saxons to be + swift; Saxons under Weissenfels did at last "get their cannon up," and we + hear of them for certain, in junction with the Austrians, at Schatzlar, on + the Bohemian side of the Giant-Mountains; climbing with diligence those + wizard solitudes and highland wastes. In a word, they roll across into + Silesia, to Landshut (29th May); nothing doubting but Friedrich has + cowered into what retreats he has, as good as desperate of Silesia, and + will probably be first heard of in Breslau, when they get thither with + their sieging guns. No cautious sagacious old Feldmarschall Traun is in + that Host at present; nothing but a Prince Karl, and a poor Duke of + Weissenfels; who are too certain of several things;—very capable of + certainty, and also of doubt, the wrong way of the facts. Their force is, + by strict count, 75,000; and they march from Landshut, detained a little + by provender concerns, on the last day of May. [Orlich, ii. 146; Ranke, + iii. 247; Stenzel, iv. 245.] + </p> + <p> + May 28th, Friedrich had encamped at Frankenstein; May 30th, he sets forth + northwestward, to be nearer the new scene; encamps at Reichenbach, that + night; pushes forward again, next day, for Schweidnitz, for Striegau (in + all, a shift northwest of some forty miles);—and from June 1st, lies + stretched out between Schweidnitz and Striegau, nine miles long; well + hidden in the hollows of the little Rivers thereabouts (Schweidnitz Water, + Striegau Water), with their little knolls and hills; watching Prince + Karl's probable place of egress from the Mountain Country opposite. His + main Camp is from Schweidnitz to Jauernik, some five miles long; but he + has his vanguard up as far as Striegau, Dumoulin and Winterfeld as + vanguard, in good strength, a little way behind or westward of that Town + and Stream; Nassau and his Division are screened in the Wood called + Nonnenbusch (NUN'S BUSH), and there are outposts sprinkled all about, and + vedettes watching from the hill-tops, from the Stanowitz Foxhill; the + Zedlitz "Cowhill," "Winchill:" an Army not courting observation, but + intent very much to observe. Nadasti has appeared again; at Freyburg, few + miles off, on this side of the Mountains; goes out scouting, + reconnoitring; but is "fired at from the growing corn," and otherwise + hoodwinked by false symptoms, and makes little of that business. + Friedrich's Army we will compute at 70,000. [General-Lieutenant Freiherr + Leo von Lutzow, <i>Die Schlacht von Hohenfriedbeg</i> (Potsdam, 1845), pp. + 18, 21.] Not quite equal in number to Prince Karl's; and, in other + particulars, willing and longing that Prince Karl would arrive, and try + its quality. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich's head-quarter is at Jauernik: he goes daily riding hither, + thither; to the top of the Fuchsberg (FOXHILL at Stanowitz) with eager + spy-glass; daily many times looks with his spy-glass to the ragged peaks + about Bolkenhayn, Kauder, Rohnstock; expecting the throw of the dice from + that part. On Thursday, 3d June: Do you notice that cloud of dust rising + among the peaks over yonder? Dust-cloud mounting higher and higher. There + comes the big crisis, then! There are the combined Weissenfels and Karl + with their Austrian Saxons, issuing proudly from their stone labyrinth; + guns, equipments, baggages, all perfectly brought through; rich Silesian + plain country now fairly at their feet, Breslau itself but a few marches + off:—at sight of all which, the Austrian big host bursts forth into + universal field-music, and shakes out its banners to the wind. Thursday, + 3d June, 1745; a dramatic Entry of something quite considerable on the + Stage of History. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich, with Nassau and generals round, stands upon the Fuchsberg,—his + remarks not given, his looks or emotions not described to us, his thought + well known,—and looks at it through his TUBUS (or spy-glass): There + they are, then, and the big moment is come! Friedrich had seen the dust + and the manoeuvring of them, deeper in the Hills, from this same Fuchsberg + yesterday, and inferred what was coming; calculated by what roads or + hill-tracks they could issue: and how he, in each case, was to deal with + them; his march-routes are all settled, plank-bridges repaired, all + privately is ready for these proud Austrian musical gentlemen, here in the + hollow. Friedrich has been upon this Fuchsberg with his TUBUS daily, many + times since Monday last: it is our general observatorium, says Stille, and + commands a fine view into the interior of these Hills. A Fuchsberg which + has become notable in the Prussian maps: "the Stanowitz Fuchsberg," east + side of Striegau Water,—let no tourist mistake himself; for there + are two or even three other Fuchsbergs, a mile or so northward on the + western side of that Stream, which need to be distinguished by epithets, + as the Striegau Fuchsberg, the Graben Fuchsberg, and perhaps still others: + comparable to the FOUR Neisse rivers, three besides the one we know, which + occur in this piece of Country! Our German cousins, I have often sorrowed + to find, have practically a most poor talent for GIVING NAMES; and indeed + much, for ages back, is lying in a sad state of confusion among them. Many + confused things, rotting far and wide, in contradiction to the plainest + laws of Nature; things as well as names! All the welcomer this Prussian + Army, this young Friedrich leading it; they, beyond all earthly entities + of their epoch, are not in a state of confusion, but of most strict + conformity to the laws of Arithmetic and facts of Nature: perhaps a very + blessed phenomenon for Germany in the long-run. + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl with Weissenfels, General Berlichingen and many plumed + dignitaries, are dining on the Hill-top near Hohenfriedberg: after having + given order about everything, they witness there, over their wine, the + issue of their Columns from the Mountains; which goes on all afternoon, + with field-music, spread banners; and the oldest General admits he never + saw a finer review-manoeuvre, or one better done, if so well. Thus sit + they on the Hill-top (GALGENBERG, not far from the gallows of the place, + says Friedrich), in the beautiful June afternoon. Silesia lying + beautifully azure at their feet; the Zobtenberg, enchanted Mountain, blue + and high on one's eastern horizon; Prussians noticeable only in weak + hussar parties four or five miles off, which vanish in the hollow grounds + again. All intending for Breslau, they, it is like;—and here, red + wine and the excellent manoeuvre going on. "The Austrian-and-Saxon Army + streamed out all afternoon," says a Country Schoolmaster of those parts, + whose Day-book has been preserved, [In Lutzow, pp. 123-132.] "each + regiment or division taking the place appointed it; all afternoon, till + late in the night, submerging the Country as in a deluge," five miles long + of them; taking post at the foot of the Hills there, from Hohenfriedberg + round upon Striegau, looking towards the morrow's sunrise. To us poor + country-folk not a beautiful sight; their light troops flying ahead, and + doing theft and other mischief at a sad rate. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, the Austrian and Saxon gentlemen, from their + Gallows-Hill at Hohenfriedberg, notice, four or five miles in the + distance, opposite them, or a little to the left of opposite, a Body of + Prussian horse and foot, visibly wending northward; like a long glittering + serpent, the glitter of their muskets flashing back yonder on the + afternoon sun and us, as they mount from hollow to height. Ten or twelve + thousand of them; making for Striegau, to appearance. Intending to bivouac + or billet there, and keep some kind of watch over us; belike with an eye + to being rear-guard, on the retreat towards Breslau to-morrow? Or will + they retreat without attempting mischief? Serenity of Weissenfels engages + to seize the heights and proper posts, over yonder, this night yet; and + will take Striegau itself, the first thing, to-morrow morning. + </p> + <p> + Yes, your Serenities, those are Prussians in movement: Vanguard Corps of + Dumoulin, Winterfeld;—Rittmeister Seydlitz rides yonder:—and + it is not their notion to retreat without mischief. For there stands, not + so far off, on the Stanowitz Fuchsberg, a brisk little Gentleman, if you + could notice him; with his eyes fixed on you, and plans in the head of him + now getting nearly mature. For certain, he is pushing out that column of + men; and all manner of other columns are getting order to push out, and + take their ground; and to-morrow morning—you will not find him in + retreat! Such are the phenomena in that Striegau-Hohenfriedberg region, + while the sun is bending westward, on Thursday, 3d June, 1745. + </p> + <p> + "From Hohenfriedberg, which leans against the higher Mountains, there may + be, across to Striegau northeast, which stands well apart from them, among + lower Hills of its own, a distance of about five English miles. The + intervening country is of flat, though upland nature: the first broad + stage, or STAIR-STEP, so to speak, leading down into the general interior + levels of Silesia in those parts. A tract which is now tolerably dried by + draining, but was then marshy as well as bushy:—flat to the eye, yet + must be imperceptibly convexed a little, for the line of watershed is + hereabouts: walk from Hohenfriedberg to Striegau, the water on your left + hand flows, though mainly in ditches or imperceptible oozings, to the + north and west,—there to fall into an eastern fork of the Roaring + Neisse [one of our three new Neisses, which is a very quiet stream here; + runs close by the Mountain base, fed by many torrents, and must get its + name, WUTHENDE or Roaring, from the suddenness of its floods]: into this, + bound northward and westward, run or ooze all waters on your left hand, as + you go to Striegau. Right hand, again, or to eastward, you will find all + sauntering, or running in visible brooks into Striegau Water [little River + notable to us], which comes circling from the Mountains, past + Hohenfriedberg, farther south; and has got to some force as a stream + before it reaches Striegau, and turns abruptly eastward;—eastward, + to join Schweidnitz Water, and form with it the SECOND stair-step + downwards to the Plain Country. Has its Fuchsbergs, Kuhbergs and little + knolls and heights interspersed, on both sides of it, in the conceivable + way. + </p> + <p> + "So that, looking eastward from the heights of Hohenfriedberg, our broad + stage or stair-step has nothing of the nature of a valley, but rather is a + kind of insensibly swelling plain between two valleys, or hollows, of + small depth; and slopes both ways. Both ways; but MORE towards the + Striegau-Water valley or hollow; and thence, in a lazily undulating + manner, to other hollows and waters farther down. Friedrich's Camp lies in + the next, the Schweidnitz-Water hollow; and is five, or even nine miles + long, from Schweidnitz northward;—much hidden from the + Austrian-Saxon gentlemen at present. No hills farther, mere flat country, + to eastward of that. But to the north, again, about Striegau, the hollow + deepens, narrows; and certain Hills," much notable at present, "rise to + west of Striegau, definite peaked Hills, with granite quarries in them and + basalt blocks atop:—Striegau, it appears, is, in old Czech dialect, + TRZIZA, which means TRIPLE HILL, the 'Town of the Three Hills.' [Lutzow, + p. 28.] An ancient quaint little Town, of perhaps 2,000 souls: brown-gray, + the stones of it venerably weathered; has its wide big market-place, + piazza, plain-stones, silent enough except on market-days: nestles itself + compactly in the shelter of its Three Hills, which screen it from the + northwest; and has a picturesque appearance, its Hills and it, projected + against the big Mountain range beyond, as you approach it from the Plain + Country. + </p> + <p> + "Hohenfriedberg, at the other corner of our battle-stage, on the road to + Landshut, is a Village of no great compass; but sticks pleasantly + together, does not straggle in the usual way; climbs steep against its + Gallows-Hill (now called 'SIEGESBERG, Victory Hill,' with some tower or + steeple-monument on it, built by subscription); and would look better, if + trimmed a little and habitually well swept. The higher Mountain summits, + Landshut way, or still more if you look southeastward, Glatz-ward, rise + blue and huge, remote on your right; to left, the Roaring Neisse range + close at hand, is also picturesque, though less Alpine in type." + [Tourist's Note (1858).]... And of all Hills, the notablest, just now to + us, are those "Three" at Striegau. + </p> + <p> + Those Three Hills of Striegau his Serenity of Weissenfels is to lay hold + of, this night, with his extreme left, were it once got deployed and + bivouacked. Those Hills, if he can: but Prussian Dumoulin is already on + march thither; and privately has his eye upon them, on Friedrich's part!—For + the rest, this upland platform, insensibly sloping two ways, and as yet + undrained, is of scraggy boggy nature in many places; much of it damp + ground, or sheer morass; better parts of it covered, at this season, with + rank June grass, or greener luxuriance of oats and barley. A humble + peaceable scene; peaceable till this afternoon; dotted, too, with six or + seven poor Hamlets, with scraggy woods, where they have their fuel; most + sleepy littery ploughman Hamlets, sometimes with a SCHLOSS or Mansion for + the owner of the soil (who has absconded in the present crisis of things), + their evening smoke rising rather fainter than usual; much cookery is not + advisable with Uhlans and Tolpatchcs flying about. Northward between + Striegau and the higher Mountains there is an extensive TEICHWIRTHSCHAFT, + or "Pond-Husbandry" (gleaming visible from Hohenfriedberg Gallows-Hill + just now); a combination of stagnant pools and carp-ponds, the ground much + occupied hereabouts with what they name Carp-Husbandry. Which is all + drained away in our time, yet traceable by the studious:—quaggy + congeries of sluices and fish-ponds, no road through them except on + intricate dams; have scrubby thickets about the border;—this also is + very strong ground, if Weissenfels thought of defence there. + </p> + <p> + Which Weissenfels does not, but only of attack. He occupies the ground + nevertheless, rearward of this Carp-Husbandry, as becomes a strategic man; + gradually bivouacking all round there, to end on the Three Hills, were his + last regiments got up. The Carp-Husbandry is mainly about Eisdorf Hamlet:—in + Pilgramshayn, where Weissenfels once thought of lodging, lives our Writing + Schoolmaster. The Mountains lie to westward; flinging longer shadows, as + the invasive troops continually deploy, in that beautiful manner; and coil + themselves strategically on the ground, a bent rope, cordon, or line + (THREE lines in depth), reaching from the front skirts of Hohenfriedberg + to the Hills at Striegau again,—terrible to behold. + </p> + <p> + In front of Hohenfriedberg, we say, is the extremity or right wing of the + Austrian-Saxon bivouac, or will be when the process is complete; five + miles to northeast, sweeping round upon Striegau region, will be their + left, where mainly are the Saxons,—to nestle upon those Three Hills + of Striegau: whitherward however, Dumoulin, on Friedrich's behalf, is + already on march. Austrian-Saxon bivouac, as is the way in regulated + hosts, can at once become Austrian-Saxon order-of-battle: and then, + probably, on the Chord of that Arc of five miles, the big Fight will roll + to-morrow; Striegau one end of it, Hohenfriedbcrg the other. Flattish, + somewhat elliptic upland, stair-step from the Mountains, as we called it; + tract considerably cut with ditches, carp-husbandries, and their tufts of + wood; line from Striegau to Hohenfriedberg being axis or main diameter of + it, and in general the line of watershed: there, probably, will the tug of + war be. Friedrich, on his Fuchsberg, knows this; the Austrian-Saxon + gentlemen, over their wine on the Gallows-Hill, do not yet know it, but + will know. + </p> + <p> + It was about four in the afternoon, when Valori, with a companion, waiting + a good while in the King's Tent at Jauernik, at last saw his Majesty + return from the Fuchsberg observatory. Valori and friend have great news: + "Tournay fallen; siege done, your Majesty!" Valori's friend is one De + Latour; who had brought word of Fontenoy ("important victory on the + Scamander," as Friedrich indignantly defined it to himself); and was bid + wait here till this Siege-of-Tournay consummation ("as helpful to me as + the Siege of Pekin!") should supervene. They hasten to salute his Majesty + with the glorious tidings, Hmph! thinks Friedrich: and we are at + death-grips here, little to be helped by your taking Pekin! However, he + lets wit of nothing. "I make my compliments; mean to fight to-morrow." + [Valori, i. 228.] Valori, as old soldier and friend, volunteers to be + there and assist:—Good. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich, I presume, at this late hour of four, may bc snatching a morsel + of dinner; his orderlies are silently speeding, plans taken, orders given: + To start all, at eight in the evening, for the Bridge of Striegau; there + to cross, and spread to the right and to the left. Silent, not a word + spoken, not a pipe lighted: silently across the Striegau Water there. A + march of three miles for the nearest, who are here at Jauernik; of nine + miles for the farthest about Schweidnitz; at Schweidnitz leave all your + baggage, safe under the guns there. To the Bridge of Striegau, diligently, + silently march along; Bridge of Striegau, there cross Striegau Water, and + deploy to right and to left, in the way each of you knows. These are + Friedrich's orders. + </p> + <p> + Late in the dusk, Dumoulin and Winterfeld, whom we saw silently on march + some hours ago, have silently glided past Striegau, and got into the + Three-Hill region, which is some furlong or so farther north:—to his + surprise, Dumoulin finds Saxon parties posting themselves thereabouts. He + attacks said Saxon parties; and after some slight tussle, drives them + mostly from their Three Hills; mostly, not altogether; one Saxon Hill is + precipitous on our hither side of it, and we must leave that till the dawn + break. Of the other Heights Dumoulin takes good possession, with cannon + too, to be ready against dawn;—and ranks himself out to leftward + withal, along the plain ground; for he is to be right wing, had the other + troops come up. These are now all under way; astir from Jauernik and + Schweidnitz, silently streaming along; and Dumoulin bivouacs here,—very + silent he: not so silent the Saxons; who are still marching in, over + yonder, to westward of Dumoulin, their rear-guard groping out its posts as + it best can in the dark. Elsewhere, miles and miles along the foot of the + Mountains, Austrian-Saxon watch-fires flame through the ambrosial night; + and it is an impressive sight for Dumoulin,—still more for the poor + Schoolmaster at Pilgramshayn and others, less concerned than Dumoulin. "It + was beautiful," says Stille, who was there, "to see how the plain about + Rohnstock, and all over that way, was ablaze with thousands of watch-fires + (TAUSEND UND ABER TAUSEND); by the light of these, we could clearly + perceive the enemy's troops continually defile from the Hills the whole + night through." [Cited in Seyfarth, i. 630.] + </p> + <p> + Serenity of Weissenfels, after all, does not lodge at Pilgramshayn; far in + the night, he goes to sleep at Rohnstock, a Schloss and Hamlet on that + fork of Roaring Neisse, by the foot of the Mountains; three or four miles + off, yet handy enough for picking up Striegau the first thing to-morrow. + His Highness Prince Karl lies in Hausdorf, tolerable quarters, pretty much + in the centre of his long bivouac; day's business well done, and bottle + (as one's wont rather is) well enjoyed. Nadasti has been out scouting; but + was pricked into by hussar parties, fired into from the growing corn; and + could make out little, but the image of his own ideas. Nadasti's ultimate + report is, That the Prussians are perfectly quiet in their camp; from + Jauernik to Schweidnitz, watch-fires all alight, sentries going their + rounds. And so they are, in fact; sentries and watch-fires,—but now + nothing else there, a mere shell of a camp; the men of it streaming + steadily along, without speech, without tobacco; and many of them are + across Striegau Bridge by this time!— + </p> + <p> + It was past eleven, so close and continuous went this march, before Valori + and his Latour, with their carriages and furnitures, could find an + interval, and get well into it. Never will Valori forget the discipline of + these Prussians, and how they marched. Difficult ways; the hard road is + for their artillery; the men march on each side, sometimes to mid-leg in + water,—never mind. Wholly in order, wholly silent; Valori followed + them three leagues close, and there was not one straggler. Every private + man, much more every officer, knows well what grim errand they are on; and + they make no remarks. Steady as Time; and, except that their shoes are not + of felt, silent as he. The Austrian watch-fires glow silent manifold to + leftward yonder; silent overhead are the stars:—the path of all + duty, too, is silent (not about Striegau alone) for every well-drilled + man. To-morrow;—well, to-morrow? + </p> + <p> + A grimmish feeling against the Saxons is understood to be prevalent among + these men. Bruhl, Weissenfels himself, have been reported talking high,—"Reduce + our King to the size of an Elector again," and other foolish things;—indeed, + grudges have been accumulating for some time. "KEIN PARDON (No quarter)!" + we hear has been a word among the Saxons, as they came along; the + Prussians growl to one another, "Very well then, None!" Nay Friedrich's + general order is, "No prisoners, you cavalry, in the heat of fight; + cavalry, strike at the faces of them: you infantry, keep your fire till + within fifty steps; bayonet withal is to be relied on." These were + Friedrich's last general orders, given in the hollow of the night, near + the foot of that Fuchsberg where he had been so busy all day; a widish + plain space hereabouts, Striegau Bridge now near: he had lain snme time in + his cloak, waiting till the chief generals, with the heads of their + columns, could rendezvous here. He then sprang on horseback; spoke briefly + the essential things (one of them the above);—"Had meant to be more + minute, in regard to positions and the like; but all is so in darkness, + embroiled by the flare of the Austrian watch-fires, we can make nothing + farther of localities at present: Striegau for right wing, left wing + opposite to Hohenfriedberg,—so, and Striegau Water well to rear of + us. Be diligent, exact, all faculties awake: your own sense, and the Order + of Battle which you know, must do the rest. Forward; steady: can I doubt + but you will acquit yourselves like Prussian men?" And so they march, + across the Bridge at Striegau, south outskirt of the Town,—plank + Bridge, I am afraid;—and pour themselves, to right and to left, + continually the livelong night. + </p> + <p> + To describe the Battle which ensued, Battle named of Striegau or + Hohenfriedberg, excels the power of human talent,—if human talent + had leisure for such employment. It is the huge shock and clash of 70,000 + against 70,000, placed in the way we said. An enormous furious SIMALTAS + (or "both-at-once," as the Latins phrase it), spreading over ten square + miles. Rather say, a wide congeries of electric simultaneities; all + ELECTRIC, playing madly into one another; most loud, most mad: the aspect + of which is smoky, thunderous, abstruse; the true SEQUENCES of which, who + shall unravel? There are five accounts of it, all modestly written, each + true-looking from its own place: and a thrice-diligent Prussian Officer, + stationed on the spot in late years, has striven well to harmonize them + all. [Five Accounts: 1. The Prussian Official Account, in <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + i. 1098-1102. 2. The Saxon, ib. 1103-1108. 3. The Austrian, ib. 1109-1115. + 4. Stille's (ii. 125-133, of English Translation). 5. Friedrich's own, <i>OEuvres,</i> + iii. 108-118. Lutzow, above cited, is the harmonizer. Besides which, two + of value, in <i>Feldzuge,</i> i. 310-323, 328-336; not to mention + Cogniazzo, <i>Confessions of an Austrian Veeran</i> (Breslau, 1788-1791: + strictly Anonymous at that time, and candid, or almost more, to Prussian + merit;—still worth reading, here and throughout), ii. 123-135; &c. + &c.] Well worth the study of military men;—who might make tours + towards this and the other great battle-field, and read such things, were + they wise. For us, a feature or two, in the huge general explosion, to + assist the reader's fancy in conceiving it a little, is all that can be + pretended to. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter X.—BATTLE OF HOHENFRIEDBERG. + </h2> + <p> + With the first streak of dawn, the dispute renewed itself between those + Prussians and Saxons who are on the Heights of Striegau. The two Armies + are in contact here; they lie wide apart as yet at the other end. + Cannonading rises here, on both sides, in the dim gray of the morning, for + the possession of these Heights. The Saxons are out-cannonaded and + dislodged, other Saxons start to arms in support: the cry "To arms!" + spreads everywhere, rouses Weissenfels to horseback; and by sunrise a + furious storm of battle has begun, in this part. Hot and fierce on both + sides; charges of horse, shock after shock, bayonet-charges of foot; the + great guns going like Jove's thunder, and the continuous tearing storm of + small guns, very loud indeed: such a noise, as our poor Schoolmaster, who + lives on this spot, thinks he will hear only once again, when the Last + Trumpet sounds! It did indeed, he informs us, resemble the dissolution of + Nature: "For all fell dark too;" a general element of sulphurous + powder-smoke, streaked with dull blazes; and death and destruction very + nigh. What will become of poor pacific mortals hereabouts? Rittmeister + Seydlitz, Winterfeld his patron ride, with knit brows, in these + horse-charges; fiery Rothenburg too; Truchsess von Waldburg, at the head + of his Division,—poor Truchsess known in London society, a + cannon-ball smites the life out of him, and he ended here. + </p> + <p> + At the first clash of horse and foot, the Saxons fancied they rather had + it; at the second, their horse became distressed; at the third, they + rolled into disorderly heaps. The foot also, stubborn as they were, could + not stand that swift firing, followed by the bayonet and the sabre; and + were forced to give ground. The morning sun shone into their eyes, too, + they say; and there had risen a breath of easterly wind, which hurled the + smoke upon them, so that they could not see. Decidedly staggering + backwards; getting to be taken in flank and ruined, though poor + Weissenfels does his best. About five in the morning, Friedrich came + galloping hitherward; Valori with him: "MON AMI, this is looking well! + This will do, won't it?" The Saxons are fast sinking in the scale; and did + nothing thenceforth but sink ever faster; though they made a stiff + defence, fierce exasperation on both sides; and disputed every inch. Their + position, in these scraggy Woods and Villages, in these Morasses and + Carp-Husbandries, is very strong. + </p> + <p> + It had proved to be farther north, too, than was expected; so that the + Prussians had to wheel round a little (right wing as a centre, fighting + army as radius) before they could come parallel, and get to work: a + delicate manoeuvre, which they executed to Valori's admiration, here in + the storm of battle; tramp, tramp, velocity increasing from your centre + outwards, till at the end of the radius, the troops are at treble-quick, + fairly running forward, and the line straight all the while. Admirable to + Valori, in the hot whirlwind of battle here. For the great guns go, in + horrid salvos, unabated, and the crackling thunder of the small guns; + "terrible tussling about those Carp-ponds, that quaggy Carp-husbandry," + says the Schoolmaster, "and the Heavens blotted out in sulphurous + fire-streaked smoke. What had become of us pacific? Some had run in time, + and they were the wisest; others had squatted, who could find a nook + suitable. Most of us had gathered into the Nursery-garden at the foot of + our Village; we sat quaking there,—our prayers grown tremulously + vocal;—in tears and wail, at least the women part. Enemies made + reconcilement with each other," says he, "and dear friends took farewell." + [His Narrative, in Lutzow, UBI SUPRA.] One general Alleleu; the Last Day, + to all appearance, having come. Friedrich, seeing things in this good + posture, gallops to the left again, where much urgently requires attention + from him. + </p> + <p> + On the Austrian side, Prince Karl, through his morning sleep at Hausdorf, + had heard the cannonading: "Saxons taking Striegau!" thinks he; a pleasant + lullaby enough; and continues to sleep and dream. Agitated messengers rush + in, at last; draw his curtains: "Prussians all in rank, this side Striegau + Water; Saxons beaten, or nearly so, at Striegau: we must stand to arms, + your Highness!"—"To arms, of course," answers Karl; and hurries now, + what he can, to get everything in motion. The bivouac itself had been in + order of battle; but naturally there is much to adjust, to put in trim; + and the Austrians are not distinguished for celerity of movement. All the + worse for them just now. + </p> + <p> + On Friedrich's side, so far as I can gather, there have happened two cross + accidents. First, by that wheeling movement, done to Valori's admiration + in the Striegau quarter, the Prussian line has hitched itself up towards + Striegau, has got curved inward, and covers less ground than was counted + on; so that there is like to be some gap in the central part of;—as + in fact there was, in spite of Friedrich's efforts, and hitchings of + battalions and squadrons: an indisputable gap, though it turned to rich + profit for Friedrich; Prince Karl paying no attention to it. Upon such + indisputable gap a wakeful enemy might have done Friedrich some perilous + freak; but Karl was in his bed, as we say;—in a terrible flurry, + too, when out of bed. Nothing was done upon the gap; and Friedrich had his + unexpected profit by it before long. + </p> + <p> + The second accident is almost worse. Striegau Bridge (of planks, as I + feared), creaking under such a heavy stream of feet and wheels all night, + did at last break, in some degree, and needed to be mended; so that the + rearward regiments, who are to form Friedrich's left wing, are in painful + retard;—and are becoming frightfully necessary, the Austrians as yet + far outflanking us, capable of taking us in flank with that right wing of + theirs! The moment was agitating to a General-in-chief: Valori will own + this young King's bearing was perfect; not the least flurry, though under + such a strain. He has aides-de-camp, dashing out every-whither with + orders, with expedients; Prince Henri, his younger Brother: galloping the + fastest; nay, at last, he begs Valori himself to gallop, with orders to a + certain General Gessler, in whose Brigade are Dragoons. Which Valori does,—happily + without effect on Gessler; who knows no Valori for an aide-de-camp, and + keeps the ground appointed him; rearward of that gap we talked of. + </p> + <p> + Happily the Austrian right wing is in no haste to charge. Happily Ziethen, + blocked by that incumbrance of the Bridge mending, "finds a ford higher + up," the assiduous Ziethen; splashes across, other regiments following; + forms in line well leftward; and instead of waiting for the Austrian + charge, charges home upon them, fiercely through the difficult grounds, No + danger of the Austrians outflanking us now; they are themselves likely to + get hard measure on their flank. By the ford and by the Bridge, all + regiments, some of them at treble-quick, get to their posts still in time. + Accident second has passed without damage. Forward, then; rapid, steady; + and reserve your fire till within fifty paces!—Prinoe Ferdinand of + Brunswick (Friedrich's Brother-in-law, a bright-eyed steady young man, of + great heart for fight) tramps forth with his Division:—steady!—all + manner of Divisions tramp forth; and the hot storm, Ziethen and cavalry + dashing upon that right wing of theirs, kindles here also far and wide. + </p> + <p> + The Austrian cavalry on this wing and elsewhere, it is clear, were ill + off. "We could not charge the Prussian left wing, say they, partly because + of the morasses that lay between us; and partly [which is remarkable] + because they rushed across and charged us." [Austrian report, <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + i. 1113.] Prince Karl is sorry to report such things of his cavalry; but + their behavior was bad and not good. The first shock threw them wavering; + the second,—nothing would persuade them to dash forth and meet it. + High officers commanded, obtested, drew out pistols, Prince Karl himself + shot a fugitive or two,—it was to no purpose; they wavered worse at + every new shock; and at length a shock came (sixth it was, as the reporter + counts) which shook them all into the wind. Decidedly shy of the Prussians + with their new manoeuvres, and terrible way of coming on, as if sure of + beating. In the Saxon quarter, certain Austrian regiments of horse would + not charge at all; merely kept firing from their carbines, and when the + time came ran. + </p> + <p> + As for the Saxons, they have been beaten these two hours; that is to say, + hopeless these two hours, and getting beaten worse and worse. The Saxons + cannot stand, but neither generally will they run; they dispute every + ditch, morass and tuft of wood, especially every village. Wrecks of the + muddy desperate business last, hour after hour. "I gave my men a little + rest under the garden walls," says one Saxon Gentleman, "or they would + have died, in the heat and thirst and extreme fatigue: I would have given + 100 gulden [10 pounds Sterling] for a glass of water." [ <i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + ubi supra.] The Prussians push them on, bayonet in back; inexorable, not + to be resisted; slit off whole battalions of them (prisoners now, and + quarter given); take all their guns, or all that are not sunk in the + quagmires;—in fine, drive them, part into the Mountains direct, part + by circuit thither, down upon the rear of the Austrian fight: through + Hausdorf, Seifersdorf and other Mountain gorges, where we hear no more of + them, and shall say no more of them. A sore stroke for poor old + Weissenfels; the last public one he has to take, in this world, for the + poor man died before long. Nobody's blame, he says; every Saxon man did + well; only some Austrian horse-regiments, that we had among us, were too + shy. Adieu to poor old Weissenfels. Luck of war, what else,—thereby + is he in this pass. + </p> + <p> + And now new Prussian force, its Saxons being well abolished, is pressing + down upon Prince Karl's naked left flank. Yes;—Prince Karl too will + have to go. His cavalry is, for most part, shaken into ragged clouds; + infantry, steady enough men, cannot stand everything. "I have observed," + says Friedrich, "if you step sharply up to an Austrian battalion [within + fifty paces or so], and pour in your fire well, in about a quarter of an + hour you see the ranks beginning to shake, and jumble towards + indistinctness;" [<i>Military Instructions.</i> ] a very hopeful symptom + to you! + </p> + <p> + It was at this moment that Lieutenant-General Gessler, under whom is the + Dragoon regiment Baireuth, who had kept his place in spite of Valori's + message, determined on a thing,—advised to it by General Schmettau + (younger Schmettau), who was near. Gessler, as we saw, stood in the rear + line, behind that gap (most likely one of several gaps, or wide spaces, + left too wide, as we explained); Gessler, noticing the jumbly condition of + those Austrian battalions, heaped now one upon another in this part,—motions + to the Prussian Infantry to make what farther room is needful; then dashes + through, in two columns (self and the Dragoon-Colonel heading the one, + French Chasot, who is Lieutenant-Colonel, heading the other), sabre in + hand, with extraordinary impetus and fire, into the belly of these jumbly + Austrians; and slashes them to rags, "twenty battalions of them," in an + altogether unexampled manner. Takes "several thousand prisoners," and such + a haul of standards, kettle-drums and insignia of honor, as was never got + before at one charge. Sixty-seven standards by the tale, for the regiment + (by most All-Gracious Permission) wears, ever after, "67" upon its + cartridge-box, and is allowed to beat the grenadier march; [Orlich, ii. + 179 (173 n., 179 n., slightly wrong); <i>Militair-Lexikon,</i> ii. 9, iv. + 465, 468. See Preuss, i. 212; <i>OEuvres de Frederic;</i> &c. &c.]—how + many kettle-drums memory does not say. + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl beats retreat, about 8 in the morning; is through + Hohenfriedberg about 10 (cannon covering there, and Nadasti as + rear-guard): back into the Mountains; a thoroughly well-beaten man. + Towards Bolkenhayn, the Saxons and he; their heavy artillery and baggage + had been left safe there. Not much pursued, and gradually rearranging + himself; with thoughts,—no want of thoughts! Came pouring down, + triumphantly invasive, yesterday; returns, on these terms, in about + fifteen hours. Not marching with displayed banners and field-music, this + time; this is a far other march. The mouse-trap had been left open, and we + rashly went in!—Prince Karl's loss, including that of the Saxons + (which is almost equal, though their number in the field was but HALF), is + 9,000 dead and wounded, 7,000 prisoners, 66 cannon, 73 flags and + standards; the Prussian is about 5,000 dead and wounded. [In Orlich (ii. + 182) all the details.] Friedrich, at sight of Valori, embraces his GROS + VALORI; says, with a pious emotion in voice and look, "My friend, God has + helped me wonderfully this day!" Actually there was a kind of devout + feeling visible in him, thinks Valori: "A singular mixture, this Prince, + of good qualities and of bad; I never know which preponderates." [Valori, + SOEPIUS.] As is the way with fat Valoris, when they come into such + company. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich is blamed by some military men, and perhaps himself thought it + questionable, that he did not pursue Prince Karl more sharply. He says his + troops could not; they were worn out with the night's marching and the + day's fighting. He himself may well be worn out. I suppose, for the last + four-and-twenty hours he, of all the contemporary sons of Adam, has + probably been the busiest. Let us rest this day; rest till to-morrow + morning, and be thankful. "So decisive a defeat," writes he to his Mother + (hastily, misdating "6th" June for 4th), "has not been since Blenheim" + [Letter in <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> xxvi. 71.] (which is tolerably + true); and "I have made the Princes sign their names," to give the good + Mother assurance of her children in these perils of war. Seldom has such a + deliverance come to a man. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XI.—CAMP OF CHLUM: FRIEDRICH CANNOT ACHIEVE PEACE. + </h2> + <p> + Friedrich marched, on the morrow, likewise to Bolkenhayn; which the enemy + have just left; our hussars hanging on their rear, and bickering with + Nadasti. Then again on the morrow, Sunday,—"twelve hours of + continuous rain," writes Valori; but there is no down-pour, or distress, + or disturbance that will shake these men from their ranks, writes Valori. + And so it goes on, march after march, the Austrians ahead, Dumoulin and + our hussars infesting their rear, which skilfully defended itself: through + Landshut down into Bohemia; where are new successive marches, the Prussian + quarterstaff stuck into the back of defeated Austria, "Home with you; + farther home!"—and shogging it on,—without pause, for about a + fortnight to come. And then only with temporary pause; that is to say, + with intricate manoeuvrings of a month long, which shove it to + Konigsgratz, its ultimatum, beyond which there is no getting it. The + stages and successive campings, to be found punctually in the old Books + and new, can interest only military readers. Here is a small theological + thing at Landshut, from first hand:— + </p> + <p> + JUNE 8th, 1745. "The Army followed Dumoulin's Corps, and marched upon + Landshut. On arriving in that neighborhood, the King was surrounded by a + troop of 2,000 Peasants,"—of Protestant persuasion very evidently! + (which is much the prevailing thereabouts),—"who begged permission + of him 'to massacre the Catholics of these parts, and clear the country of + them altogether.' This animosity arose from the persecutions which the + Protestants had suffered during the Austrian domination, when their + churches used to be taken from them and given to the Popish priests,"—churches + and almost their children, such was the anxiety to make them orthodox. The + patience of these peasants had run over; and now, in the hour of hope, + they proposed the above sweeping measure. "The King was very far from + granting them so barbarous a permission. He told them, 'They ought rather + to conform to the Scripture precept, to bless those that cursed them, and + pray for those that despitefully used them; such was the way to gain the + Kingdom of Heaven.' The peasants," rolling dubious eyes for a moment, + "answered, His Majesty was right; and desisted from their cruel + pretension." [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> ii.218.]...—"On + Hohenfriedberg Day," says another Witness, "as far as the sound of the + cannon was heard, all round, the Protestants fell on their knees, praying + for victory to the Prussians;" [In Ranke, iii. 259.] and at Breslau that + evening, when the "Thirteen trumpeting Postilions" came tearing in with + the news, what an enthusiasm without limit! + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl has skill in choosing camps and positions: his Austrians are + much cowed; that is the grievous loss in his late fight. So, from June + 8th, when they quit Silesia,—by two roads to go more readily,—all + through that month and the next, Friedrich spread to the due width, duly + pricking into the rear of them, drives the beaten hosts onward and onward. + They do not think of fighting; their one thought is to get into positions + where they can have living conveyed to them, and cannot be attacked; for + the former of which objects, the farther homewards they go, it is the + better. The main pursuit, as I gather, goes leftward from Landshut, by + Friedland,—the Silesian Friedland, once Wallenstein's. Through rough + wild country, the southern slope of the Giant Mountains, goes that slow + pursuit, or the main stream of it, where Friedrich in person is; intricate + savage regions, cut by precipitous rocks and soaking quagmires, shaggy + with woods: watershed between the Upper Elbe and Middle Oder; Glatz on our + left,—with the rain of its mountains gathering to a Neisse River, + eastward, which we know; and on their west or hither side, to a Mietau, + Adler, Aupa and other many-branched feeders of the Elbe. Most complex + military ground, the manoeuvrings on it endless,—which must be left + to the reader's fancy here. + </p> + <p> + About the end of June, Karl and his Austrians find a place suitable to + their objects: Konigsgratz, a compact little Town, in the nook between the + Elbe and Adler; covered to west and to south by these two streams; strong + enough to east withal; and sure and convenient to the southern roads and + victual. Against which Friedrich's manoeuvres avail nothing; so that he at + last (20th July) crosses Elbe River; takes, he likewise, an inexpugnable + Camp on the opposite shore, at a Village called Chlum; and lies there, + making a mutual dead-lock of it, for six weeks or more. Of the prior + Camps, with their abundance of strategic shufflings, wheelings, pushings, + all issuing in this of Chlum, we say nothing: none of them,—except + the immediately preceding one, called of Nahorzan, called also of Drewitz + (for it was in parts a shifting entity, and flung the LIMBS of it about, + strategically clutching at Konigsgratz),—had any permanency: let us + take Chlum (the longest, and essentially the last in those parts) as the + general summary of them, and alone rememberable by us. ["Camp of + Gross-Parzitz [across the Mietau, to dislodge Prince Karl from his shelter + behind that stream], June 14th:" "Camp of Nahorzan, June 18th [and + abstruse manoeuvrings, of a month, for Konigsgratz]: 20th July," cross + Elbe for Chlum; and lie, yourself also inexpugnable, there. See <i>OEuvres + de Frederic,</i> (iii. 120 et seq.); especially see Orlich (ii. pp. 193, + 194, 203, &c. &c.),—with an amplitude of inorganic details, + sufficient to astonish the robustest memory!] + </p> + <p> + Friedrich's purposes, at Chlum or previously, are not towards conquests in + Bohemia, nor of fighting farther, if he can help it. But, in the mean + while, he is eating out these Bohemian vicinages; no invasion of Silesia + possible from that quarter soon again. That is one benefit: and he hopes + always his enemies, under screw of military pressure with the one hand, + and offer of the olive-branch with the other, will be induced to grant him + Peace. Britannic Majesty, after Fontenoy and Hohenfriedberg, not to + mention the first rumors of a Jacobite Rebellion, with France to rear of + it, is getting eager to have Friedrich settled with, and withdrawn from + the game again;—the rather, as Friedrich, knowing his man, has + ceased latterly to urge him on the subject. Peace with George the + Purseholder, does not that mean Peace with all the others? Friedrich knows + the high Queen's indignation; but he little guesses, at this time, the + humor of Bruhl and the Polish Majesty. He has never yet sent the Old + Dessauer in upon them; always only keeps him on the slip, at Magdeburg; + still hoping actualities may not be needed. He hopes too, in spite of her + indignation, the Hungarian Majesty, with an Election on hand, with the + Netherlands at such a pass, not to speak of Italy and the Middle Rhine, + will come to moderate views again. On which latter points, his reckoning + was far from correct! Within three months, Britannic Majesty and he did + get to explicit Agreement (CONVENTION OF HANOVER, 26th August): but in + regard to the Polish Majesty and the Hungarian there proved to be no such + result attainable, and quite other methods necessary first! + </p> + <p> + "Of military transactions in this Camp of Chlum, or in all these + Bohemian-Silesian Camps, for near four months, there is nothing, or as + good as nothing: Chlum has no events; Chlum vigilantly guards itself; and + expects, as the really decisive to it, events that will happen far away. + We are to conceive this military business as a dead-lock; attended with + hussar skirmishes; attacks, defences, of outposts, of provision-wagons + from Moravia or Silesia:—Friedrich has his food from Silesia + chiefly, by several routes, 'convoys come once in the five days.' His + horse-provender he forages; with Tolpatches watching him, and continual + scufflings of fight: 'for hay and glory,' writes one Prussian Officer, 'I + assure you we fight well!' Endless enterprising, manoeuvring, + counter-manoeuvring there at first was; and still is, if either party + stir: but here, in their mutually fixed camps, tacit mutual observances + establish themselves; and amid the rigorous armed vigilantes, there are + traits of human neighborship. As usual in such cases. The guard-parties do + not fire on one another, within certain limits: a signal that there are + dead to bury, or the like, is strictly respected. On one such occasion it + was (June 30th, Camp-of-Nahorzan time) that Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick—Prince + Ferdinand, with a young Brother Albert volunteering and learning his + business here, who are both Prussian—had a snatch of interview with + a third much-loved Brother, Ludwig, who is in the Austrian service. A + Prussian officer, venturing beyond the limits, had been shot; Ferdinand's + message, 'Grant us burial of him!' found, by chance, Brother Ludwig in + command of that Austrian outpost; who answers: 'Surely;—and beg that + I may embrace my Brothers!' And they rode out, those three, to the space + intermediate; talked there for half an hour, till the burial was done. + [Mauvillon, <i>Geschichte Ferdinands von Braunschweig-Luneburg,</i> i. + 118.] Fancy such an interview between the poor young fellows, the soul of + honor each, and tied in that manner! + </p> + <p> + "Trenck of the Life-guard was not quite the soul of honor. It was in the + Nahorzan time too that Trenck, who had, in spite of express order to the + contrary, been writing to his Cousin the indigo Pandour, was put under + arrest when found out. 'Wrote merely about horses: purchase of horses, so + help me God!' protests the blusterous Life-guardsman, loud as lungs will,—whether + with truth in them, nobody can say. 'Arrest for breaking orders!' answers + Friedrich, doubting or disbelieving the horses; and loud Trenck is packed + over the Hills to Glatz; to Governor Fouquet, or Substitute;—where, + by not submitting and repenting, by resisting and rebelling, and ever + again doing it, he makes out for himself, with Fouquet and his other + Governors, what kind of life we know! 'GARDEZ E'TROITEMENT CE DROLE-LA, IL + A VOULU DEVENIR PANDOUR AUPRES DE SON ONCLE (Keep a tight hold of this + fine fellow; he wanted to become Pandour beside his Uncle)!' writes + Friedrich:—'Uncle' instead of 'Cousin,' all one to Friedrich. This + he writes with his own hand, on the margin: 28th June, 1745; the + inexorable Records fix that date. [Rodenbeck. iii. 381. Copy of the + Warrant, once PENES ME.] Which I should not mention, except for another + inexorable date (30th September), that is coming; and the perceptible + slight comfort there will be in fixing down a loud-blustering, extensively + fabulous blockhead, still fit for the Nurseries, to one undeniable + premeditated lie, and tar-marking him therewith, for benefit of more + serious readers." As shall be done, were the 30th of September come! + </p> + <p> + Here is still something,—if it be not rather nothing, by a great + hand! Date uncertain; Camp-of-Chlum time, pretty far on:... "There are + continual foragings, on both sides; with parties mutually dashing out to + hinder the same. The Prussians have a detached post at Smirzitz; which is + much harassed by Hungarians lurking about, shooting our sentry and the + like. An inventive head contrives this expedient. Stuff a Prussian uniform + with straw; fix it up, by aid of ropes and check-strings, to stand with + musket shouldered, and even to glide about to right and left, on judicious + pulling. So it is done: straw man is made; set upon his ropes, when the + Tolpatches approach; and pensively saunters to and fro,—his living + comrades crouching in the bushes near by. Tolpatches fire on the walking + straw sentry; straw sentry falls flat; Tolpatches rush in, esurient, + triumphant; are exploded in a sharp blast of musketry from the bushes all + round, every wounded man made prisoner;—and come no more back to + that post." Friedrich himself records this little fact: "slight pleasantry + to relieve the reader's mind," says he, in narrating it. [<i>OEuvres,</i> + iii. 123.]—Enough of those small matters, while so many large are + waiting. + </p> + <p> + June 26th, a month before Chlum, General Nassau had been detached, with + some 8 or 10,000, across Glatz Country, into Upper Silesia, to sweep that + clear again. Hautcharmoi, quitting the Frontier Towns, has joined, raising + him to 15,000; and Nassau is giving excellent account of the multitudinous + Pandour doggeries there; and will retake Kosel, and have Upper Silesia + swept before very long. [Kosel, "September 5th:" Excellent, lucid and even + entertaining Account of Nassau's Expedition, in the form of DIARY (a + model, of its kind), in <i>Feldzuge,</i> iv. 257, 371, 532.] On the other + hand, the Election matter (KAISERWAHL, a most important point) is + obviously in threatening, or even in desperate state! That famed + Middle-Rhine Army has gone to the—what shall we say? + </p> + <p> + JULY 5th-19th, MIDDLE-RHINE COUNTRY. "The first Election-news that reaches + Friedrich is from the Middle-Rhine Country, and of very bad complexion. + Readers remember Traun, and his Bathyanis, and his intentions upon Conti + there. In the end of May, old Traun, things being all completed in + Bavaria, had got on march with his Bavarian Army, say 40,000, to look into + Prince Conti down in those parts; a fact very interesting to the Prince. + Traun held leftward, westward, as if for the Neckar Valley,—'Perhaps + intending to be through upon Elsass, in those southern undefended portions + of the Rhine?' Conti, and his Segur, and Middle-Rhine Army stood + diligently on their guard; got their forces, defences, apparatuses, + hurried southward, from Frankfurt quarter where they lay on watch, into + those Neckar regions. Which seen to be done, Traun whirled rapidly to + rightward, to northward; crossed the Mayn at Wertheim, wholly leaving the + Neckar and its Conti; having weighty business quite in the other + direction,—on the north side of the Mayn, namely; on the Kinzig + River, where Bathyani (who has taken D'Ahremberg's command below + Frankfurt, and means to bestir himself in another than the D'Ahremberg + fashion) is to meet him on a set day. Traun having thus, by strategic + suction, pulled the Middle-Rhine Army out of his and Bathyani's way, hopes + they two will manage a junction on the Kinzig; after junction they will be + a little stronger than Conti, though decidedly weaker taken one by one. + Traun, in the long June days, had such a march, through the Spessart + Forest (Mayn River to his left, with our old friends Dettingen, + Aschaffenburg, far down in the plain), as was hardly ever known before: + pathless wildernesses, rocky steeps and chasms; the sweltering June sun + sending down the upper snows upon him in the form of muddy slush; so that + 'the infantry had to wade haunch-deep in many of the hollow parts, and + nearly all the cavalry lost its horse-shoes.' A strenuous march; and a + well-schemed. For at the Kinzig River (Conti still far off in the Neckar + country), Bathyani punctually appeared, on the opposite shore; and Traun + and he took camp together; July 5th, at Langen-Selbord (few miles north of + Hanau, which we know);—and rest there; calculating that Conti is now + a manageable quantity;—and comfortably wait till the Grand-Duke + arrives. [Adelung, iv. 421; v. 36.] For this is, theoretically, HIS Army; + Grand-Duke Franz being the Commander's Cloak, this season; as Karl was + last,—a right lucky Cloak he, while Traun lurked under him, not so + lucky since! July 13th, Franz arrived; and Traun, under Franz, instantly + went into Conti (now again in those Frankfurt parts); clutched at Conti, + Briareus-like, in a multiform alarming manner: so that Conti lost head; + took to mere retreating, rushing about, burning bridges;—and in + fine, July 19th, had flung himself bodily across the Rhine (clouds of + Tolpatches sticking to him), and left old Traun and his Grand-Duke supreme + lord in those parts. Who did NOT invade Elsass, as was now expected; but + lay at Heidelberg, intending to play pacifically a surer card. All French + are out of Teutschland again; and the game given up. In what a premature + and shameful manner! thinks Friedrich. + </p> + <p> + "Nominally it was the Grand-Duke that flung Conti over the Rhine; and + delivered Teutschland from its plagues. After which fine feat, salvatory + to the Cause of Liberty, and destructive to French influence, what is to + prevent his election to the Kaisership? Friedrich complains aloud: 'Conti + has given it up; you drafted 15,000 from him (for imaginary uses in the + Netherlands),—you have given it up, then! Was that our bargain?' 'We + have given it up,' answers D'Argenson the War-minister, writing to Valori; + 'but,'—And supplies, instead of performance according to the laws of + fact, eloquent logic; very superfluous to Friedrich and the said laws!—Valori, + and the French Minister at Dresden, had again been trying to stir up the + Polish Majesty to stand for Kaiser; but of course that enterprise, eager + as the Polish Majesty might be for such a dignity, had now to collapse, + and become totally hopeless. A new offer of Friedrich's to co-operate had + been refused by Bruhl, with a brevity, a decisiveness—'Thinks me + finished (AUX ABOIS),' says Friedrich; 'and not worth giving terms to, on + surrendering!' The foolish little creature; insolent in the wrong + quarter!" [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 128.] + </p> + <p> + 'The German Burden, then,—which surely was mutual, at lowest, and + lately was French altogether,—the French have thrown it off; the + French have dropped their end of the BEARING-POLES (so to speak), and left + Friedrich by himself, to stand or stagger, under the beweltered broken + harness-gear and intolerable weight! That is one's payment for cutting the + rope from their neck last year!—Long since, while the present + Campaign was being prepared for, under such financial pressures, Friedrich + had bethought him, "The French might, at least give me money, if they can + nothing else?"—and he had one day penned a Letter with that object; + but had thrown it into his desk again, "No; not till the very last + extremity, that!" Friedrich did at last despatch the unpleasant missive: + "Service done you in Elsass, let us say little of it; but the repayment + has been zero hitherto: your Bavarian expenses (poor Kaiser gone, and + Peace of Fussen come!) are now ended:—A round sum, say of 600,000 + pounds, is becoming indispensable here, if we are to keep on our feet at + all!" Herr Ranke, who has seen the Most Christian King's response (though + in a capricious way), finds "three or four successive redactions" of the + difficult passage; all painfully meaning, "Impossible, alas!"—painfully + adding, "We will try, however!" And, after due cunctations, Friedrich + waiting silent the while,—Louis, Most Christian King, who had failed + in so many things towards Friedrich, does empower Valori To offer him a + subsidy of 600,000 livres a month, till we see farther. Twenty thousand + pounds a month; he hopes this will suffice, being himself run terribly + low. Friedrich's feeling is to be guessed: "Such a dole might answer to a + Landgraf of Hessen-Darmstadt; but to me is not in the least suitable;"—and + flatly refuses it; FIEREMENT, says Valori. [Ranke, iii. 235, 299 n. (not + the least of DATE allowed us in either case); Valori. i. 240.] + </p> + <p> + MON GROS VALORI, who could not himself help all this, poor soul, "falls + now into complete disgrace;" waits daily upon Friedrich at the giving out + of the parole, "but frequently his Majesty does not speak to me at all." + Hardly looks at me, or only looks as if I had suddenly become Zero + Incarnate. It is now in these days, I suppose, that Friedrich writes about + the "Scamander Battle" (of Fontenoy), and "Capture of Pekin," by way of + helping one to fight the Austrians according to Treaty. And has a touch of + bitter sarcasm in uttering his complaints against, such treatment,—the + heart of him, I suppose, bitter enough. Most Christian King has felt this + of the Scamander, Friedrich perceives; Louis's next letter testifies + pique;—and of course we are farther from help, on that side, than + ever. "From the STANDE of the Kur-Mark [Brandenburg] Friedrich was offered + a considerable subsidy instead; and joyfully accepted the same, 'as a + loan:'"—paid it punctually back, too; and never, all his days, + forgot it of those STANDE. [Stenzel, iv. 255; Ranke, &c.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CAMP OF DIESKAU: BRITANNIC MAJESTY MAKES PEACE, FOR HIMSELF, WITH + FRIEDRICH; BUT CANNOT FOR AUSTRIA OR SAXONY. + </h2> + <p> + About the middle of August, there are certain Saxon phenomena which awaken + dread expectation in the world. Friedrich, watching, Argus-like, near and + far, in his Chlum observatory, has noticed that Prince Karl is getting + reinforced in Konigsgratz; 10,000 lately, 7,000 more coming;—and + contrariwise that the Saxons seem to be straggling off from him; ebbing + away, corps after corps,—towards Saxony, can it be? There are + whispers of "Bavarian auxiliaries" being hired for them, too. And little + Bruhl's late insolence; Bruhl's evident belief that "we are finished (AUX + ABOIS)"? Putting all this together, Friedrich judges—with an + indignation very natural—that there is again some insidious Saxon + mischief, most likely an attack on Brandenburg, in the wind. Friedrich + orders the Old Dessauer, "March into them, delay no longer!" and publishes + a clangorously indignant Manifesto (evidently his own writing, and coming + from the heart): [In Adelung, v. 64-71 (no date; "middle of August," say + the Books).] "How they have, not bound by their Austrian Treaty, wantonly + invaded our Silesia; have, since and before, in spite of our forbearance, + done so many things:—and, in fact, have finally exhausted our + patience; and are forcing us to seek redress and safety by the natural + methods," which they will see how they like!— + </p> + <p> + Old Leopold advances straightway, as bidden, direct for the Saxon + frontier. To whom Friedrich shoots off detachments,—Prince Dietrich, + with so many thousands, to reinforce Papa; then General Gessler with so + many,—till Papa is 30,000 odd; and could eat Saxony at a mouthful; + nothing whatever being yet ready there on Bruhl's part, though he has such + immense things in the wind!—Nevertheless Friedrich again paused; did + not yet strike. The Saxon question has Russian bug-bears, no end of + complications. His Britannic Majesty, now at Hanover, and his prudent + Harrington with him, are in the act of laboring, with all earnestness, for + a general Agreement with Friedrich. Without farther bitterness, + embroilment and bloodshed: how much preferable for Friedrich! Old + Dessauer, therefore, pauses: "Camp of Dieskau," which we have often heard + of, close on the Saxon Border; stands there, looking over, as with sword + drawn, 30,000 good swords,—but no stroke, not for almost three + months more. In three months, wretched Bruhl had not repented; but, on the + contrary, had completed his preparations, and gone to work;—and the + stroke did fall, as will be seen. That is Bruhl's posture in the matter. + [Ranke, iii. 231, 314.] + </p> + <p> + To Britannic George, for a good while past, it has been manifest that the + Pragmatic Sanction, in its original form, is an extinct object; that + reconquest of Silesia, and such like, is melancholy moonshine; and that, + in fact, towards fighting the French with effect, it is highly necessary + to make peace with Friedrich of Prussia again. This once more is George's + and his Harrington's fixed view. Friedrich's own wishes are known, or used + to be, ever since the late Kaiser's death,—though latterly he has + fallen silent, and even avoids the topic when offered (knowing his man)! + Herrington has to apply formally to Friedrich's Minister at Hanover. "Very + well, if they are in earnest this time," so Friedrich instructs his + Minister: "My terms are known to you; no change admissible in the terms;—do + not speak with me on it farther: and, observe, within four weeks, the + thing finished, or else broken off!" [Ranke, iii. 277-281.] And in this + sense they are laboring incessantly, with Austria, with Saxony,—without + the least success;—and Excellency Robinson has again a panting + uncomfortable time. Here is a scene Robinson transacts at Vienna, which + gives us a curious face-to-face glimpse of her Hungarian Majesty, while + Friedrich is in his Camp at Chlum. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + SCHONBRUNN, 2d AUGUST, 1745, ROBINSON HAS AUDIENCE OF HER HUNGARIAN + MAJESTY. + </h2> + <p> + Robinson, in a copious sonorous speech (rather apt to be copious, and to + fall into the Parliamentary CANTO-FERMO), sets forth how extremely ill we + Allies are faring on the French hand; nothing done upon Silesia either; a + hopeless matter that,—is it not, your Majesty? And your Majesty's + forces all lying there, in mere dead-lock; and we in such need of them! + "Peace with Prussia is indispensable."—To which her Majesty + listened, in statuesque silence mostly; "never saw her so reserved before, + my Lord."... + </p> + <p> + ROBINSON.... "'Madam, the Dutch will be obliged to accept Neutrality' [and + plump down again, after such hoisting]! + </p> + <p> + QUEEN. "'Well, and if they did, they? It would be easier to accommodate + with France itself, and so finish the whole matter, than with Prussia." My + Army could not get to the Netherlands this season. No General of mine + would undertake conducting it at this day of the year. Peace with Prussia, + what good could it do at present?' + </p> + <p> + ROBINSON. "'England has already found, for subsidies, this year, 1,178,753 + pounds. Cannot go on at that rate. Peace with Prussia is one of the + returns the English Nation expects for all it has done.' + </p> + <p> + QUEEN. "'I must have Silesia again: without Silesia the Kaiserhood were an + empty title. "Or would you have us administer it under the guardiancy of + Prussia!"'... + </p> + <p> + ROBINSON. "'In Bohemia itself things don't look well; nothing done on + Friedrich: your Saxons seem to be qnarrelling with you, and going home.' + </p> + <p> + QUEEN. "'Prince Karl is himself capable of fighting the Prussians again. + Till that, do not speak to me of Peace! Grant me only till October!' + </p> + <p> + ROBINSON. "'Prussia will help the Grand-Duke to Kaisership.' + </p> + <p> + QUEEN. "'The Grand-Duke is not so ambitions of an empty honor as to engage + in it under the tutelage of Prussia. Consider farther: the Imperial + dignity, is it compatible with the fatal deprivation of Silesia? "One + other battle, I say! Good God, give me only till the month of October!"' + </p> + <p> + ROBINSON. "'A battle, Madam, if won, won't reconquer Silesia; if lost, + your Majesty is ruined at home.' + </p> + <p> + QUEEN. "'DUSSE'JE CONCLURE AVEC LUI LE LENDEMAIN, JE LUI LIVRERAIS + BATAILLE CE SOIR (Had I to agree with him to-morrow, I would try him in a + battle this evening)!'" [Robinson's Despatch, 4th August, 1745. Ranke, + iii. 287; Raumer, pp. 161, 162.] + </p> + <p> + Her Majesty is not to be hindered; deaf to Robinson, to her Britannic + George who pays the money. "Cruel man, is that what you call keeping the + Pragmatic Sanction; dismembering me of Province after Province, now in + Germany, then in Italy, on pretext of necessity? Has not England money, + then? Does not England love the Cause of Liberty? Give me till October!" + Her Majesty did take till October, and later, as we shall see; poor George + not able to hinder, by power of the purse or otherwise: who can hinder + high females, or low, when they get into their humors? Much of this + Austrian obstinacy, think impartial persons, was of female nature. We + shall see what profit her Majesty made by taking till October. + </p> + <p> + As for George, the time being run, and her Majesty and Saxony + unpersuadable, he determined to accept Friedrich's terms himself, in hope + of gradually bringing the others to do it. August 26th, at Hanover, there + is signed a CONVENTION OF HANOVER between Friedrich and him: "Peace on the + old Breslau-Berlin terms,—precisely the same terms, but Britannic + Majesty to have them guaranteed by All the Powers, on the General Peace + coming,—so that there be no snake-procedure henceforth." Silesia + Friedrich's without fail, dear Hanover unmolested even by a thought of + Friedrich's;—and her Hungarian Majesty to be invited, nay urged by + every feasible method, to accede. [Adelung, v. 75; is "in Rousset, xix. + 441;" in &c. &c.] Which done, Britannic Majesty—for there + has hung itself out, in the Scotch Highlands, the other day ("Glenfinlas, + August 12th"), a certain Standard "TANDEM TRIUMPHANS," and unpleasant + things are imminent!—hurries home at his best pace, and has his + hands full there, for some time. On Austria, on Saxony, he could not + prevail: "By no manner of means!" answered they; and went their own road,—jingling + his Britannic subsidies in their pocket; regardless of the once Supreme + Jove, who is sunk now to a very different figure on the German boards. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich's outlook is very bad: such a War to go on, and not even finance + to do it with. His intimates, his Rothenburg one time, have "found him + sunk in gloomy thought." But he wears a bright face usually. No wavering + or doubting in him, his mind made up; which is a great help that way. + Friedrich indicates, and has indicated everywhere, for many months, that + Peace, precisely on the old footing, is all he wants: "The Kaiser being + dead, whom I took up arms to defend, what farther object is there?" says + he. "Renounce Silesia, more honestly than last time; engage to have it + guaranteed by everybody at the General Peace (or perhaps Hohenfriedberg + will help to guarantee it),—and I march home!" My money is running + down, privately thinks he; guarantee Silesia, and I shall be glad to go. + If not, I must raise money somehow; melt the big silver balustrades at + Berlin, borrow from the STANDE, or do something; and, in fact, must stand + here, unless Silesia is guaranteed, and struggle till I die. + </p> + <p> + That latter withal is still privately Friedrich's thought. Under his light + air, he carries unspoken that grimly clear determination, at all times, + now and henceforth; and it is an immense help to the guidance of him. An + indispensable, indeed. No king or man, attempting anything considerable in + this world, need expect to achieve it except, tacitly, on those same + terms, "I will achieve it or die!" For the world, in spite of rumors to + the contrary, is always much of a bedlam to the sanity (so far as he may + have any) of every individual man. A strict place, moreover; its very + bedlamisms flowing by law, as do alike the sudden mud-deluges, and the + steady Atlantic tides, and all things whatsoever: a world inexorable, + truly, as gravitation itself;—and it will behoove you to front it in + a similar humor, as the tacit basis for whatever wise plans you lay. In + Friedrich, from the first entrance of him on the stage of things, we have + had to recognize this prime quality, in a fine tacit form, to a complete + degree; and till his last exit, we shall never find it wanting. Tacit + enough, unconscious almost, not given to articulate itself at all;—and + if there be less of piety than we could wish in the silence of it, there + is at least no play-actor mendacity, or cant of devoutness, to poison the + high worth of it. No braver little figure stands on the Earth at that + epoch. Ready, at the due season, with his mind silently made up;—able + to answer diplomatic Robinsons, Bartensteins and the very Destinies when + they apply. If you will withdraw your snakish notions, will guarantee + Silesia, will give him back his old Treaty of Berlin in an irrefragable + shape, he will march home; if not, he will never march home, but be + carried thither dead rather. That is his intention, if the gods permit. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + GRAND-DUKE FRANZ IS ELECTED KAISER (13TH SEPTEMBER, 1745); FRIEDRICH, THE + SEASON AND FORAGE BEING DONE, MAKES FOR SILESIA. + </h2> + <p> + There occurred at Frankfurt—the clear majority, seven of the nine + Electors, Bavaria itself (nay Bohemia this time, "distaff" or not), and + all the others but Friedrich and Kur-Pfalz, being so disposed or so + disposable, Traun being master of the ground—no difficulty about + electing Grand-Duke Franz Stephan of Tuscany? Joint-King of Bohemia, to be + Kaiser of the Holy Romish Reich. Friedrich's envoy protested;—as did + Kur-Pfalz's, with still more vehemence, and then withdrew to Hanau: the + other Seven voted September 13th 1745: and it was done. A new Kaiser, + Franz Stephan, or Franz I.,—with our blessing on him, if that can + avail much. But I fear it cannot. Upon such mendacious Empty-Case of + Kaiserhood, without even money to feed itself, not to speak of governing, + of defending and coercing; upon such entities the blessings of man avail + little; the gods, having warned them to go, do not bless them for staying!—However, + tar-barrels burn, the fountains play (wine in some of them, I hope); Franz + is to be crowned in a fortnight hence, with extraordinary magnificence. At + this last part of it Maria Theresa will, in her own high person, attend; + and proceeds accordingly towards Frankfurt, in the end of September (say + the old Books), so soon as the Election is over. + </p> + <p> + Hungarian Majesty's bearing was not popular there, according to Friedrich,—who + always admires her after a sort, and always speaks of her like a king and + gentleman:—but the High Lady, it is intimated, felt somewhat too + well that she was high. Not sorry to have it known, under the due veils, + that her Kaiser-Husband is but of a mimetic nature; that it is she who has + the real power; and that indeed she is in a victorious posture at present. + Very high in her carriage towards the Princes of the Reich, and their + privileges:—poor Kur-Pfalz's notary, or herald, coming to protest (I + think, it was the second time) about something, she quite disregarded his + tabards, pasteboards, or whatever they were, and clapt him in prison. The + thing was commented upon; but Kur-Pfalz got no redress. Need we repeat,—lazy + readers having so often met him, and forgotten him again,—this is a + new younger Kur-Pfalz: Karl Theodor, this one; not Friedrich Wilhelm's old + Friend, but his Successor, of the Sulzbach line; of whom, after thirty + years or so, we may again hear. He can complain about his violated tabard; + will get his notary out of jail again, but no redress. + </p> + <p> + Highish even towards her friends, this "Empress-Queen" (KAISERIN-KONIGIN, + such her new title), and has a kind of "Thank-you-for-Nothing" air towards + them. Prussian Majesty, she said, had unquestionable talents; but, oh, + what a character! Too much levity, she said, by far; heterodox too, in the + extreme; a BOSER MANN;—and what a neighbor has he been! As to + Silesia, she was heard to say, she would as soon part with her petticoat + as part with it. [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 126, 128.]—So + that there is not the least prospect of peace here? "None," answer + Friedrich's emissaries, whom he had empowered to hint the thing. Which is + heavy news to Friedrich. + </p> + <p> + Early in August, not long after that Audience of Robinson's, her Majesty, + after repeated written messages to Prince Karl, urging him to go into + fight again or attempt something, had sent two high messengers: Prince + Lobkowitz, Duke d'Ahremberg, high dignitaries from Court, have come to + Konigsgratz with the latest urgencies, the newest ideas; and would fain + help Prince Karl to attempt something. Daily they used to come out upon a + little height, in view of Friedrich's tent, and gaze in upon him, and + round all Nature, "with big tubes," he says, "as if they had been + astronomers;" but never attempted anything. We remember D'Ahremberg, and + what part he has played, from the Dettingen times and onward. "A debauched + old fellow," says Friedrich; "gone all to hebetude by his labors in that + line; agrees always with the last speaker." Prince Karl seems to have + little stomach himself; and does not see his way into (or across) another + Battle. Lobkowitz, again, is always saying: "Try something! We are now + stronger than they, by their detachings, by our reinforcings" (indeed, + about twice their number, regular and irregular), though most of the + Saxons are gone home. After much gazing through their tubes, the Austrians + (August 23d) do make a small shift of place, insignificant otherwise; the + Prussians, next day, do the like, in consequence; quit Chlum, burning + their huts; post themselves a little farther up the Elbe,—their left + at a place called Jaromirz, embouchure of the Aupa into Elbe, [ <i>OEuvres + de Frederic,</i> iii. 129.]—and are again unattackable. + </p> + <p> + The worst fact is the multitude of Pandours, more and more infesting our + provision-roads; and that horse-forage itself is, at last, running low. + Detachments lie all duly round to right and left, to secure our + communications with Silesia, especially to left, out of Glatz, where runs + one of the chief roads we have. But the service is becoming daily more + difficult. For example:— + </p> + <p> + "NEUSTADT, 8th SEPTEMBER. In that left-hand quarter, coming out of Glatz + at a little Bohemian Town called Neustadt, the Prussian Commander, + Tauenzien by name, was repeatedly assaulted; and from September 8th, had + to stand actual siege, gallantly repulsing a full 10,000 with their big + artillery, though his walls were all breached, for about a week, till + Friedrich sent him relief. Prince Lobkowitz, our old anti-Belleisle + friend, who is always of forward fiery humor, had set them on this + enterprise; which has turned out fruitless. The King is much satisfied + with Tauenzien; [Ib. 132.] of whom we shall hear again. Who indeed becomes + notable to us, were it only for getting one Lessing as secretary, by and + by: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, whose fame has since gone into all + countries; the man having been appointed a 'Secretary' to the very + Destinies, in some sort; that is to say, a Writer of Books which have + turned out to have truth in them! Tauenzien, a grimmish aquiline kind of + man, of no superfluous words, has distinguished himself for the present by + defending Neustadt, which the Austrians fully counted to get hold of." + </p> + <p> + Let us give another little scene; preparatory to quitting this Country, as + it is evident the King and we will soon have to do; Country being quite + eaten out, Pandours getting ever rifer, and the Season done:— + </p> + <p> + JAROMIRZ, "EARLY IN SEPTEMBER," 1745. "Jaromirz is a little Bohemian Town + on the Aupa, or between the Aupa and Metau branches of the Upper Elbe; + four or five miles north of Semonitz, where Friedrich's quarter now is. + Valori, so seldom spoken to, is lodged in a suburb there: 'Had not you + better go into the town itself?' his Majesty did once say; but Valori, + dreading nothing, lodged on,—'Landlord a Burgher whom I thought + respectable.' Respectable, yes he; but his son had been dealing with + Franquini the Pandour, and had sold Valori,—night appointed, + measures all taken; a miracle if Valori escape. Franquini, chief of 30,000 + Pandours, has come in person to superintend this important capture; and + lies hidden, with a strong party, in the woods to rearward. Prussians + about 200, scattered in posts, occupy the hedges in front, for guard of + the ovens; to rear, Jaromirz being wholly ours, there is no suspicion. + </p> + <p> + "In the dead of the night, Franquini emerges from the woods; sends forward + a party of sixty, under the young Judas; who, by methods suitable, gets + them stealthily conducted into Papa's Barn, which looks across a courtyard + into Valori's very windows. From the Barn it is easy, on paws of velvet, + to get into the House, if you have a Judas to open it. Which you have:—bolts + all drawn for you, and even beams ready for barricading if you be meddled + with. 'Upstairs is his Excellency asleep; Excellency's room is—to + right, do you remember; or to left'—'Pshaw, we shall find it!' The + Pandours mount; find a bedroom, break it open,—some fifteen or + sixteen of them, and one who knows a little French;—come crowding + forward: to the horror and terror of the poor inhabitant.' 'QUE + VOULEZ-VOUS DONC?' 'His Excellency Valori!' 'Well, no violence; I am your + prisoner: let me dress!' answers the supposed Excellency,—and + contrives to secrete portfolios, and tear or make away with papers. And is + marched off, under a select guard, who leave the rest to do the pillage. + And was not Valori at all; was Valori's Secretary, one D'Arget, who had + called himself Valori on this dangerous occasion! Valori sat quaking + behind his partition; not till the Pandours began plundering the stables + did the Prussian sentry catch sound of them, and plunge in." + </p> + <p> + Friedrich had his amusement out of this adventure; liked D'Arget, the + clever Secretary; got D'Arget to himself before long, as will be seen;—and, + in quieter times, dashed off a considerable Explosion of Rhyme, called LE + PALLADION (Valori as Prussia's "Palladium," with Devils attempting to + steal him, and the like), which was once thought an exquisite Burlesque,—Kings + coveting a sight of it, in vain,—but is now wearisome enough to + every reader. [Valori, i. 242; <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 130: for + the Fact. Exquisite Burlesque, PALLADION itself, is in <i>OEuvres,</i> xi. + 192-271 (see IB. 139): a bad copy of that very bad Original, JEANNE D'ARC,—the + only thing now good in it, Friedrich's polite yet positive refusal to + gratify King Louis and his Pompdour with a sight of it (see IB. PREFACE, + x-xiv, Friedrich's Letter to Louis; date of request and of refusal, March, + 1750).]—Let us attend his Majesty's exit from Bohemia. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XII.—BATTLE OF SOHR. + </h2> + <p> + The famed beautiful Elbe River rises in romantic chasms, terrible to the + picturesque beholder, at the roots of the Riesengebirge; overlooked by the + Hohe-Kamms, and highest summits of that chain. "Out of eleven wells," says + gentle Dulness, "EILF or ELF QUELLEN, whence its name, Elbe for ELF." Sure + enough, it starts out of various wells; [Description, in Zollner, <i>Briefe + uber Schlesien,</i> ii. 305; in &c. &c.] rushes out, like a great + peacock's or pasha's tail, from the roots of the Giant Mountains + thereabouts; and hurries southward,—or even rather eastward, at + first; for (except the Iser to westward, which does not fall in for a + great while) its chief branches come from the eastern side: Aupa, Metau, + Adler, the drainings of Glatz, and of that rugged Country where Friedrich + has been camping and manoeuvring all summer. On the whole, its course is + southward for the first seventy or eighty miles, washing Jaromirz, + Konigshof, Konigsgratz, down to Pardubitz: at Pardubitz it turns abruptly + westward, and holds on so, bending even northward, by hill and plain, + through the rest of its five or six hundred miles. + </p> + <p> + Its first considerable branch, on that eastern or left bank, is the Aupa, + which rises in the Pass of Schatzlar (great struggling there, for convoys, + just now); goes next by Trautenau, which has lately been burnt; and joins + the Elbe at Jaromirz, where Valori was stolen, or nearly so, from under + the Prussian left wing. The Aupa runs nearly straight south; the Elbe, + till meeting it, has run rather southeast; but after joining they go south + together, augmented by the Metau, by the Adler, down to Pardubitz, where + the final turn to west occurs. Jaromirz, which lies in the very angle of + Elbe and Aupa, is the left wing of Friedrich's Camp; main body of the Camp + lies on the other side of the Elbe, but of course has bridges (as at + Smirzitz, where that straw sentry did his pranks lately); bridges are + indispensable, part of our provision coming always by that BOHEMIAN + Neustadt, from the northeast quarter out of Silesia; though the main + course of our meal (and much fighting for it) is direct from the north, by + the Pass of Schatzlar,—"Chaslard," as poor Valori calls it. + </p> + <p> + Thus Friedrich lay, when Valori escaped being stolen; when Tauenzien was + assailed by the 10,000 Pandours with siege artillery, and stood + inexpugnable in the breach till Friedrich relieved him. Those Pandours + "had cut away his water, for the last two days;" so that, except for + speedy relief, all valor had been in vain. Water being gone, not + recoverable without difficulties, Neustadt was abandoned (September 16th, + as I guess);—one of our main Silesian roads for meal has ceased. We + have now only Schatzlar to depend on; where Franquini—lying westward + among the glens of the Upper Elbe, and possessed of abundant talent in the + Tolpatch way (witness Valori's narrow miss lately)—gives us trouble + enough. Friedrich determines to move towards Schatzlar. Homewards, in + fact; eating the Country well as he goes. + </p> + <p> + Saturday, 18th September, Friedrich crosses the Elbe at Jaromirz. Entirely + unopposed; the Austrians were all busy firing FEU-DE-JOIE for the Election + of their Grand-Duke: Election done five days ago at Frankfurt, and the + news just come. So they crackle about, and deliver rolling fire, at a + great rate; proud to be "IMPERIAL Army" henceforth, as if that could do + much for them. There was also vast dining, for three days, among the high + heads, and a great deal of wine spent. That probably would have been the + chance to undertake something upon them, better than crossing the Elbe, + says Friedrich looking back. But he did not think of it in time; took + second-best in place of best. + </p> + <p> + He is now, therefore, over into that Triangular piece of Country between + Elbe and Aupa (if readers will consult their Map); in that triangle, his + subsequent notable operations all lie. He here proposes to move northward, + by degrees,—through Trautenau, Schatzlar, and home; well eating this + bit of Country too, the last uneaten bit, as he goes. This well eaten, + there will be no harbor anywhere for Invasion, through the Winter coming. + One of my old Notes says of it, in the topographic point of view:— + </p> + <p> + "It is a triangular patch of Country, which has lain asleep since the + Creation of the World; traversed only by Boii (BOI-HEIM-ERS, Bohemians), + Czechs and other such populations, in Human History; but which Friedrich + has been fated to make rather notable to the Moderns henceforth. Let me + recommend it to the picturesque tourist, especially to the military one. + Lovers of rocky precipices, quagmires, brawling torrents and the + unadulterated ruggedness of Nature, will find scope there; and it was the + scene of a distinguished passage of arms, with notable display of human + dexterity and swift presence of mind. For the rest, one of the wildest, + and perhaps (except to the picturesque tourist) most unpleasant regions in + the world. Wild stony upland; topmost Upland, we may say, of Europe in + general, or portion of such Upland; for the rainstorms hereabouts run + several roads,—into the German Ocean and Atlantic by the Elbe, into + the Baltic by the Oder, into the Black Sea by the Donau;—and it is + the waste Outfield whither you rise, by long weeks-journeys, from many + sides. + </p> + <p> + "Much of it, towards the angle of Elbe and Aupa, is occupied by a huge + waste Wood, called 'Kingdom Forest' (KONIGREICH SYLVA or WALD, peculium of + Old Czech Majesties, I fancy); may be sixty square miles in area, the + longer side of which lies along the Elbe. A Country of rocky defiles; + lowish hills chaotically shoved together, not wanting their brooks and + quagmires, straight labyrinthic passages; shaggy with wild wood. Some poor + Hamlets here and there, probably the sleepiest in Nature, are scattered + about; there may be patches ploughable for rye [modern Tourist says + snappishly, There are many such; whole region now drained; reminded me of + Yorkshire Highlands, with the Western Sun gilding it, that fine afternoon!]—ploughable + for rye, buckwheat; boggy grass to be gathered in summer; charcoaling to + do; pigs at least are presumable, among these straggling outposts of + humanity in their obscure Hamlets: poor ploughing, moiling creatures, they + little thought of becoming notable so soon! None of the Books (all intent + on mere soldiering) take the least notice of them; not at the pains to + spell their Hamlets right: no more notice than if they also had been + stocks and moss-grown stones. Nevertheless, there they did evidently live, + for thousands of years past, in a dim manner;—and are much terrified + to have become the seat of war, all on a sudden. Their poor Hamlets, Sohr, + Staudentz, Prausnitz, Burgersdorf and others still send up a faint smoke; + and have in them, languidly, the live-coal of mysterious human existence, + in those woods,—to judge by the last maps that have come out. A + thing worth considering by the passing tourist, military or other." + </p> + <p> + It is in this Kingdom Forest (which he calls ROYAUME DE SILVA, instead of + SYLVA DE ROYAUME) that Friedrich now marches; keeping the body of the + Forest well on his left, and skirting the southern and eastern sides of + it. Rough marching for his Majesty; painfully infested by Nadastian + Tolpatches; who run out on him from ambushes, and need to be scourged; one + ambush in particular, at a place called Liebenthal (second day's march, + and near the end of it),—where our Prussian Hussars, winding like + fiery dragons on the dangerous precipices, gave them better than they + brought, and completely quenched their appetite for that day. After + Liebenthal, the march soon ends; three miles farther on, at the dim + wold-hamlet of Staudentz: here a camp is pitched; here, till the Country + is well eaten out, or till something else occur, we propose to tarry for a + time. + </p> + <p> + Horse-forage abounds here; but there is no getting of it without + disturbance from those dogs; you must fight for every truss of grass: if a + meal-train is coming, as there does every five days, you have to detach + 8,000 foot and 3,000 horse to help it safe in. A fretting fatiguing time + for regular troops. Our bakery is at Trautenau,—where Valori is now + lodging. The Tolpatchery, unable to take Trautenau, set fire to it, though + it is their own town, their own Queen's town; thatchy Trautenau, wooden + too in the upper stories of it, takes greedily to the fire; goes all aloft + in flame, and then lies black. A scandalous transaction, thinks Friedrich. + The Prussian corn lay nearly all in cellars; little got, even of the + Prussians, by such an atrocity: and your own poor fellow-subjects, where + are they? Valori was burnt out here; again exploded from his quarters, + poor man;—seems to have thought it a mere fire in his own lodging, + and that he was an unfortunate diplomatist. Happily he got notice + (PRIVATISSIME, for no officer dare whisper in such cases) that there is an + armed party setting out for Silesia, to guard meal that is coming: Valori + yokes himself to this armed party, and gets safe over the Hills with it,—then + swift, by extra post, to Breslau and to civilized (partially civilized) + accommodation, for a little rest after these hustlings and tossings. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich had lain at Staudentz, in this manner, bickering continually for + his forage, and eating the Country, for about ten days: and now, as the + latter process is well on, and the season drawing to a close: he + determines on a shift northward. Thursday, 30th September next, let there + be one other grand forage, the final one in this eaten tract, then + northward to fresh grounds. That, it appears, was the design. But, on + Wednesday, there came in an Austrian deserter; who informs us that Prince + Karl is not now in Konigsgratz, but in motion up the Elbe; already some + fifty miles up; past Jaromirz: his rear at Konigshof, his van at Arnau,—on + a level with burnt Trautenau, and farther north than we ourselves are. + This is important news. "Intending to block us out from Schatzlar? Hmh!" + Single scouts, or small parties, cannot live in this Kingdom Wood, + swarming with Pandours: Friedrich sends out a Colonel Katzler, with 500 + light horse, to investigate a little. Katzler pushes forward, on such lane + or forest road-track as there is, towards Konigshof; beats back small + hussar parties;—comes, in about an hour's space, not upon hussars + merely, but upon dense masses of heavy horse winding through the forest + lanes; and, with that imperfect intelligence, is obliged to return. The + deserter spake truth, apparently; and that is all we can know. Forage + scheme is given up; the order is, "Baggage packed, and MARCH to-morrow + morning at ten." Long before ten, there had great things befallen on the + morrow!—Try to understand this Note a little:— + </p> + <p> + "The Camp of Staudentz-which two persons (the King, and General Stille, a + more careful reporter, who also was an eye-witness) have done their best + to describe—will, after all efforts, and an Ordnance Map to help, + remain considerably unintelligible to the reader; as is too usual in such + cases. A block of high-lying ground; Friedrich's Camp on it, perhaps two + miles long, looks to the south; small Village of Staudentz in front; + hollow beyond that, and second small Village, Deutsch Prausnitz, hanging + on the opposite slope, with shaggy heights beyond, and the Kingdom Forest + there beginning: on the left, defiles, brooks and strait country, leading + towards the small town of Eypel: that is our left and front aspect, a + hollow well isolating us on those sides. Hollow continues all along the + front; hollow definite on our side of it, and forming a tolerable defence:—though + again, I perceive, to rightward at no great distance, there rise High + Grounds which considerably overhang us." A thing to be marked! "These we + could not occupy, for want of men; but only maintain vedettes upon them. + Over these Heights, a mile or two westward of this hollow of ours, runs + the big winding hollow called Georgengrund (GEORGE'S BOTTOM), which winds + up and down in that Kingdom Forest, and offers a road from Konigshof to + Trautenau, among other courses it takes. + </p> + <p> + "From the crown of those Heights on our right flank here, looking to the + west, you might discern (perhaps three miles off, from one of the + sheltering nooks in the hither side of that Georgengrund), rising faintly + visible over knolls and dingles, the smoke of a little Forest Village. + That Village is Sohr; notable ever since, beyond others, in the Kingdom + Wood. Sohr, like the other Villages, has its lane-roads; its road to + Trautenau, to Konigshof, no doubt; but much nearer you, on our eastern + slope of the Heights, and far hitherward of Sohr, which is on the western, + goes the great road [what is now the great road], from Konigshof to + Trautenau, well visible from Friedrich's Camp, though still at some + distance from it. Could these Heights between us and Sohr, which lie + beyond the great road, be occupied, we were well secured; isolated on the + right too, as on the other sides, from Kingdom Forest and its ambushes. + 'Should have been done,' admits Friedrich; 'but then, as it is, there are + not troops enough:' with 18,000 men you cannot do everything!" + </p> + <p> + Here, however, is the important point. In Sohr, this night, 29th + September, in a most private manner, the Austrians, 30,000 of them and + more, have come gliding through the woods, without even their pipe lit, + and with thick veil of hussars ahead! Outposts of theirs lie squatted in + the bushes behind Deutsch Prausnitz, hardly 500 yards from Friedrich's + Camp. And eastward, leftward of him, in the defiles about Eypel, lie + Nadasti and Ruffian Trenck, with ten or twelve thousand, who are to take + him in rear. His "Camp of Staudentz" will be at a fine pass to-morrow + morning. The Austrian Gentlemen had found, last week, a certain bare + Height in the Forest (Height still known), from which they could use their + astronomer tubes day after day; [Orlich, ii. 225.] and now they are about + attempting something! + </p> + <p> + Thursday morning, very early, 30th September, 1745, Friedrich was in his + tent, busy with generals and march-routes,—when a rapid orderly + comes in, from that Vedette, or strong Piquet, on the Heights to our + right: "Austrians visibly moving, in quantity, near by!" and before he has + done answering, the officer himself arrives: "Regular Cavalry in great + force; long dust-cloud in Kingdom Forest, in the gray dawn; and, so far as + we can judge, it is their Army coming on." Here is news for a poor man, in + the raw of a September morning, by way of breakfast to him! "To arms!" is, + of course, Friedrich's instant order; and he himself gallops to the Piquet + on the Heights, glass in hand. "Austrian Army sure enough, thirty to + thirty-five thousand of them, we only eighteen. [<i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> + iii. 139.] Coming to take us on the right flank here; to attack our Camp + by surprise: will crush us northward through the defiles, and trample us + down in detail? Hmh! To run for it, will never do. We must fight for it, + and even attack THEM, as our way is, though on such terms. Quick, a plan!" + The head of Friedrich is a bank you cannot easily break by coming on it + for plans: such a creature for impromptu plans, and unexpected dashes + swift as the panther's, I have hardly known,—especially when you + squeeze him into a corner, and fancy he is over with it! Friedrich gallops + down, with his plan clear enough; and already the Austrians, horse and + foot, are deploying upon those Heights he has quitted; Fifty Squadrons of + Horse for left wing to them, and a battery of Twenty-eight big Guns is + establishing itself where Friedrich's Piquet lately stood. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich's right flank has to become his front, and face those formidable + Austrian Heights and Batteries; and this with more than Prussian velocity, + and under the play of those twenty-eight big guns, throwing case-shot + (GRENADES ROYALES) and so forth, all the while. To Valori, when he heard + of the thing, it is inconceivable how mortal troops could accomplish such + a movement; Friedrich himself praises it, as a thing honorably well done. + Took about half an hour; case-shot raining all the while; soldier + honorably never-minding: no flurry, though a speed like that of + spinning-tops. And here we at length are, Staudentz now to rear of us, + behind our centre a good space; Burgersdorf in front of us to right, our + left reaching to Prausnitz: Austrian lines, three deep of them, on the + opposite Height; we one line only, which matches them in length. + </p> + <p> + They, that left wing of horse, should have thundered down on us, attacking + us, not waiting our attack, thinks Friedrich; but they have not done it. + They stand on their height there, will perhaps fire carbines, as their + wont is. "You, Buddenbrock, go into them with your Cuirassiers!" + Buddenbrock and the Cuirassiers, though it is uphill, go into them at a + furious rate; meet no countercharge, mere sputter of carbines;—tumble + them to mad wreck, back upon their second line, back upon their third: + absurdly crowded there on their narrow height, no room to manoeuvre; so + that they plunge, fifty squadrons of them, wholly into the Georgengrund + rearward, into the Kingdom Wood, and never come on again at all. + Buddenbrock has done his job right well. + </p> + <p> + Seeing which, our Infantry of the right wing, which stood next to + Buddenbrock, made impetuous charge uphill, emulous to capture that Battery + of Twenty-eight; but found it, for some time, a terrible attempt. These + Heights are not to be called "hills," still less "mountains" (as in some + careless Books); but it is a stiff climb at double-quick, with + twenty-eight big guns playing in the face of you. Storms of case-shot + shear away this Infantry, are quenching its noble fury in despair; + Infantry visibly recoiling, when our sole Three Regiments of Reserve hurry + up to support. Round these all rallies; rushes desperately on, and takes + the Battery,—of course, sending the Austrian left wing rapidly + adrift, on loss of the same. + </p> + <p> + This, I consider, is the crisis of the Fight; the back of the Austrian + enterprise is already broken, by this sad winging of it on the left. But + it resists still; comes down again,—the reserve of their left wing + seen rapidly making for Burgersdorf, intending an attack there; which we + oppose with vigor, setting Burgersdorf on fire for temporary screen; and + drive the Austrian reserve rapidly to rearward again. But there is rally + after rally of them. They rank again on every new height, and dispute + there; loath to be driven into Kingdom Wood, after such a flourish of + arms. One height, "bushy steep height," the light-limbed valiant Prince, + little Ferdinand of Brunswick, had the charge of attacking; and he did it + with his usual impetus and irresistibility:—and, strangely enough, + the defender of it chanced to be that Brother of his, Prince Ludwig, with + whom he had the little Interview lately. Prince Ludwig got a wound, as + well as lost his height. The third Brother, poor Prince Albrecht, who is + also here, as volunteer apprentice, on the Prussian side, gets killed. + There will never be another Interview, for all three, between the Camps! + Strange times for those poor Princes, who have to seek soldiering for + their existence. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile the Cavalry of Buddenbrock, that is to say of the right wing, + having now no work in that quarter, is despatched to reinforce the left + wing, which has stood hitherto apart on its own ground; not attacked or + attacking,—a left wing REFUSED, as the soldiers style it. Reinforced + by Buddenbrock, this left wing of horse does now also storm forward;—"near + the Village of Prausnitz" (Prausnitz a little way to rear of it), + thereabouts, is the scene of its feat. Feat done in such fashion that the + Austrians opposite will not stand the charge at all; but gurgle about in a + chaotic manner; then gallop fairly into Kingdom Wood, without stroke + struck; and disappear, as their fellows had done. Whereupon the Prussian + horse breaks in upon the adjoining Infantry of that flank (Austrian right + flank, left bare in this manner); champs it also into chaotic whirlpools; + cuts away an outskirt of near 2,000 prisoners, and sets the rest running. + This seems to have been pretty much the COUP-DE-GRACE of the Fight; and to + have brought the Austrian dispute to finis. From the first, they had + rallied on the heights; had struggled and disputed. Two general rallies + they made, and various partial, but none had any success. They were driven + on, bayonet in back, as the phrase is: with this sad slap on their right, + added to that old one on their left, what can they now do but ebb rapidly; + pour in cataracts into Kingdom Wood, and disappear there? [ <i>OEuvres de + Frederic,</i> iii. 135-143; Stille, pp. 144-163; Orlich, ii. 227-243; <i>Feldzuge,</i> + i. 357, 363, 374.] + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl's scheme was good, says Friedrich; but it was ill executed. He + never should have let us form; his first grand fault was that he waited to + be attacked, instead of attacking. Parts of his scheme were never executed + at all. Duke d'Ahremberg, for instance, it is said, had so dim a notion of + the ground, that he drew up some miles off, with his back to the + Prussians. Such is the rumor,—perhaps only a rumor, in mockery of + the hebetated old gentleman fallen unlucky? On the other hand, that + Nadasti made a failure which proved important, is indubitable. Nadasti, + with some thousands of Tolpatchery, was at Liebenthal, four miles to + southeast of the action; Ruffian Trenck lay behind Eypel, perhaps as far + to east, of it: Trenck and Nadasti were to rendezvous, to unite, and + attack the Prussian Camp on its rear,—"Camp," so ran the order, for + it was understood the Prussians would all be there, we others attacking it + in front and both flanks;—which turned out otherwise, not for + Nadasti alone! + </p> + <p> + Nadasti came to his rendezvous in time; Ruffian Trenck did not: Nadasti + grew tired of waiting for Trenck, and attacked the Camp by himself:—Camp, + but not any men; Camp being now empty, and the men all fighting, ranked at + right angles to it, furlongs and miles away. Nadasti made a rare hand of + the Camp; plundered everything, took all the King's Camp-furniture, ready + money, favorite dog Biche,—likewise poor Eichel his Secretary, who, + however, tore the papers first. Tolpatchery exultingly gutted the Camp; + and at last set fire to it,—burnt even some eight or ten poor + Prussian sick, and also "some women whom they caught. We found the limbs + of these poor men and women lying about," reports old General Lehwald; who + knew about it. A doggery well worthy of the gallows, think Lehwald and I. + "Could n't help it; ferocity of wild men," says Nadasti. "Well; but why + not attack, then, with your ferocity?" Confused Court-martial put these + questions, at Vienna subsequently; and Ruffian Trenck, some say, got + injustice, Nadasti shuffling things upon him; for which one cares almost + nothing. Lehwald, lying at Trautenau, had heard the firing at sunrise; and + instantly marched to help: he only arrived to give Nadasti a slash or two, + and was too late for the Fight. One Schlichtling, on guard with a weak + party, saved what was in the right wing of the Camp,—small thanks to + him, the Main Fight being so near: Friedrich's opinion is, an Officer, in + Schlichtling's place, ought to have done more, and not have been so + helpless. + </p> + <p> + This was the Battle of Sohr; so called because the Austrians had begun + there, and the Prussians ended there. The Prussian pursuit drew bridle at + that Village; unsafe to prosecute Austrians farther, now in the deeps of + Kingdom Forest. The Battle has lasted five hours. It must be now getting + towards noon; and time for breakfast, if indeed any were to be had; but + that is next to impossible, Nadasti having been so busy. Not without + extreme difficulty is a manchet of bread, with or without a drop of wine, + procured for the King's Majesty this day. Many a tired hero will have + nothing but tobacco, with spring-water, to fall back upon. Never mind! + says the King, says everybody. After all, it is a cheap price to pay for + missing an attack from Pandours in the rear, while such crisis went on + ahead. + </p> + <p> + Lying COUSIN Trenck, of the Life-guard, who is now in Glatz, gives vivid + eye-witness particulars of these things, time of the morning and so on; + says expressly he was there, and what he did there, [Frederic Baron de + Trenck, <i>Memoires, traduits par lui-meme</i> (Strasburg and Paris, + 1789), i. 74-78, 79.]—though in Glatz under lock and key, three good + months before. "How could I help mistakes," said he afterwards, when + people objected to this and that in his blusterous mendacity of a Book: "I + had nothing but my poor agitated memory to trust to!" A man's memory, when + it gets the length of remembering that he was in the Battle of Sohr while + bodily absent, ought it not to—in fact, to strike work; to still its + agitations altogether, and call halt? Trenck, some months after, got + clambered out of Glatz, by sewers, or I forget how; and leaped, or + dropped, from some parapet into the River Neisse,—sinking to the + loins in tough mud, so that he could not stir. + </p> + <p> + MAP TO GO HERE——BOOK 15—page 499—— + </p> + <p> + "Fouquet let me stand there half a day, before he would pick me out + again." Rigorous Bouquet, human mercy forbidding, could not let him stand + there in permanence,—as we, better circumstanced, may with advantage + try to do, in time coming! + </p> + <p> + Friedrich lay at Sohr five days; partly for the honor of the thing, partly + to eat out the Country to perfection. Prince Karl, from Konigshof, soon + fell back to Konigsgratz; and lay motionless there, nothing but his + Tolpatcheries astir, Sohr Country all eaten, Friedrich, in the due + Divisions, marched northward. Through Trautenau, Schatzlar, his own + Division, which was the main one;—and, fencing off the Tolpatches + successfully with trouble, brings all his men into Silesia again. A good + job of work behind them, surely! Cantons them to right and left of + Landshut, about Rohnstock and Hohenfriedberg, hamlets known so well; and + leaving the Young Dessauer to command, drives for Berlin (30th October),—rapidly, + as his wont is. Prince Karl has split up his force at Konigsgratz; means, + one cannot doubt, to go into winter-quarters. If he think of invading, + across that eaten Country and those bad Mountains,—well, our troops + can all be got together in six hours' time. + </p> + <p> + At Trautenau, a week after Sohr, Friedrich had at last received the + English ratification of that Convention of Hanover, signed 26th August, + almost a month ago; not ratified till September 22d. About which there had + latterly been some anxiety, lest his Britannic Majesty himself might have + broken off from it. With Austria, with Saxony, Britannic Majesty has been + entirely unsuccessful:—"May not Sohr, perhaps, be a fresh + persuasive?" hopes Friedrich;—but as to Britannic Majesty's breaking + off, his thoughts are far from that, if we knew! Poor Majesty: not long + since, Supreme Jove of Germany; and now—is like to be swallowed in + ragamuffin street-riots; not a thunder-bolt within clutch of him + (thunder-bolts all sticking in the mud of the Netherlands, far off), and + not a constable's staff of the least efficacy! Consider these dates in + combination. Battle of Sohr was on THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th:— + </p> + <p> + "SUNDAY preceding, SEPTEMBER 26th, was such a Lord's-Day in the City of + Edinburgh, as had not been seen there,—not since Jenny Geddes's + stool went flying at the Bishop's head, above a hundred years before. Big + alarm-bell bursting out in the middle of divine service; emptying all the + Churches ('Highland rebels just at hand!')—into General Meeting of + the Inhabitants, into Chaos come again, for the next forty hours. Till, in + the gaunt midnight, Tuesday, 2 A.M., Lochiel with about 1,000 Camerons, + waiting slight opportunity, crushed in through the Netherbow Port; and"—And, + about noon of that day, a poor friend of ours, loitering expectant in the + road that leads by St. Anthony's Well, saw making entry into paternal + Holyrood,—the Young Pretender, in person, who is just being + proclaimed Prince of Wales, up in the High-street yonder! "A tall slender + young man, about five feet ten inches high; of a ruddy complexion, + high-nosed, large rolling brown eyes; long-visaged, red-haired, but at + that time wore a pale periwig. He was in a Highland habit [coat]; over the + shoulder a blue sash wrought with gold; red velvet breeches; a green + velvet bonnet, with white cockade on it and a gold lace. His speech seemed + very like that of an Irishman; very sly [how did you know, my poor + friend?];—spoke often to O'Sullivan [thought to be a person of some + counsel; had been Tutor to Maillebois's Boys, had even tried some + irregular fighting under Maillebois]—to O'Sullivan and" [Henderson, + <i>Highland Rebellion,</i> p. 14.]... And on Saturday, in short, came + PRESTONPANS. Enough of such a Supreme Jove; good for us here as a + timetable chiefly, or marker of dates! + </p> + <p> + Sunday, 3d October, King's Adjutant, Captain Mollendorf, a young Officer + deservedly in favor, arrives at Berlin with the joyful tidings of this + Sohr business ("Prausnitz" we then called it): to the joy of all + Prussians, especially of a Queen Mother, for whom there is a Letter in + pencil. After brief congratulation, Mollendorf rushes on; having next to + give the Old Dessauer notice of it in his Camp at Dieskau, in the Halle + neighborhood. Mollendorf appears in Halle suddenly next morning, Monday, + about ten o'clock, sixteen postilions trumpeting, and at their swiftest + trot, in front of him;—shooting, like a melodious morning-star, + across the rusty old city, in this manner,—to Dieskau Camp, where he + gives the Old Dessauer his good news. Excellent Victory indeed; sharp + striking, swift self-help on our part. Halle and the Camp have enough to + think of, for this day and the next. Whither Mollendorf went next, we will + not ask: perhaps to Brunswick and other consanguineous places?—Certain + it is, + </p> + <p> + "On Wednesday, the 6th, about two in the afternoon, the Old Dessauer has + his whole Army drawn out there, with green sprigs in their hats, at + Dieskau, close upon the Saxon Frontier; and, after swashing and + manoeuvring about in the highest military style of art, ranks them all in + line, or two suitable lines, 30,000 of them; and then, with clangorous + outburst of trumpet, kettle-drum and all manner of field-music, fires off + his united artillery a first time; almost shaking the very hills by such a + thunderous peal, in the still afternoon. And mark, close fitted into the + artillery peal, commences a rolling fire, like a peal spread out in + threads, sparkling strangely to eye and ear; from right to left, long + spears of fire and sharp strokes of sound, darting aloft, successive + simultaneous, winding for the space of miles, then back by the rear line, + and home to the starting-point: very grand indeed. Again, and also again, + the artillery peal, and rolling small-arms fitted into it, is repeated; a + second and a third time, kettle-drums and trumpets doing what they can. + That was the Old Dessauer's bonfiring (what is called FEU-DE-JOIE), for + the Victory of Sohr; audible almost at Leipzig, if the wind were westerly. + Overpowering to the human mind; at least, to the old Newspaper reporter of + that day. But what was strangest in the business," continues he "(DAS + CURIEUSESTE DABEY), was that the Saxon Uhlans, lying about in the villages + across the Border, were out in the fields, watching the sight, hardly 300 + yards off, from beginning to end; and little dreamed that his High + Princely Serenity," blue of face and dreadful in war, "was quite close to + them, on the Height called Bornhock; condescending to 'take all this into + High-Serene Eye-shine there; and, by having a white flag waved, deigning + to give signal for the discharges of the artillery.'" [<i>Helden-Geschichte,</i> + i. 1124.] + </p> + <p> + By this the reader may know that the Old Dessauer is alive, ready for + action if called on; and Bruhl ought to comprehend better how riskish his + game with edge-tools is. Bruhl is not now in an unprepared state:—here + are Uhlans at one's elbow looking on. Rutowski's Uhlans; who lies + encamped, not far off, in good force, posted among morasses; strongly + entrenched, and with schemes in his head, and in Bruhl's, of an + aggressive, thrice-secret and very surprising nature! I remark only that, + in Heidelberg Country, victorious old Traun is putting his people into + winter-quarters; himself about to vanish from this History, [Went to + SIEBENBURGEN (Transylvania) as Governor; died there February, 1748, age + seventy-one (<i>Maria Theresiens Leben,</i> p. 56 n.).]—and has + detached General Grune with 10,000 men; who left Heidelberg October 9th, + on a mysterious errand, heeded by nobody; and will turn up in the next + Chapter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIII.—SAXONY AND AUSTRIA MAKE A SURPRISING LAST ATTEMPT. + </h2> + <p> + After this strenuous and victorious Campaign, which has astonished all + public men, especially all Pragmatic Gazetteers, and with which all Europe + is disharmoniously ringing, Friedrich is hopeful there will be Peace, + through England;—cannot doubt, at least, but the Austrians have had + enough for one year;—and looks forward to certain months, if not of + rest, yet of another kind of activity. Negotiation, Peace through England, + if possible; that is the high prize: and in the other case, or in any + case, readiness for next Campaign;—which with the treasury + exhausted, and no honorable subsidy from France, is a difficult problem. + </p> + <p> + That was Friedrich's, and everybody's, program of affairs for the months + coming: but in that Friedrich and everybody found themselves greatly + mistaken. Bruhl and the Austrians had decided otherwise. "Open + mouse-trap," at Striegau; claws of the sleeping cat, at Sohr: these were + sad experiences; ill to bear, with the Sea-Powers grumbling on you, and + the world sniffing its pity on you;—but are not conclusive, are only + provoking and even maddening, to the sanguine mind. Two sad failures; but + let us try another time. "A tricky man; cunning enough, your King of + Prussia!" thinks Bruhl, with a fellness of humor against Friedrich which + is little conceivable to us now: "Cunning enough. But it is possible + cunning may be surpassed by deeper cunning!"—and decides, + Bartenstein and an indignant Empress-Queen assenting eagerly, That there + shall, in the profoundest secrecy till it break out, be a third, and much + fiercer trial, this Winter yet. The Bruhl-Bartenstein plan (owing mainly + to the Russian Bugbear which hung over it, protective, but with whims of + its own) underwent changes, successive redactions or editions; which the + reader would grudge to hear explained to him. [Account of them in Orlich, + ii. 273-278 (from various RUTOWSKI Papers; and from the contemporary + satirical Pamphlet, "MONDSCHEINWURFE, Mirror-castings of Moonshine, by + ZEBEDAUS Cuckoo,) beaten Captain of a beaten Army."] Of the final or acted + edition, some loose notion, sufficient for our purpose, may be collected + from the following fractions of Notes:— + </p> + <p> + NOVEMBER 17th (INTERIOR OF GERMANY).... "Feldmarschall-Lieutenant von + Grune, a General of mark, detached by Traun not long since, from the Rhine + Country, with a force of 10,000 men, why is he marching about: first to + Baireuth Country, 'at Hof, November 9th,' as if for Bohemia; then north, + to Gera ('lies at Gera till the 17th'), as if for Saxony Proper? Prince + Karl, you would certainly say, has gone into winter-quarters; about + Konigsgratz, and farther on? Gone or going, sure enough, is Prince Karl, + into the convenient Bohemian districts,—uncertain which particular + districts; at least the Young Dessauer, watching him from the Silesian + side, is uncertain which. Better be vigilant, Prince Leopold!—Grune, + lying at Gera yonder, is not intending for Prince Karl, then? No, not + thither. Then perhaps towards Saxony, to reinforce the Saxons? Or + some-whither to find fat winter-quarters: who knows? Indeed, who cares + particularly, for such inconsiderable Grune and his 10,000!— + </p> + <p> + "The Saxons quitted their inexpugnable Camp towards Halle, some time ago; + went into cantonments farther inland;—the Old Dessauer (middle of + October) having done the like, and gone home: his force lies rather + scattered, for convenience of food and forage. From the Silesian side, + again, Prince Leopold, whose head-quarters are about Striegau, intimates, + That he cannot yet say, with certainty, what districts Prince Karl will + occupy for winter-quarters in Bohemia. Prince Karl is vaguely roving + about; detaching Pandours to the Silesian Mountains, as if for checking + our victorious Nassau there;—always rather creeping northward; + skirting Western Silesia with his main force; 30,000 or better, with + Lobkowitz and Nadasti ahead. Meaning what? Be vigilant, my young friend. + </p> + <p> + "The private fact is, Prince Karl does not mean to go into winter-quarters + at all. In private fact, Prince Karl is one of Three mysterious Elements + or Currents, sent on a far errand: Grune is another: Rutowski's Saxon Camp + (now become Cantonment) is a third. Three Currents instinct with fire and + destruction, but as yet quite opaque; which have been launched,—whitherward + thinks the reader? On Berlin itself, and the Mark of Brandenburg; there to + collide, and ignite in a marvellous manner. There is their meeting-point: + there shall they, on a sudden, smite one another into flame; and the + destruction blaze, fiery enough, round Friedrich and his own Brandenburg + homesteads there!— + </p> + <p> + "It is a grand scheme; scheme at least on a grand scale. For the LEGS of + it, Grune's march and Prince Karl's, are about 600 miles long! Plan due + chiefly, they say, to the yellow rage of Bruhl; aided by the contrivance + of Rutowski, and the counsel of Austrian military men. For there is much + consulting about it, and redacting of it; Polish Majesty himself very + busy. To Bruhl's yellow rage it is highly solacing and hopeful. 'Rutowski, + lying close in his Cantonments, and then suddenly springing out, will + overwhelm the Old Dessauer, who lies wide;—can do it, surely; and + Grune is there to help if necessary. Dessauer blown to pieces, Grune, with + Rutowski combined, push in upon Brandenburg,—Grune himself upon + Berlin,—from the west and south, nobody expecting him. Prince Karl, + not taking into winter-quarters in Bohemia, as they idly think; but + falling down the Valley of the Bober, or Bober and Queiss, into the + Lausitz (to Gorlitz, Guben, where we have Magazines for him), comes upon + it from the southeast,—nobody expecting any of them. Three + simultaneous Armies hurled on the head of your Friedrich; combustible + deluges flowing towards him, as from the ends of Germany; so opaque, + silent, yet of fire wholly: will not that surprise him!' thinks Bruhl. + These are the schemes of the little man." + </p> + <p> + Bruhl, having constituted himself rival to Friedrich, and fallen into pale + or yellow rage by the course things took, this Plan is naturally his chief + joy, or crown of joys; a bubbling well of solace to him in his parched + condition. He should, obviously, have kept it secret; thrice-secret, the + little fool;—but a poor parched man is not always master of his + private bubbling wells in that kind! Wolfstierna is Swedish Envoy at + Dresden; Rudenskjold, Swedish Envoy at Berlin, has run over to see him in + the dim November days. Swedes, since Ulrique's marriage, are friendly to + Prussia. Bruhl has these two men to dinner; talks with them, over his + wine, about Friedrich's insulting usage of him, among other topics. + "Insulting; how, your Excellency?" asks Rudenskjold, privately a friend of + Friedrich. Bruhl explains, with voice quivering, those cuts in the + Friedrich manifesto of August last, and other griefs suffered; the two + Swedes soothing him with what oil they have ready. "No matter!" hints + Bruhl; and proceeds from hint to hint, till the two Swedes are fully aware + of the grand scheme: Grune, Prince Karl; and how Destruction, with legs + 500 miles long, is steadily advancing to assuage one with just revenge. + "Right, your Excellency!"—only that Rudenskjold proceeds to Berlin; + and there straightway ("8th November") punctually makes Friedrich also + aware. [Stenzel, iv. 262; Ranke, iii. 317-323; Friedrich's own narrative + of it, <i>OEuvres,</i> iii. 148.] Foolish Bruhl: a man that has a secret + should not only hide it, but hide that he has it to hide. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0035" id="link2H_4_0035"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + FRIEDRICH GOES OUT TO MEET HIS THREE-LEGGED MONSTER; CUTS ONE LEG OF IT IN + TWO (Fight of Hennersdorf, 23d November, 1745). + </h2> + <p> + Friedrich, having heard the secret, gazes into it with horror and + astonishment: "What a time I have! This is not living; this is being + killed a thousand times a day!" [Ranke (iii. 321 n.): TO whom said, we are + not told.]—with horror and astonishment; but also with what most + luminous flash of eyesight is in him; compares it with Prince Karl's + enigmatic motions, Grune's open ones and the other phenomena;—perceives + that it is an indisputable fact, and a thrice-formidable; requiring to be + instantly dealt with by the party interested! Whereupon, after hearty + thanks to Rudenskjold, there occur these rapidly successive phases of + activity, which we study to take up in a curt form. + </p> + <p> + FIRST (probably 9th or 10th November), there is Council held with Minister + Podewils and the Old Dessauer; Council from which comes little benefit, or + none. Podewils and Old Leopold stare incredulous; cannot be made to + believe such a thing. "Impossible any Saxon minister or man would + voluntarily bring the theatre of war into his own Country, in this + manner!" thinks the Old Dessauer, and persists to think,—on what + obstinate ground Friedrich never knew. To which Podewils, "who has + properties in the Lausitz, and would so fain think them safe," + obstinately, though more covertly, adheres. "Impossible!" urge both these + Councillors; and Friedrich cannot even make them believe it. Believe it; + and, alas, believing it is not the whole problem! + </p> + <p> + Happily Friedrich has the privilege of ordering, with or without their + belief. "You, Podewils, announce the matter to foreign Courts. You, Serene + Highness of Anhalt, at your swiftest, collect yonder, and encamp again. + Your eye well on Grune and Rutowski; and the instant I give you signal—! + I am for Silesia, to look after Prince Karl, the other long leg of this + Business." Old Leopold, according to Friedrich's account, is visibly glad + of such opportunity to fight again before he die: and yet, for no reason + except some senile jealousy, is not content with these arrangements; + perversely objects to this and that. At length the King says,—think + of this hard word, and of the eyes that accompany it!—"When your + Highness gets Armies of your own, you will order them according to your + mind; at present, it must be according to mine." On, then; and not a + moment lost: for of all things we must be swift! + </p> + <p> + Old Leopold goes accordingly. Friedrich himself goes in a week hence. + Orders, correspondences from Podewils and the rest, are flying right and + left;—to Young Leopold in Silesia, first of all. Young Leopold draws + out his forces towards the Silesian-Lausitz border, where Prince Karl's + intentions are now becoming visible. And,—here is the second phase + notable,— + </p> + <p> + "On Monday, 15th, ["18th," <i>Feldzuge,</i> i. 402 (see Rodenbeck, i. + 122).] at 7 A.M.," Friedrich rushes off, by Crossen, full speed for + Liegnitz; "with Rothenburg, with the Prince of Prussia and Ferdinand of + Brunswick accompanying." With what thoughts,—though, in his face, + you can read nothing; all Berlin being already in such tremor! Friedrich + is in Liegnitz next day; and after needful preliminaries there, does, on + the Thursday following, "at Nieder-Adelsdorf," not far off, take actual + command of Prince Leopold's Army, which had lain encamped for some days, + waiting him. And now with such force in hand,—35,000, soldiers every + man of them, and freshened by a month's rest,—one will endeavor to + do some good upon Prince Karl. Probably sooner than Prince Karl supposes. + For there is great velocity in this young King; a panther-like suddenness + of spring in him: cunning, too, as any Felis of them; and with claws like + the Felis Leo on occasion. Here follows the brief Campaign that ensued, + which I strive greatly to abridge. + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl's intentions towards Frankfurt-on-Oder Country, through the + Lausitz, are now becoming practically manifest. There is a Magazine for + him at Guben, within thirty miles of Frankfurt; arrangements getting ready + all the way. A winter march of 150 miles;—but what, say the spies, + is to hinder? Prince Karl dreams not that Friedrich is on the ground, or + that anybody is aware. Which notion Friedrich finds that it will be + extremely suitable to maintain in Prince Karl. Friedrich is now at + Adelsdorf, some thirty miles eastward of the Lausitz Border, perhaps forty + or more from the route Prince Karl will follow through that Province. + </p> + <p> + "It is a high-lying irregularly hilly Country; hilly, not mountainous. + Various streams rise out of it that have a long course,—among + others, the Spree, which washes Berlin;—especially three Valleys + cross it, three Rivers with their Valleys: Bober, Queiss, Neisse (the + THIRD Neisse we have come upon); all running northward, pretty much + parallel, though all are branches of the Oder. This is Neisse THIRD, we + say; not the Neisse of Neisse City, which we used to know at the north + base of the Giant Mountains, nor the Roaring Neisse, which we have seen at + Hohenfriedberg; but a third [and the FOURTH and last, "Black Neisse," + thank Heaven, is an upper branch of this, and we have, and shall have, + nothing to do with it!]—third Neisse, which we may call the Lausitz + Neisse. On which, near the head of it, there is a fine old spinning, + linen-weaving Town called Zittau,—where, to make it memorable, one + Tourist has read, on the Town-house, an Inscription worth repeating: 'BENE + FACERE ET MALE AUDIRE REGIUM EST, To do good and have evil said of you, is + a kingly thing.' Other Towns, as Gorlitz, and seventy miles farther the + above-said Guben, lie on this same Neisse,—shall we add that + Herrnhuth stands near the head of it? The wondrous Town of Herrnhuth + (LORD'S-KEEPING), founded by Count Zinzendorf, twenty years before those + dates; ["In 1722, the first tree felled" (LIVES of Zinzendorf).] where are + a kind of German Methodist-Quakers to this day, who have become very + celebrated in the interim. An opulent enough, most silent, strictly + regular, strange little Town. The women are in uniform; wives, maids, + widows, each their form of dress. Missionaries, speaking flabby English, + who have been in the West Indies or are going thither, seem to abound in + the place; male population otherwise, I should think, must be mainly doing + trade elsewhere; nothing but prayers, preachings, charitable + boarding-schooling and the like, appeared to be going on. Herrnhuth is 'a + Sabbath Petrified; Calvinistic Sabbath done into Stone,' as one of my + companions called it." [Tourist's Note (Autumn, 1852).] + </p> + <p> + Herrnhuth, of which all Englishmen have heard, stands near the head of + this our third Neisse; as does Zittau, a few miles higher up. I can do + nothing more to give it mark for them. Bober Valley, then Queiss Valley, + which run parallel though they join at last, and become Bober wholly + before getting into the Oder,—these two Valleys and Rivers lie in + Friedrich's own Territory; and are between him and the Lausitz, Queiss + River being the boundary of Silesia and the Lausitz here. It is down the + Neisse that Prince Karl means to march. There are Saxons already gathering + about Zittau; and down as far as Guben they are making Magazines and + arrangements,—for it is all their own Country in those years, though + most of it is Prussia's now. Prince Karl's march will go parallel to the + Bober and the Queiss; separated from the Queiss in this part by an + undulating Hill-tract of twenty miles or more. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich has had somewhat to settle for the Southern Frontier of Silesia + withal, which new doggeries of Pandours are invading,—to lie ready + for Prince Karl on his return thither, whose grand meaning all this while + (as Friedrich well knows), is "Silesia in the lump" again, had he once cut + us off from Brandenburg and our supplies! General Nassau, far eastward, + who is doing exploits in Moravia itself,—him Friedrich has ordered + homeward, westward to his own side of the Mountains, to attend these new + Pandour gentlemen; Winterfeld he has called home, out of those Southern + mountains, as likely to be usefuler here on this Western frontier. + Winterfeld arrived in Camp the same day with Friedrich; and is sent + forward with a body of 3,000 light troops, to keep watch about the Lausitz + Frontier and the River Queiss; "careful not to quit our own side of that + stream,"—as we mean to hoodwink Prince Karl, if we can! + </p> + <p> + Friedrich lies strictly within his own borders, for a day or two; till + Prince Karl march, till his own arrangements are complete. Friedrich + himself keeps the Bober, Winterfeld the Queiss; "all pass freely out of + the Lausitz; none are allowed to cross into it: thereby we hear notice of + Prince Karl, he none of us." Perfectly quiescent, we, poor creatures, and + aware of nothing! Thus, too, Friedrich—in spite of his warlike + Manifesto, which the Saxons are on the eve of answering with a formal + Declaration of War—affects great rigor in considering the Saxons as + not yet at war with him: respects their frontier, Winterfeld even punishes + hussars "for trespassing on Lausitz ground." Friedrich also affects to + have roads repaired, which he by no means intends to travel:—the + whole with a view of lulling Prince Karl; of keeping the mouse-trap open, + as he had done in the Striegau case. It succeeded again, quite as + conspicuously, and at less expense. + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl—whose Tolpatch doggery Winterfeld will not allow to pass + the Queiss, and to whom no traveller or tidings can come from beyond that + River—discerns only, on the farther shore of it, Winterfeld with his + 3,000 light troops. Behind these, he discerns either nothing, or nothing + immediately momentous; but contentedly supposes that this, the superficies + of things, is all the solid-content they have. Prince Karl gets under way, + therefore, nothing doubting; with his Saxons as vanguard. Down the Neisse + Valley, on the right or Queiss-ward side of it: Saturday, 20th November, + is his first march in Lusatian territory. He lies that night spread out in + three Villages, Schonberg, Schonbrunn, Kieslingswalde; [<i>Feldzuge,</i> + i. 407 (Bericht von der Action bey Katholisch-Hennersdorf, &c.).] some + ten miles long; parallel to the Neisse River, and about four miles from + it, east or Queiss-ward of it. Karl himself is rear, at Schonberg; fierce + Lobkowitz is centre; the Saxons are vanguard, 6,000 in all, posted in + Villages, which again are some ten or twelve miles ahead of Prince Karl's + forces; the Queiss on their right hand, and the Naumburg Bridge of Queiss, + where Winterfeld now is, about fifteen miles to east. Their Uhlans + circulate through the intervening space (were much patrolling needed, in + such quiet circumstances), and maintain the due communication. There lies + Prince Karl, on Saturday night, 20th November, 1745; an Army of perhaps + 40,000, dnngerously straggling out above twenty miles long; and appears to + see no difficulty ahead. The Saxons, I think, are to continue where they + are; guarding the flank, while the Prince and Lobkowitz push forward, + closer by Neisse River. In four marches more, they can be in Brandenburg, + with Guben and their Magazines at hand. + </p> + <p> + Seeing which state of matters, Winterfeld gives Friedrich notice of it; + and that he, Winterfeld, thinks the moment is come. "Pontoons to Naumburg, + then!" orders Friedrich. Winterfeld, at the proper moment, is to form a + Bridge there. One permanent Bridge there already is; and two fords, one + above it, one below: with a second Bridge, there will be roadway for four + columns, and a swift transit when needful. Sunday, 21st, Friedrich quits + the Bober, diligently towards Naumburg; marches Sunday, Monday; Tuesday, + 23d, about eleven A.M., begins to arrive there; Winterfeld and passages + all ready. Forward, then, and let us drive in upon Prince Karl; and either + cut him in two, or force him to fight us; he little thinks where or on + what terms. Sure enough, in the worst place we can choose for him! + Friedrich begins crossing in four columns at one P.M.; crosses + continuously for four hours; unopposed, except some skirmishing of Uhlans, + while his Cavalry is riding the Fords to right and left; Uhlans were + driven back swiftly, so soon as the Cavalry got over. At five in the + evening, he has got entirely across, 35,000 horse and foot: Ziethen is + chasing the Uhlans at full speed; who at least will show us the way,—for + by this time a mist has begun falling, and the brief daylight is done. + </p> + <p> + Friedrich himself, without waiting for the rear of his force, and some + while before this mist fell (as I judge), is pushing forward, "a miller + lad for his guide," across to Hennersdorf,—Katholisch-Hennersdorf, a + long straggling Village, eight or ten miles off, and itself two miles + long,—where he understands the Saxons are. Miller lad guides us, + over height and hollow, with his best skill, at a brisk pace;—through + one hollow, where he has known the cattle pasture in summer time; but + which proves impassable, and mere quagmire, at this season. No getting + through it, you unfortunate miller lad (GARCON DE MEUNIER). Nevertheless, + we did find passage through the skirts of it: nay this quagmire proved the + luck of us; for the enemy, trusting to it, had no outguard there, never + expecting us on that side. So that the vanguard, Ziethen and rapid + Hussars, made an excellent thing of it. Ziethen sends us word, That he has + got into the body of Hennersdorf,—"found the Saxon Quartermaster + quietly paying his men;"—that he, Ziethen, is tolerably master of + Hennersdorf, and will amuse the enemy till the other force come up. + </p> + <p> + Of course Friedrich now pushes on, double speed; detaches other force, + horse and foot: which was lucky, says my informant; for the Ziethen + Hussars, getting good plunder, had by no means demolished the Saxons; but + had left them time to draw up in firm order, with a hedge in front, a + little west of the Village;—from which post, unassailable by + Ziethen, they would have got safe off to the main body, with little but an + affront and some loss of goods. The new force—a rapid Katzler with + light horse in the van, cuirassiers and foot rapidly following him—sweeps + past the long Village, "through a thin wood and a defile;" finds the enemy + firmly ranked as above said; cavalry their left, infantry on right, + flanked by an impenetrable hedge; and at once strikes in. At once, Katzler + does, on order given; but is far too weak. Charges, he; but is + counter-charged, tumbled back; the Saxons, horse and foot, showing + excellent fight. At length, more Prussian force coming up, cuirassiers + charge them in front, dragoons in flank, hussars in rear; all attacking at + once, and with a will; and the poor Saxon Cavalry is entirely cut to + shreds. + </p> + <p> + And now there remains only the Infantry, perhaps about 1,000 men (if one + must guess); who form a square; ply vigorously their field-pieces and + their fire-arms; and cannot be broken by horse-charges. In fact, these + Saxons made a fierce resistance;—till, before long, Prussian + Infantry came up; and, with counter field-pieces and musketries, blasted + gaps in them; upon which the Cavalry got admittance, and reduced the + gallant fellows nearly wholly to annihilation either by death or capture. + There are 914 Prisoners in this Action, 4 big guns, and I know not how + many kettle-drums, standards and the like,—all that were there, I + suppose. The number of dead not given. [Orlich, ii. 291; <i>Feldzuge,</i>i. + 400-413.] But, in brief, this Saxon Force is utterly cut to pieces; and + only scattered twos and threes of it rush through the dark mist; + scattering terror to this hand and that. The Prussians take their post at + and round Hennersdorf that night;—bivouacking, though only in sack + trousers, a blanket each man:—"We work hard, my men, and suffer all + things for a day or two, that it may save much work afterwards," said the + King to them; and they cheerfully bivouacked. + </p> + <p> + This was the Action of Katholisch-Hennersdorf, fought on Tuesday, 23d + November, 1745; and still celebrated in the Prussian Annals, and reckoned + a brilliant passage of war. KATHOLISCH-Hennersdorf, some ten miles + southwest of Naumburg ON THE QUEISS (for there are, to my knowledge, + Twenty-five other Villages called Hennersdorf, and Three several Towns of + Naumburg, and many Castles and Hamlets so named in dear Germany of the + Nomenclatures):—Katholisch-Hennersdorf is the place, and Tuesday + about dusk the time. A sharp brush of fighting; not great in quantity, but + laid in at the right moment, in the right place. Like the prick of a + needle, duly sharp, into the spinal marrow of a gigantic object; totally + ruinous to such object. Never, or rarely, in the Annals of War, was as + much good got of so little fighting. You may, with labor and peril, plunge + a hundred dirks into your boaconstrictor; hack him with axes, bray him + with sledge-hammers; that is not uncommon: but the one true prick in the + spinal marrow, and the Artist that can guide you well to that, he and it + are the notable and beneficent phenomena. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0036" id="link2H_4_0036"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PRINCE KARL, CUT IN TWO, TUMBLES HOME AGAIN DOUBLE-QUICK. + </h2> + <p> + Next morning, Wednesday, 24th, the Prussians are early astir again; + groping, on all manner of roads, to find what Prince Karl is doing, in a + world all covered in thick mist. They can find nothing of him, but broken + tumbrils, left baggage-wagons, rumor of universal marching hither and + marching thither;—evidences of an Army fallen into universal St. + Vitus's-Dance; distractedly hurrying to and fro, not knowing whitherward + for the moment, except that it must be homewards, homewards with velocity. + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl's farther movements are not worth particularizing. Ordering + and cross-ordering; march this way; no, back again: such a scene in that + mist. Prince Karl is flowing homeward; confusedly deluging and gurgling + southward, the best he can. Next afternoon, near Gorlitz, and again one + other time, he appears drawn up, as if for fighting; but has himself no + such thought; flies again, without a shot; leaves Gorlitz to capitulate, + that afternoon; all places to capitulate, or be evacuated. We hear he is + for Zittau; Winterfeld with light horse hastens after him, gets sight of + him on the Heights at Zittau yonder, [ <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. + 157; Orlich, ii. 296.] "about two in the morning:" but the Prince has not + the least notion to fight. Prince leaves Zittau to capitulate,—quits + silently the Heights of Zittau at two A.M. (Winterfeld, very lively in the + rear of him, cutting off his baggage);—and so tumbles, pell-mell, + through the Passes of Gabel, home to Bohemia again. Let us save this poor + Note from the fire: + </p> + <p> + "On Saturday night, November 27th, the Prussians, pursuing Prince Karl, + were cantoned in the Herrnhuth neighborhood,—my informant's regiment + in the Town of Herrnhuth itself. [<i>Feldzuge,</i> i. ubi supra.] Yes, + there lay the Prussians over Sunday; and might hear some weighty + expounder, if they liked. Considerably theological, many of these poor + Prussian soldiers; carrying a Bible in their knapsack, and devout Psalms + in the heart of them. Two-thirds of every regiment are LANDESKINDER, + native Prussians; each regiment from a special canton,—generally + rather religious men. The other third are recruits, gathered in the Free + Towns of the Reich, or where they can be got; not distinguished by + devotion these, we may fancy, only trained to the uttermost by Spartan + drill." + </p> + <p> + Before the week is done, that "first leg" of the grand Enterprise (the + Prince-Karl leg) is such a leg as we see. "Silesia in the lump,"—fond + dream again, what a dream! Old Dessauer getting signal, where now, too + probably, is Saxony itself?—Ranking again at Aussig in Bohemia, + Prince Karl—5,000 of his men lost, and all impetus and fire gone—falls + gently down the Elbe, to join Rutowski at least; and will reappear within + four weeks, out of Saxon Switzerland, still rather in dismal humor. + </p> + <p> + The Prussian Troops, in four great Divisions, are cantoned in that Lausitz + Country, now so quiet; in and about Bautzen and three other Towns of the + neighborhood; to rest and be ready for the old Dessauer, when we hear of + him. The "Magazine at Guben in 138 wagons," the Gorlitz and other + Magazines of Prince Karl in the due number of wagons, supply them with + comfortable unexpected provender. Thus they lie cantoned; and have with + despatch effectually settled their part of the problem. Question now is, + How will it stand with the Old Dessauer and his part? Or, better still, + Would not perhaps the Saxons, in this humiliated state, accept Peace, and + finish the matter? + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XIV.—BATTLE OF KESSELSDORF. + </h2> + <p> + A "Correspondence" of a certain Excellency Villiers, English Minister at + Dresden,—Sir Thomas Villiers, Grandfather of the present Earl of + Clarendon,—was very famous in those weeks; and is still worth + mention, as a trait of Friedrich's procedure in this crisis. Friedrich, + not intoxicated with his swift triumph over Prince Karl, but calculating + the perils and the chances still ahead,—miserably off for money too,—admits + to himself that not revenge or triumph, that Peace is the one thing + needful to him. November 29th, Old Leopold is entering Saxony; and in the + same hours, Podewils at Berlin, by order of Friedrich, writes to Villiers + who is in Dresden, about Peace, about mediating for Peace: "My King ready + and desirous, now as at all times, for Peace; the terms of it known; terms + not altered, not alterable, no bargaining or higgling needed or allowable. + CONVENTION OF HANOVER, let his Polish Majesty accede honestly to that, and + all these miseries are ended." ["CORRESPONDANCE DU ROI AVEC SIR THOMAS + VILLIERS;" commences, on Podewils's part, 28th November; on Friedrich's, + 4th December; ends, on Villier's, 18th December; fourteen Pieces in all, + four of them Friedrich's: Given in <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. + 183-216 (see IB, 158), and in many other Books.] + </p> + <p> + Villiers starts instantly on this beneficent business; "goes to Court, on + it, that very night;" Villiers shows himself really diligent, reasonable, + loyal; doing his very best now and afterwards; but has no success at all. + Polish Majesty is obstinate,—I always think, in the way sheep are, + when they feel themselves too much put upon;—and is deaf to + everybody but Bruhl. Bruhl answers: "Let his Prussian Majesty retire from + our Territory;—what is he doing in the Lausitz just now! Retire from + our Territory; THEN we will treat!" Bruhl still refuses to be desperate of + his bad game;—at any rate, Bruhl's rage is yellower than ever. That, + very evening, while talking to Villiers, he has had preparations going on;—and + next morning takes his Master, Polish Majesty August III., with some + comfortable minimum of apparatus (cigar-boxes not forgotten), off to Prag, + where they can be out of danger till the thing decide itself. Villiers + follows to Prag; desists not from his eloquent Letters, and earnest + persuasions at Prag; but begins to perceive that the means of persuading + Bruhl will be a much heavier kind of artillery. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, negotiations have yet done little. Britannic George, though + Purseholder, what is his success here? As little is the Russian Bugbear + persuasive on Friedrich himself. The Czarina of the Russias, a luxurious + lady, of far more weight than insight, has just notified to him, with more + emphasis than ever, That he shall not attack Saxony; that if he do, she + with considerable vigor will attack him! That has always been a formidable + puzzle for Friedrich: however, he reflects that the Russians never could + draw sword, or be ready with their Army, in less than six months, probably + not in twelve; and has answered, translating it into polite official + terms: "Fee-faw-fum, your Czarish Majesty! Question is not now of + attacking, but of being myself attacked!"—and so is now running his + risks with the Czarina. + </p> + <p> + Still worse was the result he got from Louis XV. Lately, "for form's + sake," as he tells us, "and not expecting anything," he had (November + 15th) made a new appeal to France: "Ruin menacing your Most Christian + Majesty's Ally, in this huge sudden crisis of invasive Austrian-Saxons; + and for your Majesty's sake, may I not in some measure say?" To which + Louis's Answer is also given. A very sickly, unpleasant Document; + testifying to considerable pique against Friedrich;—Ranke says, it + was a joint production, all the Ministers gradually contributing each his + little pinch of irony to make it spicier, and Louis signing when it was + enough;—very considerable pique against Friedrich; and something of + the stupid sulkiness as of a fat bad boy, almost glad that the house is on + fire, because it will burn his nimble younger brother, whom everybody + calls so clever: "Sorry indeed, Sir my Brother, most sorry:—and so + you have actually signed that HANOVER CONVENTION with our worst Enemy? + France is far from having done so; France has done, and will do, great + things. Our Royal heart grieves much at your situation; but is not + alarmed; no, Your Majesty has such invention, vigor and ability, superior + to any crisis, our clever younger Brother! And herewith we pray God to + have you in his holy keeping." This is the purport of King Louis's Letter;—which + Friedrich folds together again, looking up from perusal of it, we may + fancy with what a glance of those eyes. [Louis's Original, in <i>OEuvres + de Frederic,</i> iii. 173, 174 (with a much more satirical paraphrase than + the above), and Friedrich's Answer adjoined,—after the events had + come.] + </p> + <p> + He is getting instructed, this young King, as to alliances, grand + combinations, French and other. His third Note to Villiers intimates, "It + being evident that his Polish Majesty will have nothing from us but + fighting, we must try to give it him of the best kind we have." ["Bautzen, + 11th December, 1745" (UBI SUPRA).] Yes truly; it is the ULTIMATE + persuasive, that. Here, in condensed form, are the essential details of + the course it went, in this instance:—General Grune, on the road to + Berlin, hearing of the rout at Hennersdorf, halted instantly,—hastened + back to Saxony, to join Rutowski there, and stand on the defensive. Not + now in that Halle-Frontier region (Rutowski has quitted that, and all the + intrenchments and marshy impregnabilities there); not on that + Halle-Frontier, but hovering about in the interior, Rutowski and Grune are + in junction; gravitating towards Dresden;—expecting Prince Karl's + advent; who ought to emerge from the Saxon Switzerland in few days, were + he sharp; and again enable us to make a formidable figure. Be speedy, Old + Dessauer: you must settle the Grune-Rutowski account before that junction, + not after it! + </p> + <p> + The Old Dessauer has been tolerably successful, and by no means thinks he + has been losing time. November 29th, "at three in the morning," he stept + over into Saxony with its impregnable camps; drove Rutowski's rear-guard, + or remnant, out of the quagmires, canals and intrenchments, before + daylight; drove it, that same evening, or before dawn of the morrow, out + of Leipzig: has seized that Town,—lays heavy contribution on it, + nearly 50,000 pounds (such our strait for finance), "and be sure you take + only substantial men as sureties!" [Orlich, ii. 308.]—and will, and + does after a two days' rest, advance with decent celerity inwards; though + "One must first know exactly whither; one must have bread, and + preparations and precautions; do all things solidly and in order," thinks + the Old Dessauer. Friedrich well knows the whither; and that Dresden + itself is, or may be made, the place for falling in with Rutowski. + Friedrich is now himself ready to join, from the Bautzen region; the days + and hours precious to him; and spurs the Old Dessauer with the sharpest + remonstrances. "All solidly and in order, your Majesty!" answers the Old + Dessauer: solid strong-boned old coach-horse, who has his own modes of + trotting, having done many a heavy mile of it in his time; and whose skin, + one hopes, is of the due thickness against undue spurring. + </p> + <p> + Old Dessauer wishes two things: bread to live upon; and a sure Bridge over + the Elbe whereby Friedrich may join him. Old Dessauer makes for Torgau, + far north, where is both an Elbe Bridge and a Magazine; which he takes; + Torgau and pertinents now his. But it is far down the Elbe, far off from + Bautzen and Friedrich: "A nearer Bridge and rendezvous, your Highness! + Meissen [where they make the china, only fifty miles from me, and twenty + from Dresden], let that be the Bridge, now that you have got victual. And + speedy; for Heaven's sake, speedy!" Friedrich pushes out General Lehwald + from Bautzen, with 4,000 men, towards Meissen Bridge; Lehwald does not + himself meddle with the Bridge, only fires shot across upon the Saxon + party, till the Old Dessauer, on the other bank, come up;—and the + Old Dessauer, impatience thinks, will never come. "Three days in Torgau, + yes, Your Majesty: I had bread to bake, and the very ovens had to be + built." A solid old roadster, with his own modes of trotting; needs + thickness of skin. [Friedrich's Letters to Leopold, in Orlich, ii. 431, + 435 (6th-10th December, 1745).] + </p> + <p> + At long last, on Sunday, 12th December, about two P.M., the Old Dessauer + does appear; or General Gessler, his vanguard, does appear,—Gessler + of the sixty-seven standards,—"always about an hour ahead." Gessler + has summoned Meissen; has not got it, is haggling with it about terms, + when, towards sunset of the short day, Old Dessauer himself arrives. + Whereupon the Saxon Commandant quits the Bridge (not much breaking it); + and glides off in the dark, clear out of Meissen, towards Dresden,—chased, + but successfully defending himself. [See Plan, p. 10.] "Had he but stood + out for two days!" say the Saxons,—"Prince Karl had then been up, + and much might have been different." Well, Friedrich too would have been + up, and it had most likely been the same on a larger scale. But the Saxon + Commandant did not stand out; he glided off, safe; joined Rutowski and + Grune, who are lying about Wilsdruf, six or seven miles on the hither side + of Dresden, and eagerly waiting for Prince Karl. "Bridge and Town of + Meissen are your Majesty's," reports the Old Dessauer that night: upon + which Friedrich instantly rises, hastening thitherward. Lehwald comes + across Meissen Bridge, effects the desired junction; and all Monday the + Old Dessauer defiles through Meissen town and territory; continually + advances towards Dresden, the Saxons harassing the flanks of him a little,—nay + in one defile, being sharp strenuous fellows, they threw his rear into + some confusion; cut off certain carts and prisoners, and the life of one + brave General, Lieutenant-General Roel, who had charge there. "Spurring + one's trot into a gallop! This comes of your fast marching, of your + spurring beyond the rules of war!" thinks Old Leopold; and Friedrich, who + knows otherwise, is very angry for a moment. + </p> + <p> + But indeed the crisis is pressing. Prince Karl is across the Metal + Mountains, nearing Dresden from the east; Friedrich strikes into march for + the same point by Meissen, so soon as the Bridge is his. Old Leopold is + advancing thither from the westward,—steadily hour by hour; Dresden + City the fateful goal. There,—in these middle days of December, 1745 + (Highland Rebellion just whirling back from Derby again, "the London shops + shut for one day"),—it is clear there will be a big and bloody game + played before we are much older. Very sad indeed: but Count Bruhl is not + persuadable otherwise. By slumbering and sluggarding, over their + money-tills and flesh-pots; trying to take evil for good, and to say, "It + will do," when it will not do, respectable Nations come at last to be + governed by Bruhls; cannot help themselves;—and get their backs + broken in consequence. Why not? Would you have a Nation live forever that + is content to be governed by Bruhls? The gods are wiser!—It is now + the 13th; Old Dessauer tramping forward, hour by hour, towards Dresden and + some field of Fate. + </p> + <p> + On Tuesday, 14th, by break of day, Old Dessauer gets on march again; in + four columns, in battle order; steady all day,—hard winter weather, + ground crisp, and flecked with snow. The Pass at Neustadt, "his cavalry + went into it at full gallop;" but found nobody there. That night he + encamps at a place called Rohrsdorf; which may be eight miles + west-by-north from Dresden, as the crow flies; and ten or more, if you + follow the highway round by Wilsdruf on your right. The real direct + Highway from Meissen to Dresden is on the other side of the Elbe, and + keeps by the River-bank, a fine level road; but on this western side, + where Leopold now is, the road is inland, and goes with a bend. Leopold, + of course, keeps command of this road; his columns are on both sides of + it, River on their left at some miles distance; and incessantly expect to + find Rutowski, drawn out on favorable ground somewhere. The country is of + fertile, but very broken character; intersected by many brooks, making + obliquely towards the Elbe (obliquely, with a leaning Meissen-wards); + country always mounting, till here about Rohrsdorf we seem to have almost + reached the watershed, and the brooks make for the Elbe, leaning Dresden + way. Good posts abound in such broken country, with its villages and + brooks, with its thickets, hedges and patches of swamp. But Rutowski has + not appeared anywhere, during this Tuesday. + </p> + <p> + Our four columns, therefore, lie all night, under arms, about Rohrsdorf: + and again by morrow's dawn are astir in the old order, crunching far and + wide the frozen ground; and advance, charged to the muzzle with potential + battle. Slightly upwards always, to the actual watershed of the country; + leaving Wilsdruf a little to their right. Wilsdruf is hardly past, when + see, from this broad table-land, top of the country: "Yonder is Rutowski, + at last;—and this new Wednesday will be a day!" Yonder, sure enough: + drawn out three or four miles long; with his right to the Elbe, his left + to that intricate Village of Kesselsdorf; bristling with cannon; deep + gullet and swampy brook in front of him: the strongest post a man could + have chosen in those parts. + </p> + <p> + The Village of Kesselsdorf itself lies rather in a hollow; in the slight + beginning, or uppermost extremity, of a little Valley or Dell, called the + Tschonengrund,—which, with its quaggy brook of a Tschone, wends + northeastward into the Elbe, a course of four or five miles: a little + Valley very deep for its length, and getting altogether chasmy and + precipitous towards the Elbe-ward or lower end. Kesselsdorf itself, as we + said, is mainly in a kind of hollow: between Old Leopold and Kesselsdorf + the ground rather mounts; and there is perceptibly a flat knoll or rise at + the head of it, where the Village begins. Some trees there, and abundance + of cannon and grenadiers at this moment. It is the southwestern or + left-most point of Rutowski's line; impregnable with its cannon-batteries + and grenadiers. Rightward Rutowski extends in long lines, with the + quaggy-dell of Tschonengrund in front of him, parallel to him; Dell ever + deepening as it goes. Northeastward, at the extreme right, or Elbe point + of it, where Grune and the Austrians stand, it has grown so chasmy, we + judge that Grune can neither advance nor be + </p> + <p> + MAP/PLAN GOES HERE—book 15 continuation —page 10— + </p> + <p> + advanced upon:e,—which he did all day, in a purely meditative + posture. Rutowski numbers 35,000, now on this ground, with immensity of + cannon; 32,000 we, with only the usual field-artillery, and such a + Tschonengrund, with its half-frozen quagmires ahead. A ticklish case for + the old man, as he grimly reconnoitres it, in the winter morning. + </p> + <p> + Grim Old Dessauer having reconnoitred, and rapidly considered, decides to + try it,—what else?—will range himself on the west side of that + Tschonengrund, horse and foot; two lines, wide as Rutowski opposite him; + but means to direct his main and prime effort against Kesselsdorf, which + is clearly the key of the position, if it can be taken. For which end the + Old Dessauer lengthens himself out to rightward, so as to outflank + Kesselsdorf;—neglecting Grune (refusing Grune, as the soldiers say):—"our + horse of the right wing reached from the Wood called Lerchenbusoh + (LARCH-BUSH) rightward as far as Freyberg road; foot all between that + Lerchenbusch and the big Birch-tree on the road to Wilsdruf; horse of the + left wing, from there to Roitsch." [Stille (p. 181), who was present. See + Plan.] It was about two P.M. before the old man got all his deployments + completed; what corps of his, deploying this way or that, came within wind + of Kesselsdorf, were saluted with cannon, thirty pieces or more, which are + in battery, in three batteries, on the knoll there; but otherwise no + fighting as yet. At two, the Old Dessauer is complete; he reverently doffs + his hat, as had always been his wont, in prayer to God, before going in. A + grim fervor of prayer is in his heart, doubtless; though the words as + reported are not very regular or orthodox: "O HERR GOTT, help me yet this + once; let me not be disgraced in my old days! Or if thou wilt not help me, + don't help those HUNDSVOGTE [damned Scoundrels, so to speak], but leave us + to try it ourselves!" That is the Old Scandinavian of a Dessauer's prayer; + a kind of GODUR he too, Priest as well as Captain: Prayer mythically true + as given; mythically, not otherwise. [Ranke, iii. 334 n.] Which done, he + waves his hat once, "On, in God's name!" and the storm is loose. Prussian + right wing pushing grandly forward, bent in that manner, to take + Kesselsdorf and its fire-throats in flank. + </p> + <p> + The Prussians tramp on with the usual grim-browed resolution, foot in + front, horse in rear; but they have a terrible problem at that + Kesselsdorf, with its retrenched batteries, and numerous grenadiers + fighting under cover. The very ground is sore against them; uphill, and + the trampled snow wearing into a slide, so that you sprawl and stagger + sadly. Thirty-one big guns, and about 9,000 small, pouring out mere death + on you, from that knoll-head. The Prussians stagger; cannot stand it; bend + to rightwards, and get out of shot-range; cannot manage it this bout. + Rally, reinforce; try it again. Again, with a will; but again there is not + a way. The Prussians are again repulsed; fall back, down this slippery + course, in more disorder than the first time. Had the Saxons stood still, + steadily handling arms, how, on such terms, could the Prussians ever have + managed it? + </p> + <p> + But at sight of this second repulse, the Saxon grenadiers, and especially + one battalion of Austrians who were there (the only Austrians who fought + this day), gave a shout "Victory!"—and in the height of their + enthusiasm, rushed out, this Austrian battalion first and the Saxons after + them, to charge these Prussians, and sweep the world clear of them. It was + the ruin of their battle; a fatal hollaing before you are out of the + woods. Old Leopold, quick as thought, noticing the thing, hurls cavalry on + these victorious down-plunging grenadiers; slashes them asunder, into mere + recoiling whirlpools of ruin; so that "few of them got back unwounded;" + and the Prussians storming in along with them,—aided by ever new + Prussians, from beyond the Tschonengrund even,—the place was at + length carried; and the Saxon battle became hopeless. + </p> + <p> + For, their right being in such hurricane, the Prussians from the centre, + as we hint, storm forward withal; will not be held back by the + Tschonengrund. They find the Tschonengrund quaggy in the extreme, "brook + frozen at the sides, but waist-deep of liquid mud in the centre;" cross + it, nevertheless, towards the upper part of it,—young Moritz of + Dessau leading the way, to help his old Father in extremity. They climb + the opposite side,—quite slippery in places, but "helping one + another up;"—no Saxons there till you get fairly atop, which was an + oversight on the Saxon part. Fairly atop, Moritz is saluted by the Saxons + with diligent musket-volleys; but Moritz also has musket-volleys in him, + bayonet-charges in him; eager to help his old Papa at this hard pinch. Old + Papa has the Saxons in flank; sends more and ever more other cavalry in on + them; and in fact, the right wing altogether storms violently through + Kesselsdorf, and sweeps it clean. Whole regiments of the Saxons are made + prisoners; Roel's Light Horse we see there, taking standards; cutting + violently in to avenge Roel's death, and the affront they had at Meissen + lately. Furious Moritz on their front, from across the Tschonengrund; + furious Roel (GHOST of Roel) and others in their flank, through + Kesselsdorf: no standing for the Saxons longer. + </p> + <p> + About nightfall,—their horse having made poorish fight, though the + foot had stood to it like men,—they roll universally away. The + Prussian left wing of horse are summoned through the Tschonengrund to + chase: had there remained another hour of daylight, the Saxon Army had + been one wide ruin. Hidden in darkness, the Saxon Army ebbed confusedly + towards Dresden: with the loss of 6,000 prisoners and 3,000 killed and + wounded: a completely beaten Army. It is the last battle the Saxons fought + as a Nation,—or probably will fight. Battle called of Kesselsdorf: + Wednesday, 15th December, 1745. + </p> + <p> + Prince Karl had arrived at Dresden the night before; heard all this + volleying and cannonading, from the distance; but did not see good to + interfere at all. Too wide apart, some say; quartered at unreasonably + distant villages, by some irrefragable ignorant War-clerk of Bruhl's + appointing,—fatal Bruhl. Others say, his Highness had himself no + mind; and made excuses that his troops were tired, disheartened by the two + beatings lately,—what will become of us in case of a third or + fourth! It is certain, Prince Karl did nothing. Nor has Grime's corps, the + right wing, done anything except meditate:—it stood there + unattacked, unattacking; till deep in the dark night, when Rutowski + remembered it, and sent it order to come home. One Austrian battalion, + that of grenadiers on the knoll at Kesselsdorf, did actually fight;—and + did begin that fatal outbreak, and quitting of the post there; "which lost + the Battle to us!" say the Saxons. + </p> + <p> + Had those grenadiers stood in their place, there is no Prussian but admits + that it would have been a terrible business to take Kesselsdorf and its + batteries. But they did not stand; they rushed out, shouting "Victory;" + and lost us the battle. And that is the good we have got of the sublime + Austrian Alliance; and that is the pass our grand scheme of Partitioning + Prussia has come to? Fatal little Bruhl of the three hundred and + sixty-five clothes-suits; Valet fatally become divine in Valet-hood,—are + not you costing your Country dear! + </p> + <p> + Old Dessauer, glorious in the last of his fields, lay on his arms all + night in the posts about; three bullets through his roquelaure, no scratch + of wound upon the old man. Young Moritz too "had a bullet through his + coat-skirt, and three horses shot under him; but no hurt, the Almighty's + grace preserving him." [<i>Feldzuge,</i>i. 434.] This Moritz is the Third + of the Brothers, age now thirty-three; and we shall hear considerably + about him in times coming. A lean, tall, austere man; and, "of all the + Brothers, most resembled his Father in his ways." Prince Dietrich is in + Leipzig at present; looking to that contribution of 50,000 pounds; to + that, and to other contributions and necessary matters;—and has done + all his fighting (as it chanced), though he survived his Brothers many + years. Old Papa will now get his discharge before long (quite suddenly, + one morning, by paralytic stroke, 7th April, 1747); and rest honorably + with the Sons of Thor. [Young Leopold, the successor, died 16th December, + 1751, age fifty-two; Dietrich (who had thereupon quitted soldiering, to + take charge of his Nephew left minor, and did not resume it), died 2d + December, 1769; Moritz (soldier to the last), 11th April, 1760. See <i>Militair-Lexikon,</i>i. + 43, 34, 38,47.] + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter XV.—PEACE OF DRESDEN: FRIEDRICH DOES MARCH HOME. + </h2> + <p> + Friedrich himself had got to Meissen, Tuesday, 14th; no enemy on his road, + or none to speak of: Friedrich was there, or not yet far across, all + Wednesday; collecting himself, waiting, on the slip, for a signal from Old + Leopold. Sound of cannon, up the Elbe Dresden-ward, is reported there to + Friedrich, that afternoon: cannon, sure enough, notes Friedrich; and deep + dim-rolling peals, as of volleying small-arms; "the sky all on fire over + there," as the hoar-frosty evening fell. Old Leopold busy at it, + seemingly. That is the glare of the Old Dessauer's countenance; who is + giving voice, in that manner, to the earthly and the heavenly powers; + conquering Peace for us, let us hope! + </p> + <p> + Friedrich, as may be supposed, made his best speed next morning: "All + well!" say the messengers; all well, says Old Leopold, whom he meets at + Wilsdruf, and welcomes with a joyful embrace; "dismounting from his horse, + at sight of Leopold, and advancing to meet him with doffed hat and open + arms,"—and such words and treatments, that day, as made the old + man's face visibly shine. "Your Highness shall conduct me!" And the two + made survey together of the actual Field of Kesselsdorf; strewn with the + ghastly wrecks of battle,—many citizens of Dresden strolling about, + or sorrowfully seeking for their lost ones among the wounded and dead. No + hurt to these poor citizens, who dread none; help to them rather: such is + Friedrich's mind,—concerning which, in the Anecdote-Books, there are + Narratives (not worth giving) of a vapidly romantic character, credible + though inexact. [For the indisputable pa so we leave him standing therrt, + see Orlich, ii. 343, 344; and <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> iii. 170.] + Friedrich, who may well be profuse of thanks and praises, charms the Old + Dessauer while they walk together; brave old man with his holed + roquelaure. For certain, he has done the work there,—a great deal of + work in his time! Joy looks through his old rough face, of gunpowder + color: the Herr Gott has not delivered him to those damned Scoundrels in + the end of his days.—On the morrow, Friday, Leopold rolled grandly + forward upon Dresden; Rutowski and Prince Karl vanishing into the Metal + Mountains, by Pirna, for Bohemia, at sound of him,—as he had + scarcely hoped they would. + </p> + <p> + On the Saturday evening, Dresden, capable of not the least defence, has + opened all its gates, and Friedrich and the Prussians are in Dresden; + Austrians and wrecked Saxons falling back diligently towards the Metal + Mountains for Bohemia, diligent to clear the road for him. Queen and + Junior Princes are here; to whom, as to all men, Friedrich is courtesy + itself; making personal visit to the Royalties, appointing guards of + honor, sacred respect to the Royal Houses; himself will lodge at the + Princess Lubomirski's, a private mansion. + </p> + <p> + "That ferocious, false, ambitious King of Prussia"—Well, he is not + to be ruined in open fight, on the contrary is ruinous there; nor by the + cunningest ambuscades, and secret combinations, in field or cabinet: our + overwhelming Winter Invasion of him—see where it has ended! Bruhl + and Polish Majesty—the nocturnal sky all on fire in those parts, and + loud general doomsday come—are a much-illuminated pair of gentlemen. + </p> + <p> + From the time Meissen Bridge was lost, Prince Karl too showing himself so + languid, even Bruhl had discerned that the case was desperate. On the very + day of Kesselsdorf,—not the day BEFORE, which would have been such a + thrift to Bruhl and others!—Friedrich had a Note from Villiers, + signifying joyfully that his Polish Majesty would accept Peace. Thanks to + his Polish Majesty:—and after Kesselsdorf, perhaps the Empress-Queen + too will! Friedrich's offers are precisely what they were, what they have + always been: "Convention of Hanover; that, in all its parts; old treaty of + Breslau, to be guaranteed, to be actually kept. To me Silesia sure;—from + you, Polish Majesty, one million crowns as damages for the trouble and + cost this Triple Ambuscade of yours has given me; one million crowns, + 150,000 pounds we will say; and all other requisitions to cease on the day + of signature. These are my terms: accept these; then wholly, As you were, + Empress-Queen and you, and all surviving creatures: and I march home + within a week." Villiers speeds rapidly from Prag, with the due + olive-branch; with Count Harrach, experienced Austrian, and full powers. + Harrach cannot believe his senses: "Such the terms to be still granted, + after all these beatings and rebeatings!"—then at last does believe, + with stiff thankfulness and Austrian bows. The Negotiation need not occupy + many hours. + </p> + <p> + "His Majesty of Prussia was far too hasty with this Peace," says Valori: + "he had taken a threap that he would have it finished before the Year was + done:"—in fact, he knows his own mind, MON GROS VALORI, and that is + what few do. You shear through no end of cobwebs with that fine implement, + a wisely fixed resolution of your own. A Peace slow enough for Valori and + the French: where could that be looked for?—Valori is at Berlin, in + complete disgrace; his Most Christian King having behaved so like a Turk + of late. Valori, horror-struck at such Peace, what shall he do to prevent + it, to retard it? One effort at least. D'Arget his Secretary, stolen at + Jaromirz, is safe back to him; ingenious, ingenuous D'Arget was always a + favorite with Friedrich: despatch D'Arget to him. D'Arget is despatched; + with reasons, with remonstrances, with considerations. D'Arget's Narrative + is given: an ingenuous off-hand Piece;—poor little crevice, through + which there is still to be had, singularly clear, and credible in every + point, a direct glimpse of Friedrich's own thoughts, in that many-sounding + Dresden,—so loud, that week, with dinner-parties, with operas, + balls, Prussian war-drums, grand-parades and Peace-negotiations. + </p> + <p> + THE SIEUR D'ARGET TO EXCELLENCY VALORI (at Berlin). + </p> + <p> + "DRESDEN, 1745" (dateless otherwise, must be December, between 18th and + 25th). + </p> + <p> + "MONSEIGNEUR,—I arrived yesterday at 7 P.M.; as I had the honor of + forewarning you, by the word I wrote to the Abbe [never mind what Abbe; + another Valori-Clerk] from Sonnenwalde [my half-way house between Berlin + and this City]. I went, first of all, to M. de Vaugrenand," our Envoy + here; "who had the goodness to open himself to me on the Business now on + hand. In my opinion, nothing can be added to the excellent considerations + he has been urging on the King of Prussia and the Count de Podewils. + </p> + <p> + "At half-past 8, I went to his Prussian Majesty's; I found he was engaged + with his Concert,"—lodges in the Lubomirski Palace, has his snatch + of melody in the evening of such discordant days,—"and I could not + see him till after half-past 9. I announced myself to M. Eichel; he was + too overwhelmed with affairs to give me audience. I asked for Count + Rothenburg; he was at cards with the Princess Lubomirski. At last, I did + get to the King: who received me in the most agreeable way; but was just + going to Supper; said he must put off answering till to-morrow morning, + morning of this day. M. de Vaugrenand had been so good as prepare me on + the rumors of a Peace with Saxony and the Queen of Hungary. I went to M. + Podewils; who said a great many kind things to me for you. I could only + sketch out the matter, at that time; and represented to Podewils the + brilliant position of his Master, who had become Arbiter of the Peace of + Europe; that the moment was come for making this Peace a General One, and + that perhaps there would be room for repentance afterwards, if the + opportunity were slighted. He said, his Master's object was that same; and + thus closed the conversation by general questions. + </p> + <p> + "This morning, I again presented myself at the King of Prussia's. I had to + wait, and wait; in fine, it was not till half-past 5 in the evening that + he returned, or gave me admittance; and I stayed with him till after 7,"—when + Concert-time was at hand again. Listen to a remarkable Dialogue, of the + Conquering Hero with a humble Friend whom he likes. "His Majesty + condescended (A DAIGNE) to enter with me into all manner of details; and + began by telling me, + </p> + <p> + "That M. de Valori had done admirably not to come, himself, with that + Letter from the King [Most Christian, OUR King; Letter, the sickly + Document above spoken of]; that there could not have been an Answer + expected,—the Letter being almost of ironical strain; his Majesty + [Most Christian] not giving him the least hope, but merely talking of his + fine genius, and how that would extricate him from the perilous + entanglement, and inspire him with a wise resolution in the matter! That + he had, in effect, taken a resolution the wisest he could; and was making + his Peace with Saxony and the Queen of Hungary. That he had felt all the + dangers of the difficult situations he had been in,"—sheer + destruction yawning all round him, in huge imminency, more than once, and + no friend heeding;—"that, weary of playing always double-or-quits, + he had determined to end it, and get into a state of tranquillity, which + both himself and his People had such need of. That France could not, + without difficulty, have remedied his mishaps; and that he saw by the + King's Letter, there was not even the wish to do it. That his, + Friedrich's, military career was completed,"—so far as HE could + foresee or decide! "That he would not again expose his Country to the + Caprices of Fortune, whose past constancy to him was sufficiently + astonishing to raise fears of a reverse (HEAR!). That his ambitions were + fulfilled, in having compelled his Enemies to ask Peace from him in their + own Capital, with the Chancellor of Bohemia [Harrach, typifying fallen + Austrian pride] obliged to co-operate. + </p> + <p> + "That he would always be attached to our King's interests, and set all the + value in the world on his friendship; but that he had not been + sufficiently assisted to be content. That, observing henceforth an exact + neutrality, he might be enabled to do offices of mediation; and to carry, + to the one side and to the other, words of peace. That he offered himself + for that object, and would be charmed to help in it; but that he was fixed + to stop there. That in regard to the basis of General Peace, he had Two + Ideas [which the reader can attend to, and see where they differed from + the Event, and where not]:—One was, That France should keep Ypres, + Furnes, Tournay [which France did not], giving up the Netherlands + otherwise, with Ostend, to the English [to the English!] in exchange for + Cape Breton. The other was, To give up more of our Conquests [we gave them + all up, and got only the glory, and our Cod-fishery, Cape Breton, back, + the English being equally generous], and bargain for liberty to + re-establish Dunkirk in its old condition [not a word of your Dunkirk; + there is your Cape Breton, and we also will go home with what glory there + is,—not difficult to carry!]. But that it was by England we must + make the overtures, without addressing ourselves to the Court of Vienna; + and put it in his, Friedrich's, power to propose a receivable Project of + Peace. That he well conceived the great point was the Queen of Spain + [Termagant and Jenkins's Ear; Termagant's Husband, still living, is a + lappet of Termagant's self]: but that she must content herself with Parma + and Piacenza for the Infant, Don Philip [which the Termagant did]; and + give back her hold of Savoy [partial hold, of no use to her without the + Passes] to the King of Sardinia." And of the JENKINS'S-EAR question, + generous England will say nothing? Next to nothing; hopes a modicum of + putty and diplomatic varnish may close that troublesome question,—which + springs, meanwhile, in the centre of the world!— + </p> + <p> + "These kind condescensions of his Majesty emboldened me to represent to + him the brilliant position he now held; and how noble it would be, after + having been the Hero of Germany, to become, instead of one's own + pacificator, the Pacificator of Europe. 'I grant you,' said he, (MON CHER + D'Arget; but it is too dangerous a part for playing. A reverse brings me + to the edge of ruin: I know too well the mood of mind I was in, last time + I left Berlin with that Three-legged Immensity of Atropos, NOT yet mown + down at Hennersdorf by a lucky cut), ever to expose myself to it again! If + luck had been against me there, I saw myself a Monarch without throne; and + my subjects in the cruelest oppression. A bad game that: always, mere + CHECK TO YOUR KING; no other move;—I refer it to you, friend + D'Arget:—in fine, I wish to be at peace.' + </p> + <p> + "I represented to him that the House of Austria would never, with a + tranquil eye, see his House in possession of Silesia. 'Those that come + after me,' said he, 'will do as they like; the Future is beyond man's + reach. Those that come after will do as they can. I have acquired; it is + theirs to preserve. I am not in alarm about the Austrians;—and this + is my answer to what you have been saying about the weakness of my + guarantees. They dread my Army; the luck that I have. I am sure of their + sitting quiet for the dozen years or so which may remain to me of life;—quiet + till I have, most likely, done with it. What! Are we never to have any + good of our life, then (NE DOIS-JE DONC JAMAIS JOUIR)? There is more for + me in the true greatness of laboring for the happiness of my subjects, + than in the repose of Europe. I have put Saxony out of a condition to do + hurt. She owes 14,775,000 crowns of debt [two millions and a quarter + sterling]; and by the Defensive Alliance which I form with her, I provide + myself [but ask Bruhl withal!] a help against Austria. I would not + henceforth attack a cat, except to defend myself.' ["These are his very + words," adds D'Arget;—and well worth noting.] (Ambition (GLOIRE) and + my interests were the occasion of my first Campaigns. The late Kaiser's + situation, and my zeal for France [not to mention interests again], gave + rise to these second: and I have been fighting always since for my own + hearths,—for my very existence, I might say! Once more, I know the + state I had got into:—if I saw Prince Karl at the gates of Paris, I + would not stir.'—'And us at the gates of Vienna,' answered I + promptly, 'with the same indifference?'—'Yes; and I swear it to you, + D'Arget. In a word, I want to have some good of my life (VEUX JOUIR). What + are we, poor human atoms, to get up projects that cost so much blood? Let + us live, and help to live.' + </p> + <p> + "The rest of the conversation passed in general talk, about Literature, + Theatres and such objects. My reasonings and objectings, on the great + matter, I need not farther detail: by the frank discourse his Prussian + Majesty was kind enough to go into, you may gather perhaps that my + arguments were various, and not ill-chosen;—and it is too evident + they have all been in vain."—Your Excellency's (really in a very + faithful way)— D'ARGET. [Valori, i. 290-294 (no date, except + "Dresden, 1745,"—sleepy Editor feeling no want of any).] + </p> + <p> + D'Arget, about a month after this, was taken into Friedrich's service; + Valori consenting, whose occupation was now gone;—and we shall hear + of D'Arget again. Take this small Note, as summary of him: "D'Arget (18th + January, 1746) had some title, 'Secretary at Orders (SECRETAIRE DES + COMMANDEMENTS),' bit of pension; and continued in the character of reader, + or miscellaneous literary attendant and agent, very much liked by his + Master, for six years coming. A man much heard of, during those years of + office. March, 1752, having lost his dear little Prussian Wife, and got + into ill health and spirits, he retired on leave to Paris; and next year + had to give up the thought of returning;—though he still, and to the + end, continued loyally attached to his old Master, and more or less in + correspondence with him. Had got, before long, not through Friedrich's + influence at Paris, some small Appointment in the ECOLE MILITAIRE there. + He is, of all the Frenchmen Friedrich had about him, with the exception of + D'Argens alone, the most honest-hearted. The above Letter, lucid, + innocent, modest, altogether rational and practical, is a fair specimen of + D'Arget: add to it the prompt self-sacrifice (and in that fine silent way) + at Jaromirz for Valori, and readers may conceive the man. He lived at + Paris, in meagre but contented fashion, RUE DE L'ECOLE MILITAIRE, till + 1778; and seems, of all the Ex-Prussian Frenchmen, to have known most + about Friedrich; and to have never spoken any falsity against him. + Duvernet, the 'M——' Biographer of VOLTAIRE, frequented him a + good deal; and any true notions, or glimmerings of such, that he has about + Prussia, are probably ascribable to D'Arget." [See <i>OEuvres de Frederic,</i> + xx. (p. xii of PREFACE to the D'ARGET CORRESPONDENCE there).] + </p> + <p> + The Treaty of Dresden can be read in Scholl, Flassan, Rousset, Adelung; + but, except on compulsion, no creature will now read it,—nor did + this Editor, even he, find it pay. Peace is made. Peace of Dresden is + signed, Christmas Day, 1745: "To me Silesia, without farther treachery or + trick; you, wholly as you were." Europe at large, as Friedrich had done, + sees "the sky all on fire about Dresden." The fierce big battles done + against this man have, one and all of them, become big defeats. The + strenuous machinations, high-built plans cunningly devised,—the + utmost sum-total of what the Imperial and Royal Potencies can, for the + life of them, do: behold, it has all tumbled down here, in loud crash; the + final peal of it at Kesselsdorf; and the consummation is flame and smoke, + conspicuous over all the Nations. You will let him keep his own + henceforth, then, will you? Silesia, which was NOT yours nor ever shall + be? Silesia and no afterthought? The Saxons sign, the high + Plenipotentiaries all; in the eyes of Villiers, I am told, were seen + sublimely pious tears. Harrach, bowing with stiff, almost incredulous, + gratitude, swears and signs;—hurries home to his Sovereign Lady, + with Peace, and such a smile on his face; and on her Imperial Majesty's + such a smile!—readers shall conceive it. + </p> + <p> + There are but Two new points in the Treaty of Dresden,—nay properly + there is but One point, about which posterity can have the least care or + interest; for that other, concerning "The Toll of Schidlo," and settlement + of haggles on the Navigation of the Elbe there, was not kept by the + Saxons, but continued a haggle still: this One point is the Eleventh + Article. Inconceivably small; but liable to turn up on us again, in a + memorable manner. That let us translate,—for M. de Voltaire's sake, + and time coming! STEUER means Land-Tax; OBER-STEUER-EINNAHME will be + something like Royal Exchequer, therefore; and STEUER-SCHEIN will be + approximately equivalent to Exchequer Bill. Article Eleventh stipulates: + </p> + <p> + "All subjects and servants of his Majesty the King of Prussia who hold + bonds of the Saxon OBER-STEUER-EINNAHME shall be paid in full, capital and + interest, at the times, and to the amount, specified in said + STEUER-SCHEINE or Bonds." That is Article Eleventh.—"The Saxon + Exchequer," says an old Note on it, "thanks to Bruhl's extravagance, has + been as good as bankrupt, paying with inconvertible paper, with SCHEINE + (Things to be SHOWN), for some time past; which paper has accordingly + sunk, let us say, 25 per cent below its nominal amount in gold. All + Prussian subjects, who hold these Bonds, are to be paid in gold; Saxons, + and others, will have to be content with paper till things come round + again, if things ever do." Yes;—and, by ill chance, the matter will + attract M. de Voltaire's keen eye in the interim! + </p> + <p> + Friedrich stayed eight days in Dresden, the loud theme of Gazetteers and + rumors; the admired of two classes, in all Countries: of the many who + admire success, and also of the few who can understand what it is to + deserve success. Among his own Countrymen, this last Winter has kindled + all their admirations to the flaming pitch. Saved by him from imminent + destruction; their enemies swept home as if by one invincible; nay, sent + home in a kind of noble shame, conquered by generosity. These feelings, + though not encouraged to speak, run very high. The Dresdeners in private + society found him delightful; the high ladies especially: "Could you have + thought it; terrific Mars to become radiant Apollo in this manner!" From + considerable Collections of Anecdotes illustrating this fact, in a way now + fallen vapid to us,—I select only the Introduction:— + </p> + <p> + "Do readers recollect Friedrich's first visit to Dresden [in 1728], + seventeen years ago; and a certain charming young Countess Flemming, at + that time only fourteen; who, like a Hebe as she was, contrived beautiful + surprises for him, and among other things presented him, so gracefully, on + the part of August the Strong, with his first flute?"—No reader of + this History can recollect it; nor indeed, except in a mythic sense, + believe it! A young Countess Flemming (daughter of old Feldmarschall + Flemming) doubtless there might be, who presented him a flute; but as to + HIS FIRST flute—? "That same charming young Countess Flemming is + still here, age now thirty-one; charming, more than ever, though now under + a changed name; having wedded a Von Racknitz (Supreme Gentleman-Usher, or + some such thing) a few years ago, and brought him children and the usual + felicities. How much is changed! August the Strong, where is he; and his + famous Three Hundred and Fifty-four, Enchantress Orzelska and the others, + where are they? Enchantress Orzelska wedded, quarrelled, and is in a + convent: her charming destiny concluded. Rutowski is not now in the + Prussian Army: he got beaten, Wednesday last, at Kesselsdorf, fighting + against that Army. And the Chevalier de Saxe, he too was beaten there;—clambering + now across the Metal Mountains, ask not of him. And the Marechal de Saxe, + he takes Cities, fights Battles of Fontenoy, 'mumbling a lead bullet all + day;' being dropsical, nearly dead of debaucheries; the most dissolute (or + probably so) of all the Sons of Adam in his day. August the Physically + Strong is dead. August the Spiritually Weak is fled to Prag with his + Bruhl. And we do not come, this time, to get a flute; but to settle the + account of Victories, and give Peace to Nations. Strange, here as always, + to look back,—to look round or forward,—in the mad huge whirl + of that loud-roaring Loom of Time!—One of Countess Racknitz's Sons + happened to leave MANUSCRIPT DIARIES [rather feeble, not too + exact-looking], and gives us, from Mamma's reminiscences"... Not a word + more. [Rodenbeck, <i>Beitrage,</i> i. 440, et seq.] + </p> + <p> + The Peace, we said, was signed on Christmas-day. Next day, Sunday, + Friedrich attended Sermon in the Kreuzkirche (Protestant High-Church of + Dresden), attended Opera withal; and on Monday morning had vanished out of + Dresden, as all his people had done, or were diligently doing. Tuesday, he + dined briefly at Wusterhausen (a place we once knew well), with the Prince + of Prussia, whose it now is; got into his open carriage again, with the + said Prince and his other Brother Ferdinand; and drove swiftly homeward. + Berlin, drunk with joy, was all out on the streets, waiting. On the Heath + of Britz, four or five miles hitherward of Berlin, a body of young + gentlemen ("Merchants mostly, who had ridden out so far") saluted him with + "VIVAT FRIEDRICH DER GROSSE (Long live Friedrich THE GREAT)!" thrice over;—as + did, in a less articulate manner, Berlin with one voice, on his arrival + there; Burgher Companies lining the streets; Population vigorously + shouting; Pupils of the Koln Gymnasium, with Clerical and School + Functionaries in mass, breaking out into Latin Song:— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "VIVAT, VIVAT FRIDERICUS REX; + VIVAT AUGUSTUS, MAGNUS, FELIX, PATER, PATRI-AE—!" +</pre> + <p> + —and what not. [Preuss, i. 220; who cites <i>Beschreibung</i> + ("Description of his Majesty's Triumphant Entry, on the" &c.) and + other Contemporary Pamphlets. Rodenbeck, i. 124.] On reaching the Portal + of the Palace, his Majesty stept down; and, glancing round the + Schloss-Platz and the crowded windows and simmering multitudes, saluted, + taking off his hat; which produced such a shout,—naturally the + loudest of all. And so EXIT King, into his interior. Tuesday, 2-3 P.M., + 28th December, 1745: a King new-christened in the above manner, so far as + people could. + </p> + <p> + Illuminated Berlin shone like noon, all that night (the beginning of a + GAUDEAMUS which lasted miscellaneously for weeks):—but the King + stole away to see a friend who was dying; that poor Duhan de Jaudun, his + early Schoolmaster, who had suffered much for him, and whom he always much + loved. Duhan died, in a day or two. Poor Jordan, poor Keyserling (the + "Cesarion" of young days): them also he has lost; and often laments, in + this otherwise bright time. (In <i>OEuvres,</i> xvii. 288; xviii. 141; IB. + 142—painfully tender Letters to Frau von Camas and others, on these + events). + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, +Vol. XV. (of XXI.), by Thomas Carlyle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + +***** This file should be named 2115-h.htm or 2115-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/2115/ + +Produced by D.R. Thompson + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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