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diff --git a/2115.txt b/2115.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..976acab --- /dev/null +++ b/2115.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7507 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Vol. +XV. (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 + +Posting Date: June 13, 2008 [EBook #2115] +Release Date: March 2000 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. *** + + + + +Produced by D.R. Thompson + + + + + +HISTORY OF FRIEDRICH II. OF PRUSSIA + +FREDERICK THE GREAT + +By Thomas Carlyle + + + + + +BOOK XV.--SECOND SILESIAN WAR, IMPORTANT EPISODE IN THE GENERAL EUROPEAN +ONE.--15th Aug. 1744-25th Dec. 1745. + + + + +Chapter I.--PRELIMINARY: HOW THE MOMENT ARRIVED. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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, _Hist. de Paris;_ &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. + + + + +PRINCE KARL GETS ACROSS THE RHINE (20 JUNE-2 JULY, 1744). + +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:-- + +"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?' + +"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. + +"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." [_Guerre de Boheme,_ 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. + +"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-- + +"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!'" + +"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, _The Life of +his Highness Prince Charles of &c., with &c. &c._ (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, _OEsterreichischer Plutarch,_ 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: + +"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, + +"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; _Fastes de Louis XV.,_ ii. 423; &c. &c.] + +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. + + + + +FRIEDRICH DECIDES TO INTERVENE. + +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. + +"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. + +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 _Adelung,_ iv. 155, 156, +the Declaration itself (Audience, "7th August, 1744." Dohna off homeward +"on the second day after").] + +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! + +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!-- + +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. + + + + +Chapter II.--FRIEDRICH MARCHES UPON PRAG, CAPTURES PRAG. + +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. + +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; [_Helden-Geschichte,_ 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. + +"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, _Beylage,_ i. 121-136, with date "August, 1744."] + +"'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? + +"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,' +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ 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." + +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. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ 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. + +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." [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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:-- + +"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.' [ _Helden-Geschichte,_ 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. + +"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!' [ _Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 1030.] And the thing was +carried by acclamation. + +"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 _Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 1168), +which gives several curious details.] + +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:-- + +"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. + +"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. + +"At Meissen Bridge, say some, was this Half-hour's Interview; at +Pirna, the Bridge of Pirna, others say; [See Orlich, ii. 25; +and _Helden-Geschichte,_ 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. + +"... 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. + +"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. + +"SEPTEMBER 1st, To Mickowitz, near Welwarn, twenty miles from Prag. +September 2d, Camp on the Weissenberg there." [ _Helden-Geschichte,_ i. +1080.] + +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!" + +"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, _Beylage,_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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; _Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 1082, and ii. +1168; _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 56; &c. &c.] + +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. + + + + +Chapter III.--FRIEDRICH, DILIGENT IN HIS BOHEMIAN CONQUESTS, +UNEXPECTEDLY COMES UPON PRINCE KARL, WITH NO FRENCH ATTENDING HIM. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +FRIEDRICH, LEAVING SMALL GARRISON IN PRAG, RUSHES SWIFTLY UP THE MOLDAU +VALLEY, UPON THE TABOR-BUDWEIS COUNTRY; TO PLEASE HIS FRENCH FRIENDS. + +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. + +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. [ _Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 1083; Orlich, ii. +41 et seqq.; _Frederic,_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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. + + + + +THE FRENCH ARE LITTLE GRATEFUL FOR THE PLEASURE DONE THEM AT SUCH +RUINOUS EXPENSE. + +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. + +It was moonlight, clear as day that night, 23d August, when Prince Karl +had to recross the Rhine, close in their neighborhood; [_Guerre de +Boheme,_ 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. + +"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)! + +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 _OEuvres de Voltaire,_ 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. + +"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 ( _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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:-- + +"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. + +"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 +(_Campagnes de Coigny,_ 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." + +"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.] + +"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!"-- + +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! + + + + +Chapter IV.--FRIEDRICH REDUCED TO STRAITS; CANNOT MAINTAIN HIS MOLDAU +CONQUESTS AGAINST PRICE KARL. + +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. + +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! + +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:-- + +"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. [_Feldzuge der Preussen,_ i. +268; Orlich, ii. 55.] + +"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." + + + + +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. + +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. [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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! + +"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. [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ iii. 62-64.]" + +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. + +"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! + +"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! [_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ 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. [_Military Instructions_ (above cited), p. 44.] + +"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. + +"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. +[ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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. + +"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? + +"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.] + +"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." + +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. [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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! + +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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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." + +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, _Beylage,_ i. +595-598; _Helden-Geschichte,_ 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!"-- + + + + +FRIEDRICH'S RETREAT; ESPECIALLY EINSIEDEL'S FROM PRAG. + +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. + +"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. [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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. + +"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. + +"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 _Helden-Geschichte,_ 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. + +"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! + +"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." +[ _Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 1181-1190, 1191-1194;--Feldzuge,--i. +278-280.] + +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. + +"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:-- + +"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." [_OEuvres,_ iii.76, 77.] Let us still hope!-- + + + + +Chapter V.--FRIEDRICH, UNDER DIFFICULTIES, PREPARES FOR A NEW CAMPAIGN. + +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. + +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. + +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 _Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 1194-1198; Ib. 1201-1206, is +Friedrich's Answer, "19th December, 1744."] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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:-- + +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 (_Orlich,_ ii. 356).] + +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. + + + + +OLD DESSAUER REPELS THE SILESIAN INVASION (Winter, 1744-45). + +"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." + +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! + +"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. [_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 1201.] Even so, ye poor +giggling creatures, and your loud weeping will not mend it at all! + +"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. + +"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:-- + +"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).' [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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. + +"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." [_Unternehmung in +Ober-Schlesien, unter dem Fursten Leopold von Anhalt-Dessau, im Januar +und Februar,_ 1745 (Seyfarth, _Beylage,_ i. 141-152); Stenzel, iv. 232; +&c.] + +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! + +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. + + + + +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). + +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! + +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:-- + +... "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." + +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! + +"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. + +"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. + + + + +STRANGE ACCIDENT TO MARECHAL DE BELLEISLE IN THE HARZ MOUNTAINS (20th +December, 1744). + +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. + +"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." + +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. [_Seckendorfs Leben,_ 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. + +"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, _Gentleman's +Magazine,_ 1745, pp. 366-373); &c. &c.] + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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! + +"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 _Valori,_ 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. + +"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. + +"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 + +["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." (_Gentleman's +Magazine,_ 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.] + +"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." + +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! + + + + +THE KAISER KARL VII. GETS SECURED FROM OPPRESSIONS, IN A TRAGIC WAY. +FRIEDRICH PROPOSES PEACE, BUT TO NO PURPOSE. + +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. + +"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. + +"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.' [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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." + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.] + +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. + +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! + + + + +Chapter VI.--VALORI GOES ON AN ELECTIONEERING MISSION TO DRESDEN. + +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. + +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:-- + + + + +1. FRIEDRICH'S POSITION TOWARDS SAXONY. + +"... 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." + + + + +2. THERE IS A, "UNION OF WARSAW" (8th January, 1745); AND STILL MORE +SPECIALLY A "TREATY OF WARSAW" (8th January-18th May, 1745). + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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]. + +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! + +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. + +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. + + + + +3. VALORI'S ACCOUNT OF HIS MISSION (in compressed form). [Valori, i. +211-219.] + +"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. + +"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? + +"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; _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 81-85. For details +on Bruhl, see _Graf von Bruhl, Leben und Charakter_ (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.] + +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!-- + + + + +MIDDLE-RHINE ARMY IN A STAGGERING STATE; THE BAVARIAN INTRICACY SETTLES +ITSELF, THE WRONG WAY. + +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! + +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!-- + +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:-- + +"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. + +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). _History of the Rebellion,_ 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...." + +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.] + +"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. + +"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." + +"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. [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. +22; _Seckendorfs Leben,_ 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. + + + + +Chapter VII.--FRIEDRICH IN SILESIA; UNUSUALLY BUSY. + +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. + +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. + + + + +KING FRIEDRICH TO PODEWILS, IN BERLIN (under various dates, March-April, +1745). + +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.] + +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." + +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." + +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. + +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. + +"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! + +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.]-- + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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!-- + +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:-- + +"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: +_Helden-Geschichte,_ ii. 1224-1226; i. 1117.] + +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! + + + + +FRIEDRICH TO PODEWILS (as before, April-May, 1745). + +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:-- + +"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:-- + +"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.'" + +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.... + +"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.] + +"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. + +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.] + +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. + + + + +Chapter VIII.--THE MARTIAL BOY AND HIS ENGLISH versus THE LAWS OF +NATURE. + +"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. + + + + +BATTLE OF FONTENOY (11th May, 1745). + +... "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. + +"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!-- + +"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, _Life of Cumberland,_ 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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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 (_OEuvres,_ 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! + +"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! + +"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. (_OEuvres,_ vol. xxviii. +p. 155.) See also _Souvenirs du Marquis de Valfons_ (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." + +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.]... + +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. + +"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! + +MAP Chap. VIII, Book 15, PAGE 440 GOES ABOUT HERE-------- + +"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. + +"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 _Magazin,_ xvi. 169 ("Your +illustrious 'Column,' at Fontenoy? It was fortuitous, I say; done like +janizaries;" and so forth), a Criticism worth reading by soldiers.] + +"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. + +"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), _King James's Irish +Army-List_ (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. + +"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. + +"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? + +"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. + +"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, _Memoires,_ i. 108. A FRENCH OFFICER'S ACCOUNT +(translated in _Gentleman's Magazine,_ 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!" + +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!-- + +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, _Journal of the Siege;"_ "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. + + + + +Chapter IX.--THE AUSTRIAN-SAXON ARMY INVADES SILESIA, ACROSS THE +MOUNTAINS. + +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. + +"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.] + +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:-- + +"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, _Life of De Ziethen,_ 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. + +"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. +[ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 106. More specially BERICHTE VON DER AM +22 MAI, 1745 BEY NEUSTADT IN OBER-SCHLESIEN VORGEFALLENER ACTION +(Seyfarth, _Beylage,_ 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."... + +"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. [_Bericht von +der am 21 Mai, 1745 bey Landshut rorgefallener Action, in Feldzuge,_ i. +302-305 (or in Seyfarth, _Beylage,_ i. 155-158); _OEuvres de +Frederic,_ 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." + +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. + +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.] + +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, _Die Schlacht von +Hohenfriedbeg_ (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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.] + +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!-- + +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? + +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. + +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 _Helden-Geschichte,_ 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, _OEuvres,_ iii. 108-118. Lutzow, above +cited, is the harmonizer. Besides which, two of value, in _Feldzuge,_ i. +310-323, 328-336; not to mention Cogniazzo, _Confessions of an Austrian +Veeran_ (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. + + + + +Chapter X.--BATTLE OF HOHENFRIEDBERG. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, _Helden-Geschichte,_ 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. + +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." +[ _Helden-Geschichte,_ 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. + +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;" [_Military Instructions._ ] a very hopeful symptom to +you! + +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); +_Militair-Lexikon,_ ii. 9, iv. 465, 468. See Preuss, i. 212; _OEuvres de +Frederic;_ &c. &c.]--how many kettle-drums memory does not say. + +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. + +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 _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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. + + + + +Chapter XI.--CAMP OF CHLUM: FRIEDRICH CANNOT ACHIEVE PEACE. + +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:-- + +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." [_OEuvres de Frederic,_ +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! + +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. + +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 _OEuvres de Frederic,_ (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!] + +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! + +"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, _Geschichte +Ferdinands von Braunschweig-Luneburg,_ i. 118.] Fancy such an interview +between the poor young fellows, the soul of honor each, and tied in that +manner! + +"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! + +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. [_OEuvres,_ iii. 123.]--Enough of those small matters, while so +many large are waiting. + +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 _Feldzuge,_ 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? + +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. + +"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!" [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 128.] + +'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.] + +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.] + + + + +CAMP OF DIESKAU: BRITANNIC MAJESTY MAKES PEACE, FOR HIMSELF, WITH +FRIEDRICH; BUT CANNOT FOR AUSTRIA OR SAXONY. + +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!-- + +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.] + +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. + + + + +SCHONBRUNN, 2d AUGUST, 1745, ROBINSON HAS AUDIENCE OF HER HUNGARIAN +MAJESTY. + +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."... + +ROBINSON.... "'Madam, the Dutch will be obliged to accept Neutrality' +[and plump down again, after such hoisting]! + +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?' + +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.' + +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!"'... + +ROBINSON. "'In Bohemia itself things don't look well; nothing done on +Friedrich: your Saxons seem to be qnarrelling with you, and going home.' + +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!' + +ROBINSON. "'Prussia will help the Grand-Duke to Kaisership.' + +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!"' + +ROBINSON. "'A battle, Madam, if won, won't reconquer Silesia; if lost, +your Majesty is ruined at home.' + +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.] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +GRAND-DUKE FRANZ IS ELECTED KAISER (13TH SEPTEMBER, 1745); FRIEDRICH, +THE SEASON AND FORAGE BEING DONE, MAKES FOR SILESIA. + +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. + +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. + +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. [_OEuvres de +Frederic,_ 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. + +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, [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 129.]--and are +again unattackable. + +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:-- + +"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." + +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:-- + +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. + +"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." + +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; _OEuvres de +Frederic,_ iii. 130: for the Fact. Exquisite Burlesque, PALLADION +itself, is in _OEuvres,_ 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. + + + + +Chapter XII.--BATTLE OF SOHR. + +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, _Briefe uber Schlesien,_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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:-- + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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:-- + +"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. + +"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!" + +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! + +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. [_OEuvres +de Frederic,_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. +135-143; Stille, pp. 144-163; Orlich, ii. 227-243; _Feldzuge,_ i. 357, +363, 374.] + +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! + +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. + +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. + +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, _Memoires, traduits par lui-meme_ (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. + +MAP TO GO HERE----BOOK 15--page 499---- + +"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! + +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. + +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:-- + +"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, _Highland Rebellion,_ 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! + +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, + +"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.'" +[_Helden-Geschichte,_ i. 1124.] + +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 (_Maria Theresiens Leben,_ 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. + + + +Chapter XIII.--SAXONY AND AUSTRIA MAKE A SURPRISING LAST ATTEMPT. + +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. + +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:-- + +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!-- + +"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. + +"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!-- + +"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." + +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, _OEuvres,_ iii. 148.] Foolish Bruhl: a man that has a secret should +not only hide it, but hide that he has it to hide. + + + + +FRIEDRICH GOES OUT TO MEET HIS THREE-LEGGED MONSTER; CUTS ONE LEG OF IT +IN TWO (Fight of Hennersdorf, 23d November, 1745). + +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. + +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! + +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! + +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,-- + +"On Monday, 15th, ["18th," _Feldzuge,_ 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. + +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. + +"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).] + +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. + +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! + +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. + +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; [_Feldzuge,_ 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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; _Feldzuge,_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. + +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. + + + + +PRINCE KARL, CUT IN TWO, TUMBLES HOME AGAIN DOUBLE-QUICK. + +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. + +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, [ _OEuvres de Frederic,_ 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: + +"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. [_Feldzuge,_ 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." + +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. + +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? + + + + +Chapter XIV.--BATTLE OF KESSELSDORF. + +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 _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 183-216 (see IB, 158), +and in many other Books.] + +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. + +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. + +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 _OEuvres de Frederic,_ iii. 173, 174 (with a much +more satirical paraphrase than the above), and Friedrich's Answer +adjoined,--after the events had come.] + +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! + +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. + +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).] + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 + +MAP/PLAN GOES HERE--book 15 continuation --page 10-- + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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! + +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." [_Feldzuge,_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 _Militair-Lexikon,_i. 43, 34, +38,47.] + + + + +Chapter XV.--PEACE OF DRESDEN: FRIEDRICH DOES MARCH HOME. + +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! + +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 _OEuvres de +Frederic,_ 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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +"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. + + + THE SIEUR D'ARGET TO EXCELLENCY VALORI (at Berlin). + + "DRESDEN, 1745" (dateless otherwise, must be + December, between 18th and 25th). +"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. + +"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. + +"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, + +"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. + +"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!-- + +"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.' + +"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.' + +"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).] + +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 _OEuvres de Frederic,_ xx. (p. xii of PREFACE to the D'ARGET +CORRESPONDENCE there).] + +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. + +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: + +"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! + +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:-- + +"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, _Beitrage,_ i. 440, et seq.] + +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:-- + + "VIVAT, VIVAT FRIDERICUS REX; + VIVAT AUGUSTUS, MAGNUS, FELIX, PATER, PATRI-AE--!" + +--and what not. [Preuss, i. 220; who cites _Beschreibung_ ("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. + +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 _OEuvres,_ xvii. 288; xviii. 141; IB. +142--painfully tender Letters to Frau von Camas and others, on these +events). + + + + + +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.txt or 2115.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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